On Le Flambé du Pacifique

Le Flambé du Pacifique [138:366, 24.06.2008], originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Start: 8th May 2008
Finish: 17th June 2008
Yarn: My own hand-spun - "Tahiti", merino optim from Chameleon Colorworks
Needles: Addi Lace, 3.5 mm - 80 cm (US#4 - 32")
Pattern: Swallowtail Shawl by Evelyn A. Clark from Interweave Knits Fall 2006

Nothing much to talk about. Just wanted to show you guys my latest FO. It's the Swallowtail shawl knit from my own hand-spun yarn! I'm really proud of this project. ;-) It's the first FO that I've done with my own hand-spun.

Don't be fooled by the photos though, because the shawl's not that big. It measures to about 125 cm wingspan and 65 cm height.

"Flambé" is French for the Scarce Swallowtail...it's native to Europe and not the Pacific. I chose the name "Le Flambé du Pacifique" (Scarce Swallowtail of the Pacific) because the colourway "Tahiti". Besides, I reckon that the colours on the Flambé's wings also reflects the colourway of this shawl.

Well, that's all I have to tell for now. Here are the rest of the photos:

Le Flambé du Pacifique, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Le Flambé du Pacifique, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Le Flambé du Pacifique, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Le Flambé du Pacifique, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

All photos were taken @ the courtyard of "Prinzipal" (the restaurant at Prinzregententheater)

Have a great week everyone!

ETA: And here's also the Hush-Hush Handspun Hootenanny Questionaire:

1. How long have you been spinning? What skill level do you consider yourself?
- I started spindling back in August 2007 and wheel spinning in January 2008. I would consider myself an intermediate spinner.

2. What kinds of yarn do you create (singles/2-ply/3-ply/art yarn)?
- I usually navajo-ply my yarn because I don't like having left-overs...but I've also started doing 2-ply. Never done any art yarns before though.

3. What do you spin with (spindle/wheel/both)?
- Both spindle and wheel. Usually if I want to finish something fast, then I would do it on the wheel. Spindling for me is for the real spinning pleasure and to refine the spinning techniques.

4. What are your favorite fibers to spin with? Anything you don't like?
- I haven't tried that many different fibres yet...but usually I don't have problems. The only one that I struggled with was a merino-silk blend. I've spun pure bamboo on a spindle before, too, and that didn't cause me any problems (until I went to Andean-ply it and lost the end somewhere in the bracelet...yeah, tragic.)

5. Who are your favorite crack dealers fiber sources (etsy or otherwise)?
- No specific one yet...but I usually go to Etsy as the first source. Otherwise I would probably look at EGMTK....now, if only the Wollmeise would start to do rovings, too. She'll definitely be my favourite crack dealer. ;-p

6. What kind of fiber do you want to try?
- Hmmmm...anything that's natural. I've got yak down and linen flax here that I need to dab in. I sure would like to try qiviut, cashmere or angora!

7. Is there any techniques you would like to learn?
- Errrr...not really sure. I just learned how to navajo-ply on the go on the spindle. Not sure what I would need to learn with the wheel though....perhaps attenuated long-draw when spinning with cotton...not that I have tried cotton yet.

8. Do you dye fiber? If not, would you like to learn?
- Nope....I would try dyeing fibre just once to see what it's like. I dyed yarn once and found that the process was too tedious and I never did it again...but I at least tried my hands out at it.

9. Do you have fiber prep tools (and like to use them) or would you prefer ready to spin fiber?
- I don't have any fibre prep tools....but if I had some, I would really want to try it out. Otherwise ready-to-spin fibres are definitely nice.

10. What do you do with your handspun? What projects have you completed?
- I keep saying that I will knit with my hand-spun...usually shawls, since I spin thin (even when plied). What projects have I completed? See above in this very same post. ;-p

11. Are you in need of any spinning gadgets (WPI Gauge, threading hook, etc)?
- Ummm....not really. Perhaps fibre prep tools would be tempting (but that will mean that I will end up with more stuff in my over-flowing tiny flat). Perhaps a distaff for my wheel?

12. What colors "fall into your shopping basket"? Any colors you just can't stand?
- Pretty much every colours. I tend to try out some new things...but I usually end up with something blue or green.

13. What is on your wheel/spindle right now?
- Haven't got anything on the wheel at the moment...although I'm tempted. I've just finished spinning up 50 g of the 100 g of singles of Ombria-dyed AustralMerino on my spindle. So, still have another half to go...not sure how I'll go about with it yet though.

14. What other crafts/hobbies do you have?
- I knit and crochet...although knitting is bigger than crochet for me.

15. Other than crafts, what are you passionate about?
- My boyfriend. :-p LOL. I would guess music. I play piano (got Grade 8 performance from the Royal School of Music) and cello...but ever since I've been in Germany, I hardly have the chance to touch any instruments...and of course, my skill just dwindles.

