The week leading up to Christmas is always so packed with stuff, I’ve hardly time to sit down and write this at all. Just two little things: First, you’ll be happy to know that I’ve found a new host for this blog and I’ll be moving it in January. Once that’s all up and running, I’ll only blog here. I’ve problems blogging on myblog recently, so I’ll be very happy once that’s over.
Second, I can reveal a small FO. A little garter stitch scarf for my son who specifically requested it that way and in that yarn (Rowan Cashsoft Aran) to resemble his old “baby” scarf.

La semaine avant noël est toujours bien remplie. J’ai à peine le temps de vous écrire ceci. Mais j’ai deux petites choses à partager: D’abord, j’ai enfin trouvé une solution pour l’hébergement de ce site. Je vais donc le migrer en Janvier et une fois c’est fait, je laisse tomber myblog (sur lequel j’ai d’ailleurs souvent du mal à me connecter récemment).
Ensuite j’ai un petit FO à vous présenter. Une simple écharpe au point mousse, mais exactement comme mon fils la voulait, bleue et douce, comme son écharpe de « bébé ». Donc celle-là aussi, elle est en Rowan Cashsoft Aran.

Die Woche vor Weihnachten ist immer besonders stressig. Ich habe kaum Zeit, überhaupt zu bloggen. Aber ich muss schnell 2 Dinge loswerden:
Ersten habe ich endlich die Hosting-Frage geklärt. Im Januar ziehe ich dann um, und dann ist auch das mit dem rss und so kein Problem mehr, hoffe ich. Und dann kann ich auch myblog endlich sein lassen, das geht im Moment eh dauernd nicht.
Zweitens, habe ich ein FO, den Geburtstagsschal für den Sohnemann. Genauso, wie er sich’s gewünscht hat. Kraus rechts, blau, genauso weich wie sein „Baby“-Schal, somit auch aus Rowan Cashsoft Aran.

The Interweave Crochet, Winter 2008 preview is up. So many great projects. A lot I would want to make for myself.
Here are the other pictures of my Big Bow Cardigan:

I know some people are concerned about the “bow thing”. You don’t need to wear it like the model on the cover, although I think that’s very stylish. But for more practicality, you can just wear it like a normal scarf. You could also simply leave it off if you prefer. My prototype first had a scarf, but I forgot the keyhole. Then I thought, I’d leave it off, just to see how that’ll look like. In the end, I did go for the scarf again because that really is the look I like best.
It’s a project aimed at beginners, it is very very easy to stitch up. I think it would be perfect for a first garment.
Anyway, I have to finish making dinner for 15, so I’ll keep it at that for today.

Today after lunch, I sat down with a cup of tea and this brilliant article from the Crochet Insider. It really is a very interesting read. This woman should definitely write a book about crochet history.

I found it particularly interesting when they discussed garment patterns and the fact that crocheters don’t want to “make anything that takes them weeks to do” and that they “want things to be really fast”. Contrary to the knitters of today who don’t mind doing that at all because they see knitting more as an art than a craft. They are more likely to spend a lot of money on their supplies and don’t mind it taking time.
Looking at the activity over at Ravelry I found this to be kind of true. The theory put forward in the article is, that crochet is 20 years behind knitting in that sense.
What do you think?

Saturday I headed to Paris, it had been quite a while. My first stop was at the Japanese book shop Junku where I bought a stitch dictionary.

After that headed over to the Bon Marche to get some yarn to make some last minute gifts. My little routine there includes buying an overpriced pretzel at their épicerie. (Sometimes I just have to have one, even in-between visits to Germany.)

Then, I went to the museum of decorative arts to see the Sonia Rykiel exhibition.

A quick monument check on my way out. Yep, still there:

Then I headed to my first ever Crochet Café.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t stay long because I had to run over to the 14th arrondissement to buy some china to be able to cook for 15 people next Saturday before heading home.

When I read about Kim Werker leaving Interweave Crochet yesterday, I was quite sad. I am sure she will move on to other fantastic things, but it sure will be difficult to replace her. She was a real mentor to me little beginning designer.
Today, however, she told me that the cover of the winter issue can already be seen in this blogpost. Guess who’s design is on the cover? I am insanely proud of myself tonight.

The Interweave Submission deadline is right around the corner, at least for me who has to send it from far away. But I am kind of stuck; no idea seems to be up to the challenge. It’s probably the weather, but I’ve come up with 20 ideas for mittens in the last couple of days, but when I try to think of a garment…. My head is empty…..