iKnit day

On Saturday September 6th I went to my first ever iKnit day in London. It was great. Unfortunately I went alone as my knitting buddy Louisa moved back to Australia (Gosh I miss you girl!!). After arriving on time I joined an enormous queue at the Royal Horticultural Halls. It was snakeing around the building. It seems that most knitters will not be late when a day off knitting goodness is on the menu. All where exactly on time, which can't be said of the doors opening. We only had to wait about 10 minutes which was fine as it didn't really rain much.


So much to see and do

After entering the building I went to listen to Jane Sowerby who had a presentation called "Victorian Knitters vs Today’s Knitters". It seemed very interesting, but I couldn't hear a word. After about 20 minutes I could not guess by her lips what she was talking about anymore and I left. They really should have given her a mic. Such a shame as it seemed very interesting and I'm working on my first lace shawl. I then walked around the market a bit and payed for the first edition of a new sewing magazine to be send home later this month. After inspecting the market (which was extremely busy) I sat down on the stairs and enjoyed my duck wrap I had bought earlier at M&S (yum!). Then I knitted a bit on the shawl and watched a very good fashion show. It was old fashion knits (from the early war era). I took several pics with my mobile but for really good quality shots go to the Iknit Flickr page! I think I fell in love with at least half a dozen of the models (not the girls, the patterns!!)


a fantastic knitty day!

After the fashion show I spotted this girl spinning. She was part of a booth that sold handspun and fibre. I fell for one of the beautifull fibres and although I had promised myself not to get involved in spinning (don't need another hobby) I couldn't help it I was hooked. The girl was Moonspinning and the fibre was made by her booth partner Rockpool Candy (Inga). Both their fibre was for sale but the one I choose was made by Inga. Anyway Moonspinning was showing this girl how to spin and I was hooked. She didn't sell any spindles so off I went to look for one. In the end I bought a very beautifull spindle at the iKnit booth. They had quite a number and all where made out of different types of wood. I felt a bit like Harry Potter choosing his wand. The spindles where all much lighter than the one Moonspinning was using. This made it a bit harder to learn (I went back to her and she taught me! Yay!), but it was fab. So in the end I bought 200g of merino and 200g of alpaca fibre (undyed) and I am now practising.

I also bought fantastic yarn called Manos del Uruguay, Manos Silk Blend. It was £18 ($32) for two skeins and I hope to make a small Clapotis after I finish my shawl. And a Clover yo-yo maker. This funny little gadget is for leftover bits of fabric. You can sew them into decorative disks which you can use for decorative projects. I also watch a catwalk presentation by Maggie Jackson from Maggiknits. And although her work is very high standard and funky it was not my cup of tea. A bit too much going on in her creations. I like more classic knits I guess.

There was so much more: Yarn Harlot gave a talk (I missed out as the tickets had sold out), I had a chat with the Dutch Knitters over from Holland and it was great to speak to my fellow Dutchies. I made new friends, saw enormous knitting needles and saw gorgeous knitted projects. Can't wait till next year!



One of the Clover Yo-yo projects

Links:
Shaped yo-yo Clover projects
Normal yo-yo Clover projects
Ravelry links:
Manos Silk Blend yarn
Adamas Shawl I'm working on...

Happy Living Group on Ravelry

Hooray! There now is a Happy Living Group on Ravelry for everyone to join.



The group is there to help anyone who wants to knit any of the Happy Living Patterns, but also to have lots of fun. The Happy Living group is a place for sharing. I hope we can talk knitting in general and crochet, gardening, food or travel.. it’s all good. It’s a place where everyone is most welcome and I hope you will feel happy to join in.

*small warning: I might talk a lot as I'm quite enthousastic about it all*

Wallpapered Magazine Holders

Having slight 'Magazine-holic' issues I always feel I need to find good storage for them. So with the new office almost finished I was on the look out. Bless Martha and her fantastic idea's. In July's Living I spotted the tutorial for Wallpapered Magazine Holders.


