Cake Addict

Bumblebee's Sweater

2007-11-19T23:04:00.000+01:00

Here's a sweater I knit for Charlotte before she was born. Both the Sirdar yarn and pattern have sadly been discontinued. If you look closely at the picture you can see the little pockets. Because there's nothing babies like more than to chill with their hands in their pockets.

Baby hat and blanket

2007-11-18T15:18:00.000+01:00

No knitting progress to report. I haven't had the courage to go through my stash and look for evidence of moths yet and have definitely lost my knitting mojo.

In happier news, Jamie and I took Charlotte out to a restaurant for the first time. We were a wee bit nervous, but she was an absolute star and spent most of the time giggling and looking up at the lights. I love that girl so much it hurts.

Here are a few things I knit the little muffin before she was born.

Rib Check Baby Blanket

Cotton hat from LMKG. Both were knit using Blue Sky Dyed Cotton in colour 614 (drift).

Moth Update

2007-11-14T09:50:00.000+01:00

Well, I've found those dirty little bastards in every room of the house I've checked so far. In my sweaters in the bedroom, on the cat post in the family room and in an old knit hat that I hate in the entryway. I threw away all my sweaters- drastic times call for drastic measures- and am currently spending every spare second vaccuuming and washing and wiping down surfaces. We've also bagged up a bunch of stuff to be drycleaned. I'm not the best housekeeper in town but we also don't live in absolute filth.

Uck-I feel guilty for having moths and every second I spend chasing down moths is a second I don't spend with my little girl and that makes me feel like a terrible mother. I know I can't spend every second with her and frankly she needs to be able to amuse herself (which she does quite well), but I still feel like I'm neglecting her lately. This whole stupid moth issue pushes so many of my buttons and just creeps me out.

I'm tired of living in a furnished apartment. I want a place that feels more like home. I want to be surrounded by our own stuff. We've lived this wonderful jetsetting lifestyle for almost 4 years now and I'm ready to settle down.

Enough whining. I need a shower, there are loads of laundry to be done and breakfast is sounding good right about now. What was that I was saying about a jetsetting lifestyle?? In an attempt to end this post on a non-whiny note and because I hate posting without photos, here's a picture I took of some women knitting when we visited Dubrovnik last October. Not very exciting, but I don't have much knitting progress to report at the moment.

#&$#*$#($)@!@!@^!&@^

2007-11-09T14:55:00.000+01:00

CRAP.

I don't even know where to begin.

I don't know if I can even say/type this out loud.

Here goes:

I'm pretty sure I have a moth problem. I noticed moths flying around months ago but I was pregnant and didn't want to deal with it. Then last week I found two dead moths in my current knitting project box and I can't deny it anymore. Now my baby girl is 12 weeks old and I feel as ready to deal with this probelm as I'll ever be. I threw all the yarn from that box in the freezer but am too freaked out to check the rest of my stash. I've researched on ravelry and the internet but keep finding conflicting information. Some people suggest just chucking your stash. ???!!!!!!! The whole stash???? WTF???

I have some Debbie Bliss Pure Silk and an almost-finished Handmaiden shawl sitting in the freezer . Do I need to throw those out??? What do I do???

Help!!!!

I think I'm going to hyperventilate. And then weep.

My Best Day

2007-08-28T13:14:00.000+02:00

Jamie and I are beyond ecstatic to announce the arrival of our gorgeous daughter Charlotte Anne Roberts. She arrived at 12:56 am in Amsterdam on August 17, 2006 and weighed in at 4.032 kg (8 lbs 14 oz).

Giving birth to my girl was an amazing experience. I feel fortunate that it was a relatively short labour (11 hours) and I'm so proud of myself for staying focused and getting through it without pain medication. I feel a bit like superwoman.

I don't have the words to describe how I feel. Every minute with her is an absolute joy and I've never been this happy in my entire life. I can't stop smelling her head and showering her with kisses. Life is blissful.

I've been busy

2007-08-04T09:31:00.000+02:00

38 weeks and 3 days.

Pink Socks

2007-03-12T11:33:00.000+01:00

Pattern: Priscilla's Dream Socks

Yarn: Koigu KPPPM in colour P200

I finished these ages ago but finally got around to taking a photo of them. They're a little loose around the ankles but I love them anyway. Is it just me or do knitted socks look ugly when not on actual feet?

I'm back

2006-11-20T19:32:00.000+01:00

I haven't posted for awhile, mostly because I've been trying to figure out where I'm going with this blog. As soon as I started reading blogs I decided I had to have one. But once I had one, I didn't quite know what to do with it.

There's a part of me that feels completely self-indulgent for writing a blog. Why would anyone want to read what I've written? I also have a very difficult time writing when I know someone else is going to read it. I end up editing my words so much that the real message and my voice don't come out and a bland bunch of words are left. And I never tell anyone that I have a blog because I'm a bit embarrassed. It feels like such a public place to be so personal.

