Cloopco

Terra

noreply@blogger.com (zMaja) — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 21:27:00 +0000

Just a short informative post this time!
Another Cloopco design - "Terra" neck-warmer - has been added to the Ravelry patterns data base.

“Terra” is a cabled, seamless, buttony neck-warmer that can be worn either buttoned or completely or partially unbuttoned.
Rich in texture, it is also a very simple knit. The constant intertwining of cables that cover the majority of the neck-warmer represents a great cure against boredom during knitting. At the same time, the simplicity of the main pattern, repeated four times in each row, makes this a great knit even for knitters with no experience in cable knitting.

The pattern has been thoroughly tested by six amazing Ravelers (thank you!) and is now offered as a free Ravelry download.
You can see one of the test knits lilibethsgarden's blog. It's beautful!
The download link and more information about the pattern can be found HERE.

Happy knitting!

Eastern Uncrossed knitting: yarn tension and styles

noreply@blogger.com (zMaja) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 23:30:00 +0000

Let's move on with Eastern Uncrossed knitting.
I decided to dedicate one whole post to yarn tension in Eastern knitting but, before I say anything about the ways of tensioning yarn, I would like to say a few words about knitting styles and try to make a distinction between two terms that are often confused: knitting styles and knitting methods.

1) Eastern Uncrossed knitting (introduced in my first post), like Western Uncrossed and Combination or Combined knitting (sometimes also called "Russian knitting") is a stand alone knitting method and, by all means- it is a METHOD.
By "method" we mean a set of rules that need to be respected since in each of the above mentioned methods, fabric is created in a specific manner.
It is very important to stress, though, that all knitting methods create the same type of fabric. Still, depending on the method we use, we approach knitting differently. In their book "Knitting in the Old Way" (great book!), Priscilla Gibson-Roberts and Deborah Robson actually refer to methods as "the approaches to knitting" and I quite like that term.
There are three main factors that determine a knitting method:

stitch mount (or the orientation of the stitch),
the way we approach the stitch with our working needle and
the direction in which the yarn is wrapped around the needle,

all three connected and mutually dependant. (We mount the stitches in a specific way , we knit them respecting their orientation and, finally, we wrap the yarn in a specific direction to achieve the original stitch mount again. It's a circle!).

The difference between knitting methods is the most important difference in knitting as patterns written for one method often need to be adjusted for another one. Otherwise, they won't "work".
In addition (and although switching between methods is very easy and can be done any time during knitting) it is not possible to switch to working in another method without re-setting or re-mounting the stitches (i.e. you cannot take a piece started by a Western knitter and simply continue knitting the Eastern way- you would end up making twisted stitches).

Everything else- the way you hold or tension your working yarn, the hand in which you hold it etc. - is a matter of style and entirely optional.

2) Besides the names underlined in the first paragraph, we often see terms like: Continental, English, Portuguese/Bosnian etc. These are just STYLES and can be applied to absolutely any knitting method.
Knitting styles are determined by various factors like the distribution of knitting tools/materials in our hands, the technique of tensioning yarn or motions we use to create stitches. As you can imagine, there are many variations: you can hold the yarn in your left hand or in your right hand. You can hold the yarn in your left hand and wrap it around the needle with that same hand or you can pick it up with your right-hand needle. And so on.
But, one thing is sure - the way that the yarn is tensioned is the crucial element of each knitting style.

It is important to say that

knitting styles do not affect the appearance or the structure of the fabric,
knitting styles do not interfere with knitting methods
all method/style combinations are possible.

In my first post about Eastern knitting you can find a great example of different styles inside the same knitting method- purl stitch is particularly interesting.
Before making purling, we can hold the yarn either in the back or in the front of the work. At first glance, this (apparently) huge difference may give the impression of two completely different knitting methods.
But, regardless of whether we bring the yarn to the front at the very beginning or immediately before purling, in styles, it will eventually be brought in front of the working needle (maybe not in front of work but in front of the needle definitely).
Briefly, we can do it this way or the other but, as long as the stitch mount, the side of the stitch into which we knit and the direction of yarn are not disturbed- we are talking about one knitting method.

So, as you can see, although a style is the most 'visible' element of knitting, the differences between styles are minor and neglectable in terms of achieving the desired result.

And, now, having said all this, I still have to conclude that this classification often causes a lot of confusion. Which is not all that strange, after all, knitting is not quantum physics! We invent different terms for better understanding but we also get all tangled up in them on regular basis. That is why it is always better to knit than to talk! :)
The main cause of confusion is hiding in the fact that methods and styles are occasionally confused and you will often hear people saying that they "knit Continental ". This isn't generally a huge problem but it can be annoying for knitters who need to adjust patterns for their own method. Continental is a style, not a method, and it doesn't answer their main question- Can I knit this without changing the pattern?

So, when you find a pattern you want to knit- make sure you know what method it is intended for (it is especially important in lace knitting! Cables, for instance, often need no interventions. Or almost none! ).
If the info says that the pattern is written for Continental or English knitters - ask again! :) All the chances are that it is actually a pattern for Western knitters but- ask again!

All the names (both for methods and styles) that we now commonly use are imported from English speaking, Western countries and, since Western (uncrossed) knitting is the predominant (or "default") method in most West European and New World countries, as frustrating as it can be for knitters who practise other methods, it is expected that some differences will, occasionally, be neglected and that styles and methods will, every now and then, be thrown into the same basket.

So, can we simply call styles in different methods differently too? We could- if we had the names for them. Be we haven't got any! :) Don't ask why- I don't know! But, I could think of at least a zillion potential reasons for that. Namely, unlike in the New World where a single language is spoken across the whole continent, in Europe, there are sometimes more than 10 languages in a region smaller than a single US state. :) Different cultures do not communicate as easily and intensely as a single one and, obviously, finding a universally acceptable name for a style in (an almost marginal) hobby is usually a mission impossible.
A few names that have popped out in the past and become "accepted" are mainly just adjectives derived from the names of regions in which a certain style is mainly practised. But, even in these cases, the names are generally recognised only by knitters who live outside that region or country :).
Portuguese people will probably simply tell you that they - knit. It is us from other countries who say that that their style Portuguese.

