FC day 3 and some knitting

I started this last night and four hours later I had this - a finished back of my Drops Cardi! *^v^*
It's really difficult to work with this wool (I took some breaks because my fingers hurt!) but I like the speed of this knitting, yikes! ^^

Fashion Challenge - day 3:
- red men's t-shirt, reconstructed by me
- skirt reconstructed from a thrifted dress
- denim jacket with lace added by me (I know, it's a bit cheating but it's really getting cold here and I seem to be missing long-sleeved tops made by myself!...)
- Candle Flame shawl knitted by me
- fingerless gloves knitted by me
- red stockings and shoes

I'm doing a wardrobe check out today! What to wear, what to wear?...

FC - day 2

A Friend to knit with, I think you can wear a scarf with anything! *^v^*

FC - day 2, I'm wearing:
- MM t-shirt, reconstructed by myself
- skirt sewn ages ago
- vest knitted by me (my first thing ever knitted! ^^)
- tights & shoes

I started my Drops Jacket this evening and it's so hard to work with 7mm needles and this thick wool... Well, I hope the result will be satisfactory.

Fashion challenge

Inspired by the idea of amazing Jodi Green's (check out her blog!) I decided to set my own small fashion challenge:
I'm going to try to wear ONLY things I made or reconstructed myself, for 7 days in a row, starting today.
(excluding underwear, tights and shoes)

We'll see how it goes, especially when the weather gets worse (I hope it won't or else I'll have to make myself a warm jacket or something... Or something water-proof).
Todays outfit:

- thrifted top reconstructed by me (it was a bit too small)
- skirt I sewn ages ago
- Breeze anklets I knitted
- Clapotis shawl I knitted (out of the same cotton yarn, yikes! ^^)

I've been working on my Mystery Cables sweater for the last few days and it seems that it was a wasted time... I totally don't like how the cables look, it's probably the yarn (cotton), so I'm going to leave it for a while and think about it, and maybe come back to it one day or frog it and start again with some new yarn.

On Monday I've been frogging an old wool pullover I got after some auntie, and today I'll be washing the yarn and preparing it for the new project - the Garnstudio jacket.
I hope I have enough!... ^^

Walkathon

On Saturday we took part in the Walkathon - the charity action by Ecco company, carried out in some European cities. We walked for 10 km and in this way raised some money for the children with Cystic Fibrosis.

Me before the start.
Robert and Peter.
Start of the 10 km walk.
There were stands with writing in Polish, English, Swedish and like here - Danish.
There were thousands of people walking!
Here is some traditional Polish snack we bought on the way - they're called obwarzanki, and they are semi-sweet tough bread cakes. I love them!
There is still about 5 km to go! ^^
Of course we made it to the finish and had some barbecued meat and beer after all that walking! *^v^*
I didn't know I'd be able to walk for 10 km, it seemed like a lot! But I was. ^^
Sunday is for resting.

New Knitty, Magknits, Anticraft

New Knitty is up!
I like:

Muir lace shawl, it looks like leaves on the water...
Cherie Amour sweater, but not in a variegated yarn version!
Neiman has a nice patterned yoke and is done in a brown/blue combination, which has appealed to me recently
Totally Autumn shawl - I'm tempted to knit some big shawl/throw using thick yarn and needles! Lovely colour of the original.
Cinderella socks - interesting pattern
Woodins - knit yourself a wood log, why not?! *^v^*

Nothing interesting from Magknits and Anticraft for me.

Surplus Special finished! ^^

It was a quick project! I just knitted the sleeves, hemmed the rectangular fabric and put the two together.


