Let's continue with my big uncluttering. This time, I will introduce you to my project diet and you can even join in the accompanying link party.
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]]>So sieht er aus, der Moment, wenn meine “Bastel-Ecke” in sich zusammenfällt. Genau so, wie auf dem Titelbild.
Eigentlich ist der, ähm, Haufen immer ordentlich gestapelt. Der größte Teil macht tatsächlich angefangene Projekte aus. Und dann ziehe ich das eine oder andere hervor und ehe ich mich versehe, liegt der ganze Krams im Raum verteilt. Hier kommen also ein paar Probleme für mich zusammen:
Daher habe ich mich nun zu einer (Trommelwirbel!) PROJEKT-DIÄT entschlossen.
Einer was? Nun ja, der Begriff ist offensichtlich eine Eigenkreation. Mir geht es einfach darum, meine Projekte zu verdünnen.
Die Regeln, die ich mir dazu auferlegt habe sind ganz simpel. Ein Projekt nach dem anderen aufnehmen, auf der Webseite dokumentieren (Es gibt alle hier unter “Projekt-Diät” zu sehen) und dann beenden oder verwerfen. Bis dahin wird nichts neues angefangen. (Oh, die Qual! Nichts neues kaufen, auch wenn die Wolle noch so lockt … )
Ich habe mir da mal ein kleines Flow-Chart zusammengestellt, in dem ich Stück für Stück die angefangenen Projekte bearbeite.
Vielleicht ist das ganze ein bisschen drastisch. Allerdings habe ich schon die ersten Erfolge verzeichnet und Wolle bei uns im Haus verschenkt. Außerdem einen halb angefangenen Sweater in Socken umgewandelt, dazu gibt es aber an anderer Stelle später nochmal mehr dazu.
So, und jetzt zu dem schönsten Teil für euch: Ich kann mir vorstellen, dass es nicht nur mir so geht. Daher dachte ich mir, dass eine Linkparty zu dem Thema genau das richtige wäre. Deshalb gibt es an dieser Stelle jeden Monat eine Sammlung an Ideen, Vorschlägen, fertigen und angefangen Projekten.
Ich habe nicht viele Regeln für die Party, ich will vor allem durch euch motiviert werden und euch im Gegenzug motivieren. Daher könnt ihr alles posten, was irgendwie mit UFOs (unfertigen Projekten) zu tun haben, sei es eure eigener Kampf mit angefangen Projekten, wie ihr euch motiviert, diese fertig zu stellen und vor allem Erfolgserlebnisse fertiggestellter Projekte.
Viel Spaß damit und ich bin gespannt!
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]]>Noch eine Firmenfeier, noch ein Kleid. Diesmal gibt es ein Dirndl, dass ich inzwischen auch als Sommerkleid trage.
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]]>Ich habe mein 60er Kleid für eine Firmenfeier genäht und auch mein Dirndl fällt in diese Kategorie. Bei meinem neuen Arbeitgeber war die Feier auch unter einem Motto, diesmal “Oktoberfest”.
Ich habe erstmal stark überlegt, ob ich das denn wirklich machen will. So ein Dirndl ist ja nicht eben mal schnell genäht. Ich habe mich dann doch daran heran getraut und so hat es dann letztes Jahr Anfang November (die Feier war nicht wirklich zur Zeit des Oktoberfestes ) ausgesehen:
Erstmal habe ich mir Inspirationen gesucht. Es gibt ja so viele Möglichkeiten! Aber schnell wurde mir klar, dass mir am besten eine weiß-rot Kombination gefallen würde. So wie dieses “Sommerliches weißes Dirndl mit roter Schürze”. Und, oh ja!, auch die Stickerei sollte sein.
