honeysuckle

Sea of regret

2012-02-01T07:25:00.000-08:00

Few words can express that feeling you get when, having spent hours calculating gauge, sleeve shape and size and many weeks knitting, you realize you produced
The. Worlds. Ugliest. Sweater.

One of those words definitely rhymes with SUCK. Other one could be: WHYYYYYYY? Or even HOOOOOWWWW?

But the fact is, I made a sweater and I don't like it.

The yarn I chose was so wrong for this project. Actually, I'm thinking it's wrong for any project. Marija by Unitas. Even tough I went up the recommended needle size, I still ended up with very a dense, tight sweater. It makes my boobs look enormous accentuates my tiny waist - and not in a good way. I'm pretty sure I calculated a bit of positive ease, but math was never a friend of mine.


Why yes, that blotch is the place I added a new skein.

Also, even tough I calculated and calculated, I managed to mess up the sleeves big time. Yup, math and I do not get along at all. The sleeve cap turned out too long, in the end I ripped back and improvised. As it very obviously shows.

I should have just followed the pattern, used the correct yarn weight and gauge, instead of trying to make it work with this bulky crap-yarn. The pattern is Sea of jeans, and it looks great when knit in DK yarn.

A smart knitter would give up and frog, use the yarn for something else. Not me. I just keep knitting until it's done. And now I have yet another item of 'just around the house' clothing.

I should probably make a hat next, to remove the bitter feeling of a disappointingly looking sweater.

But the plan is to cast on for Eastlake. I actually got gauge this time (unless it turns out I can't count properly, or that my gauge changes when I knit something larger than a swatch – let's face it, the chances of that happening are pretty high). I really hope the Eastlake will come out nice. Because if it doesn't, I might just have a massive breakdown.

Pajamas

2012-01-29T01:11:00.000-08:00

As far as sleepwear goes, I don't think there's anything as warm and comfortable as flannel pajamas. I came to this realization only after I began sewing - and after I made my first pair of flannel pajama pants. Soooo sooooft. I've since made about 3 different pair of flannel pajama bottoms, but never got the courage to make a pajama top. Until now.

The fabric store was having a sale and this flowery flannel caught my eye. It was actually the only flannel fabric they had that wasn't pink or pastel blue/green. I bought about 3 meters and went online to find a pattern.

I chose Simplicity 3571. It's one of those PDF print-at-home patterns. So after printing and taping about a million A4 pages, I set out to make the top. I left out the piping the pattern calls for, the pockets and basically every design element that might be fussy to sew. Mostly because I'm lazy, all for instant gratification and really wanted to be done fast. It still took me 3 days to finish. Because, you know, I had to interrupt my sewing to do stupid stuff like sleep, eat and go to work.

I messed up the buttonhole placing a bit, they should probably go a little closed to the edge. Too late now.

As far as pants go, I didn't use this pattern, but based them on the ones I made before. Simple elastic on the top, the only seams are on the inside of the legs and the crotch. This only took me 3 hours.

The pattern for the pajama shirt was relatively simple to follow, but I'm not so sure I like the shape of the collar and the sleeves. They are dolman sleeves (at least I think that's what they're called). The armpit is very low, the only seam goes from the side of the shirt all the way to the sleeve cuff. It's very easy to sew but I just don't really like the way it looks. Maybe I should try to find a patten with classic sleeves for my next 'jam session'.

All faults aside, I love my new PJ's. Nice and comfortable. I adore flannel.

But, in the interest of full disclosure regarding my experience with sewing flannel, I should probably mention that it sheds like crazy and that all the electronic devices and various surfaces in your room will probably be covered in teeny-tiny white hairs. It's still super comfy tough!

Big, big plans

2012-01-26T09:28:00.000-08:00

After two whole months of destashing and a serious no-more-yarn policy I came to my senses. And went online. Now the yarn stash is bigger than it ever was, but that's OK. I have big, big, sweater knitting plans.

These plans mostly include Norah Gaughan's designs. I've been eying her stuff on Raverly for a while now. I just love the way her sweaters look, sort of vintage and modern at the same time. Most of her them are published in Berroco booklets though, and they only come in print form.

After I saw the Eastlake sweater, I finally decided I must make it. Found a copy on Ebay, payed a ton of postage (but as luck would have it - no customs fee, thank you oh generous customs officer that opened my package) and now I'm ready to knit. Behold my treasure.

The green yarn is Sublime Extra Fine Merino, for Eastlake.

The red yarn is Cascade 220. One day it's going to become Beatnik pullover.

I already swatched for both, but I think I'll start Eastlake first. Once I figure out which size to make, and try to make my gauge work with the pattern.

Meanwhile, I'm still working on a Sea of jeans sweater. I only have the sleeves left. Pictures coming soon...ish.

And for the heck of it, here's a picture of two Christmas presents I sewed. For my friends who travel a lot - travel fabric themed zip pouches.

Practice one I made. Sewed the tab on the wrong end of the zipper.

Merry Christmas everyone!

2011-12-23T23:54:00.000-08:00

Heart Mittens

2011-12-19T09:27:00.000-08:00

The mittens from hell are finally done.

It's was definitely a learning project for me. Here's what I learned:

I really need a pattern when I knit stuff. Improvisation leads to frogging.
Colorwork with both hands sucks. Or my English method sucks. Weird, distorted stitches. Can't really say I'll ever get better at it.
Different tension produces different sized mittens. Again, yet another reason to dislike colorwork. And I really tried to maintain my tension. Damn the TENSION!!!!
I should probably trim my fingernails.

A simple project that was only supposed to take three day tops, and yet somehow it dragged on and I managed to turn it into a hell project, by doing every single thing wrong.

The finished mittens don't look all that bad, but every time I look at them I just remember all the frustration and the stress they caused me. Maybe I'll learn to love them with time.

I should probably add that the colors are not so bright in real life.

Quick! To the rip pond!

2011-12-04T01:21:00.001-08:00

I started a mitten last week, to go with my hat. I decided to use absolutely every color of GGH Wollywash I had left. Decided to start the thumb after the second row of hearts. And then I just knit away. Is it going to be too long? Nah. Not so sure about the red color. Maybe the orange is a bit to garish? No, it isn't, what are you talking about, just keep knitting. It'll work out.

This my friends, is called denial.

I got as far up to my pinky, and then it became evident even to my brain that it's not going to work out. The mitten is too long, the thumb is too high, and the top portion without the hearts is too long and just looks blank.

So I'm going to rip it. Start the thumb way lower, probably right after the cuff. I might keep the red color, because I don't have enough of the other colors to repeat them on both mitts, but the orange is going away.

I think I'll try a different thumb. I could end up ripping it once more, but right now my brain is telling me to go ahead - try that thumb technique you never used before, why stick with this one that works just fine for you?

Oh, brain, one of these days you and I are going to need to sit down and have a serious conversation.

From Norway with love

2011-11-26T08:06:00.001-08:00

A friend's birthday was a few weeks ago, and I decided to make her fingerless mittens. Had to buy new yarn for them, she loves pale blue, and I didn't have anything pale blue in my stash. So I bought one skein of Ispe Padova Serenada and used up all of it. Really, after I bound off the second glove, I only had about 30 cm of yarn left. That was cutting it kind of close.

The pattern is Garden Trellis Mitts, I really like the mesh detail in the middle of the glove.

And since the mitts were done really fast, I went straight ahead on another project. And I used the yarn left from my Caitlin sweater. The From Norway with love hat was in my queue ever since I decided it was time to figure out colorwork. I can't really say I figured it out, but I certainly developed the most awkward colorwork technique ever.

I tried holding both yarns in my left hand - that only led to major tangles. I spent more time untangling the strands than actually knitting.

Then I switched to holding my main color in my left hand, and the contrast color in my right. Knitting with both hands! How exciting! How completely and totally awkward and uncomfortable!

I can't for the life of me figure out the whole English knitting thing. When I wrap the yarn, I drop the needle and sort of use my whole hand to make one single stitch. I hold the project with my knees so it doesn't go anywhere. It's slow. And creates weird and different tension compared to my Continental knitting of the main color parts. But I did the combo for this hat. And it turned out superfine, if you consider the disaster that it could have been.

You can notice funky tension here and there, but only if you look real close.

Not only does it protect my ears from the cold, but my eyes as well ;)

I just messed up the size and made it 2,5 cm too long. Ironic, since most of the hats I make barely cover my ears. But I guess I can fold the ribbing.

Before blocking this thing threatened to crush my skull, it was that tight. It's amazing how loose it became in a nice Perwoll lukewarm bath. I blocked it on a balloon, so I think that helped too.

All in all, I'm really satisfied. I love the rows of hearts. I kind of want to make a hat with rows of ducks next, to work a bit on my tension issues. But I think I'll CO for socks instead.

Keeping my feet warm

2011-11-13T01:36:00.001-08:00

After catching a massive cold two weeks ago, I thought it's time to be a little more proactive about my health and make sure my feet are warm. Or maybe I just wanted to use up some of my yarn. I doubt warm feet will protect me from the people that cough and sneeze in the bus.

First up - crochet slippers. Not the same size, because I really don't know how to count crochet stitches. Pattern is here.

And very short socks, because I only bought one 50 g skein of Regia sock yarn. These were done two at a time on one circular needle. In retrospective, I could have made the toes a little less pointy (by casting on more stitches).

I'm also not very satisfied with my short row heels. Holes! Holes everywhere!

Next time I'll do some research first, to see if there's a way to avoid the holes. I'm sure there is, it seems like there's a technique for everything.

Like the amazing Judy's magic cast on and Jeny's surprisingly stretchy bind off that I used on these socks. Pure magic.

The color of the sky

2011-10-27T06:56:00.000-07:00

Finished my gray bag. It's about the same color as the sky was up until right now. Terrible rainy days stopped me from using it - I didn't want to get it wet. But now it looks like it's drying up, so the bag deserves a photoshoot before I put it in use and inevitably spill something on it, scrape it against a wooden fence or pull a stitch.

So here it is, in all its gray glory.

This bag was supposed to rid my stash of Marija yarn, but alas, I still have a skein and a half left. What should I do with it? Crochet something? Maybe a pair of simple slippers?