16. Do you have an online wishlist?
- Yes, my Amazon wishlists (English and German) can be found on my sidebar towards the bottom....or HERE (Eng) and HERE (Ger).

17. Is there anything that you collect?
- Not really, apart from yarns and fibres.

18. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What magazine subscriptions do you have?
- Cat Bordhi's "New Pathway for Sock knitters", Clara Parkes's "The Knitter's Book of Yarns",

19. When is your birthday?
- 3rd March

20. What book or movie character do you most resemble in personality?
- Lawdy, can't think of one. I don't relate that much to this kind of things....hmmmm...but then again, perhaps Ally McBeal.

21. What is the climate like where you live around this time (need to know for careful shipments of anything meltable)?
- I'm in Munich, Germany. So, it does get pretty cold around here in winter.

22. Tell us one weird fact about yourself!
- LOL, go listen to the Knitters Uncensored podcast. We talked about that in one of the episodes. ;-p

Favorites

Favorite painting/picture(link): There are way too many. I like the Impressionists though.

Candy: Mint + Chocolate = Heaven!

Food: Thai food, of course. But I eat pretty much everything!

Drink: Wine, Portwine, Baileys, Kahlua

Movie(s): Harry Potter, Lord of the Ring, Elizabeth, Elizabeth: The Golden Age, The Sound of Music, Under the Tuscan Sun

TV Show(s): Heroes, Lost

Book(s): J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter), J.R.R. Tolkien (Lord of the Ring), Donna Leon (Commissario Brunetti), Henning Mankell (Wallander), Anne Rice (Mayfair Witches, Vampire chronicles), Jean M. Auel (Earth Children)

Guilty Pleasure(s): Procrastination. :-p

Current Mood: Good
Food for the Ears:

On Mystic Light Shawl, Optim and Rothenburg o.d. Tauber

Mystic Light Shawl, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Started: 19th April 2008
Finished: 30th April 2008
Yarn: Wollmeise 100% superwash merino Sockenwolle in "Koralle im Meer" (light)
Needles: Addi Lace, 3.5 mm / 80 cm
Pattern: Mystic Light Shawl by Anna Dalvi (aka Knit & Knag)

At last I got around to taking some photos of the Mystic Light Shawl. I surprised myself knitting this whole thing in only 11 days. Admittedly, the shawl's not that huge...but it's still a good sizes shawl.

I have problem with the colourway though. It is pretty busy that it obscures the lace pattern. But thanks to clever photography tricks, I can get the lace pattern to show on the photos.

I might knit this shawl again in a more solid colourway. I'll see.

All in all, I reckons that the shawl is beautiful and it wasn't such a hard pattern to knit like the Mystic Waters. The cables that run down the middle and along the top edge of the shawl as well as the true lace border add an interesting point in the knitting.

Mystic Light Shawl, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Mystic Light Shawl, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Mystic Light Shawl, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

I was racking my brain trying to think of a nice setting to take photos of the shawl because I had to represent light somehow. I started out thinking about taking the photo of the shawl with a lamp post...but that was tacky and out of the question because I couldn't reach up the lamp post anyway to hang up the shawl. :-p I settled for the small park around my flat and hung the shawl up on the tree with the sunlight streaming through the shawl to represent the light. The branches of the tree created shadows and helped representing the mystical part of it.

It was so windy when I was doing the photoshoot that I thought the shawl would fly away. Alala reckons that the colourway reminds her of Superman. LOL, imagine if the shawl had really blown away and flew around in the wind. It's a Superman Shawl! Thank goodness the tree barks were so rough that the shawl hung on to it very well.

Anyway, I've also finished spinning up the Optim:

Chameleon Colorworks Optim: Tahiti, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Chameleon Colorworks Optim: Tahiti [97:366, 06.04.2008], originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Started: 22nd April 2008
Finished: 05th May 2008
Yardage: approx. 412.5 m
WPI: 18 WPI (plied)
Fibre: "Tahiti", 4 oz/113 g merino optim from Chameleon Colorworks given to me by ClaudiaWarner
Wheel & Settings: Kromski Minstrel, spun worsted on 12:1 ratio in double-drive mode, navajo-plied on 16:1 ratio in double-drive mode.

There are some super thin parts on the finished yarn...I just hope it won't break because I'm already knitting with it:

Le Flambé du Pacifique [100:366, 09.05.2008], originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Start: 8th May2008
Finish: WIP
Yarn: My own hand-spun - "Tahiti", merino optim from Chameleon Colorworks
Needles: Addi Lace, 3.5 mm - 80 cm (US#4 - 32")
Pattern: Swallowtail Shawl by Evelyn A. Clark from Interweave Knits Fall 2006

I'm knitting a Swallowtail out of my "Tahiti" optim hand-spun.