Was habe ich mir damit angetan? Nein, Spaß beiseite, so schlimm war es tatsächlich gar nicht. Zunächst wählte ich mir ein Schnittmuster aus und meine Wahl fiel auf dieses Dirndl von Burda. Für den oberen Teil besorgte ich mir ein wundervoll glänzendes Seidenmischgewebe bei Idee, für den Rock einen bestickten Batist bei Stoff & Stil und auch die Spitze der Schürze ist von dort.
Lindarella hat mir die Idee mit der Spitzenschürze gegeben. Das fand ich einfach toll und elegant und zu dem ziemlich weißen Kleid ein super Hingucker. Eigentlich habe ich ja mit einer ganz anderen Spitze bei Dawanda geliebäugelt, aber die war mir am Ende einfach zu teuer.
Bevor es nun ans Nähen gehen konnte, musste ich erstmal meine Stickereien vollenden. Dazu gab es wieder einmal eine Inspirationssuche. Ich habe mir dann die Stickerei vorgezeichnet und auf den entsprechenden Schnittmusterteil geklebt, genau da, wo die Mohnblumen (*räusper* Es sollen wohl Mohnblumen sein.) gestickt werden sollten. Dann ging es ans Sticken. Auch noch meine erste Stickerei dieser Art. Kreuzstich ist ja so viel einfacher!
Dann wollte ich die andere Seite sticken. Ich habe auch angefangen und war schon mit den Blättern fertig. Und soll ich euch was verraten? Dann stelle ich doch fest, dass ich die falsche Seite bestickt habe. Richtung Arm, statt Richtung Brustmitte. Zwei Stunden Arbeit um sonst. Aber es nützt ja nichts, durchatmen und von vorn anfangen.
Damit mir das nicht noch mal passierte, habe ich kurzerhand das Stück Schnittmuster eingescannt und spiegelverkehrt noch einmal ausgedruckt und schon hat man ein einigermaßen passables Ergebnis.
Dann ging es endlich ans Nähen und das Ergebnis seht ihr oben. Zum Nähen einer Bluse bin ich allerdings nicht mehr gekommen. Die, die ich auf dem Bild trage, habe ich mir ausgeliehen.
Nun bin ich ja aber kein Fan von Kleidung, die man nur zu diesen bestimmten Gelegenheiten trägt und dann alle zwei Jahre, daher ziehe ich das Kleid diesen Sommer ohne Schürze einfach als weißes Sommerkleid an. Ich habe dazu den Ausschnitt noch ein bisschen enger gemacht, es ist aber trotzdem immer noch freizügig genug.
Auch der Bund des Rocks gefiel mir gar nicht, der warf so viele Falten, das konnte ich nicht durchgehen lassen. Ich habe ihn daher letzte Woche gekürzt und eine rotes Schrägband als Abschluss gewählt. Hier seht ihr nun mein Sommerdirndl.
(Gut, dass ich den Rücken sonst nicht sehe. Da ist auch so eine Falte, die nicht hätte sein müssen. )
Das Kleid geht nun in meinem Koffer zum Me Made Mittwoch und wir sehen uns in einem Monat wieder.
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]]>Weren't the 60s a wonderful time? I feel quite often drawn back to them, the music, the styling, the dresses. Let's revisit the era with a quickly sewn A-line dress from Simplicity.
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]]>Here another confession: The sixties are my time. The mid-60s to be precise, just about the time beat music from the UK was big and hippies just started to conquer the world.
I guess I have to thank my father for that, growing up with Beatles songs, a Beatle inspired name (Derived from Julia Lennon. I am serious that is the source of my naming.) and a full-frontal hit of the Mersey beat.
And I still love it. It is my go-back-good-time-summer-music.
So obviously I was overwhelmed when I heard the theme for the New Years Party 2015 of my former company: Beat Club.
Just a bit of history in between and then I will continue on to the most important parts, which are of course our costumes!
First of all, this party is the company’s way to do its xmas party and is usually held in February. I think this is a really smart thing to do with xmas usually already being quite busy.
