A while ago I had the idea of designing some business cards, but never got to it. The other day bf surprised me in telling me that he had created a template for it, and I should tweak it to my liking with him, so we did. He drew the sheep himself, and I only asked for a reflex in the eyes, which were black as they seem on this photo, but in real they have a really neat looking reflexion which makes the eye bulbs look 3-D.
All in all I think, it is a good presentation of me, my wooly self, and the colour of the writing is a warm brownish tint which gives the card some softness.
I think of maybe adding a tiny lock of wool to each, but maybe I leave it as is.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Thursday, September 27, 2007
coffee knitted theme
I found this cotton yarn in coffee colours, and was not strong enough to leave it in the store.
I knit up some dishcloths with it, one in grandmas favourite pattern and two Mason Dixon ballband inspired ones with slipped stitches.
Bf found they work good as hotpads, so this is what we use them for.
In the picture is my new latte-glass I found in a store and the content is Caro ( a coffee on malt base, no ccaffeine because I cant have this) and creamed 0.3% milk. This is my feel-good drink in the last few weeks.
It is eye candy, too, I think.
Today I finished the socks for Alex, and hope we can get decent pictures of it. It is raining again, and there seems not enough light for good pics.
I knit up some dishcloths with it, one in grandmas favourite pattern and two Mason Dixon ballband inspired ones with slipped stitches.
Bf found they work good as hotpads, so this is what we use them for.
In the picture is my new latte-glass I found in a store and the content is Caro ( a coffee on malt base, no ccaffeine because I cant have this) and creamed 0.3% milk. This is my feel-good drink in the last few weeks.
It is eye candy, too, I think.
Today I finished the socks for Alex, and hope we can get decent pictures of it. It is raining again, and there seems not enough light for good pics.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Siri loves small caves
My little mousie where she can be found if you provide her the right material.
She is such a low cost cat. I have a cat-tent from Iams and I thought this will be her favourite place, but she chose the box from the last purchase of tetrapack milk to rest in and even sleeps there.
It is just the right size for her, and I will see how long she will keep it before it is uninteresting again.
So far it is three weeks that she has chosen this place over all comfy places like my lap or the bed or the cave in the cat tree.
The oversized doily I have knit up for the cats to have a place on my desk was getting uninteresting after two months, so I washedit and put it in my closet to unpack it again in the future and let them feel all special again :-)
The box behind her cave is full with fabric and needs to be sewed up soon. I plan on a t-shirt quilt with all my shirts from places I have been to. They are worn out, but still will hold up nicely in a quilt, so I have washed them and put them together with colour coded fabric to sew up a front an back. I have never done such thing before, so I have to do some research for what to put between the front and back.
Doe anyone have an idea? or yould help me find the right information?
I intend to use this as a throw for the bed and in winter it is supposed to provide some warmth, if possible. But it should also hold up in the washer, if it needs cleaning (once or twice a year)
She is such a low cost cat. I have a cat-tent from Iams and I thought this will be her favourite place, but she chose the box from the last purchase of tetrapack milk to rest in and even sleeps there.
It is just the right size for her, and I will see how long she will keep it before it is uninteresting again.
So far it is three weeks that she has chosen this place over all comfy places like my lap or the bed or the cave in the cat tree.
The oversized doily I have knit up for the cats to have a place on my desk was getting uninteresting after two months, so I washedit and put it in my closet to unpack it again in the future and let them feel all special again :-)
The box behind her cave is full with fabric and needs to be sewed up soon. I plan on a t-shirt quilt with all my shirts from places I have been to. They are worn out, but still will hold up nicely in a quilt, so I have washed them and put them together with colour coded fabric to sew up a front an back. I have never done such thing before, so I have to do some research for what to put between the front and back.
Doe anyone have an idea? or yould help me find the right information?
