The Hills Are Alive . . .

Posted on September 17, 2014September 17, 2014 Posted in Knitting, TravelTagged Knitting, sweater, Switzerland, Travel17 Comments

Guten Abend , Ich habe dich vermsst. Just off the plane from Switzerland and I still feel in sensory overload. Truth be told, I never knew I wanted to go there. After being gobsmacked with such stunning natural beauty, I can’t imagine that I didn’t always dream of a visit”

Our family loves to travel. My daughter once told her teacher that traveling was our hobby. 🙂 I think we inherited this wanderlusting from my sister and brother in law who have explored the world at length, lived in London and Europe and now have permanent residency status in Australia. Once we started exploring at home and abroad, we put money away every month for our travels (while making ourselves comfortable with our old cars and home.)

My husband gets a few weeks off a year. When his week off came up for September, we decided to do a little hiking in the Alps while my parents generously volunteered to watch our kids. One of my favorite things about traveling Europe is the amazing rail system. We took advantage of the Swissrail during our recent trip and toured the country without a car. Those train trips gave me plenty of time to complete a baby sweater for a friend whose daughter just got out of the NICU. I was able to use some of my vintage buttons and knit it with Cascade 220 yarn in gray. The pattern is Little Buds and can be found on Ravelry here: Ravelry: Little Buds in English pattern by Karen Borrel. It was such a fun knit, I am sure to make it again.

On our recent trip, we spent time in Zurich, Wengen, Zermatt and Lucerne. It was a thrill to hike so close to the Eiger and the Matterhorn. We heard (via the bells around their necks) and saw sheep and cows all over the hills. We hiked among Chamois and saw Edelweiss up close and personal. We channeled James Bond and hiked to Schiltorn in the Jungfrau region and we hiked to the Matterhorn base camp to see climbers heading up the mountain and rescue teams plucking folks off the mountainside. Honestly, it was one of our best trips ever and it has inspired many creative ideas that I am anxious to share soon.

Auf Wiedersehen,

Hillary

This and That

Posted on April 3, 2014 Posted in Everything Else, KnittingTagged embroidery, Knitting, Spring, sweater5 Comments

Spring is showing herself in big ways. We are loving walks (when it is not pouring-Yay rain!) along our country road watching our neighbor’s newborn calves and soaking up all the flowers in bloom. It is SO green here which is a nice thing to see for this Seattle transplant as we will soon enter the dry, very warm part of the year in northern California.

Spring has inspired me to start some new projects. I have several in the works, some just completed and other fun plans in store. 🙂

First I must share this little beauty my crafty aunt sent to me. It was in exchange for a bag I made her several months ago. My picture is not the best but the lovely lady says “Beautiful Transparent Wings”. She will fit nicely in my sewing space.

I finished lining my recent Noodlhead Duffles and sent them off to my nieces with some other handmade goodies. I really like how the lining adds more heft to the bags and it was fun to find complimentary fabrics.

I also recently finished a sweater for a friend’s child. I made the five year old version in FrogTree Periboo Worsted in Grey and Pink. This yarn is dreamy and I will certainly knit with it again in the future. The pattern can be found here:

Ravelry: Colorblock pattern by Karen Borrel.

In the embroidery arena, I’ve been doodling a little with french knots again. Loving this handwork and I need to make time to do more!

I’ve also indulged in several new fabric purchases in the last few weeks. (I am such a bad girl as I am bursting at the seams in fabrics but fabric hoarding is a disease I suffer from). I especially treasure the handprinted fabrics from Leslie Keating and Umbrella Fabrics. Australia must have magic in the water that helps folks produce such lovely handprinted fabrics. I am hooked!

The last two pictures are of Umbrella prints trimmings. Every year the fabric company has a competition challenging people to use their trimmings in different ways. I have several ideas in mind but not sure they will make it to fruition. We shall see. Contest details here:

Umbrella Prints: 2014 Umbrella Prints Trimmings Competition.

Pull Gaspard Baby Sweater

Posted on February 14, 2014 Posted in KnittingTagged baby, baby gift, handmade, Knitting, sweater7 Comments

I am slowly making progress on baby gifts for friends. Today I finished a 2 year old sized boy sweater using Malabrigo Arroyo in Glitter.(pattern here:http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/pull-gaspard) This pattern is well engineered and knit up quickly (though it took some concentrating especially around the neck line to get it right). The big pocket will be perfect for storing toddler treasures.

Since it is Valentine’s Day, I tried adding one of my handmade linen boutonnieres. (Linen Flower tutorial here: https://entropyalwayswinsblog.com/2013/10/20/linen-rosebud-flower-tutorial/ )