Alice Jean

Okay, it is not my intention to mention every delivery on this blog. But those two are very special. First the postman rang and gave us a large heavy jiffy envelope. Doortje jumped up and down and opened it. "It is a present!" she called out. And she was right. The content of this parcel was a wonderful princess book I had to read aloud several times. Just after that the doorbell rang again and there was the delivery service of Royal Mail. This time with the package I had awaited quite long: one of the missing parcels from the Netherlands, hurray! It seems as if the Post Office in the Netherlands did not know the UK is in Europe since a while ;) and put a custom form on the parcel. Maybe they mingled UK with US, maybe it was even sent to the US? However, the organic wool in it has a lovely color, the natural hank is meant to dye in matching colors. And I have to think what cardigan to knit with it. Any ideas?

The intent of knitting this top was also to test multiple techniques. I have written most of the pattern down while I was knitting, the pattern still needs some adjustments. Sometimes I had to frog a part because it didn't turn out as wanted. I must admit to be very happy with the result of this Vintage Girl's Shirt . I was not fond of the colours at the start, but have a load of this cotton in the house. Though I prefer to knit with wool, cotton has no stretch and is not as forgiving ;). There is still more than one kilo left of this cotton, ugh! That is about six polo shirts more!

From the States! Can someone explain to me why packages shipped from there are here sooner than the packages posted in the Netherlands? Doortje is very curious what is in there. Eight more jacquard dyes. And a book I will enjoy as yarn junkie ;). This book has a very special message within for me from my dear friend and is signed by the author herself. Based on this novel a movie is coming out next year, starring Julia Roberts.

Shameless show off :). Knitted with 3-PLY hand dyed BFL.

Every school day her big brothers dress up for school. She likes the uniforms, from the black shoes to the navy blue blazers. And the ties she likes most of all. She wants to go to school herself because of the dress code. I hope she won't be too disappointed when she finds out they don't wear ties in pre-school...

She is almost three years old - in five weeks and a bit. And she loves bags, especially mom's knitted and felted bags. In a few weeks she will have her own bag. My friend has knitted and felted this cute little purse and sent me the pictures of it. Doortje is completely in love with it. And it matches so well with the bag I got earlier. Did you see the cute keychain?

I have had some questions about methods of dyeing. Maybe it is fun to share some pictures with you to get the visual impression. Remember, this is just my way of Space Dyeing, not the way! This is the first colour, the lightest of all. Yellow ;). I let this simmer for a while. When the desired colour was reached, I pulled the dyed part out of the dye bath and put the next portion of the skein in. The water was still yellow, I had only to pour some red in to get the orange colour After the orange I poured in the red and repeated the whole process until the whole skein was dyed in the shades to my satisfaction. The black colour is the very last of them all. The photo is a bit steamy. :) The advantage of a ceramic hob. The result: another Black Rainbow!

Super girly. The ruffles take an amazing lot of wool, about 60 grams BFL Aran weight/ worsted to do both legs with an inseam of 2.5". I love these colours!

Actually I dyed more yarn than showed in this picture ;). With the Mint-Mocha-Chocolate and Cream BFL I knitted a pair of customer shorts. I am very pleased how the colours turned out, it was kind of an unusual combination for me.

I have four sons and one daughter. DD is the youngest and will be three years in April. Her brothers are much older. The eldest two live on their own, son three and four are fifteen and twelve years old and living with us. They don't want me to publish their pictures in this blog, so here a photo ;) Personally I am not allowed to tell their (fake) names or even mention their existence on this blog. Though my twelve year old told me yesterday he did not bother that much anymore. "There is nobody out there who will read it anyway."

Which one would you pick to put on the back of your shirt? I got this list yesterday. Get knotty My stash is bigger than yours I knit because the voices tell me to I like coffee and a good yarn She who dies with the most yarn wins Life is to short to knit with ugly yarn Yarn Junkie Don't talk to me, I am counting My choice? Easy guess!