Christmas stockings

4 more Christmas stockings were finished today:

I really appreciate these early shoppers!

Etsy shop

Recycled Tshirts into a Rag Rug

Did I have fun last weekend looking for, cutting up and knitting together a bunch of old t-shirts:

 It's just gardener stitch, all knit, and a row basically equals a tshirt. 








I used 15mm needles, knitting with them is quite heavy on the arms as well as on the fingers. One or two stripes are all I manage at a time. 






Still the project grows quickly and it's lots of fun. I can't wait to show the ladies in the library on Wednesday ;) 






The rug feels very soft and it's very thick. I'm looking forward to using it. Hopefully I have enough old tshirts.

My top 10 favourite authors

In summer I read a lot, and it's definitely summer at the moment in Ireland! These are my top 10 favourite authors of all time:

1. Kate Morton: I recently read "the secret keeper" which is I think the 4th book I read of her, I love them all.

2. Jeffrey Archer: I picked up the first book I read of him (the prisoner of birth) when I was waiting 6 hours for a flight (the plane was unavailable). 

3. Nicci French: I liked the first book I read the most ("beneath the skin"), it was so good I'm buying every book published by Nicci French.

4. Tana French: Gets extra points for location (Ireland, mostly Dublin)

5. Stieg Larsson: Pretty intense reading days when I read the series.  

6. Khaled Hosseini: Doesn't have many books published, but quality ones. Can't wait to read the newest one. 

7. Harlan Coben: Always a solid thriller.

8. Sebastian Fitzek: A German author, one wonders how he possibly concludes the books in any logical way, but mostly satisfying reads.

9. Frank Schaetzing: I didn't read the weird ones, but "the swarm" was really good and I also enjoyed most of the older books.

10. Nora Roberts: I haven't actually read a book by her in ages (because the last few I read were disappointing), but the first English book I ever read was by her ("River's End") and I like the stand-alone ones, not the trilogies that go on and on and on... My recommendations would be: Honest Illusions, Public Secrets, Sanctuary, Montana Sky


 

My sock drawer (in Dublin)

It's weird and wonderful, and who would believe it?! Summer is making a guest appearance in Ireland. This evening and last evening, first time in a long time, I didn't feel like knitting. So I sorted my paperwork yesterday and today I sorted my sock drawer. 

The socks are in the third drawer. 

I have more pairs of socks, some are in the to-be-washed pile. 

Check out my sock drawer in Germany: link
 

Christmas in July CIJ - Etsy

Christmas in July is taking place at the moment on Etsy. Individual shops are putting their items on sale, the discounts vary from 10% up to 75%, free shipping, buy one get one free/ half price etc. 

I just made my first purchase today, and thought I'd share some shopping tips. 

1. Use search to search for whatever items you want, add CIJ to the description. I.e. I was looking for chevron bags, so this is my search: link

2. Etsy has a new feature for creating lists, so you can go back and look through the lists you created for i.e. gifts for mom, gifts for myself, Christmas decoration etc. At the moment I'm adding things I like and might want and I can come back later to check if these items might be on sale.

3. The Etsy UK and Ireland team has a discount code for at least 10 % off, search for CIJUK10, like this: link This is especially great if you're in Ireland or the UK because the shipping is lower. 

4. To get inspiration, check out treasuries, search for CIJ, like this: link

Here's a video about the sale: youtube link

In my shop I'm offering a discount of 10% when the coupon code CIJUK10 is used, link

Happy Shopping!

Pure Wool stockings

I've been thinking about it for a long time, and yesterday I finally finished my first stocking out of pure wool. I used Donegal Tweed, maybe the best Irish wool. There are quite a few color choices too, although I miss my deep Christmas green. 

 

Christmas stocking made out of Donegal Tweed.

Next weekend I'm going to start one in green. I needed 3 balls of Donegal tweed yarn, I used less stitches and got the same width as my other Christmas stockings. So that's good on the one hand, it's quicker, but if I want to add a name to the top it has to be a pretty short name. It's not coming out well on this picture, but the yarn is a little speckled which makes it look interesting.

I will set up a listing in my Etsy shop soon for this. I need to take a close up photo to show off the nice yarn. 

Set of 4 Christmas stockings all same colors

Another set of stockings is finished, this is the famous design that my mother wanted. I was going to make it blue instead of red. But she preferred red, a warmer color. 

Christmas stockings

 I'm sure they would look nice in blue as well, I have to try it some time! 

My Etsy shop