Exams
For the past month, my life was taken over by end-of-year exams. A lot of them were oral exams, which means you don't have time to sit and think about the answer because the teacher is right there waiting for you to say something! On top of that, they were all in French, a language I've just about got used to speaking after a year of living here. My last exam was on Friday, which means I am now on my summer holidays!Beach
If you know Strasbourg, you'll know that it's an inland city on the border between France and Germany. It's not by the sea so I didn't expect my summer adventures to be on the shore. However, when I got here I found out that there's a beach by a lake. I even hear the sand is imported from the Mediterranean...
Cycling
A few months ago the back wheel of my bike was stolen, and I realised just how much longer it takes to walk everywhere! I took the opportunity to give my bike a little makeover:
I took this photo while I was riding my bike. Wheeeeeee!
It was a lovely way to spend a beautiful day.
And of course... knitting!
During exam time I haven't been knitting as much as usual, but I did find a bit of time every day to keep it going. First of all, my Lala's Simple Shawl has taken a backseat. I still like it and I looking forward to finishing it, but for the moment I'm more excited about other projects.
I've been admiring cabled patterns forever, and as I plan to knit the Aidez cardigan soon, I thought I should learn how cables are done. I picked out some bulky yarn which I bought from a bargain bin and got started on a pair of Bella's Mittens. I don't have much interest in Twilight, but I do think the mittens are adorable! I overestimated how much wool I had, and had to frog and start over with a shorter wrist. I ran out of wool when I got about three-quarters of the way through the thumb, so the mittens are now in time-out while I try to figure out the best way to finish them.
Since finishing my boyfriend's socks I've been wanting to make a pair for myself. I had a bit of trouble with ladders on my DPNs and when I heard about magic looping I couldn't wait to try it out. I took a walk into town to see what kind of sock wool I could find, and I found some of my favourite colours ever. I spent about ten minutes looking at them, trying to decide which one I wanted. I settled on a beautiful greenish-turquoise, a colour called "eau vive", which is French for running water (the outdoor kind, not the kitchen sink kind!). With this wool I'm making myself a pair of Spring Forward socks.
These socks are for the Harry Potter Knit and Crochet House Cup. For anyone who hasn't heard of it yet, it's a really fun way to motivate yourself to be creative with your knitting, crocheting and spinning. It's also a serious motivator to finish your projects on time, because if you don't hand in a project a month, you might not be allowed participate again! The socks have been going slowly due to exams, so now I have to finish a bit more than half a sock by the end of May. I think I'll make it; I have heaps of free time now that I'm on my summer holidays!
I love your white wall bike tires, too cool! And where you cycled looks like a slice of heaven. Lucky you :)
ReplyDeleteLadders are frustrating on dpns... I usually do magic loop, but sometimes I dig out the bamboo dpns. I find if I start the row with a very tight stitch, as in squeaky needle tight, the tension slides backwards to loosen it as I progress, but prevents ladders from forming.
I love your Bella Mits, but oh no! What are you going to do? And may your needles fly to finish your sock in time. Sounds like a fun form of motivation. :)
Thank you! It really is a beautiful part of the world to go cycling in :)
DeleteThe Bella mittens don't take a lot of time, so I think I might knit the second one a bit tighter and hope to have some extra yarn left over at the end! I'm so close to finishing, it'd be such a shame to have to frog it!