Meanwhile, I'm continuing with my stash-busting mission: I'm knitting the Honey cowl, same yarn as my Equisetum hat. So far, my stashbusting busted 8 skeins. That is a terrible result, I thought for sure I used up more of my yarn.

Is this a bad time to admit that I've been to Zagreb this weekend and bought a skein of Regia sock yarn?

Brainless

2011-10-11T07:42:00.000-07:00

I almost forgot how much I enjoy making socks. Well, thefirst sock at least, I always seem to get a slight case of the 'second socksyndrome'. But making socks is awesome, especially that feeling you get whenyou pass the heel, try your sock on and it actually looks like a sock. I'm veryproud of myself in those moments.

The pattern is Brainless by Yarnissima.

These socks were my first ones done in actual sock yarn. Andby that I mean I used yarn that says 'sock yarn' on the label. It's MüllerSuper Sport Strumpf, this was pretty much the only color they had left. Someonein Zagreb had raided the yarn stand in the Müller drugstore by the time I gotthere.

Still, this was a nice blend of neutral colors and the yarnis not hairy like some yarns tend to be, so I got a pair of nice, smooth socks.

The pattern was a bit confusing, I must have read andre-read that thing a hundred times before I finally figured out what it wantsme to do. But it was worth it, I love the way these socks turned out.Especially the cables that run along the side of the toe, then part in thegusset section and turn back into a cable on the leg part.

Pretty satisfied with the short row heel as well, no holesin my wraps and turns for once.

Next project: Drops bag form Marija (Unitas yarn). I hatethis yarn. It's not stretchy, it's coarse, I think the needle requirement on thelabel is wrong and I just really, really dislike it.

And in addition to being a yarn snob, I think I also became a needle snob. After knitting with Knitpro needles, the other brands are just not good enough. The ones I'm using here are Prym. Not as smooth as the Knitpro and the cable is not as bendy. Combined with the awful yarn, knitting this bag is making my hands hurt.

But at least I'm using up my stash.

Two tiny hats. And one for my big noggin.

2011-09-26T08:04:00.000-07:00

So, a coworker is pregnant, and has asked me to knit a hat for the baby. She doesn't know the sex yet, so I tried to choose a pattern that would work for a boy or a girl. I think I failed, both hats are sort of girly, but I'm going to ignore that and hope the baby turns out to be a girl. She already has a son, and I got the impression she wants this one to be a girl. So I'm just sending girl vibes, right?

I also made something for myself. Because, when it comes to knitting, I'm my own best customer. And all that stuff about the joy of giving and knitting for others - I feel the biggest joy when I knit something for ME. Yup, selfish. But honestly, would you give something like this away?

The pattern is Equisetum. Words can't describe what a great pattern it is. It's simple to follow, even tough it's only written, no chart. It comes out beautifully, and I love the effect the wraps give. Never did anything like it before, I'm really pleased it turned out so well.

The pattern is knit flat, I did mine in the round, which meant purling every other row and making sure to turn the knits into purls and vice versa. There are a few not-so-pretty purl bumps, from where I added new yarn. Turns out, I only know how to hide the new ends on plain stockinette.

The yarn is Rozetti First Class, super soft and nice to work with. I did find 3 knots in the first skein, but none in the second skein, so I guess it was just a bad skein. I absolutely hate those stupid knots that sneak up on you just when you think your knitting is coming along beautifully.

Next project - socks. For real this time, I think I finally found a pattern. Brainless. But I also have a skein and a half of the Rozetti yarn left, and I want to use that up. Maybe a cowl? So many potential projects, so little time to knit them.

Uhura

2011-09-16T09:40:00.000-07:00

After summer sewing, here's some summer knitting for ya. It took me pretty much the whole summer to knit this shirt.

The pattern is Uhura, the yarn is Dada nova. I bought 5 skeins of it and used up absolutely all of it. I did a crochet border around the neck, but didn't have enough yarn to do the same around the arms.

I omitted the keyhole thingy, because the neckline is already low enough, no need to have my bra peeking trough that hole.

I knit the top parts first, sewed it all together, then picked up stitches on the bottom of the band and did the body in the round.

I didn't do the folded hem the pattern calls for - instead I knit 6 rows of the lace chart and crocheted around the bound off edge to stop it from rolling.

Wow, look at the pattern this zoomed out picture is producing. Zebra.

Click the image to de-zebrafy.

Next project : anything to use up some of the yarn I have in my stash. I had my mind set on socks. Have the yarn, got the needles. Now all I need is to find a pattern. But guess what? There are THOUSANDS of sock patterns on Ravelry. How am I supposed to choose one?

A tale of many shorts

2011-09-12T08:14:00.000-07:00

My summer sewing bug seems to have left me. The sewing machine is in its case, and my sewing motivation is currently at 0%. Until next summer, I guess. Or somebody's birthday.

So here are the last summer projects I did. To sum it up in one word: Shorts. Or pants, you choose.

I based all of these on shorts from the store - I just traced the shapes and sewed the pieces together. With great success, I might add.

I hope you can tell this thing has pockets.

Boxers. They make a nice summer PJ shorts.

So that's pretty much it. It's still very warm here, so I still have a chance to wear these before I put them away for the winter. And maybe next year I'll sew some tops.

Needle Book Tutorial (my first)

2011-08-22T06:51:00.000-07:00

I love online tutorials. I learned so much from them and the bloggers who share them. So I thought I'd give back with a tutorial of my own. Nothing new, or original, just a simple sewn needle book.

This is my first tutorial. And it's actually more of a 'what not to do' than 'what to do'.

But you get to learn from my mistakes and I get to use some of my fabric scraps, so it's all good.

Let's get started!

What you'll need:

For the 'covers' of the needle book: Cut one rectangle of your outside fabric and one of your inside fabric.

For the pocket: Cut another rectangle the same width as the other two, but make it half the height plus one centimeter for folding.

For the tab closure: More rectangles! Cut one of main fabric and one of lining.

The dimensions of this needle book are up to you: the main point is that the finished thing can hold your needles. Oh, and make sure that a snap closure can fit on the finished tab.

My dimensions were as follows: 18 cm x 13 cm for the main body parts, 18 cm x 8 cm for the pocket and 5 x 10 cm for the tab (I gave myself plenty of seam allowance for the tab, and ended up cutting most of it off). This gave me a finished needle-book that measures 15 x 11,5 cm when opened. Not the dimensions I was hoping for, but still, not too bad.

Iron all the pieces and add interfacing if your fabric is too flimsy. I ironed interfacing on the lining.

With right sides together sew around three sides of the tab (I ended up sewing it up to the dimensions of 3 cm x 10 cm, which was way too long. But more on that later). Trim the seam allowances and make sure to trim the corners to remove the bulk. This makes for a nicer corner when you turn the tab to the right side. So, do just that - turn the tab to the right side, iron it and topstitch around the three sewn sides.

Notice how my tab corners aren't exactly crisp and nice? This is because I didn't clip enough of the seam allowance off. I make these mistakes so you don't have to!

Take the pocket piece and fold down the top edge by one centimeter. Iron it, then topstitch it.

Ok, now let's make a sandwich!

Take your lining piece, place it right side up. Put the pocket on top of it, also right side up.

Take the tab and place it with its short unfinished edge on the center of the right side of the lining piece. The tab will be inside the sandwich, the tab's lining side is touching the lining of the needle book and the pocket, the outside fabric is facing up.

See this? All wrong!! Place the tab so that it sits about 2/3's from the center of the needle book. I ended up moving it - away from the giraffe, closer to the zebra. Again, I make these mistakes, so you don't have to ;)

Place the outside fabric right side down on the lining, the pocket and the tab. Pin everything so that it doesn't move around while you sew.

Sew around, leaving an opening to turn it. Like so:

See how much of the tab I had to move and cut off? I also didn't pin, so my tab isn't exactly centered. But you pinned, right?

Trim the seam allowances and clip the corners. Turn everything right side out, iron it and topstitch all around.

By topstitching you closed the hole you left for turning. And it looks nicer now. Hopefully your corners look prettier than mine.

Now it's time to cut the felt for the needle book pages. Just measure your finished book, subtract about a centimeter on top and one side (you don't want your 'pages' to stick out of the book) and cut the felt according to those measurements. Three felt rectangles make for six needle book pages. You can cut more if you've got a bazillion needles that you need to put in the book - just make sure your machine can stitch trough all those layers.

I've cut mine 14 cm x 9,5 cm.

Mark a line with a water soluble marker (or a pencil or something) down the center of the felt rectangles.

Place the felt pieces on the book and sew down the marked line. Again, pin everything and make sure the layers don't move while you sew.

I didn't pin and the pages moved :-(( Learn from my mistake, people! Pin, pin, pin!

Now it's snap time!

Let's take this moment to appreciate the awesomeness of the snap fastener tool thingy. You know what the alternative to this tool is? A hammer. Doesn't go well with my accident prone, klutzy personality. Can you imagine what I would do to myself if I had to hit a snap with a hammer? I shudder at the thought.

I love you, snap fastener tool thingy. Don't ever leave me.

Attach snaps. I like to draw an outline of the tab with a disappearing ink marker. The X marks the spot where the snap will go. Same thing on the tab.

And you're done!

Fill it up with needles and admire your work!

Using up my fabric

2011-08-10T09:08:00.000-07:00

I'm still on a mission. A 'fabric-using-up' mission. After hours and hours of sewing here's the total fabric used up: One fat quarter. That's about 45x50 cm. Otherwise known as a needle in my fabric haystack. Who knew you can make at least 3 different things from just one fat quarter?

So here they are:

Cutlery holder that needs buttons.

Made in attempt to eat healthier at work.

Flash. Oohooh. Savior of the Universe!

I do love making zipper pouches. Fast and easy.

I don't. This was meant for a friend. But then...

... I burned the plastic with my iron. Now it's ungiftable.

It has just now dawned on me that all these things can be used when traveling. We have a theme!

Summer sewing - wearables (more or less)

2011-07-29T00:28:00.000-07:00

These past few days I've been sewing like a maniac. Fabric storage has become a problem lately - there is just no room in my tiny apartment to put it all. Don't even let me get started on the yarn. My yarn storage is not the most elegant solution, interior design-ly speaking.


