Work in Progress

Knitting...



Blankets... more for winter... (???)



How I photograph things:



What it usually looks like around the picture in focus...



Current sewing progress...



more for summer... (!!!)

Poetic

Doll Couture

Weekends are becoming doll dressing days. I discovered the German edition of the French book Vetements de poupées: Crochet et couture
by Carole Atzu. Now I am prepared for all wishes and occasions.

I chose a little crochet cardigan.



I don't know, but maybe it is because the designer is French, even crochet looks classy, reminding me of bouclé. A very thick texture; I used nearly two 50g skeins of cotton yarn, the cardigan seems to weigh more then the doll. But a couture result!



The buttons come from a thrifted and then felted cardigan.



I did some modifications of the original pattern: two coloured, the buttonholes are smaller, the sleeves five rows shorter and I added the bottom edging. My crochet hook was a size 2,5 instead of a size 2. And so it fits Clara's Waldorf doll who is taller then the 30 cm dolls the clothes of the book are designed for. Ravelry notes here.

Fresh & Organic 18

Unpacked and in random order:

potatoes, carrots, bananas, cucumber, apples, red bell pepper, zucchini, Batavia lettuce, asparagus, tomatoes, apricots, red radishes, onions, spring onions, kiwifruit

Beautiful / Practical

That is what my stitch markers used to look like:



Practical. They served their purpose within their aesthetic usefulness.

A couple of weeks ago a new Bead Shop opened in Oldenburg and nearly every day I was cycling by, but the opening hours of the shop didn't coincide with my schedule. I have not really worked with beads before (not speaking of the children's kind of play with wood and plastic beads).
I had stitch markers in mind I had seen with fellow knitters and on the Internet. I found this helpful German tutorial here.

Yesterday I also found a time gap and got started.



The owner of the shop was even so nice as to lend me the tools for a day.



Ready in a couple of minutes at the end of a busy yoga day.



And sooo beautiful.
I went to bed with a happy feeling and new glittery ideas.

Especially for Me

The Long Road to Multnomah

I am here. Multnomah. Not the county, but the finished shawl. Starting the trip on January 3rd I arrived there last Wednesday, at last. Two skeins of Noro Kureyon Sock Yarn. The shawl in progress was carried around, taken to the Bremen Town Musicians and waited patiently while I was facing the mental challenge of skeins of wool that didn't seem to get smaller and endless rows.



But then, while watching the six-hour-marathon Royal Wedding of Wool & Cake and knitting, I began to see the finishing line.



I have never been to Multnomah County and don't know what the landscape looks like, but my Multnomah is vast (a wingspan of 173 cm or 5' 8'') with long plains of garter stitch and soft rolling hills.



Breathe out.

(Ravelry notes here)

Sunday: A Bug's Life at the Museum

International Museum Day - and also an Open Day at the museums in our city. Clara and me went to the main art museum, the Horst Janssen Museum Oldenburg.



What could be better on a cool Sunday afternoon, especially when a special children's programme is offered.



Inspired by a bug the Oldenburg born artist Janssen had painted on a paperboard plate, the children could do the same.



Using feathers, buttons, different kinds of paper and cardboard, glitter, ribbon...



And some time for mama to have a coffee and browse through some art magazines. Happy mama.



Happy child.

Fresh & Organic 18

Fruit: rhubarb, pears, plums, bananas, apples

Veg: potatoes, kohlrabi, cucumber, carrots, May turnips, mushrooms, watercress, Batavia lettuce, cherry tomatoes, leak, red bell pepper

Blocking

New shawl on the block.

Knitting Summit

This morning after my Business Yoga class at Oldenburg University, two important people met for the first time: Annkari, "head" of Oldenburg Knit Night and let's call her XX, head, hand and heart of the Oldenburg Yarn Guerilla. Hope to see great results!

May Flowers

Practical

William Morris' quote, again: "Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."

I have something connected to the house, sometimes in the house, often outside the house, but definitely needed to open the house - my keys. Daily used.

It is quite embarrassing to show the outside world what my key chain looked like until yesterday:



Not beautiful, and not really useful (often searched for).
Just some ribbon and yarn.

I went to the fabric store and got some of these:



Unpacked at home:



The finished key chain:



And some offshoots:



So much better.

Some Summer Sewing

As apposed to last Sunday, this Sunday morning I woke up with the idea that Clara's doll Esmi can't wear her winter cardigan anymore, but needs a summer top. I whipped up this little thing and Clara's main wish was a front pocket (hardly visible in the picture...)



Vintage fabric from the eighties again. Pattern: none, just a sketch on newspaper and some try and error. One thing I learned for future doll clothes projects - you need velcro! For easy dressing and undressing, no tearing over the head, stuffing in the arms, just close it in the back.

I like it when you can use the stuff you sew, so from the same fabric:
a sunglasses case with drawstring.



There are some more summer ideas in my head and also a bigger summer project completed, but as the recipient's birthday is in August and she reads my blog, this has to wait... (and actually, I am also completing a knitting present for Christmas at the moment, very strange)

Fresh & Organic 17

Colours!



Red: apples, red radishes, tomatoes

Green: cucumber, green asparagus, avocado, zucchini, kohlrabi, parsley, oak leaf lettuce (and some purple)

Yellow: lemon, yellow bell pepper, pears, potatoes (inside)

Orange: oranges, carrots