My new fab Mag Holders

So of to B&Q I went to buy my selected wallpaper. But when I got there you could tear a bit off for free to take home (and test against your wall I imagine). So that saved my almost £20. I took my scrap home and bought four KNUFF Ikea Magazine Holders at £2.99 each. After some crafing the result is quite stunning! If you want to do the same this is how you go about it:



Wallpapered Magazine Holders




You will need:
4 Magazine Holders from Ikea.
Wallpaper scrap
craft glue
pencil

First choose which part of the design will look best. I placed the wallpaper right side up on the table and used one of the magazine holders to roughly see what part would work best. If your scrap of wallpaper is quite large mark where the top and bottom of the magazine holders will be, taking an extra margin about about 2.5 cm (1 inch) and cut.

Turn the wallpaper right side down and trace around the Magazine Holder with a pencil four times. Match each side line up, so that they fall on top of eachother. Cut exactly on the lines.



Pick which end you want to start with and lay the wallpaper out in the right order. It's not a big deal if you mix them up as you can simply switch the Magazine Holders around at the end to reastablish the right sequence.



Take one of the strips and dot some glue on the back. Spread it around with a brush or scrap of paper making sure it's evenly spread out.



Position the wallpaper RIGHT SIDE UP on the back of the Magazine Holder. It's an easy mistake to place them upside down, so pay attention.



Make sure the wallpaper is alligned with the sides and no wood is showing. If you do see wood, lift it back up and shift it around a bit until it's in place properly.



Once it is in place, press down and smooth out from the center to the edges to avoid any air bubbles showing. Repeat the whole process for each folder.



All finished!!


It took me less than half an hour so it's a quick and easy project that brightens up a livingroom, bookcase or office in a cheap and fast way.

The Beauty of Handmade

In this world of Made in China handmade products are heaven send. I hope that financially I’ll soon be better off and able to afford some handmade myself. In the mean time let me show you this treasure and then tire you with some issues.


The most sophisticated cupcakes I've ever seen...

On Ravelry we find all things knitted. Great patterns and great gifts! One of the most inspirational and beautiful finds are products made by Julie of Little Cotton Rabbits. I first spotted her work when I did a tag search in Rav for cupcakes. These beautiful cupcakes appeared and where sooooo yummie I almost ate my monitor! :P I checked out the maker and found other items she made every better. Julie is the maker of the cutest toys ever seen (hence the name: Little Cotton Rabbits). She makes all sort of toys (not just rabbits) that seem alive with goodness and kindness. I tell you they are so cute you don’t care you’re not 6 years old no more. Some toys are ageless and these are like that. They have a good old fashion feel to them and yet are hip and happening. So if you fancy owning one or giving one, or you just want to check out Julie’s work, then visit her webshop and keep up to date with Julie’s Blog and don't forget to check out her free patterns!


Little Cotton cuties! The perfect gift!

So why buy handmade? Well I guess I could now start a whole talk about capitalism and consumerism or whatever –ism may be in right now, but it’s not that complicated. We live in a world where you can not escape mass produced products without making it your lifes purpose. So you can choose that route or simple not bother with any of it at all, but there is also the middle way. Where you can (and can afford) choose handmade. This also goes for organic and fair trade. If the whole western population where to choose handmade for every 1 item in a 100 they bought, it would change the world. You may not realise this as an individual, but you are part of a great mass of buyers. You are in a way like a star in the sky... one amonst billions. If we all choose to buy handmade once in every 100 buys the volume will be vast! So for the next birthday perhaps you will consider something hand made. And there are great gifts. Look on Etsy and you will have trouble choosing between all the great (extremely affordable) finds.

Zakka Style: Crochet Grocery Bag

I had to wait until after Christmas to post this item, because my friend reads this blog every now and then. But now it's all unwrapped and reveiled so I can post away.


Quite pleased with the result.. hope Rig likes it!