Pattern: Surplus by Berocco
Yarn: "Zorza" by Anilux, 25% wool/75 % acrylic (2 skeins 100 g)
Needles: 4 mm
It can be worn in many ways, draped, closed at the front, open at the front, with a belt, I'm going to explore all the possibilities. ^^

And just look at the shopping bag I bought yesterday!... I love sea horses and I just couldn't go past this one and leave it behind! *^v^*
Mystery Cables started to grow last night, but for now it's only stockinette, and it will be for a while, first update on this one when it's worth it! *^v^*

Mondo Beyondo

First of all, thank you all for the compliments on my Purple Belle, I really am happy and proud with how it came out! My second sweater, who would have thought?... *^v^*

Which unfortunately means that the whole new world of pullovers, cardigans, blouses and tops have opened up in front of me, which you can tell from my Ravelry queue, well... Okay, some of them are there just for some inspiration, but most of them I really really want to make one day! ^^

I love all the memes and lists, and I found this great concept recently: The Mondo Beyondo list!
What is it? Let the author of this concept, Andrea, speak:

"This is the list of things that are outrageous, wild, and may not even happen for 5 or 10 years from now. This is the list of things that are SO JUICY and unlikely to happen that you are afraid to even write them down. This might be the most important list of all!
{This is where the trip to Tibet goes, the gallery show for your paintings, meeting your favorite movie star, owning a home in Switzerland, or whatever makes you grin and feel jazzy just thinking about} If this list isn't really fun to make, you're not using your imagination. Think big! This is your mondo beyondo."

So, here is my mondo beyondo list:
- I will move out from where I am now and live in our own apartment or a house
- I will have a child
- and if not, I will understand and agree with the circumstances
- I will be debt-free
- I will live in Scandinavia
- I will have relaxing holidays every Summer and Winter
- I will speak Swedish and Norwegian fluently
- I will find a satisfying well-paid job
- I will create art and people will love it!
- I will stop worrying so much
- I will replace 50% of my wardrobe with things that are more according to my tastes (the other 50% is fine! ^^)
- I will get a funky haircut
- I will create more embroidered Wordpictures
- I will keep a regular art journal
- I will visit Japan
- I will loose weight
- I will stop worrying about keeping the appearances and live my life my own way
- I will practice yoga and bellydancing
- I will light more candles
- I will stop explaining why I like being a housewife and that it doesn't mean I sit on the couch all day
- I will find an inner child in me
- I will be happy!


I started a new knitting side project on Saturday - this is a quick one, because I'm knitting only two sleeves and I have about 30% done! ^^
It'll be a wrap based on the pattern from Berrocco's website, namely Surplus.

Remember when I showed you the fabric for the Gudrun Sjoden's inspired jacket? Well, it turned out that there isn't enough of it for a whole jacket so I decided to switch the idea and make another Sjoden's inspired wrap, and Berocco was kind enough to help me with the pattern! *^v^*

The sleeves have a nice rib pattern, are knit from the shoulders down and I'm again making them two at a time, so in a day or two I'll have them finished. Expect the finished garment sometime this week and then I'll cast on for the Mystery Sweater! ^^

(I cannot do it now because I need 4mm circular needle, occupied right now by the Surplus sleeves. It seems that I've recently been knitting only with this needle, strange...).
And I'm using the purple Zorza yarn, first, because it goes well with the fabric, and second, because I still have lots of it, I only used 4,5 skeins for my Belle, and I bought 10 skeins at a wholesaler - now I know where the excessive stash comes from!... ^^ The rest I'll be using for the Christmas knitted gifts for my family.

Purple Belle assembled!

Ta da! *^v^*
I finished her last night!

Frankly speaking, sewing it together wasn't as difficult as I thought, when I got to know the technique, mattress stitch became my best friend! I put some links at the end of this post that show stitching methods.

I knitted the collar a bit wider than the patterns says, about 8 cm, because it didn't work well when it was thiner. I also recommend very loose bind-off of the collar.

I'm very happy with the length of the cardigan, although as you can see, I had to knit quite a long part of the single cable in the upper part of the peplum (and my torso is normal length) - I have no idea how the model in the photo can have such short peplum, she must be a child, not a grown up woman.

