Monday, August 31, 2015

Fun with Kumihimo.

Summer is slowly coming to an end. Days got shorter and heat is not much of an issue now. Sunflowers in our garden are in bloom now!



Tomorrow kids are going back to school (or preschool) so I decided to spend some productive time with my nieces. As some of you know I've discovered Kumihimo bracelets lately.
I wanted to share all the fun I get from braiding so I sacrificed my shoe-box lid and cut out two more disks.

Then I invited my 10 and 5-year-old nieces over and we did a short braiding course.
Hasiok got out from his liar (in one of my project bags) and joined us as a model:


We used pieces of cotton and acrylic-cotton yarns (both from Alize yarns).
Not long before our bracelets became visible:


Girls were really happy to see effects of their work. So was I! 

It wasn't the only nice thing last week though! Next day a letter arrived and inside I found...


My own non-cardboard Kumihimo disk!
I did not use it that much, because I had this other project to finish.
But now I can braid my day away in peace!

Have a nice afternoon!
Gosia.


Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Star Wars Project almost done? Bracelets time!

Frogging first version of All-Terrain Awesome-Tank was the one of my best knitting-related decisions. Completing new front design took me less than a week. And, I have to admit,  it fills my heart with pride:


Although backside is plain, work progresses slower. I guess lack of challenge makes the work a bit boring. However, I'm pretty sure I'll finish the work before the Episode 7 is out. 


Last week I made a little side project. Well.. at least I wanted it to be just a side project. 
It was Mom's birthday so I waned to finally crochet a beaded bracelet I promised her a while ago. 

So I took out my Toho (11/0) beads, 1mm crochet hook, a magnetic clasp and some cotton thread...


Spent long time playing with DB-Bead pattern generator...


And voilĂ !



This could be the end of this story, but I did something stupid. I posted a photo on Sockalong Society knit n natter group... There were of course lots of nice comments, including one mentioning a different bracelet making technique. And just like that I got introduced to Kumihimo.

I carved my first disk out of a piece of cardboard. It bends and is far from professional, but it works!


To this point (since yesterday) I made three bracelets, and ordered a real Kumihimo disk. I'm afraid it got me!


That's all for today! It's time to get a cup of coffee and pore over a book a little.

Have a nice afternoon!

PS.: It finally RAINS!!!




Monday, August 17, 2015

Making the beginning is one third of the work.

Tropical heat finally left us for a while, and I started thinking about returning to my Star Wars Project. The longer I thought about it... it seemed less and less successful.

Let's face it! I'm not skilled in Fair Isle knitting, and Fair Isle in round is even harder for me. I'm one of those so called "tight" knitters. My floats get shorter and shorter and my garment starts to feel stiff like a plank.

I decided to give it a thought, when we went for a small road trip on Thursday.
We drove to the same place we visited on first May weekend. Here's the post I wrote back in spring.

Is it just me, or do the leaves start to turn yellow?




After a long relaxing walk I made up my mind...

... and frogged whole thing. 

I decided to start over with another, decent tension square. I was hardly surprised when my gauge turned out to be off by 2 sts per 10cm. Yay me! 

I also re-designed the motifs on front, and divided my work in two stages. Front and back will be worked separately. Here's the current state of front piece:


I used classic snowflakes chart this time. And I have to admit - I like the result. 
As I'm getting nearer to the intrasia part I'm also starting to feel a bit anxious about it... but hey! I can always start over! 
And making the beginning is one third of the work! 

Have a nice evening!

Gosia.


PS.: Guess who got to pet alpacas today? :)




Sunday, August 9, 2015

Winter is nigh... right?

This week we've officially gone from "hot" to "depths of hell". All I can do now is gulp down bottles of water and pretend that turning on the fan helps.

Despite the weather, and all forecasts (saying the heatwave is here to stay) I decided to get ready for winter. I fell in love with this pattern and nothing could stop me from knitting my grey, incredibly warm and soft scarf. And here it is!


Pattern's name is "No Angle Knit Wrap" by Carole Marie. It can be found on Ravelry: here.
It has very interesting construction! What I loved the most is that it does not require a long cast-on. I usually mess this part up by either making a nice, but stiff and too short edge or casting on so loosely it looks like a total mess. And there's no way to correct it!

It took me 9 days to finish it. At first it went slow, but after few repeats I didn't even need to look at the pattern! Which of course led to a mistake, and I have 12 instead of 11 repeats :)

Here's the scarf straight off the needles.


And here's why all knitted items should be blocked! 



I soaked it, pinned down on a bed, steamed with an iron just a little and let it dry overnight. The last part was the hardest! I woke up at 7:30 (on Sunday) and rushed to finish my masterpiece.


What can I say? I was not disappointed by the power of blocking! 
Second hardest part of my work was trying it on. I just wrapped it around my neck for half a minute to take  pictures. I'm surprised how soft and almost translucent it is compared to it's warmth!


Phew! Now I need to find a new WIP to keep my hands busy!

Have a nice afternoon!

Gosia.

Thursday, August 6, 2015

Time to go!

It's 34°C(93­°F) today... I decided not to risk my well-being by going out to the post office just now. I'll do it first thing tomorrow in the morning.

Why would I even get out of my house on such a hot day?

It's time to send my flowers to Yarndale! That's why!


 This morning I stitched safety pins to all my flowers. I used up 90% of my Mom's safety pins stash, but she knows it's for a good cause! Plus it's way too hot to go out and buy more!


I looked for an envelope without plastic insides. It took me a while, but I found one, whit some stamp on it, but otherwise intact,
The problem was it's quite small and I didn't want my flowers to get all mingled inside. I attached them to a sheet of paper, trying to squeeze them on the smallest surface.


Then there was time for final goodbyes!

Travel safe!

Phew! That did the trick!

I hope I will be able to recognize my flowers on pictures from Yarndale. I will be so proud!


My butterfly bush (Buddleja davidii) attracts more and more butterflies every day. They get distracted by the intense smell, and act like hypnotised. It's so easy to take pictures of them! 
I just can't help taking dozens of pictures :)



 The sock-yarn project I mentioned looks like this:


Well, at least it looked like this few days ago, now it's at 60%. Working with wool can be tough when it's this hot!

Have a nice afternoon!

Gosia