So, for now, we're 'stuck' with the globally accepted, English names and terms.
Is it OK, then, to say that you're an Eastern uncrossed Continental style knitter?
If it describes your knitting style and helps you explain it to another knitter better then it is, by all means OK! :)

Now, having demystified this, let's move onto the practical part!

Bosnian or Balkan (aka Portuguese) style knitting

This style is commonly called Portuguese knitting by Western knitters but it also exists on the Balkan peninsula and is, under the name Bosnian knitting, even sometimes mentioned in western literature.
Since it is the only style with a proper name among Eastern knitters that I can think of (and usually associated with Eastern method knitters), I will call it Bosnian.
There are no real differences between the two styles except, maybe, one- Bosnian style knitters do not use pins or holders that you can often see in Portuguese knitting.

The specific thing about this knitting style is that the yarn is tensioned around the neck (which is a great source of inspiration for dark humour jokes among husbands and mother-in-laws of women who practise this style :D ).

Luckily, Donna Druchunas, who's article about Bosnian knitting style was published this autumn in Knitty magazine (the link will take you to the article), has saved me from having to undertake the dangerous mission of wrapping my self in yarn and posing for photos to show you what this style actually looks like (and my friend Sunny from having to witness all that- she is a volunteering photographer, after all, not a National Geographic corespondent.)

So, as you can see in the picture, the yarn is simply hanged over the neck and controlled with fingers in front of the work.

This is what it looks like from knitter's perspective!


This photo looks scary- I like it!

The yarn is controlled with fingers

Now, if you try this you will soon see that making a knit stitch (when the yarn needs to be in the back) is a very hard task. But, there's a cure! In different parts of the Balkan peninsula where this style is widely accepted, knitters have come up with a solution to this problem - traditionally, they would always purl! Garter stitch? No! Real stocking stitch or stockinette with knits on the RS and purls on the WS of the work.
Sounds crazy? The system is actually quite simple- whenever possible, knitting is done in circle and the knitter is always facing the inner side of the tube (or the WS side). Sleeves, hats, mittens, sweaters, socks...all tubes! Easy! Well, most of the time, anyway. I don't know if it has anything to do with how the purl stitch is made in Eastern uncrossed but, personally, I prefer purling over knitting as well and often make sleeves that way too. I also purl all garter rows.
But, what remains a mystery is- how an intarsia pattern can be knit from the wrong side of the work?!
It has to be possible, of course- complicated stranded colourwork is actually the most recognisable type of project in the region where this style has been practiced for centuries (socks from the article are a great example).
But, it is quite amazing! Nordic knitters have invented steeks to avoid purling with multiple colours. At the same time, deep in the south of the same continent, colourful socks are purled from the beginning to the end.

Yarn tensioned over the index finger (aka Continental style)

I believe that this style doesn't really require much explanations - it is probably the most common style among knitters of all methods.


Continental Eastern Uncrossed knitting

In Continental style, the yarn is tensioned over the index finger and usually simply "scooped" with the right-hand (working) needle which allows the left hand to rest on the other needle most of the time.

On the RS, the system is pretty much the same as in Western knitting only the needle is inserted into the stitch from a different angle and the yarn is wrapped in the opposite direction.

Eastern Uncrossed Continental knit stitch- yarn wrapped clockwise

You can see this style in motion HERE.

When it comes to purling, there are two main sub-styles.
The first version is, again, almost the same as in Western Continental.
The yarn is brought to the front and is then picked up with the working needle and pulled through the old stitch.

Eastern Uncrossed Continental purl stitch 1

You can see this style in motion (both knits and purls) in THIS video. (Disregard the title- it says Combination but what is shown in it is really 100% Eastern Uncrossed knitting).

The second way of making a purl stitch in this style often looks quite odd to knitters who are used to the standard Continental purling but is, actually, the very same thing only achieved in a slightly different manner.

In this version, the yarn is always held in the back of the work.

Before purling, the yarn is in a "sandwich" between the needles; behind the left-hand needle and in front of the working needle.
The needle is inserted into the stitch from the back (and under the yarn).

With a tiny motion of the right hand, the stitch is 'opened' (the 3rd photo above) and the yarn is brought in front of the needle, scooped and pulled through the old stitch (shown bellow).

Again, this stitch is exactly the same as all other Eastern uncrossed purl stitches- the yarn may be in the back but, right before purling, it is brought in front of the needle and wrapped around it in the proper direction. The stitch mount also remains intact.
Here's a VIDEO.

Yarn wrapped around the index finger

I think that the majority of knitters who use this style on regular basis were originally crocheters as this is the most common way of tensioning yarn in crochet.
The yarn tensioned this way is somewhat inflexible and requires constant adjustment and finger movement.

Just like in the previous (Continental) style, the working yarn is usually simply scooped with the right hand needle and pulled through the old stitch.
The system is not much different on the WS either and both versions of the purl stitch mentioned under Continental style an be applied to this style as well.

Left-carry Throwers, "Yarn in a basket", Tension Without Tension, The Old School Style...

I'm sure that all of you have seen at least one picture like this one so far. Of course, knitters don't usually sit on a tree branch :) (I only picked this graphic because I really liked it :D ) but the ball is almost always on the ground and, many times, in a basket. The purpose of a basket is quite obvious; it prevents the ball from rolling away and catching dirt. But, why is the ball on the ground?

In many books about the history of knitting I have read that, traditionally, one of the most important factors in knitting is- gravity! A ball placed on the ground can "feel" the knitter's need for more yarn. In addition, its position allows the gravity to take active part in knitting and to unwind the ball when necessary, releasing some extra yarn for the knitter.
In my opinion, this style just might have a lot to do with the story about the knitter called Gravity.

