a cat nap

Last weekend there was a flea market in the neighborhood.  Look what I bought for my 2 darling cats : a new sleeping place. 

This is a 2-storey apartment.  One cat can sleep downstairs, and the other one holds residence on the first floor.
 
In cat psychology, the superior cat (the one who can sleep on the heighest place) is actualy superior (the alpha cat).  Little white princess Misty is clearly the superior cat here.... 

a room with a view for Spirou

death of a star

Through all the information about the horrible deaths in Norway, another news item caught my ear : Amy Winehouse is found dead in her appartement....
It made me feel so sad. 
Such a troubled young person, I can't stop wondering about this frail little singer with the enormous voice that captured so many people's hearts.
Underneath all that make-up was a gifted young girl, with one of the best voices of this decade. 
It makes me sad when I think of all the beautiful potential songs we are missing out on now that she's no longer around to sing them.
Fare well Amy, rest in peace.

some new summer dresses

The sun is supposed to shine, but instead it's a becoming a typical Belgian summer : gray and dull weather, rain, clouds, and temperatures not rising above 18°C.  Only the brave are on the beach, and fully clothed as well.   
To keep my spirits up, I have made some summer dresses, in flower power colours.  Sitting here, at my kitchen table, sewing and ironing, it feels like a winter holiday. 
Who or what do we have to offer to the sun goddess so that she will remember to shine on our little spot on this earth ?
Any suggestions ?

Here are the dresses, in different stages of completion.

I bought 2 patterns from burda

Love the fabric, makes me feel rock 'n roll

dress nr 1 is finished !

dress nr 2 is lined with cotton, I can wear it now.

I like the little bows at the top

cut on the biais - flattering for any girl !

fimo necklace #005

 A funky necklace, to wear in the sunshine.  Next week, when all the rain has gone....

This new fimo necklace was inspired by the book from Sophie Arzalier.

I used fimo balls, in various marbled colours, and I made small cube shaped beads to, with a fimo cane.  A super technique that I want to experiment further with.
I used a lot of left over beads, that matched in shape and colours.  It is a long necklace, I can twist it around my neck about 3 times.  Or let it hang long, depending on what I'm wearing.
The basic colours are pink, light green and light blue. 

colours are too blue, due to bad camera...

I made it extra long, lots of beads went into it

I can wear it 3x around my neck

a summer feeling created by a funky colourscheme

gebreide sjaal met regia wol

I have knitted another scarf, in Regia handdyed wool.
the pattern is from Veritas.  It was very easy to knit and I like the strange shape.

In het magazine dat de winkelketen Veritas samen met het magazine Libelle maakt, stond een mooie rode sjaal. Het bijzondere aan de sjaal was het asymetrische : de ene kant is veel langer en smaller dan de andere kant.

Hij is afgewerkt met een mooie open ajourrand.  De wol is van Regia, eigenlijk is dat sokkenwol, maar je kan die dus ook voor ander mooi werk gebruiken. 

een heel mooi kleurenverloop

hier hangt-ie op de waslijn, om het model te tonen

de ajourrand wordt achteraf aangebreid

noro scarf - free pattern

When we were at stoffenidee for WWKIP day, I bought 2 skeins of Noro wool. And although it is summertime, I have knitted another scarf.  It was a pattern I have seen on many blogs, a wavey kind of pattern, with a few little openings in it so that it looked lacey.
I figured out how to knit this. 

4 nld repeat, creates this soft wavey effect

I love the noro colours, how they appear while you knit

a very easy pattern !

I used needles nr 8, to create a soft loosely knitted scarf.

I cast on 28 stiches  (My 28 stiches formed 20 cm, a good width for a scarf )
Knit a few rows   (I did 4)

then the pattern repeats itself in 4 rows.

row 1 :  knit
row 2 : knit 2 (creates a ribbed border)  purl to the last 2 stiches, knit 2 (creates ribbed border on other side)
row 3 : knit 2, K2Tog,  K2Tog,  4x (Yarn over, knit 1) , 4x  K2Tog, 4x (Yarn over, knit 1), K2Tog, K2Tog, knit 2.
row 4 : knit

You repeat these 4 rows as often as you like, until the scarf is the lenght you desire.  End with a couple of knitted rows to create a ribbed border.

Because of the knitted stiches on both sides, and the knitted borders at the beginning and the end of the scarf, it will not curl , but stay flat.  You probably won't even have to steam of block it. 

Another plus is that you don't have to purl a lot in this pattern.  I don't like to purl, I prefer to knit.  How funny is that ?

Because I wanted an extra accent in my scarf, I used a different wool for the rows 1 and 4.  They form a wavey rib, in a different colour.  But you can use the same wool of course, but you might need 3 skeins of wool then. You could even use a very different wool altogether, to create  a more accentuated wave.

It is a very quick and easy knit, I finished it in a couple of evenings.  

For the duch speaking people : this is the translation of the pattern :

Zet 28 steken op (ongeveer 20 cm) en brei enkele naalden rechts. 

Het stekenpatroon herhaalt zich over 4 naalden : 

nld 1 : brei rechts

ndl 2 : brei 2 steken rechts, 24 st averechts, brei de 2 laatste rechts. 

nld 3 : 2 st rechts, 2 x 2 steken samen breien, 4 x (1 omslag, 1 rechts), 4 x 2 steken samen breien, 4 x (1 omslag, 1 rechts) , 2 x 2 steken samen breien, 2 rechts. 

nld 4 : brei rechts

Brei tot de gewenste lengte, brei dan enkele naalden rechts en kant af. 

Veel plezier ermee !

breiclub gaat met vakantie

In de zomermaanden is de breiclub even met vakantie, om vanaf septembr opnieuw van start te gaan  Prettige vakantie aan iedereen !