Getting ready!

The packages for Vegan Pal 2 are supposed to be in the mail by October 15th. Since there are so many other things going to happen in October I figured it would be good to have my package ready as soon as possible. I spent a lot of time on my pal's blog (a very nice one, but I can't tell you which one it is) and tried to figure out what she might like. Yesterday I bought the last thing I wanted to add and this morning I sewed this little box:
It's holding my sock project right now, because if I'd post a picture of the way it is going to look when I'm sending it out, my pal would definitely know that it's hers. (There is one very distinctive thing peeking out of the magic yarn ball!)
I got the idea for the fabric box from the Norwegian book "Tildas Hus". I had wanted to sew one of those for a long time, but never got around it. Now I definitely need one for myself. My sock project looks as if it feels quite comfy in there...The possibilites for variations of this box are endless and it's very easy to adjust the measurements to what you need. Even though this was my first box I had no trouble changing the size to "will hold a small knitting project" and "will hold all the things you want to send your vegan pal"! Nice!

Distracting!

Yesterday's weather was very nice. I was outside reading a book (for my exams) and who came to join me?After a lot of grooming he settled down like that. Awfully cute, isn't he? So cute it's distracting!

That was quick!

Last night when I was done studying I felt the urge to do something while watching tv... and it wasn't knitting socks. So instead I got out my Debbie Bliss "Pure Cotton" and found a nice pattern for a baby hat in my Lucinda Guy's book . I had to make some changes to it though, because my yarn was way thicker than it was supposed to and I didn't like the huge flower within the pattern. The rest was easy peasy.
Within three hours the hat was done. I really like that Lucinda's patterns are so simple and yet still do not look boring at all. I especially fell for the crocheted border.The yarn was really nice to knit with and it feels very soft and warm plus I also think it looks a bit as if it's partly angora. I can't wait to knit more with it!

Perfect Timing!

So I got my sewing machine back on Wednesday (she's fine, thanks for asking!) and started on the nappy bag for my friend yesterday morning. When I was almost done with it, I got a call from my friends husband telling me that the little girl had just arrived. Wow! She was ten days early. I was really exited after the phone call, but somehow mangaged to finish the bag.
About two months ago my friend (the baby's mother) and I had been at the fabric store together and she had chosen the fabrics and the trim and she also had the idea for the shape of the bag. I think it came out perfectly.
It has three inside pockets and a magnetic closure. I had some difficulties taking pictures of these details. The lining is a very cute fabric from Lecien, the outer fabric is from Westfalenstoffe and of a nice heavy quality.

This morning I decided to sew a little heat pad, filled with grape seeds, that will match the bag and hopefully be the right size for a tiny baby tummy. I'll fill the bag with a couple of other things and then it's ready to go. Congratulations to you, J+M and welcome to you, Helena! I can't wait to meet you!

Magnets!

Some of you might have guessed it. Those things are glass gem marbles, backed up with paper and a little magnet. I saw them first on Etsy at "The Airie Fairy" and when I showed them to Johanna we both had to have them. Let me tell you we bought a lot. Each of her sets looks so great - I can't wait to get them!

After we had ordered them, we thought that we could maybe try it ourselves, because we had all the supplies on hand. I think I love paper almost as much as I love fabric and the really great thing about it is that it's a lot cheaper than fabric. Johanna and I can never resist beautiful paper. We made a lot of tag sets in various sizes. Like for example this matching one:
And eventhough we made so many sets, there is still lots of paper left. Same with the magnets I had bought when I made some fabric covered button magnets for my fridge. Now the glass gem marbles were still lying around the house back from the days when it was cool to decorate with them (I believe that's not cool anymore, is it?). Anyway, Johanna and I gave the whole thing a try and it turned out to be so much fun, we simply can't stop making them.

Weird!

These things multiply by the hour...
See?!
We can't stop it!

Do you know how many there are by now? 140!

We are up to something!

Johanna and I are really busy. All I can say right now is that it's lots of fun. We can't seem to stop.

Back in the days...

... when I would shop like crazy, I bought this great pendant that arrived today along with two others. They are from Littleput Books and are too cute. They come in little unique tins and I think they will make wonderful (Christmas) gifts.
You should definately check out the Littleput Books Etsy Shop and while you're at it also the blog. (You'll find lots of great informations there on how to promote yourself at Etsy and other great things.)

Blackberry!