But, in order for this principle to work, there should be no blockages between the ball and the knitter's hands- the yarn should be allowed to move freely. In reality, this is done by holding yarn between index and middle finger of our left hand.

Since, in this style, the yarn is too loose to be picked up with working needle, when making a new stitch, we need to wrap it around the needle using the tips of the thumb and the adjacent finger (index or middle finger) which makes this style a rare example of knitting in which both hands are equally engaged.

Wrapping yarn around the needle on RS

Wrapping yarn around the needle on WS

I have mentioned quite a few names in the title of this section but but I have to say that they are all provisional. The truth is- western terminology still hasn't come up with a good name for this style which makes me very proud as this is my style. (I like being a UKO -Unidentified Knitting Object).
Using "English throwing" as an analogy, we could say that knitters who practice this style are simply Left-carry Throwers.
Videos of this style in motion can be seen in my first post about Eastern Uncrossed knitting.

Right-carry throwers (aka English style)

Given that English style is quite popular among Western knitters, I thought it deserved to be mentioned here but I have to say that I don't recall ever seeing an Eastern Uncrossed English style knitter. It appears that knitting with yarn in the right hand, just like knitting backwards, is mainly reserved for left-handed knitters.
That, of course, is not to say that Eastern Uncrossed knitting denies this style as it neither encourages or discourages knitters to hold their yarn in a specific manner but, generally speaking, English style or right-carry throwing is definitely not as popular in the East as it is in the West.

That's it!
In my next post about Eastern Uncrossed knitting I'll be talking about yarn overs and twisted stitches. Stay tuned!

Moments of lace (Moments in red)

noreply@blogger.com (zMaja) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:19:00 +0000

Another of Shui Kuen Kozinski amazing designs - the Moonlight Sonata shawl with picot edging. Breathtakingly beautiful as always.
Made in less than 3 days.

Pattern: Moonlight Sonata 2 by SK Kozinski (another variation of the pattern - Moonlight Sonata shawl) - both patterns are available for free, i don't know what you're waiting for :)

Materials used:

Yarn: 3 skeins of Unitas Hana, 100% ecco cotton, 4ply (fingering)
Colourway: red lipstick
Metereage/yardage: 373m (408 yards)
Needles: 4mm (US 6)
Size: shawlette (finished measurements: 161cm x 65cm / 63.4" x 25.6" relaxed after blocking)
Blocking: iron blocked

It was a very windy day

Yes, the sea is a bit tilted, I don't know what happened to it, it used to be normal

Eastern uncrossed knitting: knits and purls

noreply@blogger.com (zMaja) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 02:23:00 +0000

I am an Eastern style knitter.
To be even more precise, my knitting style is called the Eastern uncrossed knitting method. In knitting literature it is usually called simply Eastern knitting and commonly labeled- the oldest knitting method.

Where I live, many knitters practice this style but, knitters from other parts of the world either don't know anything about it or have a very vague idea of what it is.
There aren't many informations about it on the internet and, over the past couple of years, I have been asked to write about it more than once. I have also promised to do so more than once.
The reason for constant postponing was - what looked like a simple project at first, turned out to be not so simple :) as it included collecting and processing a lot more material than I'd expected.
But, now, having collected most of it, I have no excuse to put it off any more.
I owe one huge "Thank you" to my friend Sunny for her extraterrestrial patience, her help and for being my photographer.

For the sake of simplicity and better organisation, I will divide the material into a few posts. I still don't know exactly what will go where but, some of the things about Eastern uncrossed knitting that I will surely talk about (sooner or later) are: basics (knit and purl stitches), stitch mount, yarn overs, yarn tension, twisted stitches, decreases, differences between eastern and western knitting, "translating" patterns, switching between the styles and more.

The first part covers the stitch mount, knit and purl stitches.
Let's begin!

(you can enlarge any picture by clicking on it)

EASTERN UNCROSSED KNITTING

Stitch mount

The stitches have two legs, right?! And one bottom! (well, they do!). For this reason, the stitches can sit on the needles in more than one way. The way they are positioned (or mounted) on our needles is technically one of the most important things in knitting as it determines the knitting style and dictates the whole process of knitting.
So, the orientation of the stitches on the needles is what we call the stitch mount.

Eastern uncrossed stitch mount

In Eastern uncrossed knitting, the leading leg of the stitch is always behind the needle. Most knitters will simply tell you that the "right leg is in the back" but I find this explanation somewhat confusing (it gets even worse if you're one of those people who can never tell right from left). The leading leg works much better for me.
In the above picture you can see what it looks like in reality.
It is important to say that the stitches are always mounted this way in Eastern uncrossed (which is what makes it uncrossed); they're the same on the right side as well as on the wrong side, in circular knitting (in-the-round) as well as in flat knitting (back-and-forth).
Therefore, the stitches are always knit (and purled) the same way, too.
And this is how!

Knit stitch

With the yarn in the back of the work, we insert the working needle (right-hand needle) into the back of the stitch (as shown above)

The yarn is wrapped around the needle overhand or, as we usually say, clockwise. The former is probably more precise and less confusing.

When the yarn is wrapped around the needle, we simply pull it through the old stitch...

...and, it's a new knit stitch.

Here's a short video showing how it is done!

Depending on how the yarn is held, the process of making a knit stitch may vary.
I keep the yarn between my fingers and literally wrap it around the needle. Knitters who tension their yarn over the index finger, usually pick it up with the working needle (instead of wrapping it around the needle).
I will get back to the yarn tension in one of my future posts but, until then, you might want to see THIS VIDEO as it explains how a knit stitch is made by picking up the yarn tensioned over the finger.

Let's move on!

Purl stitch

Before making a purl stitch, the yarn should be in the front.

We purl into the back of the stitch, meaning that the we bring the tip of the working needle to the back leg of the stitch and insert it into it from behind .

Then we wrap the yarn around the needle underhand or clockwise a shown above.

We pull the yarn through...

...and it's a new purl stitch.

Here's another short video!

