Sunday Morning

Mama Yoga Tunic

The promised photos, taken in the evening by Hubby, after a long Saturday. After rising unusually early with baby Carolina and a lot of cleaning and cooking and baking and cleaning and cooking again. You know, what Saturdays can be like - before you can exhale on Sunday.

My sewing project this week - my dramatic pink mood elevator in-between all the rainy days.



It is the Everyday Knit Tunic from Sew What You Love (I already made the Big Easy Sling Bag from it, blogged here). And this time the project was not only simple or easy, it even said supereasy in the book. True. Cut out the same two pieces for front and back, sew the seams and finish the raw edges of the neckline, sleeves and hem by folding in and zigzaging. To increase the learning effect I tried a new stitch on my wonderful machine (this here), instead of a zigzag stitch for the seams to keep the fabric stretchable, I tried a special jersey stitch - it looks like some small zigzag gone lightning.



Does the job. Does take more time than regular zigzag.

It is as flattering, comfortable and versatile as promised by the author. This might become my go-to pattern for a couple of more tunicas. I can wear them with jeans in my mama life (the neckline is wide enough for breastfeeding too, I am not making the same mistake again like with the Kimo-yes), comfy and still kinda stylish, and I can also couple them with yoga pants in the evening for teaching my classes.



It stretches and so do I.

Pink Moment of the Week

What is it? I'll show you tomorrow.

Your Weekly Yarn Graffiti

Also a bike needs a warming scarf these days.

3 Days of Rain

Fall is showing its wet side. But there is beauty inside and outside.



Fresh walnuts from the neighbour's tree - they land right in front of our house (just incredible, when we moved in in May the tree was blooming and all through summer those shells just formed and did their work).



Also a fall family favourite: Hokkaido pumpkin, nearly every day, in warming soups, stir-frys, purées or simply roasted in the oven.



The first fallen leaf of the season I consciously saw on Monday morning, with many more that followed.



Carolina's EZ baby bonnet that I knitted in January (blogged here) fits her now and I just love its vintage style. And as it turns out, I was a good pre-knitting pregnant mama - the blue baby leggings (blogged here) are just right in this weather.           



So wherever you are and whatever you are doing, have fun and keep warm, outside and inside.                     

What a Difference

 ... a couple of dropped degrees make.














 Summer knitting, fall knitting.

Same September

It's been three years now since we moved to the lovely city that is Oldenburg, and some city events in the course of the year have become something like traditions. Like the huge biannual Dutch open air fabric market in fall (also here in spring). Even though my fabric stash is big enough, it is just a must to go there for some inspiration and bits and bobs (and bargains).














Bargain bias tape:














 For future print projects I found these stencils:



Clara asked for some horse fabric to sew a nightgown for her doll Lilly. I bought some fleece to make matching and warming dresses for Clara and her doll (and maybe also Clara's little sister).



Another fall tradition: Clara's crafted crown from the Children's Day Festival (see here for crowns of 2009, 2010 and 2011).

Yes, you could say, it was a traditional Oldenburg September Sunday.

Your Real Weekly Yarn Graffiti

 ... has spread out from the city of Oldenburg to an outward road - Alexanderstraße.



And "ghost dog" has a message for us:


???

Start of the Knitting Season

What is it in the air in late September that makes you buy yarn specials at discount stores (did that), buy knitting specials in women's magazines (you don't usually read) because of knitting specials (did that too) and rush to your knitting needles? Yes, it must be the beginning of the cooler/cold season, the nesting and my desire to keep my babies warm and cozy. Last year in September with Carolina baby in my belly, I started the September Blanket from the same desire. This fall, Carolina got something to warm her own cute little belly.



A vest - the pattern is Milo, I actually downloaded the pattern from Ravelry last October (see, the-fall-keeping-warm- desire again). It is a stash buster project, with yarn leftovers from Carolina's Flagstaff Jacket and Hubby's birthday boobie pillow. It knits up really fast, and after I had to frog my first try of the vest (too short and too wide), I was clear how I wanted it to look like the second time around.



The second time I went for the 12-months-version instead of the 18-months-one (Carolina is not even 10 months old - but I wanted something to last for a while). I only had this limited amount of wool - and it just worked out! Just enough wool for even pink stripes and a red yoke and ribbing.



My Ravelry notes here.



