he's back!!!!!!!

he is back!
he is back!
he is back!

my little sweetness is back! we found him friday night

right between the new flat and our old house....

nameless joy everywhere!

tigger also missed him so badly,

but now he's back and everything's alright

he had a capital dinner and now he's sleeping all the time ;)

i know for some this might sound weird

and i hardly cannot explain how we felt the last days

cause they are just like our kids...

.....and we are all doing the happy dance here!!!!

wishing you all a perfect sunday

isa m.

way behind

seams that i am always way behind with posting....
so what to do???
today i have some unexpected free time - 
so here we go:

we moved to the new (really, really small) flat
our house is going to be completly boned
one of our cats is missing for 2 days now....
i hope he's coming back...i really hope he's coming back!!!!
my second owlsister is in town for the next month
(she works in austria)
my son will celebrate his 18th (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
birthday in june - lots of preparations
and i am feeling very, very old sometimes....
published il grande favorito and poolside
did some testknits for Joji, Nadia, Justyna, Hanna and laMaisonRililie 
aaaaaaaand (for sure!) cannot put the needles down (hehehehe!)
currently working with my testing ladies
on the patterns for chalkstone and emerald 
and helping my dear Anke with her new designs

cats and moving boxes.....(he's the one who is missing....)

il grande favorito (get your copy here)

poolside (get your copy here)

2 beautiful testknits for Joji's new eBook hopeful knits

testknit for nadia's super cute cardi love potion

testknit of Justyna's new sweater shifting

testknit for hanna

.....and not to forget my very own nuvem 

i did this in a hurry for my wedding....

two other beauties.... both testknits for laMaisonRililie

testknit for anke 

this one's just perfect, so cozy and warm

a great hug-you-tight-knit for everyday!!!!

now working on her newest design....

mine will be striped!!!!

hope you all have good days

xxx

isa m.

a sign of life

there's a reason for me being absent so loooong

....a good reason.....

....a very good reason....

i got married!!!!!!

it was a small but amazing wedding with our families and

some very good friends ....

hope you all understand that there were other things to do

the last weeks,...i promise to post more constant now ;)

now to the knitting life (hahaha!)

currently in testing is a new sweater

and it seams that this time my testversion of the pattern isn't that messy as my testversions usually are, so i hopefully

can publish the pattern in mid/end of april

for today i need to quit (packing my life in boxes still 

goes on), just wanted to let you know that i am still alive

all the best 

isa m.

testknit for Hanna

did a testknit for Hanna in late december/ early january.
she published the pattern yesterday, ...means i am allowed
to show pics of this stunning cardi

loved knitting these little twisted cables.

was just the right balance between cables an st st

to keep me interested and not making my head shaggy :)

pattern. cabletta cardigan by hanna maciejewska 

yarn. alpaca/merino from cone (no label)

think this will go to a dear friend...she loves it so much

...and i am not so an elegant person at all (hahahaha)

that i would wear it that much.

...ha! guess what i've done?

i got the pattern for il grande favorito ready to 

publish!!!! how cool is that? (hahaha)

it took me ONLY a bit more than 1 year to get this done (...hmmm)

....wish there were some people around to goose me to

publish my patterns more shortly after testknittng....

did a quick selftest and knitted exactly as written

(which is not that easy as it sounds for me....sometimes i relax that much while knitting, that i realize inches later, where i am....)

my second favorito is blocking right now

only need to take some good photos :)

the house packing goes slowly now...a bit frustrating...

though we made progress, the most not-so-necessary things

are stored, but now i have to decide what i will definitely

need (yarn, needles, books, clothes....hahaha) to take with me

and that's not that easy at all

hopefully i'll soon be back to report the publishing

of il grande favorito

isa k.

new sweater

tadaaa.... a new fair isle sweater went off my needles!!!
only 2 colours (i need to practice, practice , practice
to be good in this technique)

started with a provisional co to work the yoke first

and bottom up (to check my decrease rounds for yoke shaping)

then unravelled the provisional co to work the rest of the 

sweater topdown - to be able to put it on and see how it fits.

