Currently knitting and baking...

It's beginning to look like christmas here in Germany. We've even had a little bit of snow this week. In between working and finding the perfect christmas decoration, I'm doing a lot of crafting and baking at the moment.

Unfortunately I can't show you all of the knitting and crochet projects I'm working on at the moment because they're mostly gifts for family and friends and I don't want those who read my blog to see their gifts before christmas. However, you can have a look at my knit and crochet gift ideas on pinterest. 

I've almost finished knitting this herringbone cowl, it's a really cool stitch (never seen it before) and you need only 100grams of wool (if you have any leftovers). I chose a different colour because it's a gift to wear with neutral colours. 

I also want to take part in this Knitalong where we are going to knit a cushion with a fair isle Norwegian style pattern. I've ordered the wool for the small cushion from their shop. It's a fantastic. I hope to be able to start knitting soon. 

Besides, it's cookie time!!! I've already made a lot last weekend. 

What is your favourite activity during christmas time? Baking or making gifts? Do you have proposals for home made gifts?
Have a nice time eating cookies, drinking mulled wine at the christmas market and decorating your apartment. Love, Kerstine

Project #16: Coin Bracelet

A few weeks ago I put an idea into action that I've been having in my head for months. This is what I'm showing you today. You may already know about my love of Norway and as I happen to be there several times a year, I've always got some Norwegian crowns lying around waiting to be spent during my next visit. 

I like their design a lot, especially the ones with holes in the middle have always been pretty for me.

So I came up with the idea to use a one-crown-coin for a bracelet. This way I can always carry a memory of the country and our great holidays there with me. It's a special souvenir.

The method I used for the bracelet is nothing special but I have never tried it before, so it was new to me. I used a blue cotton thread from my local craft store and the (very good) instructions from the blog Tippy & Tassel. I tied a clasp to the ends and fixed the ends with clear nail polish to prevent them from opening up.

You could surely use different coins, e. g. the five-crowns-coin which is bigger (see the photos), or even a small key and any robust thread. However, I like my new bracelet a lot and I think this would also make a great gift. Which coin or object would you use for a bracelet? Love, Kerstine.

72 hours in London

I've been to London before but I had totally forgotton how fabulous this city is! I enjoyed last weekend so much! Can't wait to come back!!! I'm totally in love... (that's why there are more photos than words this time). We enjoyed...

...great Italian food and coffee...

...nice old buildings and architecture 

...cosy pubs with great local beer and food...

...the must sees...

 

...the mix of contemporary and historical buildings in the city...

...Shopping in Harrods (a littlte bit)

...English breakfast - yum!!!(we don't have it like this in Germany)...

 Hope you like my photos, they're just snapshots of what I particularly loved.
Which European City do you love and why? Where shoud I go next with my husband?

Love, Kerstine

Projects #14 & 15: Crochet Owl Rattle and Baby Slippers

A few weeks ago I crocheted a baby rattle and some tiny slippers for a friend's new born girl. So here's how they turned out. I found the owl pattern on pinterest and immediately wanted to make it. It can be purchased from Tamara Gaal on Ravelry. I already know that I'll make more of those when there are more babies. It's sooo cute! You need many different yarn colours and a rattle ball which I ordered on the internet.

It was quite easy to make, the only boring thing was sewing all the different parts together in the end. But I can live with that if it turns out to be so cool.

The other present I made were a pair of really nice slippers. I used this pattern but you have to be a little creative here as this is only the pattern for the right shoe (the left one naturally has to be a bit different). For the flower, I just figured something out myself. You find a lot of patterns for flowers on the internet, the ladybird is just a crocheted circle with four red stitches plus two black stitches and embroidered dots. I really enjoyed making these things. Love, Kerstine

Project #13: Knitted Cactus

Finally here's a new project. I know, I haven't posted much lately because I just had a lot of things going on - work (you know what I mean) and also private things. I also went on a 10-day-vacation to Southern Norway with my husband (more about that coming in a post soon, I promise).

This is one of my latest project - a knitted cactus. I think, it looks really great!

I got the idea and the pattern for this cactus from the German knitting magazine "Simply Stricken". It's really easy to make and I got to use some of my leftover wool, which is great as I never know what to do with it. 

