Cyprus - Villa Diamond

view from the garden

Between the end of April and the beginning of May we spent a week in Cyprus. We flew to Paphos in the west and then picked up our car and drove to Chlorakas, which is just next to Paphos. We stayed in one of the many holiday villas there, ours was called Diamond Villa #5.

view from the street with our rental car

This villa was just what we had hoped for, a great house on three floors, three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a comfy living room, a kitchen with some great welcome food in the fridge, balconies everywhere, in a quiet neighbourhood just a few minutes on foot to the sea and best of all the lovely garden with the pool. We spent most of our first days on the deckchairs, just enjoying the sun and the water. 

view from my balcony

The kids had a lot of fun - they swam, dived and snorkeled and once they even jumped into the pool with all their clothes on, because that's what you have to do when you have your own pool.

I spent my time getting on with my crochet cal and my knitting for the tttkal16 and I read and had lots and lots of coffee and tea.

We also took our traditional family photo next to the pool and in the grass. As usual there were both "serious" ones and fun ones where everybody pulled a face. I think this one is my favourite at the moment.

In the mornings I loved waking up to the eastern sun that came into my bedroom, going down to the pool still in my PJs and having the first cup of tea all by myself.

We also did a bit of driving around the island and sightseeing but that will have to wait for a second blog entry.

Stitching Retreat 2016 / Finished Object: Coffee at the Lake

Pattern: Coffee at the Lake inspired by Fräulein Wollga
Yarn: Madelinetosh Sock
Colour: Seasalt
Needles: 2.75 Round Needles
Start of project: April 23rd, 2016
End of project: April 24th, 2016

On Ravelry

I knit these socks during my very first Stitching Retreat. I had stumbled upon the retreat and the group that is behind it by coincidence, I think I saw the ad at the bottom of the Strickcafé ravelry group. It sounded great, almost three days of knitting with a couple of knitting courses, a bit of yoga, next to the lake and right at the beginning of my spring holidays so I signed up without thinking about it too much.

Then I had a really intense time at school and I got so stressed out by it all that I came very close to cancelling it, I just couldn't image having to meet new people in the state I was in. Fortunately the last couple of days of school were slightly slower so I decided to go ahead and take it day by day.

Apart from missing the bus stop (well I pressed the buttom but the bus lady didn't notice) and having to walk back along the lake for 15 minutes, my arrival was easy. It's kind of cool to go on a holiday so close to where you live, you are away quickly without the hassle of long travelling. I felt quite weird in the beginning, I imagined that they all knew each other and I'd be the only newbie. That was more or less true but all these women couldn't have been more welcoming, I felt part of the group right away and it was amazing to see so many knitting and crocheting projects.

I took a sock knitting class on Saturday which was fun. I know how to knit socks, but I learned new details that I will use again and again. In the beginning I decided to knit really simple socks (3k1p) but then I couldn't resist and I added a bit of pattern that I copied from Fräulein Wollga's Frischer Kaffee pattern. I think this Madelinetosh colourway looks stunning and the yarn is so soft (but it keeps surprisingly well).

In the afternoon there was a small marketplace. I was mostly able to resist temptation, I only bought one skein of sock yarn.

Towards the evening (after more than 8 hours of solid knitting) I needed a break from being indoors and from being around so many people. So even though it was raining I went outside for a run along the Greifensee. It wasn't so bad because I caught a dry spell and I really enjoyed moving to Prince's music. I wished I lived closer to a lake, it's such a great place to run.

On Sunday I took a yoga class which was fun and which made my muscles sing. A little later  it was already time to go home. I left with a few other knitters and we could ride the bus back together. I couldn't believe that I'd only just met them, they felt like friends. I am so happy that I went and that now I won't shy away from going to the knit'n'sips that happen regularly. Actually my first knit'n'sip will already be tomorrow and I am really looking forward to seeing some of these warm beautiful knitters again.

Back home I had enough time to finish my second sock ;-)

Finished Object: Garter Ear Flap Hat and Squirrel Socks

Pattern: Garter Ear Flap Hat by Purl Soho
Yarn: Madelinetosh Pashmina Worsted
Colours: Mandala and Antler
Needles: 4.5 and 5mm Round Needles
Start of project: April 16th, 2016
End of project: April 17th, 2016

On Ravelry

This hat was just a quick project in between. I love how the little hat turned out, I think the stripes look great in garter. Mandala is such an amazingly beautiful colourway, I really knit more with it. The hat turned out really small, even though I knit the toddler size, so I think it will fit a newborn.

Right now there aren't any new babies around, but Antonia's teacher is expecting one in the fall ;-), so this might be the perfect present then.

I still had more yarn left over (the original project for this yarn was my Winter Forest Hat) so I added a pair of Little Squirrel Socks to the combo. I sure love to use up yarn like that ;-)

Finished Object: Breaking Heart Socks

Pattern: Breaking Hearts Socks by Cristi H. Payne
Yarn: Regia Design Line Ombre Stripe
Colours: Blue, purple and green
Needles: 2 mm round needle
Start of project: March 27th, 2016
End of project: April 9th, 2016

On Ravelry

This is my second pair of selfstriping socks. For the first one I used the Vanilla Latte Pattern. I like the colours of these yarns but the yarn itself leaves me a bit underwhelmed, it's just not terribly nice to knit with it. I am also doubtful of using it in a busy pattern. Maybe the hearts would have been more visible if there wasn't so much going on at the same time.

Could well be that they are actually quite lovely and I can't appreciate them the way they deserve. I have to admit that I am not really feeling a lot of knitting mojo at the moment. I am not too excited about life, not because there are a lot of big problems to be solved, I am just feeling tired and uninspired all the time. Not in a really bad burnt out sense, but somewhere a tiny bit lost.

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.