Bag-o-rama, prologue

WARNING! This post is bag-heavy! ^^

It is the prologue to a real bag-o-rama, that can be expected next week! ^^
Today let me show you three bags I made some time ago and two I have finished today.

First, there is a "Pilgrim's Bag" based on a pattern of a XIII-th c. bag carried by pilgrims to the Holy Land. As I mentioned before in one of the posts, I am a member of the historical reenactement society and we recreate two eras: X-XII c. Scandinavia and Russia and XIII c. Poland, and I sewn this bag for my XIII c costume. It's made by hand, out of off-white cotton and maroon linnen, embroidery on the handle done with cotton floss, tassels are linnen. First picture shows you my whole XIII c. outfit (blue wool dress with cotton underlining and embroidered linnen bands, all sewn and embroidered by hand) with unfinished bag (no embroidery on the handle). Later I finished it! ^^


Then, two everyday bags:
"Provancal Dream" - this one was made to accompany the skirt I've made of the beautiful Provancal cotton (second-hand shop treasure! ^^) . You can see the inside of the bag - there is a pocket there. I found the pattern somewhere on the Web.
I still haven't finished it though... can you see the safety pins keeping the handle and the bag together?... Shame on me! I'll finish this bag next week while sewing all the new ones!


"Jacquard Surprise" - This one was sewn to match the coat and hat I made of the beautiful flowery jacquard. I like this outfit very much, it makes me feel very elegant and vintage! ^^
The bag is my own design, lined with ecru fabric, it's closed with a beautiful rose-pink zipper and I put rubber pipes into the handles to make them stiff.


Now, off to the new creations! ^^
"Blue Bubbles" - it's the shape of a pilgrim's bag, the outer fabric is a very soft thick flanela, lining is a textured emerald green cotton. I put white lace on the handle. This shape and size is very comfortable to use everyday, for A4 notebooks, for example.
Or a pair of needles and a skein of yarn... ^^


"Black Widow" - the second pictue show the beautifully patterned fabric! ^^ The lining is a dark blue cotton with golden acantus prints. I sewn two white velvet bands on the front panel. Another roomy bag for knitting tools! (or books, I always carry books with me)

That's all for today, but lots more bags are on the way. I have many bags started, with bits and pieces done, and some parts to be finished, so when I sit at the sewing machine (which will probably happen on Monday) , I'll finish another bunch of them at one go! ^^

I have also sewn two skirts this week (I'll be selling them).
The first one is called "Gothic Lolita Rabu Rabu", it's made of cotton, with beautiful white heart-shaped lace. I even found a heart-shaped red button for it! ^^
The other is just a plain thick black cotton, with a separate piece that sits tightly on hips and the unevenly hemmed lowerpart, that looks like it's unsewn, with pieces of threads sticking out, but it really is, it's just the way this design works! ^^


I've also done some swatching with my new cotton yarn that arrived this morning (*^-^*).
This swatch has been done on needles 2/US 0. I think it's a bit too dense. It's 24 st x 40 rows = 4 in.
This swatch has been done on needles 3,5/US 4. I like it more and I think I'll knit with these needles. Or maybe I'll try some size in between, like 2,75 or 3.
It's 24 st x 28 rows = 4 in.

And last, but not least, my Snow White shawl! ^^ 69 cm today (and growing...).


And I bought another Polish knitting magazine this afternoon and found there some interesting lace patterns... They are shown on sweaters, but hey, who can stop me from using them in the shawl projects!... >^-^<

To buy or not to buy...

I've been thinking about the possible savings to my home budget lately. Look at my monthly magazine shopping for example: I buy four magazines, three about fashion: "Elle", "Your Style" and "Avanti", and one with many interesting articles about art, life, body and soul, ect. called "The Mirror". The last one stays definitely, but what about the first three?
I pay $8 for three magazines with lots of pictures of movie stars wearing expensive designer clothing, models wearing expensive designer clothing and millions of new expensive cosmetics advertisements. Do I buy them? No. Do I even intend to buy them? Never. Do I feel better by just looking at them? No. Are there any interesting articles in those three magazines, about anything that interests me? No. I just flip the pages and eventually throw them away. They even make me laugh because... who, on earth, change the entire wardrobe each season?... And who says that something is trendy and something is passe?... That's ridiculous!
So, why do I spend my money on them?...
For $8 I can have two 100g skeins of beautiful wool from my LYS! ^^
So, my first saving starting in May: do not buy magazines you don't read! $8 stays in my pocket! (*^-^*)
I know it's not much, but when you look for small amounts to be saved suddenly they sum up into quite a substantial number!