So I had a long think about why I really wanted a blog and whether I should continue or not. And I recognized that I love keeping up with people's lives on blogs but I don't know if that's what I'd really like to do with mine. I also love to look at blogs to get knitting project ideas, reviews and yarn inspiration. I love that you can type in Koigu 432 and then link to a blog where you can see what it looks like knitted up. So that's what I'm going to do with mine. For now, it will be more of an on-line gallery of knitting projects plus some other stuff occasionally thrown in.

Priscilla's Dream Socks in Koigu P200. I've finished one and am halfway through the second. I'm following the pattern and did short row heels but I get a hole in one side of them. I'm trying to be a bit less anal with my knitting so I'm just going to ignore the holes and focus on how fun they are. Why on earth I wanted pink and purple socks I do not know...

Summer

2006-08-31T23:45:00.000+02:00

Summer really is over, or at least it appears to be. In the last two weeks we've gotten the hardest falling rain I've ever seen. It started right about the time Claudia was in town and hasn't stopped.

At least she had a little nice weather when she was here. And by the way, she's sweet as can be.

Despite the recent downpour, July was a different story. Jamie and I went riding around near the canals a few weeks ago and took a few pictures. It was such a glorious day.

Up near Brouwersgracht somewhere

A houseboat

In front of De Afstap where I get my fix of Rowan. It was a Sunday and they were closed... usually there are baskets of yarn hanging in front of the windows.

I have a few knitting updates but haven't gotten around to taking pictures of my finished objects. Today, perhaps.

A girl and her trebuchet

2006-08-31T23:28:00.000+02:00

Ta-Daa!

2006-08-25T16:30:00.000+02:00

Pattern: Chick from Rowan Classic Babies
Yarn: Rowan Cashsoft Baby DK in color #806 (Borage)
Rowan Kidsilk Haze

If anyone's still there...

2006-07-11T22:35:00.000+02:00

So I want to make this:

I need to do a crochet edging for a baby sweater and I was searching online for some help when I discovered the NexStitch website. I don't normally like crochet but I like this and I want to make it. But under the skill level description it says:

This tunisian crochet shawl pattern is listed at an intermediate/difficult skill level because of the chosen yarn. It should be attempted by those with some tunisian crochet experience who demonstrate an ability to work with multi-stepped patterns.

Umm... I don't know anything about Tunisian crochet or multi-stepped patterns. I know the basic crochet stitches and that's it. Do I have any chance of actually making this thing?

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

I heart Handmaiden

2006-04-02T22:35:00.000+02:00

Despite the continued trouble with our camera, I managed to take a quick shot tonight before it died. Here's a picture of Mr. Bean hanging out with some Handmaiden yarn that will soon turn into a bias shawl.

My dad sent it to me for my birthday and it's so delicious I can hardly stand it. The yarn that is, not the cat. Although he is pretty cute.

Speaking of cameras, does anyone have a recommendation? We're looking for a nice basic camera with a good battery life. Oh, and it can't be a Sony. Thoughts?

I don't get it

2006-02-06T20:20:00.000+01:00

Hmmm... I'm making Chick from Rowan Classic Babies and am a bit confused. It's a cardigan, so you knit the back, left front, right front and sleeves and then join and knit the collar. Like this:

I've finished the back and am doing the left front. You cast on 33 stitches and then knit in moss stitch for a few rows. Then you knit 5 stitches in moss stitch and place them on a stitch holder and continue across the row in moss stitch. You then work the 28 stitches for a certain number of inches and then bind off.

Later on you're supposed to go back and pick up the 5 stitches on the stitch holder and "rejoin yarn with RS facing. Cont in moss st until band, when slightly stretched, fits up left front opening edge to neck shaping, ending with RS facing for next row. Break yarn and leave sts on a holder. Slip st band in place."

Uh, I don't get it. This isn't my first sweater but the way the pattern goes about doing the button holes confuses me. As I understand it, you keep knitting back and forth across those 5 stitches and are left with a detached vertical strip. (Does that make sense?) So how to do get the button band attached to the left front??? What does "slip st band in place" mean?

I'm assuming that I'm completely missing something. Does anyone have any suggestions? And while I have your attention, do you guys do swatches for baby stuff? I'm completely lazy and figure that with baby stuff it doesn't really matter but then I get annoyed if it seems too small- which it always does because I'm in the running for The Tightest Knitter on Earth title.

Köln Christmas market!

2005-12-04T12:50:00.000+01:00

Yesterday Jamie and I went to Cologne to see the Christmas market. When we were there 2 years ago, I saw the most beautiful hand-made wooden music box. I didn't end up buying it and have been pining for it ever since. Well I ran into it again in a little shop and bought it this time. It plays Silent Night and I absolutely ADORE it!!

The picture doesn't do it justice.

Here it is with some of my other European Christmas goodies.

I also managed to find some yarn at the market (suprise, suprise). It was just hanging in one of these stalls calling my name.