"Flambé" is French for the Scarce Swallowtail...it's native to Europe and not the Pacific. I chose the name "Le Flambé du Pacifique" (Scarce Swallowtail of the Pacific) because the colourway "Tahiti". Besides, I reckon that the colours on the Flambé's wings also reflects the colourway of this shawl.

Rothenburg ob der Tauber: Plönlein [95:366, 03.05.2008], originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Lastly, Dr. D and I went to Rothenburg ob der Tauber together last Saturday. It was our first trip alone together to somewhere, where both of us haven't yet been.

Nice picturesque hamlet....but it has unfortunately turned into such a tourist trap. Things are overpriced and everywhere there are only shops selling knick-knacks to fill the clichés but that nobody actually needs.

We went to two museums there: Reichstadt Museum and the Mittelalterliches Kriminalmuseum. Otherwise we just walked around town and looked at this and that.

Oh, and I got to try some "Schneeball" (it's a kind of snack and a specialty of Mittelfranken), which kind of made me sick afterwards because it's so fatty.

Very last thing though, I really would like to thank every single one of you who sent me words of encouragements and understandings concerning my last post. I'm feeling a lot better now that those things are out of my system. I have to make it clear though that when I talked about the negativity on Ravelry...or rather about HipKnits, it wasn't about the customers or something like that as some of you might have thought (well, those of you who knows the story wouldn't have needed any explanation anyway), but it's about the scandal that came with the shop's closing down a whole load of other things - no idea why I thought the shop had closed. I won't go into detail about it here since it doesn't really concern me (I never bought anything from there)...but if you're curious, I'm sure you can find information about it all over the net anyway. ;-)

ETA: Oh, dear Eru! Now there are even people copying spindles! That's getting kinda bad....if not very bad.

Well, so now you've caught up on everything. Have a great week, everyone!

Current Mood: Good
Food for the Ears: (If you listen to the Knitters Uncensored Podcast, you might remember this song....oh, and the video might not be very kid/work-safe.)

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On Icarus!

Icarus Shawl, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Started: 24th April 2007
Finished: 03rd April 2008
Needles: 3.5 mm / 80 cm Addi Lace circs
Yarn: Rohrspatz & Wollmeise Lace-weight, 100% superwash merino, 300g Hank (530 m / 100 g), colour: "Poison No. 5"
Pattern: "Icarus" by Miriam Felton from Interweave Knit Summer 2006

"Nam ponit in ordine pennas a minima coeptas, longam breviore sequenti,ut clivo crevisse putes...postquam manus ultima coepto imposita est, geminas opifex libravit in alas ipse suum corpus motaque pependit in aura; instruit et natum 'medio' que 'ut limite curras, Icare,' ait 'moneo, ne, si demissior ibis, unda gravet pennas, si celsior, ignis adurat: inter utrumque vola. (...)

...cum puer audaci coepit guadere volatu deseruitque ducem caelique cupidine tractus altius egit iter. Rapidi vicinia solis mollit odoratas, pennarum vincula, ceras; tabuerant cerae: nudos quatit ille lacertos, remigioque carens non ullas percipit auras, oraque caerulea patrium clamantia nomen excipiuntur aqua, quae nomen traxit ab illo. (...)

At pater infelix, nec iam pater, 'Icare,' dixit, 'Icare,' dixit 'ubi es? Qua te regione requiram?'

'Icare' dicebat: pennas aspexit in unis devovitque suas artes corpusque sepulcro condidit, et tellus a nomine dicta sepulti."

Finally, it's finished! I think that it's really beautiful. Even though knitting the body was tedious and boring, but the result was well worth it. Now I have to pack it up and send it off to my mum for her birthday.

I went to do the photoshoot yesterday and took about 30 photos. They all turned out so great that it was hard to choose. So, I picked out a lot of them. Hope you like them.

I chose some passages from Ovid's Metamorphoses "Daedalus and Icarus" and posted it above. If you want to read the translation, you can find it here.

Photos are taken at Königsplatz.

Here are some selections of the photos. You can find the rest of them here.

Icarus Shawl, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Icarus Shawl, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Icarus Shawl, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Current Mood: Good

On two FOs to show

Mystic Waters Shawl [60:366, 24.03.2008], originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Mystic Waters Shawl, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Mystic Waters Shawl, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Mystic Waters Shawl, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Mystic Waters Shawl, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Started: 24th October 2007
Finished: 27th February 2008
Yarn: Wollmeise lace-weight in "Pfefferminz Prinz" (dark)
Needles: Addi Lace, 3.5 mm / 80 cm
Pattern: Mystic Waters Lace Shawl by Anna Dalvi (aka Knit & Knag)

At last I got around to taking some photos of this shawl. It's so huge that I can't get all the details in....at least not without help of a model.