Again, knitters who tension their yarn differently, purl differently too! HERE you can see a video showing another very common method. At first sight it looks quite different but, if you give it a closer look, you'll notice that it is actually the very same thing only achieved in a slightly different manner. In this style the yarn stays in the back all the time.

That's it for now!

In the next post I will talk about styles and yarn tension in Eastern Uncrossed knitting.

My wreaths

noreply@blogger.com (zMaja) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 02:30:00 +0000

First of all, I wish you all a very happy New Year! I hope you had a lovely time this Saturday. I also hope that you are sober by now!

Secondly- it is snowing on my blog! I hope you can see it! (If you can see the tiny little dots falling down from the header, then you're sober. If you always see tiny little dots falling down from the header, than you're never sober because I added this gadget yesterday! If you're reading this three years from now and think that it is still snowing, you have not been sober in years, my friend! Cheers!)

Ok, now, back to work! My first post in 2012.
In addition to my last post, I have two more wreaths to show you.
After seeing so many lovely hand-made yarn wreaths on the internet a fortnight ago, I got completely confused and was pretty sure that I would need at least a year to come up with a unique idea for my own wreath. But, as it turns out- I was wrong; making yarn wreaths is extremely addictive and, by the next evening, I had already made two. And I like them both. Now I need two New Years!

I took some pictures as I "wrapped" along. If you have no better things to do, stay here and look around.
And, please excuse the poor quality of some of the photos- the days are quite short and I did the majority of work later in the afternoon (I hated the idea of getting up at 7AM just to beg the Sun to assist me).

Here's how it went.

Although I originally intended to use styrofoam rings as the base, I eventually replaced them with simple straw wreaths; stryofoam is very fragile and I am awfully clumsy (~~read: I broke two wreaths at the very beginning~~).

MATERIALS AND TOOLS USED: 2 straw wreaths ( 20cm / 7in and 17.5cm / 8in in diameter), adhesive tape, leftover yarns (mainly 8ply) in 3 colours (pine green, deep red and white), some plied metallic yarn in golden colour, transparent glue, a crochet hook, scissors.
ADDITIONAL DECORATIONS: tiny cones (picked here and there), a few ornaments from my old wreath (something old), a few ornaments bought especially for my new wreaths (something new).

Since the wreaths I bought did not come in plastic wrapping as they often do, I first had to cover them with adhesive tape to get a smooth and even surface (Picture 1).

I decided to use the white yarns for my first, smaller, wreath. I found a tiny ball of a lovely, puffy yarn in snow white but I soon realised that I would not have enough to cover the whole wreath. But, there was just about enough yarn in the ball to give a lovely, snowy, final touch to the wreath. So; first I wrapped the wreath with another white yarn (just a stupid, ugly, 100% acrylic yarn), adding a few drops of glue as I worked along. The first layer created a solid, white base (Picture 2). Then, I sparsely wrapped the wreath with the second white yarn (I hope you can see the difference on the Picture 3).

Finally, the base was finished and it looked very puffy and fluffy. Just what I wanted!

The only thing left to do was to add the decorations.

When I started planning these projects, I promised myself that I would not spend money on shiny, glittery and sparkly ornaments no matter how appealing they are; I wanted my wreaths to be as hand-made as possible. Besides, I wanted to use some of the ornaments from the old wreath. But when I spotted the balls from the picture on the left, I just couldn't resist buying them. The special thing about this type of ornaments is that each ball is attached to a long piece of shiny wire on the back which makes attaching them to a wreath extremely easy. No glue required. I'll show you in a minute.

You simply untwist the wire, pick the ornaments you wan to use, and wrap the wire around the wreath (Picture 5). Then you twist the wire tails on the back to fasten the ornaments (Picture 6). That's it! Beautiful!

I also added a few decorations from the old wreath and and glued two tiny cones to the yarn. The result is shown in the Picture 7.

But I didn't like it. And, so I took some red yarn and turned my wreath into a sugar cane.

I did pretty much the same thing with the second wreath.

First the adhesive tape, then some glue and then the yarn. Pine green in this case.Once I finished applying the first layer of yarn, I added a spiral stripe of metallic yarn all around the wreath. Two layers actually!

Then I pimped it with some ornaments and the second wreath was done!

Sorry, is that yarn in your wreath?

noreply@blogger.com (zMaja) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 18:52:00 +0000

Every year, three weeks before New Year's eve, my family, like many others, hangs a nice, decorative wreath on the front door.
When I was a kid, I invented a ritual - back then we lived on the 8th floor of a high building and, on the day when the wreaths are traditionally hanged for children to admire and for the neighbours to envy , I never used the lift. Instead, I would walk all the way up to the last floor carefully examining every wreath in the building. (OK, I admit, I would also usually spit my chewing gum from the balcony on the last floor just to test the law of gravity!)
Then, a few days later, I would repeat the ritual and would usually notice that a few wreaths had been replaced in the mean time. Each time my friend and his mother who lived on the 3rd floor put a lovely, shiny ring on their door, their first neighbour would buy herself a new, shinier one! It was a real war!

I haven't abandoned my little ritual to this day and, although my family now lives on the 6th floor of a much smaller building, the route to the top still turns into a decent gallery in December.
I finished my first inspection of the wreaths 2 days ago. :) This year 3 wreaths between the 3rd and the 5th floor are sea-themed; sea shells, sea stars and pebbles. That's new and original! (But, let's face it- it has to be a conspiracy! I suspect that there's a secret wreath-society downstairs that does not accept members from the upper floors! Bummer!)
Apart from the freemason's sea-themed wreaths, most others are pretty traditionally decorated; Christmas stars, bells, ribbons and ornaments, 1 Mickey Mouse and 2 Ninja turtles.
Some are made of fresh pine branches, others only have a few ugly plastic flowers on them. Some are new, some are old, and some are simply not up to this competition any more. I believe that one of them is actually ours. :) It is still lovely, the willow ring is still firm and glossy only the tiny decorations and fake Christmas stars are not in the best of all shapes any more. The wreath fell off more than once and some of the decorations had to be replaced, others are damaged and a few beg to be replaced (with Ninja turtles) as soon as possible.