Secondly, with the company’s roots in Bremen it was just perfect to chose the Beat Club as a topic. This TV format was the first one of its kind in Germany and originated as well from Bremen.
It aired between 1965 and 1973 and showed all the hip beat bands they could get hold of, a lot of them even German, like “The Lords”.
It took us some time to figure out the costumes we would be wearing though, we only knew, we wanted to look like a group. After a lot of research we went with an simple A-line dress from Simplicity which as well fit all our sewing experiences, from beginner to advanced.
I guess, I now have to address the issue of the download option at Simplicity. *sigh*
It is quite different from the digital pattern experience that I had before. First of all, you have to install a secured pdf-Software to look at and print the pattern. You get a licence and can use it on one computer. I have not yet tested what happens when you want to use it anew, but I need to try it soon since I upgraded my laptop.
Then you can only print it three times until the licencing runs out and furthermore one problem for me: I don’t have a printer. I cannot go to the copy shop with the pattern and print it there. Simplicity is not the most comfortable solution to print online patterns, I sadly have to say. I was actually quite disappointed with the whole process.
I do understand that they want to prevent the reselling and so on of the pattern. But I pay double as I would for a printable pattern at Burda and I have so much more restrictions and problems with it. Therefore I am not sure if that is really worth it or if I should not just wait for that printed pattern to arrive in my letterbox.
Well, anyway we went to the “Stoffbörse Berlin” in Spandau and looked for the perfect fabric. At the end we decided for three different colors in cord for the three dresses.
And then the usual started. Printing pattern, cutting and gluing the paper, cutting the fabric and sewing the dresses. The dresses were pretty quick and easy to make, though my colleague would say otherwise. And as always, I had my troubles with the hidden zipper. We also worked mostly in the office, using our meeting room as a working space. This way, it was easier to combine our experiences and of course, it was an overall splendid time working on the dresses together.
Finally at the end of the work, we were quite happy and the party was wonderful. The company even organized this crazy 60s scenery where one could take pictures that looked like directly from the era.
But before we went, there was still the question of learning one dance that would fit the theme and our dresses. So I will leave you with the “Wiggle Twist” which you can learn, as we tried, from the lovely “Ehepaar Fern” in this incredible diamond of TV history.
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]]>I started a new round of uncluttering my life: I will takle again clothes, but also my craft project stash. Today, I will talk to you about my underwear box though.
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]]>About three years ago, when everything seemed to fall apart and my life was thrown over, I really got into minimalism, or how I prefer it: simple living.
It started out easy enough: I planned to go to Australia, so it made sense to get rid of most of my stuff. First the furniture. Now I own only a mattress, a desk and a chair and that’s about it. Step by step more parts of my life got involved. I got rid of most of my books. (momox! Love it!) I sorted through clothes, old hobbies and thought about what I really wanted to keep: knitting yes, painting no (for now ).
And when Australia didn’t happen, I actually enjoyed my new life style and kept on going.
This year, I feel it is time again for me to reassess my belongings. For one thing I feel ready for a next step, but there is also a relocation in the making. Furthermore, for some belongings one needs time to process the farewell. Or, at least, I do. So, this time I will have another go at clothes, mementos, documents, but also at my crafting stash (and all those started projects!).
As a part of the Popsugar Reading Challenge, I started reading Marie Kondos “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying”. I was especially impressed with her folding principles of clothing. I do not own a wardrobe, all my clothes live in a box, so proper folding is vital. Have a look at Juju Sprinkles wonderful sketched overview of the KonMari folding method. (That is what the uncluttering method is called, based on the authors name.)
One thing I wanted to takle first is my underwear box. Holy chaos!
I thought long and hard how to best resolve this and found a perfect solution for at least my panties chaos: Box pouches! You can find at least 20 nice tutorials on the web, so I will not include another one here.
