Sooza's Knitting Stuff

 
The scent of lilac in bloom is everywhere right now. It's the most amazing thing. I get home, out of the car and am surrounded by this beautiful spring like scent. And lilac not only grows in gardens but also as hedgerows alongside the street. I love this time of the year.
 

 
Spring has really arrived in our neck in the woods and I am mighty glad for it. It's so lovely to see all those trees in full bloom and the hyacinths, tulips, daffodils and not to forget those pesky dandelions, which are a pain in the neck. Our little vegetable patch seems to do nicely, too. The salad peeks out and we'll hopefully complain about way too many radishes some time in near future.
 

 
Besides spring feeling there is still lots of knitting going on in the house of Sooza. The latest finished shawl I'm mightily proud of. I took the basic construction of Miralda's Triangular Shawl and added in different patterns. The pretty hearts edging is from Nancy Bush's Greta Garbo Shawl which is pictured on page 2 of my copy of "Knitted Lace of Estonia". Unfortunately the shawl pattern isn't included in the book due to space restrictions or something. So I took the photograph and charted the edging by examining it closely. Initially I wanted to fill the inner part of the shawl with the star pattern only. But somehow the Greta Garbo pattern stitch wouldn't leave me alone. So I gave in and took the basic Greta Garbo pattern stitch from Bush's book and incorporated it in the shawl.
 

 
Knitting this shawl has been tremendous fun and a great knitting adventure. Should I ever find the time I actually plan on publishing this pattern. There's been lots of requests on Ravelry. If it just wouldn't be quite as time consuming to make the charts, check the numbers, write some halfway readable instructions and put it all into a nice layout.
 

 
This has been the second time I've worked with this particular yarn and I absolutely love it. It's so different from the over-processed stuff that you can buy in your run of the mill local yarn shop. It has body and loft and blocks so nicely. And the best thing is, the un-dyed heather grey is much, much softer then the dyed yarn I've used for Miralda. Both shawls used only one skein of this light fingering weight yarn. IMO, this is the most fun you can't get out of a measely EUR 6.95.
 

 
Details
Yarn: 1 skein of Filcolana New Zealand Lammeuld, 600 m/100 g, light grey heather
Needles: 4mm
Size: 170 cm wide, 70 cm deep
Pattern: Inspired by Nancy Bush's Greta Garbo Shawl. Construction similar to Miralda's Triangular Shawl. Star pattern for shawl body from Laminaria shawl.
 
More details on the Ravelry project page.

Well, it's snowing up a little storm out there and the wind keeps heaping up snowbanks in the most inconvenient places. Like our door for example. But I won't complain. It's weekend, all the snow looks real pretty and we don't really need to go outside if we don't want to. Gives me the chance to get in some knitting and spinning and blogging and of course some quality time with Little Girl and the best husband of all. So, on to the blogging part.

When KnitPro started to make clear acrylic needle tips (KnitPro Spectra = KnitPicks Zephyr Acrylic) for their interchangeable needle system I was instantly hooked. They looked so stylish and the idea of lightweight, flexible and warm needles appealed to me. I bought a couple of tips to give them a try. Even though some people complained about icky noises and about the needles being too sticky I got along very well with mine. So when KnitPro offered a special needle set in fuchsia I couldn't help but buying the whole set. I'm a sucker for everything pink/fuchsia/purple. The set contains 8 needle tips from size 3.5 to 8 mm and 4 different cables. It's not as if I really needed more knitting needles but who can refuse something that looks like this?
 

 
The Spectras feature the same sharp tips as all the other KnitPro needles. I like the fact that they are less slippery than the metal and wooden needles and that they are more flexible and kinda feel nicer to the touch. Not sure how long the smallest size needle will survive though because it really BENDS quite a bit. But maybe that's the trick. I like the little case the set came in. My other needle tips and cables fit in too so now I finally have a place where to keep them all in one place. Since it's a KnitPro product it has the same quality issues as all their other needles. On one pair of needles the acrylic part of the needle is glued to the metal casing off center so their is this place where the yarn catches. I contacted the seller about a replacement and will see what happens. Personally, I think these needles are great value for your money and a good investment for a beginner or if you want to complete your needle collection. It might not be ideal choice of needle for if you're knitting really tight or if you like to work with acrylic yarns. I shudder at thought of the electrostatic buzz you'd be creating.

The first thing that came from this needles was an airy piece of nothing I dubbed Ice Leaf Scarf. The construction and lace pattern are inspired by a commercially available pattern Cedar Leaf Shawlette.
 


