Ishbel the 1st

Here she is, in all her glory - my dear, little Ishbel (that actually turned out to get even bigger than the largest size of the pattern - the yarnage of the Crazy Zauerball Sock Yarns was impressive!)

Santas little helper on duty!

The gift-making has started - finally! My ambitions are big enough... time will show how much this little helper will actually produce. As usual my gifts will be a mix of homemades and readymades. I love the planning, shopping, producing, wrapping and tag-making - but despite this I always have at least 2-3 gifts to give that really challenge my creativity. Every year I wrench my brain to come up with something nice or/and useful that the same few recipients will appriciate... is this a familiar "problem" to any of you bloggers?! I guess I´ll have to surrender to gift vouchers yet again... ;o)

It´s better to light a candle...

This beautiful little pale pink heart candle was made for ME by my Princess! She has added some dried rose petals - they are sparkling and fragrant. The candle is even embossed with an M for MAMMA (mum)... this is what I call heartwarming :o) Thank you so much, sweetheart <3

Reload

Here she is, my Indian Princess! She still needs some support to keep her shape - some stiffening up beneath the handles. The Sari Silk makes a heavy fabric, so the bag is drooping from its own weight. The red lining and matching flower look good though. As soon as the desired support is added I am ready to take the Indian Princess out and about :o)

Preparing for Christmas

The weekend was a real good one - as it included some surprise yarn shopping :o)) I have known about this yarn shop in Fagernes for a while, but never came around to go there, until this Saturday. It was a sight for sore "rakfiskfestival"-eyes! All natural fibres and a few exciting brands as well, wich I did not expect - so I was surprisesd! I shopped a bit for Christmas presents; this was NOT surprising, though... time will show what these beautiful silk/merino-skeins will turn into. I have a few plans - also for the alpaca ball.

Below: a quick update on the Ishbel: I finally cracked the code for the lace part after searching the Ravelry groups dealing with this specific pattern. I think what really helped was discovering the hundreds of knitters grinding their teeth over this one... as the pattern is not really complicated at all, I mean. It is just good and encouraging to be among equals in such trying times ;o)

Waiting for Ishbel

Ishbel will be around pretty soon, I hope... The stockinette stitch part is done and both of us are ready for the lace adventure! This version of the Crazy Zauerball Sock Yarn is a 2 ply which creates a speckled variegation. I can´t wait to see how it will work on the finished Ishbel!

Blurry pictures will be more common than sharp ones for a few months - winter is coming and daylight is going! But the colours turn out quite accurate and to a colour-freak like me that emends the fogginess :-))