I found this vest in "Elle" magazine today (one thing that caught my interest in this magazine...) and decided that I would like to knit one for me. Brown is totally not my colour, but I like the shape of this vest and I'm going to look for the pattern, or maybe I may try and design it myself. ^^


BTW, my Snow White shawl measures 64 cm! ^^
I am also sewing like crazy (skirts and bags), photos tomorrow.

Bags on the way!

There's a photo of wool at the end of this post! ^^

EDIT:
I've just received (took out of my letterbox) a brand new Summer edition of Gudrun Sjoden's fashion. OMG!!! I love love love her designs and I would buy them in bulks (if only I could afford them!...). She uses only natural fabrics - silks, cottons, wools, bases her projects on folk designs - lots of prints, embroideries and colours! Go check her website, it's worth it!!!
And now I'm off to bake a chocolate cake, yummy!... ^^
EDIT END

I am evil!
I bought some yarn today!...
^-^
Although it was a bargain (it always is, ne?... ^^). I bought on-line some 100% cotton of a limited edition - two colour mixes: different shades of pink/fuchsia/violet and green with pink and yellow rays.

I want to knit Clapotis out of the first one, and a pair of socks of what's left, and socks out of the second one. It should arrive later this week.

BTW, SnowWhite shawl - 52 cm! ^^

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
I finally got myself to sewing - I finished a skirt today! ^^ In fact, first, I totally forgot about that skirt, and second, it was almost finished, but needed a hem to be done, but anyway - I FINISHED it! ^-^
One procrastinated project down, millions still to go.

I'm also sewing bags today. I dug out all the bags I cut out of different fabrics - they usually need lining and a zipper or a magnet.

I also feel the urge to finish the skirts for my friend Sylwia - she asked me last Autumn to sew some skirts of the fabrics she gave me, and it's Springtime so I feel a bit ashamed and I'm going to finish them soon! One is light green, one is light pink, there is a dark blue one and the black one. Photos soon!



~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
I told you there'd be wool! ^-^
Two years ago we went to Borre in Norway for a Viking market and I took this photo of a beautiful 100% wool, hand spun and dyed, about 80 m/skein.

Snow White shawl

I somehow survived yesterday's family-visiting-and-eating... ^^
Although when we got back home at 22:00, I just had a cup of tea, knitted two (exactly: two) rows of my Snow White shawl and decided it's definitely time to go to sleep.
But, the good point of yesterday was a gift from my aunt Basia - she gave me about 10 pairs of different knitting needles she doesn't use anymore, including sock dpns size 2/US 0! ^-^

Talking about my shawl, the world is so small... I wanted to give you the pattern for my Snow White shawl (which is constantly growing, of course! ^^ I have 42 cm.) - I found it in some old Polish knitting magazine. But it seems the same pattern can be found here, under the name of a Fishtail Lace Scarf. ^^

Anyway, mine goes as follows (the pattern is framed with garter stitches):

What you need:
- mohair, lace weight
- needles size 4/US 6

The pattern is worked upon the repeats of 8 stitches.
CO 108 st.

Beginning:
Knit 6 rows.

Pattern:
R1: k6, [k, yo, k, k, sl 2, k, psso, k, k, yo] - repeat 12 times, k6
R2: k6, p till last 6 st, k6
R3: k6, [k, k, yo, k, sl 2, k, psso, k, yo, k] - repeat 12 times, k6
R4: k6, p till last 6 st, k6
R5: k6, [k, k, k, yo, sl 2, k, psso, yo, k, k] - repeat 12 times, k6
R6: k6, p till last 6 st, k6

Repeat these six rows throughout the whole shawl.

Finishing:
Knit 6 rows.

