Knitting project 5

The last project I made was a nice scarf. I finished it last week. The pattern is from Drops; garnstudio.com but instead of 2 I used 1 tread of yarn, because I wanted to use the scarf inside like an accessory. I just made a picture of it;

This is what I did;   Row 1 (= RS): * K1, 1 YO *, repeat from *-* until 1 st remain and finish with K1.
Row 2 (= WS): K all sts, at the same time slip all YO off needle (long sts).
Repeat row 1 and 2.       Worked in 1 strand Eskimo from Drops.
Cast on 10 sts on needle size 9 mm with 1 strand old pink. After 1 skein go further with purple 1 skein and then 1 skein old pink again, cast off LOOSELY, and the new scarf is done.

Have a nice crafty day!

Collecteble Goodies

My first PINK bag
This is a knitting bag I recently bought, I just love the color! I stuffed it with my yarn and knitting pins, so they are not laying around the room anymore.

Monday Mannequin

Thanks for dropping by, have a nice time reading this post
After 2 cups of coffee, some bread and yogurt for the children, my day starts of with my Monday mannequin. I ordered a lovely female torso mannequin to restyle and show my new knitting projects on. I can put “her” in the living-room or anywhere I want, because she is so small but she elegant as well I want to give her a nice appearance, any idea’s are welcome. Should I knit a nice top for her or just cover with my yarn wrappers, like an example in this book. (see picture below)

Monday morning is not a good time for me to be creative, my kids misses there father and I need loads of coffee to get my brain started. After my kids play like little “angels” in the living-room  I can get my mind set to the things I want, 2 min later; mommy! Lucas is stealing my car, and I say, kids there 2 cars get one each. This is a little example for the rest of the morning… and Mommy’s creative thinking time has to be forced in the 2 whole minuets I don’t have to play referee… Well it’s not that bad ofcourse I like to exaggerate a bit. It is nice to have 2 sons, and they play very nice already with each other, Daniël is becomes in May 3 years and Lucas is 10 months, so I can’t expect from them to play alone and leave this Mommy alone with her thoughts, to do some creative madness. I’m just so blessed with 2 lovely boy’s that it is a little effort to get my creativity on hold to the evening

But that does not mean I can’t think what to do with my torso project… and all the yarn I have stuffed in my knitting crate. Witch now I think about it, I need to do something with that crate as well. Really any thoughts and inspiration are welcome about getting to color it up a bit with yarn or paint… Here is my still “naked”  mannequin torso.

Anyways to get back to the torso and the crate this is an idea I got from the web, it looks very colorful but there is not a pattern with it. Maybe I should just measure the crate and start knitting for it… For the torso it’s not that difficult, “she” had a European size 36-38 I should be able to find a nice pattern on the web for it. Here is a picture for some inspiration for the crate…

Now I really have to get my needles and get started…

Have a nice day!

Knitting pins and digital scrapping

My birthday is in February and I was thinking what kind of present to ask… It’s horrible to ask for something but at the other hand, I know that if I don’t ask for something the most people will give some bath foam and so on, but I would really love to get something for my knitting craft.  I looked on the internet for some needles (I don’t want to ask for yarn for my birthday), and I saw there are so many different needles, so many that the choice is hard to make, and will it be the good choice for me, what I do with it…  I really love the chunky knit craft, like accessory, and shawls and  knitwear. And what kind of knitting pins I need for that… Well chunky ones
I love colors and natural things like wood and bamboo. But if I want something for my hobby it is wise to have something that is effectively and professionally and lasts so you have to get it once, if you have something that is not so good and break down easily, my honest opinion is that you better buy or get one thing that is good then spend your money over and over again, that’s way much expensive then if you buy it once. So my search has begun… It has to be colorful, natural materials and good quality, and still even thou I have my criteria the search is not easy, there are like 10 different factories who makes such pins, and that is only what I found in Europe.

