Author Archives: Sade

E is for Emotions

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Emotion \E*mo”tion\, n. [L. emovere, emotum, to remove, shake, stir up; e out + movere to move: cf. F. [‘e]motion. See {Move}, and cf. {Emmove}.] A moving of the mind or soul; excitement of the feelings, whether pleasing or painful; disturbance or agitation of mind caused by a specific exciting cause and manifested by some sensible effect on the body.

two little cute teddies

How many things can trigger emotions? This, for instance, is a pressent, that brings memories to me, and that touches me and moves me deeply. And there are a hundred other things that have that effect on me. Big or small, cheap or expensive, bought, handmade… It doesn’t matter, they leave me speechless.

What Makes Me Happy!

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When I first took up knitting, it was in my pre-internet era, so there were only magazines and help from my mother, who actually taught me to knit. I only made very easy things, since I didn’t have the resources to knit elaborated patterns.

Then the internet came into my life – that is, I got my own laptop, and I found that I could find more help and patterns and resources online. Happiness and bliss, there was a knitting life out there!

I started stalking personal blogs and specialized sites about knitting, and followed links around and about. I discovered new patterns, new techniques, and very helpful sites this way. I also found fiber related sites about fulling, diy tools, dyeing and spinning, and whatnot.

And so, I got the itches! I wanted to dye and I wanted to spin and I wanted to full… I wanted to try anything and everything fiber related. And thus we get to the present time: hereby I introduce you to my futute spinning wheel:

spinning wheel

This beauty is a Louët S15, made back in September 1982. It will come home (or more accurate, it will get to Jan’s place) in about ten days, together with Louët hand carders, an upright skein winder, and a spinning hook. We won this wheel off ebay this morning, around 4:45 am. But no, I didn’t stay up that late to bid on it, there is this little nice trick that … well you know ;) The fun thing is I had a dream where my non-existant wristwatch’s alarm went off and I was so excited about this exactly auction being finished then that I had to check. And then it’s when I woke up and went check that we actually won the auction.

I will have to wait until Easter break (for me, the week between the 8th and the 15th of April) when I will be going to visit over to Belgium and then I’ll be able to check this wheel out and get the groove spinning my first yarn! That will be fun :)

*Very Happy Sade*

Flash Your Stash! Or What Fabric I Bought.

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I went to buy fabric for certain sewing project I need for August. This will become re-enactment clothing for Jan and me, after some dyeing, cutting, sewing, embroidering and some more things. There is enough for a dress, a skirt, a tunic, a pair of trousers, and some handkerchiefs!

One little pile of linen fabric

another shot of such linen fabric

That pile of fabric has 7.5 m of light tan linen, 4.5 m of white and 3 m of chocolate brown 100% linen fabric, all 1.40 m wide. At only 4 euros per meter! And of the white, I only paid 4 of the 4.5 meters cause it was the end of the bolt!

*Happy Sade*

WIP: Branching Out

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This is my first attempt at knitting lace. Branching Out is a tested and long knitted pattern from Knitty. I’ve chosed a Katia yarn (Caricia, 100% merino, superwash, sock weight) in a lovely green to knit this pattern, and some 4.5mm needles I had laying around (a.k.a. I have no idea what brand are they cause they’re old). I’m into the seventh pattern repeat, and I like how’s it turning out so far:

branching out

The cards are 10cm on the long side, put them for scale. They help me keep track of the row I’m knitting!

Any input?

Sade

D is for Dreams

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Dream \Dream\ (dr[=e]m), n. [Akin to OS. dr[=o]m, D. droom, G. traum, Icel. draumr, Dan. & Sw. dr[“o]m; cf. G. tr[“u]gen to deceive, Skr. druh to harm, hurt, try to hurt. AS. dre[‘a]m joy, gladness, and OS. dr[=o]m joy are, perh., different words; cf. Gr. qry^los noise.]

  1. a series of mental images and emotions occurring during sleep
  2. a cherished desire
  3. imaginative thoughts indulged in while awake
  4. a state of mind characterized by abstraction and release from reality
D is for Dreams

As a kid I loved to make paper planes from old sheets of paper and day dream about becoming a plane designer. That’s what put me in the way to my actual studies, that drive me crazy some times and make me daydream even more. But I’m glad my childhood dream was encouraged instead of despised as a fantasy by my family. I had so many dreams as a child I don’t remember all of them, I only know some became real, some are in the process, and some where nothing but building castles on the clouds fantasies. And now that I’m slightly more grown up, I try to keep dreams alive, and put some more into my “treasure chest” of fantasies. The point? Dreams keep you going! Don’t stop day dreaming.

