More things I've made...

For my brother I made this set to keep warm in Chicago!! I really got into making hats as they are fun and they are quick things to make. Very useful too!

For Marlena, something different and original as she is really into fashion. This I invented.. took me foreeeever to finish it. But I like creating my own designs. The photo isn't very good to reflect the quality of the wool.

This is a beret I made for my mum, is discreet and she looks super gorgeous with it!!

Make up bag with Japanese fabrics and vintage button

And my beret! I looooooooove it! I was always scared of making hats because I thought they were super hard but they aren't!!

Few things I've done last week

I've been pretty inspired and made a few quick projects. They all took me just a night (less than an hour per project perhaps). These are the results:

1 sausage-scarf
1 orange bag
1 red wine bag

Made with less than one skein (less than half perhaps?) with very big needles, in soft wool that I had left over from another project. And a few interesting silk yarns (for the ribbons), all I did is knit and reduce drastically every number of rows for the sausage effect. Then embellish with buttons for a girly effect. Could look quite fun in bright colours, making each "sausage" in a different colour, for kids :-)

And the bags

I'm so proud of these - I really enjoy making bags (which reminds me I must post a pic of my first bag, which I started in our first group session - stripes and dots, remember?). They are made with felt and inherited thai fabric that Mari gave me.

(click to see all steps to make this bag, easy and quick,
thanks to this easy pattern from Colorfull)
(forgot to add this pic, essential!! the bottom to keep the tote standing up - and give it more room and shape. Once you finish sewing it, is good to iron it to give it sharpness)

After making the orange small tote I thought 1/ is too bright and 2/ is bit small for my friend Mayo. So I went and made another one... which I plan to embellish with a flower brooch that she can put on or take off in the bag when she wants to use it on her jackets

Detail where you can see the "handmade" touch. The pictures don't reproduce properly the colour of the felt and the contrast with the apple green thread :-(
Is more like a bourgoundy red, warm and heavy.

Third Session

Sunday was a very rainy day but the girls still made it to my place. We had new comers, which is always exciting: Rose, Carly and Caroline turned up to our 3rd session in London, N4.

I must say that I wasn't very inspired and for the looks of it, perhaps because of the weather (or maybe because of the previous late night out), we were all a bit less productive than usual on the craft side.

On the cooking (and eating) side, we managed to do so well!! Specially because the girls provided us with irresistible delicious treats. Caroline made an splendid and healthy quiche, Rose made her own version of Asparagus rolls with soft cheese (very tasty and with nice soft bread), Carly brought her latest addiction: cheese-non-fattening-pretzels (always loved their name, pretzels) and a super sweet and juicy pineapple, Helene spoilt us with a great selection of French cheese from La Frommagerie, accompanied by nut bread.. what else we need to be in paradise? oh yes.. my carrot cake!!

Half asleep I stumbled out of bed at 10 (after finishing our previous night's party at 3am) and made the cake. Just as I slided it into the oven I turned around to discover I forgot to chuck in the grated carrot!! Thankfully it still worked out adding them at this stage. And I followed Amy's advice and chucked in raisins and nuts (by adding my morning muesli).

Carly's capable hands serving up the yummy quiche

The day went well, with lots of gossip, background music (including Flight of the Concords), bit of crafts and the best way to spend a Sunday, with friends!

Anyway, this is what we worked on:

Caroline starting a knitted clutch, after deciding she will make some pillow cases
with her stunning kimono fabric (which I forgot to photograph!)

Rose decided to do an embroidery bookmark for her
granny, who apparently is a master embroiderer!
Here you can see her beautiful hands in action!
The beautiful necklace bases Rose found in a charity second hand shop in Islington, I should go try get some! They are so delicate and femenine, I cannot wait to see what she makes of them!Rose and Caroline in a thinking mood,

Helene is still working on her funky and original decoupage box (see detailed photo below)

My first attempt, I tried to make a cover for my nano-iPod but it just didn't work out,
I just couldn't see it... (note my new needles case, cute hey? from a matchbox)

Second attempt, more succesful, cute..
but I'm still not convinced... And I haven't got any pictures of Carly because she mostly did some repairing work on her clothes, which I envy cause I can easily list all the garments I got with about-to-fall buttons!!

Some more things I've made

Sorry for the long posts. I'm trying to archive somewhere all the images of things I've made. If it is boring, just scroll down quickly ;-)

In any case, I hope this inspires you to make more things!!

Some vintage buttons I bought in Akaroa's flea market, I love them so much I am waiting to make something really special with them!

And these wonderful ones I've got them in Amsterdam

This is the first scarf I made. It is very very soft and warm, like baby whool. And is very very long so I can wrap myself on it on windy days

I made this scarf for Anthony with grey soft wool and a pair of an old suit's trousers. It is very long so that he can do the French knot with it (his favourite way to wear a scarf). And I made it looking smart so that he can wear it with his suit to go to work. But I didn't make the sewing, that was a difficult one so I got extra help for it! (cheater!!)

This is the Edgar Scarf that I'm working on. Even though the pattern is great (got it from Maya), I'm not sure I'm using this wonderful Noro wool in the best way to show off it's texture and colour. So I've paused the project whilst I think of it... The pic is old, so I've gone way further now, almost double the size.

I'm thinking if working with this pattern instead, a sweet big bow-scarf

Some knitting things I've made

I've been taking photos of things I've done throughout the last year. I got into knitting and started making things, always without pattern. Until I was brave enough to buy one and make a scarf for my brother (funny enough, haven't got a pic of that one). Anyway, these are some of the things I've made. Knitting is so much fun! I got many ideas but not enough hands and time for all of them!!

A bracelent I made for Mari-san
(she's got magic hands sewing and makes the most beautiful things,
with great choice of fabrics - most of them from Japan)

A bag for my childhood friend Sakura-chan
(from Japan but living in Barcelona for a bit,
we went to visit her and her husband last year)

Bag for my friend Sophie, in Sydney
(she made me my first hand-made knitted scarf!!)


Bag for my friend Amal in Sydney,
also a very creative buddy!

Bracelet for Carly, it's all on the buttons baby!

This was going to be a scarf, but the wool (donated by Bev- Anthony's mum) was bit rough to put around your neck, so I made it into a bag.

the lining has been made with the shirt that Anthony wore on our first date :-)
I love the contrast with the bright green ceramic buttons

I made this bag with some left over whool I had, similar to Amal's one

It is the first bag I've made with lining

Tissue holder made for Bev. Bev patiently taught me many tricks for knitting and also showed me how to use the sewing maching for the first time too when we were visiting in NZ.