Musings on creating art

Robert says that you should know how to draw/paint realistic figures and only then you can start with unrealistic ones. I don't agree.
I feel I want to express some thoughts and I need multiple colours and patterns in my picture. And it really doesn't matter to me whether the girl figure will be as perfect as the ancient Greek statutes or just a funny sketch - both have their plus points.
Maybe if I knew all the tricks of drawing people in a realistic way, it would be easier for me to transfer into the imaginary shapes. But it requires long hours of practicing, and I don't have that time.
All right, I have all the time in the world, but I don't have that patience. It's hard for me to concentrate on some boring tasks for longer, I always multitask, whatever I do. So just sitting and covering the pages with pictures of a hand seen from million different angles is not for me. Or should I make myself to practice? What do you think?

When I was buying the books for my journal pictures, the man talked to me about the music notes book I chose, and how lucky I am that I can find many notes for piano (as it was it), and his son plays trumpet and he cannot find any books with trumpet music... If only he knew what I was going to do with the book (=tear, cut into pieces, draw in it, paint all over it, ect)!... I smiled, said that I don't play the piano, paid and quickly vanished into the unknown... *^v^*


I've been thinking about the Moleskin notebook, it's soooooo fashionable and everybody wants it, and it's probably very convenient for an art journal (with its thick pages, contrary to my cheap exercise book I bought at the supermarket 'school-is-coming' stall, that curl every time I paint with watercolours on them, even with a thick layer of gesso, well... I didn't think it through...).
But I believe I'd be completely overwhelmed by its presence, especially when I see many very professional drawings in Moleskins all over the Web. I wouldn't place a single line in it, I'd just stare at it and pat the cover. ^^
Let's stick to less intimidating notebooks and canvases.

Talking about the canvases - I'm slightly mad, but I ordered a canvas and a bottle of an acrylic varnish. I'll be painting a birthday picture for my best friend Anna next week! *^v^*
Isn't it totally crazy of me? But I have everything planned, I pictured everything in my mind so I know exactly what I want to paint. I have some aids to be incorporated into the picture (like white lace or an Edgar Allan Poe's book of short stories!), and it'll be colourful, textured and beautiful!
That's the plan! *^v^*

For Helene - on my trip to Norway -> in 2004 we started in Sweden, Karlskrona, where we arrived in the evening and spend the night at the natur kemping. Then went up North through Vaxjo and Jonkoping to Uddevalla (we didn't spend any time there, just passing with one night at the camping) and across the border with Norway, to Moss and by ferry to Horten, where we stayed for a few days at the Viking market at Borre. In Horten I met a very nice old men at the post office, who placed a special stamp on my postcards so they could reach their destinations faster and not being thrown into the fjord straight away! (Yeah, I knew it was a joke and he was a real gentleman. *^v^*) Then we went to Oslo for a day and spent the night at the camp site nearby Oslo. And that's it, really, the next day we went back to Sweden and wandered a bit around on our way back to Karlskrona. Frankly speaking, we didn't visit much, but saw a lot of highways! ^^ It must be repeated more properly in the years to come!

SuziBlu commented on my blog!

That's what I shouted (just in my mind, to myself ^^) last night, when I read Suzi's comment! *^v^* She is my painting guru (right next to Irisz Agocs, the watercolors goddess! ^^), my latest inspiration, the source of courage for the artist in me.
And she's the girl with a cat, so I can feel the sisterhood between us. ^^
That's as if you'd be a knitter and would get a comment from Yarn Harlot or Eunny Jang. ^^ At least that's how I see it.

I've been working on my journal pages last night, mainly preparing the colourful backgrounds for the future spreads, but I finished one page, which can be regarded as a response to d'Blogala's today prompt: Your dream place to live.

I know you know that it's Scandinavia for me, and I got inspired by the piece of paper with Norwegian frimerkene (post stamps, only one was left, the rest went on postcards to our families when we were in Norway in 2004 on our honeymoon) I found in my wallet.
I also put a photo of myself looking at the panorama of Oslo and some memories: do you know that I ate sushi in Oslo for the first time in my life? ^^


On the knitting front: I got the first clue on the Secret of Chrysopolis Stole and started knitting - I'm using the blue yarn from my stash. It will probably go to one of my aunts as a Christmas gift.


