Tubularity-Video
How do I wear Tubularity? In this little video I demonstrate some possibilities:
How to wear Tubularity on Vimeo.
Tubularity
I like my knitting mindless and simple, preferably without any purl stitches. But I also want the excitement of vibrant colors – and a useful, versatile result! If you are like me, you will love “Tubularity”: It is a long tube that you can either pull over your head and wear as very warm and cozy neckwarmer (and hood, if you like).
Alternatively, you can sling it around and fasten it with a button. The color combination is hand-picked by Miss Babs, who offers her ultrasoft “Yummy Toes” fingering weight yarn in kits with seven matching mini-skeins.
Pattern available for 3.60 Euros at my Ravelry Store.
Rainbow Sock
I really had planned to knit rainbow-colored socks during the Olympic Games in Sochi, but somehow I did not get around to it. I loved the idea to set a sign for equality in this world, had the yarn picked out (Wollmeise Twin, color “Regenbogen”, of course!), and then there were other projects that needed to be finished, patterns to be written and some more. So that little rainbow sock had to wait until a couple of days ago. But now I have knit a couple of rounds and really like it:
Pattern is “Spice Man” by Yarnissima, as usual. And the message that these socks send never gets old.
Easy
Little shawlettes in garter stitch are just great: They look pretty in a colorful yarn a joy to wear – and the knitting is just a breeze. They are perfect for beginning knitters because they offer great results without being complicated. This one is called “Easy”, because it is exactly that: So very simple to knit, but the biased construction and change of knitting direction really lets the long color changes shine.
You start in one corner and knit a long triangle until 50% of your yarn is used up. Then you change the direction of knitting, make another triangle (no sewing involved!) and bind off.
The yarn I used is a Zauberball by Schoppel, colorway “Oktoberfest” – I love this yarn for socks, and I have used it for my favorite design “Ecken und Kanten”. I just love to knit until the next color shows up!
This pattern is not available as a download, but in print in the German beginning knitter’s magazine “Sabrina Special – Einfach Stricken.” The English version will be available sometime in the future, please be patient and watch this space!
Happy Birthday, Mom!
Tomorrow is my Mom’s birthday, and this is my gift for her: A pair of very warm socks made of Wollmeise Twin (colorway “Suzanne”). I knit half of the second sock during my flight to New York, the rest during my stay there and I wove in the ends while waiting for my flight back. A pair of well-traveled socks for a great woman. Happy Birthday, Mom!
P. S.: I will post about Vogue Knitting Live in New York during the next couple of days!
Matchmaker
Here is my new design: Matchmaker! A generous cowl that can also be worn as a small triangular shawlette. The shape is new and special and it’s supereasy to knit. Only knit stitches, an increase here and there and some k2togs – that’s it! No complicated techniques and a result that looks particularly pretty in a combination of handdyed yarns. The pink-and-grey-version is made of two skeins of Wollmeise Pure, colorways “So long Kitty” and “Xaverl”, and for the blue one I used “Vincent” and “Sail the 7 Seas”:
In case you want a quicker project and an even warmer cowl, you can make the DK Version (mine is Tutu dark and Dunkle Kirsche):
Here’s a little video in which I show how to wear it (Vimeo-Link).
I am really happy about this one and hope you will enjoy knitting it, too!
Pattern is available for 3.60 Euros here in my Ravelry Store.
Pimp your Bag
It’s been about a year that I own this little black bag (“Side Effect” by Tom Bihn), but I have started using it only recently. It’s not exactly stylish, but such a pleasure to use: several pockets inside, rings to clip your key-chain on and a zippered pouch on the back for the really important things. Also, you can hide the hip belt and add a shoulder strap. And it holds much more than you would guess! In short: I love this little bag, but I wanted it to look a little more interesting. So I took a strand of Wollmeise yarn and prettified it knitter-style:
The heart is embroidered in knit-stitch. Now it goes really well with my crocheted iPhone-cover and my Key Thingie.
When looking at Tom Bihn’s website, I found that they suggest putting the little black bag into a bigger one – what a revelation! I like to switch between bags, and it has happened more than once that I left something important behind because I forgot to re-pack it: Earphones, mints or (worst of all!) my bus ticket. From now on, all these things will be in the little black bag and it will either be used solo or inside one of my bigger bags. Then I also knew how I would put my “Swift Knitting Bag” (also Tom Bihn) to use. I liked it because it is lightweight and roomy, but I did not feel comfortable using it as my daily bag because it only contains transparent zippered pouches:
For tissues and my glasses that’s all right, but where would I hide my money and my phone? With the little black bag that problem is solved: I just use a key strap to clip it to one of the rings inside the knitting bag (where you can also clip pouches with knitting accessories and cosmetics). The rings are really useful: I can now clip my water bottle on so it will be upright all the time and not cause any messes.
And this is what my knitting-mom-on-the-run-bag looks like when it’s (almost) filled (the black “Side Effect” Bag is on the bottom):
And there is also room for my knitting (prototype for a new design that I am really excited about – pattern to be published in the next couple of days!):
I have been using it like this for a couple of days and like it quite a bit! The only thing I really miss is a big, comfy shoulder strap so I could wear the bag cross-body, which I usually do with all of my bags. I am also thinking about taking it to VogueKnittingLive to New York next week, where I will enjoy classes, inspiration and the company of many great knitters!
New Pattern Booklet in German
Here is my new pattern booklet for those knitters here in Germany who do not have access to the internet or prefer to knit from a book rather from a screen:
Suzanne, the Sock
When I visited Wollmeise a couple of weeks ago, I needed a little carry-on-project that I could knit while waiting for the plane, during the flight (luckily no one confiscated my knitting needles during security check!) and while chatting away with other knitters on Claudia’s red sofas. As you know, I am a big fan of simple toe-up socks (yes, I am knitting “Spice Man” by Yarnissima again), and this time I am using Wollmeise Twin, colorway “Suzanne”. It is just so fascinating how the colors arrange to cute stripes during knitting! No need for a complicated pattern, the yarn makes great-looking socks almost by itself. I used two stitches more than usually because I wanted to achieve a size between the 38/39 and 40/41 in the pattern. My shoe size used to be 39, but my feet apparantly grew during my pregnancies. So now I ususally wear 40, and I wanted to make size 40 socks – which turn out to be a little too loose. Maybe the two additional stitches were a mistake? Let’s see. I will finish these socks and if I find them to large indeed, I will gift them to someone with slightly bigger feet. I just hope that the recipient will love the unusual colors just as much as I do – otherwise it would be a waste of the pretty yarn!
Stricken macht noch schöner
Mein Buch “Stricken macht schön” hat eine kleine Beauty-OP hinter sich: Vor ein paar Wochen fragte mich mein Verlag BoD, ob sie mein Buch als Teil der Reihe “Edition BoD” neu auflegen dürfen. Herausgeber der Reihe ist Vito von Eichborn, Gründer des Eichborn Verlags und Buchkenner. Da habe ich natürlich sofort Ja gesagt! Das Cover wurde extra für die Neuausgabe aufgehübscht, und ich finde es sehr gelungen. Der Preis ist der gleiche geblieben, aber die Schrift im Inneren ist jetzt etwas größer und noch besser lesbar. Bei ebook.de gibt’s das Buch schon jetzt versandkostenfrei – rechtzeitig für den Gabentisch Eurer liebsten Strickerin!