And it even makes quite a nice twin-set with the Flagstaff Jacket that is in daily use right now.

Your Weekly Yarn Graffiti

Not really yarn graffiti... more yarn spaghetti or what is left of Monday's wool balls. Tomorrow I will show you the finished project.

Pink Moment of the Week

New pink thread for new pink sewing projects.

Wild Vine

When I did my pink plant prints with the creeper leaves that entwine our house (seen at the end of this post here), the leaves were still all green. That was about four weeks ago.



Now the leaves have started to turn into a beautiful red.



And the print has become (yet) another cushion.

Rip, Rip, Frog, Frog

Three innocent looking balls of yarn...

I cast on for the project on Friday night and knitted up a storm on my turbo needles over the weekend, on Sunday afternoon I made the last stitch for a new vest for Carolina. But... it was too wide and too short. Back to Start.

Fall is here

You can't deny it... we even turned up the heating last night. The days are cooler, there is wind, there is rain, but there is also sun.

More signs of the season:



apple picking party at the neighbour's



spider webs on our terrace



grapes - even in Northern Germany

Baby Bib Bunting

When we (Carolina and me) wake up in the morning and go into the living room, this colourful bunting already awaits us.



It is not actually a real bunting - it is Carolina's bibs lined up on the heating to dry over night. And we really need them. Carolina seems to have a little drool fabric inside of her lately.

So this week I have been practicing the art of sewing the perfect baby drool bib. I tried different sizes (you could think it's just a triangle, but there's more to consider like drool length, how you intend to fasten it and mere baby fashion rules), fabrics (knits, fleece and terrycloth) with single layers hemmed, combinations of them (double layers turned over), different way of fasteners (knots, snaps - I even bought pliers).



My conclusion: the best drool bib for Carolina right now is two-sided - jersey on top and fleece underneath, this way her chest stays warm and dry no matter what happens above. Snap fasteners are good, because knots tend to get to big with double layers.

The pattern looks like this:



Measurements before sewing: 40cm long, 19cm to the peak, 5cm at the sides.

And last but not least: On the model. Endurance test.

Pink Moment of the Week

Summer Circles Out

A trip to the fabric store brought new additions to the my still favourite and uplifting circle/flower theme.









Even though some days I start dreaming of straight lines and blue and grey... and colourful trees.



Cooler days are just around the corner.

Your Weekly Yarn Graffiti

This week's yarn graffiti is not coming from the lovely city of Oldenburg, but from the creative heads of the marketing world...see here. Yarn graffiti and community gardening in a commercial for a German organic lemonade. Seems like I belong to the target audience. But I don't especially like the drink... nor the idea of using yarn and flowers for advertizing. What do you think?

Kimo-No?, Kimo-Yes!

Last week I wrote, that I love sewing for the girls most. OK. That is not all true. I actually love sewing for myself just as well. To dig into a more demanding project that takes some time to sew. Often over a couple of weeks from idea, to finding fabric, cutting it out and finally get going on the sewing machine.



This dress here was my summer project. I showed bits of the fabric in Mid-July (here) and used Carolina's afternoon naps in Rostock to figure out how to develop and trace the pattern. It comes from the awesome Japanese book I am cute Dresses (do all the books I sew from recently have "simple" in their title?). I did a version of the dress on the cover of the book, my dress is all linen, no lace. And similar to Japanese knitting instructions there are just a few words (7 short sentences as construction steps), but lots of very detailed and precise drawings and sketches from start to finish. I loved it! As I am not your average Japanese girl, I dropped the hemline by 10 cm / 4 inches. The dress is comfy and special.



Hubby liked it, too. And he got it all right. He said, it was cute (like the title of the book promised) and when I asked him "Which country?" he said "Japan."

There is just one drawback. I can't wear it right now. It is not breastfeeding-friendly. My dresses these days need a button-down front or a wide neckline. But just wait another couple of months... then I can sew all the other cute dresses in the book!

Like me?

My dear readers,

there is a new monthly magazine for mamas in Germany called Brigitte Mom. They have started a collection of mama-blogs online. If you like what you read and see here, I would be very honoured if you "heart" my blog on their website. To do so, just click on the badge, you will be transferred to their site, and click on the heart.



There is nothing to win, as far as I know, not for you and not for me. But my blogging mama heart would be very proud and fueled for new adventures. Thank you!