2012... check! 2013... bring it on!

I've had such a wonderful time ever since I came back from the ship end of November. Hamburg has been beautiful (especially the snowy days!). I visited my parents and my best friends in the Netherlands. I've knitted more than should be legal. And the best off all was spending a beautiful Christmas with Matt.

He was lucky to have some days off from work around Christmas, so we had a lot of free time together, and spent most of it on over-eating (Both our parents sent us crazy amounts of chocolate!) and watching old christmassy movies (Miracle on 34th Street, The Santa Clause) and of course crocheting and knitting!

Matt spoiled me with some crazy nice yarn for Christmas. I'm sort of stashing up on yarn at the moment, because in about 3 weeks I'll be leaving again on the ship for 3 months! And after some research, I found out it won't be that easy finding any nice yarn in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Israel, Egypt or Jordan. These are the main places I'll be visiting often in those 3 months.
From a lot of negative experiences I know now, to bring enough yarn on board, or I'll freak out.

Isager Alpaca

Welthase Sport

Doesn't that look lovely? I'm quite excited to start making things with my new yarn, but I'm going to wait till I'm on board! My mission is to start coming up with some patterns of my own. It's scary but also very exciting! I guess that's why I'm knitting as many patterns as possible at the moment, to get inspired, and to learn different shaping techniques. It's very confusing so far, but I just need to give it a go, and learn from my mistakes! 2013 will be a year of new challenges.

The last month I've been knitting some patterns by one of my favorite knitting designers, Stephen West. He's one of the reasons I really got into knitting. I love so many of his designs, that I can't put my needles down, and knit as much of it as I can.

When I finished my 2 latest Westknits projects, Matt and I went out into the neighborhood to take some shots! We ended up laughing most of the time, since modeling feels rather lame and its very hard to take yourself serious, especially with people walking by all the time! Out of a 1000 shots, these are the ones I'm willing to share with you. You'll recognize some of them since I used them in the design of my blog.

Alpaca Coler Mitts!

Pattern: Coler by Stephen West

Yarn: Artesano - 100% Alpaca DK

Color: I forgot the name, but it's obviously blue ;-)

Longview Cabled Scarf

Pattern: Longview by Stephen West

Yarn: Artesano Aran (50% Alpaca, 50% wool)

Colorway: Midnight

I'm very happy with both projects, wear them every day at the moment. I've mady many shawls/scarfs, but none of them are as warm as this incredibly long one. It's crazy soft and super thick! The colors are perfect, and match the mitts as well!

I have so many things to write still, projects I've been working on, projects that are on my mind, some sewing I'm very proud of, and much more! But all in it's time, I'll be writing soon again!

Hope all of you had a lovely 2012 and I wish you all a very happy New Year.
Let me know if you got some lovely yarn or crafty goodness for Christmas as well :-) 

x Dennis.