My first knitting competition

It's not like I would be dying of boredom here  but I decided to take up another challenge: I registered for my first knitting competition! I want to add here that I'm not exactly the most competitive type of person but the prospect of winning a 300 € voucher to spend on organic, hand-dyed and locally produced yarn was just too tempting. But now you might be wondering: how can you compete in knitting??

Well it's not about speed knitting for sure because I would totally suck. The competition is organized by an association that promotes wool production and sales in Wallonia, the southern region of Belgium and they are looking for a more artistic approach to raise awareness of how wool can be used creatively. When you register for the competition they send you 100 g of yarn (there is a fee of 10 € to participate but I figured that paying the money is worth it even if I just get to keep the yarn which is already value for money) and you have to make something out of it. The only condition is that you cannot use any other type of yarn or additional material. You are allowed to dye it and you can knit, felt, crochet or whatever you like.

I haven't decided what to make yet but I ordered the white yarn so that I can maybe get started on some experiments with natural dye. I read an article about berry-dyes or maybe avocado dye which sounded fun so I might try that out.

 If you're interested in the competition you can check out the terms and conditions here.

The raw material is pictured above. What will it be?!

New space, new luck!

I've been complaining for some time that I don't have a proper crafting space in my flat which is mainly my own fault - I didn't plan on having one when I moved in. I also complained a lot about my sofa which is as uncomfortable as it is useful, or maybe I should say it WAS. Because I got finally rid of it! 

Now I have a new, more comfortable and pretty sofa (ok, it's brown but at least it has less stains than the old one) as well as a new crafting space. It has a proper table where I can leave my sewing machine out permanently as well as all my material close at hand (except my yarn stash which I couldn't fit anywhere in one space so far). I'm very glad that I don't have to dig out the sewing machine from its original box anymore, covered under a blanket and serving as a mirror-stand in my hallway, which was always a bit of a hassle. I hope that the easy availability will also motivate me to sew more often and more spontaneously.Oh dear, while I'm writing this I can already see how this will go.

The map under the table is still supposed to go up on the wall but I still have an aversion to putting nails in the wall so I'm trying to find another solution, maybe attaching it to the lamp? I also want to frame the old map of Belgium, I think it deserves better than some blue tack.

I'm very proud of my beautiful and ever-growing collection of cushions. The yellow wax print (see details above) was actually a gift from my friend Juliane who made it herself from the fabric that I had given to her before - isn't it gorgeous?! The black and white cover is made be me in one of my early sewing attempts; the cross-stitch cover is from my trip to Palestine in 2013 and the stripey-red one is, boringly enough, from IKEA. Ah well, not everything can be hand made.

Be my Valentine

I don't care about Valentine's Day of course, even me who has a little romantic streak has realized that it's a way to sell more flowers, chocolate and expensive dinners. But coincidentally I just finished this lovely red cowl yesterday and I thought it fitted the theme quite well so I called it the "Be my Valentine" cowl, mainly because of the colour. 

This was just one of those "I need to do something inbetween bigger projects because otherwise I feel like I never finish anything"-projects and I'm officially still working on my "Marius" jumper. It turns out to be a bit trickier than expected because the pattern is, even with all my imagination, very cryptic and lacks a lot of information. 

One of the problems was for example that the pattern didn't state where to do the increases for the sleeves. It's difficult to integrate them into the pattern without messing it up but I suppose I just have to improvise again. I also had to read up on how to avoid the annoying "jump" in the pattern where the rounds join. I found some good ideas but it sucks that you always have the jog which makes the pattern look wonky.

I'm getting there though, the bodice and one sleeve are already finished so I'll post some more pictures here soon. Have a lovely Valentine's Day or rather, as the Finnish call it, ystävänpäivä (Friendship Day), doing lovely things with your lovely friends!

 

Pattern: Chunky brioche stitch cowl by Diana Levine

Yarn: Katia Merino Grosso, colour 12

From the sewing archives

I think I mentioned before that I'm more of a summer-sewing and winter-knitting person, although this will hopefully change soon with my new craft corner including a proper table to work with and additional lighting (currently the biggest limitation to my sewing activities). Anyway, I still have a few projects that I wanted to post but never found the time to do it, especially because summer = time to be outside and enjoy the sunshine and not sit at home and write a blog!

The patterns I used for the projects pictures below were very simple and basically all variations of either the tunic from the Marimekko "Surrur" book or from "Tuniques pour petits et grands" which I bought in FNAC a while ago.The fabrics were bits and pieces that I bought at the flea market (the dark green one with the polka dots), IKEA (the white one with the abstract floral pattern) and the Marimekko outlet shop in Helsinki (the blue one with the raindrops).

Everything is super easy to sew and perfect for a beginner like me. The simple cuts bring out the fabric's colours and patterns nicely - as you may have noticed I LOVE colours! And since I know that you like looking at silly pictures of me I have included an extra-silly one in the end, just in case you get bored.

 

 Pattern: Tunic from the Marimekko "Surrur"book

Fabric: IKEA

 

Pattern:  From the book "Tuniques pour petits et grands"

Fabric: Marimekko

Pattern: From the Marimekko "Surrur"book (+ added Peter Pan collar)

Fabric: Flea market