So, I decided that our door needed a new wreath. A hand made one. Yesterday I went to a supermarket where they sell plain, styrofoam rings and bought one ring and a few styrofoam balls. Then I sat down in front of my computer and Googled! And Googled! And Googled! And I realised that there are THOUSANDS of amazing wreaths made with yarn, knit, crocheted and felted out there. I'm not sure I will actually have this wreath finished before 2012. - all the inspiration models are so lovely that I just can't make up mind. I think I will actually have to take a year to think and decide which one to make. :)
So, before I can hang my own yarn wreath on my blog, I'll share some of the loveliest examples from the internet with you!
They are not all necessarily Christmas wreaths but that doesn't even matter! They're all gorgeous!

Yarn balls, felted flowers, garter ribbons, knitting needles, pom-poms, knit fabric, crocheted lace, argyle, stripes...you name it!

And, my personal favourite:

:)))) Obviously!

The following links will take you to a few lovely tutorials. In some of them you will find the instructions for making a few of the wreaths posted above.

Enjoy and happy crafting!

Blog makeover

noreply@blogger.com (zMaja) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 13:57:00 +0000

No knitting this time. Just a brief announcement!

Obviously, if you are reading this then you have already noticed that Cloopco has been completely redesigned. I hope you like the new version! I do! :) I think this is just the kind of blog I have always wanted to have. I don't know what I was thinking when I picked that dark background for the first version.

Also, besides the most obvious (header and colours), the blog is now using a different and somewhat narrower template which, initially, shrunk the main panel a little. I did my best to adjust the margins but, the change affected a few posts originally published on the old version which is why they are now a wee bit scrambled. Nothing serious 'tho.
So, after brief inspection, my main impression is that, all in all, this whole make-over process has left far less mess than I'd expected.

Again, I hope you like it!

Until very soon,

Cheers,

Maja!

Knit me a song

noreply@blogger.com (zMaja) — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 13:45:00 +0000

"Leben" - by Heidrun Liegmann-Halama

In February 2000., I was invited to a graduation party thrown by a friend who had just returned from abroad with a diploma from one of Europe's oldest Conservatoriums of Music. At the time, I was still a student of dramatic and performing arts.
I went to the party with my friend, now a painter and, back then, still a student of painting at the Academy of Fine Arts. It was a lovely party. And it lasted for almost 24h. :)

Some time during the night and after a few bottles of great wine, our host, the freshly graduated professional musician, started singing a traditional song from his father's home region, followed only by the delicate sounds of guitar, played by his close friend. I think that the guitar player was not even familiar with the original melody but they made a great duo. I have never learnt whether the song my friend sang that night was in some foreign language or in a complicated regional dialect but not one person in the room could recognise a single word of it. And, yet, my friend's voice magically translated it for us and, as silly as it may sound, we understood everything. It was a spectacular moment. His voice, his performance...we were mesmerised.
When the song finished, the room was filled with dense silence and we all remained frozen for almost 10 minutes until my friend, the painter, suddenly broke the silence and said: "HEAVENS! I WANT TO BE ABLE TO PAINT THIS SONG! "

Back in those days, we were curious and confused as only 20 year old people can be. At the same time, we thought we knew everything and were too proud to admit that there was still much more to be learnt. Our education was finely intertwined with our personal growth and, sometimes, our intimate questions would collide with our professional curiosity and we'd find ourselves swimming upstream all tangled up in life and with the education sitting on our shoulders. We would usually continue fighting the stream for days until a single word or picture woke us up and made everything seem clear again.
Our professor, well aware of all the rapids and traps set for us on the path of our education, would often rescue us from our own youthful arrogance by saying: " Studying to become an artist does not mean that you will eventually become one. Every art, in its essence, is just a craft. And every craft can become Art! When you leave this school, you will all be craftsmen. But, not necessarily artists. Still, don't be discouraged by this - it is actually a very good thing. It allows every carpenter and every chef to become an artist. Of course, it also allows lazy actors and musician to turn theatres and operas into pointless country fairs. Now, whether you will take your craft that one step forward depends only on you."

Throughout the years, my professor's words have helped me to never forget that the muses can easily slip out of our hands if we're not careful enough but also that beauty and the magic of art can be found absolutely everywhere. My friend's words, on the other hand, have been a constant reminder of how that magic can be created; to be an artist, you need to always 'want to paint a song'. It's as easy as that!
Whenever you see someone trying to do that, you'll know you're very near the magic.

But, although I am not any more surprised by the fact that the purest form of art can be found anywhere, from kitchens and tiny shops to school playgrounds, honestly speaking, I am still very excited when I unexpectedly find it.
A fortnight ago, while I was collecting material for my previous post, the path of a craft intersected with that of the art in front of my eyes again and caught me unprepared- I came across craftsmen who took their craft that one step forward.
I have found the artists who knit and crochet songs. :)

Quite amazing!
Here are some of their works!

The "Knitters Dreamtime" wall-hanging made by Jane Thornley

This first wall hanging evolved, as the authors says, "from her lifelong fascination and desire to learn from aboriginal and indigenous peoples the world over."
The central motif is a human hand, "a reoccurring motif in many prehistoric pictographs and rock art in Australia and the world over".

I had already written the introduction to this post when I opened Jane's page again to collect the link to the project picture and noticed that her explanations quite resonated with my friend's wish to paint a song. She says: "The basis of this project is to capture that place between a rock and a soft place and to knit stone."
To knit stone! Of course! Because that is how magic happens! :)

And she also says this on her webpage: " For me, colour and texture rule and most of the inspiration feeding my imagination comes from the natural world. I see knitting as art, as viable as any other, and no matter what the tool or preferred palette, in human hands, magic happens. "

Quite amazing!
You can find more pictures of Jane's work on her webpage > Jane Thornley
Ravelers can also visit her group > Jane Thornley Ravelry group

We'll stay in Australia for another few moments because there are two more artists from the southern continent who's work I would like to show you!