Anyway, as you can see, I've finished this shawl back in February.

I'm extremely proud of this FO. It's such a beautiful pattern coupled with gorgeous Wollmeise yarn.

Funny story attached to the shawl: On Saturday (22.03.2008) I went over to show the shawl to a friend who works at a LYS. When I got there, there was an Arabian lady (you know, the type that wear total black and cover everything up apart from the eyes) with her son there. She was crocheting something and was talking to my friend. As soon as she saw my shawl, she wanted to buy it off me. I'm pretty sure she would pay a very high price for it....but with the shawl being such a work of toil and its being my first one, I couldn't part with it. However, having someone who was willing to pay a handsome sum in Euro for a shawl that I knit is such a compliment.

But wait, there's one more!

Raku-Clapotis, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Raku-Clapotis [58:366, 22.03.2008], originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Raku-Clapotis, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Raku-Clapotis, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Start: 05th February 2008
Finish: 21st March 2008
Yarn: Rohrspatz & Wollmeise Sockenwolle, 100% Superwash Merino in "Raku-Regenbogen" (Light and in an older version of the Raku)
Needles: 4.5 mm - 80 cm Addi Lace
Pattern: Clapotis by Kate Gilbert from Knitty Fall 2004

Yay! It's finished. I really like it.

I used up most of the yarn. By the end, I have about 15 g of the yarn left. I think I could have added one more repeat to the straight rows (I've added 3 extra repeats already).

I'm going to send this one away. ;-) I've also started on a new one for myself in "Emil".

Well, that's all I have to show. Have a great week, everyone!

Current Mood: Good but tired.

On I'm still here

Butterfly Girl Designs Spindle in action, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Wow, feels almost as though I've been unplugging from the blogosphere. I think I kind of lost a bit of my blogging mojo. But well, as the photos accumulated, I felt that I either need to blog off some of them or otherwise scrap a whole load.

Anyways, if you've been following, I've finished my Mystic Waters Shawl (yeah, that's the temporary photo. I still need to take an artsy one).

Apart from that, my birthday has been a kind of extended one. What's with all the packages that came in in a period of every couple of days. The photo above is actually the second package. A good friend who wished to remain anonymous to the net sent me my much coveted Butterfly Girl Designs paua shell mosaic drop spindle.

Another birthday present: BGD Paua Spindle! [44:366, 07.03.2008], originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

I had been lusting after the paua shell version of her spindles ever since she made the first one and put it on the shop.

Apart from this, I also got the spindle with the new kind of swan neck hook, which really reduces the wobble when spinning to as much as none when comparing to the old style hooks that BGD used before (not that the wobbling ever bothered me at all).

Birthday presents from Alala [42:366, 05.03.2008], originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Apart from that, the first birthday package that came in the mail was from Alala, who got me my birthday presents from my Amazon Wishlist (English one here).

So, I got the European version of Brokeback Mountain (2 discs collector's edition) and Inspired Cable Knits (that book has been on my wishlist for so long now!)

More B-Day Gifts [48:366, 11.03.2008], originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

A couple of days later, I received the next package. This time from Charles. He got me a small vintage Kromski Niddy-Noddy, 2 mixed CDs of Indie music (not in the picture) and his own hand-made card. Thank you very much!

More belated B-Day Gifts [50:366, 13.03.2008], originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

The last package came from a collaboration between three dear friends of mine, two of which, I think, would prefer to be mentioned anonymously (but those in the knows can pretty easily guess who they are). Otherwise, the third one was BockstarkKnits. Thank you sooooo much!

So, I got the Kromski tensioned Lazy Kate with four extra bobbins. The Wollmeise Wellensittichvogelfeder in lace-weight for my Mystic Light KAL and a hank of worsted-weight each of Pfefferminz Prinz and Amazonas....and of course three test hanks.

That seems to conclude the birthday present bonanza.

I've otherwise been working on my thesis, as well as knitting and spinning.

Hemlock Ring Blanket, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Start: 06th March 2008
Finish: WIP
Yarn: Gedifra Shetland Deluxe: 50% New Wool, 25% Baby Alpaca, 25% Mohair
Needles: 4.5 mm / 100 cm Addi Turbos
Pattern: Hemlock Ring Blanket by Jared Flood from Brooklyntweed

Midnight Stars, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Midnight Stars, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Midnight Stars, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Started: 28th February 2008
Finished: Singles finished on 7th March 2008, Navajo-ply on 12th March 2008
Yardage: approx. 160 m / 50 g of light fingering-weight to almost DK-weight
WPI: n/a
Fibre: 50 g roving of extrafine merino in black with white mulberry silk
Spindle: Singles spun worsted on carved Agate top-whorl spindle from Butterfly Girl Designs, Navajo-plied on Kromski Minstrel on 12:1 ratio in double-drive mode.

