Dress No. 3

The weddings continue and so does my sewing challenge! There haven't been many updates recently but last weekend I was invited to another friends' wedding which, of course, also merited a new dress. Actually it was a good excuse to put my knitting down for a while and get sewing again, my frist project for 2015.

The result is this simple, 1960s-style dress in my favourite Marimekko fabric that I had been saving since 2012 when I last went to Finland (crikey, that long ago already!!) and paid a visit to the amazing Marimekko factory outlet in Herttonniemi which still haunts me in my dreams. It took me a looong time to decide what to make from this fabric but in the end I settled for a simple pattern that I had already used before. I wanted to be on the safe side before butchering this lovely fabric. 

So, nothing special about this pattern, I just added a lining which was a bit scary - the first time I do this for a dress. It worked out quite well although I had to do some reshaping because the lining ended up being too bulky. But nothing some last-minute cutting with a big pair of scissors couldn't solve.

Et voilà, here is my third "wedding" dress, slightly creased from the car trip - and I have to mention that I DID actually change my shoes later. 

 

 Pattern: Tunic from the Marimekko "Surrur"book

Fabric:Marimekko

Létt-Lopi in Luxembourg

I'm almost ashamed to admit it but together with Malta, Cyprus, Portugal, Bulgaria and Slovenia, LUXEMBOURG is the only out of all EU countries I haven't haven't visited yet. That had to be changed, of course, so we decided to make an express visit for two days of the long Ascension-weekend. My expectations weren't too high after all I had heard from colleagues who assured me that " half a day is more than enough and that includes two hours of drinking coffee". But I was positively surprised! Yes, it is tiny, but coming from Belgium it feels kinda cool to actually go to a country that's even smaller. It's a bit like being the big brother for once.

If I would have to sum up Luxembourg in one sentence it would be: green, friendly, and the best and cleanest public toilets I've ever seen in my life. It also has some good hiking spots which surprised me because I thought it would be so densely populated there's hardly any space for nature. So wrong! The towns are small so there's lots of nature left, for example the lovely Mullerthal trail  in Luxembourg's "Little Switzerland" near the German border. And the best thing is that they have great transport links so you can do everything by bus or leave your car at one place, hike somewhere, and take the bus back. Worked like a charm for me when I gave up after 2 hrs of the trail with some mean blisters of my new hiking boots.... 

We did manage to do quite a lot in two days in the end and we saw Luxembourg city (including a movie at the cinematek), Echternach, Berdorf and Vianden castle. Plenty of opportunity also to show off my not-so-new Lopi cardigan that had to undergo some renovations - here it is in its refurbished glory, finally actually fitting a human being. 

I also started a new Lopi project, this time a "Riddari" for Thomas which I promised to finish before our trip to Iceland in August. Keep checking here for updates!

 Pattern: Design 11 from Létt-Lopi Nr. 16 by Margrét Valdemarsdóttir

Yarn: Istex Létt-Lopi

"Birch" and Serres Royales

After many travelling hours on my trip to Peru I managed to finish the second version of my "Birch" shawl pretty quickly. I had already knitted one a long time ago but the yarn was a kind of fluffy mohair that keeps on losing more fluff so I wanted a plain everyday version. It was a good travelling project because it was very compact and once I worked out the lace pattern I could do it easily on the plane while watching films.

I finished just in time to wear it for the first time on our day out to visit the Serres Royales in Laeken and it was a perfect fit! Looking at the pictures I'm very happy, even though the shawl is a little bit on the small side. I might add a lace border later if I can get hold of an additional ball of that yarn. But for the time being I like it the way it is. 

The Serres were beautiful, actually much nicer than expected. I can't believe it has taken me over four years in Brussels to finally see them! On the downside I'm now more annoyed than ever that the King gets this amazing park all to himself most of the year. High time for a change, I would say.

 

 

 

Pattern: Birch by Sharon Miller

Yarn: Wollgarnspinnerei Ferner, La Doro 2-ply lace yarn