I honesty thought all my yarn would all fit in the green box.

But back to fabric. Same problem, it's just stuffed in my closet along with my clothes. The super smart solution to this problem - use the fabric to make clothes. That I will have no place to put.

I really should start to sew for other people, but as far as my technique goes, I'm not just there yet and I don't want my friends to give me the side-eye when I gift them with a too short/tight/long/wide piece of clothing.

I'll just stop my moaning now and post some pictures.


Pajama pants. Cotton. No lion - he sleeps tonight ;)

Burda shorts from the 3/2011 issue.


Pockets and a front zipper. The zipper nearly did me in.

Very thin and see-trough jersey tank.


Messed up the back a bit.

The jersey top was sewn following the tutorial Sewing with knits tutorial from Noodlehead. Let me tell you something about sewing with knits - it's hell! From the cutting to the sewing - nothing went nice and smooth. I hate jersey. I hate the fact that I still have jersey fabric in my stash. But I love to wear jersey clothes. It's comfy. So I guess I'm in for more jersey frustration.

I left the edges of the top unfinished, because that seems to be very trendy right now (at least on my shirts from Zara or h&m). I just might wear this one out in public.

How a potato stopped my knitting

2011-07-21T10:24:00.000-07:00

On my needles right now: Uhura. I was in Zagreb recently, came back home with a load of Unitas cotton (yes, after I said I wasn't going to add more to my stash. What can I tell you, I'm weak.), including this blue Dada, a cotton/viscose blend. I was pumped to knit this, I'm on vacation, have all the time in the world, there was no stopping me.

Except all it took to stop me was a potato. And a sharp knife. Yup, I went to peel a potato, but peeled half of my fingertip instead. There was more blood than on an episode of Walking Dead. And it turned out that my left middle finger is one of my knitting fingers. Go figure.

It's better now, but I'm trying not to make it worse by adding pressure to the finger. And the band-aid keeps snagging on the yarn and pulling the viscose fibers. So the knitting is now on a break.

But sewing isn't. It would seem that the left middle finger doesn't play such an important role when it comes to sewing. So I made a fishing hat.

I adapted a Burda pattern for a baby hat, more or less successfully.
My measurement was a little off, so there's some bunching of the fabric on the rim.

Also here's another embarrassing confession: I had to google the formula for circumference of a circle. It would seem my math skills (if I ever had any) have completely evaporated.

And I sewed the rim a bit unevenly, so it's longer on one side than on the other. But I guess it can pass as extra protection from the sun.

So I'm ready for the beach. I just wish it would stop raining every single day. C'mon, I'm on vacation!

118-13

2011-07-16T01:17:00.000-07:00

Don't you just love the name of DROPS patterns? So easy to remember. I'm kidding, of course.

My latest DROPS project is 118-13 Waistcoat in ”Muskat” with patterned rib border.

I did it in Mirabela cotton, so I had to adjust the CO number, but that was it as far as changing the pattern goes. A quick and easy summer knit.

My plan was to wear it with a cotton tank top underneath as soon as I finished it, but with these temperatures wearing two tops just looks seems like suicide by overheating. I guess I'll just have to wait until it's a little cooler.

I also started this Leaf Peeper Bandit, a scarf in sock yarn.

But I don't like the way it's turning out, the yarn I picked is all wrong for this project and I kind of feel like it's felting under my sweaty hands. So I guess I'll just rip it and make socks in the winter. Goodbye, Leaf Peeper Bandit. It was fun while it lasted.

The Burda adventure. Or lamentation.

2011-06-26T09:37:00.000-07:00

I've bought maybe three Burda magazines in my entire life. I looked at the modeled pictures of the finished garments, thought some of them were cute, got the delusion I could make some of that stuff and then opened the pattern 'thing' - a piece of folded paper as big as my entire apartment, filled with a bunch of interlocking lines - and gave up.

But as it turns out, Burda also publishes a simpler edition, for those of us who don't want to spend an entire day sitting on the floor looking at a bunch of lines, whispering 'where is it' and slowly going crazy while trying to find the pattern we want to make.

Enter Burda Easy. Each pattern on it's own part of the giant paper. I was very happy when I found that. I chose the German version because I speak German (the alternative was Italian, which I totally forgot). I chose the only pattern for a pair of shorts that was in the magazine. It was high waist, but the model was working it, so why couldn't I.

Image from burda.de

So I got the Burda, got some fabric I bought ages ago for a bag but never used and my super awesome knowledge of the German language - I was all set.

BUT THEN! As it turns out, I don't speak Burda German. At all. The detailed instructions for a simple pair of shorts that were supposed to be easy gave me so much grief you wouldn't believe. Freaking German and its composite words. I re-read everything at least ten times and still only got maybe half of it. Some of these words aren't even in the dictionary, okay? So I said: whatever, let's take some measures and cut the fabric.

It turned out I'm between sizes - big butt, small waist. I chose the larger size, cut everything, ironed it out, and went back to reading the step-by-step instructions before sewing everything together. Spent more time reading than actually sewing.

Successfully managed to sew two back pockets and install a side pocket. Made darts on the pant fronts and backs. Managed to sew a not-so-invisible invisible zipper. Sewed the pants together. Sewed a top border, folded it down and attached it to the zipper sides. And then I tried it on.

The pants were too big in the waist. As it was to be expected. I had to rip out the top border and adjust the darts to make it fit better around my waist. It wasn't enough, but I left it as it was - had I taken it more in, I wouldn't have been able to pull the pants over my ass.

Final steps included figuring out how to use the blind hem stitch on my machine to hem the pant legs. Haven't quite mastered that, the stitches show on the front a bit too much.

But all in all, after a day and a half I managed to produce my first garment made from a Burda pattern - a pair of high-waist shorts too wide in the waist area, made out of material that matches absolutely nothing in my closet.

But still, I'm pretty proud of myself. Maybe now I can try to sew something from the 'real Burda'.

Are you ready for pictures?

Maybe a belt?

Belt, definitely.

Yes, the zipper is blue. It's the only one I had.

This pocket is the straightest thing I've ever sewn.

It was a nice day for a...

2011-06-14T01:07:00.000-07:00

... white wedding.

Not mine, just so we're clear. A friend got married, I was only the creative committee. That explains my absence from the blog for the past month or so. I've been busy making ring pillows, confetti pouches and was generally up to my neck in red and white ribbons and fabrics.

So let's see what I made. First up - confetti. It's a custom in Croatia to hand out decorated confetti at weddings. The confetti themselves are just almonds in a rock-hard white sugar shell. They're really disgusting to eat, so nobody actually eats them, they just end up gathering dust on a shelf or in a drawer of the wedding guest. Confetti are a kind of a way of saying 'thank you for coming to our wedding'.

The bride, Ana, chose the colors red and white, and wanted roses, so I went from there. I borrowed something from various creative magazines and images of other confetti I found online, and finally ended up with this:

The bride and groom chose the quote, it's from the Bible, Genesis 2:24: For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. Not what I would have chosen, but it's not my wedding, ad thus not my place to comment.

I made 90 of them. It took forever. Made me realize I'm not one for mass production. And that it's highly unlikely I'll ever be making confetti again.

Next up - the ring pillow. I couldn't decide on the concept, so I made them two. They chose the first one.

The fabric is satin. Slippery. Hard to work with. And delicate. I had to tape pieces together with scotch tape before sewing. It's highly unlikely I'll be working with satin again.

So, now that the wedding is done, I'm free to do some knitting. I don't know what, but it has to be with yarn from my stash. This summer will be stash summer. I mean it. Really. No more yarn until I use up the stuff I have. Yeah, even as I'm typing this I know I'll fail in my determination and buy some bright colorful cotton. Damn. ;)

Caitlin, finally

2011-04-30T00:52:00.000-07:00

My Caitlin pullover is finally finished. I just checked on Raverly to see when I started it and it was on November 2nd, 2010! What took me so long? No idea. It's an easy pattern, the color-work is not really all that demanding, minimal shaping (I did convert this to be knit in the round, rather than having to sew everything up later). So the reason for working on one sweater for almost 6 months? I'm gonna go with general laziness and lack of motivation.

But I think all that time spent was worth it, because I love the finished sweater. Mostly the colors, pretty much the same as in the pattern (the colors are the reason I chose the pattern in the first place).

I'm not too crazy about the height of the collar, it does tend to ride up my neck if I raise my hands or something, and then I get the feeling it's trying to choke me. Even though it's relatively loose. This is why I never wear turtlenecks either. You're probably laughing now, but the feeling your clothes is trying to end you is no laughing matter.

But still, high collar just comes with yoke sweaters. Did I mention I like the pretty colors on the yoke?

I'm really satisfied with the fit too, even tough it grew a bit in the wash, it's not too long or too loose.

All in all, super happy with the FO and just in time for summer too ;-) I'm kidding, it's actually still pretty cold here, but not the kind of cold that requires a woolen sweater. So off to the closet it goes, where it will wait another six months for me to wear it.

Pattern: Caitlin

Needles: 3,5 mm, done in the round

Yarn: GGH Wollywash

Time it took: 6 months on and off knitting (3 hours just to weave all the ends in)

Voodo time

2011-04-13T11:10:00.000-07:00

Not actual voodoo. But there are pins involved.

In my regular rotation of crafty preoccupations, where I only do one craft intensively for a longer period, forgetting all others, the time has come for sewing to...um, occupy me.

And when I sew, there are pins everywhere. I usually just throw them on the table, as I'm pulling them from the fabric, and then they inevitably fall from the table to the floor. Every sewing project of mine ends up with a 'pin search' on various surfaces - table, floor, sewing board, chair, couch. It's like the little suckers have legs. I also poke myself with them a lot, but that's another story.

Finally, I decided to make a pincushion. Heather Bailey's Square deal pincushion.

You're probably wondering what a duck has to do with sewing. I do to. But the cotton yarn I used for that crochet flower was still on the table, and the duck simply matched it in color.

Crochet flower pattern here if anyone's interested.

Right after I made this pincushion, I hemmed some jeans. Guess what I did with the pins? That's right - they were all over the table, the floor and the chair. And my brand new pincushion was standing right next to my sewing machine, unused.
Old habits die hard - so true.