One of them is Prudence Mapstone, an extremely imaginative Australian artist and a great promoter of free form crochet and knitting.
Prudence is a very productive author and it is literally impossible for me to pick the most representative picture of her work. I picked two but I invite you to follow the links posted under the pictures and visit her galleries - you'll find some amazing pictures there.

"Barren to Bountiful: What a Difference the Rain Makes" : a freeform knit and crochet wall-hanging created for the gallery wall at the Lion Brand Yarn Studio in New York City

Some of her works contain a few hundred different yarns! The close-ups are eye-capturing:

Here's a link to another imaginative project; Light at the end of the Tunnel , a knitted panel with some surface embroidery, mounted in recycled window frame .

Finally, you DON'T WANT TO MISS her Freeform in the Landscape gallery. It is something that you don't see every day. Here's a teaser picture:

Prudence has a website with a lovely name Knot Just Knitting where you can read more about her work, see how her artistic knitting/crocheting is implemented into wearable garments, subscribe to her newsletter, download her workbooks (check out the 'patterns' section) buy some of her projects and buy her books. She also writes a blog (PrudenceMapstone) and can be found as PrudenceM on Ravelry.
The list of books authored by Prudence Mapstone can be found HERE!

Let's move on! We're still in Australia!

Coral isle (1m x 1m mural)

When I first saw this mural I had to enlarge the picture just to make sure that it ws not painted. :) Impressive! It is made by Renate Kirkpatrick, another imaginative and enthusiastic Antipodean. She plays around with different yarns, stitches, hook sizes, texture, form, colour. Besides her practical contribution to the development of hand-crafts (from pottery and paper crafts to various fibre arts), she has also written three books about crochet: Crochet Techniques, Freeform Crochet and Beyond and Bring Colour to Crochet, all three sold worldwide.
Another thing worth mentioning is that Renate has won a few international prizes one of which I absolutely have to mention - she is the winner of the World's Best Tea Cosy contest in 2006. Here's the winning cosy:

Renate's blog is HERE. She is also rensfibreart on Ravelry.

Now, across the World and back to the Old Continent!

The Netherlands!

"Sun Fighting Mist" by Adri de Vries Tadema

From the author's notes: "They yellow sun is trying to fight its way through the mist, on an early morning...

the world is awakening and the skies are painted yellow and grey,

the world and all that is in it is still greyish."

The techniques used are: crochet, embroidery, spinning and painting silk and rayon threads.

Two more wall hangings, both made by Adri.
Adri writes two blogs simultaneously, one in Dutch and the other one in English, you can read them HERE (the Dutch version) and HERE (the version in English). She is a3devries on Ravelry.

Spain!

Big bang

Khaki tree

The author of these two projects is Amal (artknitbyamal on Ravelry) who says that she "has had a passionate affair with wool, needle and hook for over 30 years". She drains her inspiration from nature: mountains, sunsets, forests and shadows.

I really like this Khaki tree wall-hanging. Khaki trees can be found in many gardens in my hometown and I'm insanely in love with their leaf-less, dark branches full of orange fruit in autumn.

Having mentioned my hometown, we're moving even closer to my part of the Earth- we're going to Austria!

Silver alleys

This wall hanging was made by Snježana Rock, a Croatian born Austrian designer living in Vienna. Snježana was kind enough to upload a gallery of photos taken during the process of making her wall hanging. That is just the kind of thing I was hoping to find for this post. The gallery is HERE!

The rest of her projects can be found on her bilingual blog (in German and English) > Handstrick Flair .

During our brief correspondence, Snježana told me that she had learnt the technique, used for creation of her picture, by a German knitter and, apparently, a real authority - Gabriele Kluge. And, indeed, her work as well as works of some of her students and colleagues are quite amazing.

Gabriele Kluge has a web site in German - HERE.

"Green Space" - Michaela Renz

"Peters Farben" - Gabriele Kluge

Spiralen - Margitta Biallas

"Herbstallee" - Marion Siepermann

One of the representatives of this knitting style is also Heidrun Liegmann-Halama, who's "Tulip" (or, originally, "Leben") you can see at the very begining of this post. She has a very interesting group on Ravelry called - Swing knitting.

Michaela Renz is the author of Candela lamp shades mentioned in my previous blog entry (Defiknitaly knitable).

I started this story with a Canadian knitter, Jane Thornley, who's fascination with the Aboriginal culture "took me" to Australia. From Australia, we went to Europe and I think that it would only be fair to close the circle and go back to the New Continent.

I'm finishing this journey in Alabama, USA!

Freeform Crochet Sculpture by Cornflowerblue

Textile Art Heart by Cornflower Blue

Cornflower Blue is a happy and crafty young art historian called Rachel in love with freeform crochet. Some of her sculptures are offered for sale on her Etsy shop. She also 'runs' a very nice blog called Cornflower Blue Designs. Do visit it some time, you'll enjoy her warm, lovely, colourful photos.

That's it! I hope you have enjoyed reading this post as much as I have putting it together.

'till next time, cheers!

DefiKNITely knitable

noreply@blogger.com (zMaja) — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 22:00:00 +0000

This story is defiknitely about knitting! But, it is defiknitely not about scarves, shawls, cardigans or pullovers.
It is about knits and purls, loops and yarn-overs but not about raglans or necklines.
It has many decreases and increases but not a single armhole.
Some of the purls from this story shine in the dark and sit at the same table with their maker during dinner.
A few of them can actually talk to birds. And they wear jewellery!
Still, there's absolutely nothing odd about them. They're perfectly normal stitches.

I believe I have your attention now! :)

Two years ago I went hunting for slippers and slipper-makers on Ravelry. That first adventure lasted for almost a month which was about 30 days more than I'd expected. :) As I found out back then, the Ravelry projects base is an endless sea of amazing projects!