And talking about cats, my cat is getting cuter and cuter everyday, and she spends more and more time in my lap, does this mean the Winter is going to be severe, or what?...

This and that

Nei, Helene, norsk er erkelt! Eller det er ikke sa vanskelig, compared with some other languages I've learned so far, like Russian or French. ^^ I just need to learn a lot of words. ^^
Thanks for the TV link, I'll watch it even if I won't understand most of it, I will listen to the pronunciation, that's a great learning aid! *^v^*


Fashion Challenge - day 7 (which was on Monday, but I didn't post the photo yet).
- black top, H&M
- dress I made last Winter
- Drops Jacket I knitted
- tights & shoes

It was fun to look through my clothes and see what I made/re-made, I may repeat this challenge next Summer, when there are warmer days for sleeveless dresses and tank tops with skirts! ^^ (Unless I make/remake a whole bunch of long sleeve blouses up till then, you never know! ^^).

Here is the shot of me wearing my Drops Jacket, taken at my parents' place.


Today I went shopping and visited a Second-Hand Books shop, where I bought some old tattered books for my art journal - I've never tried to add any book scraps to my pages, it might give a whole new range of possibilities, yikes! ^^ I must say I'm really into the drawing and painting again, but I must flip through my teenage pencil sketches and find the courage to doodle more, to let the shapes and colours flow freely from my fingers... I'll be working on it this weekend. ^^

Just when did we stop being artists?...

Or, when did we start judging what we create and reject it as not good enough?...

Remember, when you were a child and you sat in front of a piece of white paper - you would TRY everything - crayons, paints, nail polish, smudging with fingers, stamping with a carved potato, gluing scraps on, stenciling, blue horses and green piglets, anything was possible and perfectly used in your art piece.
And it was good.
And I'm not talking about the mama's and auntie's comments of how great your art was - because they said it not because they liked what you did but because that's what you say to a small child. And it's fine, encouragement is a great thing!

But I'm talking about the COURAGE to TRY anything and NOT BEING SCARED of every line or colour. And NOT COMPARING our works with the works of others. The moment we learned to compare, we lost the ability to create. We started to think our art's not good enough.

I have to RE-LEARN those skills once more, because I lost them, too. I was drawing quite a lot when I was a teenager, and every time I was drawing, I heard my parents say: "She's playing." opposite to "She's learning." Playing was wrong, childish, silly, learning was good, goal-oriented, proactive (oh, how I hate that word!...).
I never drawn realistic figures or landscapes because I didn't know how. I never attended any art school or course. Perspective was one big mystery to me (it still is up till now, but I'm not bothered anymore!.. *^v^*). I was just taking a pencil in my hand and sketching something, adding new elements, smudging the shades with my fingers. But the more I compared my art with others' the more I didn't like it, and gradually I drawn less and less, and then I stopped drawing.
Now, my revelation moment --> Because I felt I wasn't good enough in CREATING, I took up RE-CREATING, I mean, the cross-stitching and sewing. When you do the cross-stitching or sew something from the Burda pattern, you don't really make something from scratch - I mean from the very scratch, you repeat the given pattern - yes, you may use different colours or fabrics/buttons, but the result will be very similar to the original.

When I started my art journal and saw many art journals of yours, I realized I CAN create art. Even if it's only in my journal, just for me to flip through the pages in a year or two (or 10! ^^), and see what was happening in my life then.
And I noticed that the more I paint/write in my journal,, the more ideas come to me day by day. They may not be the "Mona Lisa" ideas or "Guernica" ideas, but they fill the pages of my journal as I go through another day. ^^
I may even share with you some of my teenager drawings, I just have to scan them once more (I somehow lost the previous scans)... ^^


Now, off to my journal pages:
First of all, I made some new artistic aids - I bought a bunch of the cheapest rubbers and cut them out into stamps: numbers and some basic shapes! *^v^*
(I also bought the date stamp but for this one I'll have to wait a bit till it comes by post).

