Cast On

After stitching a lot lately I have decided to flirt with knitting again, at least as an evening and late night recreation. The stitching will not be forgotten just saved as a daytime and daylight activity.

I have wanted to knit this jacket since I saw it. I can’t remember anymore where I first saw it, but it was six and half stitches’ altering of it by adding fabric to the jacket that convinced me I had to make one. Now that Astrid is here with us I have someone to knit it for too (I would have loved one for myself, but I look terrible in horizontal lines).

My biggest struggle and challenge when I knit is not the knitting technique. If I see a video on how to do a certain thing whether it is purl, knit two together, slip stitch and so on I usually manage to do it. My struggle is to understand the patterns and instructions. I simply don’t know the knitting language, and that frustrates me. A lot.

With this jacket I am only happy not frustrated. I have read through the instructions three times and so far so good. I think I know what I need to do. Let’s see how it turns out.

I am knitting with Drops Karisma (100% wool) and 4mm circular needles.

Swap'arama

It’s been “swap’arama” here lately and today another beautiful package arrived, this time from a Danish friend. I knew about one of the fabrics that were in the parcel since that fabric was and is the whole reason for why the swap was initiated in the first place. But, in addition Marie-Louise also sent some other beautiful details like the blue button that I am absolutely completely and utterly in love with. Together with the blue trim it is a perfect match with that fabric.

I have also fallen in love with the cherry and flower fabric that I have never seen before, it looks so delicate. The apple trim is brilliant for a project I have had in mind since I bought this fabric, and the red roosters I am planning to use together with other red fabrics for a quilt to Astrid sometime hopefully soon. Another happy day in Yonder.

Indoors Saturday

Today there is a snowstorm in Yonder so we are staying indoors (with good conscience). Mr. Yonder is tiding up his closet, Astrid is taking a nap and I’m baking. The house is filled with the smell of breads in the oven. As soon as the breads are done I’ll put a tray with buns in and set the timer for 14 minutes. I’m listening to one of my favourite radio shows (podcast) “radioresepsjonen” (the radio reception).Three silly guys having fun on the radio for two hours and getting paid for it! Enjoying my indoors Saturday.

Necessity is the mother of creation

A couple of weeks ago Marie-Louise suggested a small fabric, trim and button swap. She did this because she had noticed that there was a certain fabric I had fallen in love with (ehem... I just went back to find the link to the fabric and I'm embarrased *blushing* for how many times I have made comments on it...), and she had some of this fabric to give away. Anyhow, as I was putting together fabrics and combining trims and biased tape I realized that I don’t have any cool buttons. I only have a few buttons that has been given to me on earlier swaps (and which I don't want to part with), but no big box, glass or jar with buttons to combine with fabrics for giveaways. Now I couldn’t send off the fabrics without any button. Instead I decided to make my very first embroidered button thinking (and hoping) that one handmade button would equal several bought non-embroidered buttons.

To make it a bit more interesting I took an extra look at the main fabric I had prepared for the swap and sucked in inspiration from it before I drew my first embroidery design. Nothing fancy, just a plain and simple design to go with the fabric. For someone that has always dreamt of being able to draw (but never found the talent) this was a big step. Usually I am always looking for images that can be used for embroidery, whether it is in magazines, newspapers, milk cartons, adds or pattern books, to make up for my lack of talent in drawing. This time I drew one myself. Necessity is the mother of creation.

Birthday buns and a baby bib

I told you I was going to reveal more of what I made last week as soon as the birthday party was over, and here it is. I haven’t taken a photo of the upper part just because I didn’t finish it until the very same morning it was being given away. But what you are not seeing is the 70’s biased tape that I used on the “neck” part of the bib + some more on each side to tie the bib. It was my first attempt at biased tape and I learned that I need to practice a bit more before I master the this task completely. If you are unsure about biased tape angry chicken has made a hilarious and curse free tutorial that I recommend.

Ohh and I couldn’t resist posting some photos of all the deliciousness we got served at T’s house. Her vanilla cream filled buns are just so “ammpfffhy” good (dreaming of one right now together with a big glass of milk) and the three layered chocolate cheese cake is lethal!

More headbands & one secret birthday gift

What have you been up to this week? I made three more head bands with the “stitchery” that I did last week. Usually I don’t like to make one thing more than once, just because it bores me. I like new challenges and therefore new projects. But the headbands are fun to make because they let you try different stitch designs. So the head band is “old” but the stitching new. Since so many of you have said you love the cute stitch designs I can reveal that they all come from my new and absolutely favourite stitch book.

It is by Hiroko Isii also known as “Cahier” and it is her first “solo” book (…as far as I know). She has previously made designs for books and magazines like the Japanese Stitch idées books, where I first saw her designs and fell in love. She has just made another book which is on my list of must haves.

These photos are of a project I began this week. It is a birthday present for my friend T’s daughter. We will be going there tomorrow to have lots of delicious cakes and what ever else she has whipped up for her friends. I’ll show you the final result after we have given the present, just in case T should come by to take a sneak peek.

Coffee mug for my glasses

Look what I got in my mail box! Actually it arrived last week and has been waiting for me to take photos and write a few lines bout it. It came all the way from Canada and the very talented Laurraine. She has been keeping this coffee cup mug reserved for me for oh what…a year an a half. She is a very nice and patient crafter. I fell in love with it first time I saw it, and I was so happy when I could finally wrap off the paper and actually touch it. It is even more beautiful in life than on photos. Perfect for my glasses. I also got these super cute fabrics and lots of tiny tiny buttons. My favourite are these adorable fish buttons. Thank you so much Laurraine!

Old shoes and a green velvet sofa

Its weekend again, yohoo! Actually since I’m on maternity leave (until September) weekends and week days are not very different. What’s good about Weekends is that Mr. Life in Yonder can spend more time with us, especially with Astrid. She loves to be rocked in her daddy’s arms. This past week I have done some more stitching but I haven’t had the time to take photos of it yet. As soon as I do I’ll post them up here.

Otherwise I have been busy getting rid of shoes and selling our old sofa. Pregnancy resulted in a gained shoe size (from a 38 to a 39) which means I have to replace all my shoes. I love buying shoes, but there are a couple of nice shoes in my collection that I would have preferred not growing out of. Like a pair of campers that I bought in Barcelona last Easter. I’m going to hold on to them for some more months in case my feet should change back to its original pre-pregnant size. Luckily I have another cute pair of campers that still fit.

Besides getting rid of old shoes we sold our green velvet vintage sofa. While another mummy got a new old sofa we had to sell ours. It was my paternal grandmother’s sofa. She and my grand father bought it back in the 50-ties. In the early 70-ties my mother used to take an afternoon nap in it while she was pregnant with me, and this last fall I did the same while pregnant with Astrid. It was hard to see it go. What made it bearable was that the buyers are going to put it in their newly opened coffee shop/cafeteria (about an hour and a half from were we live) so we can visit our sofa anytime we want. In February we will get acquainted with our new sofa, also green.

Yesterday I went shopping with a friend (she’s also on maternity leave) to see if we could find something nice on the new years sale. I found a pair of jeans that I have fallen in love with, they were of course not on sale but that doesn’t matter. My body has changed during/after the pregnancy so I was just happy I could find something that looks cool and fits. They will actually be perfect with the campers I haven’t grown out of (need to show you a picture one day).

My friend is one of few friends in real life that likes to make things whether it is knitting or sewing. So every time I’m with her I go nuts talking about fabrics, yarn, patterns, present projects, future projects and so on. The best part about it is that she doesn’t think I’m crazy; in fact she rambles back about the same kind of things. Together with a cup of tea or coffee latte that is just heaven for me. Vitamins for my soul.

Little red ridinghood headband

I finished the stitching this morning and with it made my first headband. I hate it when my hair gets in my eyes especially when I'm taking off makeup, so this is my new "removing makeup" headband. With a summer motive it would be perfect for a day at the beach too. For those days when you want to let the sun warm your whole face. This was fun to make. It's easy and lets you use small pieces of fabric that you have left from other bigger projects.

work in progress

Thank you for your nice comments on my last posts! This is just a quick hello to show you what I have been stitching on today. I meant to make some coasters of this pink and grey linen, but as usual by the time I began stitching another idea occurred. I'll show you what it is tomorrow as soon as I finish. Have a great day!

Welcome 2009!

We welcomed 2009 by taking a walk to the lake that is close to our house. With 10C below (14F) it was almost completely frozen. Lots of other families had come down to ice skate, play hockey or just take a walk on the ice. Even if it has been less than two weeks since the sun turned its course we can already notice that the light lingers on a bit longer. We made use of the beautiful light to take some pictures.

I also had enough light to take photos of these coasters that I made with the cotton/linen blend fabric I bought on Etsy just before Christmas.

I like how they turned out and I'm as much in love with the fabric as I were before. These are a gift to someone who loves tea and like home made gifts, but I think I will have to make another set for myself. I have some of the same fabric in pink ready to be stitched on this week end.

Looking forward to share 2009 with you, too see what you make, be inspired and do as much crafting as possible!