New Year, New goals

Happy New Year! :)
A little late for the greetings I guess, since January is already in the middle, but I really wish everyone to have an amazing year!
I've been thinking about my life as the years were changing and for the first time in last few years I actually had the feeling that something will change in our lives, that something good will happen this year, something big. I haven't felt this kind of anxiety for a long time now, as my life has been pretty steady and planned so far, but a lot of things are changing lately. Work, finances, politics, nature... nothing seams to be for sure anymore. So I welcome the new year will all the changes it will bring, hoping that they will be good. The most important thing - my family and all loved ones are all in good health, and I wish You, my dear reader, the same!

This year I actually made a list of personal goals I would like to achieve, things I'd like to do. I plan to come back to this list later on to see how well it turned out. So, here they are:

• I want to design and publish at least 10 new patterns throughout the year, and at least one of them should be a sweater. 
• I want to try a new craft, or a new technique. 
• I want to eat more healthy. October to December my family did not really have anything close to a healthy diet, so that should change.
• I want to loose the last 4 kilos that I have left from the pregnancy, so I can fit in my tight jeans again...
• I want to have an amazing summer with my kids
• I want to take a lot of photos

My biggest wish is to be able to balance my time so that everything is covered, my kids, my house, my husband and me. And to have enough time for knitting... :) We shall see how it works out.

What plans do You have for the New Year?

Little bits of Christmas feeling

It's been so busy lately, I barely have had any free time at all. But, besides renovating our house and taking care of my kids and all everyday stuff, I have managed to capture a few bits of Christmas spirit, too. There are quite a few bazaars going on lately, and I have taken part at two of them already, both for charity. Both got a few hats for kids to sell and for the preschool bazaar I also made these delicious, delicious cookies..... :)

Yes, the whole house smelled like Christmas :) And, I have not decorated anything yet - waiting for the workers to finish. My son has driven me crazy about it, but I think it will be worth waiting. :) So this was a nice prelude.

I will be doing these again at least twice this year, so I might as well share the recipe next time I bake them. This is also the first year I tried the icing and it was perfect!

My own olives

Olives on the tree

This year I decided I want to make my own olives. The ones we can get in the supermarket are a bit too salty for my taste, and my father in law's olives last year were absolutely fantastic. It is a pretty simple process, but time consuming. We picked them straight from tree this year, since there are not that many. Most people spread a fabric or nylon under the tree and just shake them down - I would too, but it's not an olive year this time and so we chose to do gymnastics :)

These dark ones are called 'Kalamon' and are one of the most tasty ones. After an all morning olive-hunt I ended up with half a bucket, wish there were more, but since it's kind of an experiment this year, it's alright, I guess. They are now soaking in water, that needs to be changed every day to get out all bitterness. After 30 days I will put them in salt water for 24 hours, then in vinegar for another 24 hours, and then - finally - they will fill the jars and get covered in olive oil.

It's a really big bucket - I was very optimistic when I got it :)

Adriana slept most of the time - what can be better than a nap out in fresh air? :)

Contrast and Complement

Contrast and Complement shawl

Finally, it's been published!

I've had the idea about this shawl since last winter. But as it sometimes happens with good ideas, it takes a while until they get to the point of a completed project.
I got some super nice extra fine merino this spring, when my favorite yarn seller - Colourmart - had put up sets of matching colors for sale on their e-bay site. These greens were meant to be together, and so I started the shawl. It might sound a little crazy, but I did not actually have a written plan for it, just the idea of how I wanted it to look in the end. And, I think it came out really, really nice! :)

The pattern is being tested on Ravelry, at Free Pattern Testers group, a few projects are still in finishing lines. My test group is really great, and have given a lot of input in this pattern. (I probably say that about every test, but... well, knitters are generally very nice people :))

While my original shawl was knit from top down, I have designed the pattern so that it can be knit both ways, top down and bottom up, each of both having it's advantages. I know I prefer the top down, I just tend to finish projects faster, when the stitch count is decreasing :D

I plan to start another shawl, and I have started a Knit-A-Long in 11 shawls in 2011 group on Ravelry, if You'd like to join. The pattern is available as an instant download, the regular price will be $6,00, but ontil November 10, 2011 it's on special offer for $4.00.You can get it here , or find Contrast and Complement on Ravelry.
Some more photos:

The charm of color changes

I am a fan of color changing yarns, so it was a question of time when I will try dyeing one myself. I've been playing around with dyes quite a bit lately, and this is my latest experiment.