I used some of my fabric scraps from other projects, which I have a lot of. So far I’ve sewn 4 boxes which contain 8-9 panties and are enough for my stash. Now I am thinking about one more for sneaker socks, which also should fit in. Basically, you need not even a weekend to finish them and I also would recommend this as a project for beginners.
I have two ways of putting the panties in, after folding them the KonMari way: horizontal, which is the easier way to fill the box and you can squeeze one more in, in my case 9 panties, and vertical, where I can see all of the content the box contains. These days though, I prefer the horizontal way.
Now have a little peek into my panties box pouches and happy uncluttering.
This post is part of the Craftastic and the Inspiration Monday Linkparty.
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]]>It was time again to make a present for a fresh new creature on this earth. This time I decided for a taggie in form of an owl. And though it is the first time I sewed some applications, I am 100% happy with the turn-out.
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]]>Anmerkung: Dies ist nur eine sehr grobe Anleitung und nicht als Schritt-für-Schritt Beschreibung gedacht. Daher sehe ich sie für Nähanfänger nur als bedingt geeignet an. Aber Fragen dazu könnt ihr natürlich jeder Zeit an mich stellen und ich versuche alles Ungenaue so gut wie möglich zu erklären.
Bevor ich vor ein paar Wochen die Linkparty “Kiddie Kram” entdeckt habe, tat ich mich etwas schwerer, Inspirationen für Geschenke für Neugeborene zu bekommen. Ich schenke ja eigentlich ungerne Kleidung, die Tragezeit finde ich einfach zu kurz. Kaum fertig und übergeben, verschwindet das Jäckchen, das Kleid, die Hose auch schon wieder im Second Hand Beutel. (Aber es stimmt, ich habe ja trotzdem auch schon eine Jacke verschenkt …)
Wie ich nun diese Knistertücher entdeckt habe, die mir vorher vollkommen unbekannt waren, kann ich daher gar nicht mehr sagen. So ganz ohne Kind bekommt man das ja doch eher nicht mit. Jedenfalls gefielen sie mir zu gut und so sollte dies das nächste Willkommen-im-Leben-Geschenk werden.
Zunächst habe ich ein paar Anregungen gesammelt. Wie immer waren mir dafür Google und Pinterest eine große Hilfe, wodurch ich unter anderem auf die Anleitung auf Herzbotschaft gestoßen bin und auf den Shop von LottiKlein auf Etsy, der unter anderem eine ganze Reihe an tollen Knistertüchern anzubieten hat.
Nun, zu einfach wollte ich es mir natürlich auch wieder nicht machen. Ich hatte eine andere Idee für mein ganz spezielles Tuch. Ich wollte es in Form einer Eule nähen! Aber leider blieb meine Suche nach einer geeigneten Vorlage fruchtlos. Also entwarf ich kurzerhand eine eigene Version davon, die ihr am Ende des Artikels herunterladen und auch selbst verwenden könnt.
Verwendet habe ich einige Stoffreste, die von alten Projekten übrig geblieben sind. Und tatsächlich benötigt man gar nicht viel für so ein Tuch, lediglich Bratenschlauch für den Knistereffekt musste ich hinzukaufen und optional habe ich außerdem ein Glöckchen erstanden. Man sollte lediglich darauf achten, dass alle Stoffe kindgerecht sind, da dieses Tuch auch sicher gerne in den Mund genommen wird.
Ich schnitt also erst einmal alle Stoffteile aus, sowie fünf verschiedene Rechtecke, die mir als Bänder dienen sollten. Man kann hier als Alternative auch gerne fertige Bänder verwenden, wenn man diese nicht extra nähen möchte.
Der interessanteste Aspekt an diesem Projekt waren eigentlich die Applikationen auf der Vorderseite der Eule. Ich habe mich vorher noch nie an so etwas gewagt und wollte es unbedingt mal ausprobieren, obwohl ich einen Heidenrespekt vor diesem Unterfangen hatte. Doch tatsächlich ist das Ganze gar nicht so schwer wie ich vermutet hätte.
