Thursday, January 20, 2011

One Year of Sewing

There is something going on with anniversaries right now, I feel them coming without consciously thinking about them. I started my blog on my 1-year-anniversary of serious knitting (here).
Yesterday I completed the last date on my "sewing card" from my sewing school classes, the card is full now.



(the other side is full, two)

With a curious feeling I looked up last year's calender and guess the date of my first sewing lesson: 20th January 2010, exactly one year ago, of course. That's sewing coming to a full circle (on a full moon... ). Before I get too esoteric and all, let's look at the hard facts of this year, the results. Fasten your seat belts, we start our trip through the marvelous land of sewing.

January/February 2010
Shortly after I re-fell in love with knitting, I felt that I also wanted to learn to sew. I knew how to sew on a button or mend a hole in a sock, but I had never learned it at school. Truth be told, as a child or teenager I was not keen on sewing, I preferred knitting and crochet. Clothes came magically from somewhere and landed in a shop. My mother used to sew a bit when I was young, but I wasn't attracted. That changed at the beginning of last year. I bought some fabric and enrolled at a sewing course.





No need to sew a pillow or an apron first, start with a real thing you like, the seamstress said. I had never used a sewing machine before, so that was exciting. And even though the needle broke at the first session, I made a little summer dress for my daughter over the following weeks.



The pattern is Burda 9885.



At the end of February I changed to another sewing school, at the fabric shop Tuchfühlung in Oldenburg, where I stayed until now. Only words of praise for them, and for my sewing teacher Cornelia in particular. Great creative atmosphere and professional tuition in small groups.
And I even made friends there.

March 2010



a spring scarf with doilies



I wore it in April, even took it abroad as you can see in this post. The lovely idea comes from Amanda Blake Soule's book Handmade Home - Simple Ways to Repurpose Old Materials into New Family Treasures.

April / May 2010
Something for my mama, in her favourite colour.



Burda 8043



June - September 2010
Something hippie-esque also for me. A long dress. Burda 7682



Now I got megalomanic. The cutting out of the fabric took me six hours alone. It took me all summer to sew. When the dress eventually got finished in September, it was already too cold to wear it.



It is still waiting for its Big Day.

But in between, at the beginning of August, we welcomed my first sewing machine to our house.



With the arrival of it I started the pillow production.
All made from vintage fabric from my mama's sewing days.







The blue pillow was for a friend who had just had her baby boy. Pillow for baby, eye pillow for the new mama - for the relaxed moments (she had come to my prenatal classes, too).







a towel rug for our bathroom

and BAGS!



tutorial here



(let's throw in some knitting just for fun)







The pattern for this bag is Mama's Bag, also from Handmade Home, just like the eye pillow and the towel rug. The following bedtime bag for my daughter is from Soule's The Creative Family, blogged about here.



cat`s couch cushions with a touch of crochet



another great tutorial here

September - November 2010
the wall pockets I blogged about, some mending here and there

December 2010
yesterday's skirts

That's it! Thank you for your attention.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Tonight at Knit Night: The Stars and the Moon

Cross-crafting at Oldenburg Knit Night.



A childhood dream came true for me tonight.



I learned how to fold a Froebel Star.

Big thanks to a patient Hillit for showing me how. It felt a bit like learning to knit (but I can't remember that). Even though Christmas is over, stars are a timeless decoration, right?
Because there are stars in the sky all year round.

More stars:
What I also learned tonight - there is something like astro wool, sockwool from Regia for the 12 signs of the zodiac. Does that make sense?
Our professional astrologer from Knit Night said: No.

Hillit is a real expert with Froebel Stars and can whip them up in tiny sizes.



A whole sky of stars with a 1-euro-full-moon in the middle. Like tonight. At 22:21 Central European Time.

(Skirts, Skirts!) x 2

Skirts come in pairs these days. After finishing two knitted skirts from the same pattern, today I proudly present two sewn skirts. From one pattern. Again.



Same story - liked the first one so much, saw other gorgeous yarn/fabric, started second one straight away. The pattern is Burda 7679,
a classic A-Line miniskirt.



Number 1 got finished just in time for Christmas and I wore it
extensively over the holidays (you can catch a glimpse of it at the end of my first post). Looks almost knitted.