I published the gallery of the most interesting hand-made slippers in my posts named Dress my feet and Dress my feet II and I was quite happy with how it turned out. It encouraged me to start a few more searches for different projects, one of which I am sharing with you now!
This time, I went hunting for non-wearable knit and crochet projects (with the exception of jewellery). Most of the examples were collected from the Ravelry projects and pattern database during the past year. Some others were published on different web sites. What is common to all of them is that they were born out of great creativity and (my favourite word!) imagination.
It isn't as if we are not aware of the fact that knitting can create so many things besides pullovers or hats. Pillows, doilies, throws, table-cloths, amigurimi toys... we've all seen that. Or even made it. But, what else do knitters and crocheters make?
As it turns out, that they make all sorts of things!
I'm not even sure how such projects happen - does a knitter need something and decides to make it with her needles or is each of these projects simply a result of the knitter's wish to take knitting beyond the borders of a practical hobby!? Hard to tell!

Here they are!

The fact that knitters make blankets is no news, obviously, but I still decided to include them in the list!

"Silent flight,
Darkness piercing vision,
Hooting night terror – Owl."

This blanked is called CAN YOU SEE THE HOOT? and it is designed by ShuiKuen Kozinski, the author of some of the most beautiful shawls on the Earth. :) . The pattern for this blanket can be downloaded for free from Elann.com. It calls for approximately 3000m of yarn.

This "Navajo" blanket was made by my fellow blogger bensedinart. The pattern can be found in Kristin Nicholas book "Kristin Knits". It is worked in the rounds with a steek.

Inspired by THIS design, Raveler Cheryl (Ravelry name TracesmomCheryl ) made this unusual project- a felted bird's nest. Absolutely adorable!

Here's another interesting example of a felted non-wearable knit project!

Made by jantje.

Now, look at this:

It is a lamp!!!! Knit and designed by Rachel Braff . The pattern is available as a Ravelry download from this link > Hydra lamp.

Crocheted candle-holders...

... and lamp shades, both designed by Elín Guðrúnardóttir You can find her blog HERE

More lampshades:

And Nordic light pendant designed by Anna&Heidi Pickles.

Now- the wire!
In 2006., Knitty published "Venezia", a pattern for beaded napkin holders designed by Rosemary Hill.
The most unusual thing about this pattern was - the yarn! Instead of furry, soft alpacas, merinos and silky yarns, this pattern calls for WIRE. Shiny loops of wire wrapped around gentle bamboo needles left me pretty confused when I saw this photo for the first time.

Hardly would anyone believe that it was possible to knit copper wire, usually associated only with soulless industrial products, into a fine, airy lace fabric. But, it is possible.
And the pictures of the final result were just as stunning as those of the process of making.

Later, In 2008. , Knitty published another pattern by Rosemary Hill - Bijouterie , a pair of beaded earrings. The principle was, more or less, the same and the result was, once again, beautiful.

The idea of knitting wire instead of yarn somehow triggered the birth of a whole new style of knitting.
Some of the knitters that i met during this hunt started playing with Romi Hill's patterns, modifying both patterns and the purpose of the projects.
Others came up with their own, unique designs.

Jenny, (coolcatjen on Ravelry ), made these "Venezia" napkin holders.

And, some jewellery:

Crocheted bracelet, made with copper wire, semi-precious stones, Mother-of-pearls and Swarovski crystals.

Wired necklace with circular motives.

And a ring!

These three pieces of jewellery were crocheted and designed by Leigh Manson-Brown. The link will take you to her designer's page on Ravelry.

The curtains! Not nearly as unusual as knit wire, but still a good example of a creative approach to crocheting and knitting. I picked this elegant and simple pattern by Bernat Design Studio. The pattern is free.

And, although there are thousands of interesting examples of hand-made objects that could find their place in almost every household, for the closure of this story I picked this simple and, yet extremely cute project.

Clothesline Wall Hanging

The main purpose of this project is to bring a smile on your face and, to be perfectly honest, i cannot think of a nobler purpose. :)

I'm finishing the story with this cute wall hanging for two reasons - I wanted to bring a smile to your face and to prepare you for my next post - a story about very special wall hangings.

'till then, cheers!

Flowers, leaves and acorns

noreply@blogger.com (zMaja) — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 00:40:00 +0000

I may have been quiet lately but that doesn't mean that I haven't been knitting! Quite the contrary! As always, my most frequently chosen projects were shawls.
Two of my favourite shawls made in the 2011. are designed by Shui Kuen Kozinski which probably doesn't come as a surprise- I've been a long time fan of her work.

And, although I could hardly pick my favourite pattern among her designs, when I made my first Fleur-the-lis shawl, I instantly knew that it was a love that would last for a long, long time. And so it was! What blew me away was the simplicity of the pattern capable of resulting in such a rich and breathtakingly complex texture. Moreover, the final shape of this shawl is so long lasting that even after months of wearing it you will still have firmly shaped peaky edges and an intact texture of the lace.
In addition to all this- it is an extremely fun knit and here I might want to add that I am a very impatient knitter. But, it appears that, no matter how many repeats you decide to make or how many lace panel you decide to include in your project, your whole (knitter's ) world suddenly starts spinning around the row in which you will finally make 9 out of 3 stitches and start making a new flower. Quite amazing!

Anyway, the story has it that, once upon a time, a (young and beautiful) knitter (whos blog you are reading this very moment) decided to made herself a lovely winter Fleur-de-lis shawl in ice gray. When the shawl was finished, she realised that it was a pure miracle- the most amazing thing she had ever see. Everyone else was blown away by its beauty as well.. People from her kingdom would instantly fall in love with it (the shawl, not the knitter!) and would ask her :"Can you make something like that for me too?" but the knitter would briefly reply: "Who am I, your grandmother? Make it yourself!" And so the beautiful young knitter continued enjoying her moment of glory the whole next winter.
One day, the knitter woke up and felt that the temperature had drastically changed overnight! It was spring! And, since the knitter lived on the Mediterranean, she knew quite well that she would soon melt like a snowman if she continued wearing her shawl. Her other option was to put her shawl into a closet along with the rest of her winter wardrobe but she knew more than well that, then, she would lose all her magical powers. So, she sat down and started thinking! And, after a few days of thinking, she came up with a solution to her problems - she would make herself a new shawl out of a much lighter yarn that could be worn in April and May! That way she would keep her powers forever (or at least until German tourists come to town and start making fun of the insane knitter in a bathing suit, swimming with a shawl around her neck!) And, so, she made herself a new shawl! And she lived happily ever after!