What I spend my money on

2011-03-30T11:39:00.000-07:00

Oh, Etsy, how I love you so. Especially sellers that sell bright, colorful stuff. This is my latest purchase, buttons from the UK and fabric from the United States. Both took only one week to get to me. I was pleasantly surprised. That was faster than the post sent from one city to another here in Croatia.

And here is something I made from another Etsy purchase made ages ago. What to do when you have little fabric left? A zippered pouch.

Zippered pouches are my go to project when I feel like sewing but don't know what to make. Of course, I always have trouble with the lining and the zipper, but that doesn't stop me from making them. They can be quite useful, take my word for it.

Nights in pink flannel ...

2011-03-23T00:22:00.000-07:00

... reaching a very abrupt 6 AM end (damn you alarm clock)

Blog post I've written, I'm about to click send...

How's that for a Moody Blues cover? My rhyming is pretty ridiculous, but not as ridiculous as my brand new pink puppy dog print flannel pajama pants!

Hope your eyes aren't hurting from the flashy print ;)

I stumbled onto this tutorial and my reaction was pretty much this: Must. Make. Pajama. Pants. Now.

So I went to the store to buy some material and all they had was either monochromatic, ugly floral print or pink with white puppies. What would you have chosen?

They're really wide lounge pants with a waist that is probably too high, but that's okay, cause all my shirts roll up when I sleep and I prefer to have something covering the small of my back. Gotta protect those kidneys!

All in all, I'm pretty proud of myself. I made pants that actually look like pants and are really comfortable to wear. The flannel is very soft and warm, and the fact that it's ridiculously pink makes it somehow even more comfy. Perfect for sleeping in and just lounging around the house.

I even made another pair, for a friend whose birthday is coming up. Sure do hope she shares my fondness of ridiculously colorful material.

Tin boxes

2011-03-14T00:54:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I buy stuff only for the packaging. Like this box of Griotte chocolates. For some reason, both my mom and aunt kept their sewing kit in an old box of chocolates. So when I saw this one I immediately thought: This would be perfect for my spooled thread.

Of course, it turned out I have more thread than fits the box. Guess I need to eat more chocolate.

I didn't decorate this box, because it's pretty enough on its own, but I did decorate this other one.

Bought it at the dollar store, it came with a set of Yu-Gi-Oh trading cards. Clearly an item I very much need in my life ;)

I decoupaged it with a paper napkin, but it came out all wrinkly (it's been a while since I last decoupaged anything) - so to hide that I smudged white acrylic paint all over it. Not sure how much that helped, but I like it better now than when it pictured the guy fighting the undead skull daemon or whatnot.

And then I discovered mare's blog. With great tutorials on decoupage and an information that was brand new to me: You can iron the napkins on the boxes to eliminate the wrinkles!!!

What a great result! So much better than my technique of using my finger to smooth out the wrinkly parts, then spending half an hour peeling decoupage glue off my fingers.

This box is a small wooden one, for a friend's birthday. I decorated it with a napkin then applied crackle medium, waited (the waiting is the hardest part) and finally rubbed brown oil paint in the cracks.

The cracks and the aging probably don't go so well with this particular napkin, since it's a pretty modern design, but what can I tell you? I really, really wanted to try the technique.

Oh, quilt!

2011-03-09T00:06:00.000-08:00

I'm sadly reporting that I can't sew a straight seam even when I'm using a ruler. And by ruler I mean a long ruler, two of those triangles for trigonometry and even a quilting ruler. Still no straight seam. Sad, sad realization for me.

This is my attempt at making a quilted placemat. It turned out too small to fit a plate because yours truly forgot to calculate in seam allowances. DUH!

I'm also having issues with sewing on bias tape to bind the finished quilted piece. And my quilting leaves much to be desired. I realize now that I'm miles away from my goal - making a bed-sized quilt with perfectly straight seams and prettily arranged blocks.

But don't worry, I'll get there.

And as you're sipping your coffee made by your food replicator, surfing on your holographic computer while waiting for the hovercraft to bring you to the international space station for your annual vacation on Mars, you're gonna say: That is the most perfectly straight seamed ~~bed~~-sleeping pod sized quilt with the prettiest arrangement of blocks I've ever seen!

T-shirt reconstruction...

2011-02-27T01:28:00.000-08:00

... always wanted to try it. I had this long sleeved lavender colored t-shirt from United colors shrinks-in-the-wash-a-ton. It got to a point where it revealed far too much of my tummy to be wearable. Plus the neckline was a bit too low. So I decided to fix that.

I sacrificed another t-shirt, and simply sewed bits of it to the lavender shirt. I didn't bother with finishing the edges, since the original shirt didn't have finished edges either.

Of course I messed up. The fabric glue I used to glue down the ends of the new neckline seeped through. I had to add a fabric rose to cover it up. I was going for Sporty spice with this recon, but got Girlie spice instead. Oh well, it doesn't look that bad.

I also made a braided necklace, just for the heck of it, the kind that was all the rage on the internet recently. If you're going to do this, use a t-shit that doesn't have side seams. Or at least one that isn't XS, so you'll have enough material to braid with.

Ogrlicu sam čak i nosila na poslu. Komentar kolegice: Ča ti je to, neka špaga? ;))

Ruler? I don't need no freakin' ruler!

2011-02-20T01:40:00.000-08:00

Except that I clearly do. As you can see in this very askew quilted (or is it patchwork?) tote below.

In a spur of late night inspiration I finally figured out what to do with this Sublime Stitching embroidery I stitched ages ago.

Getting a ruler out and measuring everything seemed like too much work, so I decided to eyeball everything. Big mistake.

Turns out you really do need a ruler for quilting. Or at least a good eye.

Castiel

2011-02-09T00:41:00.000-08:00

I have really stupid reasons when it comes to choosing patterns that I want to knit.
Sometimes it's the color of the modeled garment. Other times it's the photo of the designer's finished object (like it looks so pretty in the snow, let's knit it, even tough my version probably won't ever see any snow). This time it was the name.

Let me embarrass myself completely by telling you that I decided to knit the Castiel hat just because Castiel is the name of a character on the TV show Supernatural. About two brothers that hunt demons and monsters. Castiel is an angel that helps them. Yes, I watch that. And it's really not so stupid as my description makes it sound. Right, moving on. Here's the hat on my head:

I bought the pattern and spent two nights trying to figure out the tubular cast on it calls for. Finally gave up when I realized it looks horrible. I went with the long tail cast on I always use.

Finished it in about a week, and then took some pictures at night and in the morning. Too dark during the night, too bright this morning, hence the lousy quality. It has nothing to do with my photographic skills. Or lack thereof.

During the past week I also somehow managed to add this to my already big stash of yarn:

Clearly I have a problem. Or more potential hats in my future.

Basic Blue and a lonely sleeve

2011-01-23T00:45:00.000-08:00

Guess what's new! I finally finished the Basic Black cardigan I moaned about in previous posts. Guess what else is new? I don't like it. Well, to be honest, that's not exactly new, I always find flaws in my knitting and I'm super self-critical.
But this cardi seems to confirm my inability to knit anything with set-in sleeves. They're a little tight in the armpits and pull a little too much to the back.

But the main screw-up is the button-band. The button-band from hell. I ripped and re-knit that sucker three times. Still not good. It puckers and looks weird. While I was knitting it, I kept wondering where I went wrong. I finally figured it out THREE SECONDS AGO!!

(please ignore the fridge in the background. And the ironing board. And the 80's mustache on the guy on TV. And the general mess.)

The pattern says to pick up four in every 5 stitches. That wasn't enough, so I picked up every single stitch. Along the stockinette edge where I slipped a stitch on every row to make it look neat. Which means I have half as much stitches on the button-band than I do on the rest of the cardigan front. And that's the reason it pulls up.

Oh, epiphany why has thou come too late?

I don't want to rip and knit that thing again. Do.Not. Want. I'm actually wearing it right now. Paired with old sweatpants, a washed out cotton t-shirt and slippers it makes for a nice house sweater.

Meanwhile, this is what I'm knitting next. Caitlin pullover. One sleeve done. No setting them in. And no button band. Hopefully that means I won't mess it up.

Look at all those ends that need to be weaved in. :-(

Happy New Year!

2010-12-30T09:51:00.000-08:00

Let me introduce you to my new friend. He's a small dude, only about 11 cm tall. He's not all that talkative, but if he was, he'd probably say something along the lines of: Do you smell carrots?

His, um, genetic code came from Lion Brand, as did his wardrobe. His accessorizes color choices were greatly inspired by this:

(he's a bit of a copy cat ;)

My amigurumi friend and I have a message for you all, dear readers.

We wish you all the best in 2011! Happy New Year!

It's raining and I can't think of a catchy title

2010-12-06T06:55:00.000-08:00

The latest thing to come off my needles are super warm socks, made for my aunt. She's the person who really made my knitting possible.

I learned the knit stitch from my grandma, learned the purl stitch from a book, but it was my aunt who taught me that you alternate the two in order to get stockinette. Before that, I was just doing the knit, purl and then more purls, and was freaking out why it's not coming out like in the pictures. So my aunt deserves all the thanks in the world for clearing that out for stupid me. A pair of socks is the least thing I can do for her.

She also knits, but not so much anymore. She used to make slippers for my mom, my brother and me. This is her work:

As for my work, I'm still knitting the Basic Black.

Or 'The never-ending cardigan of never-ending neverendingness'.

I've been at it since September. I have no idea why I'm so slow with it, it's a simple stockinette cardigan. I still have the sleeves to finish, and then block and seam the whole thing, and pick up stitches for the button band. Like I said, never-ending.

Snoopy

2010-11-13T02:26:00.000-08:00

My friend Sandra has a birthday tomorrow, and as she once expressed a wish for a crochet Snoopy doll, I thought this was a perfect opportunity to make that wish come true.

Thank God there was a pattern for Snoopy on Ravelry, otherwise I'd be in deep trouble.

He's done with a 1,5 mm hook and Mirjana no. 5 cotton thread.
My God, those tiny stitches were a total pain. Especially the black ones. And removing the stitch marker (a tiny safety pin in my case) at the beginning of every round, and then making a stitch and putting it back in - Worst.Task.Ever.