Weave in all the ends, block and enjoy! ^^


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
More news: I frogged the piece of light green sweater today.
Yes, I have.
It's called "Mistakes of the beginner knitter", also known as "The Wrong Assumptions".
I started to think about the project and looked carefully at the directions in a magazine. I was supposed to use the yarn sport weight 124m/50g. I didn't. I used the fingering weight 260m/50g. I was supposed to knit on needles 3,5. I didn't. I used needles 2/US 0.
But, I was wise enough to count the stitches and adjust their number to reach the required gauge, so I cast on 120 st instead of 90 st, and I thought that it would be enough to have the right size of a sweater in the end.
I was wrong, of course!
Because it's not enough to cast on more stitches. When you use thinner yarn and smaller needles, the stitches are just smaller, so you have to knit more rows and, in case of a sweater, which is shaped to fit the curves of a body, you have to adjust all the increases/decreses of stitches as well. And I cannot do this, I can only follow the pattern (at least I'm not capable of doing adjustments on such complicated raglan pattern).
So, I frogged the piece of 3x3 rib and now I have 200g (1120 m) of light green fingering mohair free to be transformed into something else.
Lace shawl, maybe?... (*^-^*)

I was browsing Amazon.com today and added some knitting books to my wishlist (they'll have to wait till the payday, as most of the things I want to buy, I guess...). I added Nancy Bush's sock books, Vintage knitting patterns, three Poncho patterns books, Vogue Knitting subscription - I wrote directly to the publisher to order it but they haven't answered for over a week now...
I am also going to be very brave and order some knitting books in Japanese from yesasia.com - Sartje says the charts published in the books are easy to read so I really do not need to speak Japanese, so I'm going to give it a try... ^-^

I feel a bit uneasy, because I have only two projects on the needles now - my for-the-next-Winter-checkered scarf and the Snow White shawl. So don't be surprised if I cast on for something new. ^^

Christmas preparations ^^

I've added 100 things about me, just in case you would like to get to know me better. ^^

I know it's WAY too soon to think about the Christmas presents, but I already started to make plans for this year's knitted gifts list. I may change it many times on the way but at least I'll be prepared! (Me, being the Queen of Procrastination, should really start in April if I don't want to keep running on 24th Dec and buying last minute crap...).
I wanted to knit for my beloved ones last year but I had this serious right hand injury during my jewelery class (sawing a plate of copper for three hours hurt my sinew and I wore stiffener on the right palm and took lots of laser sessions to heal it), so I even had to give up knitting (and mostly all the things that you perform with your right hand...) at the beginning of December for over two months.
So, this year I'm definitely knitting for Christmas! Well, if I start now, I'll be sure to stock up all the items BEFORE I get another brilliant idea of hurting my hand in some interesting way... ^^

So, I made a list on the sidebar and I put there proposed gifts for three people so far:
* my father-in-law - fingerless gloves, and I may add some funny scarf or hat,
* my mother-in-law I (Yes, I have two of them! (Because Robert's parents are divorced and father has a second wife.) And both are really cool. ^^ This one is my husband's mother) - Feather and Fan shawl - as I like knitting lace patterns and I think she'll like it,
* my mother-in-law II - Clapotis - as I read on many blogs, people either knit this like crazy or laugh at the name of it, but I think it'll fit perfectly with the young nature of my mum-in-law II (she's 40, and I'm 31, that's funny! ^^)
More to come as soon as my knitting skills catch up with some new challenging projects.

My SnowWhite shawl is growing constantly. I have already 30 cm/12 in.
I made a mistake last night - I somehow managed to loose one stitch, I probably forgot one YO, but I found out two full rows later, so I decided not to frogg it. I know I probably should have corrected it but I couldn't make myself do it, and in fact it's hardly visible at all. It happened in a place where I had to slip two stitches (in this case I had only one stitch left to slip), then knit one st and pass those two over it. So, I slipped one, knitted one and passed one. And you would have to look really closely and with a magnifying glass to find it. ^^

I should switch to circulars because the shawl is getting heavy.

