Finished Object: Boden

Pattern: Boden by Nice and Knit
Yarn: Nice&Knit Worsted
Colours: Driftwood, Harpoon and Dockside
Needles: 3.75mm and 4.5 mm round needles
Start of project: March 17th, 2016
End of project: March 26th, 2016

On Ravelry

A little while ago I read about a new KAL on the Nice&Knit blog. It was for a fair isle poncho in worsted yarn. I probably saw it late at night or early in the morning, then I am always very easily conviced to order new yarn for a project. This was especially tempting because Nice&Knit had been on my radar for a while, the colours looked really beautiful and I love the names they have. The main colour in my poncho is called Driftwood and it looks exactly the way I remember those logs on Long Beach on Vancouver Island.

The yarn didn't take long at all and so I was even able to cast on right when the KAL was supposed to start. The colourwork was lovely to knit and I watched a lot of Mr. Selfridge while I knit the body - I actually did the end twice because my first version turned out to be too long.

Now my poncho is all ready to be blocked, but I decided I'd rather wear it right away because it's perfect to sit on the balcony and read in the sunshine. I guess I can block it later, when it's either too warm or when it's raining ;-)

Finished Object: Bunny Boy

Pattern: Well-Dressed Bunny by Barbara Prime
Yarn: Tanis Fiber Arts Green Label, Madelinetosh Pashmina, Malabrigo Arroyo
Colours: lots of different ones
 Needles: 3.5mm and 4 mm round needles
Start of project: March 10th, 2016
End of project: March 16th, 2016

On Ravelry

After my Clarke I didn't quite know what to knit next. The yarn for two new projects was on its way and at the same time I felt like there was nothing left to knit.

So I dove into my stack to see what I could use up and then I think I saw a picture of a knit toy dog (on Knitted Bliss' Blog) which inspired me to do another little animal. I actually love knitting these little critters by Barbara Prime, they grow so quickly and are a lot of fun to knit. I already did a few Mini Pookies,a Zebra and my first Well-Dressed Bunny.

I chose the Well-Dressed Bunny again but this time I wanted to knit a boy (well you can only tell because of his clothes, everything else it totally gender neutral). I used up all of the grey yarn first and then I had to improvise. I think the brighter yarn looks almost like a diaper which wasn't my plan but it's funny nevertheless.

Once all the pieces for the bunny were done I realised that I didn't have eyes that were big enough. To gap the time of their arrival I knit a few clothes for my little bunny boy, at first a hoodie, then a little jacket and in the end I decided that he really needed a pair of overalls as well. I modified the patterns a little bit and knit more in the round because I don't like sewing all that much and I think they turned out fine like that as well.

Now I only need a little person who'd like to love it ;-)

Finished Object: Clarke

Pattern: Clarke by Jane Richmond
Yarn: YOTH Yarns Big Sister
Colours: Thyme and Hazelnut
Needles: 4mm and 4.5 mm round needles
Start of project: February 18th, 2015
End of project: March 5th, 2016

On Ravelry

Rome wasn't built in a day and neither was this pullover knit quickly. It all started when I first saw this pattern, I think it was during the SSKAL15. This new pattern by Jane Richmond instantly caught my eye, after all I love stripes and I'd heard a lot about this YOTH yarn but hadn't touched it (I had actually seen it when I visited Baaad Anna's Yarn store in Vancouver but didn't buy any). I put it in my queue on Ravelry where all the things I might like to knit one of these days go.

Most of you know by now that I won the first prize of the SSKAL15 and part of that prize was a sweater's worth of YOTH Big Sister yarn. I knew I wanted to use it for a Clarke pullover right away, so I asked Shannon if it was possible to have two different colours for a stripey sweater. A while later the yarn arrived and it felt beautiful and the colours looked just as I'd imagined them. I was in the middle of other stuff, so I put it in my yarn suitcase for later.

When our skiing holidays in Tschiertschen approached the timing was finally right. There would be lots of time in the evening to knit and this wasn't going to be a project where I needed silence and a lot of concentration once the beginning was done. So I started the pullover at home (and what an amazingly clever start it is, I was totally fascinated how it all came together) and packed lots of yarn and everything I needed next to my ski stuff.

I knit in the evenings with lots of people around and often also after lunch when we stayed on the porch for a little while before hitting the slopes again - the photo below was actually taken on one of these breaks. Can you imagine a more amazing background than the mountains and lots of fresh powder...

I didn't quite manage to finish my pullover in the mountains and I kind of neglected to properly check the fit. There wasn't really a good mirror anywhere and it felt weird putting my pullover on in between all the other guests. Which is probably the reason why I didn't like the shape of the body so much once I was back home. It looked too baggy around my middle, everything else looked the way I wanted it to look. It did take some hair pulling but I decided to go back all the way up to the sleeves and add a few decreases. Seeing my poor pullover with all the frogged yarn was a miserable sight at first but I hoped for the best.

Fortunately the reknitting of the body only took a weekend and binge watching the whole first series of Code Black. Now the improved version is off the blocking board and I am very glad I went back and did it again. It isn't a huge difference but it is slightly more shapely without being tight anywhere. I am sure I'll wear it a lot now.

Skiholidays in Tschiertschen again

It's already been a week since we came back from Tschiertschen where we spent our skiing holidays for the third time in a row. As usual we stayed at Hotel Gürgaletsch. It was fun seeing all the regulars again and as always it was just lovely. The food was amazing this year, the new cook made such interesting dishes with lots of salad and veggies and the desserts were sooo good.

The weather was interesting. We had snow a few times, rain during the first night (which ate up most of what had fallen down in the hours before), there was sunshine and blue sky, fog and wind, pretty much everything. I really liked the diversity of it even though nothing beats blue sky and fresh powder. On the bright days we went skiing all day long and on the other days it was still beautiful enough to be outside for a few hikes or to go sledging.

 

I went back to the stones on Jochalp which is one of my favourite places ever, it feels totally magical, especially when everything is covered in snow and there are just no sounds apart from the wind.

Sadly we had to leave again too soon, but we will be back next year. Because "our" week was already booked out we only have to wait 51 weeks which is a little comfort because we won't be able to go with our favourite family next year.