Fight the WIPs!

How many different projects do knitters and crafters always have going on at the same time? I am definitely no exception and I am currently vowing to fight the WIPs (works in progress).
First of all, I don't just knit and spin (although that would certainly already take up enough of my spare time!), but I also dabble in various sewing projects. I keep seeing (and buying) beautiful fabrics, but somehow I never get around to finish anything. Somehow I ended up with a huge stash of fabrics and have now decided that I should really start working through them instead of buying more all the time. One of my purchases last year was an autumnal jelly roll from uberstitch on etsy. On the left you can see how that is coming along now, I finally made a big dent into the progress of this simple quilt!

My current knitting project are my latvian mittens and I have almost finished the first one! Ravelry Ravelry link.

And then, let's not forget my sweet little striped cardigan, the eternal WIP. Ravelry link.

Well, either way, I am trying really hard not to get side tracked in this endeavor and hopefully it will result in a few new pieces of clothing and a bit less in my stash dresser. :P

Baltic souvenirs

I am back from my short trip and am back to spinning and listing new yarns. But before I forget, here are some of the things I brought home.

First up some gorgeous latvian yarn bought in a small souvenir shop in Riga. I absolutely fell in love with those mittens and have since purchased this amazing book and am planning on knitting at least a few of them. Before I got to the cities I researched the shops online and for Riga I owe my thanks to this blog post. In Tallinn I seem to have missed a good few of them, but found some and bought some lovely wooden hand crafted buttons as well as some thin pencil roving (third picture).
In Helsinki I stumbled into Marimekko! Of course I knew the name, but only from really cool patterns in the 60s, so I was genuinely surprised to see that they are still going and thriving with lots of gorgous shops! They now sell pretty much everything from clothes to bags, to napkins, umbrellas or mugs. However, they also sell fabric by the meter! Most of it was thin cotton fabric at a really high price. As nice as the patterns were, I really wasn't convinced by the quality (think IKEA) and didn't buy any of these. On the other end they did sell some of the heavy weight (bark cloth) fabrics which they also use in their own bags. The patterns weren't quite as exciting, but I still carried home a few meters, including this bright polka dot fabric!







Next up is a shot with a linen fabric as well as cotton and linen lace, the thin pencil roving and the wooden buttons.





In Vilnius (probably my favourite of the cities) I found a linen shop chain, where they sold all types of linen fabrics as well as absolutely stunning linen lace, so I had to get a little collection. :)

Still around

fabric cream
Originally uploaded by snowberrylime

Did I drop of the face of the earth? Perhaps a little bit. My absence was a combination of me being ill for over a week (not something that usually happens to me) and I guess I was a little discouraged by the lack of comments around here - until I realised today that there were plenty waiting for me to be released. :)
In the process I have also been tagged, but it is so long ago now that I will wait for the next one to come around, hehehe.

Thanks for providing me with an excuse to show off some more of my Bavaria souvenirs though... some lovely creamy cottons with interesting or plain beautiful prints (my least favourite being the pale one in the middle, but I love the stamps, postcards and the flowers on the left). To the very right is a gorgeous pure silk fabric with golden threads running through. As plain as it looks on this picture, it is extremely elegant.What else happened? Ah yes, my interview with the lovely Jodie is up here.
I thought the questions were really thoughtful and she has a really nice blog you should all check out.

In the bag department I have a nice one on its way from the above mentioned silk fabric.
The fact that I am getting back into sewing has led me to watching many seasons of Project Runway and I am currently working my way through the first season of Project Catwalk, which is the UK version and honestly not nearly as addictive. Yes, we all have our weaknesses, hehehe.
Spinning? Well, I desperately need to do some dyeing this weekend, but I do have quite a few yarns ready to list which have been waiting for me to get better.

Tweed bag WIP 2

Tweed bag WIP 2
Originally uploaded by snowberrylime

Just a little update on how my new bags are coming along. Well, as usual I am getting lost in the tiniest details, this is why it is taking me a bit longer...
Here we have one of the herringbone tweed ones (with silk in it, so soft and cuddly) with embroidered flower. I have cut out the lining in a very sweet patchwork fabric I got in Wales, added a padding type interfacing and have sewn a little pocket inside which matches the bottom/side fabric of the bag. Right now I am torn between using my one pair of bamboo handles (horse shoe shaped) or matching fabric handles.

I had asked this question in a forum and was very surprised by the answers. It seems to be a bit of a cultural thing that many Americans consider it as cheap looking and what discounters would sell, whilst here in Europe most people do seem to think it looks classier. Considering how expensive these handles are I was very surprised that they appear to be like a cheap option to many. I am still not sure, but do still believe that the bamboo would look great with it!

The bags are back at Snowberry & Lime!

Tweed embroidery on plaid
Originally uploaded by snowberrylime

My sewing machine has been leading a sad life the past few months, dare I say years? I guess that is mainly due to my spinning wheel...

However, my great fabric and trimming stash has started calling out to me a few weeks back and I have very slowly started listening to it. One major push was when Teetante took me to a lovely fabric shop and I ended up buying a huge bag of tweeds and wools in many great colours. ....ooops!

Only little later I went to the same fabric shop and found a great variety of matching, yet entirely different fabrics: Corduroy, cotton jersey and pure silk. I think this was the final piece in the jigsaw, seeing these gorgeous fabrics united and right there in my hands made me get out the sewing machine. Another role was played the most wonderful genuine freshwater pearls and amber chips I bought from a lovely seller on etsy. In this brand new collection of bags I am developing right now, all these great supplies find a use. Plus I was finally able to test out my second-hand wooden embroidery hoop. :)

It is still a long way to the finished bag, but here is a first 'work in progress' picture of the handstitched embroidery, Tweeds on wool with a stunning cluster of real jewels.

Bright bags

My fabric stash exists in several different locations, here are some of the bright ones I have with me in the UK:


Beautiful fabrics are one of my main inspirations, and they lead me to bags like this one: