Crazy day! ^^

I had a really crazy day today, running around Warsaw and buying different stuff (I bought myself a lipstick colour named "Goddess", wow!... ^^), and meeting people, and visiting beautician's, wow! ^^ The weather is really cold right now in Poland and you can feel the Winter approaching.

I met my friend Astarise, who is so wonderful and I am soooooo happy that we met about two years ago! ^^ She is very creative, has her unique Elegant Gothic Victorian style in everything she does - clothing, accessories, ect, she is crazy about Japanese j-rock (as I am! ^^) - I am really thankful that such people exist and that such person entered my life at some stage, because it would be incomplete without her! We may not meet too often, but whenever we do, we talk and talk and cannot part! *^-^*
Today she also gave me a birthday present - a cameo she's made herself, just look at that!

And I sell some of her creations in Atelier Bizarre - painted cameos and other gothic accessories.

Another news of the day: some time ago I ordered something on-line from Czech Republic (it was the closest shop with this produce I could find) but it was difficult for me to pay them so I asked my friend (who lives there and travels to Poland once a month) to go directly to the shop and pay for my item and bring it to Poland for me.
So, he went there today and my mystery item is already at his place!!! ^^
He's travelling to Poland on 14th November and I cannot wait to get my hands on what I bought myself! ^^
What is it?
Well, for now I'll just tell you that it's big and made of wood.
Any guesses? *^v^*
(Astarise, you cannot say a word because I already told you what it was!... ^^)

I've been making a lot of things recently but didn't have time to blog about them, so let's talk about some of them now.
First, several days ago I received a Stitch-and-Bitch calendar from Veronica, and it's great! ^^ I can't wait till January to start flipping page after page and read all the interesting stuff about knitting (but I will, I promise! ^^).


Then, I've been working on the update for my gothic on-line shop, but more about it soon (with pictures!).

I've done some naalbinding - my shawl is progressing and I really would like to have finished it till 25th November, because we are attending a battle event that day and it would be a great addition to my outfit (a very warm addition!). I also made a pair of socks for myself, and two pairs of mittens - we decided to visit Viking markets in Sweden (Foteviken and Malmo) or maybe even in Norway next Summer and I've started to prepare some merchandise! ^^
And I got my first naalbinding commision - a pair od socks for a friend from my group!


I'm also working now on two pouches, one is finished, just needs a lucet cord to close it with. ^^

I haven't told you yet but in the middle of October I started to host in my flat regular Wednesday meetings for the girls from my historical group - I called it The Town Housekeepers Circle. ^^ In short, we meet to craft-and-bitch, and we started with naalbinding classes. I want to learn and practice with them many historical crafts, and also bond more as if creating the female circle to remind us who we are in the historical context as well as in the contemporary world. I think the girls like it, and I definitely enjoy our meeting! ^^
There are four of us including myself, occasionally five (not all of the girls can visit me because they live in a town 50 km outside Warsaw). I like those meetings also because I have a practice of craft teaching - I'm going to host a basic naalbinding workshops in January.

On my first class I had:
- a girl who caught everything really quickly and was way ahead of the rest, so was waiting for me to show her the next steps while the other girls struggled with the basics (my friend Kate)
- a girl who was late and had to catch up, and then demanded a full undivided attention in the moments she got stuck on something, like "please, take a look at my sock right now!" (my friend Karolina)
- a girl who is right-handed in everything apart from handcrafts... so I had to try and teach her the Oslo stitch mirrored - in the end she decided to switch hands (my best friend Anna)

So, I had three different pupils and I got the hang of the teacher's job - I think that four people for my group will be enough - for me to be able to divide my attention properly and for the students to gain as much as possible from my knowledge and practice.


Now, on to things I haven't done...
Sadly, I didn't have time to finish my second OPAL sock, and even joining the Socktoberfest didn't help. Well, the weather is really chilly right now and I really could do with a pair of OPAL socks, but they just must wait till I have some free time (after the Atelier Bizarre's and folk gallery's updates).
I haven't finished birthday choker for Anna, but she has forgiven me and is now patiently waiting for it to be finished! ^^I haven't been knitting for about a week now, like... at all!... Weird, and I can feel the tingling in my fingers, so I expect to take up knitting any time soon! (as soon as I step away from my sewing machine! ^^)
Sadly also, I didn't knit a wonderful October bag in Bag Me KAL. I put this
pattern on my "to knit" pile and I will make it some time in the future.