I'm glad I added some rows to the sleeves, because they fit just fine, if I sticked to the recommended length they'd be 3/4 which is no good in the sweater.
On the other hand, I wanted the sweater to be snug around the bust, which resulted in the ugly front part of the button band, opening itself. I definitely must change it, I've been thinking about two solutions: 1. several clasps or press-studs instead of 2 buttons, or 2. turning the cardi into a pullover, sewing it up at the front. I'll check if I can buy some nice clasps and then decided what to do.

Details:
pattern: Vogue Knitting Anniversary edition - online free pattern
yarn: "Zorza" by Anilux, wool/acrylic blend
needles: 4 mm circulars, 60 cm long
started: 3rd August
finished: 7th September

I absolutely was able to knit this quicker, I just got distracted by other things, well... But it turned out that knitting a sweater doesn't take as long as I thought (= ages!...). And it wasn't some stockinette mindless job, it was looking-at-the-charts-all-the-time project, but it was relatively easy and intuitive.
My Belle is not perfect but I love her anyway! *^v^*

Here is me wearing my Belle this morning:

Here are the sewing techniques:
mattress stitch
several techniques (grafting, mattress, ect)
mattress stitch on stockinette pieces and garter pieces by Theresa from Bagatell::Knitting in Norway

At last!...

Yesterday was cold and sunny, today is cold and it's been raining heavily since early morning. I love Autumn anyway! ^^


Nobody told me that it's so much fun!...



Yes, I finally got my Ravelry invitation, let me know, if you're there and I'll add you to my friends! *^v^*

And I'm stitching my Purple Belle together this afternoon. ^^

I bought myself...

... a pair of new shoes last Saturday! *^v^*



These are for my walking practice, because I really had no shoes like that and I walked in some old ones that gave me blisters. Well, not anymore, they are very comfortable and I predict a long and loving relationship between us! *^v^*



In two weeks time me and Robert are going to take part in a sports event with a charitable goal - Ecco Walkathon. We've registered today and the walk is on Saturday, 15th September.

The idea in short is that Ecco pays 4 PLN for every 1 km of every participants' walk to one of three charities selected by them (you have to declare to which one).

The route of the 10 km walk is situated along the pretty Warsaw streets and parks, and there will be lots of interesting things happening as we walk (so they say on their website). So, it will be a nice September Saturday morning, I hope! *^v^*


Purple Belle
I have finished both sleeves and they are blocking now. No photos, because my camera does some strange things with the colour of my Belle, and pieces blocked are not that interesting after all - what's more interesting is the final result! ^^ I even bought the buttons today.
All what's left is to sew them into the sleeve form, sew them with the peplum, knit the missing parts of the peplum and the collar. Sounds like not much, right? But the sewing knitted pieces together is my biggest fear...
Can you recommend to me any good tutorial on-line, please?

My Mystery Stole 3 also grew, and I believe I can finish it soon, especially as I joined two more mystery stole KALs...
Yes, I'm thinking about the Christmas gifts for my family.


These are Secret of the Stole and Secret of Chrysopolis. The latter is in German, but I hope for the English translations of the pattern and I'm sure I can always just stick to the charts, these are very international! *^v^*.
Both KALs start around the end of September/beginning of October, so there is still plenty of time for you to join, too! ^^

I'm also thinking about the new Mystery Sweater that I'm going to design for myself - I'm not sure whether it works so no details this time, but
- it will be made out of the orange cotton I bought for the Tomato, but dyed later into amaranth or violet,
- it will have low neckline,
- long sleeves with cable pattern
- and some other cable under the bust and around the waistline.
At least, that's the plan! *^v^*
I'm starting to swatch as soon as the Purple Belle is finished, which probably means some time this week, I hope! ^^

I'll leave you with photos of my two Saturday outfits (I haven't taken the photos of myself for a while, well... either I forgot or I didn't have anything interesting on.)

Morning clothes when we went shoe shopping and evening outfit for a party at our friend's, all of this is thrifted apart from the new shoes (Hi-Tech), orange sweater (Re-reserved), green scarf (Indian shop), jewelery and the bag I made (but it's from a thrifted trousers, so maybe it shouldn't count? ^^).