But in the end, I'm pretty satisfied with the final result.

Orange Global Warming

2010-10-24T01:40:00.000-07:00

I've been away from the blog for a while, knitting like a maniac.
Since it's October, and pumpkins are everywhere, how about a pumpkin colored sweater?

This is Global Warming. Great pattern, done in the round, bottom-up. I chose it because of the puffy sleeves and the pocket on the front. Loved the fact that it has a pocket on the front.

Who knew the fricking pocket would be so hard to sew on?

This thing you see above is my first and last time of sewing something on the front of anything I knit.

Global Warming was knit on 3,5 mm needles with GGH Wollywash. It's a great yarn, soft and easy to knit with. I used almost six skeins on this little sweater, which is just about the amount I had.

I'm still working on Basic Black, I just have to knit the sleeves and seam all the pieces together. Looking forward to that as much as I would look forward to walking barefoot on broken glass.

In other news, remember that one ~~hundred~~ time I said I would not buy more yarn until I use up my stash? You see where this is going, don't you?

Ta da! Brought to you by my lack of willpower: GGH Wollywash, for the Caitlin Pullover, which I've had in my queue since January of 2008, and Marija for ... something. Any suggestions?

Why did Bono fall off the stage?

2010-09-19T07:57:00.000-07:00

He was too close to The Edge. ;)

Any U2 fans out there? My friend is a huge fan. Huge as in willing to pay massive amounts of money to see them live in various European cities huge. Me, I like some of their songs. But let's get back to the friend. Huge fan. Last summer she was all about The Edge. That's the guy that plays the guitar. The one with the hat. All her emails and SMS were about how awesome Edge is. So this year for her birthday, I decided to make her an Edge doll. And apparently, I wasn't paying enough attention to her messages, because she now no longer likes Edge the best.Now she likes Adam. The other guy that plays the guitar. It's like we're twelve and get a new crush every week.

I don't get it, when I was into Take That (and mind you, that was 10 years ago), I stayed true in my adoration of Gary Barlow. If I had to choose today, I would still pick Gary. Take That is back, after all.

Anyway, back to my Edge problem. I still haven't sent her the gift. I'm deciding between mailing him to her and delivering him personally, waving him in front of her and saying in an Irish accent: Why don't you love me anymore? I think she'll change her mind when she sees how cute he turned out. I mean, really, Adam who?

Amigurumi Edge is done in Mirabela cotton, on a 3mm hook. I based him on Nerdigurumi Link pattern. His arms and legs are stuffed with pipe cleaners, so they are bendable. The hat comes off. I wanted to add some embroidery on his shirt, but after the terrible job I did on his shoes, I gave up on that.

But I did make him a little felt guitar. Here he is with my ipod for a size reference.

Now I just have to present my friend with this amigurumi version of her SECOND favorite U2 member. I really should pay more attention when she talks about U2.

I just want to sleep...

2010-09-08T00:01:00.000-07:00

I've been sick this past week. Still don't feel like myself. The weather is terrible, it's only 9 AM and it's completely gloomy and gray. It's raining like crazy and it's cold. The kind of weather that makes you want to go back to bed. Or at least curl up under the blanket, a hot cup of tea nearby and a book in your hand. Or your latest knitting project.

Good thing my latest project is a pillow. Perfect timing.

It's a crochet granny square with sewn cotton back. The yarns I used are Mirabela by Unitas and Camilla (Madame Tricote). My square didn't turn out exactly square, maybe it's the different yarns or my lack of crochet practice, but I don't care.

Now if you'll excuse me, I think I'll go test my new pillow.

Don't laugh - I made a skirt!

2010-08-21T23:57:00.000-07:00

I'm not one for feminine clothes. I never wear skirts. In fact, I practically only ever wear jeans.

But this summer I came across a nice tutorial on how to make a shirred top skirt, and it was summer and hot, so I thought why not. Mostly I just wanted to try shirring.

I didn't want to buy new fabric, so I used some bed sheet material I already had and ended up with this:

(Excuse the wrinkle, I sat down in it. That's just one of the reasons I don't like skirts.)

The shirring turned out great, and it was a lot easier than I thought it would be.
It doesn't fall all that nice, but that's just the super starched sheet fabric doing its thing.
So now I have something to wear around the house in these warm summer days. I say around the house, because I would never ever wear this in public. Ever. Like even to take out the trash or open the door for the postman.

I'm only showing it to you, Internet. Don't laugh.

Look, grandma! A square!

2010-07-30T13:30:00.000-07:00

I have finally dared to try my hand at granny square making. Following this amazing tutorial.
Turns out, crocheting granny squares can be quite addictive. I made four. And then I didn't know what to do with them, so I joined them together using slip stitch. And still didn't know what to do, so I added a border. And now I have this crochet granny square and no idea what to use it for. It'll be a potholder, I guess.

I also did some amigurumi-ing. If you can call it that. I bought this nice little book of patterns, called Amigurumi. The designs in it seem simple enough for a beginner and they're pretty much all small toys that can be done in a couple of hours.

I made Sidney Snail. A learning experience, you might call it.

I learned that I need to practice my color changes, my sewing of body parts and most of all, the invisible decrease. Dc2tog creates stupid looking holes.

So I practiced the decrease, using this tutorial as my guide. Worked like a charm. See?

Actually, you don't see because the lower half of the head is not visible in the picture, but even if you could see where I decreased, you wouldn't be able to. If that makes any sense.

Love the Frog head keychain (or charm, the pattern intends it to be a cell phone charm), not so sure about the snail and I'm super proud of my new granny square skill.

Amigurumis and granny squares are basically the only things that appeal to me in crochet. I see more squares in my future. Maybe even a blanket. I just need to learn how to join the squares in a prettier way.

My Firefly

2010-07-22T02:33:00.000-07:00

I often wondered how designers name their patterns. What is the inspiration?
I'll tell you what's mine. TV. I like to knit while watching TV. This is why I really like stockinette stitch - it's boring, true, but I can knit it without paying attention to my knitting, and focusing on the TV screen instead.

I sometimes find myself thinking about my past projects in connection to whatever was on the TV while I was knitting them. Like, my Twsirl. I could probably call that one "The Wire Season 1 tank top".

This summer, I had a little Firefly re-watch. Amazing show. And during the time I watched, I was knitting a short sleeved cardi, the pattern of which I sort of (or, um, completely) based on this one. But since it's not really the Babydoll cardi, I had to think of a name for it. Firefly seemed like a logical choice, it is after all, shorter than 'that cardi I made while I was watching Firefly in the summer of 2010'.

It still needs something to button it up a bit. I'm thinking about a hook thingy, or something similar. Not really sure what. Maybe I'll just add some crochet ties.

Sorry about the glaring, blurry picture.

This was done top down, on 3 mm needles. The yarn is Mirabela, mercerized cotton.

Mooo

2010-07-17T00:32:00.000-07:00

After spending two weeks in Zagreb, I'm finally back home. I was a good girl, I only bought six skeins of bright cotton while I was there, to use for amigurumi. Only six, that's not so bad, right? Right?!

Ahem, well, moving on. I did do some knitting, it's drying on my floor as I write this. Pictures are coming as soon as I get the cable that connects the camera to the computer back from my brother.
Meanwhile, here is something I did before leaving for my vacation. As soon as I saw this fabric in the store I had to buy it. I mean, it has cows on it!

I made a bag. And since the cows seem to be all about some sort of kitchen activity, I also made a potholder. Want to know how to spell 'disaster'? B-I-A-S T-A-P-E. That's how.
Freaking bias tape and my freaking bias tape binding skills. It went fine on the one side, but when it was time to sew on the other one - crap. I probably should have hand-stitched it all around with blind stitch, but that seemed like too much work.

So I got this. Still usable, just not all too pretty.

Also, pieces of thread poking around everywhere. But I love the cows.

I'm trying to decide what to knit/sew/embroider next, but to be honest, it's too hot to do anything. 9 AM and it already 34 C. Too hot!

When life gives you one skeins, make amigurumi

2010-06-11T12:30:00.000-07:00

So, according to Sandra, the best way to solve the one-damn-skein problem is to make amigurumi.
So I did.
I give you Amigurumi Mouse Doorstop. Only mine isn't a doorstop. And to be honest, it doesn't look much like a mouse.

The face of a cartoon, nose of a rat, ears of a koala and the body of those plastic eggs inside Kinder surprise. And a bit asymmetrical too. A Mousekoalarat only a mother could love. Which I kind of do.

I also fiddled a bit with my blog look. Don't worry, that header is not going to stay up there for long.

Swirly Tswirl

2010-06-06T01:53:00.000-07:00

Finished! Before summer! Yay!

This was a stash-busting project. I'm on a mission. No more new yarn until I use up all that I have. Or at least until I free some storage room, so that I can put the bag of yarn I keep on the floor somewhere else.

I still have a skein left though. Perhaps I should gather all my one-skeins and make a sweater. It would probably be ugly, but it would rid me of those lonely skeins.

I like the way the pattern came out, love the swirl. But I should have done it with a lower neckline. While I was knitting it and trying it on, I kept thinking it won't cover enough of my um, boobage area. So I lengthened that part. And now it covers too much. I just can't win.

Here's the back. I plan to wear this with a different tank top underneath, obviously. This one was the first one I grabbed for the purpose of modeling.
I also plan to cut those damn ends that are hanging from the straps. Obviously. How did I manage to miss that?

Pattern: Tswirl
Yarn: Lana Grossa Elastico
Needles: 4 mm circulars (and 3,5mm for rhe ribbing and the straps)

Guess I'm in a blue mood

2010-06-03T04:44:00.000-07:00

As the warmer weather approaches, then leaves again, and comes back for a day, only to be scared away by torrential rain, I find myself pulling out shorter sleeved shirts from my closet.
Like this dark blue one, with half length sleeves, perfect for not quite so warm days, but sunny days nonetheless. The only problem with it - it was kind of plain.

So I stenciled it, using a lace paper doily.

A couple of dabs of white fabric paint and a few smudges later I had this:

Also, i finally finished the crochet bag I started ages ago. This was mostly improvised, I started with a pattern, then I messed up, and gave up on the pattern, slip stitched the bottom shut and added the flap for closure.

