April 10, 2012
by wink
11 lovely comments

stripe study shawl knitalong

Yes, that’s right – I’m participating in a wonderful KAL, hosted by Sarah from Crafts From The Cwtch and pinkundine from Misadventures in Craft!

I taught myself how to knit when I was ill a little while ago, and it stuck :-) My project baskets were empty, and I was in need of a ‘big’ project, so imagine my surprise when I heard about this KAL on Twitter! I asked Sarah if it was a suitable project for beginners, and she reassured me that it shouldn’t be a problem. That’s all the encouragement I needed! ;-) I immediately got on my bike and went to the nearest LYS to score some 4ply yarn.

I decided on Rico yarn: white Creative Sport DK as the main color, and variegated emerald green Fashion Tasai as the contrast color. I’m knitting on 4mm circular needles, as specified in the pattern. The yarn calls for a 5mm needle, but I found that the 4mm works just fine and creates a fabric that is not too dense or too loose.

I had some start-up issues when I started knitting; I did the M1R increase wrong. But after I started over, I quickly got the hang of it! :-)

I was so proud that I accomplished this! And quickly, the first green stripe materialized…

And the second one…

Isn’t it gorgeous? :-) I can’t stop looking at it, and stroking the fabric… It’s sooo soft, I am going to love wearing this when it’s finished!

I still made a little error: I cut the yarn, instead of carrying it. So now I have this bundle of ends that I don’t know what to do with… I’m carrying the yarn from now on, and I’ll deal with those pesky ends later.
My knitting speed is really improving; I made the last green stripe within an hour (it took me three days to make everything else). But I still have a lot of catching up to do with some of the other ladies, who are on their 5th, or 6th stripe even.

If you want to join, head on over to Crafts From The Cwtch for more info and a nice, detailed FAQ :-)

xo,
wink

April 2, 2012
by wink
15 lovely comments

fat bottom bags pt. 3

Hi everyone!

It took me a while to finish it, and so I apologize for the late post. But I promise you: this was definitely worth the wait :-)

Remember those two skeins of Noro I bought a while ago? Well, they decided they really wanted to become a bag, and not just any bag, nooooo; they had their minds set on becoming another Fat Bottom Bag! And really, who am I to deny them that pleasure? :) Of course, one does not make a FBB with just two skeins of Noro (I wish!). So I ventured onto the interwebs, in search of more skeins in the colorway I already had. Guess what? Turns out that colorway is discontinued… Crap. Alright, no biggie, there are more gorgeous colorways out there! I ordered three more skeins; each skein being a different colorway. All the skeins had more or less the same colors in it; browns, reds and greens.
I crocheted a large granny square (28 rounds instead of the 30 the pattern calls for), and then I ran out of yarn! I still needed at least one skein to finish the top and the sides, so I took a quick peek on Etsy and found 3 more awesome skeins in a colorway I hadn’t used in the bag yet. The good thing about Etsy? The skeins were almost 20% cheaper!

Alright, long story short: I finished the bag! :-D Ladies, and the occasional gentle man, I present to thee: my beautiful bohemian, Noro-powered fat bottom bag!
(click for a bigger image!)

(yes, I went a bit crazy with Photoshop, but this bag is so dreamy that the background just had to match the feel :-))

The Stats
Yarn used: Noro Silk Garden, colorways 265 (x2), 314, 282, 299, 84
Skeins used: 6
Pattern used for the bag: Raverly page with a link to the pattern, click here
Pattern used for the puffy flowers: Eclectic Gypsyland’s Puffy Daisies tutorial
Hook size: 5mm
Lined: yes, double sided lining plus an inner pocket for knickknacks
Time to make: all in all, I guess 2 days. One for the crochet part, and one for the sewing and embellishing part.
Total cost: 6 skeins of Noro averaging 9 euros a skein, 10 euros for the lining fabrics, 8 euros for the handles…
So in conclusion: priceless! ;-)

I lined the bag with some fabric I scored at a local market, where they sell left-over pieces of fabric for discount prices. I made the lining double sided, so that the checkered fabric would be on the inside, and the brown fabric on the outside, showing through the holes in the crochet. From that same brown fabric I created a little pocket on the inside of the bag, to keep my lip balm and pens in place.

I created the little logo using iron-on paper, and then sewing around the edges to give it that label-look. This is a great way to personalize anything you’ve made!

The top of the front and back are embellished with two different ribbons I got from the fabric market; one emerald green scalloped ribbon, with a smaller brown angled ribbon sewn on top. I sewed these on when the bag was still a square.

I used a lot of different beads to make this bag extra special. On the front I made two tassels with beads: one in an orange hue and the other in a green hue. On the back of the bag I used brown ribbon to string up some glass beads I won in a giveaway (thanks again Barbara!).

And of course, no bag can be complete without…
… a matching journal! I had a lot of fabric left over and I wanted to pimp my notebook with it. It’s really cool, when my journal is inside the bag, you can hardly see it: perfect for keeping secrets ;-)

I didn’t really have a good picture of the handles, so I’ll just tell you that they’re made from red rosewood and are super light and sturdy. Also they’re not too smooth, so they don’t slip off your shoulder when you wear the bag. Definitely a plus!

Because of the high costs for the materials for this bag, I am going to keep this baby for myself. My little bohemian guilty pleasure. I’ve only worn it outside for the first time today, and already got a bunch of compliments! :-)

Have you made something super dreamy or bohemian lately?

xo,
wink

March 16, 2012
by wink
10 lovely comments

a hoot and a half

Hi everyone! :) Thanks for visiting.

Last weekend was the Africa Fair at my sister’s church. She and a bunch of people are going to South Africa this summer to help out orphans whose parents have died of are suffering from AIDS. To raise money for when they get there, they organized a fair last Saturday. There were lots of people there selling different things, such as water bottles, homemade chocolates, kids clothing and what not, and there was also an auction! The day was super fun, I sold a LOT of my products, and in the end the amount they raised was well over 5000 euros :) How cool is that?

Me at the fair with my little table of products

Next to me were two ladies who were selling handmade bags. They made them from thrifted vintage woolen blankets, have you ever seen something like that before? I feel instantly in love with all the bags, and I was eyeballing them all day to see if some of my favorites were selling ;) I guess you can guess what I did at the end of the day, when a gorgeous yellow bag hadn’t sold… That’s right, I snagged it! :D I figured that since I sold so much, and half of everything was going to Africa, I might as well purchase something, you know, for the greater good ;)

This bag is lined with vintage sheets, you know those really soft ones… She finished the bag by using velvet ribbons, wooden beads and some lace. My favorite part is the soft yellow heart! <3

If you want a bag like this I recommend you check out www.froekus.nl, where you can see all the fabulous bags she has.
Like this one…

Or this one…

So pretty <3

Oh and also cool about these bags is that they’re big enough to hold your knitting needles! ;)

I’ve been knitting a little since last time and I still love it! I cast on a cowl on circular needles, just to see if I can master them, and because I love this yarn!



I just love the colors!

I also got some DPNs to be able to knit these:

These are from One Sheepish Girl, and she used this pattern to make them. I think I’ll try to make them without Fair Isle first though; knitting with 4 needles is enough of a challenge for me! ;)

xo,
wink