Beginning of this post in my journal. *^v^*

I would soooo like to live according to those wise words, so I put them into my journal so I could go back to this page and remind myself about this TRUTH! ^^
The lady is glued here, but I added her some wings so she could fly when no one's watching her at the moment. *^v^*

I saw this view from my bedroom window, on Saturday morning when Robert got up and removed the curtains - the curtain of leafy green and gold! ^^

You cannot see it properly but it has "math" written all over with a grey metallic gel pen. I've always loved math, I wonder why I never followed its path...

This is my response for the prompt from d'Blogala, "what I want to be when I grow up".

Here is the story of my life: "All my life I lived on the 8th floor, I could have my windows wide open and even without the curtains if I wanted. Now I live on the ground floor, trees block the light in my bedroom and people keep staring into my living room. I need air..." It's all true...

And here was my working space from yesterday - at that moment it was on my bed. Can you see my new plastic container for the paints? I must keep the stuff organized, definitely in containers, in other case things start crawling around the flat and it's getting really messy. ^^
Also, on the lid of the box, just above my journal, there are my brand new rubber stamps - I'm very happy with how they work! I tried to make a stamp out of a wine cork but it just crumbled in my hand. And here, the cheapest possible rubbers and what a result! *^v^*


Learning Norwegian makes me very frustrated...
Why?
Because I forgot how it is to LEARN a new language. I forgot the painful beginnings, when you know what to say but don't know how to say it in a new language... When I read the English texts I understand 100% or 90 %, when I read Norwegian blogs, I catch single words - "I", "have", "no", "eat", but the rest is still unclear to me. I know it's always like that at the beginning, it's normal, it's called "learning". But it makes me angry and gives me the kick to learn more.
I really must start memorizing the dictionary, or something... *^v^*

One more thing - thank you guys for your kind offers to buy me Patons knitting book, but I thought things through and I've come to some conclusions: I really really cannot buy any pattern book I spot on the Internet, because:
1. I planned to buy Rowan 41&42 and recent IK, so I must save money on these first,
2. it's not a good idea to buy many patterns and then let them stay untouched for eternity, because I have only 2 hands and 24 hours per day.

I did some cleaning with knitting projects today - I finished the Zebra socks (photos soon) and frogged the Ukrainian Socks from "Folk Socks" (wrong gauge, I may come back to them one day).
I also tried to knit a bit of the Mystery Stole III, but something happened and I was one stitch short in a row I was knitting. I just added one stitch but then I was again one stitch short in the next row. What the heck?... I'm doing something wrong, and I haven't figured out what it was. Phew...
Looks like it's high time for another cardigan! *^v^* (next week - yarn shopping! ^^).

Texture is my middle name

Now, this really made my day!
Although I was generally pleased with the Purple Belle, the button band crisis took away some of the pride and joy of knitting that cardigan. But with Drops Jacket it's a completely different story! *^v^*
I am as happy as a peccary in a monsoon, as my friend used to say. ^^
I love everything about this cardigan:
- the rough texture of the recycled wool yarn (rather uneven threads, so it stayed uneven even after wet blocking, but I love it!),
- the off-white/ecru colour,
- the high collar (I just couldn't get the directions on the collar so I gave up and made my own version, love it! ^^),
- the thrifted leather buttons I bought last week (I checked - the price for those three buttons used here was about 25 cents! *^v^*),
- the length of the sleeves = veeeery long - I was afraid I didn't have enough yarn for the long sleeves but I still have quite a lot left, yikes! ^^
- the Double Moss pattern
- the speed of knitting with bulky yarn - 12 stitches per 4 inch and 7 mm needle, started last Wednesday, finished on Sunday, give me more patterns like this! ^^
I made one change - I moved the buttons towards the edge because it would be too tight on my bust if I had them further into the lapel, as in the design. But I think it makes and interesting symmetrical front. I thought about knitting the pockets but in the end I decided they would spoil the shape.

Next sweater project - it was supposed to be Starsky, but it depends on the yarn I'll be able to buy (I'm going shopping next week). If I get some nice white wool, it'll be this one, and if there is a stunning green yarn - I'll start Mariah. ^^ Plus I'm going to buy black wool for a turtleneck for Robert (promised some time ago, so It's high time I started it...).