My sewing machine will be gone until next Tuesday. I can't believe it. Why now?
I started to knit my first socks with the yarn from Fauveline. It's going really slowly. I don't know why. Maybe I'm not so happy with the color I chose after all, but "blackberry" sounded great and it looked good while on the skein. Maybe it's because I have to get used to knitting with four strands or maybe it's because right now I would much rather sew! There are so many things on my list. A very good friend of mine will have her baby soon and I promised to sew a "Nappy Bag". A friend of a friend asked me to sew a pillow for her little boy that he can take to kindergarden and I want to sew something for my "Vegan Pal".
Right, that's the good news. The matches for Vegan Pal 2 were made and I'm pretty sure I got two great pals. The one I'm sending my magic yarn ball to has a very nice blog and I believe we have a lot in common. I already have lots of ideas on what to choose for her. Too bad I can't say any more. My other pal, the one who will send me something, is obviously secret, but I got contacted by her and she seems so very thoughtful. It's gonna be great!

Do I deserve this?

Today my beloved sewing machine decided that it needs a break - like it didn't have one for the last three weeks! I'm really angry with it now. I actually thought about replacing it with my cheapo-machine, but the two seemed to have made a deal. Perfect! Now that I would have some time I can't sew. I think I should give my machine the whole spa treatment while it's away from home and I wonder how much all of this will cost... Bye, bye I miss you already!(And yes, I will knit instead, stupid you!)

While I wasn't blogging!

When I was studying for my exams I bought a lot of things to reward myself. First of all some yarn in the most wonderful colors! (This is Debbie Bliss: Pure Cotton!)
And then some more yarn (Rowan: Bamboo Soft). I started to knit something with this right away. I figured that knitting would be much easier during my studying days because it doesn't mean as big of a mess as sewing usually does in our tiny house and it can be done while sitting on the couch without having to move an inch. Lazy me! I'm really much more into small projects when knitting. I once knit a pullover for myself. It took forever and I wasn't even happy with the result. This one experience was all I needed. No more of that. Gimme socks, scarfs, mittens, hats... or dish cloths!
Anyway, this time I fell for a pattern for a baby hat in this book (another reward-yourself-for-being-so-hard-working):
Lucinda Guy - "Originelle Strickideen" (ISBN 978-3332017960). The English title is "Handknits for Kids: 25 Original Designs for Boys and Girls (ISBN 978-1570763106). There are really lots of nice patterns in this book! I don't know why they changed the cover for the German version, because I think the English one looks a lot better and the pullover on the cover is one of the very few things I don't like, but hey, who cares.Oh yeah! I must not forget: I bought even more yarn. This was definately a great purchase, because it's sock yarn. I finally found some vegan sock yarn. I really spent a lot of time looking for that over here and it's almost impossible, especially when you want nice colors and/or variegated yarn. I bought this on Ebay from Fauveline. It's a cotton/acrylics/viscose fiber-blend. I just started with the first pair, so I can't really say how good it actually is, but I have high hopes! (Btw: The pictured colorway is called "Rumtopf".)
Last but not least I bought this pendant along with three others from Madison Craft Studios after seeing one here at creative little daisy. There were so many beautiful designs to choose from I could hardly decide which ones to buy.
I can't show the other ones that I ended up buying, because they are supposed to be gifts.

Now comes the really strange part: My English exam was a text commentary and the title of the newspaper article was "Lessons in human buy-ology" by Vicki Haddock. The article was mainly saying that we buy too many things and we use shopping as sort of a very questionable "therapy". Can you tell that this is very true for me? Shopping does make me happy and I use it for lots of different reasons. It's definately time for me to think about the reasons why I buy things more often. So thank you Vicki, I learned my lessons. Oh, but I already bought some other things that I didn't receive yet (BEFORE I read the article!), so they don't count, right?

Guess what else I got and what was totally for free! The wonderful Riccarda nominated me! I am now officially a We all saw that coming, right? I mean it was just a matter of time...

No, for real: Thank you so much Riccarda. I feel very honored and I discovered my nomination at exactly the time when I needed it.

Edit: I just found Vicki Haddock's article here if you want to read it.

Paris!

We were in Paris! As I said before it was amazing. Of course we had to "climb" the Eiffel Tower, but after three days of walking, walking and walking there was no way I would actually use the stairway.
Lots and lots of wonderful impressions. I already regret not taking even more pictures. Everything is so pretty! Three days were not nearly enough. The only thing I didn't like about Paris is that it is really hard to find restaurants that will have something vegan on the menu. Luckily we found a great vegetarian Indian restaurant the very first day and also some very nice falafel places.
Can you believe I didn't buy anything except for one skein of cotton/SeaCell? Me neither! No time for shopping at all, but I was more than fine with that.

Guess where we went!

Can you tell where we went by this picture? All I'll say right now is that it was great. We had a splendid time. When I got told where we'd go, I wasn't THAT exited. There would have been lots of places I would have rather gone, but now I must say Carsten chose the perfect city.

Still I was glad to come home to this: