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. 
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.
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.
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!
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.