Linguistics again: Hilde, thank you very much for your help, but your comment brought up another question - I assume that one house is hus but on Wiktionary I found the following possibilities:

hus n. (definite singular huset; indefinite plural hus; definite plural husa/husene)
So, huset = the house, hus = houses, husa/husene = the houses, am I right? Why those two forms - husa and husene?

I'm lost again...

And art journal pages later, because they deserve a separate post. *^v^*

While waiting for the jacket to come...

Fashion Challenge - day 6
(I know, I didn't post a photo yesterday, but I didn't leave the flat at all and the day was lazy, so I wore a tracksuit pants and white tank top all day...A girl needs a break from all that fashion, you know... ^^)I got tired of the stiff serious poses! *^v^*
- Tomato top knitted by me, Knitting Daily pattern
- cotton skirt sewn by me ages ago
- red knee-high socks and shoes
- Creative MuVo (in my hand) with a Norwegian language course on it! *^v^*


Linguistic question: how can you say in Norwegian: "Let's eat at my place/at your place." There is a phrase in my course that sounds like "hus mi/hus di" but I'm not sure if that's the correct way of saying it. (I assumed it because hus=house, please help!). ^^


Tomorrow I will show you my finished Drops Jacket (oh, I cannot wait!), and maybe tomorrow I'll post some art journal pages I've been working on for the last several days (and my new art supplies box I bought today! ^^).

One more thing: in case you want to watch something really cool, see the Black Sheep movie! It's great! Knitters will love it, it's all about the sheep! And zombies. I mean, sheep zombies!... *^v^* Really! ^^

Blocking and still knitting

Yeah, I'm becoming more and more creative with titles... ^^

Anyway, I finished the body parts of the Drops Jacket last night and started the sleeves. Most probably I'll have enough yarn to knit the long sleeves, but I'm not sure, time will tell.
Here is my jacket blocking:
FC - day 5
- the blouse I painted with fabric paints, the pattern is from Emily the Strange (I think it's time to put a second coat of paint, it almost faded...)
- cotton skirt I sewn ages ago
- red knee high socks & shoes

I definitely have one more blouse and then I'm out... Unless I make something today or tomorrow, (or repeat myself with some top), on Monday I'm not wearing anything on my upper body... *^v^* (there are still some skirts I made to choose from).
Virtuous, thank you for the link, I visited her blog once or twice, very inspiring!

Still knitting

Rho, I believe all colours are to choose from, but the freedom of choice is important (it sounds very American-like, freedom of choice, wow! *^v^*) If I wore those clothes to my office back then, it would be regarded as highly inappropriate and I'd be perceived as a bad worker. Which is stupid! Some people like red and some like grey, and that's fine! I remember that my friend who also liked colours and patterns, had a strategy - to wear the most colourful shawls and scarves with the boring office uniforms, and I took it after her! *^v^*

A knitting question: do you know where I could get Debbie Bliss or Patons pattern books from? Maybe some online shop on Germany, UK or Scandinavia that would send it to Poland?
I'd love to get Debbie Bliss: Alpaca Silk Two and Pattons Street Smart.

FC - day 4, I'm wearing:- MM altered t-shirt (to be frank I'm running out of blouses...)
- denim skirt I made from a pair of jeans
- Scarf for Ally I knitted
- red tights and shoes

I went for a blouse hunting today but I had only one second-hand shop on my route and there weren't any good tops to buy (neither ready to wear nor for any reconstruction).
But, for a stunning price of 1,5 USD I bough two sweaters for yarn! *^v^*
First I spotted this rainbow mohair one, rather itchy but I thought about some lacy shawl? (It's not very big, so a shawlette. ^^)
Then I found this gem - wool cables! It's handmade (both are), in a beautiful dark teal colour (my camera changed the colour somehow, you have the real colour in a small box in the right hand corner), with several leather buttons.
Unfortunately it's too small for me, but I'll frog it and turn it into some new cardigan, maybe Blackberry? *^v^*
EDIT: I tried to unravel this cardigan and it turned out that it's very heavily eaten by moths and felted here and there. Well, at least I got 9 leather buttons in a perfect condition for about 75 cents! ^^
Drops Jacket has a left front ready, yikes! ^^ but it turned out too long, I have to frog a bit and check why it happened. ^^ Diddlinaknits, I have the gauge of 12 stitches per 4 inch, I think it's bulky.