this was a pretty good way i think....

need to check my notes and hopefully i am able to write

a pattern down (not sure)

yarn. Kauni solid col. HH3 and DD1 purchased here

i have ordered some more colours of this yarn....there is 

a cardi in my mind which wants to be knitted :)

otherwise i am occupied with sorting out my little home

....lousy!!!

it's curious how many things you can store in a house

you don't need at all!

renovation will start in april and we need to move 

(and we don't have a flat to rent yet!!! ), 

there are some serious things to do here in this house...

it's a very, very old house (built in 1789) and no one knows

what to expect.... 

our architect (a good, good friend of us) estimated a renovation time of nearly 1 year!!!! hopefully it will take not that time.

oooh, but it will be worth this effort, i'm sure.

there will be new and bigger windows, new floors, a new  

heating, a new roof, the use of the rooms will change

(our kitchen will move to the other side of the house!)

...and so on

think i will post more renovation related things this year

.....

hope you are all coming with me this year

isa k.

happy holidays

now that those busy days before christmas are over

i just wanted to pop in and say THANK YOU

for all your precious comments
for your encouragement
for staying by my side (though i couldn't keep the promise
of publishing some eagerly-awaited patterns)
for all the help and good advises
for all the gifts (esp. the yarn!!)
for making my life so much brighter every day

hope to have some spare time next year to keep you all updated,
but i think we will be occupied with the renovation
of our little home.....
we need to move over renovation time (for at least half of the next year!)means,... i have to pack my whole life (this is how it feels) into moving boxes!

hope you all have a wonderful christmas time

may your days be calm and merry

xxx
isa k.

happy new year

now this blog is nearly 1 year old

i have to THANK YOU for your kind comments

and encouragements....

paul is here since april

M. did his graduation in summer

my first written pattern went online 

oh - i know - full of errors and a little strange

there were ups and downs, but all in one

i have to be very grateful

for this year today i will leave with 

best wishes from the bottom of my heart

a happy new year for you and your family

full of joy, peace and creativity

keep calm and carry on

isa k.

bright and merry days

phew! all those busy, busy days in december!

but all in one this is my favorite time of year...

crafting, knitting, cooking for the ones i love

this little mouse is on its way to austria

to my third owlsister 

hope she will love her shining face as we did

as long as she was here....

another lovely felt mouse i made for a good friend

some goodies went to france last week

all the best xmas wishes to mademoiselle c. 

i had lots of fun :)

simple but really stylish leather bracelet

made for my coworker

gifts and goodies for manu

i planned a couple more posts in december,

but there was too much to do to make it work..

so i will leave with wishes of peace for you and your family

take care and have bright and merry days

may the world revolve in peace 

...

isa k.

advent

have a nice sunday

isa k.

DIY advent wreath

i know it's a bit early for x-mas crafting

especially when it is such a quick and easy project..

but i couldn't resist posting 

what i did last night.. :)

a super cute knitted advent wreath

all you need is some bulky yarn

matching needles, 

one straw wreath (don't know if this is the right word?!)

tapestry needle,

crepe paper matching the yarns colour

ribbon and some decoration

and here is the how-to:

measure around your straw wreath

to figure out the width of your knitting

you also have to measure, or calculate the circumference

of your wreath

in my case this was about 18 cm in width

and the circumference was 94 cm

make a swatch with your yarn

my yarn knits up to a gauge of 1 st per cm

provisionally co the st amount you need to get the desired width

and begin working in garter st 

you will not need to knit to the total length

cause this will stretch out very much

you may want to check the length from time to time

i didn't do that, so i had to ripp back a few rows

now undo the provisional co and graft

the pieces together

you can see that i grafted knitwise

to have some plain space for my ribbon 

cut your crepe paper in 7cm straps

and wrap around your wreath

now place the knitted piece on your wreath

and do a simple whipstitchseam

to get your wreath wrapped with your knitted piece

and decorate.....

hope a few like this as much as i do

happy crafting

isa k.