I was M.I.A. …

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Yes, I’ve been kind of MIA (Missing In Action) these last days, since I’ve been working over the exams and writing them and trying not to kill the lovely neighbours that decide that they need to have a nap with ugly music played way too loud. So well, what do you do when it’s totally impossible to study and/or you need a break? Knit! I’ve knitted on this pinwheel compulsively, and we have a finished object in less than a fortnight! That’s already a record for me, for such a big knit. So after the babbling, here I present you to the pinwheel blanket!

The Pinwheel Blanket
neatly folded
  • Pattern: Pinwheel Blanket from Knit List.
  • Yarn: Phildar Sport Laine, 51% wool, 49% acrylic. 3 skeins in Aviateur and 2 skeins in Fjord.
  • Gauge: about 15 stitches to 10 cm.
  • Neddles: 5mm aluminium Pony DPN’s (set of five) & 5mm Addi Bamboo Circular, 100 cm. long.
  • Finished Measures:Approx. 80 cm. in diameter. (haven’t got an accurate measure).

I decided to alternate colours to make it a little different. I knitted until about it was too hard to get more stitches on the circular needle, and then casted off in picot edge (bind off 2 stitches, *cast on 2 stitches, bind off 4 stitches*, repeat from * to * until the end).

[Edit:] Someone asked me on the Knitty Board how I managed to start this. So here comes my explanation. I casted on five stitches, and divided them on two DPN’s (two stitches on one, three on the other), joined and knitted the first round. Increased five stitches (for a total of ten) and knitted around and put the ten stitches on three DPN’s and worked with a fourth. I then worked in the row pattern stablished adding a fourth DPN when needed and then switching to the circular when I couldn’t work with the DPN’s any more. [End of Edit]

And now more pics:

laid flat the back

PS: I still need to block the heck out of it to make it lay flat, because like we all know, stockinette curls like mad!

Sade

As Per Request…

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I thus present to you the WIP called the pinwheel blanket (pattern here). I’m using two colours of the same yarn, and changing from one to the other when the skein is finished, this way the stripes will be all different.

Pic of it with just two stripes:

tahdah

Pics of it after the third ball was joined:

tahdah
tahdah

The request is fulfilled, I shall rest and knit now!

It Was Imbolc

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… and I was too busy to post about it. So two days late, but finally here.

This season belongs to Brigid, the Celtic goddess who in later times became revered as a Christian saint. Originally, her festival on February 1 was known as Imbolc or Oimelc, two names which refer to the lactation of the ewes, the flow of milk that heralds the return of the life-giving forces of spring. Later, the Catholic Church replaced this festival with Candlemas Day on February 2, which is dedicated to the Virgin Mary and features candlelight processions. The powerful figure of Brigid the Light-Bringer overlights both pagan and Christian celebrations.

To read more, visit: The Celtic Year: Imbolc

C Is For Communication

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Communication \Com*mu`ni*ca”tion\ (k[o^]m*m[=u]`n[i^]*k[=a]”sh[u^]n), n. [L. communicatio.]: Intercourse by words, letters, or messages; interchange of thoughts or opinions, by conference or other means; conference; correspondence.

communication

Communication is very important to me. I need to keep in touch with my family, my boyfriend, my friends, my boss, my teachers… Luckily now we don’t depend on letters only (which I love, btw), but have phones, and computers. Yes, I own two phones, one for when I live in Spain, and one for when I live in Belgium. And you can see my preciousss my laptop that is my main mean of communication (e-mail, irc, various IM programs..) and of work too.

WIP: Self Designed Shrug.

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What I’m working on right now is this self design. I’ve wanted a shrug for a long time already, since I love wearing short sleeve all year round, but sometimes I need the long sleeves. So I finally bought the yarn: Katia Himalaya, 50% merino, 50% acrylic, 86m per 100gr, in shade 47 (sort of faded blue jeans), and casted on 8mm needles and after many swatchs and maths I came up with this:

shrug

It’s an easy k2p2 ribbing, with decreases at the wrist, and shoulder shaping, all fitted to my long big arms and wide back – the joys of knitting yourself, it will fit. This is the first sleeve, I’ll work both from the cuff up and then draft them in the middle of the back. More pics when this is finished, and perhaps the pattern I did too.

Sade