We will be on holiday next week and I am slowly getting into a holiday preparation mode. Usually, we go on holiday in Spring and/or Autumn and we are at home during Summer since we don’t have to stick to school holidays. Seeing all of your holiday postings on social media during Summer is okay for me because I know that our holiday is still to come. This year, however, I have been longing to go all Summer long. I can’t really tell what it is, but seeing all of you being at beautiful places really made me want to go too. Maybe the weather played a role here.
Anyway, I need to recharge my batteries and the change of environment is highly appreciated. Plus it stimulates creativity.
If everything goes according to plan, then we will have our own little home with a pool and beautiful weather. My plan is to take it slowly, relax by the pool, have some good food (and a drink every now and then) and just relax. Visit some small towns and go for an occasional walk. I have started holiday preparations today.
First of all, I have loaded enough books on my e-reader for at least a month (we will only be away for two weeks). Just to have some alternatives in case I don’t like one of the books.
In my head, I am packing my suitcase and leaving enough room for yarn to take with me and souvenirs to buy over there. Like with the books, I won’t be taking just one yarny project with me. I need a few to choose from. So I will be packing three: the pair of knitted socks that I recently started, yarn for a knitted shawl and a crochet project. Let me introduce them to you starting with the socks.
A pair of socks
A few weeks ago I started knitting a sock. It is something that I wanted to do for a long time. I really like all those lovely self-striping sock yarns that are available, but I needed some basic knitting experience first. I think that I have enough of that now!
The yarn I am using is Drops Fabel which comes in 50 grams balls. So you need two for a pair of adult socks. The colourway is called Red Chili (number 159). I use Crafty Queens’ great video tutorial for them.
A knitted shawl
On to the shawl: I am going to knit the Birds of a Feather Shawl that appeared first in Laine Magazine (issue 2). The pattern is designed by Andrea Mowry and you’ll find her pattern on Ravelry by now as well. Even though I have some yarn in my stash (ahem), I did not have enough yarn of the required weight. The pattern calls for two full skeins of fingering weight yarn and a skein of kid silk. A very good reason to go to Groningen and visit the beautiful yarn shop Juffrouw Lanterfant. Corien was still enjoying her holiday so she wasn’t there herself, but her lovely staff helped me out great!
I had been browsing her online shop before I went over and there I spotted the variegated yarns by Cowgirl Blues. They looked even better in real life, so I didn’t need a long time to pick the yarn for my knitting project. I think that the browns and greys will be great combined with denim garments. The bright kid silk will hopefully lift the colours a little and provide a bright accent.
Oh, I am looking forward to this project, not the least because I will be learning new stitches and techniques as well!
A crochet scarf
And last but definitely not least: another shawl or scarf. A crochet version though. It’s the Liula scarf by Emma of Potter & Bloom. The stole or shawl is made using just one yarn cake (you know the colourful and variegated ones that are so popular at the moment). Usually, these cakes hold enough yarn for one shawl. And the great thing is: there are only two ends to weave in when you’re done! How awesome is that?
I have been drooling over the Scheepjes Whirl yarn cakes for a while but didn’t know what to use them for. Until I saw Emma’s podcast where she introduced her pattern. I studied all available colours intensively and decided to go for Mid Morning Mocca’roo (number 766). It has blues and browns in it and is rather neutral compared to the very colourful alternatives. A really wearable colourway for me!
I will be starting the Liula shawl before we leave to make sure that I have a little base that I can continue to work on while we are on the plane. To get familiar with the pattern, I did a little test run using Scheepjes Stonewashed. And I really like that result as well! Who knows, maybe for a second version?
By the way, Emma is hosting a CAL (Crochet-A-Long) on Ravelry using this pattern and it starts today! It is called #CAKECAL. A very appropriate name! (You’ll find all the details in Emma’s blog post.)
Now, hopefully, that’s enough yarny stuff to cover two weeks in in the warmth of the south of France. I am probably taking too much with me though as always…
Just a few more sleeps and then we’ll be on our way. Oh, how much I need this holiday… And this year I really need it more than other years. I’ll better get over to my laundry now and make sure that we have clean clothes to take with us! Talk to you soon (with charged batteries I hope)!
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