And I suddenly thought about finishing my green mohair sweater (although I don't like the way the turtleneck looks here, I may change it into 3x3rib).
Why?
Because my imagination showed me the picture of a beautiful green lace shawl!... And I need to finish the sweater first so I know how much of this gorgeous light green yarn is left. I'm getting lace-crazy!...

Also, my husband decided he doesn't want a 2-metre white scarf on needles size 2/US 0 he wanted before (he's really lucky I'm not in the middle of knitting it!... At least his explanation is fully satisfying: It's too much work for me compared with the amount of time he'll wear it, so I'd better devote this time to knitting something more useful for me. That's why I love him! ^^). But we also talked about black sweater for him, so as soon as the payday comes (meaning: in two weeks time...) I'm going to a yarn wholesaler to buy:
- black bulky wool for Robert's sweater
- copper brown worsted for my Bare Shoulders sweater (which I'm going to call "Swan Neck", since it hasn't got any name in the magazine)
- orangy copper fingering for Clapotis for me (just crossed my mind... I told you I get bored easily and just have to have several projects on the needles!)
We'll see how it goes (that is, what is really available).

Happy Easter to everyone who celebrate this holiday! ^^
Please keep your fingers crossed for me tomorrow because I'm going to go through the very heavy ordeal - whole day of Easter family visiting!!! (Breakfast at my parents', lunch at Robert's mother's, and dinner at his father's!...) And you know what that means - everybody wants you to spend most of your time at theirs, eat all that they bought/prepared/put on a table, enjoy and entertain!... Have mercy!...

I'll leave you with my cat. ^^
Barbie caught red-handed while trying to help with my knitting (and plotting to tuck the green pen under the sofa, like she did the day before!...)
Getting ready to run for her life...

What she of course did!

And finished in Robert's arms. Cat is not as happy as he is! ^^

For the love of a stitch

I believe I didn't show you my knitted pink coif yet. So, here it is, very pink indeed! ^^


On the sidebar I've added two free patterns of my scarves - just simple stitch combinations that can give nice results and can be an alternative to a plain stockinette. Enjoy! ^^
Wind in the Fields Scarf
Blueberry Ice-cream Scarf

This morning I've invented a new tasty breakfast dish - oh, maybe somebody else invented it before but I did it today, in my kitchen ;->
Take equal parts of chopped:
- smoked salmon
- cottage cheese
- cucumber
- radishes
Mix well, add some cream to bind it, and some salt and pepper. Yummy! ^^
Talking about the kitchen... Funny things can happen, when you put the pot filled with some water (read: not enough water) and beans on the stove, and go to another room... After some time you start to think "Interesting, somebody's dinner is getting burned. Oh, why do people forget about the pots on a stove and don't pay attention to them, and the whole block of flats has this terrible smell for days... Aaaaaaaa! My beans!!!"
No kitchen, stove or pot were injured during the making of this paragraph fortunately (although some beans were...).

I'm having a fascination phase nowadays. Fascination with a simple garter stitch! ^^
When I look at my SnowWhite shawl (almost 15 cm/6 in! ^^), on the garter stitch edges, to be precise, I am amazed with the beauty of it! And the practicality, of course - it doesn't curl up like the stockinette. I declare April the Month of Garter Stitch!


Money again...
Yesterday my husband paid $400 for some car repairs. Next week we have to pay $500 for the car insurance for next year. And then some more repairs for another $400... And I also realised that we'll have to buy Summer tyres soon...
Gosh, maybe we should switch to bicycles? I'm depressed!...
Want to see the monster?...

Want to have the monster?...

PS.: I've just realized that I totally forgot to take a picture of my postcard for Evelyn!... You know, just for me, for the record... I was so eager to take it to the Post Office yesterday (and not feeling very well because of my cold) that I just put it into an envelope, grabbed it and rushed out. Me, stupid woman!...