I made the Zakka Style Crochet Grocery Bag from Frayed at the Edges again. This time I followed the pattern, but added four more increase rounds just before deceasing. I also added a round of tripples (see note below) in sc just before starting on the handles. The idea was to weave a ribbon through this so the bag would look cute. But when I tried it, it really did look cute, but wasn't something that would suit my friend. So I left it as a pretty border. The handles I made longer, 100 chain, and worked in the same manner as the finishing edge on the bag, with a row of tripples. Mmmm... maybe I shouldn't have said I followed the pattern, made a lot of changes. Although they are all additions, to the pattern so stricktly speaking I did follow it, just added to it too.
I'm really pleased with the result and wished I had finished my blue bag of in the same manner.


The blue bag in use, it can hold a lot!!

Tripple*
I've mentioned this stitch in my post, and it's not the proper term. As I was crocheting I tried several stitches and decided on this one. I've got no clue as to the offical name of it, so please let me know if you do. I'm sure it's an exsisting stitch. Anyway here is how it goes:

start:1 loop on hook
wrap yarn over hook (2 loops on hook)
through next stitch, wrap yarn over hook, pull yarn back through (3 loops on hook)
wrap yarn over hook and pull the loop through 1 (3 loops on hook)
wrap yarn over hook and pull the loop through 2 (2 loops on hook)
wrap yarn over hook and pull the loop through 2 (1 loop on hook)
Next stitch.


My friend Louisa made a smaller version

Louisa made a mini version I also wanted to show off. It's sooooo cute. Not much use for grocheries I guess, but great for carring cute small things. (<-you are right I have no examples just imagine something small and cute :P).

A Martha week

If she'd known about my endevours this week I'm sure I would have made Martha Stewart Proud. I've been crafting, decorating christmas threes and been a hostess to a birthday celebration. Also I went to a party in the street to meet all the new neighbours. This was absolutely great. They where all very nice to us newcommers and there is a great community feel in the street. Still if you, over the next comming weeks are invited to a party that you really do not want to go to, think of me and the Happy Living Blog. Because I spotted this great little tool for you online: The Holiday Party Excuse Generator from Enlighten. Don't tell me I don't think of you!!


The buffet area needed decoration

For the birthday party I used a Martha Stewart idea for a Festive Garland. As you can see it looks very much like the original. As you can see I decorated the corners with tissue pom poms! Please read my old blog post on Pom poms about this great decoration craft.


Cheer up an empty fire place

And then I thought that this corner of the house could use some Christmas decoration. So I Martha'd again and made these cute little Paper Stockings for the (sealed up) fire place. Don't you think they're nice?

My only dissapointment is the fact that I couldn't find the ingredients to my mothers most famous and beloved Tiramisu. It's in Dutch (my mom is Dutch my father is Italian, they live in The Netherlands) so I will translate and then will post it on my blog for you to try out.

A horrible dinner?!?

On Saturday October 22nd we had our first dinner guests over in the new house. We moved in June and have been working on the new house, which is an old house (get it). So now we had my boyfriends sister, Nicola, over for dinner with her husband Phil and daughter Bethany. Phil helped us move house back in June and we didn’t have a chance yet to thank him.

We started with planning the dinner, which wasn’t easy. Or I should say it was, as Phil only eats peas and corn when it comes to vegetables. So with choice limited to these two we didn’t really had to worry about what to cook. I picked peas and thought of a Beef Wellington to go with it for a while. But the thought of beef with a jacket of pasty didn’t appeal as it is costumary to put a layer of mushrooms between the two. This was too exotic. So we decided on a roast as it was well known that they all liked that.


This was how I felt. Pic from Allposters

Now I don’t mind if people are a bit picky and I think our idea to provide our guests with things they liked wasn’t a bad one, but it somehow backfired a bit. We called Kevin’s parents to get the low down on what they liked and before we knew it we had a long long list. With instructions and brands and this and that and the other. Here I remember thinking: this might not have been the best of idea’s. However it was too late we wanted to please so off we went to do the shopping.

We got the crisps they liked, Pepsi Max because Phil doesn’t drink anything else, fruit shoots for Bethany and white wine for Nicola. And that was just the beginning. So we went home with bags full with odd groceries. Let me cut in that both me and Kevin are part-time health freaks. We usualy don’t buy anything like crisps, cakes or cola. I say part-time because we are not against these things every now and then, we just don’t buy them on a weekly basis. Anyway we got home and forgot the bloody peas!

