Abfabulies

Lucha libre balaclava

Last Sunday, my friend Reinout celebrated his birthday. As a present, he wanted to have a balaclava. Given the low temperatures and snow we had here lately, that wasn’t so bad an idea. So I got out my knitting needles, took out Debbie Stoller’s Son of Stitch ‘n Bitch and started working the Lucha Libre balaclava. What I liked about...

Sweater cursing

Have you heard about the sweater curse? It says that, when you knit a sweater for your boyfriend, your relationship will end. Threatening, isn’t it? Gives you something to think about. A while ago I got Debbie Stoller’s Son of Stitch ‘n Bitch, and I thought it was time to start knitting something from it. Something for my husband, something...

Edward Cullen bag – How to make your own knitting chart plus free download

My friend Karmen threw a big birthday party at the beginning of October, together with some friends. Theme of the party: twilight. Her favourite: Edward Cullen. So I thought I’d knit her something up. My thoughts immediately went to the Poster boy pattern, which you can find in Debbie Stoller’s Stitch ‘n Bitch nation. And which better way to go...

Come on let’s stitch and bitch again

There’s a new Debbie Stoller book out, woot! This one is called Stitch ‘n Bitch Superstar Knitting: Go Beyond the Basics. More tutorials, more patterns. And thanks to my very own Superstar Husband and his pre-order amazon list, it’s already mine! That’s why I married him folks 🙂 My copy arrived yesterday. So I was kind of unavailable for...

Training

I knitted on the train today. Woot! Now, I know, that actually seems like a pretty plain and regular thing to do, but for some reason, I’ve never done that before. I guess I could just imagine myself running after my ball of wool that had decided the next carriage would be much nicer for travelling. And that such a...

Creepy crochet army

Four months ago, two of my friends threw a horror-themed birthday party. Around the same time when I got the invitation, I also received my copy of Creepy cute crochet. I thought the party would be a good reason to get started on my creepy crochet army, so my friends could use it for decorations. Of course, I never finished...

Fluffy bunny slippers

Ever since I first learned how to crochet using Debbie Stoller’s Happy Hooker book, I’ve had my eye on this pattern. It just seemed a bit complicated, and I never found the courage to start them. But then, suddenly, there was this irresistable urge. I wanted to make the bunny slippers in pink, but unfortunately, I did not have enough...

How to work in I-cord

An I-cord is a small knitted cord, used for instance in hoodies, for handbags, or, in my case, for cat toys. They mostly consist of 2 to 4 stitches and are really easy to make. What you need 2 double-pointed needles (dpns) 1 tapestry needle How to do it Cast on the necessary amount of stitches on one of the...

Cat toys

I was ill at the beginning of this week: inflamed bronchial tubes. No voice and a lot of coughing. Doctor’s advice: have some rest. No need to say I spent a lot of time on the couch, either watching tv or sleeping. I found a lot of comfort in watching True Blood. And in our two cats: Pino and Tigra....

Tutorial – How to wind your yarn – Inside to outside

When you are working with yarn, most of the time you will have to wind this yarn before you can start working with it. Once you’ve done that, you’ll have a nice round ball of yarn to work with. There’s only one problem. Every time you yank your yarn, the ball will roll (or, in my case, even fly) in...