You just knit a little tube (preferably a rib pattern) from nice yarn (I used both a simple acrylic yarn and a mohair yarn at the same time) and at the end pull it together and fill it with filling material. You can add a little flower if you like. I then glued it into the little flower pot (which I bought at my local craft shop) and put the pins in.

Now it can be used as pin cushion. So it isn't just a nice decoration but can actually come in useful. I'm gonna have to make another one for myself though because I gave this one to a friend for her birthday.

What do you think of my cactus? Have you ever knitted any plants? Love, Kerstine

48 hours in Brussels

We spent last weekend in Brussels, the "capital of Europe" as it's home of the European Union and the European Parliament. I've always wanted to go there (been there once about 10 years ago but can't remember a thing). When I discovered a pretty good hotel deal on the internet, I booked immediately. We got there by train from the middle of Germany in just about 6 hours. And I have to say, it's been a great trip as you can see...

The best place to start your tour of Brussels ist the so-called "Grand Place", where the most beautiful buildings are. There, everything's just bubbling, and - despite the many tourists - it has a great atmosphere. The big building is the town hall by the way.

Here's the town hall again, it's beautiful day and night. 

All in all, Brussels is a city that really feels multicultural, not just because of the many modern buildings of the European Union (which we visited but I didn't take photos of). Brussels itself is bilingual, so all the signs, menus and so on are in French and Flemish. Besides, there are so many tourists from all over the world and also, there are obviously living many foreigners in the city. We visited a bazar-like street where you get the feeling like you're in Northern Africa. Wherever you go there's always a mixture of different languages in your ear...

We didn't visit any museums. Doing that we could've spent many more days in Brussels, however as Brussels is not that big we figured that 48 hours is enough to get to know the city a bit, see the main parts and find out what the city feels like. (In my mind, every city I visit has got a special feeling and that's what I'm after when I'm going to a new city - to catch that particular feeling).

Typical Belgian food are chocolates and waffles. We had a lot of those which were really yum!

And of course, Belgium is famous for its fries (often with mussels). I loved the fries but didn't have any mussels because I'm not particularly fond of mussels.

Another great treat is the Belgian Beer. There are many different kinds and I especially enjoyed the cherry beer and the peach beer. The "Geuze" which is typical for Brussels wasn't really for me, however I think you could get used to it...

As "real tourists" we also took a city tour by bus and visited the famous Atomium which is a heavily enlarged iron atom. Inside the spheres, there are several view points and exhibitions which are connected by escalators and stairs inside the tubes.
 

More impressions... 

So I hope you like my first traveling post. Oh, and "Happy Midsummer" (it's Midsommar in Sweden) by the way!

Project #12: Felted something case

It took me quite a while to publish a new project – sorry. I've got several projects going but didn't get to finish any until some days ago.

So... here's my new project. Initially I wanted to make an ipad case but as this is the first time I used wool you can felt in the washing machine I somehow miscalculated the size (you have to knit it 40% bigger than it's supposed to be after felting). So I got the width right but it's far too short to cover the ipad in whole length. Such things happen, not everything is working out as planned...
However I still like it very much, the colours and the texture are really great. So I'm going to use it for something else – maybe as a book case or just a little bag... AND I'm planning on making another one which fits properly... See ya soon!

Project #11: Crochet Slippers

This is my new project! A pair of Mary Jane slippers that I crocheted last weekend. It's a present for my mum because it's mother's day on sunday. I was searching for a small knit or crochet project and found these on the internet. It' s a very good free pattern from GoodKnits. I replaced the buttons with little bows though.

I chose green again because it makes me feel like spring and is typical for May (in my mind).
When I finished them, they looked like on this picture and they seemed quite small but they stretch when I put them on. And they look really great!

I also put some sock stop on like I described in this post to avoid slipping on plain surfaces. So I hope my mum will like them. See you soon... Kerstine :)

Project #10: Crochet Infinity Scarf

Here's my 10th project - yay! I've been working on this scarf for some weeks because I didn't have much time with Easter and everything else. Now it's finally finished and I think it's just right for spring - not too warm but perfect for a chilly spring day. I got this pretty easy pattern from Bits & Bobbles (nice blog btw). However I twisted the scarf once before sewing it together so I got a moebius scarf.

I also love the colour which is springlike to me. Now I just have to find clothes in my wardrobe to combine it with (haha).

See you...