Then we found out that we got the wrong Fruit Shoots. We got the purple with blue tops and we needed the ones with the green tops (or the other way around I forgot). And that was the moment I had enough. I’m not very dramatic in general but I wanted to scream: they will eat and drink what we’ll put in front of them or they can p*** off!


The pumpkins, Mr. Scary and Mr. Traditional

Clearly a case of pre-dinner stress. But honestly I’ve never in my life heard of so many people (not just my guests but friends, etc) that are so picky when it comes to food. I find I have a hard time coping with this English? mentality. My Dutch side rebels because (as our saying goes) ‘act normal then you act funny enough’ which is applied to everything in daily life and in the case of food it means: you will eat what is in front of you and you won’t make a fuss. My Italian side rebels because food is meant to be enjoyed. People that only eat peas make me confused. I think this comes mainly from the fact that I just don’t understand that.

Right so I had my little rant and am fine now. As was the dinner in the end. It was a great succes and to jazz things up we carved two pumpkins of which you see two pictures with this post.

I always thought that carving pumpkins would be really hard, but it really easy. We bought this mini carving kit at the supermarket for next to nothing (read two pounds) and started working. I used a template that came with the kit and Kevin decided on a more traditional scary pumpkin of his own design.


The pumpkins in the dark!

We started with cutting of the top and scooping out the flesh and seeds. The kit has a handy plastic scoop that did it’s job well and easy. With the little crayon we traced the outline of the eyes and mouth (and in my case hands and eyebrows). There was a puncture tool in the kit. This was great to make a hole in the pumpkin in which we could insert the mini saws (one course, one fine). Then it was just a question of sawing over the lines. It was great fun! Even Kevin, who isn’t usually a very creative person, found it heaps of fun. We where very proud of the results and I’m sure that next year we might throw an actual halloween party. But for now I’ve had enough family fun until Christmas.

Sewing books!!

I can't really remember how I got on it, but about a week ago I ended up on Violet's Wish list on Amazon. Violet as in Lime & Violet btw. Anyway, she had this 'Sew Pretty Homestyle' sewing book on her list and I liked it straight away. When I clicked on it two other books popped up in the 'customers also bought this' line up.

The inside of Sew Pretty Homestyle!

Ofcourse I couldn't rest until I found a few inner pages of this book to see what all the fuss was about and here I must give a big old THANKS for the creation of Flickr. I typed in the title and low and behold! :) I love technology.


So I came across the other two books, but no joy there all I could find was one page for the Craft Christmas Gifts book. And one project, made by Skubach from the Crafting Springtime Gifts book. Ah well. I still want them.

I'm already thinking about Christmas and spring now!

Zakka style crafts

Yesterday I finished two projects that I would put in the Zakka style category.

First up is the Le Slouch Bleu I've talked about before (a slouchy baret in a petrol colour). It was a very good and easy knit. I love the feel of the yarn and the dept of the colour. I might make a nice sort of decoration for it. Possibly from fabric. Maybe a Yo-Yo!.

Second is this grocery bag I've been making. It's my first crochet project. The bag was easy to make. I used a free pattern found on the blog: Frayed at the Edges.

I altered the pattern by adding 6 rounds before decreasing. And I added one more round (sc into each sc of previous) before making the handles. As I don't like short handles I didn't make a 38 but a 100 chain for them.
The results are great. It's a nice bag that seems to stretch to accomodate more stuff. Also thinking of adding some decoration. :D Hooray for Crochet!

Of cats and owls

When I woke up on the last morning in the Netherlands I was greeted by Max the cat. Rigtje and Frank (my friends) have two: a black cat named Bo and this cutie named Max. I opened the door to my bedroom and there he was waiting patiently. Then he snuggled up on my sheets and purred a great deal. What a nice way to wake up :D.


Max being a little cutie

After breakfast Rig and I set to work on this idea we had. The bedroom of the baby was all finished but it lacked something. I had seen this owl on either the Hostess Blog or the Decor 8 blog that I subscribe to. I can’t remember which it was. Anyway I saved the link to the source which was Vinyl Wall Art.