One more thing: I remember that ages ago I promised a tutorial on making the summer parasol, and I haven't forgotten it, I just have to finish some details! Be positive, if not this Summer, it will be ready for the next one! *^v^*
(No, I'm kidding, I'll post about it very soon! ^^)

FC day 3 and some knitting

I started this last night and four hours later I had this - a finished back of my Drops Cardi! *^v^*
It's really difficult to work with this wool (I took some breaks because my fingers hurt!) but I like the speed of this knitting, yikes! ^^

Fashion Challenge - day 3:
- red men's t-shirt, reconstructed by me
- skirt reconstructed from a thrifted dress
- denim jacket with lace added by me (I know, it's a bit cheating but it's really getting cold here and I seem to be missing long-sleeved tops made by myself!...)
- Candle Flame shawl knitted by me
- fingerless gloves knitted by me
- red stockings and shoes

I'm doing a wardrobe check out today! What to wear, what to wear?...

FC - day 2

A Friend to knit with, I think you can wear a scarf with anything! *^v^*

FC - day 2, I'm wearing:
- MM t-shirt, reconstructed by myself
- skirt sewn ages ago
- vest knitted by me (my first thing ever knitted! ^^)
- tights & shoes

I started my Drops Jacket this evening and it's so hard to work with 7mm needles and this thick wool... Well, I hope the result will be satisfactory.

Fashion challenge

Inspired by the idea of amazing Jodi Green's (check out her blog!) I decided to set my own small fashion challenge:
I'm going to try to wear ONLY things I made or reconstructed myself, for 7 days in a row, starting today.
(excluding underwear, tights and shoes)

We'll see how it goes, especially when the weather gets worse (I hope it won't or else I'll have to make myself a warm jacket or something... Or something water-proof).
Todays outfit:

- thrifted top reconstructed by me (it was a bit too small)
- skirt I sewn ages ago
- Breeze anklets I knitted
- Clapotis shawl I knitted (out of the same cotton yarn, yikes! ^^)

I've been working on my Mystery Cables sweater for the last few days and it seems that it was a wasted time... I totally don't like how the cables look, it's probably the yarn (cotton), so I'm going to leave it for a while and think about it, and maybe come back to it one day or frog it and start again with some new yarn.

On Monday I've been frogging an old wool pullover I got after some auntie, and today I'll be washing the yarn and preparing it for the new project - the Garnstudio jacket.
I hope I have enough!... ^^

Walkathon

On Saturday we took part in the Walkathon - the charity action by Ecco company, carried out in some European cities. We walked for 10 km and in this way raised some money for the children with Cystic Fibrosis.

Me before the start.
Robert and Peter.
Start of the 10 km walk.
There were stands with writing in Polish, English, Swedish and like here - Danish.
There were thousands of people walking!
Here is some traditional Polish snack we bought on the way - they're called obwarzanki, and they are semi-sweet tough bread cakes. I love them!
There is still about 5 km to go! ^^
Of course we made it to the finish and had some barbecued meat and beer after all that walking! *^v^*
I didn't know I'd be able to walk for 10 km, it seemed like a lot! But I was. ^^
Sunday is for resting.

New Knitty, Magknits, Anticraft

New Knitty is up!
I like:

Muir lace shawl, it looks like leaves on the water...
Cherie Amour sweater, but not in a variegated yarn version!
Neiman has a nice patterned yoke and is done in a brown/blue combination, which has appealed to me recently
Totally Autumn shawl - I'm tempted to knit some big shawl/throw using thick yarn and needles! Lovely colour of the original.
Cinderella socks - interesting pattern
Woodins - knit yourself a wood log, why not?! *^v^*

Nothing interesting from Magknits and Anticraft for me.

Surplus Special finished! ^^

It was a quick project! I just knitted the sleeves, hemmed the rectangular fabric and put the two together.