Zunächst benötigt man “Vliesofix”, damit die Applikationen besser auf dem Stoff bleiben. Ich war dafür bei Frau Tulpe und habe mir einen ganzen Meter davon geholt. Inzwischen habe ich ihn auch schon ein weiteres Mal verwendet. Applikationen sind wohl meine neue Leidenschaft.
Nach der Anleitung wird der Stoff zunächst auf eine Seite des Vliesofix gebügelt und dann das Papier auf der anderen Seite abgezogen. Das war zugegebenermaßen erstmal schwierig. Also, eigentlich gar nicht, aber ich habe mich einfach mal angestellt: Das Papier ist gar nicht so schwer zu lösen, aber ich bin davon ausgegangen, dass es das ist und hatte immer das Gefühl, ich ziehe das Vliesofix auch mit runter. Dem war aber gar nicht so und nach dem ersten Versuch und herumprobieren an einem Flügel, gingen der andere, das Gesicht und der Schnabel ganz schnell.
(Also, ich sage hier Schnabel, aber es ist wohl eher … die Stirn? Hat das einen Namen bei Eulen? Weiß das jemand? )
Nun wird das Stoffstück auf die Vorderseite gelegt und noch einmal aufgebügelt. Dann habe ich das Ganze noch mit einem Zickzack-Stich mit einer sehr kurzen Stichlänge umrandet.
Nachdem ich also alle Stoffteile auf die Vorderseite der Eule appliziert hatte, kümmerte ich mich um die Augen. Ich hatte mehrere Ideen, habe mich aber am Ende für einfache Variante aus einem Knötchenstich entschieden. (Ein gutes Video dazu gibt es auch.)
Die Bänder habe ich in zwei Versionen genäht: Zunächst ein schmales, auf das das Glöckchen gezogen wurde. Hierzu wurden beide Ränder des Bandes in die Mitte der linken Stoffseite gefaltet. Dann wurde das Band in dieser Mitte zusammen gelegt und mit einem geraden Stich zusammen genäht. Es hilft dabei sehr, wenn man das Band ganz zu Anfang faltet und bügelt.
Die anderen Bänder habe ich zunächst links auf links an der kurzen Kante falten. Danach werden die beiden offenen Kanten genäht und das Band auf rechts gedreht.
Nun kommt man zum schwierigsten Teil des Knisterkissens. Ich legte zunächst auf die rechte Seite des Vorderteils der Eule alle Bänder meiner gewünschten Anordnung. Dann kam rechts auf rechts das Rückteil der Eule und zum Schluss der Bratenschlauch. Nun musste ich das Ganze vorsichtig nähen, da ich den Bratenschlauch nicht zu sehr mit Löchern durchsetzen wollte.
Den unteren Bereich der Eule ließ ich offen. Nach dem Nähen konnte ich das Knisterkissen nun auf rechts drehen und dieses am unteren Rand schließen. Normalerweise benutze ich einen Matratzenstich, um so eine Naht zu schließen, bei diesem Projekt wollte ich aber doch noch einmal mit der Maschine darüber gehen, weshalb diese Naht nicht ganz so perfekt geworden ist. Sollte den kleinen Racker aber hoffentlich wenig stören.
Und voilà, das Knisterkissen ist fertig.
Hier könnt ihr euch die Eulen-Vorlage im PDF Format herunterladen.
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]]>Did you ever join a link party? I have and here is why you should to and how easy it is to participate. Also: A new section on my blog just for this topic.
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]]>Die you ever join a link party?
In June, I participated in “Auf den Nadeln” by maschenwerk.de. She even mentioned my project in her article about it (Many thanks for this!).
A link party is basically a chance to inspire others and get inspired by others. Furthermore, you have the chance of discovering new and amazing blogs.