I'm pretty proud of this spin! It was just a test-spin for the roving that I bought in order to see what it would turn out like.

I spun the singles on the spindle and navajo-plied on the wheel...and it turned out soooo perfect!

The tweedy effect came from the un-dyed mulberry silk, which also in turns lent a certain shininess and sparkle to the whole appearance of the yarn.

The yarn's not staying with me though, because I'm going to give it away as a prize for the contest over at Knitters Uncensored. You can enter, too, even if you don't listen to the podcast. Just go and read the show notes for the latest episode to see what you have to do.

Yarnwench: Galway [49:366, 12.03.2008], originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Started: 13tg February 2008
Finished: First bobbin of Singles on 10th March 2008
Yardage: n/a
WPI: n/a (aiming for navajo-ply fingering-weight)
Fibre: "Galway", 3.8 oz/108 g Domestic wool top from The Yarn Wench given to me by KnottyNaomi
Wheel & Settings: Kromski Minstrel, spun worsted on 12:1 ratio in double-drive mode.

I also got halfway on this one. The spinning is taking f.o.r.e.v.e.r.!!!! The singles is really time consuming and the prospect of spinning another full bobbins of singles and then navajo-plying two bobbins full of it is pretty hair-raising already. But I'll persevere. :-)

Spina di Pesce from Alala [52:366, 15.03.2008], originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Lastly, I also received my PIF from Alala.

I couldn't believe it, but she knit me a pair of Spina di Pesce from Yarnissima in the special Wollmeise colourway for the pattern!

I had been wanting to knit this pattern for myself for quite a while now (and yes, I'll buy myself the pattern...or the kit and knit another one). But WHOA, Alala used up th yarn and the leg's long. If I pull it up all the way, the cast-off edge touches the bottom of my kneecap! (You can see the curve of my calf covered by the sock...and I never had that before.)

Thank you so much!!!

And no worries, I've already started doing my first PIF project. It'll take some time though, because I've got a lot going on right now.

Well, that's all I have to tell you for now. Hope everybody's well!

Current Mood: Okay

On Twenty-Six and a day

Birthday Gift from Dr. D [40:366, 03.03.2008], originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

So, there you have it. I'm now officially 26 years old. It doesn't feel any different at all, apart from the fact that I can feel more responsibilities looming over me. :-p

Thank you very much to everyone who have wished me happy birthday, either here, via email, on Ravelry or on Facebook. I really appreciated it.

I had a wonderful weekend and a wonderful birthday on Monday. I actually asked Dr. D to come around to the SnB group on Sunday evening a bit later on so that the camera crew would have finished filming and interviewing us (I was filmed and interview by a German TV channel on Thursday about my knitting and spinning, then they also did that on Sunday with the SnB group). He first said yes, but ended up not being able to come. So he sent me a message saying that he took Monday off work (mainly because he needed to do some work preparation for the day that follows) and will spend the day with me. That was actually the best birthday present ever for me already....

So, I went over to his place afterwards. Earlier in the day, I told him that I don't really celebrate birthday (and yes, that's a fact). All I ever want to do on my birthday is spending it with people I love and care about and just being there. I don't need all the tra-la-la on birthday. Sure, I like to get presents and I like to get congratulated on my birthday...but I don't measure too much of a meaning into it, apart from the fact that this shows that people are thinking of me, and that's the most anybody should ask for on their birthday. So, I was surprised and really touched that Dr.D went over to cram out some stuff from his wardrobe when the clock hit midnight and presented me a profiterole with a candle on top and a box of my birthday present. He told me that I told him too late about the fact that I don't really celebrate. Anyway, I ended up crying a bit because I wasn't expecting this...

The present he got me was a mouth-blown glass fountain pen along with a bottle of green ink with green tea aroma and a cute card. The gift was really thoughtful. Two weeks ago when I went to the Deutsches Museum with Dr. D was the first time we saw this glass fountain pen. Dr. D said he wanted one but didn't buy it back then. I told him that I like it, too, but couldn't imagine having one because I can only use it at home (you have to keep dipping the tip into the ink, like the old fashion feather) and can't just take it to the university to use. Well, now I have one. :-) Dr. D bought himself one, too.

Anyway, Dr. D also treated me to a brunch yesterday before he had to start doing some work preparation. So, I left and met up with Celina, who I haven't seen since November last year. She treated me to an afternoon tea and then invited me over to her place to have dinner with her and her husband. And that rounded off my 26th birthday really well.

So all in all, I can say that I had a great birthday. :-)

Theatinerkirche [37:366, 01.03.2008 for 29.02.2008], originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Going back a bit further, we went to have breakfast/brunch with one of Dr. D's friends on Saturday. The weather was really weird. It was pretty mild, but was cold with the wind. When Dr. D and I went down to the tube, everything was fine. By the time we got out and came to the surface, the ground was covered with snow, frozen rain and water...and it was sleeting. We ended up trudging through everything and got our feet and shoes totally soaked.

