The Joy of Winter :)

Tags

Bee Eater, box project bag, box project bags, cables, celtic cable, cheerful, grey, handknit, handmade, Johannesburg, johannesburg mornings, johannesburg weather, Kingfisher, knit, Knitting, linda's treehouse, project bag, project bags, sheep, south african yarn, stash, Sunshine Grows, sweater, travel, wool, yarn, yarns, Yarnstash

I find winter in Johannesburg very pleasant and a joy.  It is not extremely cold, and the sun is pleasant and comforting.  I would not mind very much if we had our fair share of snow, since I do love snow.

But in Johannesburg we make the most of the pleasant winters days.  Like spending a glorious sunny cozy morning, having a cup of coffee and enjoying the stunning view of the country clubs’ lawns.  I bit dry in patches, which is to be expected in mid winter.

Winter Mornings in Johannesburg

I have been patiently knitting away at my grey sweater.  I have already reached the under the arm length, and have now cast on for the sleeves.  The progress is steady, and I am loving the way the cable insert is turning out.  I have no pattern for this, so I will need to look at the top construction as soon as the sleeves are long enough.

Grey Sweater Progress

Grey Sweater Progress

Grey Sweater Progress

Grey Sweater Progress

And I spoiled myself with a little bit of happy mail.  Stunning bright, cheerful yarns from Linda’s Treehouse, in Kingfisher.  I chose Bee Eater and Sunshine Grows.  I think these would be great summer wear items.  🙂  Or winter, as they are so cheerful.

New Stash Yarn

My latest find in project  bags are these Box Project bags.  They are square and deep with a zipper.  If you open them all the way, you can fold the top back and they double as a portable fabric yarn bowl.  The cute sheepies print on these were just irresistible.  I got two sizes, one for sock size projects and one for shawl size projects.

Box Project Bags

Box Project Bags

Box Project Bags

Greetings :)

Tags

bear, bear fur, bears, cables, celtic cable, hand knitted, handknit, handknitted, handknitting, handmade, handmade bear, Handmade Bears, knit, knits, Knitting, miniature bear, sweater

Becky Bear is saying Hello to everyone.

She is finally all stitched and put together, and is even wearing a white glittery tutu and a pretty butterfly brooch.

The fur was a gift from my sister, and I absolutely love the way it worked for this bear. I used a bit of leather for the paw pads, and kept her as simple as possible.

Becky Bear

Becky Bear

Becky Bear

Becky Bear

Becky Bear

Currently on my needles is a rather big and brave project. 🙂  I decided to cast on a sweater for myself.  I have had this lovely and soft grey lambs wool in my stash for a bit, and have been wanting to knit a sweater for myself for some time now.  So finally it happened and I got started.  It is a plain sweater with not to much detail, but I am putting in a panel of Celtic cables, as I love the way they look.

Grey Sweater

Grey Sweater

Grey Sweater

Great timing

Tags

blanket, crochet blanket, crocheting, granny squares, granny squares blanket, Johannesburg, Johannesburg sunset, love jozi, progress, stratus wrap, sunset, winter, winterwrap, wip, Wrap

Saturday morning dawned with with clouds and cooler weather.  But the end of the day surprised us with this stunning view.  The clouds reminded me of an oil painting.  This is the view from my kitchen, and I used no filters and no touch ups.

Sunset

My Granny Square blanket now has a border, and just in time for the more chilly weather that rolled in on Saturday.  Even though the days are still pretty awesome, and gets warm enough to get by with just a light sweater, the mornings and evenings are now chilly enough for something warmer.

Granny Square Blanket

Granny Square Blanket

Granny Square Blanket

Granny Square Blanket

And with that said, I am very happy with the progress on my Stratus Wrap.  It is going to be a nice big and warm wrap and I can already tell that it is going to be with me wherever I go this winter.

Stratus Wrap

Happy Crafting!

A quick update before a very long weekend. :)

Tags

blanket, crochet, crochet blanket, crocheting, granny squares, granny squares blanket, handknit, handknitted, handknitting, handmade, Johannesburg, Johannesburg sunset, knit, Knitting, love jozi, Shawl, stratus wrap, triangular, triangular shawl, Wrap

With the Easter weekend, I have been able to craft a bit on my WIPs’ and I am so happy with the Granny Square blanket that I am making.  The blanket squares have all been joined, and I am working on a border.  The border may take a bit longer, as I have decided to just keep going at it with the colours and wool I have for this project until I run out.