Participation is also quite easy. First, you write a post about the creation you’d like to share. Just as you would do anyway. Then, go to the website of the host of the link party and share your post. Every host has his own rules and regulations but in general you just have to backlink to the link party’s website. Some even have a button banner created that you can add to your post or in your sidebar. You can find some examples at the end of this article.
For I while I thought about participating in one or the other link party. Yet it never felt quite right to put them in between of my “normal” blog postings. So I decided to add a new section on my blog where I from now on and (hopefully) regularly post all articles for link parties. You can find it from now on in the menu section.
If you search for it, you will find a huge amount of link parties on the net. Here, you have an overview of the ones I used for my main post image with links to the websites:
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]]>A surprise visit, a lot of coffee, teaching experiences and good friends. In my opinion the WWKIP was a huge success.
The post WWKIP – A review appeared first on Alpaka Me!.
]]>To be honest, I did not expect anyone to be quite that early, but of course I should have been there on time.
So, when I left home and read Mamas message, “How is your knitting thing going? Have you already started?” I was set aback.
Huh?
I answered her that no, it hadn’t started yet, but I was on my way.
Ten minutes of bike riding and wondering how, when, why did she know and ask about it? She wouldn’t have, would she now… ?
But yes, she would! I arrived at the café and there Mama was. Waving.
What a wonderful surprise. We hadn’t really talked about this day, but she read about my plan for the WWKIP on my blog and followed the link to the Facebook event. Deciding one day earlier that she didn’t want to spend the afternoon alone in my hometown while Papa was working, she bought a train ticket and here she was! What a lovely start into the day and I had my first – if not the best – WWKIP companion to join into the knitting.
We chatted, we drank coffee, and, obviously, we knitted.
I first of tried to finish my name tag designed especially for this day. But as it happened, work and social life kept me too busy to finish it beforehand. Luckily there were only a few rows missing. Meanwhile Mama was busy with her raglan project.
After, I concentrated solely on my summer sweater. After another week of working on it I am roughly 80% done. Another week and I hopefully will be able to finally wear it.
Around noon, my friend Rike showed up. She didn’t come for the knitting but rather for a bit of company. Mainly because she brought her four-year-old son, who once upon the time I gave a crocheted blanket as a present. How time flies! So knitting was out of the question for her. Still, we enjoyed her company while watching her lively boy blowing bubbles into the sunlight.
And what a warm day it was indeed! After another friend of mine joined, we decided to move inside and get a cool down.
Then it happened. New people came along. People I did not know before. That was what I was waiting and hoping for, seeing who else is into this knitting thing, making new acquaintances and sharing experiences.
But oh! We realized: They did not know how to knit! Only this is no problem for us, is it?
Mama and I got our spare needles and yarn out to show these newbies a bit of the fun stuff. You know, the easy parts: Cast ons and basic knit stitches. Just the first steps of the game. My favorite part was the moment after breaking down the cast on and telling them: And now we learn how to actually knit.
“What? This is not it yet?!”
It was so much fun and thank you so much for your patience guys! I figured that I am not as bad in teaching as I always thought I was. Whew. What a relieve.
After that it got quieter. Mama and I were again the only two, watching the rain coming in and moving closer to the open side doors. The afternoon was finally giving us a bit of fresh air amongst the humid day.
At last, my favorite Spaniard came along to pick us up. But before he too had to go through a few rows of beginners knitting which he wanted to try anyway. So why not today.
We left the café around five, exhausted, happy, satisfied.
I did not know how the day would turn out, never having organized something like this before and worried I would sit by myself for seven hours drinking too much coffee. So thank you all who joined in and commented on the event, thank you Café Räubertochter for hosting us (and the amazing spinach quiche! Wow!) And above all: Thank you Mama for your spontaneous trip to Berlin to make that day very special to me.
I hope you had all as much fun as I did.
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]]>What are your thoughts right now about wanting, feeling, drinking, wearing, making and some more ...
The post Summer knitting and time for writing appeared first on Alpaka Me!.