Some facts about me

I've just made myself a big cup of hot cocoa and a jug full of hot Japanese barley tea (which is cooling now for later, when I'm desperate to drink something and there isn't anything around except alcohol... and I'll be desperate because I'm ill with a cold), and just after 3/4 of a cocoa I remembered that you NEVER EVER give a person with a high fever hot milk!... Why? I don't know exactly why, but hot milk plus a fever equalls being sick - stomach doesn't like this combination at all! At least my stomach didn't, from an early childhood. And now I'm feeling a little strange, excuse moi if I leave you for a short while in a hurry... ><

I sent today my Project Spectrum Postcard Swap postcard to Evelyn, I hope she gets it soon and she'll like it! ^^ I concentrated on April colours - yellow and orange - and also played around the theme of Polish Easter tradition - paited eggs. Oh, don't worry, I didn't send you eggs in spe!... ^-^

Now, because I have a virus cold (I've been to a doctor today,well...), I'm not very productive and I cannot show you much as far as knitting or sewing (although I have 12 cm/4,8 in of my SnowWhite shawl done! ^^ And I have carefully planned all the pockets in my knitting bag, now I have to sit with a pencil and a piece of paper, and draw it with all the measurements.), so, while eating pieces of carmelised sweet potato (very delicious, one of my last Saturday Asian food shopping! ^^) I'm going to post some facts about me based on my birthday date, 31st October:

Your Birthdate: October 31

You're a pretty traditional person. If it's lasted, it's probably good. You seek stability - both in your career and your romantic relationship. In return, you're very loyal and predictable. Which is usually a good thing. Without a partner, you feel lost. Being with someone is very important to you. Your strength: Your dependability Your weakness: You hate being alone Your power color: Midnight blue Your power symbol: Shell Your power month: April

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

Okay, let's analyse what was said above.

I don't know anything about Midnight blue, shells and April, but:

1. Traditional - yes, I am. But in a very bizarre way. I get used to objects and won't let go when it's their time to go - like, for example, old tv, that will be replaced with a brand new top make super quality modern device (although the old one is still good enough to watch...). I would cry and cling to it, and feel sad many days after the old tv was removed. I know it's just an inanimate object, but still... I got used to it and that's that! I just hate when something around me changes.

Which brings us to a similar subject, namely:

1a. I hate surprises! I mean, not the ones I-open-the-mail-and-it-turns-out-somebody-sweet-sent-me-a-million-dollar-check-or-a-skein-of-beautifully-green-yarn, not that kind of a surprise!... (I LOVE such surprises! ^-^ But who wouldn't!...) I hate surprises when somebody takes you somewhere ("Let's go out, but I won't tell you where we're going, it's a surprise!"), and I have no idea where I'm going, what to wear, who to expect, what to pack (if it's a longer trip out of town)... Such surprises make me very nervous and uneasy, and no one can persuade me that it's nice to have that shiver of the unknown. I hate having any shivers, thank you very much!

2. Which probably leads to my seeking stability, yes, I seek stability in everything I do. I don't like changing jobs or flats, I keep my old habits, I visit the same beauty parlour for years and my dear Ms Dominika.

3. I can be loyal like hell! But not that predictable as one might think. Because sometimes (read: rather often) the eveil part of me takes over and when I'm furious about something, no one can predict what I'm going to say or do, not even me!... I should have "Joanna, calm down and think first!" tatooed on my forehead sometimes... ><

4. Without a partner I do feel lost. Really. I can see all you feminists laugh your heads off or shake your heads in amazement, but it's true. I've never been alone, I had this boyfriend since secondary school, then we shared more and more interests (so spent lots of time together), and finally got married almost two years ago, and frankly speaking I am lotally lost without him... Of course I can go shopping without him, but for example I am not able to go to the cinema alone - what's the point? When I'm left home alone for a few days, I cannot sleep, I feel anxious, I must have him around.

So, generally, I agree with most of it, who could have imagined that the day of your birth can determine your character so much?...I'm amazed!

(And also dizzy, but it's probably fever, not hot milk, as I expected... ^^).

Busy bee! Sick bee...

I was planning to finally clean up the balcony and prepare it for planting flowers, and generally turn it into a nice sitting place for Spring and Summer, but I woke up ill today, having a terrible cold and cough, so instead I decided to stay indoors (I'm skipping my jewelery class this evening...), and work upon some procrastinated project of mine! ^^
I made a plan: to finish one such project a day.

...

Okay, maybe it's a bit too optimistic... (Well, It's WAY too optimistic, I know that!)

