Birkin, final!

Anfang Januar 2018 habe ich Wolle in Schweden gekauft, um daraus einen Birkin (nach der Anleitung von Caitlin Hunter) zu stricken. Ein gutes Jahr später war das, was so leicht in einen einzigen Satz passt, kurz davor ein Drama zu werden. Denn irgendwie wollte das mit dem Birkin und mir partout nichts werden.

Im ersten Versuch hatte ich fünf Farben, von denen zwei nicht passten. Farblich vielleicht, aber die Garne waren einfach zu unterschiedlich. Hätte ich eher sehen können, habe ich aber nicht. Also neu. Im zweiten Versuch habe ich mich grausam verzählt, das nach der ersten Blätterranke gemerkt und dann gleich geribbelt.

Im dritten Versuch (Februar 2018) wurde die Passe – trotz Maschenprobe – viel zu eng. Ich hätte schulterlos sein müssen. Oder ein Tropfen. Die Suche nach #birkinsweater auf Instagram hat mir gezeigt, dass ich nicht die Einzige bin, der das so ging – guckt mal bei Valerie oder bei Vivian oder bei Kristen – das war ungemein tröstlich,  brachte mich meinem Pullover aber nicht näher  …

Im vierten Versuch schließlich (März 2018) schien alles zu stimmen, bis ich gemerkt habe, dass die Passe viel zu wuchtig wurde, zu tief, zu breit – wie immer man das beschreibt. Alles prima, so lange die Arme unten blieben. Waren sie das nicht, kam viel zu viel Blumen-Passe mit nach oben. (Wie bei Marjorie). Den hätte ich niemals angezogen.

Im fünften Versuch (Juli 2018) genau das Gleiche. Auch wenn ich auf die meisten Blumen verzichtet habe. Zu diesem Zeitpunkt war ich kurz davor, das ganze Projekt für immer in die Tonne zu kloppen zu vergessen. Statt dessen lagen die Trümmer für Wochen auf dem Sofa.

Bis meine wunderbare Freundin Bettina im Januar 2019 nach Dublin zu ihrer Tochter flog und mir von dort “local yarn” mitbrachte. Einfach so. Weil sie wunderbar ist. Donegal Aran Tweed, 8 x grün, 1 x rot, 1 x weiß und 2 x türkis.

Alles neu also im sechsten Versuch und dieses Mal habe ich nur noch auf Elizabeth Zimmermann und ihr Buch “Knitting without Tears” gehört: Eine einzige Maschenprobe und dann Bottom-up statt top-down, Aran statt Fingering, drei Blumenranken statt fünf, Abnahmen in der Passe, die sich an meinem Körper orientieren, nicht am Muster. Damit war alles ganz einfach. Und alles ist gut.

Alles ist wirklich gut. Nur glauben kann ich das noch nicht.

Flower Power II

When I was 14 my (then) best friend would move to Hamburg with her parents. I was devastated and begged my parents to do something, to keep them from leaving. Of course, there was nothing they could do about it, but wonderful as they are, they suggested we’d host a farewell party for my friend, which is what we did. And it was good – a day to remember.

Not much later – when I was 18 – I was the one to leave, as I went to Paris as an au pair. My friends would take me to the main station (yes, back then one would take the train to go to Paris) to see me off. I remember it as awkward when the train finally took off and they all stayed behind.

The feelings I had back then stayed with me. Whenever I would relocate it would be bittersweet, anywhere between excitement and tears, anticipation and drama. So when reading Dilly’s post about her “lovely friend and partner in crime” (I love that!) returning to her native land, how sad she was to see Georgia go and her intentions of doing a yarn bomb for her I couldn’t but sympathize. Even more so, when I read she was in need of crochet flowers. I love crochet flowers.

There were two nights left, enough stash at hand and even some “flower experiment” remains laying around that I could use. Hence, I would crochet, pack 99 flowers (and a pom-pom that J had made) in a box and send it to the UK.

Häkelblumen

“Thanks for getting involved!” Dilly wrote (to a total stranger and clearly not knowing what to expect), “No idea of posting times but if they don’t get here by Weds I promise to add them to the yarn bomb anyway :)”. Well, the mailman obviously ran all the way and the box made it by Tuesday: “I received your package today. (…) We are still planning to hit our target tomorrow. I will try and post pictures as soon as I can.”

Pictures were online this morning (here are some more) and seriously made my day. Thank you Dilly! And to all others: we should do stuff like that more often. It doesn’only look good but feel good. So if anyone is planning on doing a crochet flower yarn bomb …

Hookers unite 🙂

crochet flowers

Flower Power

Warmth or cold, sun or storm – this year, summer is on and off in Berlin. However, the garden appears to like it. Everything seems to be growing overnight and whenever I have time, I am outside to weed and water. The minute I turn though, those mean little greens seem to be breaking through the soil anew.

yellow flowers front yard

J caught the garden bug from me and keeps “planting” little pips and grains between damp cotton pads waiting for them to sprout. This one – placed in the lid of some spray can – immediately did what was expected. It will become a tree, says J. In the meantime, the “tree to be” has been repotted into a flowerpot and we’re counting days until we can sit in its shade.

IMG_1892

With gardening and such, there was never enough time to knit or crochet lately (not to mention blogging …). Anyway, little crochet flowers are easy and fast to make 🙂  and I managed to make quite a few last week. They’re on their way to the UK now and I sure hope Dilly Tante will get them in time!

simple crochet flowers

Crochet Bags

Surfing the net, I realized a few days ago that there are some very nice crochet bags out there: very colorful, very fashionable, very useful! And all of a sudden I knew that those little squares (Edie Eckman motiv #88) I have made, were not to become a blanket as intended.

Instead, M and I spent hours trying to arrange some of them according to Inga’s pattern in such a way that same colors do not adjoin … Well, if you look at the final outcome we did not succeed. Yes, it bugs me. No, I won’t undo it. There are enough little squares left to start over and make a second bag 🙂

Crochet Bag

Recently, Juliane too has discovered crochet bags. Here is the bag she made for a little girl. I really like her choice of colors! Pretty in pink 🙂

Crochet Bag Juliane

April

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