pingu the supporting pilot

here a new episode of pingu’s big adventure. since he is travelling with a pilot he wanted to give him a hand and checked if everything is ok with the plane before take off.

little pingu isn’t afraid of big things so he started off with the turbines. first from the inside…

then from the outside.

everything seemed to be in order. turbines: check!

he also kept an eye on the maps. :

pingu in paris

pingu in paris sounds so classy doesn’t it

today pingu is in paris, eating baguette et fromage and enjoying the bohemian lifestyle. he also visited the eiffel tower and he and tim were very dissappointed that the platform at the top was closed. but they did a little photo session anyway.

tonight pingu will be in milan, but a little penguin is very tired after a long day, so he won’t hit the clubs or pose for more travel photos for us.

where will his journey take him next?

pingu in egypt

this is a new series in my blog: pingu’s travels.

remember this little feller? we christened him pingu and sent him on a big journey. he’s not alone though. tim, who is a pilot at lufthansa, will keep him company. or the other way round?!

the first trip of pingu the penguin was to egypt with us in january 2010. it was a little hot for him, but he enjoyed sunbathing, palm trees and the red sea nevertheless. he looks quite content, doesn’t he?

traveling stripes socks

these are the first handspun socks that i finished!

the socks were knit from this yarn. i had a lot of differently coloured scraps (i think it’s merino, but not sure – it was a present from tim) which i divided in half and spun one after the other. then i navajo plied it and divided it in two skeins for two socks (obviously). they were exactly the same weight. the yarn is thicker than usual 4-ply sock yarn. i’d guess it’s more like 6ply sock yarn.

then i knit plain toe-up socks (started off with 20 sts and increased to a total of 52 sts) with the yarn and this is the result. i’m not really thrilled about it as on the left sock some stripes were thinner than on the right sock. so there is one colour change more now on the left sock now to get the same length. i think it looks kind of stupid but it’s handspun yarn so i guess you can’t expect anything more… as i’m a little perfectionist i thought about ripping back the right sock to shorten the wide stripes, but i really, really don’t want to rip socks that are already finished.

they are incredibly soft and comfy though and i got tons of positive feedback and encouragement at ravelry and flickr. so i’ll just live with my cosy, cheery, unique socks i’m even kind of proud of them. because they are my first handspun socks and because i got the stripes fairly identical on both socks…

i’m still very much in love with my canon eos 500d by the way. the photos it produces are just adorable…

old maiden aunt madness

well, maybe i overdid it. but just a little. this is the result of my latest yarn shopping trip. i came across old maiden aunt yarn by accident because i saw a project on ravelry and liked the yarn. so i checked out the website and fell in love instantly. therefore this huge order of 13 skeins all of mine are 100% superwash merino sock yarn but they have other yummy qualities as well.

producer: old maiden aunt

yarn: 100% superwash merino, handdyed, 4ply, 400 yards per 100g

the colours are from top to bottom and left to right:

2 skeins hebridean, midnight owl, 2 skeins midnight, 2 skeins bitter bug
brass tap & oak, cinnamon, moody, mexican wine, last night’s red dress, derelict daughter

penguin

my boyfriend likes penguins. i stopped him from buying a crochet one at spittalfields market in london with the sentence “i can make you a much better one”. hm, after that i had to do something, right so i scraped together all my crochet skills from primary school (so hardly any!) and started to whip up this little feller. i started before christmas at my parents’ but didn’t have any eyes or stuffing so i postponed this project until last week.

pattern: amigurumi penguin from lionbrand yarn

yarn: peterle crochet yarn in black, white and yellow. 100% cotton

hook: 3.5mm crochet hook

tim loves him *yay* but who couldn’t, he’s so cute! any ideas for a name?!

traveling stripes

the yarn is called traveling stripes because i spun it from scraps my boyfriend bought for me in copenhagen and after that they travelled in his suitcase to munich, helsinki and finally frankfurt. i will knit stripey socks from it when we are in lisbon next week. so the yarn will travel once more!

fibre: not sure to be honest. i’m guessing merino by the touch of it.

weight: 86g –> exactly 43g for each sock after winding it into two balls!

length: about 240m

scraps before spinning:

in action:

spun and navajo plied to preserve the colour changes:

wound into two 43g balls for socks:

oh, by the way. i’m soooo in love with my new canon eos 500d! look at the last photos and you’ll know what i mean *lol*

dad socks

my dad got these for his birthday on 1st january. there’s not a lot to say about them really just plain toe-up sock with self-patterning sock yarn knit on a long circular with magic loop.

pattern: mash-up magic toe-up socks recipe

yarn: aldi sock yarn

needles: 2.5mm, 120cm, circular

i already had this sock with me when i met up with caroline in london. now it’s finally finished *phew* socks for guy feet get so annoying: very long and wide + boring pattern…

knotty gloves and pompon scarf

tadaaa: i proudly present the christmas presents i made for my mum this year. the gloves were planned but i was a little late and only finished  half of the first glove before i went home to my parents over christmas on 18th december. so i convinced myself that it made sense to let my mum try them on and fit the fingers exactly to her hands and indeed it made sense! if i had fitted them to my fingers they would have been too long!

as i knit the knotty gloves before for myself i knew that it was a great pattern and that the gloves fit very well. and i wasn’t disappointed this time either. it’s really fun to knit. i just hate that i never manage to close the gaps between the fingers without holes. i always have to sew them closed when finishing. you can’t see that there were holes when you sew them up properly, but it’s annoying anyway.

oh, by the way: i used drachenwolle tweed sock yarn in the colourway “pink-black”.

i was a little late too. finished the gloves on christmas day. but it didn’t really matter as my mum already knew what she would get as a present and at least i finished the scarf in time!

the scarf was a spontaneus idea. i had to check out herrenberg’s only yarn shop of course (“die nadel”) when i was grocery shopping with my mum on december 19th. i was quite impressed by their good choice of sock yarn but didn’t really want to buy anything (unless anything jumped right into my face which can happen occasionally *lol*). my mum said “look at this pompon yarn. that’s fun. and sooo soft.” so i just said “do you like it? i’ll get you a skein and knit you a scarf for christmas if you like.”

so my curiousity how this strange pompon yarn would knit up, brought me some more work i had to finish before christmas eve *doh* i wouldn’t want to wear a scarf like this, just don’t like the look of it. but i have to admit it is incredibly soft, cosy and warm. and it was a really fast and fun knit. just took me two days to finish. there’s a pattern inside the banderole but it’s basically just: k1, *bobble, k2* repeat 6 times, k1

springerle

the next cookies are finished. these are springerle, my dad’s favourite christmas cookies. so tim and me were saturday, sunday and monday. yeah, 3 days! the first day you make the dough, which you have to stir for 20 minutes. the second day you prepare the cookies and put them on baking sheets to dry. the third day you bake them. it’s like “the first day of christmas…” *sing” “the first day of springerle…”

springerle are very “old” and traditional cookies from the south of germany and switzerland. they were already made in the middle ages on christmas and special occasions as christenings, weddings etc. the molds i have are modeled after traditional ones but are made of some kind of synthetic resin (which makes them more resistant and easier to clean).

here you can read more, in case you’re interested.

making springerle is almost an art form, so i’m very proud of the result.

here you can see the springerle before baking. they don’t have “feet” yet.

when baking, the dried top with the images doesn’t change, but the still damp bottom rises and they get their characteristic “feet”. if they don’t get any (usually they double up in height) or the images disappear – you have failed

thanks to tim for helping. i award you honorary swabian