Happy Easter after all

Easter is (almost) over now... I got my bunnies done and had a lot of fun giving them to my family - I hid them in our garden and they had to find them (I don't know if you do this only in Germany?). They really liked them (I'm glad).

We also did our family's Easter traditions... We had a bondfire and coloured Easter eggs on Saturday. Then we went on our usual hike on Sunday where we took some eggs as picnic...

Nature is at its best at the moment in Germany. It's warm, everything is green, many colourful blossoms everywhere and birds and butterflies are flying in the blue sky.

We spent a lot of time this weekend outside walking, hiking (I already mentioned), and also mountainbiking and watching the sunset...

Project #9: Bunny egg cosy crochet tutorial

As it is already Easter this week, I figured I shouldn't hold this back - in case you're still looking for presents. I came across bunny egg cosies quite often during the last weeks to but never really found a tutorial that matched with my yarn and my idea of how it should look like. So I made up my own bunny cosy pattern (especially the ears are different from other patterns).

 And I'm sharing it with you as my first "real" tutorial, yay!

I used a leight weight cotton crochet yarn and a crochet hook size 4mm (Europe) which means you need size 6 in the US and size 8 (4ply) in the UK as far as I can trust my needle size converter. I used green yarn here because I think it's better to see on the photos (I've already made a brown bunny too). 

Besides you need a tapestry needle and – if you want to give your bunny a face – some embroidery thread (in the colour you like).

Start with a magic ring which I do as shown in the pictures. 

Hold the yarn like you see in the left picture. Then put the hook through the loop on your thumb, gather the thread between your thumb and index finger and pull it through the loop. Gather the yarn a second time and chain one. Now you should have a loop with one chain stitch as you can see in the picture below. (Of course you can use every other way you know to create a magic ring).

1st round: Single crochet 4 into the ring (keeping the loose thread in between) and tie up the ring. 

2nd round: Single crochet 2 into each of the 4 stitches around the ring which makes 8 stitches.

3rd round: Single crochet 2 into every second stitch (one into every other stitch) which makes 12 stitches.

4th round: Single crochet 2 into every third stitch (one into the other stitches) which makes 16 stitches. 

5th round: Single crochet one whole round (16 stitches). 

6th round: Single crochet 2 in every fourth stitch (one into the other stitches) which makes 20 stitches.

7th to 10th round: Single crochet (20 stitches each round) until your egg cosy is long enough (mine was long enough after 4 rounds).

Slip stitch one (into the first stitch of the round) cut the thread and pull it through the slip stitch. Weave in the ends with the tapestry needle. 

Always count stitches while crocheting that the edge becomes straight. Turn your cosy inside out if this hasn't already happened while working (it always happens when I'm making it).

So now you've already got a nice egg cosy but as it is Easter our cosy should become a bunny and we have to make some ears. Here's how I've made those:

Chain 8, then single crochet 6 (you normally leave 2 out when turning). Be careful to use only the backloops for the sc as you can see in the left picture below. Chain one at the end of the sc row (middle picture). Then turn the piece NOT from front to backside as you're used to BUT UPSIDE DOWN (see the right picture).

Now it comes to the difficult part: Crochet together the 2 rows you've just made. You have to put your needle through both stitches (from the second and first row) and through both loops from each row (4 loops in total) and then single crochet. Do this with all 6 stitches and it will look like shown in the right picture below (from the front) and the middle picture (from the back). 

Don't worry if you can't get all 4 loops on your hook for some stitches (especially the last one can get hard) you won't see it afterwards.

Add to more single crochets on the left end (still looking at the piece from the front). The whole where to put them is in the middle – don't worry, you'll find it (see the left picture below).

Turn the piece upside down again. Now there are holes on this side too. Slip stitch into these holes until you come to the left end of the piece (it should be 5 slip stitches). Then cut you thread and pull it through as shown in the right picture. Work the second ear equally.

Once you've finished the ears, just sew them onto the egg cosy with the lose threads and weave in all threads with the tapestry needle. If you like, you can add a face (though they already look nice without I think).

Now I hope, you enjoy crocheting easter bunny egg cosies. Please let me now what you think of my tutorial, if it's easy to understand and feel free to ask questions if anything's not clear. 

I'm gonna make some more bunnies now (I already made some) in different colours, so we can have a very colourful breakfast table at Easter!