Granny Square Blanket

Granny Square Blanket

Granny Square Blanket

Granny Square Blanket

My Tanis Triangular Shawl is complete.  It blocked beautifully, and I would recommend this easy to knit shawl to anyone.  I am considering knitting a second one, and doing the large lace border, as I stopped after a short piece of the lace border, and although I love this shawl, I think another one is definitely a must knit.

Completed – Tanis Triangular Shawl

Completed – Tanis Triangular Shawl

Completed – Tanis Triangular Shawl

I also started on a Stratus Wrap for myself.  This is a great pattern, and it is so easy and knits up so fast.  I am able to take it with me, and during the Easter weekend my sister and I enjoyed a good lot of knitting while the men in the family tended to the fire and a typical South African braai.  It will probably become a bit to big to carry around for much longer, but I have yarn and ideas for the next projects ready as well.  I added a spot of colour to the stratus wrap, specially since our Johannesburg sunsets are just so beautiful and you can not resist the evenings and the fiery colours.

The Stratus Wrap

The Stratus Wrap

The Stratus Wrap

Johannesburg Sunsets

I am working on a small embroidery piece and unfortunately the grey rainy chilly weather on the weekend was not so good for getting good pictures, it was a good time to hibernate with tea and stitching.  I will hopefully be able to show my embroidery soon.

It is a very short week for me, only 2 working days and a day workshop (work not craft related) and then a 5 day weekend.  LOL.  Yes I am ready for the long weekend here, and have loads and loads of projects and ideas to keep me busy, regardless of what the weather is bringing this time of the year.  It has started to become cooler, and some trees have now started to turn colour and drop leaves.  It is beautiful and I am so happy to have Winter coming to visit.

Take care and enjoy the new week.

WIP’s – Making good progress

Tags

blanket, blocking, crochet blanket, crocheting, granny squares, granny squares blanket, handcrochet, handknitted, handmade, Knitting, lace knitting, lace shawl, on my needles, Shawl

Even though it should be Fall here, it is still stunning weather, with warm and sunny days.  The weekend was perfect, and being outside and enjoying the sunny weather was delightful.

I did however work a lot on the Blues Blanket, and completed the final round, in a pretty grey colour “Fog”.  And as it should happen, I ran out of yarn, less than 3 squares to go.  Lucky for me the LYS has stock, and I need to drop by for a bit more.

Blues Blanket Square progress

Ran out of yarn

Ran out of yarn

 

But that gave me time to finish my Tanis Triangular shawl.  I did stop the lacy edge shorter than the pattern, and I am still very pleased with it.  It is already blocking.  I may have to wait a bit before wearing it, as Fall is not really here yet.  Today is a stunning 30 degrees Celsius here, very hot still.

Tanis Triangular Shawl – Now blocking

Tanis Triangular Shawl – Now blocking

Tanis Triangular Shawl – Now blocking

I may just knit another one of these, with the bigger lace edge, it is an absolutely stunning pattern, and it knits so extremely quickly and easily.

Still doing “the Blues”

Tags

crochet, crochet blanket, crocheting, duck egg blue, granny squares, granny squares blanket, handcrochet, handknitted, handmade, hartlam, hartlam yarn, knit, knitted, Knitting, on my needles, plain sailing, Shawl, triangular, triangular shawl

I am still doing “The Blues” it would seem.  And definitely a Blue Period I am enjoying tremendously.

My Blues Blanket is now onto the next round of colour, which happens to be Duck Egg Blue.  I am totally loving this colour.

The Blues Blanket – Progress (Duck Egg Blue)

The Blues Blanket – Progress (Duck Egg Blue)

The Blues Blanket – Progress (Duck Egg Blue)

And I have started some knitting for Fall and Winter.  With the Autumn Equinox coming up this weekend here in the Southern Hemisphere, it is only fitting to start some warmer knits.  On my needles (the new ones from Germany) is a Tanis Triangular Shawl in Hartlam Plain Sailing, a stunning shades of blue hand dyed yarn, with a silver sparkle.  I have not put the beads in the body of the shawl, but I may add some to the lacy edge of the shawl.

Plain Sailing Shawl

Plain Sailing Shawl

Plain Sailing Shawl

 

Happy crafting all.