]]>Today you’ll actually get two posts in one.
First of, I got inspired by the #schreibzeit in May of Bines Blog “Was eigenes” and wanted to write something about a few topics as well.
The second post you’ll find further down under “Making”.
For about a year now I tried not to contemplate what the future might bring, but to live in the here and now.
I could not decide for one path over the other anyway so I thought it best to just enjoy and love who I am and what I have right here, right now. And surprisingly this worked quite well.
I figured that sometimes you could just not make a decision and wait until some opportunity presented itself. No use fretting over unspilled milk.
And it is true, slowly my chances are shifting. I started liking to think about the future again. New opportunities, people and roads have presented themselves in my life.
My freshly discovered minimalism that I developed over the past few years.
Until 2 or 3 years ago, I was a pretty strong hoarder and had troubles throwing anything away. Now that pretty much changed. A lot of my things, documents, photos, books, certain memories, switched to be digital – where I chaos still gets me -, in my room exist only a desk (& chair), a small shelf and a mattress as a bed.
I’m enjoying this lifestyle quite a lot right now though it developed unconsciously through different circumstance than the usual choice for minimalism. But it feels great to let go of all material things in some way or the other and I am still surprised of the fact that I can.
Furthermore, I do get the feeling that I gained a lot of blank space to think and be creative.
“The things you own end up owning you.”
Hahahaha.
Right now: good.
But how I’ll feel in two hours I could not even say. My emotions are a roller coaster.
Is there someone else who feels like this?
I have a new favorited dress bought from Blutsgeschwister that I could and would want to wear pretty much every day.
Apart from that: Lots of dresses, lots of skirts, no pants except for the short ones for hiking. Pretty much the usual.
Holidays.
I know what you think: Who doesn’t need those? And you are probably right.
And I do feel too that in the last time it was just way too much stuff going on. Working and organizing. During the week Spandau, meetups after the work, my own project and hackathons during the weekend. Without any real long break in between.
Now I long for a long time-out. Four weeks of hiking sound pretty amazing for example.
I don’t know why my lovely colleagues didn’t complain yet. At the moment I cannot stop listening to the mix “Tears of Stones” by Dennis Kruissen. That one was already last year my summer mix and still it gets better with every new listening.
And now the second part of this post, kinda.
A week ago or so I decided to participate at the #midsommarsticka by Fadenwerkerin. I know the time to finishing at least 80% of my summer top until the 21st of July is very short. The challenge was already published in January! But I only stumbled over it through Madame Flamusse. But at least in between is the WWKIP so I basically have a whole Saturday just for knitting.
On the picture at the top of the article you can see the cast on and a bit of the back of the top. I don’t usually knit a lot cloth for summer, but when I saw the shirt “…a hint of summer” I wanted to start knitting right away. So I did go to handmade Berlin and bought the silk yarn “Kinu” by Ito which I wanted to use for quite a while now.
I am truly happy about it and am looking forward to the finished piece.
For a few years now I am obsessed with summer rolls. I could basically eat them every day. At the moment, I am very pleased they one can buy them at almost every Berlin corner and I seriously try to taste them all!
Furthermore, we started at work last winter to invent the Pasta-Sauce-Thursday which doesn’t necessarily have to be a Thursday. For this event we form teams of two that cook for the other colleagues pasta and a sauce. The only condition: The sauce should have at least three ingredients. So, a bottle of ketchup does not count.
It already feels like a bit of a tradition and it is a lot of fun. You never know what people will be cooking that week but it goes from pesto to Arrabiata to “Thyme-pot of Spandau”. Creative names get an extra applause.
It is summer, lovelies!
Spritzer, shandy, infused water. Give them all to me. And they taste best when you sit with friends at the Landwehrkanal.
Ah, how comfy.
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]]>Would you like to join me for the World Wide Knit in Public Day?
