My auto-present, another ILI pattern

Yes, I'm lazy and didn't want to label the pic in English. It says "my auto-present".

It always happens the same. I tell myself "OK, sweetheart (yes, I call myself sweetheart because one needs to love and encourage oneself) you need to knit or crochet something for you.

So I choose my yarn, a pattern and decide to make, i.e., a cowl. I wear it for several days until someone compliments my creation. Then I feel the urgent need to give it away and find myself going back to square one.

I know that you- knitter/crocheter Earth being- have been in the same situation. I think that is must have to do with a sort of an addictive positive energy that giving away something that you made, provides and I'm pretty sure that this is good for the karma.

This is just what happened to me last Christmas. When I came back to Malaga it was still warm so I forgot about my newly crocheted cowl that I had been wearing in Madrid and that I gave to one of my sisters. But a few days ago the weather suddenly changed: freezing cold winds and high humidity made me want to wear my...cowl...oh,oh!...I don't have it anymore, bagger! I needed something then and quickly!

I found this yarn at the...super store!! It is unusual for a Spanish super store to sell yarns (actually, this is the first time that I see such a thing in my whole life) so I was delightfully surprised- a mini-stand full of Red Heart balls. Are they making a research to introduce yarns as a new product? Cannot imagine the offers: buy two balls of yarn and get a bag of oranges for free, yippee!

Anyway, I was curious about this brand. I've seen it a zillion times but, as far as I know, they don't sell them here in Spain so this was an opportunity to try them out. The yarn that I chose was a little bit expensive for an acrylic but I decided to buy 2 balls in the colour that you see and another two in aubergine.

As for the pattern I went for a simple lace one from Purl Avenue, fairly quick to work with and very pretty for my likes.

And here it is! A light but warm cowl that I plan to wear a lot. Or at least that's what I think. Bets are allowed...

Please, do bet and tell me about your experience. Do you make any garment for you? Do you keep it for yourself?

That's all for today which is no small thing.

Catch you next Sunday!

ILI Slouch Hat

Ha, ha! I can see youuu.

New year and I've already skipped a post. Bad, bad girl!

It's been a long time since the last ILI (I Love It) pattern. Oh! I love this acronym so from now on I will call the patterns that I like ILIs.

This one is from Lionbrand and is called Seed Banded Slouch Hat (you need to be registered to access the patterns but registration is free).

It's been quite a while since my last knitted garment and after months of intense crocheting I needed to take my needles and knit something. And that something is this hat. It's got a nice transition of different textures plus it is slouchy and I have a fondness for slouchy hats.

The only thing that I don't like is that the pattern calls for 5 balls of cashmere and it makes the hat a little bit expensive. I've knitted it using a 100% Virgin wool yarn in chocolate colour which makes it more affordable.

Detail of the ILI slouch hat.

I've knitted this hat and crocheted a cowl with a wool and alpaca blend for my sister Kiki, as a birthday present. From the very first moment that I saw this ILI hat I knew it was for her.

I've already sent it to her. I'm late- since her birthday was on the third week of December- but it happened that I had the wrong idea of buying something instead of the last years handmade sets that I've been sending to her and when I told her she asked "why, no set this year?".

Yippee! She wanted another one! It's really nice to give a handmade gift but it's better to know that what you've made is really appreciated. What a boost of happiness!

The last weeks of school before Christmas are always hectic so I didn't had time but to crochet the cowl. I took my needles and the yarn with me to Madrid just in case, but we spent all the time with family and friends (you see? I've been a good girl). 

Too much sunlight. I think I'm going to use the pompoms as sunglasses.

So I knitted the hat back in Malaga and sent her gift a couple of days ago. I'm really happy to show you her present and will be happier when she receives it and I know she will be happy wearing it as it's getting fairly chilly up there.

ILI hat for my beloved sister.

That's all for today which is no small thing.

Catch you next Sunday! (Promiss)

The "it'scostmemylife" shawl

Ok, ok (no need to be rude, you know) this is not the real name of this awesome shawl, in fact this is the Wild Rose Shawl designed by Kathryn A. White.

All right, all right, it hasn't cost me my life but, you know, I needed a dramatic title for my triumphal return and here it is!

As promised

Well, finally I've chosen to post both options (thanks to my crocheter friends) of the pattern of the vase I showed you last week.

Actually they differ in two rows so I will write the whole pattern and then explain why I altered the last two rows.

For the lazy hands, here is the edited post.

Today’s been a short post, or not.

Catch you next Sunday!

Inspiration- edited

You never know when or where you're going to find your inspiration. It may be a common object that's been around your house for ages, a pattern in a wall, an element of nature, a painting, architecture, maths, the possibilities are endless.

One thing I'm pretty sure of is that all of us- crocheters/knitters- have had Oh I can crochet/knit this moments.

On the edge

They tell you that you must have a basic wardrobe. LBDs, plain shirts, plain trousers, plain, plain, plain...Boring!

And what about T-shirts? Yes, plain white, plain black, plain any colour...Boring!

Leon coaster pattern

Sometimes Mr. Husband and I dig at each other, politely of course.

Several months ago his 3D printing community organised a 3D printer party at Leon, a beautiful city to the northwest of Spain.

T-shirt yarn clutch pattern for Mother's Day

As I told you here, last year we had several workshops with Little Romulan and his classmates using t-shirt yarn.

This year I'd like to teach them how to crochet useful things keeping it as simple as possible. We're going to use chains and single crochet- I hope they haven't forgotten how to make them- to work a clutch for Mother's Day. What a nice little present, don’t you think?

I think the pattern is easy enough for them to understand and follow.

So let's go:

Put a "maño" in your life

My brother-in-law modelling for MQP.

This is going to cost me (as we say here in Spain) blood, sweat and tears as the translation of this post is extremely difficult for me and it could happen:

a) That you find it as amusing as I do because you understand Spanish humour or you can make any sense of it.

b) That after reading a few lines you ask yourself: what the hell is she talking about, for Clone’s sake?

Anyway, here we go!

Superwoman does not exist, does she?

Have a look at the scarf pattern below.

Not so long ago: mother of 4 girls, self-employed, late-night student.

Present day: mother of 4 “girls”, grandmother of 6, self-employed, keeps studying (obviously different subjects than in the past).

In addition she’s very fond of her chicks and grandchicks, caring and loving, supportive, strong, determined and an extremely modest person. She’s the life of the party, the first one to arrive and the last one to leave, the family psychologist and an unconditional shoulder to cry on.

Years ago I was having a conversation about the difficulties of being a working mother with someone that told me that Superwoman does not exist but my reply was:

- “Of course she exists and I know her!”.

Baby Hat & Sleeping sack pattern

This pattern was love at first sight and as we have expanded our already huge family (not my fault, a new nephew) I decided that it would make the perfect present to welcome Mateo.

I found a beautiful self striping antibacterial and blahblahblah yarn in neutral tones -you know, they tell you that it’s a boy and you end up with a tiny creature with ponytails- and began to work on it.

The pattern has been designed by Comfort Wool: sleeping sack pattern, here and hat, here.

They are simple and cute patterns and it’s been a pleasure knitting them.

What do you think?

Tweed Short Cowl Pattern

 Mrs. Soft Kitty is cold-sensitive but she doesn't like long scarves so I came up with this super-warm short cowl for her.

This pattern is easy, in fact it’s easy as pie. I was wondering if to publish it but it worked so well with the yarn that I chose that I felt the urgent need of sharing it with you.