I'll probably need to line it, because it stretches like crazy.

And here's a blurry shot of me wearing it. The strap is long enough for the bag to go across my chest. The bag itself is 18 cm wide and 24 cm long (yes, it stretched way too much under the weight of my wallet and cellphone - in retrospective, I should have seen it coming.).

This post is about Lost

2010-05-19T00:42:00.000-07:00

My favorite show is coming to an end. Only one episode left. This makes me sad. Very sad. Lost, in addition to making me happy, sad, frustrated, confused and generally leaving me with my mouth open saying huh?, has also inspired a lot of my craft projects.

So it’s only fitting that I should say goodbye to the show with a craft project. This is a cross stitch of the first quote that popped into my head when I was thinking about stitching something from Lost.

Live together, die alone is mentioned several times throughout the show and I think it captures the spirit of the show nicely.

I also added the numbers, obviously, because what is a Lost cross stitch without the cursed numbers?

And the six symbols represent the six seasons – like the show, I too am all about symbolism.

From left to right: Oceanic airlines logo (very proud of how it turned out), The Island (meh, it needs a polar bear. Or a fuselage. But it’s too tiny to have all that), Dharma logo (the plan was to embroider the word Dharma in the circle, but again, too tiny), Ben’s time traveling bunny, the ankh from the giant four-toed statue, and the “Now you and I are the same” wine bottle (or Evil trapped in a bottle, with the cork as the island, if you’re into symbolism).

I still need to iron it, and have it framed.

I realize that this post makes absolutely no sense if you don’t watch Lost. So I apologize, my dear blog readers. And I promise that after this Sunday, I will go back to my knitting.

But you can expect more Lost related crafts from me in the future. Because Lost is very quotable. And awesome.

Last week most of us were strangers. But we're all here now. And God knows how long we're going to be here. But if we can't live together—we're gonna die alone. (Jack, White Rabbit, Season 1)

All Works In, But little Progress

2010-05-10T09:52:00.000-07:00

From a person who always works on only one project at a time, I somehow became the person with four works in progress.

This might be a little more than I can handle - the minute I grab one of them, I get the urge to work on another.
The overall progress seems to be nonexistent, at least to me. I can't decide which is better, one project that's done fast, or several different ones, to keep things interesting.

Oh, well, I'm off to grab a needle. Or needles. Or a hook. See what I mean?

An apple a day...

2010-04-18T03:59:00.000-07:00

The pretty much only reason I wanted to learn crochet was to make amigurumi toys. Cute little things that you have no idea what to do with, but they're cute, so you make them anyway.
I'd like to say I practiced and practiced, mastered the art of crochet and THEN tried amigurumi, but I'd be lying. I'm far too impatient for that. So I chose a simple pattern, and grabbed a hook. And this is what an inexperienced crocheter's amigurumi looks like.
Not too bad, no?
The pattern is Amigurumi Apple by Lion Brand. Simple and quick. I did mess up in a few places, of course. I dropped my paper clip marker couple of times and after that I couldn't tell where the beginning of the round was.
So it's not really symmetrical as far as decreases and increases go. But that's okay, real apples aren't symmetrical either.
See?

And here's a work in progress. Redwork cross stitch. This will probably go on my wall when I finish it. Red to match the color of my couch.

Edited to add : It has been brought to my attention that my apple looks more like a pear. I wondered why that is, and I'm ashamed to say it took me a while to realize that I SEWED THE LEAF AND THE STEM ON THE WRONG END OF THE APPLE!!

Obviously, this is how an apple looks like. The sad thing is, I didn't even notice, until romantales pointed it out. Sometimes you just don't see things that are staring you right in the face. Thanks romantales!

Sexy (Vesty) Time

2010-04-11T02:18:00.000-07:00

Finally finished the Sexy Vesty. It feels like I've been knitting it for ages. Turns out it took me a month. Way too much time for a sleeveless vest. I blame the black. And the rainy weather we've been having. All that squinting in poor light, trying to see what I was doing with small black stitches can't be good for my eyes.

I don't think I'll be knitting any black stuff anytime soon. The pattern doesn't even show, it's hard to take a decent picture and you almost go blind while knitting.

But the vest is done,it looks okay and sadly it's not for me. All that's left now is blocking and a trip to the post office, so that I can send it to my friend. I just hope it will fit her. A warm 100% merino vest, just in time for sunny 18 C temperatures. Well, better late than never, right?

Pattern: Sexy Vesty
Yarn: GGH Merino Soft, 4 skeins
Needles: 3 and 3,5 mm
Time it took: about 30 days

Brown eyed girl

2010-03-28T03:21:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I did any embroidery, so I thought it would be a good idea to try a quick project, you know, so that I wouldn't forget the craft.
I choose a cute little girl Chef, that I found on Hoop love.

I failed to think it trough - I was bored with it before I even finished the outline of her dress. The plan was to fill everything in with thread, but I gave up on that one, trying to just be done with it. Enter crayons.

Why do you have such big brown eyes, little girl? It's because somebody couldn't find black embroidery thread. Couldn't that somebody outline your eyes with only one strand? Why, yes, that would have looked so much better. Sadly, somebody is too lazy to fix it now.
You're just going to have to look freaky for all eternity, little girl. Or until moths eat the fabric you live on.

Meanwhile, the project I should be working on is going nowhere. I just can't find the motivation to knit. I blame it on spring and the sunny weather.
Still, got this far, hopefully I'll finish it this year.

Fabric yo-yo's are cute

2010-03-21T04:25:00.000-07:00

A colleague from work asked me to make her a bag. She picked the fabric, and asked for a round bottom. She left the rest to me.

This is what I came up with. The entire bag, including the lining is made from the same material. Some sort of cotton mix, that is impossible to iron. As you can see. When I was done with the body of the bag, I thought it looked too plain, so I added a fabric yo-yo flower. To accessorize an accessory ;)

Honestly, this little yo-yo is the best thing about this bag.

And like all projects of mine, this one also has a mistake. Proof of my stupidity. I'm not talking about uneven stitches, or the fact that the bag could be a little wider.

No, on this one I used my new tailor's chalk. Pink tailor's chalk. I marked the right side with really big X's. That's right, the RIGHT side. And then I ironed all the pieces about a zillion times during sewing, completely forgetting about the damn chalk.

It's now set in the fabric. Pale pink X's that are not visible from afar, but are sure damn visible if you look closely. Stupid, stupid, stupid. I tried brushing the fabric, tried plain water, and now I'm about to try washing it with fabric soap and stain remover. Hope to God that removes the marks.

I think it's safe to say I learned my lesson. Never again will I mark anything on the right side of the fabric.

Sea Urchin

2010-03-10T23:45:00.001-08:00

First off, finished the Fetching. This was a stash-busting, birthday knitting project. But I still have one skein of the yarn left in my stash, and I still haven't seen the recipient, so that I can give them to her. The longer they stay with me, the more tempted I am to keep them ;)

I made them longer than the original pattern requests, added a different thumb shaping and did a crochet border instead of the picot bind off.
The yarn is Oscar by Deltex, pretty soft and has a nice color. The whole time I was knitting this, I kept saying to myself - This is a nice yarn, maybe you should go buy some more. In different colors. Lots of different colors.
Argh! Temptation be gone!

Next up, a Sea Urchin hat. Great pattern, the finished thing actually looks like a sea urchin. Without the spikes, that is.

The yarn is Tempest by Rosetti. It knits up kind of weird, I mostly bought it cause I liked the blue in it. It was meant to be a scarf, but it looked awful in stockinette stitch.
So I turned it into a slouchy hat. Not too sure this is my style, the jury is still out on that one. But the pattern was great, it knit up fast, and any mistakes were my fault alone.

I doubled the yarn and used 7 mm needles for the body of the hat, 6 mm for the brim. The brim is a little loose, so I'm afraid I can't wear this in strong wind, or it will fly away.
Still, not too bad for a quick project. I think I might try this pattern again. In solid color, so that the pattern shows.

Maybe I should get some help

2010-03-04T08:16:00.000-08:00

Work related stuff took me to Zagreb on Monday and Tuesday. I packed lightly, told myself I won't carry too much, so that I don't schlep heavy bags around the bus stations.
I ended up carrying almost two kilos of yarn back home. Damn the Unitas store!

All I can say in my defense: The yarns stores here don't carry these yarns. And I bought it all in the factory store, so it was relatively cheap.

So my stash grew and now I have no place to put all this yarn. I really need to get knitting. But as always, this was an impulse buy, and I have no idea what to do with it all. I see 4 hats ( or maybe cowls), one cardigan with 3/4 sleeves and a cotton T-shirt in my future. If only I had an actual pattern in mind!

This amount of stash is actually making me anxious - I'm knitting one thing and thinking about all the other stuff I could knit. It's time to stop and consider getting professional help. Step one: Stay as far away from yarn shops as possible. Of course, I always tell myself this, and fail miserably in actually sticking to it.

Stash aside, this is what I'm working on now: Fetching for a friend, whose birthday is in five days. The only reason I chose Fetching is because I've already knit myself a pair and know for a fact they knit up fast.

Special note: Those are Addi needles you see up there. Love the flexible cables! Love the smooth surface of the needles! Thanks romantales for the recommendation!

EXTERMINATE!

2010-02-21T01:29:00.000-08:00

Oh, how I love Doctor Who! And I love the Daleks! I love the fact that a fan wrote a pattern for a knitted Dalek and shared it with the knitting world.
And I love, love, love how my Dalek turned out.

I used 2,5 mm circular needles (magic looped the whole thing) which produced a nice thick fabric. I sacrificed (or should I say exterminated?) a pillow to stuff it. It's only lightly stuffed, because I didn't want to loose the Dalek shape.

Here is a size reference. He's 21 cm tall.

Here he (it) is in front of his archnemesis - The Doctor and his companion in season 4, Donna. And a fellow Dalek.

One more picture for good measure.

I'm almost reluctant to give him away. But I still have some yarn left (Menada by Tetex, 100% acrylic - it's not too coarse, and not too difficult to work with, although it does squeak under your fingers a bit). I could make myself another one. I will make another one. Probably. Someday.

