Charity and a set interchangable needles

I've been drooling after some interchangeable knitting needles for ages  (i despise double pointed needles), and when i saw an add in the paper asking for needles and materials for knitting/sewing/crochet courses for immigrants (i order for them to get out of the house, make friends and learn the language) i saw my perfect opportunity to but something expensive for my self, while covering it up like a good deed. Win-win (yes, except for the economy lose, shush).

I went trough my stash, sorting out odd skeins i did not see my self get around using, as well as copious amounts of double pointed needles, "normal" needles (what ever they are called) and circular needles (which are probably the most difficult thing to organise i have ever come across, damn dangly devil things). I only kept one set of straight needles in each size.

I also took the time to sort through my big bag of buttons I got from a flee makret. I hope someone at the sewing course likes the 80ies....

And then i whent and bought me a set of addiclick intechangable needles form my local yarn shop, feeling like a real samaritan. And they are awsome! Knitting with them is pure joy, so soft and bendy. More on that subject another time.

The kitchen sofa

Luring in the background on some pictures, is my new kitchen sofa. I've been wanting one for a while but haven't found one i like, and that wasn't crazy expensive. Until i stumbled upon this little thing at the local thrift store!

It has the simple style i was looking for, and was only 15 dollar. I gave it some new padding and a new cover (from a table cloth).

Quiltblocks

I didn't think quilting was for me. Then i tried making a basic sawtooth star from thought and found.

Now I own a rotary cutter...

Plan A for tonight is to try and catch some of the amazing auroras on camera. There's been a sun storm and some really big northern lights are to be expected. But due to the pesky clouds, i have to have...

a Plan B. Which is making some star quilt blocks with the help of my new rotary cutter and measuring tape in inches (converting to cm did not make wonders to the accuracy).

Thought and Found has a whole bunch of star shaped blocks i want to try out
(all pics stolen from thought and found)

The basic one

The exploding one

 

 

 

The shimmering one

50+ things to make out of recycled t-shirts

I'm a sucker for tutorial list, here is one i found today

50+ things to make out of recycled t-shirts

My favourites are:

 

 This braided super beautiful rug that I would never ever have the patience to make

Fabric bracelets

T-shirt tote bags

Check your Pinfluence!

For all you Pinterest-junkies out there, i found this fun little thing today: PinPuff
(trough the pinterest reddit. Yes, there is a social network about a social network. Very meta)

It lets you calculate your "pinfluence", which is a relative measure of your popularity, activity and reach.

I got 37.76, which is above the average of 32, yay for me! (And below 45 which is considered a good score, let's not dwell on that). My pinterest profile.

Some days turn out better than expected

Family health crisis seems to be averted. The best state any family member can be in is alive, that's for sure. I'm spening the week at my childhood home, with limited tinkering opportunities, but the internetz is as good for providing inspiration here as anywhere else.

Found this scarf on the blog Popetotrora, and my tinkering fingers are twitching.

Her blog post reveals that the construction wasn't a smooth ride, but I'm still willing to give it a try.

Some days turn out different than expected

source

This place might be quiet for a couple of days (or more). Family first.

No 3. Kitchen Clock

No 3. Kitchen Clock

This beauty I bough for next to nothing at a flee market. It was completely unused: the man selling it had some clocks left from his grandfathers old watchmaker's shop. Mint condition, and with key. Oh the joy.

I came home, pulled it up and proudly hung it on the wall.

TICKTTOKTICKTOKTICKTOK

I tried to ignore it but there wasn't a chance in hell. I had to bury the damn thing in my wardrobe until it ran out again.  Now it hangs on the wall like a piece of art, and our kitchen it's always just after ten.

No 2. Kind of Practical Cookie Jar

No 2. The kind of practical cookie jar

This three tired cookie jar is from my mothers childhood home. All though storage is always practical, cookies never survive long enough in my home for it to really become useful. I love the looks of it though, and it's in top condition, unlike some others I've seen at flee markets (for absurd prices). 

 When i received it from my mother I got instructions of which kinds of cookies it was supposed to hold. I remember Coconut cookies and shortcrust cookies with jam. I do not, however, remember the third one.

Shortcrust cookies with jam, from Fru Fantastisk

Coconut cookies, unkown source
 

No 1 in a series of three, The very Practical Kitchen Organizer

I love filling my kitchen with thrift finds instead of new things. Some are more practical than others.