I used a very soft wool for baby knits, although it does not say on label that it's merino, I have a suspicion it might be -it is a very nice, squishy yarn, 100% wool. The original color was white. I had divided it in 6 mini skeins and dyed each one separately.

 It's a 4-ply yarn, I have 100g here, about 450 meters total. It should be enough for a small shawl.

 While experimenting with this, I also wanted to try some tie-dye method, dyeing yarn in skein, then re-tying skein differently and placing it in another color. For third color change I tied my skein loosely in two places. First dye bath was a bright yellow, second - spring green and third - a lovely purple. I am thinking now, that I really should have done a fourth one with just one knot, masking some of the color with an even darker purple, maybe adding some black even, but well, I had run out of my play time :) There will be a next time, too :) I don't know what will I do with it yet, there are about 70g of the yarn here. I might combine it with a solid color, winter is coming fast and everyone needs warm accessories.... Here are some pics:

Getting into rhythm

The last two months have passed with a lightening speed.... So many things happened! I went to Latvia in August with both my kids - and I did not have time to knit a single stitch while we were there.... The start of the school year, changing the preschool and organizing all other activities for Alexandro took a lot of time and energy. Adriana, who is ten month now, is crawling super fast by now and wants to walk whenever possible. I think she'll walk by herself before her first birthday. So my life is all about kids and house stuff lately.

But, I had missed knitting so badly! I had promised my mom a winter shawlette, and I bought the yarn while I was in Latvia. It's nothing really special, a simple sock yarn and a simple pattern, but I love the color and the texture it gives. It's a small to medium size shawl, so she can wear it as a scarf with a coat and keep her shoulders warm. Here are some pics:

It's simple stockinette with some garter rows and a crochet finishing. I did the flower brooch on a loom, really love that little thingy.

This set me on a shawl knitting spree and I knit a few more:

This one is done with On Line "Lorena" 15% alpaca, 15% mohair, 70% acrylic. This yarn was a little pricey for the high acrylic content in it, but it's really amazingly soft and silky, and it drapes well. I could not resist the colors. :)

Another yarn I bought in Latvia was "Texrena" by Midara. I wanted to try one of these wool yarns with long color changes, and I got really disappointed with Aade Long - it's just way too scratchy! This one is much softer and colors are beautiful. I've knit the "Diamond for a girl" with it, and one skein made a nice small to medium size shawl. Here are the pics:

Diamond for a girl, blocking

All these were quick and pleasant knits, but I don't intend to keep these for myself. I had a cone of beautiful cashmere delivered recently and I am craving another shawl... for me this time. I just need to really think of how will I knit it - the yarn has a slubby strand twisted in and so far I haven't found the perfect pattern for it. It looks nice in simple stockinette though, I'm just torturing myself, since I had a textured shawl in mind.....

Love, Hate and Heat

My Hanami Sprint is turning into a long distance run. With a constant 36`C it's been some really hot days, running around the Greek bureaucracy and packing for the trip, which I just started, doesn't help my knitting quest much either. However, I have managed to do something, at least.

As of half an hour ago, I have finished half of the shawl. I absolutely loved the first three charts (A,B and C) and they went by like a breeze. Around the middle of chart D I was truly and honestly hating this pattern. The fact that I could not find my stitch markers (hid them from kids in a really good place....) did not help the situation. I grit my teeth and I just knit through it fearing the deadline (don't ask me if I cursed, I would hate to admit it...), but I could not force myself to pick this up for a day or two after that. Then, I found my stitch markers - YESSS! :) Knitting went more smooth and with little (or a lot) patience, I slowly got through this thing.

I discovered a few things. First, I don't like to knit patterns, where lace is not easy to read. I love the look though. Second, I am seriously re-thinking weather I should knit the second half with the basket weave pattern instead of doing both halves identical. Looking at the finished shawls on Ravelry, I start to think that the whole magic of the pattern is within combining the order and the chaos. And I think that the pattern looses a bit of it's charm if one is taken away. Well, the fact that I seriously don't want to knit through charts D and E any time soon again might play a small role, too...

My half of the shawl, unblocked, measures 80cm x 33cm and weights 42g. Which means I have used about 400 yards, plus/minus a few. I am sure it will stretch more with blocking, so I will not add any extra rows in the middle.

I plan to finish it in Latvia, I still have enough time till my mother's birthday. And what can be better than knitting in my best friends country home, sitting in the garden..... :)