I intend to use this as a throw for the bed and in winter it is supposed to provide some warmth, if possible. But it should also hold up in the washer, if it needs cleaning (once or twice a year)
Monday, September 24, 2007
the always hungry caterpillar
My nephew had his second birthday a few days ago. He loves the story and book 'the always hungry caterpillar' so I thought, it is a good idea to replace the torn book with paper pages withone that is more sturdy and can withstand his repeated 'reading' of it better.
The book alone seemed to be not really an appropriate gift for him, so I took the book, went to my yarn store and asked for help finding a variegated green yarn for the body, the other yarns i had at home.
Green is so absolutely not my colour, so you wont find it in my stash.
Now this was three weeks ago, I started knitting it up, being asked what weird sock shape this will be, and people never thought this tube will be a caterpillar at all.
I had it in my mind just as it turned out, down to the antennae, and the pull string feature with which the slender caterpillar turns into the chubby one getting into the cocoon.
I crocheted an egg it can be stored in, and hatch and in the future it will get all the requisites it needs. Some food to gnaw and eat through, and a little coat with wings it can be tucked into to transform into the butterfly.
This will be food for future gifting occasions, and I will keep the yarns in a separate bag so in case repairs will be necessary, I can get the original yarns to mend the boo boos, it might get.
He was a happy little birthday boy, when he unwrapped the book, he just saw a little glimpse of the cover and said 'Raupe satt' which is the german title, Raupe Nimmersatt. And when it was completely unwrapped, he had to check if the inside was as he expected it. Unwrapping the toy was the greatest, even his big sister was envious, and came to ask if I could make her one, also.
Our mother suggested I knit them up and sell them, but I guess there is copyright and merchandise problems. This caterpillar will be a uniqe specimen, and I can research abouth what is possible before I step into problems.
There was a lot of work in it, and a lot of love and fun doing it. It made me happy to see that he liked it a lot.
My sister asked me,
if it was washable because she suspects the caterpillar will be fed with all different things, and might land in the sauces and foods her little son eats.
Of course I had that in mind already and since it is all cotton and acrylic yarns it is no problem to toss it in the washer. I only hope the filling will hold up and make it not look lumpy, but I chose some that was labeled as washable, so it should be ok.
Here the best shot of it
http://www.flickr.com/photos/43126982@N00/1428527222/
I dont know why blogger does not allow me to include it from the web, even though flickr is recommended as a place to get pictures from. They are in my account, and I dont know why it does not work :-(
Sunday, September 23, 2007
freeform knit hat
here the picture to the hat I wrote about before.
It holds up good with wearing and the visor does not feel sloppy even when the yarn stretches like cotton always does.
I like that it has enough room for my dreads to be.
It holds up good with wearing and the visor does not feel sloppy even when the yarn stretches like cotton always does.
I like that it has enough room for my dreads to be.
Monday, September 17, 2007
Gabriel's socks
The same yarn as for Julia's socks, but a different working. These are knit toe-up and I tried the conventional German heel with gusset and a 'normal turned' heel-cap.
It worked well. For the cuffs I picked up 30 stitches and knit them on sideways in garter stitch. I joined the start and end row with the garter stitch variant of kitchener.
To make the stripes more interesting, I lifted stitches where different colours met. I called this stitch 'rabbit ears' when I was young. My Grandma had knit a yellow-beige striped sweater for me in this stitch. My Sis had such a sweater, too, but hers was all different colours of the rainbow.
It worked well. For the cuffs I picked up 30 stitches and knit them on sideways in garter stitch. I joined the start and end row with the garter stitch variant of kitchener.
To make the stripes more interesting, I lifted stitches where different colours met. I called this stitch 'rabbit ears' when I was young. My Grandma had knit a yellow-beige striped sweater for me in this stitch. My Sis had such a sweater, too, but hers was all different colours of the rainbow.
Sunday, September 16, 2007
library book sale
Well, today was a book sale in our library in the neighbouring town.
We browsed the boxes and made a few really good finds.