I can tell that it's 100% wool but it had no tag or label on it, so I have no idea where it came from. I also bought some cookie presses to make Speculaas, these tasty spicy gingery Dutch/German cookies. Since you can buy them everywhere here, I don't think I'll actually make them until we go back to North America. Anyone out there have any other good recipes that would work well with a cookie press? I've never actually used one.

And in knitting news, I finished Purly's Cable and Seed Stitch Baby Hat (in Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino in colour 605) about a month ago but just haven't gotten around to posting it. I wasn't paying attention and ended up doing garter stitch instead of stockinette for the first few rows so it doesn't curl up, but I still love it. I'm working on hat #2 for Baby Nap, due at the end of January.

Tomorrow is Sinterklaas here in Holland. It's my absolute least favourite holiday in the whole entire world. You'll see why...

Yummies

2005-11-08T12:24:00.000+01:00

To make up for the fact that I didn't buy any yarn in Sicily (there wasn't much to be found), Jamie picked up some Baby Cashmerino for me when he was in London on Sunday. Look!

I got 2 balls each of the pink and green and 3 of the purple. A few of my friends are having babies in the next few months and I'm going to be knitting lots of hats and matching booties. I have to send out some major props to Jamie for picking up the yarn for me. He raced to John Lewis before they closed and had to deal with a grumpy salesperson, and he didn't complain once. Hugs for Jamie!

In other knitting news, I cast on for Purly Whites' Cable and Seed Stitch Baby Hat and I absolutely love it! I'm having such fun knitting it that I'm not getting any work done. And the Baby Cashmerino is delicious to work with.

In addition to knitting yummies, I also have some other tempting treats around the house. On Saturday, I got up early and took a train ride 3 hours EACH way to spend a day in Brussels. Why, you ask? To buy CHOCOLATE.

At first, I was a bit embarrassed to admit that I went all the way to Brussels just for chocolate. But travelling 6 hours and planning my day solely around food is such an absolute me thing to do that I just had to embrace it. In an attempt to make myself seem slightly less desperate for chocolate, I do have to point out that half of the 30 or so bars that I bought were for my mom and most of the ones I got are for gifts. The funny thing is that I've never been that interested in chocolate. My vices have always been Red Vines, Now 'n Laters and all the sugary stuff, and if I did eat chocolate it was always the cheap stuff. But once I went to Belgium, I was hooked. Galler is my absolute favourite although on this trip I discovered that Pierre Marcolini is also sublime (but more expensive).

I've only eaten one bar so far and have wrapped up all the ones I'm giving as gifts, and I'm hoping my will power will last. Every morning since Sunday I've woken up and have had to convince myself that baking brownies from Galler cocoa isn't a basic human need. Although right about now food and water pale in comparison.

Fluff and filler

2005-10-29T14:16:00.000+02:00

I'm in the process of sorting through all our vacation photos, doing 80 loads of laundry and putting food in the fridge. In the meantime, here are some completely random photos that I like:

My boys! Mr. Bean is black and Buddy is the amber/brown one. And for the record, Buddy is *not* fat. He's just very furry. And maybe a tad portly.

Burg Eltz in Germany. I like to call this photo Leatherman. The background is stunning, but every time I see this picture I just focus on that guy. Leather boots, leather cap and a leather jacket. Dude likes to make a fashion statement.

A sign at the hotel we stayed at in London. I absolutely love the drama: NO ESCAPE.

Vacation

2005-10-23T09:20:00.000+02:00

Off to Sicily, back on Friday...

My first time

2005-10-19T18:12:00.000+02:00

I've been busy working so I haven't gotten any more knitting done on Ruffles. But I will post something that I knit a few years ago.

May I proudly present the very first sweater I ever knitted:

Ta-dah!

I really had no idea what I was doing, which was a good thing because if I had known how complicated the pattern was for my skill level, I never would have attempted it. I ended up going back to the yarn shop for help about a dozen times. This is a darling pattern by Sirdar (3095) and I've knit it a few times now.

Here it is in Sirdar Domino

And FYI, the adorable baby in the picture is now 3. Time really does fly...

Ruffles and fall

2005-10-17T18:02:00.000+02:00

I love fall. It's absolutely my favourite time of year. It's one of those beautiful autumn days when the air is just a little crisp and you want to put on your coziest scarf and go leap into a pile of leaves. I've been inside working all day and this is what I've been looking at:

In knitting news, I’ve started Ruffles from Scarf Style. While I was in London last weekend, I picked up the book and a bunch of Debbie bliss yarn and a few balls of Noro. For this lovely project, I’m using good ole Cotton DK. I’m in loooooove with the colour (we’re getting married), although the cotton is a bit rough on the hands. Oh well, you have to make some sacrifices for love.

Yumm!

Also, just an note: I’m new to this whole blogging thing and I don’t quite know what I’m doing. Usually I’m not a complete moron with computers, but figuring out what I’m doing has been a challenge. I also have an issue with procrastination so I will really work hard at posting regularly.