Yoko Saito bag - beginnings

At the Paris fair, I have bought a book by yoko saito.  She makes the most wonderful bags, and has redefined the art of quilting. 

these bracelets are amazing too !

I was crazy about this bag :

it's all woven together (panier tressée in french)

Now I started with the beginnings.

I changed the dimensions a bit, I need a bag that can fit my files.

lots of fabric to sew

this part is fun : weaving like in kindergarden

this has taken me a whole morning !  I will continue on another day, it's time to take a break now.
I will keep you informed about the progress. 

knitting holiday

I'm going on a knitting holiday this summer !  The booking is made and confirmed, i'm so happy & excited !
it's in the Netherlands, and it's a week of workshops in the morning and nature walks in the afternoon.  I'm sure i'm going to like this !  it's called 'knitting in nature' and I hope we will have plenty of sunshine, so that we can enjoy knitting in the shade of the huge trees.

do check out the website : knitting in nature

blog award

thank you Geriene,  from Kidsdolls, for that award.  I'm very proud you chose me !

I 'm happy to pass it on to 5 other bloggers that have less than 100 followers.  Quite a difficult choice, but here they are :
 

uit het hobbytaske

smoek 

creariet 

marylena 

karin's keuns and bears

these blogs are very inspirational to me.  The things they create, the pictures they choose, but also the wrinting is very good, with humor, with style and witty.  they deserve a look around !

thanks again, Geriene.  it's my first award and I appreciate it very much.

a baby hat finished

I had bought these 2 colours cotton at Rebecca's and promised her to knit something withit, so she could present that in her shop.
I found a free pattern in ravelry, and this is the result.

I finished the top with an Icord

also Icord to bind together

I liked the 2 colour stripes

increases and decreases make the pattern

I also finished the second half of my 'Col Claudine'.   the silk is wonderful, so soft and easy to knit.
Now I have to find a nice sweater to match it. 

it is so soft

I like the romantic ribbon to close it

the paris craftfair " l' aiguille en fête"

some pictures...

huge fair ! And 'a fête' it was.

One of the first stands we saw, was displaying knitwear by Sophie Digard.   We couldn't resist taking a picture, but the salesladies got quite angry.   Pas de photo's !  olalala...

Walking about, we were astounded that so many Parisiennes were actually wearing a Sophie Digard scarf, although they are soooo expensive.
Wouldn't you want one too ?  I always think I'm going to make one myself.  I actually started one.  But it is so timeconsuming, and I am not so patient.

this is an incognito picture of  sophie digard stuff. 

 Next we halted at the stand of elle tricote.  Can you imagine wearing this gorgeous dress ?

Now how would this look on me ? 

 the scarf i'm showing is knitted in mohair.  1 skein is 1 km (yes !) of mohair.  It's the thinnest wool I've ever seen.  My sister has bought it, and will knit that scarf.  I wonder how it will knit.

there was also an exhibition of plaids and quilts.  This one I particularly liked, because it combined different crafts. It had lots of blues and earhtly colours, and some crochet was included. 

I love this quilted plaid.  It has crochet in it.

col claudine

In Paris, there was a stand from 'mercredi -cie'.  They had this wonderful little 'col claudine' that you could buy, either ready made or in a pack with wool, ribbon and pattern.  I couldn't resist.  Isn't it just a great fashion accessory to have ?  Very retro indeed.

I have finished half of it already.  It's very easy, even a beginner could knit this.  The other half is for tomorrow. 

The wool is half silk, which gives it a nice shine, and it's great to work with.
I can't wait to wear it !

a warm and colourful baret

A couple of months ago, I ordered a pattern for a nice baret via Riet . There were mittens too, in the same pattern.
But somehow, something always happened so that I couldn't finish it.  first, it took a while to receive the packet because of postal problems in Belgium, then I didn't have the right size needles. The craftshop was closed for holidays, so I had to use an old pair of circular needles but they broke.  I also needed to finish Xmas gifts, and the baret got stuck deep down in the knitting projects bag...
But now, finally, it is finished.

downloadable, excellent description

 
I loved knitting with the wool - Riet spins, and the pale wool she made. That colourful other skein changed colours every few rows, so that is a wonderful effect without any effort !
The pattern is very professional and well explained :  I didn't make any silly mistakes there.   I usually do, and hate to have to frog or to knit backwards..  :-( 
The most fun was the latvian braid - I had never done that before.  It's actually very simple, and the effect is so nice !  There are excellent tutorials on Youtube.

the top is a lovely star shape

I put a plate inside, to steam it

It is a perfect fit !

the latvian braids are at the cast on and halfway

just caught a little ray of sunshine !

Now, I still have to finish the mitts.   Shouldn't be a problem, and I sure can use them in this icecold weather. As you can see, the circular needles are too long for the mitts.  I started on regular needles (size 2.5)

Tomorrow I'm going to a huge craftfair in Parijs.  I'm going to look for a box of circular needles that have interchangeable cords.  I'm fed up with these cheap needles that I have.  The stiches get stuck, and if you pull too hard they break.  Buying cheap stuff isn't a good idea after all....

 I will keep you informed about the fair, and also about the mitts... !



 

tilda snowmen

My sister has been busy making some tilda snowmen.  She put them together to form a nice group.  Then she went to the secondhand store, and found an old 'virgin mary' glass dome.  That is a typical flemish thing I suppose.  Old people all had this somewhere in the house.  Anyway, she bought only the glass dome, and told the people she didn't need the mary figure.  That's my sister, not a religious bone in her body.
Now the snowmen are under the glass cupola, and sure - it is instant atmosphere in the house.

aren't we cute ? 

no longer naked !

At last, I have made a little dress for my handmade teddybear.

a real lady !

isn't she gorgeous now ?

I've been looking all over the internet for a nice pattern, but I suppose I'm very difficult.  Nothing that I really really like.  So the only solution is : make one yourself...
I got some quite old embroidery cotton, and I used a needle nr 2, very fine.
I started with the skirt in crochet.  then I picked up the stiches and continued for the body in knitting.  With  a little ajour so that I could add a ribbon.

Ok, this is what I like.  I feel like a fashion designer now.....