knitting socks

tonight my youngest son Jonas is leaving for a winter training camp in the Belgian Army.  He will be sleeping in tents, in these cold temperatures.  So what can a mother do to help him overcome this ?  I racked my brain, and then thought of knitting him a pair of socks. Warm, handknitted socks that he can wear while sleeping in these cold tents.  
mmmm.  I've never ever knitted socks. 

In the big pile of patternbooks, I found a leaflet by Regia, with a good explanation - so I bought 2 balls of dark green wool, picked up 5 short needles size 2.5, and cast on in the ' Italian way' .

a very strechy CO,  this Italian way...

All went well, until I reached the heel part.  Somehow the explication was confusing, and part of it was just gone.  A printer's mistake.  And then I remembered Elizabeth Zimmerman.  Surely, she would mention knitting socks somewhere in her books. 
I found it in 'knitting without tears', and she talked me through the delicate heel-knitting.  She explained perfectly how to turn and what stitches to add, and where to decrease again.  It went perfectly !  The toe - part was equally well written and fun, and now I am proud to say : I have knitted a pair of socks for my son !

Thank you EZ for this perfect heel !

a well shaped toe section.

i'm thinking I like this.  I will have some more fun with knitting socks.  Regia has those beautiful skeins full of colours that give a striped effect.  Would my husband like yellow, blue and green ?

L'aiguille en fête in Paris

I am organising a bus to this fair (together with Trees from Roeselare), pick up place is Loppem (car pool parking on E40, near Brugge) at 6 am.
on sunday 17th of february.
price 38 euros pp including ticket to fair.
for more info mail me on breien_en_haken@hotmail.com

muts met klep - beanie with flap - free pattern

Some time ago I posted the pictures of this hat I knitted.  I regularly get mails from people who'd like to knit one too.  So here is the pattern of how I knitted it.  It's actually very easy, I'd say beginners.  Advanced knitters can use it as a base to construct your own version of it.
I like to wear this hat when I have to cycle to work, and it rains.  The flap keeps the rain out of my eyes, and the border is warm around my ears.
Good luck !

Scroll down for the Dutch version.


Knitted with 100 gr of wool, needle nr 4.
CO 66 stiches
purl 18, k1, p7, k4, p4, k4, p4, k4, p4, k4, p4, k4, p4
row 2 : knit the stiches as they are.  (purl the purls, knit the knits)

continue until you have 53 cm.  BO

(53 cm is the avarage circumference of an adult female head.  But do check for yourself.  The knitting streches a bit too. Knit the piece a bit longer if you have a bigger head, or if you make it for a man)
Now sew both short ends together.
Fold the 18 purled stiches in half and close (sew)  at the inside of the beanie.
Insert the plastic flap before you close it completly.   This plastic flap is approx. 21 cm long and  can be made of any sort of flexible plastic.  I used an old plastic ordner from schooldays. 
close the top part, add a pompom if you want to. 

you can download the pattern of the flap

Dit is het gratis patroon voor de muts met een klep.

Gebreid met 1 bol wol van de wibra ( 100 gr)
met nld nr 4
66 steken opzetten, en als volgt breien :

18 averechts, 1 rechts, 7 averechts, 4 rechts, 4 averechts, 4 rechts, 4 averechts, 4 rechts, 4 averechts, 4 rechts, 4 averechts, 4 rechts, 4 averechts. 
Terugkerende naald : brei de steken zoals ze zich voordoen.

Brei zo tot je ongeveer 53 cm hoogte hebt.  Afkanten.   (gemiddelde omtrek van een dameshoofd, maar meet eens na bij jezelf)

Naai nu de beide korte einden aaneen.  De 18 averechtse steken plooi je dubbel, naai vast aan de binnenkant, stop het klepje erin. (= Knip uit hard plastic een klepje van +/- 21 cm lang)
De bovenste opening haal je dicht met een draad.  Eventueel kun je er een pompon opzetten...

tres leches cake

The knitting club of Bruges is a very international meeting.  There are people from all over the world, gathering for a cosy afternoon filled with stories and a lot of knitting.

Miguel, who makes this all available, made a wonderful cake.  He called it a 'tres leches' cake.  It is a Mexican recipe, from Miguels homeland.

Tres meaning 3 (of course) and leches means milks.  This cake is made with 3 sorts of milks.  (I didn't even realise there were so many milks...)