A Little bit of Mohair knitting lately

Tags

crochet, duckies, Knitting, love jozi, mohair, mohair knitting, projects, purse, purses, rain, rains, scarf, scarves, Shawl, weather

I bought the most amazing mohair from Natural Yarns, and could not wait much longer to get started with some knitting projects on it.  It is so amazingly soft and light, you hardly feel it.

So I knitted a triangular shawl / scarf in a blue gray, for a colleague of mine, that is having her birthday next week.  We share the same office suites, and are so alike, it is lovely.

The brown and beige is my best colour to wear to the office, as it makes getting dressed just so much easier.  So this pretty scarf is just right for it.  It knitted up amazingly fast.  And with the rainy weather we have been having, it is actually perfect timing.

And then I crocheted my first ever purse and used these cute handles with the duckies for it.  I always thought it looks so complicated, but it was not at all.  It was a lovely project, went really quickly, and was very easy.  I have more purse handles, and will be making more of these in the future.

And just in case you may be wondering about the weather here, this week had been a rainy and very wet week.  It rained most of last weekend, and it may still rain most of this weekend as well.  We are grateful for the rain, as we needed it so very much.

This was the city and the streets during the week.  Very damp, cloudy, foggy, low clouds hiding the buildings, and roads that flooded into little rivers at times. But we are still loving it.

 

Birthday week

Tags

brioche, gift, Knitting, package, pattern, project bag, project bags, stash, stephen and penelope, undercoverotter, wool, yarn, yarns, Yarnstash

This week will be my birthday and I finally opened the package.  Remember this one?

Happy Birthday from Amsterdam

I was so happy to open this package and discover all the wonderful goodies inside.  Two very soft and very squishy skeins from Undercover Otter, a new project bag from Stephen and Penelope in Amsterdam, just what I needed for the upcoming winter and the scarves and shawls that will be on needles again soon.  And a brand new pattern for Brioche.  How interesting, as this is the one stitch I have promised myself to learn and master this year.  I am really looking forward to getting this stitch done properly.

Happy Birthday from Amsterdam

Happy Birthday from Amsterdam

Happy Birthday from Amsterdam

Happy Birthday from Amsterdam

Happy Birthday from Amsterdam

 

Adding to my “collection” of needles

Tags

amsterdam, berlin, die wolllust, Gifts, goodies, knitpro, Knitting, knitting needles, stephen and penelope, travel

Following on my previous post, I want to share with you the beautiful knitting needles I ordered from Die WollLust in Berlin.  I placed the order online from Johannesburg, and my daughter were so kind to collect the needles for me when they visited Berlin. The lovely Birgit Freyer helped me online via emails and assisted me with my order.  I could send the money with my daughter to pay upon collection.

The first set is Knit Pro Melodies of Life.  It is beautifully boxed with 8 sets of needles, 6 cords, extension pieces, stoppers, and all the bits you will need, including a sweet little poach to keep all the bits in.  Also in the box is a set of stitch holders, in pretty and cheerful shiny colours, and two beautiful sets of handmade earrings.

I love this boxed set.

Love my gifts

Love my gifts

Love my gifts

 

I also included a range of Knit Pro Royale needles.  I decided to get 12 sets, ranging from 3.0 mm to 8.0 mm and a few connector cables.  These will be so handy and will go a very long way towards expanding my current range of needles.

Love my gifts

Love my gifts

Love my gifts

Since I started using these needles, I have slowly but certainly been adding to the needles I could buy here.  I still love and use straights, but enjoy working with these much more, as I feel my hands are not strained so much.

My daughter and son in law also went shopping while they were in Holland, and surprised my with this soft and squishy package.

It is an early birthday gift, but I am being good and not opening it just yet.  My birthday is only next month.  🙂  I am going to try and wait.

It is from Stephen and Penelope Fine Yarns in Amsterdam.

Happy Birthday from Amsterdam

 

2017 is going well.

Tags

fall sweater, finish project, Knitting, magic ball, mohair, mohair knitting, on my needles, Rowan summer tweed, rowan yarn, Shawl, summer knitting, Summer Tweed, sweater

2017 is going well.  I have finished the green sweater by finally adding the collar.  It is looking pretty now, and I am sure I will enjoy wearing it a lot in the coming cooler Fall days.  I am happy with the overall end result, and it feels good.

Summer Tweed Sweater

Summer Tweed Sweater

On my needles is this beauty.  A shawl in mohair and magic ball.  I am loving the mohair, and the colour is just perfect.  It is knitting up fast, and super soft.

Mohair Shawl

Mohair Shawl