The Purple Lace

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My sister is 50 today. She’ll celebrate with a party at her house, and then on Thursday she and her family—my brother-in-law, my three nephews, and two nieces—will all drive up to Berlin to stay with us for a long weekend and continue the celebrations here.

The house is slowly getting ready. I am currently in full logistics mode, counting couches, bedsteads, mattresses… and trying to make sure everyone actually has somewhere to sleep. We are getting ready too, in a slightly more chaotic but excited way.

And yes—I actually finished the lace in time! Despite the occasional quarrelling with the pattern, some unraveling, and a fair amount of whining along the way 🙂 Once I got halfway through, something shifted and I really started to love it. The color turned out gorgeous, the texture is exactly what I had imagined, and the pattern is just beautiful.

It’s funny how that happens sometimes—what starts as a struggle turns into something you don’t want to put down.

So yes, I’m pretty pleased with myself, and as a result I’m posting more pictures than usual. It deserves it.

Over the years, seome of the photos that used to be here got lost – thanks to a total blog crash, a stolen hard drive, and whatever else can possibly happen to images along the way. The same goes for the link to the pattern – it seems the instructions have disappeared from the web as well. If I happen to come across either of them again, I’ll be sure to add them back in. Thanks so much for your understanding.

 

J’s loop

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J wanted a loop. It had to be „a lot of blue and some red,“ it had to be long enough to go twice around his neck, and it had to be made of sock yarn. (Itchy, I know. Not for him though).

Nothing to write home about, if it wasn’t for the picture 🙂

knitting loop

1970s crochet blankets

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Back in the 70s, when my sisters and I were kids, my mom would make blankets for us that we would use as bedspreads for years to come.

Looking back, it amazes me how she managed to keep the making of those huge blankets a secret until Christmas.

Lately, all three of them moved in with me. And I am not even sure my sisters know that I became the „keeper of handmade bedspreads“ 🙂

The one with horizontal stripes in yellow, red, beige, and brown belongs to my elder sister. My younger sister was pleased to get the vertically striped one in turquoise, brown, and beige. Ultimately, mine is the checkered one in red, green, brown, and beige.

You can tell they’re old, you can tell they’re used but there is no doubt I will bring them back out again next fall.

crochet blankets

striped croched blanket

striped crochet blanket

checkered crochet blanket

crochet blankets

Did I ever say thank you? Just to make sure: Thank you, Mami 🙂

cat wrap scarf

Veröffentlicht am von Carina

This cat wrap scarf turned out way larger than I had imagined. It just kept getting longer and longer. Still, I couldn’t resist that chunky, slightly unpredictable, multi-colored yarn. The colors really reminded me of a cat’s coat—soft, a bit unruly, and full of character. Doesn’t it look like fur?

J was completely taken with the scarf at first. He really loved it—until today. This morning, he came across what was left of a jaybird in our garden. Clearly, a cat had been at work during the night. (I’ll skip the details.) Let’s just say his fondness for anything feline faded pretty quickly after that.

Then again, maybe that was bound to happen anyway. At some point, he probably would have outgrown a cat scarf. Most likely he’ll switch to something much more “cool”—like a not-so-subtle acrylic piece featuring LeBron James or Tony Parker, or one of their NBA teams.

I guess that phase will come soon enough.

See [link] for more information on the pattern, and [link] for other animal scarves I’ve made in the past.

 

April

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April weather is here: beautiful on Sunday, sunburned faces everywhere on Monday, downpour this morning.

Birds‘ twitter, short-sleeved t-shirts, cagoule within reach, ice cream, gardening, daylight when we get up, daylight when J goes to bed, open back door, bulgur salad for dinner – the whole nine yards 🙂 Even work is more fun.

I love this time of the year!

flower blanket
baby blanket in spring colors