The weather cleared up while we were in the restaurant, so we all decided to go for a stroll through town, which gave me the opportunity to take some photos. We went into Theatinerkirche which is one of my favourite photo motifs here in Munich.

Theatinerkirche: Altar, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Theatinerkirche: Cupola, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Theatinerkirche: Nave, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Theatinerkirche: Stand, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Hofgarten: Snowdrops [38:366, 01.03.2008], originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Then we went over into the Hofgarten to enjoy the little bit of sun that came out.

Hofgarten: Watchful [39:366, 01.03.2008 for 02.03.2008], originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Viktualienmarkt: Storm's a-brewing, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Afterwards we went to have afternoon tea before heading back our own ways. By that time, the blue sky you could see from the few photos above was turning really murky again.

Alter Peter: Spire, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

So, that was my weekend and my birthday. I hope you guys had a wonderful weekend, too. And here's to a new week! Have a great one!

(BTW, for all knitters out there, you should go read THIS HERE. Updated: HERE)

ETA: I just made a birthday purchase for myself....it's small, but it makes me more than happy. I bought the pattern for Fiddlehead Mittens!

Current Mood: Great!
Food for the Ears: Cast On, episode 61: The Zine Scene

On only a week away...

Getting to know my own root...reading for my thesis [33:366, 25.02.2008], originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

...until I turn 26. ;-p

Time to act a bit more responsible and do some more work on my thesis. So, yeah, I've been good today and have been reading for my thesis....going to give up on the reading for the day now, because things are getting a bit jumbled up in my head.

Writing a political-scientific thesis on my own country actually opens up my eyes about a lot of things....most prominently about the lies and propagandas that were taught to us in school back in my childhood. Some of the things I'm finding out right now is pretty hair-raising.

All this instills in me a bit of a conflict. I know for sure that I really do not want to go back and live there ever again (or at least until some serious changes in attitude take place there...but I doubt that would happen for the next 20 years). But on the other hand, it does bring up a question whether I actually want to help develop it in the other way.

Knowing it as it really is and having lived there...I doubt that I could change much, were I ever to decide that I wanted to make a difference there.

*sighs*

Flower Basket Shawl Detail [23:366 15.02.2008], originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Start: 21st November 2007
Finish: WIP
Needles: 3.5 mm / 80 cm Addi Lace
Yarn: My own hand-spun, 100% 18 micron merino, "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil"
Pattern: (Ravelry links), Flower Basket Shawl by Evelyn A. Clark from Interweave Knits, Fall 2004
Modification: Since I have only 500 m of this single, I can't double the yarn up and use the bigger needle. So I'm just down-sizing the whole thing.

And it's not as though I haven't been knitting at all. I was getting bored with the stockinette knitting on my Clapotis and so I decided to dig another WIP out (okay, I actually have also started a new project, but that's another story).

This is actually the first project I started knitting using my very own hand-spun. I'm knitting this in singles and so it's going to turn out smaller than what is expected of the shawl, which supposed to use 2 strands held together. Maybe I'll add more repeats to the body...that depends on how much yarn I have though...I'll see.

Oh, and I'm also knitting this English style instead of my usual continental...so that I can practice at the style. ;-)

Bootees to boot! [27:366, 19.02.2008], originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Started: 17th February 2008
Finished: 18th February 2008
Yarn: Wolle Rödel Sport & Strumpfwolle Maxi-Ringel, colour #17498
Needles: 2.5 mm / 80 cm Addi Lace
Pattern: Saartje's Bootees from Saartje Knits

I also made these for a friend who is expecting a baby soon. I just need to find buttons for them and present them to her. ;-)

Heathland Cellphone Cozy: Hightech meets Urban [28:366, 20.02.2008], originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Start & Finish: 19th February 2008
Needles: 2.5 mm / 80 cm Addi Turbo
Yarn: My own hand-spun, 100% Corriedale, "Heathland"
Pattern: My own. 40 Stitches knitted in the round with 2x2 ribbing at the top.

And in the midst of my bigger projects I really felt like casting on for a new pair of socks - regardless of the twin-less socks I have around here -, I opted to a less damaging bail-out by casting on for a small instant gratification project and also using my own hand-spun.

I have had this project in mind ever since I've finished spinning up my Heathland. The yarn knits up surprisingly well. It has a rustic feel to the touch. The yarn itself didn't feel supple or stretchy, but it did behave like wool does: it stretches and thus was pleasant to knit with.