Bobbles aren't really that hard

2010-02-17T08:29:00.000-08:00

In fact, they're pretty simple. And here I was, ready for frustration.
Turns out, a bigger pain is trying to do magic loop on a non-fexible 2,5 mm circs. With very pointy tips. Ouch my index finger!

Here's my Dalek progress pic. Almost half way done.

Customs is my nemesis

2010-02-06T03:57:00.000-08:00

I ordered yarn from the online Rebecca store last Monday. It got here within 7 day. Super fast. The yarn itself wasn't all that cheap, but I can understand that you have to pay for quality. The postage was also a bit much, but considering how fast it got here, I can accept it.

But the customs fee! Oh, the customs fee which was exactly half of what I payed for both the yarn and the postage! Yeah, I feel a bit ripped off by the customs people. New regulations started this year in Croatia. They state that everything with a price value over 160 kn (about 20 euros) has to pass through customs. And get a nice little stamp accompanied by a bill you have to pay if you want your package.

Customs is having a negative impact on my knitting. I am not the least bit happy about this. The postage is 10 euros, which means that whatever I order has to have a total cost of 10 euros. How many skeins of non-acrylic yarn does that buy me? Not enough, that's how many!

So I guess I won't be buying any yarn online anytime soon. Which is a shame, because Rebecca has a really nice choice of colors and fibers. And a really fast shipment. Damn, you customs regulations!

Still, this parcel is totally worth the money I payed.
The black Merino Soft is going to be Sexy Vesty for my friend. The orange Wollywasch is for me. Probably also a vest of some sorts, because I only ordered 6 skeins. I was trying to save money. ;-)

Kermit

2010-01-31T04:24:00.000-08:00

Sweater with cap sleeves is done. I'd like to say that the pattern was great, but there were some huh? moments for me in it. You can really tell it was translated from German. Maybe it would have made more sense if I followed the German version.

It's knit flat, then seamed at the shoulders and sides. I really despise seaming. So very much! The shoulders look terrible, but the sides are the best I've ever done. Go figure.

The pattern says to: "crochet 1 round sl-st each over 2 rows in height along pick-up sts for armhole bands, starting each at lower edge and ending at shoulder". This is the part I don't get. So I left it out ;)

Maybe I'll do single crochet later, if it turns out that the sleeves roll too much.

I still need to wash it a and block it properly, I only blocked the edges so that I can sew up the sides.

The yarn I used here is Merino Mix by Schoeller+Stahl, green color, the color of Kermit the frog. Well, not really, the site says it's the color of birch, but it sure looks Kermity to me. Kermit took 6 skeins exactly, on 5 mm needles.

Now it's time to start the Dalek. I've been postponing knitting it, out of fear of bobbles. But I guess this is the perfect pattern to learn bobbles.

Round two

2010-01-25T08:06:00.000-08:00

Just spent the entire weekend trying to crochet flowers.
I've just about had it. It's time to take a break before I go completely insane.

Knitting, I'm coming back to you!

Crochet flowers all around me

2010-01-23T00:41:00.000-08:00

... and not a single one that looks good.

I've been taking a break from knitting in order to work on my crochet skills. I did maybe two rows in a few basic stitches before I proclaimed myself to be the master of crochet and went on to more complicated stuff.

And then the crochet proved to be the master of me. But I did learn a lot. Like the fact that you don't need the turning chain if you're working on a circle. Or that you' re supposed to keep the stitches on the fat end of the hook, not the narrower part on the top.

I also learned that I suck at crocheting flowers.

These are all trials and failures. All the same flower, from the Happy Hooker crochet book. It all goes great until I come back to the first stitch and have to join the petal with the slip stitch and finish off.
Obviously I don't know which stitch is the first. Or I'm not chaining enough, um, chains?

I should really read that book from the beginning. But I'm impatient. And I wanted to crochet flowers! Pretty, perfect little flowers, not the mutilated kind you see up there. Damn.

Bown cap / Sleeve cap

2010-01-15T08:11:00.000-08:00

Thanks everyone for the sock suggestions! I decided to rip the top of the first one. With a heavy heart, mind you. I truly hate ripping. I added dark brown Jelka for the toes, double stranded because it was thinner then yarn used on the rest of the sock.
So here they are. Not the prettiest thing I've ever knit, that's for sure. But still, a sock is a sock. I'll just have to make another (prettier) pair to give my aunt as an apology for presenting her with this.

So that sort of takes care of one half of a very belated, handmade Christmas present.
Next up is my friend, who is getting a vest. The Sexy Vesty vest, to be precise.
I wanted to make it in black, and set out all happy to the TWO yarn stores we have here, only to find that there is no way I'll find black yarn that contains natural fibers. It's all acrylic! So now I'll have to order yarn online, and wait 'till it gets here.

To kill time while I wait, I started another vest thingy, for myself. This is the green Merino Mix from my stash. The pattern is from Rebecca, Sweater with cap sleeves.

I love this yarn. It's so soft and strechy. And it knits up on 5 mm needles. Speedy knitting is the best!

Denial.

2010-01-10T01:09:00.001-08:00

You know that feeling you get when you're knitting, that you're not going to have enough yarn?
Do you ever ignore that feeling and keep knitting anyway, because you're convinced that your half a skein will magically produce, say a whole sock? I do. And then I end up with this:

This is a very fine example of denial. I was actually surprised when I ran out of yarn. Like, how on Earth could this happen?

So, now what? Do I look everywhere for another skein of this yarn, that I bought 3 years ago, not even sure in what city, let alone which shop. Or do I try to find something of similar color and just continue? Ripping does not sound appealing.
And to make the matter worse, these were supposed to be for my 78 year old aunt. I don't think she'll care that they're multicolored, but still. You can't just give crap as gifts. Grrr!

So while I'm deciding about the fate of the socks, I went and practiced some crochet.
So behold the crochet square, that was lying flat before I added a crochet border around it - to make it lie flat. Oh cruel world!
And the not so circular circle, that has so many mistakes it's a wonder its stitches are holding together.

Crochet seems hard and like a lot of works. I don't get the turning chain, don't understand how you can do a million things in the same stitch and I don't see the stitches like I do when I'm knitting. It all looks like a bunch of knots, I can't tell where I increased, or even how many stitches I'm working with.
But, to be completely honest, I haven't read the book on crochet. Just opened it on the page where it says "crochet circle". I should probably start from the beginning. Like I said, a lot of work.

So long 2009! Welcome 2010!

2010-01-03T01:47:00.000-08:00

Here are my very last 2009. projects. Both are made form Wonderwool yarn, on 6 mm needles for the hat, and 7 mm for the scarf.

The hat is a bit pointy when I put it on, but it kind of looks all pixie-like, so I'll let it slide.

Knitting plans for 2010. include: A knitted Dalek toy (from Doctor Who, the tv show) for a friend, socks for my aunt, and possibly a sweater for another friend. Those are a must. Everything else - well, it'll just be plain knitting fun!

2009-12-24T12:08:00.000-08:00

This year I got a late start on Christmas crafting. So the grand total of decorations produced to this day is - two. One tiny wreath ornament. And some spray painted pine cones.
Thankfully, I don't work in Santa's workshop, otherwise I'd be in trouble.

This pipe cleaner ornament is made from, that's right, pipe cleaners twisted around a cardboard circle. The idea came from Martha Stewart. The candy canes are just beads on wire twisted to the candy cane shape, the stars are also plastic beads, and the ribbon on top is ... the ribbon on top. It's maybe 8 cm in diameter.

This one was super easy - I had some pine cones saved from this fall and I just spray painted them with acrylic spray paint. The end. The candle and the ho-ho sled are store-bought.

Merry Christmas and happy New Year!

Stash update

2009-12-16T00:21:00.000-08:00

So I passed my exam. And I rewarded myself with yarn. Lots of yarn. What a great positive reinforcement for studying!

First we have Wonderwool, a yarn by Schoeller+Stahl. It looks terrible once you wash it, but it's super soft and warm. So it will be turned into something that rarely gets washed and is supposed to keep you warm. I'm thinking a colorful garter stripe scarf. And maybe a hat. Me being me, I'll probably only wash it once every two years. Good for the look of the yarn, not so sure about the message it sends about my personal hygiene. How often do you wash your hats and scarves?

Next Merino Mix, also Schoeller+Stahl. Also very soft. This will probably be a sweater of some sorts. I wash those regularly, in case you were wondering ;)

This stash update pretty much used up all the space I have for storing yarn. That means it's time to start knitting! For the sole purpose of freeing up storage space, of course!

Back by popular demand ;)

2009-11-21T11:14:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted anything in the past month, because I literally had nothing to blog about. My craftiness has reached a stop.
It had to be sacrificed while I study for ... no idea what it's called - the exam you have to take after having worked in your field for a year. State exam? Expert exam? The exam that is sucking the life out of me and taking away precious time I could be spending crafting? Yeah, that one.

Anyway, no craftiness from me, at least nothing until Christmas.
But here are some random stuff I did ages ago, and never posted.

A crochet rectangle... thing. Just another reminder that I need to move past the damn single crochet, and learn how to work in the round, so that the stuff I crochet aren't flat rectangles, but cute toys. But at least I found a use for this thing. It goes really well with my couch.
See how amazingly useful a crochet rectangle can be? ;)

Next up - a wall decal I did to add some decoration to the wall above the couch. I cut it out of some self-adhesive wallpaper, just started cutting, with no plan whatsoever. Now that I look at it, it might need something else. But I have no idea what. A flower somewhere? More leaves? Random swirls? Or should I just leave it like it is?

The wall next to that one is still bare, I plan to add some framed art to it. When I find something I'd like to put there, that is.

And we're back to geometrical shapes. A potholder. Love the mushroom fabric. Of course, I managed to spill cocoa on it, the very first time I put it to use. Now it's a stained potholder. But you can admire it here in its fresh-off-the-sewing-machine stage.

OK, that's it from me for November. I'm going back to studying. Or banging my head against the table frustrated over the fact that nothing I read sinks in.