In a short series i will show 3 of my favourite things, ranging from "practical" to "not at all very practical but oh so pretty".

 First up, something very practical:

No 1. Glass Organizer.

This glass organizer is a thrift find i got from my step mother. It stood all alone and unused at her house, and after some careful hinting, it was allowed to move in to my kitchen.
It holds sugar, flour, seeds and oat meal among other things, and is not just pretty but very practical. I love the green hue of the glass.

Table organizer

I made a table organizer, with inspiration from this wall organizer. 

I used:

 

A frame, that i bought at the thrift store for 1 dollar.

 

Fabric, that i had lying around (which frays insanely). 

Glue. My faithful all around glue.

... and my sewing machine, of course.

Blogs i read - Craftsanity

Featured in this second installment of "Blogs i read" is CraftSanity. CraftSanity is not only a blog but a podcast and a magazine as well. She features crafting tips as well as interesting and crafty people, like this man who crochets for charity. Check it out if you haven't already!

Latest thrift finds

My latest thrift store find is this orange/yellow pitcher as well as one blue colored glass,and one green, total cost of about 3 dollar (20 sek).

Fabric Envelope

I made an envelope out of the kitchen towels i bought last week. In hindsight, i should have cut of the pre-existing seems since they just made it bulkier. It'll do. The seems are a bit wonky here and there, but I'm still learning this whole sewing business. I used the tutorial from In Color Order. It's going to be perfect for tickets and boarding cards, which is things you need every now and then, living at the end of the world, as a German acquaintance put it yesterday.

Some Sunday entratainment

Since my swatch for my Riga mittens showed that my gauge was way off (there-is-no-way-to-salvage-this-situation off) I needed some cheering up. I have a few go-to places for this, Pinterest you are drunk is one of them.

 

Must admit though, that i thought this shoe was pretty cool, although perhaps not in that color...

Yarn for "Riga"

Let me present the yarn for the Riga mittens, bought in skeins of 1hg....

...and winded into center pulled balls.The white one gave me bit of a struggle about 2/3 in, hence the two balls instead of one.


I must say that there's something very beautiful to the Swedish words "nystan" (ball of yarn), "nysta" (to wind yarn) and "härva" (skein) that i feel get lost in translation. Are there no better words for ball of yarn and winding yarn to use in English?

The Fantastic Freebee

I went in to the paint and wallpaper shop the other day, and asked if they had some odd wallpaper bolts for sale, as i have a project requiring just a small amount in mind. Instead of just trying to sell me a bolt of expensive new wallpaper, the very nice man asked me if i was interested in an old wallpaper book? The kind the customers flip through while browsing.

He even asked me what it was for, and after roaming around the back he exclaimed "This one will be great!"
I don't know how he knew my soft spots, but he pulled a book containing new prints of old Swedish wallpapers. I was practically jumping on the spot. And i got it for free!

The best part of the book (well, the actual wallpapers are the best part) is that it contains a overview over the wallpapers, with original printing year and some history.

Happy Happy

The Cross-stich Clutch

Crappy light, since daylight don't come in abundance here this time of year

Last week i bought an old, framed cross stitch at the thrift shop, since i wanted the frame. It felt wrong though, as a fellow thread-tinker, to just discard the cross stitch. So i made a clutch out of it!

I put some fabric adhesive on the back to prevent the stitches from ripping. Black cotton for edges and lining, and that's it!

Adhesive. Yes this picture is indeed very exciting.

I kind of made it up as i went, so there is probably a hundred better ways to go about putting it together, hence i will offer no tutorial. It's for your own good.

Blogs i Read - Anna Ritar

I put a bid on this one for a charity auction, lets just say it ended up a tad above my art-budget

If i could just wake up one day, and be able to draw like any one person in the world, i would probably choose illustrator Anna Ileby. She specialises in portraits and has a wounderful blog called Anna Ritar. Since that (waking up, drawing like Anna) probably wont happen I can atleast dream about owning my own original Anna Illeby. One day, some day (hopefully soon) I will.

She blogs about her illustrations, thrift store finds and some home decor and crafting. I would probably describe her style as whimsy. You should really give it a visit, it's written in Swedish but the illustrations should be enough to check it out.

Today and a table

Today i'm going to swing by the fabric shop to buy some black cotton for an experiment with a thrift store find from last week. I'll also leave my really old sewing machine at the sewing machine doctor, if i decide i have the muscle to carry the 12 kg (26.5 pounds) thing all the way there, I'm not so sure..