I usually keep this cellphone in my coat pocket for fear that the big screen might get scratched if I threw it in my bag. Now I have the cozy and it should protect the screen. However, I still keep the phone in the cozy in my pocket....because now I have to the advantage of fondling my own hand-spun knit up, too. ;-)

Mystic Waters; back on track again [29:366, 21.02.2008], originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Started: 24th October 2007
Finished: WIP
Yarn: Wollmeise lace-weight in "Pfefferminz Prinz" (dark)
Needles: Addi Lace, 3.5 mm / 80 cm
Pattern: Mystic Waters Lace Shawl by Anna Dalvi (aka Knit & Knag)

And after a long hiatus...I finally summed up enough courage to pick this project up again. Yeah, I finally fixed my Mystic Waters shawl.

I messed it up towards the end of last year and put it away until now. I decided that if I ever want it to be finished, I better give fixing it a try.

Basically, I lost a stitch or YO somewhere where there are YOs, k2tog's, ssk's left and right of that particular stitch. I tried fixing it and ending up losing 4 stitches. I tried fixing it back then but got really frustrated and that was why I had to put it away...to gain some distance from it. Otherwise I would get too frustrated with it and would probably have frogged the whole thing.

So, after about 2 months, I finally picked it back up again. I really spent the whole afternoon manipulating those four stitches...and after about 5 hours, I managed to get things to look pretty correct again. The YO over the fixed area seems bigger than the other YOs....but that's to be expected after much repeated pulling and tugging and frogging (thank goodness that Wollmeise yarn can take such harsh treatment). So, I'm just hoping that the unevenness there would be blocked out in the end.

So, we can expect a gorgeous FOs in the next few weeks!

And to close this one off, I better put up my questions for the people participating in PIF (Nikki, I know you're reading. So could you please also answer these questions and send them to me via E-mail):

1. Do you knit/crochet/spin?
2. Do you live in an area where you can get extreme coldness?
3. What are your favourite colours?
4. Are there any particular colours that you definitely will not wear?
5. Are you allergic to anything (particularly wool or something like that?)
6. Tea or coffee?
7. Dark or milk chocolate?

So, those are what I can come up with for now. There might be additional questions that I might post later on. But for now, this should suffice.

Have a great week everyone!

ETA: Oh, and the German lady with the Brooklyntweed Noro Scarf who popped in to Lanaiolo last Friday: You could have said hi to me and just say that you came because you read about the shop on my blog. I don't bite, you know? And you wouldn't have disturbed me at all (yes, I know, I was teaching someone at the moment). Yay, she wrote to me on Ravelry!

Current Mood: Calm
Food for the Ears: "High & Dry" - Jamie Cullum

On Best Boyfriend Ever Prize...

Yeah, Dr. D totally won that prize.

Why?

Yesterday I kind of mentioned to him my dilemma about whether I should get myself a spinning wheel or put the money aside to pay off my debt. He just told me to get the wheel. Yeah, just like that.

Mind you though, it's still my money...but the fact that he actually gave me the nudge to do what would actually make me happy was such a wonderful gesture for me. Besides, Jeanie pointed out a good point in her comment: What would matter about paying off the debt is also the total amount of the debt itself. And let me just tell you, the little extra money that I have right now would be just a droplet on a hot stone....so, I would justify my getting the wheel on that note.

Besides, like both Alala and Bockstark have pointed out, I need to find a way to keep the fibre stash down before it consumes me in my tiny flat. :-p

So yeah, I've ordered the wheel. ;-)

On a different note: I went on a walk with Dr. D and his friend yesterday in the park to the Nymphenburger Palace and I took some random photos. Here are some of them:

Frost, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Tree Silhouette, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Ice-skating, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Have a great ring in the New Year everyone!

Current Mood: Good and excited about the wheel
Food for the Ears: Lime 'n Violet: Episode 50

On...Lollipop lollipop oh lollipop...

Firestarter: Progress, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Start: 23rd September 2007, frogged and restarted 03rd October 2007
Finish: WIP
Yarn: Rohrspatz & Wollmeise Sockenwolle, colourway "Bob"
Needle: 2.5 mm / 80 cm Addi Turbos
Pattern: Firestarter by Yarnissima via The Loopy Ewe
Modifications: I need to modify the stitches to make it fit my foot. 72 stitches instead of the 60 stitches from the pattern and one extra cable repeat before the gusset increase.

No, no, not my foot. That's definitely NOT a lollipop (well, with the exception of those with foot fetish *LOL* Besides, the colours of the sock isn't that far off either! XD )

Okay, seriously now. I don't know why I didn't post about this any earlier. I've been posting over at the Firestarter KAL page though...so I guess I just kind of forgot about it.

