Two things quickly

First, I want to show you this knitting bag I made some time ago. I used to store my current knitting project in a very unattractive blue plastic bag and finally got sick of seeing it all the time. This one looks a lot better next to our couch :)


The other thing I wanted to share, was this short animation, The Last Knit. I don't know if every one has seen it yet, but I just discovered it :)

January ornament

Here's the ornament I made this weekend for the
ornament SAL. It's from the 2002 Just Cross Stitch Ornament Issue and it's by Heart In Hand Needleart. I chose my own colors and ended up using DMC and Gentle Arts Sampler Thread. I haven't yet finished it into an actual ornament. I think I'll do a marathon ornament sewing evening sometime in November.

Sunrise

Here's Sunrise Circle Jacket all finished!
I used an anonymous wool yarn (really, I bought it from a yarn store and they were in about 100g hanks with no labels or anything). It was fun to knit (why I took a loooong break in between is a mystery to me). The original one has buttons but I think I won't be putting them on mine but instead use brooches (like this one I got as a gift from a friend) to keep it closed.

The pattern can be found here.

It's done!

Just as I thought I would, I got Strawverry Garden done yesterday! I used a cream linen fabric and all the threads recommended in the chart (Crescent Colors, Weeks Dye Works and Gentle Arts Sampler Threads). This was so much fun to do. I'm up for another SAL anytime :) And I'm also very relieved to have finally finished something! It's seems it's been forever since my last non-ornament sized finish... Speaking of ornaments and SALs, I just noticed that next weekend is the first SAL weekend in the Christmas Ornament Stitch-Along. That should be fun, too.

Strawberry Garden update

This is where I got to yesterday. Nicki already finished hers. Do go and have a look at it. It's beautiful! I'm going to keep stitching on this now and should get it done tonight as there isn't much left.

Pillow

A friend of mine spent the weekend with us, so there wasn't that much crafting going on and no blogging at all. I did knit a bit while we were watching a movie and also on Sunday evening after she had left and I finished the knitting part on Sunrise Circle Jacket. Today I'll be stitching on Strawberry Garden, but then tomorrow I'll sew it together and post a pic :) While we were out shopping I also bought the buttons for the Moonlight cardigan (the grey one) and sewed them on, so that's ready to be used now. And the timing is perfect, since we finally have winter here!

This pillow is something I did last week. I thought the chair looked a bit empty so I made this :) The white fabric is actually the same fabric that I used to cover our couch and the golden color of the letters matches the curtains quite well :) The letters are from an old issue of Marie Claire Idées.

The wool dress

This is something I finished almost two weeks ago, but just haven't gotten around to posting about. It's the wool dress I started sometime ago. The fabric is 100% wool (meant for men's suits) I bought in the wonderful fabric market in Shanghai. I like it and am thinking I'll use the same pattern to make a summer dress, too.

Strawberry Garden update

Well, it was Monday again and time for my SAL with Nicki. I had a really busy day and, unfortunately, did not have as much time for it as I have had in the past weeks. I only got the large red flower and a bit of the border and letters done. I think I'll need two more weeks to finish this...


I also wanted to show you what else I did during the weekend. This tray cloth was also inspired by Maire Claire Idées. I found the floral fabric from a thrift shop a while back. I cut a piece to fit the tray and then painted (with fabric paint) the butterflies on it. And then I decorated them with backstitching, straight stitches and French knots. Nice to have a bit of something to remind oneself of summer in the midst of all this rain and darkness.

Fabric wreath

Well, I had a lovely and very productive weekend. In addition to knitting (Sunrise Circle Jacket) and stitching (Janvier - the French freebie), I also did this wreath. I was browsing through my Marie Claire Idées and saw a picture there that inspired me. This is very easy and rather quick to do. Just cut up small strips from different fabrics (mine were about about 10 x 1,5 cm), then take a desired length of (somewhat) thick wire and just tie the strips into a simple knot around it. Then shape into a circle. Mine has the wire going round twice (and it was easy to shape into a circle as it already was in loops close to the size I wanted). Secure with bits of fabric and thinner wire if needed.



I know I've said this many times before, but I'll say it again. I just love Marie Claire Idées. And I think it's actually great that this magazine only comes in French (which I speak very very little and very very badly), because now I'm forced to just look at the pictures and be inspired by them and figure out myself how to do the things I want to do. Oh, and it also does make me want to learn French a bit better :)

Moonlight

On Wednesday morning I had this:


I steamed and pressed and sewed and knit the collar. Wool is an amazing material. It can roll up as much as it wants to when you take it of your needles, but touch it with a warm iron and a wet cloth and it molds into perfect garment pieces (well, as perfect as my knitting allows). And so, on Thursday I had this:



A finished Moonlight cardigan from Rowan 34 magazine (knit with Rowanspun Aran, an eBay bargain). It's still sans buttons, though. It was pretty fast to knit, and I think I would have finished it sooner, but unfortunately my left wrist is still not strong enough for marathon knitting sessions (and I doubt it ever will be...).

SAL week 6

I mostly worked with the green thread this time, and got all of it done. Still some flowers, letters and the border to do. This is stitching up fast!

I must apologize for the quality of the pics lately. It's been horribly dark here for weeks now and I find it impossible to get a good picture.

Small goal reached

Whew! I got part 5 of the Sampler II done today. It feels like I've been working on this part for ages! I also started beading this. I put the beads on the large peacock. Only one more to go and it's done. Tomorrow I'll stitch on Strawberry Garden and then on Tuesday I'll either start part 6 on this one or do something small to give me a break.

Winter trees

Well, the holidays are well and truly over now. I took down all the decorations and the tree today. In a way it feels very appropriate -a new new page, a fresh start-, but then again, the whole house seems so bare and empty. And then, I remembered the seeing these around all the blogs before Christmas. They were quick to do and now I have a set of winter trees! I think it would be fun to do a set for each season, pastels and florals for spring, lush greens for summer and brown and orange ones for fall.

January goals

My December goals were:

Stitch on Strawberry Garden on Mondays -done!
Stitch on Sampler Mystery II -done!
Finish knitting the socks I started for DH (only half a sock to go) -done!
Get all of the Christmas presents I've planned done. -done!

Yay me, I got all my goals done! Well, they were simple and few in numbers, but still :)

For January I want to:
Finish the dress I've started
Stitch Mystery X part 1
Finish stitching Sampler II part 5
Stitch the January square on an French freebie thing I found years ago
Participate in the Ornament SAL
Stitch on Strawberry Garden on Mondays
Finish the cardi I'm knitting now
Finish knitting Sunrise Circle Jacket
Participate in tie one on if I like the theme
Participate in Sew Retro if I like the theme

There. Quite a lot I know, probably won't manage to do all, but I'll try :)

Strawberry Garden

Last Monday I wasn't able to do my SAL with Nicki as I was not home. This Monday I was :) And here's the photo to prove it. This is stitching up so fast! And I'm still in love with it :) And thanks to Nicki, who was kind enough to send me a bit of the missing thread, I now have a whole bird in the lower left corner and not just a wing. Thank you, Nicki!

I also stitched a bit on Mystery X (which I started on the 31st as Martina was kind enough to release the password early), Martina's big mandala mystery for this year. I only have a few of the threads at the moment and only two of those were used in the first part. I have stitched all I can, but as it is, there's not much to look at yet, so no photo. I couldn't afford the full kit, so I made my own combination of the recommended threads and DMC conversions. A bunch of the threads should be in the mail as I write this and the reast will be ordeder in February.