Number 2 is checkered and a bit shorter.



I added a lining.



Or to be honest with you, I added a lining with a lot of help from my sewing teacher. And a zipper.



Or to be completely honest, those skirts would not have been possible in their wearable form without the massive help of my sewing teacher. More about that tomorrow...

Monday, January 17, 2011

Hello Health!

The other day I stumbled upon an article in a health food magazine about salutogenesis. It is a health model about well being, stress and coping. Rather than seeing what is missing in your life, you focus on what you already have, what is there, what is good.



That is also my experience. Where your attention and energy goes, it grows. Two years ago an ayurvedic doctor at Amma's ashram in Kerala / Southern India told me one recipe for health and happiness:
"Find something you love and then do it everyday."

In other words, who needs therapy if you have knitting (see here).

Throw in some Kundalini Yoga and you are set.

PS: That is what works for me. Everybody has his/her own way of coping. But I believe in the universal truth of listening to your heart and soul and living the life you love.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Skirts, Skirts!

At the end of last Sunday's post I cuddled up with some knitting.



This Sunday you can see the result.



My second Lanesplitter skirt.

I first came across the Lanesplitters on Betz White's blog. Beautiful, I thought, mental note. I actually started knitting the Lanesplitters a while ago in November, the first one was finished within a week.



Right away I cast on number 2. That one took a while longer...



Number one is riding high on my purple wave, number two has an autumnal feel.



Both are knitted with Noro Kureyon wool (Ravelry notes here).

Betz White also came up with the fantastic idea to sew a waistband instead of picking up the stitches and knitting one.



The pattern was published in the Knitty First Fall issue 2010 - and there are already 525 projects on Ravelry up to this day. tichiro mentioned knitted skirts and especially the Lanesplitter as the latest trend in her knitting review of 2010.

And one very interesting thing happened shortly after I had liberated my needles. I had to cast on something new straight away.



As if the knitting universe can't stand the vacuum.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Fresh & Organic

We have another man with yummy presents coming to our house from now on (I hope the "amazon man" mentioned here will not be jealous...) - the "ecocion man" on Saturdays, bringing the "Gemüsekiste" - a box of vegetables and fruit. Organic, seasonal and, if possible, local. Enough for a whole week and complete with recipes.

Big thanks to Layla from Oldenburg Knit Night for talking about it.

So what are we having?



Potatoes, carrots, onions, Chinese cabbage, cucumber, bell pepper, apples, tangerines and even shiitake mushrooms!

PS: Another box of fruit (one big apple) arrived for my husband this week. Now I am jealous.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Knitting in London



Knitting and traveling go together very well. Like last spring in London.

The chance to meet friends, see the sights, eat at great places, just stroll around and visit local yarn shops is such an inspiring and relaxing combination. And I love the knitting involved, on trains and planes, in coffee shops, parks, friends' places. A bit of comfort and home to take with you, and those things you knit on holidays have that special air of memory in and around them.

In preparation I pondered, whether taking three projects on a five-day-trip would question my sanity or my capability as a knitter and traveler - but my co-knitters from Oldenburg Knit Night assured me I was fine. I was a rather new knitter at that time. In my knitting bags went:

a summer dress



a summer scarf



and the mama surprise jacket



Things you should do when visiting a big city:

(1) Pretend that you are fashionable



(2) Knit in a park


Green Park



(3) Go to a yoga class


I highly recommend Alchemy in Camden

(4) Talk to locals



(5) Go to yarn shops



All the fun of the fair - off Carnaby street, right next to a yoga studio, where I bought yarn and some circular needles in size 3,25 mm (before that I didn't even knew those existed).





Overwhelming - the yarn and fabric section at Liberty... where I got some Australian souvenir wool.


with our great London friend Lee

Speaking of Australian exports. That takes us to

(6) Meet a celebrity
We went to see the musical Priscilla Queen of the Desert starring my teen idol Jason Donovan.



My teenage dream came true after the performance - meeting him in person. It has taken me only twenty years (I have developed other goals in between). But I owe him a lot, even though he does not know it, he was my main incentive to learn English. That paid off!



Next time I am in London I will go here and here.