Looking back to 2014

This year has been a good year for me. My family had no health issues, work was going great, I had fun with friends and family and there was enough time to stitch and knit.
To give you an overview of my personal life this last year:

And of course I give you an overview of my knitting and stitching.

The latest finished project is a year's work. Every sunday, or at least almost every Sunday I stitched some borders of Randje per Week. Yesterday I finished the last border. A new project is waiting for me, but I'll tell you more about that next year. Here are my borders. Don't pay attention to my voice. I just tell in Dutch what I told you :)

2014 is at its end and I wish you all a happy, prosperous and creative 2015!

Back to normal

Luckily things are getting back to normal. After a week filled with uncommon things I find myself again, doing the things I always do. Just do my job, knit and stitch.
There are two shawls in progress and a finish.
Let's start with the finish, as I am very happy with this particular one. I brought the yarn from New York, over a year ago. And now I knitted a lovely shawl, New York Lullaby. The original pattern is Nurmilintu by Heidi Alander.

Then there is Silja Line. This is a knit for the indie dyer of the yarn. The pattern is Marjamets Shawl by Kadr's Stitching. The colours are more speaking, a bit darker. But as I took pictures inside (it was cold outside!) the pictures don't do this beautiful yarn right.

Another knit is Sing. pattern is Cascade Lace Blend Shoulder Cowl by Colinton Australia Exclusi ve. I am knitting this for a friend and colleague and I hope to have it finished by Christmas. The picture isn't very good, but wait until you see it next time!

And I added some borders this week. You can see it's almost the end of this project. 

A little bit famous at my little corner of the world :)

I haven't been writing a blogpost for more than two weeks again! And again, I only have the excuse that I have been too busy. I can almost hear you ask: 'What important things are going on then?' Well, can I brag a little?  I have won a prize. Workrelated that is. I know there are many readers among you and the exception proves the rule and all that .... let me tell you about it.

There is a prize for the best reading environment of The Netherlands. It is meant for school libraries and me, being a school librarion won it! And I got it out of the hands of Aidan Chambers, you might know him. so I am a little bit proud ...

As this was really exciting and so were the days after (local newpaper and local television visited my school) I decided to put both my feet on the ground again. In a new pair of socks, that is.

And knitting those socks gave me such a good feeling that I kept on knitting. Here is my New York Lullaby.

I also started a new shawl. this one is meant to be an example for the seller of the yarn. 

And today was a day for stitching borders. I almost catched up. I'm only three borders behind, this weeks borders included.

Lazy blogger?

Have I been a lazy blogger last weeks? I don't think so, at least, I wasn't lazy. But yes, I did post irregular. I used to post once a week, Mostly in weekends, but there has been a lot on my mind, so I simply forgot!
But now I am catching up. I have been spinning on my spinning wheel and a lovely skein is a fact. Not enough to start a knitting project yet, so I have to spin another skein this winter. Meet Running Mouse:

My Border a Week project is almost done. Only eight, nine weeks until Christmas? Okay, I admit, I am two weeks behind, but I'll catch up this week (I hope).

A new shawl is finished too. The Stroll That Stole My Heart, a lovely pattern of Sweaterbabe.

Now there is a finish again, you won't be surprised that other projects are started today. There was a lovely blue skein that screamed for attention, so I casted on New York Lullaby, pattern is Nurmulintu by Heidi Alander.

And a combination of two skeins were calling out my name when I visited a wool event last weekend. I think I will cast on tonight :)

Never enough ;)

As you all said, a woman can have never enough shawls. So I am just knitting on ;-)
I finished Ruffled Feathers this week. It is now washed and blocking, so more pictures next week. But ahead of those here are some pictures of the unblocked shawl.

There is another one I didn't show. It's was a gift for a friend, so I couldn't show before. here is Långstrump.

To compensate all the  knitting I did some blue stitching. My borders from Randje per Week are almost up to date. I am a week behind, but I'll catch up during my vacation that starts end of the week. Yeah!!

Getting used to work

As always after a (long) vacation I need some time to get used to work again. I think I am a pretty average woman LOL
So I took some time to knit and stitch after work and forgot to post a new blogpost.
That leaves me with a pair of finished socks.
Blue Socks Again.

My borders are reaching a length that doesn't fit on a picture. So I decided to make a little video to show all borders. I am not sure if I can put the video here, but I'll give it a try.

Borders again

Before I talk about borders I want to say something else. You might know I never talk about politics or human tragedy, or ventilate my opinion about what happens in the world. I am not going to do so now, although I feel the need to say that of course I am touched by human tragedies and politics and of course I have my thoughts about things that happen worldwide.
But I use this blog and my facebook account not for sad things but for fun. Having said that, I will show you my latest borders. I am still on schedule :-)

I also casted on a new pair of socks. I liked the pattern, but after knitting one sock until the ankle, I knew it was too large, although I knitted size M, I need to have a European size 38. So I ripped the whole thing and started all over again. Less stitches casted on, less rows knitted. And again, too large! Beting tired of ripping I decided to rip only the toe. The sock was knitted toe up and has a nice cabling pattern. So now it is like this :( The challenge is to get a fitting sock out of it!

Borders, borders

Summer vacation started and yes, we are crossing borders soon! But before we do I had to make sure I was on schedule on my stitched borders, so last week I have been stitching. I was a bit behind, so I had to do eight borders ...

I also finished another poject. Sock number two of Hurdles. In fact I knitted both socks in the last two weeks, because I redid sock number one. It wasn't up to my standard, so I decided to frog the whole thing and knit it all over.

I really don't need them now, but we all know there will be a time when we long for warm socks again ... But not for the next few months!

Life is good!

I hope you all can say this from time to time: life is good! It is good in simple things, the sun on the terrace, no work related stress, finishing a knitting project that turns out really well, enjoying a quiet Sunday on your own terrace.
My Sunday was filled with finishing a knitting project that wasn't a really big one, but somehow I couldn't find the time to get it finished. Yesterday I did, got it washed and blocked and today I made tassels and took pictures. Another project done Lighten Up!

My Randje per Week is done too, I'm still right on schedule.

And I started another beauty today. In fact I started two. First of all I made a start on Molly Malone, using two beautiful yarns from DyeForWool. 

And the second one is a no-brainer, Unchained Melody, using a Prism Yarn. A yarn that doesn't need a complicated patteren.

Only a few weeks and summer vacation starts, so I will have plenty of time to knit and stitch. And there will be Ascension Day and Whitsunday too, so plenty of  holidays to come!