Knit Your Stress Away

For our Mallorca holiday I bought Hubby a magazine:

 It focuses on health and awareness/mindfulness.

And don't worry, I didn't impose it on him, he is really interested in these things. I also wanted to have a look at it, of course, for some inspiration for my yoga classes and my own practice. I found just that and even more. There was an article about stress, its effects on the body and possible cures. What was remarkable about it - the artwork.

knitted organs

artwork by Sarah Illenberger

Who thought i-cords could become art?

So next time you feel all tangled ...

... breathe and knit.

Pink Moment of the Week

... and purple and orange.

Colors of the fall, found by Clara.

Mallorca's crafts, old and new

Here come some more crafty discoveries I made while we were traveling around Mallorca.

Tilda dolls in a window in the coastal village of Deià -

according to Forbes Magazine one of Europe's Top 10 most idyllic places

Also charming - the historic inland town Artà:

Knitted pillow cover in front of a shop there:

Even more history was to be found on "La Granja":

A former country estate with a grand mansion turned into an open-air-museum. You can walk around the gardens and the mansion and see how life was lived in the old days with all kinds of workshops. e.g. basketery, wine pressing, spinning or wool dyeing. 

I'll spare you the pictures of the quite impressive chamber of torture in the cellars and only show you a harmless machine that manipulates thread.

You can see friendly staff in traditional dress doing traditional things.

The crafty person I am I had to take a closer look at the embroidery:

And you know what? It is made with a crochet hook technique I haven't seen before. And with a very tiny crochet hook, 0,65 mm. The lady has been working for four months now on the blanket during her shifts. Torture of fun?

Sew Palma de Mallorca

Last year I only found one shop selling buttons in the Old Town of Palma de Mallorca, this time I found more - without even trying.

We were walking through the city on the way to a top-choice-guidebook-pastry shop Hubby wanted to find, and there they were - the yarn, fabric and haberdashery shops.

"Fantasies Centre", on Calle de Argenteria, where I saw the "Katia" knitting magazine for the first time and fell in love with this baby cardigan here. The magazine comes out in five languages - Spanish, English, French, Dutch and German.

Since 1839:

With timeless haberdashery:

Next "crafty street":

Carrer D'en Vilanova

A fabric store there:

One street, three craft shops:

Carrer Ample De La Merce

Now I know, I will never be lost craft-wise in Palma.

There are "mercerias".

And there are even more mercerias in town...

Pink Moments of Mallorca

Mallorca - sun and fun for everyone.
Photos by Hubby.

Pink Moment of the Week

... when you are coming back from the island of Mallorca, 

be sure to wear some flowers in your hair...

Hat and Travel

My midnight crocheting this week lead to this fruit here:

Can you guess which fruit it is? I thought it was obvious, but got a lot of  "strawberry" and some clueless glances from my family for it. It reminds me of a watermelon, doesn't it? After my beanie production earlier this year (here) I came back to his quick and easy way to crochet a hat. The pattern in half double crochet is based on this here, with a couple of more rounds and a crochet ribbing, which I tried for the first time (you can find good video tutorials in English and German for it online).

My Ravelry notes

The ideal companion for the cooler days, 

reminiscing the sweet taste of summer.

But I am more than happy to shed the warm coat, the scarf and even the watermelon hat for the days to come and go to an island where the watermelons are still in season and the sun is warm. 

Hope to see you when we are back!

Pink Moment of the Week

... working with yarn until midnight.

(usually my sleep is my sacrament, but when you get hooked...)

Sew September

That was "Sew September":

4 Pants.

                      4 shirts. 1 hat.

1 tunic dress.

And last, but not least - 

 sewed on the last day of September:

Going back to horses and fleece,

like at the beginning of September.

What will October bring?

Maybe the return to the knitting needles?

I will keep you informed.

Leftover Tunic Dress

Pattern: Longsleeve by Erbsenprinzessin (modifications: added a turtleneck collar, ribb cuffs and two inches of length)
Fabric: sweatshirt fabric leftovers from the Pants Factory

What can a child do while her mother is sewing?

                       

And what can a mother do with the leftovers from the leftovers?

Plan a new project.

The Apple Shirt, but wait...

It was going to be the "Apple Shirt", that other fraternal twin shirt (see the twins here). And it would be finished by the weekend, thus being the perfect outfit for our apple picking party at the neighbour's (see last year's party here). I called it internally the Apple Shirt... until I actually started talking about it to Carolina while sewing... Look at the apples!

Apples? What apples, long shaped ones? 

No these are actually pears.

Apples look like this:

Or like this:

Look at this apple picker girl.

 But you know what? 

You can eat an apple while wearing a "Non-Apple Shirt". 

No problem.

 And sometimes you are lucky. 

 There is one pear tree among all the apples.

 The Pear Shirt.