I found some books on hand weaving, tatting and fiber preparation, two really great books on wolves and lions with lots of photographies I can use as references for future paintings or silk-painting. two novels (books 3 and 4 of a fantasy series), a two novel book with 2001 and Fahrenheit 451 in it ( I always wanted to have them but my budget does not allow to buy normal priced books), a book about some psychological form of therapy (for the scientist in me) and a book on Makramee which I left there after looking through it and finding out I knew all I need and that it did not inspire me that much.
Boyfriend found a computer related book, a book called 'Bronsteins Handbook of mathematics' (printed in GDR), a science book from an Author named Carl Sagan, and Jurassic park (I have this book, and he read it, but wanted his own copy, so this was a good find). Then there was this book with a title like 'Job Knigge' a behavioural guide for the work environment.
Diana found some comic books she wanted for reading in a very private place (who does not read on rather lengthy seatings?), some books about budgies and a book about horse breeds and some more I cant quite remember.
I bet there would have been more to come home with us, but we left after half of the time this sale was going because it was too much for the senses of us three. I ate a really good tasting rich piece of chocolate cake with sweet potatoe in it. The recipe of it I will get during the coming week and if it is not too much writing, I might post it on here and share it :-)
The woman selling it to me was puzzled why I ordered a glass of water with it, and not coffee or tea, so I explained, apple juice is no option for me because of allergies, the coffee makes me hyper and get arrhythmias, the tea would have the same effect on me, would they have had herbal teas, it would have been different, so the only healthy choice was water :-)
It was rather civilized but still packed there, and some people just had more luck and hauled some big bags and baskets full of novels and other gems I would have liked, too.
I had hoped to find a book on tanning hides, but was not successful. I also had hoped for some knitting related books, but the closest were the weaving books.
I am not whining, just talking about my expectations and that they were not met but unexpected things were almost as good.
I had a great time there, and still was glad to be home afterwards, being able to lay down on the couch and rest up, having a closer look on the books than it would have been possible there in the library.
MY two kitties were glad to have me again, too, since I had stayed over night at Diana's place after the Saturday meeting.
We have had her parakeet equipped with a ring (I have bent out of silver wire with a clasp closure) so she can put a leash on it and bring the bird out for a walk on her shoulder and not risking it to fly away and starve or freeze.
She had tried t with a rubber ring, but the bird took only two weeks and it was chewed off, so we hope this wire construction is holding up.
It looks neat and is not disturbing so much, so the chances are good, 'Tinchen' tolerates it better.
Maybe there will be a picture of her with her new 'foot jewellery' in the future :-)
We browsed the boxes and made a few really good finds.
I found some books on hand weaving, tatting and fiber preparation, two really great books on wolves and lions with lots of photographies I can use as references for future paintings or silk-painting. two novels (books 3 and 4 of a fantasy series), a two novel book with 2001 and Fahrenheit 451 in it ( I always wanted to have them but my budget does not allow to buy normal priced books), a book about some psychological form of therapy (for the scientist in me) and a book on Makramee which I left there after looking through it and finding out I knew all I need and that it did not inspire me that much.
Boyfriend found a computer related book, a book called 'Bronsteins Handbook of mathematics' (printed in GDR), a science book from an Author named Carl Sagan, and Jurassic park (I have this book, and he read it, but wanted his own copy, so this was a good find). Then there was this book with a title like 'Job Knigge' a behavioural guide for the work environment.
Diana found some comic books she wanted for reading in a very private place (who does not read on rather lengthy seatings?), some books about budgies and a book about horse breeds and some more I cant quite remember.
I bet there would have been more to come home with us, but we left after half of the time this sale was going because it was too much for the senses of us three. I ate a really good tasting rich piece of chocolate cake with sweet potatoe in it. The recipe of it I will get during the coming week and if it is not too much writing, I might post it on here and share it :-)
The woman selling it to me was puzzled why I ordered a glass of water with it, and not coffee or tea, so I explained, apple juice is no option for me because of allergies, the coffee makes me hyper and get arrhythmias, the tea would have the same effect on me, would they have had herbal teas, it would have been different, so the only healthy choice was water :-)
It was rather civilized but still packed there, and some people just had more luck and hauled some big bags and baskets full of novels and other gems I would have liked, too.