The post World Wide Knit In Public Day: June 13, 2015 appeared first on Alpaka Me!.
]]>The World Wide Knit in Public Day will be in June 13, 2015.
I’d like to invite you all to celebrate this one in nice company with cake and coffee. Additionally we will knit and crochet.
If you are a beginner, just join us as well. I’ll bring some extra yarn and needles to show you some new stuff if you like.
Here you find the Facebook event the Ravelry event.
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]]>Last week I was at the first Berlin-based yarn festival. It was a nice and small event with a lot of booths and workshop.
I captured my highlights in this short summary.
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]]>Last weekend there was the first ever yarn festival in Berlin: BerlinKnits. And just to wrap that up quickly: What an amazing event.
I arrived at the location around eleven, when the festival was already in full swing and the space was quite crowded. Seems like everyone else except me is again punctual.
There were a lot of Berlin based yarn shops present, like one of my favorites: Wollen Berlin. Furthermore you could participate in some workshops, but unfortunately I was a bit too late for the registration for my two favorites. On the one hand there was the one by Marc Smollin, who was already ones at Wollen Berlin, on the other hand there was a spinning crash curse by Yayasis.
Even though there were some more highlights for me:
Let’s start with strickimicki. I actually never heard of them before, but I am glad I finally found them. The shop has wonderful and funny sayings for diy enthusiasts on postcards, buttons, bags and magnets. I immediately brought a couple of postcards which I plan to send in the next couple of days. They are just to lovely to not share with the world.
I almost didn’t get away from the Zauberwiese (hihi). They had really nice supplies, e.g. shwal pins with owls, dragonflies and flowers or those Japanese mini crochet needles. This might be the time to try out this mini amigurumi. I will report about it.
But what I loved there the most was the washing soap from Eucalan, which I will try out shortly. After my sister washed “by accident” my Owlsweater knitted from sheep wool from Rowan in the machine and almost ruined it, I really like to try if this might help a bit with it. But nonetheless I needed a new alternative to using Perwoll for the hand washing of my knitted cloths. And the website tells me that the soap is furthermore non-toxic, biodegradable and doesn’t need to get washed out. I will keep you updated on this experiment as well.
On a different note, I did forgive my sister.
At dibadu I did find my next project. The beautiful “Oceania” designed by Kieran Foley. This one and other models were displayed at the booth to see and touch. I was really intrigued. Yet I did stop myself from buying anything though you could get yarn and introductions as well. But to be honest I kind of have this idea to use the pattern and the colors but rearrange them into a cardigan. We’ll see if I can come up with something.
I found yarn from unusual material at Lanamania. First, “Veseda” called me magically with the way it just sparkled all over. But then I wondered about the labeling on the tags: What exactly is vegetarian silk? I never heard of that one! After asking Google for it, I found out that the threads are made of the fruits of the southamerican kapok tree.
Furthermore, there was another unusual yarn: “Kiwi“. That one is made out of the fur of the common brushtail possum, a inhabitant of Australia.
This way, I put a new to do on my list: Research yarn out of exceptional sources.
Two booth were especially impressive with their color arrangement.
For starters we have Elfenwolle who sell threads for knitting, spinning and felting and had those braided hanging next to each other like you see on the first picture.
Then we had Bilum, whose colors were really unbeatable. Here as well, I just wanted to buy like five different yarns. But I did resist. Though not for much longer I believe, I am already looking for a fitting shawl pattern. I would love to use this “setting sun” gradient and as well use the pearls in it as you can see on the picture.
Last but not least I have to mention Lazadas. After all the troubles I had to block the samples of Project 52 in a nice way, this appliance would have really helped with it. To be honest, I find it not the cheapest investment, but I guess if your knitting a lot of lace you have in a long-term view a rather helpful accessory.
All in all those were two incredibly inspiring hours. I would have loved to stay longer or join in for one or the other workshops. But nonetheless it was a perfect event which I hope will get repeated next year.
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