Freeform CAL

I don't know what made me do it, but I am tempted to blame Gypsy Dancer for it. :P She showed off a freeform crochet piece at one of our recent local knitting meet-ups - it looked convincingly great!

Aaaanyway, some will know that I don't really crochet. Don't get me wrong, I think it's very handy and love doing little shell borders, but when it comes to picking patterns I just feel more comfortable in knitting. Doesn't help that I only vaguely know German crochet lingo, let alone British or American. Well, nevermind, I always wanted to do some freeform crochet and I am joining in this lovely freeform crochet-along on Ravelry to have some fun and perhaps pick up some new skills. The end result will be some kind of knitting bag, I think. To make it more my own I am trying to use mainly (if not only) my own handspun bits and leftovers.

Do join in if you like, I bet it will be fun!

Handspun button sweater WIP

After being so busy preparing for my recent craft fair, I have really been enjoying the calm last few days. I even finally started knitting a cardigan from my handspun Merino/silk singles (The type often appearing in my shop as well). The pattern I am basing it on is the button sweater by 'Oh my stars', a design I have been meaning to try out for ages. It is a top down raglan with a wide button band. The colours on this picture seem a bit washed out as you can mainly just see the shinyness of the silk... I will get some better pictures after more progress. As I am making it up as I go, there are already a few things I would do differently to improve fit, but I kept going as I plan on knitting another raglan in this style eventually anyway...

By coincidence (ok, not really, I just buy a lot of handmade buttons) I already have some lovely ceramic buttons that would go brilliantly with this sweater! http://www.etsy.com/view_transaction.php?transaction_id=9226423

Pictures of Wonderwool

This is a picture of our stall at Wonderwool Wales. My friend Sally had her rugs up on the walls and her handspun yarns (using local wool and only natural dyes) mainly on the left part. My hand dyed sock yarns were in the far left corner and my handspun yarns on the right table. My little handwritten sign hadn't gone up yet as I took the picture, but I am planning on sewing a nice big one for next time, using lots of pattern and colour. :)
The two colourful rugs on the floor were also hand dyed and woven by Sally, aren't they gorgeous? We had a fun but tiring time and really enoyed meeting all these knitters, spinners and fibre lovers. It was especially great for me to put faces to a few names I knew from the online world.

I also used my vintage suitcase and antique wooden spools for the first time and am really delighted with the look achieved. Of course there are always improvements to be made, but I get better with every fair I do. :P

Right now I am delighted to be able to say that I am finally truly updating my etsy shop again and have already added lots of new sock yarns! Just before Wonderwool I dyed up a storm and am so pleased to be able to finally show the outcome. Taking my yarns 'out there' forced me to weigh and label a lot of my recent work, which makes my life now a lot easier, haha.

Aaaanyway, this is no time to rest, I am back at my spinning wheel already!

Wonderwool Wales is coming!

Wow, time has flown. I'm telling you, absolutely flown! Suddenly I find myself just one night away from my first ever UK craft fair, and it is a big one at that!

Well, if by any chance you find yourself in the heart of Wales this weekend, do make sure to drop by this amazing Fibre Festival! http://www.wonderwoolwales.co.uk/
Ok, I haven't been before, but I have heard and I assume that it is amazing.... ;)

There are so many things to be done yet and soooo little time. I did get lots of sock yarns dyed up though and am going through labelling loads of exciting handspun yarns, including many never seen before art yarns! I will be at stall F8, which I will be sharing with my spinning friend Sally, who is also a brilliant printmaker and weaver.

Please, wish me luck - I could use some. :D
Veronika

Vagabond

A vagabond travels and has no set home. For some reason I also connect the word vagabond with beautiful bohemian clothes, all shades of browns and for the girls some splashes of subtle colour. All in all this is a concept I very much love to work with and this simple yarn fit the draft really well. It is pure wool in moss green and rusty red, leading to this rich brown only through carding.
I have listed this yarn in my etsy shop, hoping it will find a kind home.
Slowly but surely I am getting back into the swing of spinning and creating, but there are still many projects I would like to finish first. A triangular lace shawl I started knitting in September is coming closer to completion every day and I am working my way through a neverending 'to spin' project list. Today I brought out most of my bead collection to put together a few exciting mixes for future art yarn projects. Next I want to card up a storm, it being my day off and all.... I just need to move my laptop first and stop looking at gorgeous handmade jewellery... :D

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

Latvian mittens

What happened? Well, quite a bit, actually.
For a start there was my birthday on the 2.2., in February I had a range of guests over for various reasons, I also finally wound my 700g of latvian wool into balls by hand instead of getting a yarn winder, started knitting an adorable pair of mittens from the book latvian mittens, which is simply amazing. It features such a variety of charts and instructions that you are bound to mix and match your favourite mitten pattern. In other news, I rediscovered my sewing machine once again and am sewing my way towards a full-sized quilt in autumnal colours (I know, wrong season, but by the time I am done it might well be autumn in 5 years time....). The fabric is from a jelly roll I bought on etsy a good while ago. :P

Spinning.... yeah, sometimes... not as much as usual though.