crafty home

It’s been a year and a half since I’ve been in my flat – it’s crazy to think that my 2-year-long lease is almost near its end, when I had just moved in it felt as if I had signed a contract for all eternity! It’s become a real home in the meantime, and I am keeping my fingers crossed that there won’t be any problems with extending the lease. So, I thought it was about time I showed you some of the crafty details in My Home.

Probably my absolutely most favouritest thing in the apartment is this handmade crochet carpet by my friend Johanna. I was visiting her at home one Sunday and as she was showing me around her studio my eyes fell on this beauty. It came home with me that very same day.

Of course, my own works in progress are strewn across the apartment as well… This blanket is still on hold while I try to locate the right yarn for it, in the meantime it’s quite a cute decoration though…

Another thing omnipresent is memories from my travels, mostly in the form of postcards and photos. I nicked this simple idea for hanging things up from Pinterest.

Another Pinterest idea was collecting frames of different shapes and then painting them all one colour and displaying them together.

While I was at it I also painted some letters. Just for fun :) Paint is a bit dangerous, once you’ve got the brush in your hand you get the urge to paint EVERYTHING. :D

And finally, how could I skip showing you my crafting corner? :) It’s the first time I have one and I luuuurve it :) Though I do have to admit I end up working at my kitchen table much more often, I guess that’s just how things go…

My “custom yarn shelf” is two IKEA dvd towers stacked next to each other. On top of it are a makeshift yarn bowl (a Chinese rice bowl with a hole for chopsticks!), and an old swift which a friend inherited from her grandmother (I have a ball winder, she has a swift, and the two often migrate between our houses). The chair cover was sewn for me by another friend, and the fabric samples in embroidery hoops were yet another Pinterest idea…

I love my little nest! :) And now I’m off to go clean it, I have some guests arriving later in the week.. :)

mousie

Ok, so I’m willing to admit that whatzitknitz may have had a point when she said do I sense a love of fiddly toys starting ; ) two in a row is all I am saying. Though I still maintain that it is due to the fact that after the Fiddliest Fiddling Octopus, nothing can match the level of fiddliness, and thus many other toys seem super easy to make now.

And by many other, I mean, three in a row.

Yes, there may be something to it after all…

(In case anyone is wondering, it’s Mousie.)

what is the opposite of an octopus?

A flamingo, of course!

This baby flamingo has just hatched. He is still lacking feathers and is having some trouble with balance, but nothing out of the ordinary for a newborn.

In the meantime, the octopus has finally got all its legs and is having a swim at the deep end of the blocking pool.

i hate sewing on buttons

…but I got down to it last night and afterwards thought to myself contentedly: “Aaaah, now it’s at least done!” And then this morning I got up and saw this.

And this.

The knitting is fine. The button placement is not. ALL three will have to go out and in again (I’ve checked, moving just one won’t do it). Well, at least it’s ONLY three. Or so I keep telling myself. But it’s definitely not DONE.

Argh.

p.s. Have a good week, everyone!

two and a half legs to go…

…and I have already made five and a half vows that I will never ever ever knit this again.

And don’t even start with that “But it’s sooo cuuuuuteeee’ stuff like everyone else. Let me just explain to you that this involves making 8 tiny little heel turns, with short rows and picking up wraps and everything. Knitted in the round on 8 stitches. And changing colours too.

And yes, it has occurred to me that a rainbow octopus would be super cool. But no way. No. Someone else can do it. Shush now.

the slow-ctopus

Not a lot of knitting lately… The most I can manage is bits here and there, but luckily I’ve got just the thing for that.

The Socktopus pattern, available for free from Knitty, is small and fun. It is also fiddly and thus slow-going, but I’m beginning to accept that just comes with the territory of knitted toys.

I thought this would be fun to knit in leftovers of sock yarn (it is the SOCKtopus, after all), but I’m afraid the toy would come out tiny in that case. So I’m using my leftovers of worsted weight.

After Socktopus is all done and stuffed, I’ll be moving on to Flamingo, another free pattern my knitting group got very excited about recently, because our regular meeting place is a cafe of the same name. :) Are you knitting any toys lately?

buttoning…

Choosing the right buttons can be quite a challenge, and I often feel quite insecure about it.

This time as well I felt completely at a loss, but I had some help, and I am very happy with the solution we came up with together!

on the blocking board

I’ll have a lot to say about this piece when it’s finished… For now, here’s just a quick photo from the blocking board.

For the buttons, I was struggling for ideas… until someone mentioned wood. Yes, I think nice natural real-wood buttons would actually fit perfectly here, don’t you agree?

Kindle cozy pattern published

Well, I finally got off my sorry ass and released the Kindle cozy pattern out into the world! You can find it on Ravelry here, for free.

I hope you like it, and if you end up making it, pleeeease send me some photos, I’d loooove to see :) And if you find something that I totally messed up, pretty pretty please let me know so I can fix it.

I would like to use this opportunity to say a huge huge thank you to my amazing test knitters, who not only provided useful feedback on the knitting and advice on phrasing things clearly, but also an inordinate amount of moral support when things were looking topsy-turvy and I was ready to cry, hide under my desk and pretend that I had never even tried putting together a knitting pattern. (Yes, pattern writing is that stressful. For me at least.) Thank you so much, Sarah, Franca, Dona, Thea, Abbey and Elena. You were awesome.

i sewed a Something

Another one of the aims I set myself for 2013 was: sew something. Very ambitious, I know. But with one major craft obsession (knitting) and another craft crush (crochet) already on the plate, I wanted to go easy on myself. Goals like “learn to sew” seemed both too vague and too huge to accomplish. But “sew something, at least one thing” was much more achievable and motivating.

Luckily, I have a few friends who know about the craft, and have the tools for it as well. Last Sunday a few of us impulsively decided to have a crafting afternoon, and suddenly I found myself accomplishing my goal without any planning or preparation! Lookie!

I. Sewed. A. Something. It is very simple, and not perfect, but I did it, I did it, and by gosh the edges are kinda straight and nothing is falling off . It is even functional!

That’s one project bag that will be shown off with immense pride come my next Stitch’n'Bitch meeting!

So, first impressions? It was fun! I improvised the pattern, just by imagining how things would have to work, and doing a little sketching. It is definitely an exercise in three-dimensional visualising and logical sequencing. I’m not terribly good at the former, so it’s a nice challenge, and I dare say that I have a slight suspicion it will make me a better knitter as well.

In terms of the process, I found myself laughing at some point, as I thought to myself: “Well, I’m not patient enough for this!” All that measuring, drawing, cutting, sketching, trying out on paper, ironing, pinning… The actual sewing is like 10% of the time! At the same time, I remembered that the sentence I hear so often from people, after I tell them I knit, is: “Oh, I wouldn’t have the patience for that…” A knitter’s perspective is interesting… :)

And what’s next? Well, with this goal accomplished so early on, I think I may as well plan to sew Another Something. I really like this. Do you have any other recommendations for patterns/tutorials? I’d love to hear them!