Infinity scarf

Temperature is around zero Celsius degrees so there’s still time to wear this knitted infinity I finished last winter. Or that’s my excuse for the pic. We have had butterfly weather as well. All of the yarn is old, not reused though. Some were going to be trash before rescue.

I didn’t end the endings traditionally because it looked too heavy and, boy, was there a lot of finishing to do with this many different yarns.

Wet paint

After some misses with the colours here’s the hit. I love the red and the white in our hall. And it’s great to work with non-smelling oil paint. Well, better than the horribly smelly one at least.

Actually this is yet another ‘Before’ shot because there’s more to come with a little inspiration from the Hermitage in St. Petersburg. Here’s Katarina II’s Boudoir.

Hermitage - St. Petersburg

No more cold skating feet

My old skates are a bit too small for enough wool socks. So I reused an old pullover. Cut sleeves out. Attached fleece strings. Less cold feet anyway!

My first baktus

This is the piece I was so enthusiastic about. My first Baktus! I needed the knitting needles for another project so I finally finished this scarf. The instructions came from here (Käspaikka is a great site in Finnish).

The model is simple enough: Start with three stitches and add one stitch in the beginning of every four rows. When the scarf is wide enough narrow off one stitch every four rows. Heja Norge for inventing this fun to do design! Easy is fun!

One third of the yarn is bought new, one third is from an age old stash and one third is unravelled from second hand knits. It makes me happy to see those old balls of string to become something new.

Handicraft crazy love

I had to refresh my skills of knitting and crocheting. Result: one big round scarf and two works still on sticks. I cannot blog about the ready scarf yet due to some computer failure. And actually this failure lets me concentrate on my knittings and crochets. I’m beginning to feel the joy and love of playing with thread. The colours entwined like emotions visible on my hands.

Back to something concrete, recycled and selfmade. Here are some tinder roses made of old candles and egg packages. Rip it. Form it. Dip it – let it dry a bit and repeat until satisfied. 

These things really get the fire started. Have a Dazzling New Year with lots of Love Love Love!

How would you colour it?

Here’s our brand new hallway just lacking a bit of colour. How would you colour it? See how my husband did it at http://www.nufland.com/personal/mm/blog/?p=338. The door colour made my dream come true! And I can fly my thoughts to Hotel Prince (formerly known as the Cecil) in Mussoorie, India.

Winter white thoughts

I’ve been thinking about the approaching winter. The days are getting shorter, darker and colder. We still haven’t got the first snow fall this year. Sometimes it comes in September. Comes and goes. So I’ll be waiting with my woolen granny tights for the snow and the white winter light it brings.

Colour my stiches

Here’s another way to fix a hole. Stich over and around the hole, here in lime green and white. Then use a (black) textile marker to colour the stiches. Striped fabric would be difficult to mend otherwise. The dress can be seen here.

Necklace becomes vest chain

Truthfully I just wanted to post these walls which have been scrubbed. First ones in the house! (So, everybody say yee’e.) The outfit is for another project but has a Kalevala necklace attached to the vest with safety pins so it looks something like a pocket watch chain. I like the idea of using jewellery in different ways. This “outfit of the day” has only preloved items in it with the exception of the vest.

Two top tips

What to do for a piece of clothing that is not quite your size? I had some tops (received as a gift and, yes, bought from sale myself before the pledge) which were too big. One way is to shorten the straps but here’s something different.  I just cut the straps from the back end and tied them together like in a halter top. Quick and easy!

The light green top had a little needle and thread treatment. I pulled the straps together and attached them to each other. Ready with a few stiches!

PS. My pledge of not buying any new clothes for a year became a 16 month period. It ended last weekend with a t-shirt from here.