Details
Pattern: Cedar Leaf Shawlette by Alana Dakos
Needles: 4 mm
Yarn: 25 grams of Cascade Baby Alpaca Lace (100% Aplaca, 400 m/50 grams), color: Carribean
Size: 12 cm wide, 190 cm long

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
The little hat was inspired by the Binary scarf that had been featured in Kitty.com, issue Winter 2006. It's knitted from 4-ply sock yarn and the binary code actually contains a message. I used the converter provided here to convert ASCII text into ones and zeros. It's a really fun knit. Currently working on another one for best husband of all.

That's what the world in my little corner of the world looked like this morning. Pics were taken on the way back from play school in the little park/playground right behind our street.


 

 

 

So lange es stricktechnisch nichts Neues zu zeigen gibt, bleibe ich beim Zeigen von schönen Blumen. Hunderte von Perlblumen auf einer Obstwiese - gesehen letzte Woche beim Spaziergang im wunderschönen Britzer Garten. Im Moment ein absoluter Traum und wie jedes Jahr sehr sehenswert sind die Tulpenwiesen im Britzer Garten.

As long as there is not much to show knittingwise I'll keep up the eye candy flowers routine. This time I bring you hundreds of lovely grape hyacinths beneath the fruit trees. Seen last week in Berlin's beautiful Britzer Garten. Each and every year an absolute sight are the tulip meadows in the same park.

Da ich die korrekten Ruhezeiten für die Feiertagskateen nie auf die Reihe bekomme, blüht hier schon seit einigen Wochen ein Weihnachtskaktus fröhlich vor sich hin. Die zarttransparenten Blüten mit dem leicht rosa Schimmer und dem auffälligen Staub- und Fruchtblättern sind immer wieder ein Blickfang, egal welcher Monat auf dem Kalender gerade aufgeschlagen ist.

I never seem to be able to manage to keep up with the recommended rest periods for holiday cacti. Well, thanks to my inattentiveness these wonderfully translucent blossoms with just barely a hint of fuchsia have already been adorning my window sill for a couple of weeks now. They are always such an eye-candy no matter what calender sheet we are on.

Gesehen letztes Wochenende beim Spaziergang. Wenn ich nun auch noch wüsste was für ein Baum das wäre. Vogelkirsche, vielleicht?!

Seen last weekend on a stroll through the park. Now if I only knew what kind of tree this is. Wild cherry, maybe?!

Die Rittersterne (Hippeastrum) sind eine Pflanzengattung aus der Familie der Amaryllisgewächse (Amaryllidaceae). Die Rittersterne umfassen etwa 80 Arten von Zwiebelpflanzen, die in Südamerika in Gebieten mit einer ausgeprägten Trockenzeit wachsen. Die in Europa als Zierpflanzen kultivierten Rittersterne sind überwiegend Hybriden. Die Hippeastrum-Hybriden enthalten, ebenso wie auch die Belladonnalilie das Alkaloid Lycorin.
Umgangssprachlich werden die Arten dieser Gattung oft auch Amaryllis genannt beziehungsweise mit Vertretern der Gattung Amaryllis verwechselt. Ursprünglich war von Carl von Linné die Gattung Amaryllis viel weiter gefasst worden als heute. Später kam es dann zu einer Aufteilung der Großgattung und zur Abspaltung der südamerikanischen Gattung Hippeastrum. Botanisch korrekt klassifiziert umfasst Amaryllis heute ausschließlich die südafrikanische Gattung Amaryllis mit der Belladonnalilie (A. belladonna). Mehr in Wikipedia >

Hippeastrum is a genus of about 70-75 species and 600+ hybrids and cultivars of bulbous plants in the family Amaryllidaceae, native to tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas from Argentina north to Mexico and the Caribbean. Some species are grown for their large showy flowers. These plants are popularly but erroneously known as Amaryllis, an African genus in the same family.
"Hippeastrum" is Greek for "horseman's star" (also known today as "knight's star") and was chosen in 1837 by the Honorable Reverend William Herbert, Dean of Manchester. No one is entirely sure why he picked this name although buds on the verge of opening do look something like a horse's ear and clearly the blossoms do resemble six-pointed stars. It seems likely however, as William Herbert was both a clergyman and something of an expert on early medieval history, that he chose the name because of the plants striking resemblance to the 'morning star', a medieval weapon used by horsemen. A version of the weapon was also called a 'holy water sprinkler', an ecclesiastical object the Dean would have been familiar with. Read more on Wikipedia >

In einigen Blogs habe ich nun schon die Aktion "Eye Candy Friday" gesehen und diesen Freitag habe ich auch mal etwas Schönes beizutragen. Eine meiner beiden Orchideen blüht wieder Ist sie nicht zauberhaft?!

I've been looking at "Eye Candy Friday" pictures all over Knitblogland for some time now and this Friday I've got to share something, too. One of my two orchids started blooming again Isn't she a beauty?!