After some time and forums with experience knitters later I had the choice between 2 large and good names, one is Addi the other one is Knit Pro. Still the choice is difficult, Addi gives life time guarantee on the needles but there made from metal. Knit Pro has the choice between see true plastic, wood and metal, they are good, you don’t get the life long guarantee, but they do come in a wood variant witch I love, and it’s colorful. And Knit pro has a chunky set what means that you don’t have to buy the whole set only the big needles…

The choice is made; I’m going for the wood variant from Knit Pro, the chunky set. And there is also a possibility to buy loose needles ends for on the set, if you need or want another size. And they have some nice “normal” needles too, see the picture below. They look amazing and the reviews are good and really helpful for a noob like me;) I am really exited to go to the hand craft fair in February then I can get the needles and  learn more about knitting it self. And to hang out with my best friend ofcourse, without the kids, I love the kids very very much but sometimes it’s nice to do something for “grown ups” alone and have nice conversations about life, hobby’s and the kids

My next idea for a project is not knitting but make a sort of port folio about knitting, yarn and needles. I want to combine digital photography, digital scrapping and my knitting in to one book, I know thats a lot of work, and I want to start of to make lovely pictures of my craft, work in progress and my materials. The book is gonna be a bit like the My Life Story book, but then with more picture, ofcourse digital and less about my life it self, we heard enough of that already;) What I do want is, put the patterns in it, explain what I done, the materials I used for it, the needles, how much time it cost and so on. The main reason I want to make such a book is pure for me, but it would be so nice to show friends and family what I did so far, and how I did it, because I always ask someone how they did it and what they used for it, and sometimes they ask me already, and normal I make a e-mail to that person, but would it be nice if I can show them “real life”, bundle that in a book and Esther’s knitting book is born… Here is a tiny little idea of 2 pages…



Have a good crafty day!

What a day...

This morning like every morning, my son Daniël starts to call me; Mama MAMA, I want out! Okay I’ll sigh, just a minute and I’ll be there. My husband is sick but is on his way to work. And the kids noses are water walking. Sigh…
Then in the afternoon when the kids take a nap it’s Mommy time, YES! Scrapping… But no, telephone is ringing, my husband on my cell, still sick but hanging on at his work. Home phone is ringing, ringing and ringing again… adds, adds and adds again….  A yell from upstairs, the kids are awake again. Daniël needs his lunch and Lucas well his lunch too, but lucky for me thats still a bottle and some and mashed fruit.
Need to keep the house clean, vacuum, dusting… Was-machine broke down… Need to wait till Wednesday then the store is gonna deliver a new one…  A nicely big was-machine, made for a household with kids, that was the good part.
Marco just came home, tiered but satisfied from his work. We ate diner, played with the kids and there off to bed… Yes, Mommy time! Scrapping…

Dark days before Christmas

Dark days before Christmas, what to do when the days are getting shorter and you are thinking about what kind of presents your getting for your kids and family?
I discovered  knitting! It sounds old fashion but it’s definitely not. Look at some pictures here.

The first I started off to gather some information about knitting itself, how to do it, what kind of materials to use, ask my mother for help . I looked on youtube about some films of how to knit the basics, and I find some.
Started to go to the shop bought for € 5,00 knitting needles and wool, then I crawled behind the computer with my youtube film on and started to try to knit. And it worked… I made 2 scarfs. I found some nice sites for Eco Wool from Alpaca’s, there Lama sorts of animals they give nice wool that is not itchy, I just so hate wool that is itchy:(  My true love wool from Alpaca and it’s animal friendly and cheap!
Now I’m making a scarf for my husband total cost of €3,00 a nice brown color matching his winter jacket, from yarn that is suitable in the washing machine, how convenient. Now I have to learn how to knit by patterns, than I can make actually some knitted sweaters for my husband and kits even for myself. And have a nice handmade modern, personal and cheap present with my own personal touch.
I’ll keep you updated how the knitting is working out for me, so far it is relaxing to do, the thing with knitting is you can knit for a few minuets till hours, put it away and pick it up when ever you like. I just know a few knitting stitches. But even with a basic stitch you can make so many things, like caps and accessory for your lifestyle fashion and clothes. Like this scarf thats knitted is a strait stitch (the basic stitch) With thick wool and a big knitting needle like 10mm.