Until then i leave you a picture I took of a color coordinated table at Karlsjans, all thrift store and flee market finds (Dear Stepmother, correct me if I'm wrong). Good stuff, or "Fint som snus" like us Swedes would say.

Afternoon Tea

Tea tastes best from a nice pot, in nice cups, and with some nice company. And honey.
Both the pot and the cups are thrift store finds.The pot I like because it's the kind genies would live in, if genies where to live in tea pots.

Mitten Love

The mittens "Riga". Pattern and picture from clarafalk.se

I've been wanting a project to practice my multiple-colors-skills and i think might just have found it in these mittens, "Riga", designed by Clara Falk, the owner of the blog Clara Stickar (Disclaimer: Swedish blog, although her patterns are available in English as well, lucky you). Love at first sight, i must make them mine!

I will probably use the same color scheme, or perhaps use a yarn that's more turquoise rather than light blue, or perhaps that would make them to crazy bright? Oh, the decisions...

The Yarn Ball Wreath

I made a yarnball wreath last week, to hang above my crafting storage. I had seen similar things on pinterest, mainly with some white yarn balls combined with a few white and silver christmas balls, all with a fluffy light feel to it.

To hell with fluffy light I thought, and went for dense and colorful. It's a pretty easy thing to make, you need:

• Styrofoam balls, i used two different sizes
• Suitable glue, i used som standard all around crafting glue
• Yarn of what ever sorts you want
• Cardboard or something else to mount the balls on
• Scissors

1. Cut out a round shape from the cardboard, make it tinner than you want your actual wreath, to be sure there will be no ugly cardboard showing.
2. Wrap your styrofoam balls with yarn until they are completly covered, and glue the end so they won't unravle. 
3. Apply glue to the cardboard surface and arrange your balls, placing spots of glue where the balls touch each other aswell, to keep it sturdy.
4. Are there cardboard peaking through here and there? Make small yarn balls (without styrofoam balls) and glue into the gaps. 

Voila!

For the actual wall mounting i crocheted chain stiches..

Since I used scrap yarns from my stash i can look at almost every one of the balls and remember what project the yarn was used in, so i guess it has kind of a sentimental value aswell, since many of the projects have other homes now.

Antique Crochet Patterns

The back pain pose.

I stumbled upon this site today, Antique Crochet Patterns. How fab is this? A site full of antique crochet patterns, hats, shawls, baby bonnets and baby sets, bags, jackets, you name it. All free.

Perhaps they're not all patterns I'm throwing myself over, hook in hand, but looking at the pictures is a lot of fun.

The, ehrm, sparkly grape hat?

A Candle Flame Cowl

Look, i just found out that you can add captions, fancy!

I'm considering casting on a lace cowl again. They seem to have becom my favourite kind of project, no assembly, a bit of a challenge, comfy and nice looking. This one is a pretty basic candle flame pattern cowl i made for my mother in law for her birthday. I stuck with something i knew i could handle to be sure i would have something not to be ashamed to give another knitter as a gift.

I would have wanted it a bit wider to give it more slouch, but other than that im pretty happy with it. It's knittet with 100% Alpaca, so it super soft and cozy.
I even caught her wearing it on a day when she didn't know we would see each other, success!

The finished thing, with a pin i bought at the yarn shop

Perhaps I should challenge myself and try one that's not as thick and have even more of a lace feel to it.
On the other hand, you can never have to many thick, soft and warm cowls, or perhaps that's just my really cold hands talking...

Speaking of fabrics

As previously mentioned, i have some issues with the selection of fabrics avaliable in my teny tiny town. However, i did find these really nice looking tea towels at the grocery shop today.


Perhaps i'll make a pocket case out of them, like the ones from Duger

Or a wallet, like this one from How about Orange, made with the tutorial from Noodlehead

What else can you make that calls for a sturdier fabric, but doesn't need more than two tea towels worth of it?

Fabrics Fabrics Fabrics

There are so many beautiful, colorful and happy fabrics out there, it's driving me nuts. Lets just say my local fabric shop leaves much to be desired...

The Tear Drop Bag from Gronne Tanker, love both the fabrics and the design.

Hippo fabric from Caption Designs

"Crosshatch Sketch" in different colors from In Color Order. This i love since it reminds me of my all time favourite pattern, Virrvarr by Sigvard Bernadotte.

That would be all for tonight, its 01:40 here, and i just arrived home from work. Sketchy work hours, I know...