Cozy Feet and a Shawl Challenge

The last weeks of my previous contract on board were on the Caribbean. It was a beautiful time and it was bizarre to spend your days at the beach at the end of November. Islands like Curacao, Bonaire, St Lucia, Dominica, Barbados, Antigua, Jamaica, British Virgin Islands...

Jolly Beach - Antigua

When you're there, it's hard to imagine that it's actually winter, and people are freezing in a lot of countries! It was the hard reality of coming back home to Hamburg. I was a little bit optimistic regarding my clothes for the flight because upon arrival in Hamburg, it was cold cold cold.

Happy Biking :)

Within a week or so, the snow started to fall, and winter was at it's best. And you know what? I did not mind a bit! I wouldn't have wanted to spend it anywhere else but at home. And I like nothing more than a winter that's snowy. I guess it's just what I'm used to. Christmas at the beach would have been wrong. It was the perfect time to leave the Caribbean.

In the Caribbean you might be wearing your flip flops, but in Hamburg you get cold feet! So what's nicer than to come home out of the cold, and put on a pair of home made house shoes!
Now these house shoes are a bit of a tradition for me. They sort of mark the start of my knitting. I was quite ambitious and one of my first knitting projects was a pair of knitted felted houseshoes. I took a basic sock pattern, modified it a little bit so it wouldn't have a cuff, took some 7mm needles, thick yarn (specially made for felting like this) and started knitting. It was a slow process back than, but oh how satisfying when they're finished and on your feet! They do tend to get holes after about a year of heavy wearing, so I make new ones every year!

This year I had a lot of left overs in many colors of the yarn mentioned above. I decided to make the craziest pair ever. I would use this project to play around with color, and even some stranded color work in it. This is what came out of it:

They are crazy, insane, hurt-your-eyes-colorful but oh so warm and happy! I put them on first thing when I get home. And don't they match the rest of our colorful home?
If you've knitted before, they're super easy to make! You just change color whenever and wherever you want to! I've whipped these up in one evening, and felted them the next day over at the laundrette. It took me two cycles to get the results I wanted, and they actually came out a little too small, but after some pulling and forcing them on my feet, they shaped into the perfect fit!

I love shawls/scarfs/cowls. And I believe one cannot have enough. I'm always searching for that perfect pattern, and I guess I have found many. But since there's always room for more shawls, I started yet another one. I was very keen on using Rowan Fine Tweed. I love the intense colors it comes in, and I love the look of tweed. Sometimes I start by selecting a pattern, and than buy the yarn, but this time I was very much set on this specific yarn. And I also knew what colors I wanted to use. But what pattern to use?

I found a pattern called Leftie by Martina Behm and to be quite honest, I didn't love it when I saw the pictures. It's very feminine and I couldn't imagine wearing something like that. However, something inside me insisted on trying out the pattern, and my big challenge was to make it a shawl a man could wear. Let's start by showing off the colors I ended op buying.

The first color I knew had to go in this shawl was the red one. Which looks surprising if you see how many blues and how many balls of grey I've bought. I wanted the red to really be the main accent though and thought this would be the best way to achieve that.

So how's it coming along? Well, I started yesterday evening, and have been knitting like a crazy person so I can have an image of what it's starting to look like. I even draped the bit of knitting I have around my neck, and can imagine my challenge is going to succeed, but that's up to you to decide when I'm finished with it!

Anyways, here's a little sneak peak of my progress:

I just love how tweedy it looks, and how the red pops out between all the muted greys and blues.
I'll keep you posted on my progress.

And look what came in the mail yesterday? More about that yarn another time!

Hope you'll all have a lovely New Years Eve tomorrow, and be safe with Fireworks!

x Dennis