I had hoped to find a book on tanning hides, but was not successful. I also had hoped for some knitting related books, but the closest were the weaving books.
I am not whining, just talking about my expectations and that they were not met but unexpected things were almost as good.
I had a great time there, and still was glad to be home afterwards, being able to lay down on the couch and rest up, having a closer look on the books than it would have been possible there in the library.
MY two kitties were glad to have me again, too, since I had stayed over night at Diana's place after the Saturday meeting.
We have had her parakeet equipped with a ring (I have bent out of silver wire with a clasp closure) so she can put a leash on it and bring the bird out for a walk on her shoulder and not risking it to fly away and starve or freeze.
She had tried t with a rubber ring, but the bird took only two weeks and it was chewed off, so we hope this wire construction is holding up.
It looks neat and is not disturbing so much, so the chances are good, 'Tinchen' tolerates it better.
Maybe there will be a picture of her with her new 'foot jewellery' in the future :-)
'An Anthropologist from Mars' experience
Saturday was the bimonthly meeting with parents of Asperger-Kids. I was going there again to take care of the kids while the parents meet. I was prepared to do the childcare alone again since the other person is not really telling us wether she comes or not. Usually she comes rather late and goes early so the preparation of the room and the picking up afterwards is up to me. She gets the same money than me and I have talked to her about it already that I expect from her that we share the work evenly, and I can have a brake from having to prepare everything and be responsible for doing all the planning in the way that one meeting she is the creative advisor for the kids and I am the one playing card games or other things with the kids who dont want the crafty activities, and the next meeting we swap.
So far she was not coming prepared, and I had to use my backup plan which made me grumpy, and I told her so.
Always hoping she would come prepared the next time and then being faced with the fact she did not show up at all or tells me she had no time or ideas what to do with the kids.
The next meeting will be in November, I have told her I will be looking forward to her plans for holiday decorations ideas, which should give her enough time to come up with a plan.
I have made foldable kites with the kids Saturday, and hope they fly, ... there was no wind to try them out, so we had to trust on the pattern I got from a kite book. It is not hard at all to find projects for the kids that meet their level of abilities.
There are always some who have good motor skills who can help the ones with less dexterity. And the offers can be planned in the way that there is a simple and a more demanding variant of the same theme.
She is a sociologist with a degree, she has worked with disabled kids, she is adult and I hope intelligent, why else should she have a degree? Why is she not able to plan the time of three hours for kids in a limited age range from about 8 to 17 years?.
I dont really get it, me, the autistic nursery school teacher seems to have more abilities to handle this situation than her. I expected her to take over once she joined me in the childcare job, and now it is me being kind of a boss to her, and she is not the easy one to deal with.
She knows my limits, and still she seems to have her own ones and not care.
Diana my friend once came to visit in the break and thought the second child care person was a kid because she seemed to be affected by something, being rather slow and not really responsive.
Maybe I am too harsh with the people around me, having an IQ in the almost gifted range. Maybe 'average' people are like this girl in her 30 ies, and I expect too much.
Maybe it is the ASPIE-NT incompatibility that gets in my way so often.
I will probably not find out about it, but it keeps puzzling me, and it will keep popping up in my ramblings, so please forgive me dear readers, if this text was not to your liking.
So far she was not coming prepared, and I had to use my backup plan which made me grumpy, and I told her so.
Always hoping she would come prepared the next time and then being faced with the fact she did not show up at all or tells me she had no time or ideas what to do with the kids.
The next meeting will be in November, I have told her I will be looking forward to her plans for holiday decorations ideas, which should give her enough time to come up with a plan.
I have made foldable kites with the kids Saturday, and hope they fly, ... there was no wind to try them out, so we had to trust on the pattern I got from a kite book. It is not hard at all to find projects for the kids that meet their level of abilities.
