Before you know ....

Before you know vacation is over and you are in the middle of all kind of activities again. Our spring break is over since long, so it seems to me, but I owe you some pictures.

We went to Germany for a few days, hoping to get a little bit of early sunbeams. In this time of year we long for them more than ever, so maybe it would be wise to travel to a warm island, but unfortunately that would be too expensive.

Instead of a sunny island we went to Monschau, a lovely village in the Eifel, Germany. And instead of sun, we got snow! And you should know, I hate snow! Not fot the look of it, when trees and roofs are covered, but because of the cold.

But this time, relaxing in a good hotel, not being stressed about the thought how to go to work (by bike? by bus?) I really enjoyed the view of it. We had winter! A real winter for three whole days!Pictures at the end of this blogpost!

I got plenty of time to knit too, so the perfect vacation for me. One of the things I never did before, is knitting gloves. So I casted on a glove, to have something to knit on a car ride. the first is done, second one is on the needles. I took a pattern, left the cables out and added another cable pattern when I realized it would turn out too large without cables.

The Penguin Kal is growing bit by bit. I have to confess, greys are not my favourite colours to knit and until now I find the pattern quite simple. Most of the time only knit. The nice part though, is the angles, in which you knit another colour, doing short rows. The best part is yet to come and I know the outcome will be nice. Here is Penguin Rock'n'Roll.

And last but not least I have some progress on the KAL Urquhart Castle. Imagine casting on 960 stitches for a large square shawl. And then knit in lace pattern. Clue 1 and 2 done!

As promised some lovely snow pictures and, coming home after our vacation, our little tree in a pot,  showing some green leaves!

Vacation Monday

In our region of The Netherlands we have spring break. That means no work (school) for a week. For me, the most joyful days of vacations are Mondays. It starts on Sunday evening, That glorious feeling that you have a week ahead of no obligations, no rising early in the morning, no have to's.
And so I spent my day knitting, spining on a new project and preparing some other knits. Skeins turned into balls of yarn and I knitted on the balcony to catch that early sunbeams of spring.

Last week I finished You Will Rise Again. Pattern: Carradal from Lucy Hague with lovely Celtic cables. At first I thought it would turn out a bit too dark perhaps. But now it's finished it's just what I imagined it to be the moment I picked the colours.

I knitted on another project, St. Brendans Fair Isle. The wool is a bit scratchy and it irritates my finger cuticles.

And on the MKAL Urquhart Castle. I choose to do the large square shawl, so casting on 920 stitches and knitting a few rounds costs ages!

I also casted on a pair of gloves, so I have a car project when we go for longer rides.

And I planned to join in a KAL so I picked some of my stashed yarn and winded them into balls.  The Penguin KAL by Sweatershopper. You can join in the Ravelry group  I don't think I'm getting bored for a long time!