Rag rug

Yesterday, at my knit club meeting, we learned about how to use crochet to make items you can use (like baskets, rugs, bags) from rags (selfmade or bought). I used one of our old curtains and started to make a rag rug out of it. The cutting takes up a LOT of time, so I didn't get it all done before the class, but I had enough to start with. And now I'm in the process of cutting up the rest of the curtain and purchasing a hook that's big enough.


I know I've got about a gazillion projects going on at the moment and that I don't seem to be making any progress in any of them. But I do enjoy them all :) This weekend I'm going over to my great-aunt's house. She's going to teach me and the rest of my female relatives an Easter craft. I don't know exactly what, but it involves empty egg shells. I've been baking a lot this week in order to have lots of egg shells to take with me :)

Part 2 is done

I did it! I got part two done and I think it is quite pretty. Next week I get to start part 3 :) Nicki has switched to stitching Mystery VIII for now and will do part 6 of this one together with me once I get that far and then we'll both continue with Mystery VIII.

New projects

I've been working on some new projects lately (besides stitching my WIPs).


First, there's this. My ripple blanket. Inspired by the two lovely blankets made by Jane of Yarnstorm and by Alicia's humongous bedspread. It's wonderful and so simple. I'm using the odd balls from my stash and some I've bought specifically for this project. Most of what I had was different shades of blue and green and I wanted to add a bit of pink and yellow too.


The second project is this. A sweater from one of the Rowan magazines. I'm using Kid Classic in Sandstone and I love both the feel and look of the yarn as well as the color (although it may be more appropriate for autumn than spring). This'll be my last "warm" knit for now. After this I'm doing some spring and summer projects. Or that's the plan, anyway.

SAL update

Here's my progress on my SAL with Nicki.
Looks a lot like it did last week, doesn't it? But I have been stitching. If you look at it closely, you can see that I've done the half-stitch "shadows" on the doves. The thread blends with my fabric really well, so it isn't very visible, in the picture at least. But in real life it does give a nice subtle effect and that's why I kept going. This close-up will perhaps show it a bit better.


Next Monday I hope to finish part 2, but we'll see how it goes.

Signs of spring

The weather outside is, well, spring-like. But not the nice kind. Yesterday we got lots and lots of slush. And since it is above zero, it's melting and pooling and being annoying.. Not something that tempts you to go outside.


But there are signs of spring, different kind of signs. It is time to repot indoor plants. Give them a dose of fresh, new soil and nutrients. To cut away the dried bits and give a good trim to those overgrown. And to see them soon sprout out new leaves and maybe even a bloom or two to celebrate the coming of warm and sunny days.

And that's what I've been doing today. I got most of it done, but a few plants need new pots still.

Just a quick post

Just a quick post to show you what I got done this Monday on my Winter's Eve SAL with Nicki. Part 2 is progressing. I got both the doves done.

Sunday

What a beautiful day this has been!


I've done a bit of sewing. And I do mean just a bit. Quite a long time ago I bought a long-sleeved silk dress from a thrift shop. The dress wasn't exactly my style. The top part didn't fit me well and the pattern... well, I just couldn't see myself in it from head to toe and fingertip! So I bought it with the full intention of doing something with it. After all, it was silk and it was cheap. Today was finally the day that I did do something to it. And that was to chop the top part of, sew the new raw edge in place and, voilá, I had myself a new skirt! I can see myself wearing it in summer with a simple white or black or yellow top and black flip flops.


And I went out for a long walk in my pink rubber boots. The weather was glorious! Birds were singing all around, the sun felt warm and you could hear (and see) the snow melting. So I enjoyed it all with deep breaths, open eyes and with a camera :)


No more skiing! Not that I did any while it was possible. I don't even own skiis.


Just look at that sky!


Back home I did a bit of baking. I went with my trusted old friend, the jelly roll. These are just so easy and quick to make. This time I filled it with strawberry puree. I omitted the whipped cream, as I didn't have any cream to whip, but instead served it with ice-cream.

What have you been doing today?

The finished hallway

Remeber this? Well, let me present to you the new and improved hallway:


This is officially the first room to be completely ready! We've of course been working on all the rooms during this time. But we're very picky :) (and not exactly made of money), so all the other rooms are still lacking something. But this one is done, done, done!


This is what you see when you walk in. The first door leads to our study and the latter to the kitchen. And straight ahead is the bathroom.


The hallway is L-shaped and this is the part that has our closet (to the left) and leads to our bedroom. The handles on the doors are from Vietnam. We bought them as souveniers :) They were bought for a chest of drawers that we no longer have. We kept the ones that were on the doors originally, so that when we move we can switch them back and take these with us :)


This was the "secret" project that I hinted at a while back. I got the stencil from The Stencil Library. It was easy to use, but the reason it took me so long to do it is that I'm not exactly the tallest person and while we did have a stool for me to use, it still meant I had to be reaching up to be able to paint and it was a torture on my neck and shoulders. So I could only do a bit at a time. If you're taller than me or have a proper ladder, I'm sure you could do this in no time. I actually had set myself a deadline with this, so that I wouldn't give up. We invited guests over and they were due to come here with DH at about 5.30 pm yesterday. I was putting the last strokes on the stencil at five to five. But I made it and was respectably dressed and chopping up salad greens when they arrived :)

Here's one last shot of the hallway, just because I'm so darn proud to be finished with it, this time from our bedroom door.

SAL update

Another Monday has gone by and I had yet again the pleasure of stitching on Winter's Eve (with Nicki). I decided not to put in the beads yet and, so, have now finished Part 1 and began part 2 (that's the white blob). An angel charm is supposed to go in the middle of that green medallion. I don't have one, so have to figure something out later...

Legwarmers

I finally finished them yesterday! I made up the pattern. First a bit a K2P2 rib, then ribbon holes and then just plain stockinette stitch, 20 stitches per needle. The yarn is Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino (I love this yarn!) and I used 3.5mm bamboo double point needles. I used exactly 3 skeins of yarn. I still need to buy ribbon to go through the ribbon holes, but these can be used without it as well. It's just for decoration :)

I wear a lot of skirts and these will be great to wear around the house during the colder days of winter.

Guess which colors I like :)

Yesterday I wore these. A pink striped dress shirt and a muted green knit skirt (My mom had it custom made when she first started working. And it's still in immaculate condition!).

Yesterday I was at my knit club meeting and we learned about thrumming and how to use your yarn scraps to make fringe yarn. I had taken some of my left-over balls of yarn with me and here's my try-out:



I almost burst out laughing when all of sudden while knitting, I noticed the yarns I had taken with me completely matched my outfit!