It's spring!!!

And I suddenly have a lot of energy and feel inspired by so many things at the moment! For instance by this post. I love the idea of putting fabrics together to mirror what is going on in nature.


I've been longing for a nice blanket to snuggle under on the sofa for a while now, and now I somehow got it into my head that I will sew a patchwork one myself. Since I didn't want to buy any new fabric (my stash is big enough right now ...) I looked what I had and put together this pile:


I'm really happy with how well they go together! Also, they convey a feeling of a kind of relaxed and simple coziness that I would like to create in our home.


Have a good weekend!

blog coma

So, today I'm temporarily awakening from my blog coma. I've got a lot of ideas and planned projects and only so little time. Up there is my attempt at a nutcracker doll from Stitched in Time. There are a lot of projects in that book that I love and would like to make some time in the future. Who knows, maybe this summer?

Swizzle Vest WIP

Well, I still don't know what to do with my Zitron yarn, but I started a new project, this time something for myself. It's the Swizzle Vest from Domiknitrix and the design has been on my mind for quite some time. I found an FO pic here. I got the yarn a couple of months ago and since we spent some time in the car at the weekend I finally started it.


I'm knitting it with Rowan Big Wool (yes, I'm a real yarn snob ... But I enjoy knitting with nice yarn much more, not to speak of wearing the final project.) I decided to go for black and off-white, although I also really like the suggested colourway of black and red. The local yarn shop didn't have any nice red and also I thought since it's a layering piece the more versatile the colours, the better.

I'm really enjoying knitting it so far, although I had some trouble with the lifted increases and at first also with the tubular cast on. On the other hand it's nice to have a bit of a challenge and learn something new. I think it's really obvious that the designer put a lot of thought into the pattern and the shaping of the back looks really beautiful.


Unfortunately, it's not so well visible with the black yarn ... As you can see in the cast-on row, I didn't listen to the author of the book and just bought one size of needles, since the girl in the shop said that it should work fine. So, I didn't use a size smaller needle for the cast-on row and it's a bit loose. Well, it's not perfect, but I'm ok with it.



I like the fact that this vest is so nice and curvy and that it knits up fast. I'm really looking forward to see how it'll turn out!

I'm still here ...

... only really busy! School is great, but these first couple of months have been a bit tiring. Lots of new stuff to learn, getting used to a new routine, etc. ... BUT: I got some knitting done!


High time, too, since the recipient of this cardie (the cardie I wrote about in my last post) has already arrived! I really like the design and it wasn't as hard to knit as I first thought. There was some twisting of stitches and cursing involved, as the yoke is knitted on circular needles and I found out it's not so clever to try to do that while you have a cold and headache ...

There really were quite a lot of loose ends to be woven in, so if you're not a fan of that, stay away from this. But I think it was worth it.


I already got a new ball of yarn to play around with:


It's Zitron Nimbus in colour 4. It's a lovely yarn, only I don't really know what to do with it. Anyway, knitting it is a pleasure, I already almost knit up the ball once, just to see how the colourway turns out.

New things to do

Well, my resolution was to be posting more regularly, but in the past few weeks I haven't really had time or my head was so full of new information that my brain went on strike in the evenings. The reason for that is that I started school! Yes, I'm back to school and I'm training to become a seamstress!


I'm very happy about this opportunity and about having the chance to learn a craft professionally. This is marking a new stage in my life and I'm very excited! Until now we've been practising different types of seams, been drawing with Freehand and learning about different kinds of materials. Soon we'll start preparing to sew some children's clothes.

As for the projects to accomplish at home, I'm currently working on a baby sweater for a couple we know. It's the Classic Baby Cardigan design by Debbie Bliss from the same magazine as the short-sleeved cardie. I found an FO picture here. I'm going to use the exact same yarn as suggested in the magazine, even the same colours. Boring, I know. But since I loved working with Baby Cashmerino so much while making the last baby project, I really wanted to knit with it again, and when I saw the colours in the shop I really fell for the blue and brown combination. The brown (colour 011) is a really rich dark chocolatey colour and the blue (colour 202) is more of a duck egg colour than sky blue. I'm actually already quite far along in the project, but since the WIP is not such an exciting sight I'm just giving you pictures of the yarns. Another reason for me to knit faster ...

Short Sleeve Cardigan FO

So, it only took me about a year to finish this. The knitting was done really quickly, the sewing up was a bit trickier. So I got frustrated and the project banned to the closet for the long time it took me to get over that frustration ... Maybe I shouldn't have used the Calmer for finishing, since it's so elastic. Well, I did anyway and the Cardie came out quite nicely, if a wee bit too short for my taste. But since it's a layering piece, I don't mind that too much.



Here's a picture of the cardie from the magazine. I found it at Samurai Knitter.


I only added one button, since four seemed to overload it a bit. I would have only used the top one, anyway.


It's a really beautiful mother of pear button and now I have 3 more left for some other project. Not so bad, I think.



Something completely unrelated: I've got a new favourite website: une fille comme moi. My French is very rudimentary, but it doesn't matter, since I love this page for the beautiful pictures and drawings. I especially like this and this.

A little peek

I've been shamefully absent from this space! I'm sorry! We've had a guest and right after we've been in Germany at my family's. We had a really great time. But now I hope I'll post more regularly, again! There are a lot of crafty things on my mind. Strangely, I'm feeling the urge to knit something in these summer months. I bought some nice sock wool from a little shop in my home village and I'd like to knit something for myself as well as some nice baby sweaters for some new arrivals to this planet. I really love the Textured Tunic, along with other patterns from Fitted Knits and I think I have to finally give in and purchase the book.



Above is a little peek at a small still life in my craft room. Yes! I have a craft room!!! I'm so happy about that and I think it's a cute little room. There's a table for my sewing machine and some compartments for all the bits and pieces. There's room for my craft books and my yarn and all the other stuff that's handy to have around. There are still some things I'd like to add some time, but for now it is just great. One thing on my mind is a nice inspiration board and I'm also dreaming of this working table, because I think the inserted glass is genius (I haven't tried how comfortable it would be working at, though, but why shouldn't it?)

There's a lot of blue in this room, my favourite colour from childhood. I'm also fond of a lot of other colours, especially red, but I always come back to blue, especially light blue and turquoise.



I love the colours in this Regia yarn my brother gave me for Christmas. I'm wondering if I should make something other from it than socks.

Here's a close-up of the text in the little white frame:


A friend gave me this card some years ago and I really love it. The quote is by Carol Shields and says:

go for long walks,
indulge in hot baths,
question your assumptions,
be kind to yourself,
live for the moment,
loosen up, scream,
curse the world,
count your blessings,
just let go,
just be