It was simply devine !  Soft, milky, and a little touch of rum.  Miguel sent me the recipe and I pinned it on my pinterest board 'recipes' if you want it.  link here : my recipes

This is my experiment.  It will be eaten next year (tomorrow that is) at the afternoon tea with my in-laws. 
Maybe I should add an extra drop of rum.....

Oh, and yes, the cat found the leftover milk mixture and had a ball !

Enjoy the new year everybody - and I wish you all a lot of knitting and other pleasures in life !

a quick last minute Xmas decoration

This candle holder started out as a glass jar of vegetables I bought at the supermarket.

Clean it thouroughly, remove the paper label.
choose a yarn in a Xmassy-colour, and a crochet hook

for my Flemish and Dutch readers : translation is marked in green ! 

Start with chain stiches, measure the circumference of the jar, at its widest part.
Begin met kettingsteken, meet op het breedste deel van de bokaal.

measure carefully, not too tight

crochet as follows : 1 double crochet, 1 chain stich, skipp 1 stich,   repeat until the end.
haak als volgt : maak een stokje, een kettingsteek, sla een steek over, maak een stokje, enz...

close with a  slipstich, make a single crochet in the first opening, make 3 chain stiches and repeat the proces until the piece is long enough to cover the whole jar.
Sluiten doe je met een halve vaste, dan een vast in de eerste opening, 3 kettingsteken en je bent weer vertrokken.  Vanaf de 2e toer kun je het stokje in de opening van de vorige toer maken, je hoeft niet in een steek te steken en daardoor werk je veel sneller.

measure carefully in the beginning, always at the widest part of the jar.

close with a slip stich

make a single crochet in the first opening

3 chain stiches and off you go, repeat the dc/1chain all around

from this point you can make the double crochet in the opening of the previous round, you don't have to find the right stich, so this works very fast.

careful you don't twist the work, you don't want a moebius !

check if it's ok

finishing with a reverse crochet (sc backwards)

Afwerken kun je met de kreeftensteek, maar dat hoeft niet echt.
Kies een leuk lintje, een decoratief hartje, een kerstballetje, zelfs een oude oorbel kan je hier aanhangen.

now the body is finished, you can decorate it with a ribbon, an old earring, a shining little hart, or anything you have in your craft left-overs box....

an easy way to weave in the ribbon

with a little candle inside, the light makes a  pattern on the table

even an old brooche can add a shining touch

once you made 1, you can't stop....

Of course you can do this with little jars, an put a little candlelight in it.  I added a little bit of sand at the bottom of the jar, so that the candle was steady.
Je kan natuurlijk ook andere bokaaltje kiezen, kleine en grote, volgens je goesting.  Ik deed een klein beetje zand op de bodem van de bokaal zodat het kaarsje stabiel blijft staan. 

Have fun making this !

a knitted bunny rabbit - for beginners !

This little bunny is so easy to make, it is a perfect beginners project !

All you have to do is knit a square.  Here I cast on 30 stiches with ndl 3 mm
and I knitted until I had a square.

The magic is in the sewing !  Use a blunt needle, it will pass through the fabric easier.

Here you see where you have to sew.  You must form a triangle, begin with a straight line in the middle, then mark the middle of the top with a pin. I used contrasting coloured yarn so you can see it better.

 These green stiches are big to show you where to stich.
When you do it, use the wool that you knitted with, and make the stiches a bit smaller.  Just go up and down through the fabric.

Here  I used a magazine to form a straight line, you can use a ruler too.

 just go up and down with the needle.  Make small stiches.

 Now, gently pull the thread, hold both ends, and you will see the form of the ears and the head appear.

 You will need some stuffing material too.

 See the head appear ?  Put some stuffing in the little head, and close the gap with a few stiches.

 

 Now continue along the upper part of the body.  Close this with small stiches.
when you use the same thread the stiches will be pretty invisible.

 Stuff this also.

 Now to close the rear end: go around the gap with your needle, go up and down through the fabric.
when you are back at the beginning, gently pull and the circular gap will close.

add a few stiches to make sure it is close. cut off thread.

 Now add 2 tiny stiches at the base of the ears, to make them stand up more. This is not really necessary, if you don't want to do that, the bunny will be cute without it too.

 for the tail, you can add a little pompom, a button, or needlefelt some mohair as I did here.

You might want to add a face : just sew in 2 little black pearls, for the mouth just sew an 'x' in pink.  Give it a good push, so that the stuffing finds its place and forms a flat area so that the bunny can sit up straight without tumbling over. 

Have fun making this !