february

i have made yet another february sweater. i love the watermelon buttons. it is for alba if it is not too small. but there hasn't been much knitting and i miss it. days just go by faster than i like them to and my tiredness is chronic. the children are wearing me out but i start to get a little success. art lessons last week went well. they like to sit a cut pictures out of magazines in their favourite scale of colours. as a matter of fact they didn't want to go home that day.

and yesterday i went to a party at my old workplace. omg it was nice to be surrounded by old friends.

today it was my great nephew's birthday. he is the sweetes 3 year old one can imagine. very smart. knows the alphabet and was very happy with the caleidoscope i gave him. i am happy with my new joni mitchell cd that i listen to obsessively. it is a great cd. buy it whether you know her or not. a lovely mature singer.

norwegian models

here are the two brothers modeling the sweaters i knitted for them during my summerholiday. the three year old finally gave in and tried it on. i think he looks supercute and i like the little one's dress sense. he looks like he is giving his brother the final touch before going on the catwalk. and they are lovely boys. one is three on saturday and i wanted to knit the pirate hat for him as well. but other children takes all my attention... i really miss knitting. my fingers are itching when i see all the lovely choices of yarn all around the house not to mention all the wonderful books i bought recently. i am waiting to receive the only one i don't have in my zimmermann library: knitting workshop and then i got the walker treasuries. 4 large books with a lot of lovely patterns and of course a lot of not so lovely patterns. i think jared
should knit up all the swatches and take photographs. that would be a beautiful knitting book. i

know the webpage and that calls for inspiration as well. the book in itself is very poorly photographed and slightly oldfashioned and unfortunately a lot of the patterns are written and not charted. i am visual when it comes to patterns, i am afraid. another book i got is anna zilboorg's 45 funny and fanciful hats. it is a really cute book. and colourwork hats are my thing, i suppose. like other people have something for socks.

another pirate cap

i made the tough pirates cap for my sailor friend. it suits him well but i also wanted to make one for alba who is just a little girl. so i mixed adrian's chart with elizabeth's fast cap and some ideas from charlene schurch's book hat's on. i am quite pleased with the result. i think it is a cute version of the pirates theme. in my school all the children are very focused on pirates. i am not sure what to think about it, still. i have mixed feelings. when is it possible to be an innocent child these days, i sometimes wonder???

my barbara walker books arrived. i am not sure what to think about them either. there is a lot of suggestions for 2 colour mosaic knitting and that fascinates me a lot. i haven't tried that technique yet and i think it is pretty.

right now it seems that hats are all i can muster but i will get back to sweater knitting again. i do like creating hats though. it is a nice little personal gift for people you like. and when you are tired it is a great thing to knit and an opportunity to try out new techniques which i find very important.

i still knit (a little)

it has been an eventful week. i was nominated a rockin' girl blogger on a day where i certainly didn't feel i rocked. or maybe i felt that my relationship with my new students was a bit rocky. it takes time to gain trust. and i was nominated by sheila, who teaches in michigan and i am very happy and thankful for the honour.
and i guess this means i should nominate someone as well. and then i think i will nominate peggy, who is one of my most frequent readers. peggy . her knitting rocks, and i cannot believe the amount she gets done. i also won a prize at her knittiversary. her son (s) rock too.

i have been knitting hats for the venezuelan pirate lately. the we call them pirates was made longer. so it has 7 pattern repeats. and the flag hat was very well recepted. i think it is all about homesickness, which i understand very well. and on the wearer of whom i unfortunately have no pictures the hat looks very nice and optimistic. i suppose you have to be venezuelan to wear it.

this is different from tomten. a tomten wearer can be of any age and nationality and tomten will always add to the cuteness of the wearer. i love alba in her tomten that my friend sewed a zipper into. and the fast cap looks extremely cute on her as well. actually the outfit makes her look a bit like a guide in the himalayans, and she was more than pleased with the bobbles.

work last week was an ordeal. those children have problems. and hence i get problems with them. but the new colleagues are so friendly and i adore the headmaster whose listening skills and caring, i shall never forget, whether i stay in this job or not. i think it is a rare thing to find a boss with such traits.

and there has been more knitting

yes work is very tiring. i have to deal with children that are not very easy and some of them can't even sit on a chair yet. i have four classes. one is 7th grade and my favourites. there are those who are actually interested in learning english. but i have a 6th grade and it is all about noise and nothing seems to wear them out. not even my highpitched voice that annoys me quite a lot.

and then there is knitting. it is a refuge to do something that one is good at and experimenting to broaden one's skills.

i have made charlene schurch's: tassled fez in yorkshire tweed dk but without the tassles. it was great fun. i made one moderation i.e. to kitchener it together instead of backstitching or something. it is a great way to sew it together as i leaves flat seams in this rather compact product.

and the pirate hat was recepted with gratitude and an order for another hat. a venezuelan flag hat. i am not crazy about it, to say the least. but i am not going to wear it and it was a really fast knit. the wool is dale baby ull. not the most attractive wool either. i prefer rougher more rugged tweedy wools.

and there is some of this. ordered 20 skeins of beaverslide worsted. 10 for me and 10 for my friend. mine is a lovely mossy green and i am going to knit a cabled thing for my nephew, eventually.

and there has been ordering books on amazon. my friend is going to come here from the us and he will bring me barbara walker's treasuries. i cannot begin to say how much i am looking forward to browse them and get inspired.