There are always some who have good motor skills who can help the ones with less dexterity. And the offers can be planned in the way that there is a simple and a more demanding variant of the same theme.
She is a sociologist with a degree, she has worked with disabled kids, she is adult and I hope intelligent, why else should she have a degree? Why is she not able to plan the time of three hours for kids in a limited age range from about 8 to 17 years?.
I dont really get it, me, the autistic nursery school teacher seems to have more abilities to handle this situation than her. I expected her to take over once she joined me in the childcare job, and now it is me being kind of a boss to her, and she is not the easy one to deal with.
She knows my limits, and still she seems to have her own ones and not care.
Diana my friend once came to visit in the break and thought the second child care person was a kid because she seemed to be affected by something, being rather slow and not really responsive.
Maybe I am too harsh with the people around me, having an IQ in the almost gifted range. Maybe 'average' people are like this girl in her 30 ies, and I expect too much.
Maybe it is the ASPIE-NT incompatibility that gets in my way so often.
I will probably not find out about it, but it keeps puzzling me, and it will keep popping up in my ramblings, so please forgive me dear readers, if this text was not to your liking.
Monday, September 10, 2007
annual Autism Summer/fall fest
Yesterday was the annual Autism fest in our region again. We were about 40 people, and the kids and Adults had a great fun time. The weather was damp and rainy the days before, but the weather gods were giving us a break and treated us with sunshine and warmth for the day.
Diana(e) took care of the kiddos, and we played ball games, a card game named 'Papperlapapp' where one has to form words from one card of the 16 on the table and one from the hand stack of 17. Whenever one takes a card out of the middle, he has to replace it with one from the hand stack. So the spot is not empty. Once one person in the round has used all their cards on the hand stack, this round is over and the whole group will stop matching cards and discuss the found word pairs for credibility and use a dictionary in case it seems to be appropriate.
This is not a round taking game, all play at once and it can give you the giggle fits hearing the combinations, but while playing it is not allowed to discuss, this is saved for after the round is finished.
We played with relaxed rules, so the less verbose kids had a chance to collect points, and we made a ritual out of explaining the words, and did not write down the points but played for the fun of it and for the training in interaction this game asks for.
Even the most timid boy joined us after the first trial round we played and it is fun in a bigger round. So far I had only played it with two or three players, and with 7 it was so much better, more fun and interesting because of the creativity some kids displayed with their words.
I dont know if this would work in other languages, in german it works fine :-)
Once the pictures are uploaded, I will put one in to illustrate the fun we had.
for curious people who want to try their german knowledge, go to
http://www.autismus-nordbaden-pfalz.de/berichte.htm
there you can see some pictures and small texts to the activities of the past.
From 2006 there are no pictures or text, since the 'journalist' and his mother were not present and nobody else took pictures or wrote about it.
Dianas Homepage is a good collection on Info and personal experiences, she can be found at:
http://www.aspiana.de
Diana(e) took care of the kiddos, and we played ball games, a card game named 'Papperlapapp' where one has to form words from one card of the 16 on the table and one from the hand stack of 17. Whenever one takes a card out of the middle, he has to replace it with one from the hand stack. So the spot is not empty. Once one person in the round has used all their cards on the hand stack, this round is over and the whole group will stop matching cards and discuss the found word pairs for credibility and use a dictionary in case it seems to be appropriate.
This is not a round taking game, all play at once and it can give you the giggle fits hearing the combinations, but while playing it is not allowed to discuss, this is saved for after the round is finished.
We played with relaxed rules, so the less verbose kids had a chance to collect points, and we made a ritual out of explaining the words, and did not write down the points but played for the fun of it and for the training in interaction this game asks for.
Even the most timid boy joined us after the first trial round we played and it is fun in a bigger round. So far I had only played it with two or three players, and with 7 it was so much better, more fun and interesting because of the creativity some kids displayed with their words.