The Firestarter had been neglected for quite a bit because I was so hell-bent on finishing off the Swallowtail Shawl first (and BTW, thank you soooo much for all the nice comments about it!). Not that the Firestarter's going to get any faster because Swallowtail is finished, since I still have other stuff on the needles that I want to get off, too. Not to mention the Mystic Waters KAL which starts tomorrow..and then I also want to design something. ;-)

Anyhow, I like the way my Firestarter is looking. And hanging out with Bockstark Knits had rubbed off the tight-knit on me again....and I have to say that I really like how the fabric's feeling knitted so tight like this.

Now I'm just praying that I won't have problems with the heel turn because I modified the stitch count.

Well, that's all I have to tell for now.....and there's also a reason for the title of the post, too, but you'll just see it at the end. ;-)

Current Mood: Good
Food for the Ears: Lollipop - The Chordettes (yeah, the song's been running in my head for the whole day now, out of nowhere, really! And I really cannot stop listening to it! Listen at your own risk, I won't take any responsibilities if the song gets stuck in your head! XD )

On...c'est un papillon!

Swallowtail Shawl, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Start: 15th September 2007
Finish: 17th October 2007
Yarn: Sheepaints MariSilk (70% silk, 30% seacell), "Elvegrass"
Needles: Addi Lace, 3.5 mm - 80 cm (US#4 - 32")
Pattern: Swallowtail Shawl by Evelyn A. Clark from Interweave Knits Fall 2006

The cocoon has hatched, and out came a beautiful Swallowtail.

I finished the shawl a couple of days ago, but couldn't get a good photo of it indoor...so I took the chance today and went out to do some outdoor shootings, unfortunately sans model.

With the exception of the p5tog for the nupps, I think that this is a good knit. It's interesting enough to keep the attention to it, not too hard to make and not too huge to make. It does take a while, but still, it's a lovely shawl to knit!

ETA: I'll probably give this to my mum for Christmas...coz I doubt I'll get the Icarus finished in time.

Swallowtail Shawl, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Swallowtail Shawl, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Swallowtail Shawl, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Okay, maybe I lied about the model....there was this busker in the Diana Pavilion when I was taking the photos of the shawl, so I asked her whether I could drape it over her and the cello to take the photo. She said yes....and kinda chuckled to herself. Must have been pretty funny that there's an Asian guy taking photos of a lace shawl. :-p

Have a great weekend!

Current Mood: Good
Food for the Ears: "La complainte de la butte" - Patrick Bruel, listen to the song on my Vox

On...the weekend: Frankfurt

Frankfurter Römer, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

I will be making a separate post for the weekend at Benediktbeuern with all the Uncensored Knitters. If you want to know more, you can go and read on it from Bockstark Knits or Alala (I'm sure that there will be more posts to follow from the others).

Anyway, on Friday, I had to go to Frankfurt because I had to go hand in and sign the documents personally at the Thai consulate for the postponement of my military service in Thailand. It was pretty much spontaneous, and Friday was the only day that I had. I originally swapped my shifts around at work to keep Friday and the weekend free for Benediktbeuern, but as Fates would have it, the thing with the military service came up and I can't put it off to any other dates.

On Thursday night I had a bar shift at work after 3 night shifts in a row before that. Had to negotiate with my colleague at the bar so that I can really catch the last tube home, which was at 1.14 a.m. The thing was that I needed to catch the train really early, too...well, at 5.52 a.m. to be exact. (I had to take that train, coz it's the cheaper one). So, you can imagine how tired I was after working and with only two hours of sleep.

I spent the whole day in Frankfurt and had organised a car-pool to get back to Munich (there isn't any cheap train tickets any more for the evening, since all of Germany would be flocking to Munich for the Oktoberfest opening on the weekend). The car-pool started off at 6 p.m. and we got stuck in traffic (what a surprise...NOT) and I got home at about 11.30 p.m. on Friday evening. I had to wake up early to meet everybody the next morning as well for Benediktbeuern. So, you can imagine the state that I was in. ;-)

Old and new, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Three years ago, I had to go to Frankfurt with the same errand. Back then, it was cold, grey and rainy. I wasn't prepared to be there properly (not that I was this time around either) and so I had a bad first impression of Frankfurt. This time, it's different. The sun was shining, the late summer/early autumn warmth blanketed the city and I was able to explore the place (heck, I needed to keep moving myself, otherwise I would have fallen asleep).

Reflection, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Clickety clack, clickety clack goes the sound of dress shoes and high-heels on the pavement...that and the sound of the city are what I will think of in relation to Frankfurt. All these men in their late 20's and early 30's in sleek chic suit, women of the same age group in their petit 3-piece office costume. The whole town is covered with people clad in black, anthracite and grey. The city just reeked of "new" money....especially around the financial district of the city.

There are a lot of good looking people in Frankfurt....I spotted a lot of gay guys around (it was sunny after all). The people there seem to have another kind of good-looking-ness about them that's different from Bavaria, but I can't really say how.