Random projects

The first of these bags was made with fabrics I found in a little Indian store, and the other two in a closedown sale of an Iranian store in the fashion district. They were made loosely based on this very helpful tutorial:

A bag can never be too big...

This one has a zippered pouch in the middle,
and cellphone and metrocard pockets.

I also wanted to use some of the fabrics I bought years ago, in Belgium. Back then, I was using an antique Singer hand-operated sewing machine I had bought at a thriftstore in Edinburgh. I would buy patchwork patches and small amounts of fabric every now and then, but never felt my skills were good enough to make anything with them. I am hoping that with my more concentrated practice I will feel both inspired and confident enough to start using them.

These potholders are certainly not perfect, but I learned a lot from making them. In fact, I learn a lot from each project I make, no matter how simple- it's so exciting! Once I accepted the limitations of my knowledge and did not have high expectations of my projects, I was able to concentrate on the learning process and the joys of it.

L. picked the fabric. I think he did a great job!

Finally, yesterday I turned the heel on sock #2 of this pair. It is my usual "56-stitches / turn heel over 30 with short rows" recipe. I just hope we have one more cool day, for me to wear them once before I put them aside for the summer. Not that I 'm complaining that warmer weather is finally coming our way!

Even though I have really small feet,
they still ENORMOUS next to Seven's!!!

Square arrangement

The lizard ridge mini blanket has been waiting for its final step for a while now. I made a few modifications, namely I made each square with 5 repeats instead of the suggested 4. This results in more rectangular 'squares' (or should they be called 'patches' since they are not square?...). Also, it is meant to be a wrap, rather than a blanket. Something to keep me warm while in the move, so it didn't have to be as wide.

Taking photos of possible arrangements helps me to decide, and this project is quite challenging, with all the different hues and colours in each square - sorry, patch. So far, I have come up with these possibilities:

1. Gradual, diagonal focus

2. Gradual, Darks and lights mixed

3. Gradual, darks and lights on opposite sides

4. Dispersed. Not my favourite option so far

Sunny doesn't care, as long as she can sleep on it.

blue mood

I am obviously going through a green phase (just look around. heh..).
However, the coming of warm(er) weather and sunshine has made me think of summers. And summers in my mind are mostly yellow and blue.

Today it was the blues that my memory was picking up. So, even though I have tons of other things to do, I simply HAD to make this:

Working on...

I was so happy to realise I don't have enough handknit socks for spring! Naturally, I made sure to rectify this as soon as possible. Thanks to a long flight and plenty of hours chatting with family, I got this:


It is sock #1 of my tried and tested mindless pattern: CO 56 stitches (yes, small feet, thin ankles), with short row heels over 30 stitches. I like the cable running at the back of the sock, kind of like a secret joke. And of course, the good thing about small feet is that socks are finished in a blink!

I 've also been working on - what else, a granny square blanket. So far there are 9 done, all in various combinations of the same 4 colours. It is so much fun making each one at random, without really paying attention at how colours are combined. I really enjoy the fact that each one came out so different from the others. As the blanket is supposed to be mostly sage, though, I foresee more sage in my near future.

Spring is also inspiring me to organise and tidy up a bit. So I turned this:

into this:

so it can hold this:

Things that make me smile...

Today, it's the new photo on my desktop at work:

What I found in my camera

I have a lot of help when I sew

... or arrange squares.

It's hard work indeed

and rest is well-deserved.