Pattern: Surplus by Berocco
Yarn: "Zorza" by Anilux, 25% wool/75 % acrylic (2 skeins 100 g)
Needles: 4 mm
It can be worn in many ways, draped, closed at the front, open at the front, with a belt, I'm going to explore all the possibilities. ^^

And just look at the shopping bag I bought yesterday!... I love sea horses and I just couldn't go past this one and leave it behind! *^v^*
Mystery Cables started to grow last night, but for now it's only stockinette, and it will be for a while, first update on this one when it's worth it! *^v^*

Mondo Beyondo

First of all, thank you all for the compliments on my Purple Belle, I really am happy and proud with how it came out! My second sweater, who would have thought?... *^v^*

Which unfortunately means that the whole new world of pullovers, cardigans, blouses and tops have opened up in front of me, which you can tell from my Ravelry queue, well... Okay, some of them are there just for some inspiration, but most of them I really really want to make one day! ^^

I love all the memes and lists, and I found this great concept recently: The Mondo Beyondo list!
What is it? Let the author of this concept, Andrea, speak:

"This is the list of things that are outrageous, wild, and may not even happen for 5 or 10 years from now. This is the list of things that are SO JUICY and unlikely to happen that you are afraid to even write them down. This might be the most important list of all!
{This is where the trip to Tibet goes, the gallery show for your paintings, meeting your favorite movie star, owning a home in Switzerland, or whatever makes you grin and feel jazzy just thinking about} If this list isn't really fun to make, you're not using your imagination. Think big! This is your mondo beyondo."

So, here is my mondo beyondo list:
- I will move out from where I am now and live in our own apartment or a house
- I will have a child
- and if not, I will understand and agree with the circumstances
- I will be debt-free
- I will live in Scandinavia
- I will have relaxing holidays every Summer and Winter
- I will speak Swedish and Norwegian fluently
- I will find a satisfying well-paid job
- I will create art and people will love it!
- I will stop worrying so much
- I will replace 50% of my wardrobe with things that are more according to my tastes (the other 50% is fine! ^^)
- I will get a funky haircut
- I will create more embroidered Wordpictures
- I will keep a regular art journal
- I will visit Japan
- I will loose weight
- I will stop worrying about keeping the appearances and live my life my own way
- I will practice yoga and bellydancing
- I will light more candles
- I will stop explaining why I like being a housewife and that it doesn't mean I sit on the couch all day
- I will find an inner child in me
- I will be happy!


I started a new knitting side project on Saturday - this is a quick one, because I'm knitting only two sleeves and I have about 30% done! ^^
It'll be a wrap based on the pattern from Berrocco's website, namely Surplus.

Remember when I showed you the fabric for the Gudrun Sjoden's inspired jacket? Well, it turned out that there isn't enough of it for a whole jacket so I decided to switch the idea and make another Sjoden's inspired wrap, and Berocco was kind enough to help me with the pattern! *^v^*

The sleeves have a nice rib pattern, are knit from the shoulders down and I'm again making them two at a time, so in a day or two I'll have them finished. Expect the finished garment sometime this week and then I'll cast on for the Mystery Sweater! ^^

(I cannot do it now because I need 4mm circular needle, occupied right now by the Surplus sleeves. It seems that I've recently been knitting only with this needle, strange...).
And I'm using the purple Zorza yarn, first, because it goes well with the fabric, and second, because I still have lots of it, I only used 4,5 skeins for my Belle, and I bought 10 skeins at a wholesaler - now I know where the excessive stash comes from!... ^^ The rest I'll be using for the Christmas knitted gifts for my family.

Purple Belle assembled!

Ta da! *^v^*
I finished her last night!

Frankly speaking, sewing it together wasn't as difficult as I thought, when I got to know the technique, mattress stitch became my best friend! I put some links at the end of this post that show stitching methods.

I knitted the collar a bit wider than the patterns says, about 8 cm, because it didn't work well when it was thiner. I also recommend very loose bind-off of the collar.

I'm very happy with the length of the cardigan, although as you can see, I had to knit quite a long part of the single cable in the upper part of the peplum (and my torso is normal length) - I have no idea how the model in the photo can have such short peplum, she must be a child, not a grown up woman.