But at least that's the plan and I'll try to stick to it! ^-^
Those who read my blog (I know, there are a few people out there ^^), please keep asking me about the bags (and corsets, and skirts), and just kick me in the butt so I would finish them one by one!!! If you're not going to do this, I'm going to drown under the pile of unfinished, cut-out pieces of clothing, long past the due date...

Here are three of my many cut out bags, ready to be assembled:



And here is the fabric for my knitting bag (mentioned several post before), I'm working on the pattern today.


Today I'm also working on my Project Spectrum Postcard Swap for Evelyn, because it's high time to send it to her! (I'm sending it tomorrow, I wonder how long it'll take it to travel from Poland to US?).

Last night I found Laurie's knitting blog and I must say, I can't stop myself from keeping reading it and laughing my head off! ^^ I'm in May 2005 posts right now, she has an awesome sense of humor, four adorable cats (I myself have an adorable cat, so I know what I mean, mind you! ^^), ups and downs in life (who hasn't?...) portrayed in a funny way and her knitter's adventures remind me of my own beginnings (as I said, I'm reading posts from May last year, so now she is far more experienced in knitting than me - a merely half-a-year knitter).
BTW, Laurie, don't you whine about the gas price, please, you payed $2,56/gallon last year - I pay $4,8/gallon. Imagine this! And my car is Mazda MPV 3 litre. (But it's Poland, anyway..)

I've been also working on my mystery shawl project. It's a lace pattern of six rows repeating over and over again, done over 106 stitches (I started to wonder where I can find a space to block it after finishing... ><) and I measured that I can knit one sequence of a pattern in 35 minutes! (One sequence is about inch...). But hey, it's a lace, it isn't supposed to be knitted quickly, right? In fact, I chose needles size 4 /US 6, imagine how slow it would go on size 2 /US 0!... Pattern soon!


An one more good news! I made several embroidered beaded belts which I put on sale in one of the galleries in Warsaw and today I got mail from them saying that they sold one of them! Yay! ^-^ Money is what I need now! (and some sleep under the blanket, because I can feel like my fever is rising - this funny feeling of a head getting heavy and eyes shutting down...).

Good vs. bad

Good news of the day
- I didn't eat a single meat piece or bread (two VASA diet cardboard pieces doesn't count as "bread" in a proper sense of the word!), just rice and fresh shrimps/octopus, and some joghurt. Yes, lots were left after last night's dinner, but I love it! I feel light and not hungry at all. ^^
- I didn't buy any ice cream (although I was standing in front of a shop fridge for a very long while and staring at different ice creams, even on those 1 kg-chocolate flavour-boxes!... ><)
- I put on web auctions my stash yarn that I don't want/need anymore, nothing fancy, just some old rests of skeins but useful for beginning knitters or weavers (they're always in search of cheap colourful yarns!). Maybe I'll make some money on this ^^

Bad news of the day:
- we are out of money for this month (it's 11th, mind you!), because on the one hand - we had to pay for car repairs and insurance of the car for the next year, and on the other hand - Robert got his salary without a huge overtime he did last month, because somebody in HR forgot to count it into his payment!... ><
So, credit cards again, I hate it! I'm so useless with money!...
- I forgot to play lottery for this week, argh....
- I'm having terrible aches in my legs these days, it's my reumatism and the weather is changing so I can't do anything about it, well... (It sounds like I'm a Granny, but I'm 31, believe me! ^^)

I'm starting new knitting project: mystery shawl of my own design. If it works, I'll share it with you! ^^ Also, expect some free scarf patterns soon!

FREE PATTERNS - Bluberry Ice-cream Scarf

This scarf is made in an interesting variation of a rib. Looks good on any worsted to bulky yarns.
Mine is light worsted wool blend, two shades of violet, width 15 cm/ 6 in, lenght 90 cm/36 in.
Pattern is worked on repeats of 4 stitches.

CO number of stitches dividable by 4 plus 2.

The pattern is:
R1: sl1, [k1, k1, p1, p1] - repeat till 1 last st, k1
R2: sl1, [k1, k1, k1, p1] - repeat till 1 last st, k1

The flower is detachable, pattern found on Knitty.