Stopping the cold

2009-10-18T01:37:00.001-07:00

These past few days the temperature dropped almost 15 degrees Celsius.I literally went from wearing short sleeves one day, to pulling out my winter coat the next.
The heating in my apartment goes trough the heating plant, and they have this rule that they don't turn the heating on until the temperature is lower than 12 C in the evening for at least three days in a row.

Those were some pretty cold days in my little studio apartment. I could feel the cold breeze coming from outside trough my door and window. So I decided to make a draft stopper, to keep the cold outside.
Basically, I sewed a long tube, filled it with poly-fill (from an old pillow) and stitched it shut.

Of course, literally two hours after I did that, the heating got turned on. Not to mention that today is the most beautiful sunny fall day, it's almost hot in the sun.
But winter is coming, and I need to make at least two more of these, one for the window, the other for the front door. I'll probably try different filling for them - rice seems to be the popular choice.

100

2009-10-03T04:14:00.000-07:00

Wow! I reached a milestone in my blogging career. 100 posts! I feel like I should bake a cake with the number 100 in chocolate frosting. How about a little retrospective on my crafting instead?

It all started some six years ago, when I stumbled onto Craftster. Amazed with all the projects that other people posted, I decided to try some of them out for myself. The very first thing I tried was sewing - there was a great tutorial for a Jordy Bag. I sewed mine by hand. From an old t-shirt and corduroy pants. It didn't look like much, but I was proud of the fact that I basically made something from otherwise useless stuff. That's a great feeling - the one you get when you finish a project. Practically the next day I went and bought a sewing machine.

The sewing bug had me for a while, but then I sort of abandoned the hobby when a new and shinier one presented itself.

So over the last 6 years, I've dabbled in almost every crafty activity there is. Here's a list, if you're interested : stenciling, bag sewing, jewelly making, Polymer clay, knitting, bookmaking and paper crafts, crochet (tried and failed miserably), embroidery, cross stitch. Lately everyday life kept me too busy to craft, but I feel the bug again. After all, I need to have something to blog about in the next 100 posts.

Thank you for reading! ;-)

My summer turns to fall sweater

2009-09-16T09:53:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I like to knit, just for the sake of knitting. Just to do something with my hands, a simple motion, nothing too frustrating, no fancy pattern, just plain old stockinette. That is how this sweater came to be. I've had this cotton mix in my stash for at least year, don't even remember what I bought it for. Now it's this light, simple sweater. Perfect for the end of summer.

I used bigger needles than the yarn calls for, CO some random number of stitches for a wide neckline and knit in the round in stockinette. Increased for the sleeves with yarn overs and after a couple of weeks I had a simple, over-sized sweater that makes me feel like one of those 80's knitting magazine models.

Except, I can't really pose like those women. They have skills that I lack :) Sorry about the weird poses.

The yarn is Toptex Edita Glamour, which calls for 3-4 mm needles. I used 6 mm round needles and DPN's for the sleeves. I did one round of single crochet on the sleeves and the bottom to stop the rolling that stockinette loves to do.

Fabric CD Box

2009-08-29T10:24:00.000-07:00

Ages ago I bought Amy Butler's In Stitches from Amazon. This CD Box is my first project from that book.

I would like to tell you it was a complete success, and it was going rather well, but then the crappy sewing on the top edge happened. I could blame my Toyota sewing machine, but let's face it, it's probably me.

I did do a very fine job on the bottom. Look at that crisp edge. Too bad you can't see the bottom when the box is doing what it's supposed to. Namely holding CDs.

This project calls for Timtex, a fancy schmancy interfacing that is not sold here. I used a cereal box instead to give it some shape. I also omitted the handles for the box, because I didn't want to cover the pretty red flowers.

The fabric is from Etsy. I only bought a half a meter. Should have gotten more when I had the chance. I could have made two boxes. I would have even been extra careful with the topstitching on the second one.

Mrgud

2009-08-14T08:18:00.000-07:00

When I was a kid, "The Smurfs" were my favorite cartoon. I've recently stumbled on a episode on youtube (here in Croatia, the show was dubbed in our language) and it brought back fond childhood memories.
I actually still use some of the quotes from that cartoon, like the unforgettable "Ima li još puno, Papa Štrumf?" ( How much further, Papa Smurf - from the Astrosmurf episode).

But my favorite character was Grouchy - Mrgud in Croatian. His random exclamations of hate cracked me up. I find his wisdom to applicable on so many things in everyday life, one of them being housework. Especially dishes. Washing dishes. Drying dishes. Dishes.

So, with Mrgud in mind, I sewed a dishtowel out of aida cloth and stitched my most honest opinion of dishes.

Imagine Grouchy saying in his grouchy voice: I hate dishes!

That's what I do everytime I look at this. It makes me chuckle a little. And then my face gets the same expression as Grouchys when I realize it's time to do the dishes.

Mrgud/Grouchy was done on 22-count aida cloth, with only one strand of floss. It took me about a week to finish.

The back is a mess and that's the reason it's not pictured. I'll probably sew a patch or something on the back, before I use the towel for drying dishes. Or maybe I should forget about function, trim the cloth, frame the cross stitch and display it in my tiny kitchen as the universal truth?

Pintuck T-shirt

2009-08-01T07:21:00.000-07:00

After more than a month of working on this, I finished my Pintuck T-shirt.
The pattern was great, easy to read and to follow. A lot of short rows, and while I generally dislike those (I end up having holes all over the place) it resulted in some nice shaping, especially on the sleeves.

I used different yarn than the pattern calls for (as always) and fumbled a bit with the size - I think I started with XS and ending up doing half of the shirt in S. I should have written it down I guess.

Due to my marvelous XS/S sizing changes, the bib is a bit too high. Actually, way to high. Also, the shirt is a little tight in the armpits. Someday I will knit a short sleeved shirt that doesn't cut off circulation in my arms. Someday.

A real knitter here would have admitted defeat, would have frogged the pits and the bib and re-knit the whole thing. Not me though. I am far to lazy to do that. It's taken me too long to even get to the bib, no way am I going back now that I've washed the damn thing and sewed the buttons on.

Besides, it's only tight if I move my arms around too much. It'll be okay for those two times I'll actually wear it.
It's shameful, but I hardly ever wear the stuff I knit. Want to know why? Because I don't dare tossing them in the washing machine and hand washing is such a pain in the ass. We've already established that I'm lazy.:-)

Pattern: Pintuck T-shirt
Yarn: Lana Grossa Elastico, 3 skeins
Needles: 3,5 mm
Time it took: 48 days

In which I discover Mani di fata

2009-07-09T23:56:00.001-07:00

Finally, I have my computer back. This past month has been one malfunction after another. Starting with the pipes leaking in my apartment (they had to be completely replaced) and ending with my computer dying on me.

So the past two weeks have been mostly about cleaning up after the workers, vacuuming the endless amounts of dust that seem to got everywhere and waiting for the computer repair guy to do his thing.
Now the water smells and tastes funny and the computer makes a funny noise when you turn it on, but I'm so past caring about that. I have returned to my crafts, and I'm on vacation. So what if it rains every single day? I have my needles ;)

I have recently discovered that the newsstands here carry Mani di fata, an Italian stitching magazine. Although most of the patterns are a little too classic for my taste, it does have some cute stuff. Like the cake and cupcake you see below.

These were both done on 11 count aida cloth (at least I think it's 11, I counted the little squares and got 11 per inch) with three strands of floss. Mostly Ljubica by Unitas.
I should have used 4 strands to get better coverage, I'll have to remember that for next time.
Someday, they will become potholders. Or something else that has some kind of use in the kitchen.

Meanwhile, I busy myself with knitting. I'm working on the Pintuck T-shirt and progress is slow. I just hope I'll finish it before the summer's over.

What to do with mini cross stitch

2009-06-21T00:34:00.000-07:00

Make a small fragile keychain you'll probably never use?

Oh well, I did it anyway. It only took me about five minutes too, so yay for instant crafty gratification.

And here's the construction, dead simple. I used a small plastic ring, that probably had some use in plumbing, a little felt, glue and my second cross stitched thing ever.

Basically you just glue your image down on a felt rectangle. Fold some felt over the center of the ring, glue that too, then cut a window in your remaining rectangle and do some more gluing down.

Mine turned out flimsy because I used thin felt. I probably should have added some cardboard between the cross stitch and the back, for sturdiness.
But like I sad, I'll probably never use it. I keep my keys on a little converse shoe I got from a street vendor. It red, just like my real chucks. I call that matching accessories ;)

Mix, pour, wait, then paint

2009-06-08T00:50:00.000-07:00

The title pretty much describes what I did with plaster.

I got it ages ago, the kind you pour, along with exactly two molds - one is flowers and fruit themed, the other is Christmas ( a bunch of snowmen, Santas and bears with presents).
Let me tell you, those molds are expensive. And not really worth it, unless you want to make the same motives over and over again. Which I just might have to, because I still have a lot of plaster left.

Anyway, here are my forms, all dried and waiting to be painted. Ideally, I would sand the edges a bit, but I was out of sandpaper.

Painted and waiting for me to glue some magnets on the back. I only had three, so the other ones will have to sit and wait for me to go on a craft supplies shopping spree.

I used Decorlack by Marabu to paint them, which I wouldn't really recommend for plaster. I think it's better to use something that the plaster will aborb, like regular acrylics, tempera or even watercolor. They will blend better, and make your fruit look more real.

And an obligatory action shot. This kind of looks like a commercial for Candy fridges, but believe me, it's not. This fridges makes such bizzare and loud noises that I kind of hate it. But hey, at least it's a good surface for my magnets.

Little gardener

2009-05-28T10:53:00.000-07:00

Lately I've been too busy to craft, but here's a project I finshed a while ago.
This little guy was stitched from a DMC pattern booklet. The title is Fairy Tales, I got it as a part of a DMC kit. Since the stores here don't carry DMC, I used Madeira thread and of course, good ole Croatian Ljubica.

I actually like working with Ljubica better, it's easier to separate the threads and it doesn't tangle as much as Madeira. The jeans, the watering can and the paler green are all Ljubica.
Too bad the color palette of Ljubica thread is limited, to put it politely.

I only stitched half of the scene from the pattern, because I just don't have enough patience to do the whole thing.

I might get another plant and put this guy in a frame next to it. Maybe then the plant would survive my care.