ultraturquoise

Silky bag

2013-05-09T19:32:22Z

So I bought a skein of green sari silk yarn a while ago. I wanted to make a tote bag of it, but there was enough yarn to make just one side of the bag so sew together red and green silk to make the other side. Then I started embroidering on that piece and it was starting to look too pretty to be the back side. I gave up that plan, but when I’m done with the embroidering, it’ll become another bag. :P

Instead of the first idea I then sew together some blue, brown and purple fabric. I had right away decided that I wanted the green with white flowers to be lining but there wasn’t enough to line whole bag. After long dig around my mum’s fabric stash I ended up using the black whit small white flowers… it’s pretty but seriously shit to sew.

In the end I chain stitched round the outside edge to cover the machine sewn seam and inside I sew blue ribbon by hand. I used same ribbon for the button link. Mum suggested that I embroider something on the blue side and maybe I will but I haven’t decided that yet. Either way I quite like it. :D

--
Tagged: bags, blue, green, knitting, purple, sewing

Still Green

2013-04-29T08:38:25Z

My first tunic. Woot. I have knit three cardigans which was really cool but somehow this feels even cooler achievement wise. :D So anyway. It’s nice, but bit ticklish, so I probs need to wear a top under it. Yarn I chose (Holst Garn Supersoft), whatever the name claims, is not super soft, although it does get softer in wash. Main colour is called Larch, I had ~5 skeins of it, which was not quite enough so I ended up buying 1 skein of Tundra and used that to finish the tunic. (a secret: that one extra skein wasn’t enough so part of the pockets are knit with light green Sandnes Garn’s Lanett.) I think the dark green parts make it little more fun. :)

Pattern is Still Light by Veera Välimäki.

Texture.

With an elephant.

Button.

--
Tagged: fo, green, knitting, photos, tunic

Yarn acquisitions II

2013-04-18T16:35:48Z

Went to check out what one of the local yarn stores here had and found skein of green Sari Silk. :D I think it’s like aran to bulky weight and I don’t know about meterage, mebbe ~100m. But it’s super beautiful and I love silk. I will probably use this either for hat or bag.

--
Tagged: silk, yarn

Bit bigger earrings…

2013-04-14T10:35:46Z

I think this was some sort of procrastinating project… Anyway I saw Jewels the Owl tutorial in Ravelry and decided to make it after spotting small piece of bright green silk in one basket in our sewing room. There wasn’t enough bright green to make both sides so I used for the back side dark green fabric. To prevent fraying, I treated edges with glue/water mix (I have also proper “stop fraying” stuff, but dunno where it is). Fabrics I chose are far from ideal, but they are prettay! :D

I didn’t really like the crocheted circles in original pattern so I went thru Ravelry’s coaster patterns and found two I decided to use (Four Round Doily and Set of Ombre Coasters). First I made eyes with yellow and black but while they were realistic colourwise they didn’t fit very well in overall green look. I then made the eyes with dark green and light green I had already used.

And yeah they are bit big for earrings but sooo what! :P Although I think I’ll try making bit smaller versions later.

--
Tagged: crafty, crochet, green, owl

Beginning of Avocado Adventure

2013-04-11T15:03:06Z

I have decided to try grow an avocado. I got couple seeds from my friend I was visiting yesterday. She made avocado and other things salad which was very nom. I did bit of research and well okay this guide was the first link in google I clicked. I filled an old pesto jar (I love pesto, that’s why I mention what the jar hold previously) with water, stick tooth picks in the seed and placed in the jar the pointed end up. Apparently sprouting takes weeks and you have to remember to change the water every 1-2 days. :D

--
Tagged: avocado, gardening

WIP: Wheat Beret

2013-04-09T17:41:20Z

Yarn for this project I found some years ago in my mother’s yarn stash. It’s rather rough wool yarn my mum did dye herself with birch leaves nearly three decades ago. I thought it was about a time to use it for something. I decided to improvise a hat. I COed 144 sts using provisional crochet cast on. Then knit five rows after which I did one row of *k1, yo*, and knit five more rows. On next row I switched to green yarn and ripped the chain stitches to get live stitches. Then I folded knitting at *k1, yo* -row and knit each stitch on the needle together with newly freed stitches.

Next row I changed back to yellow, knit 108 sts, p4, ktb1, p4, ktb1, p5, ktb1, p8, ktb1, p4 and knit until the end of the round. On the next row I added 16 sts (increasing stitch count to 160 sts) evenly. The pattern section increases from 27 sts to 30 sts. My idea is to create some sort of wheat straws. I’m not 100% sure yet how I’m going to do it but I have couple ideas. Anyway I’m going to knit 5-6cm with 160 sts before starting to decrease… I think this will be interesting.

--
Tagged: beret, hat, knitting, wip, yellow

Yarn acquisitions I

2013-04-04T11:31:33Z

“I looked then and saw that his robes, which had seemed white, were not so, but were woven of all colours, and if he moved they shimmered and changed hue so that the eye was bewildered.”
~Gandalf on Saruman’s new style

Last week I bought a skein of mystery yarn from LamingtonLass. Label said fibre is unknown but I’m assuming it might be mix of BFL and alpaca (both mentioned in the Etsy description), either way it’s incredibly soft. Yarn called Who Am I? Lace in Saruman Strives for Evil colourway. Mostly yarn is semi-solid pale grey with teeny tiny bits of pink, which looks absolutely awesome. I’m not quite sure yet what to knit with this but it has to be something magnificently beautiful and complicated! Perhaps Evenstar shawl.

Bit of pink and wrapping paper reflections.

Coin is 2cm wide.

--
Tagged: lace, photos, quotes, tolkien, yarn

Another Ginger Update

2013-04-02T11:35:28Z

Well in previous ginger post we had quite a small little sprout. After this the plant grew fast until it reached ~70cm height, which I think is quite enough. Yesterday I decided plant it bit deeper so it wouldn’t tilt. I also changed the soil.

In other pot gardening news… I planted some kiwi seeds ~week ago, dunno how it will turn out. My cacti seedlings well we’ll see how this will turn out. No pics because I’m embarrassed of the results. At least ginger makes me feel bit proud. :P

--
Tagged: cacti, ginger, kiwi, photos, plants

A bag from a book

2013-03-20T14:04:26Z

Usually my bag projects have been fairly improvised. This time I decided to use a pattern from a book. Book called The Bag Making Bible by Lisa Lam. I think I learned couple things that will be useful in future, like making the piping. The book suggested to use fusible fleece, I had just ordinary one so to attach it to exterior pieces I embroidered in blue along some of the fabric patterns. ~~It’s still missing a shoulder strap, for that I am going to find a dark blue leather belt.~~

And I didn’t have patience to wait until I find a blue leather belt so I made strap myself from black fabric. The buckle is most likely old belt buckle (I removed the spike from it though). To make it less flimsy, inside the strap I have ~2mm thick fliselin band.

More detailed picture.

The pattern suggested to use press buttons in side pieces to change the size of the bag opening. I decided to use eyelets and fabric hoop instead.

And an inside picture.

I have also used this fabric for a kimono style robe, a knot bag and a skirt and now I have nothing left. Yay. :D

--
Tagged: bags, blue, red, sewing

Ginger Update

2013-02-20T07:27:18Z

Noticed this morning that my ginger had properly sprouted. I did bit of digging and that sprout is like 4-5cm tall. :D

Previous ginger postings:

--
Tagged: ginger