I dont know if this would work in other languages, in german it works fine :-)
Once the pictures are uploaded, I will put one in to illustrate the fun we had.
for curious people who want to try their german knowledge, go to
http://www.autismus-nordbaden-pfalz.de/berichte.htm
there you can see some pictures and small texts to the activities of the past.
From 2006 there are no pictures or text, since the 'journalist' and his mother were not present and nobody else took pictures or wrote about it.
Dianas Homepage is a good collection on Info and personal experiences, she can be found at:
http://www.aspiana.de
Monday, September 03, 2007
summer hat done
I doodled around with some sherbet-looking yarn and a matching solid orange one complimenting the variegated one.
It wanted to become a summer hat, so I obeyed and knitted it up cadet style. When the time for a shield came, I destroyed an old baseball cap and reused the shield from that.
I wore it out in public yesterday, and people on the train commented on it, liking the fact I thought was a flaw, so I guess it was meant to be.
I had knitted the body of the hat too long, so wearing it the ears are completely covered and I dont know how this will be after washing it for the first time, I hoped that it will shrink some, and be perfect, ... but now I am not so sure any more if this is waht will make me happy.
It is nice and airy but still gives good shade to my light sensitive eyes.
when it stops raining and the sun shows up again, I hope we can take a decent picture of the hat. But when will this be? this summer was rather wet and seems to blend over into a wet fall, so we try to enjoy each and every single minute of sunshine :-)
The kitties are both on top of me, one in the lap, the other one 'in my neck' as usual, when I am on the computer, so 8,5 kg added to me keep me warm and cozy and them blissfully purring, what do I want more?
Some time soon I will get out the sewing machine and sew up some 'travel book cases', pouches you put the book into with handles to carry it so the paperbacks dont supper if you put them into a backpack or tote bag.
I dont like it when the books look tattered and abused, so they need protection :-)
I still have to figure out how the size adjustment can go into it, not all books are the same volume, some have more pages and are wider than others, and all should fit into the case so they can be used comfortably and be safe in the same case which will be host to many books if my plans work out.
The inner picture and construction plan are made, and now I just have to follow it and see how it works out.
I have some silky looking fabric in a royal blue left over from a carnival costume project I think will ork out well for this, and there is some colour-coordinated fabric in diamond pattern that can go into it should the blue prove to be not enough.
It wanted to become a summer hat, so I obeyed and knitted it up cadet style. When the time for a shield came, I destroyed an old baseball cap and reused the shield from that.
I wore it out in public yesterday, and people on the train commented on it, liking the fact I thought was a flaw, so I guess it was meant to be.
I had knitted the body of the hat too long, so wearing it the ears are completely covered and I dont know how this will be after washing it for the first time, I hoped that it will shrink some, and be perfect, ... but now I am not so sure any more if this is waht will make me happy.
It is nice and airy but still gives good shade to my light sensitive eyes.
when it stops raining and the sun shows up again, I hope we can take a decent picture of the hat. But when will this be? this summer was rather wet and seems to blend over into a wet fall, so we try to enjoy each and every single minute of sunshine :-)
The kitties are both on top of me, one in the lap, the other one 'in my neck' as usual, when I am on the computer, so 8,5 kg added to me keep me warm and cozy and them blissfully purring, what do I want more?
Some time soon I will get out the sewing machine and sew up some 'travel book cases', pouches you put the book into with handles to carry it so the paperbacks dont supper if you put them into a backpack or tote bag.
I dont like it when the books look tattered and abused, so they need protection :-)
I still have to figure out how the size adjustment can go into it, not all books are the same volume, some have more pages and are wider than others, and all should fit into the case so they can be used comfortably and be safe in the same case which will be host to many books if my plans work out.
The inner picture and construction plan are made, and now I just have to follow it and see how it works out.
I have some silky looking fabric in a royal blue left over from a carnival costume project I think will ork out well for this, and there is some colour-coordinated fabric in diamond pattern that can go into it should the blue prove to be not enough.
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