The original: the owl from Vinyl wall art

They produce stickers you can stick on your wall. One of them is this great looking owl. Unfortunately Rig and I didn’t have time to order an owl, so we looked up a spare bit of wallpaper and got going. And this is the result:


The owl we made for the baby's bedroom

I’m really proud of how it has turned out. I wasn’t there for the grand pasting, but Rig was kind enough to send me pictures. Now let the baby come, wisdom sits at his/her crib watching over him/her.


The owl close up

Baby & birthday delivery!

It's my best friends birthday soon and I'm sending her some hand made goodies for her unborn child. This means that I can finaly reveal what I've been working on these last few months. So without futher ado here is the line up:



Jelly Beanie with crocheted flower.

The first thing I made is this cute hat for her baby. As no one knows what sex the baby will be picking a colour was hard. I choose this lilac as it will go with blue's and gray's if it's a boy and it will go great with pinks and yellows if it's a girl. The pattern is from Rowan's Bambino Classic and I made it with RYC Cashsoft Baby DK in the colour borage 806.



Reverable bib

Next up I made this reverable bib. As I've said with no idea if the baby will be a boy or a girl I thought this a nice present. I made it a while back but didn't have a soft fabric for the bias trim. Then I found this super soft cotton canvas and I used that to make the bias trim and the ties.




Elizabeth Zimmermann's February Baby Sweater

I also made this cute little February Baby Jacket from Elizabeth Zimmermann's book Knitter's Almanac: Projects for Each Month of the Year. Again I went for a colour that can go with both boys or girls. The green is very nice with soft pinks for girls. And it will also go very well with light blue and aqua for boys. The yarn is Rowan's Cashsoft DK in the colour Lime, 509.

So I put all of them together with some goodies in a big box and this is what she got:

With the pink side up if it's a girl


And with the blue side up for it it's a boy

Blinds

Finally they are up. The blinds I've made from the Laura Ashley fabric I found ages ago. It took quite a bit of work, mostly because I never made blinds before. Second because of bad luck. This happens sometimes in crafts. So I set the project aside midway through as I was becoming so irritated I was about to throw it out. So I took a break and then with fresh spirit finished it. They are now hanging in the hall way looking quite posh. See for yourself:


Blind bottom of stairs


Blind top of stairs

I might write a tutorial when I make a blind for the bathroom. I tried taking good pictures with each step this time, but they didn't work out. So next time I make one I'll try again and use them for the tutorial. Until then I must point you to these blinds on Martha Stewart.

Classic Roman Blind
Casual Sheer Blind
Formal Classic Blind

Apron, hairbands and cushion covers

Remember those nice fabrics I bought in the sale a while back. Well I had to go and make stuff this weekend.

First I made the apron from the book In Stitches by Amy Butler. It's my first project form this book and I like it a lot. The instructions are good and I found it easy enough. Although next time I'm sure it will be easier. I did make one
adjustment to the pattern. I like the apron to look nice on both the outside and the inside. So I doubled the with of the bottom trim then folded that over and stitched it 'double' so you don't see raw edges or seems on the inside.


Short Pleated Apron from In Stitches by Amy Butler

Then I made two hairbands. One for Louisa who had bought the fabric for a different project and one for me. They are reversible. So should we both happen to wear the hairband to work, we can at least wear different patters/colours.


Side one


Side two


And then I made two new covers for the pillows on the sofa. They where lime green which matched my previous sofa very well, but it looked horrible on this one. So for almost a year I meant to change them, but I didn't have a place to sew in the old house. Now that I've moved however I do and so I bought this nice fabric especially for the horrible lime green pillows. And look at them now.


New pillow

In short it was a very crafty weekend indeed. Quite pleased.

Stalker

Oh my! I think I need some help. This whole craft explosion is not very healthy at all. Not only am I completley obsessed by yarn and fabrics, patterns and craft podcast (on which I should do a blog entry, there are soooo many cool podcasts out there), but now I’m turning into a freaky person. I’m a on the spot stalker!!