I'm glad I added some rows to the sleeves, because they fit just fine, if I sticked to the recommended length they'd be 3/4 which is no good in the sweater.
On the other hand, I wanted the sweater to be snug around the bust, which resulted in the ugly front part of the button band, opening itself. I definitely must change it, I've been thinking about two solutions: 1. several clasps or press-studs instead of 2 buttons, or 2. turning the cardi into a pullover, sewing it up at the front. I'll check if I can buy some nice clasps and then decided what to do.

Details:
pattern: Vogue Knitting Anniversary edition - online free pattern
yarn: "Zorza" by Anilux, wool/acrylic blend
needles: 4 mm circulars, 60 cm long
started: 3rd August
finished: 7th September

I absolutely was able to knit this quicker, I just got distracted by other things, well... But it turned out that knitting a sweater doesn't take as long as I thought (= ages!...). And it wasn't some stockinette mindless job, it was looking-at-the-charts-all-the-time project, but it was relatively easy and intuitive.
My Belle is not perfect but I love her anyway! *^v^*

Here is me wearing my Belle this morning:

Here are the sewing techniques:
mattress stitch
several techniques (grafting, mattress, ect)
mattress stitch on stockinette pieces and garter pieces by Theresa from Bagatell::Knitting in Norway

At last!...

Yesterday was cold and sunny, today is cold and it's been raining heavily since early morning. I love Autumn anyway! ^^


Nobody told me that it's so much fun!...



Yes, I finally got my Ravelry invitation, let me know, if you're there and I'll add you to my friends! *^v^*

And I'm stitching my Purple Belle together this afternoon. ^^

I bought myself...

... a pair of new shoes last Saturday! *^v^*



These are for my walking practice, because I really had no shoes like that and I walked in some old ones that gave me blisters. Well, not anymore, they are very comfortable and I predict a long and loving relationship between us! *^v^*



In two weeks time me and Robert are going to take part in a sports event with a charitable goal - Ecco Walkathon. We've registered today and the walk is on Saturday, 15th September.

The idea in short is that Ecco pays 4 PLN for every 1 km of every participants' walk to one of three charities selected by them (you have to declare to which one).

The route of the 10 km walk is situated along the pretty Warsaw streets and parks, and there will be lots of interesting things happening as we walk (so they say on their website). So, it will be a nice September Saturday morning, I hope! *^v^*


Purple Belle
I have finished both sleeves and they are blocking now. No photos, because my camera does some strange things with the colour of my Belle, and pieces blocked are not that interesting after all - what's more interesting is the final result! ^^ I even bought the buttons today.
All what's left is to sew them into the sleeve form, sew them with the peplum, knit the missing parts of the peplum and the collar. Sounds like not much, right? But the sewing knitted pieces together is my biggest fear...
Can you recommend to me any good tutorial on-line, please?

My Mystery Stole 3 also grew, and I believe I can finish it soon, especially as I joined two more mystery stole KALs...
Yes, I'm thinking about the Christmas gifts for my family.


These are Secret of the Stole and Secret of Chrysopolis. The latter is in German, but I hope for the English translations of the pattern and I'm sure I can always just stick to the charts, these are very international! *^v^*.
Both KALs start around the end of September/beginning of October, so there is still plenty of time for you to join, too! ^^

I'm also thinking about the new Mystery Sweater that I'm going to design for myself - I'm not sure whether it works so no details this time, but
- it will be made out of the orange cotton I bought for the Tomato, but dyed later into amaranth or violet,
- it will have low neckline,
- long sleeves with cable pattern
- and some other cable under the bust and around the waistline.
At least, that's the plan! *^v^*
I'm starting to swatch as soon as the Purple Belle is finished, which probably means some time this week, I hope! ^^

I'll leave you with photos of my two Saturday outfits (I haven't taken the photos of myself for a while, well... either I forgot or I didn't have anything interesting on.)

Morning clothes when we went shoe shopping and evening outfit for a party at our friend's, all of this is thrifted apart from the new shoes (Hi-Tech), orange sweater (Re-reserved), green scarf (Indian shop), jewelery and the bag I made (but it's from a thrifted trousers, so maybe it shouldn't count? ^^).