Here is one of the pics I took:


You see why? Isn't it nice!!

I have no idea who this person is and I secretly took a picture of her. Why? Well her top ofcourse. I just couldn’t let inspirational material like that walk by. I would have forgotten. My lack of a photographic memory is to blame! The world is filled with great idea’s, that is not the problem. Remembering them all is! So I’ve taken to snapping pictures of strangers on the streets. Every day I walk to the station and if I see a top, jacket, coat, bag or anything I like, I match my speed with that persons. Take out my phone and set it ot silent so it doesn’t make that clicking noise when I take a pic. Open the camera and snap snap. It’s done. It’s very easy and not obvious at all. I could be flicking through my pics or texts. You think there is a cure? Do other crafters have this need to snap inspirational material, even if it’s on peoples backs?



This one is quite too don't you think. A daring colour but it works.

Today I'd also like to mention our new stalker. It's the neighbours cat. Isn't it a pretty cat? Ofcourse I'm bias as I love cats and had to leave one behind in the Netherlands when I moved to England. I couldn't let him stay in quarentine for half a year. The poor puss had just lost his brother in a car crash and was quite upset already. He missed my ex a great deal too, so I gave him to my ex. I sooooo wanted to take him, but this was best for him. Last I heard is that he's doing great. We might get a cat later in the year, but until that time I'm trying to make friends with the cats in the neighbourhood. :D This one, forgot his name, comes through the garden so often I wonder if I should make a special crossing for him. hehe.


"Just passing!"

a productive weekend

I’ve been a busy little bee this weekend. First I decided to use this gorgeous Laura Ashely fabric I bought in London a few weeks ago to make two blinds for the hall. My intention was to make a window seat and use it for the cushion. But not having seen my new house for months had made the window much smaller in my memory. Now that I’m living here I realise it would not be a cute little window seat, it would be huge, more like a bed. So what to do with all that lovely silk? I didn’t know. Until I walked down the stairs and I wondered if I could make a folding blind out of it for the window. There are two windows in the hall, on at the bottom of the stairs and one at the top. The previous inhabitants had taken one roller blind from the lower window and left the second. This is a horrible white roller blind. So I got my fabric an folded it to roughly the size of the window and held it up. Wonderfull. It would lift the hall from plain and boring to nice and pretty. With a bit of paint work too.


I couldn't help seeing how it would look

During the week I got all the things I needed and on Saturday I went to work, while on telly the annual Horseguards parade was held in honour of the Queens birthday. The Trooping of the colour is a very great British event and I love it. Pomp and pageantry to the max. So with great entertainment on in the background I began. If possible I will put up a tutorial, but they are not finished yet, so lets see the results first. I’ve got one left to sew and the other is done, except for mounting it on a bit of wood to hang it up. I thought about stapling it to the wood, but then I can’t was my curtains. However it’s silk, so I don’t want to wash that anyway. Also I can always take the stapels out. Might finish it off this next weekend.

On Sunday my boyfriends parents came around and brought vegtables for the garden. I’d like to make a vegetable patch in the back, but that is for the future. The ground still needs to be prepaired and we also want a new shed. So until that time I will have a few growbags and pots. They also brought a pot for the Olive we got from Mark and Julie. Doesn’t it look nice. I’m very happy with it. Shame I couldn’t bring my Dutch olive. If mum and dad come over I must ask them to bring it. If they come by boat.


The forrunner of my veggie plot

Then around four o’clock or thereabouts I sat down to make a knitting bag. I was fed up with carrying my knitting around in a plastic bag inside my handbag. I’d see some on etsy for sale but what others can make, I can make. Although usually less well. But not this time. I’m extremely pleased with the result. It’s an inside out bag from Amy Butler fabric. If I feel in a pink mood its the pink outside, if I feel in a blue mood, you guessed it: it’s the blue outside. I will make another for Louisa a colleague who knits too. Then I might make them to sell. It’s a very handy bag for all sorts of things I imagine. Let me know what you think and how much I should ask.



The Pink side of the knitting bag...


... and the blue one!