I have to say that, unlike many other times, this time I was really lucky when it came to picking the right yarn for the project- my first choice was the best choice (and I think that the lady in the yarn shop, used to my constant replacements and "better ideas", meditated on the idea of framing my picture and putting it on a wall for a long time after that! She must have thought it was candid camera!).

The yarn I used is a very strange tweedy cotton/cashmere/wool blend! Very hard to work with, actually, as the thread easily breaks during knitting but extremely firm when knit into fabric. It is also very blockable which is great for a shawl project! The predominant colour is natural beige (or sand, if you like) and, at first sight, it gives the impression of a hemp yarn but, in reality, it is extremely soft to touch (cashmere can do that!).

I do have to mention that some of the pictures were taken at least 6 months after blocking and, as you can see, she shape is still perfect!

The pattern for Fleur-de-lis shawl is obtainable from Ravelry here > Fleur-de-lis shawl pattern by Shui Kuen Kozinski .

The second Shui Kuen's design that I made this winter (don't worry, I won't be telling another story about a beautiful knitter and her magic powers!) is Leaf and Acorn Shawl, this time, in green. What a change after all the projects in earth shades!

I love it, I hearth it, I love wearing it but my dear friend is so desperately in love with it that i decided to give it to her! But she still doesn't know that so, in case you see her, don't tell her anything about this!

Here it is:

You can download Leaf and Acorn shawl pattern for free from both Ravelry ( HERE) and Elann.com (HERE).

Happy knitting! I'm going to bed! It's 3 AM and I think I'm losing my magical powers as we speak!

Let me tell you a joke

noreply@blogger.com (zMaja) — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 02:14:00 +0000

I met a good friend of mine a few days ago. After 4 years of not seeing each other!
All that I knew about him was that he had gotten married in the meantime, had a baby girl and that he had quit his old job. Nothing else! Plenty had happened in my life too! 4 years!
We hugged, said "Hi" to each other and then thousands of questions started popping out in my head - "what should I ask him first?", "how has he been?", "where did he meet his wife?", "how old is his dog now?", "oh, his brother, I forgot about his brother, I should ask him about his brother!!!", "does he still collect antique watches?".."how on earth do you start a conversation with someone whom you haven't seen in years and whom you used to spend days and days with???"....and, just when I started feeling dizzy of all the questions erupting in my head and thought that I was going to faint, he winked at me and said:
-Hey, do you want to hear a joke? It's a good one!
I said:
- A joke? I haven't seen you in 4 years, I don't even know your daughter's name...
He stopped me and said:
-I thought it would be better to just pretend that the last time we saw each other was yesterday! Catching up is usually boring!
And so he told me a joke!
He was right- catching up is usually boring, often hard and more often than not- useless. And so are the excuses! (Not to mention that they're lame!)

For this reason, I decided to pretend that the last time I posted here was last Monday and to tell you a joke!
There isn't much to be said, after all! Sometimes, for whatever reason, we simply "don't feel like doing some things". When that happens and when we feel that it is not the right time to do something then, in my most humble opinion, whatever it is that we don't feel like doing, is better left alone. More so if what we're doing is supposed to be done with pleasure. Not every time is a good time! That is what I did with this blog- I temporarily abandoned it and decided to continue writing when I see fit! And, that time would be now, if you don't mind!
(Naturally, although my strategy called "I don't feel like doing it so, I won't do it!" sounds abnormally smart- do not try it at home or, godforbid, with your electricity bills! I've tried it and it doesn't work! Electricity companies have got no sense of humor WHATSOEVER and if you decide to skip paying a few bills and then show up in front of their clerks and say - "Hey, I really didn't feel like paying the last three bills but I have a great joke to tell you!" - THEY WON'T LISTEN!!!! Or laugh!... I just thought I should make this clear!)

So- the joke!!!!

Two men are sitting in a pub. Their names are John and Peter. They're drinking beer and chatting! Suddenly, John changes the subject and says to his friend:
- You know, I've been thinking! We spend every single night here in this pub and we've been doing it for the past twenty or so years. We get home from work, have something to eat, take a nap and then leave the house and come back home late in the evening, usually drunk and useless!
Peter says: - Yes, and?
John continues: - Well, you see, I've been thinking about our wives lately! When we're here, they're at home! Alone! Not only are they alone but they also know that we won't be back until very late!
Peter: - And?
John: - Well, what do you think they're doing when we're here?
Peter says: - Oh, you know...they'e women, they probably do what all women do!
John says: - And what is that?
Peter smiles and says: - Well, there aren't many options, are there?! They're either knitting or...well, obviously, spending evenings with another man!

John suddenly jumps off his chair, puts his coat on and says: - I knew it! I have to go!
Peter says- Hey, where are you going?
John says: - Home!
Peter: - Why so suddenly?
John: - I'LL KILL HER!!!!
Peter says: - Your wife???
John says: - Yes!
Peter: - But, why????
John says, on his way out: - BECAUSE SHE DOESN'T KNOW HOW TO KNIT !!!!!!

I'll be back soon this time! Stay tuned!

Lilies and hearts

noreply@blogger.com (zMaja) — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 11:07:00 +0000

Updates!

My blog started hibernating when I was still working on my "Fleur-de-lis" shawl and I never posted any pictures of the finished project. And, it is not the only shawl that I made during this "internet wintersleep".

My Fleur-de -lis turned out beautiful (how humble of me!) ! I love it and I'm sure I'll be making another one very, very soon. As soon as I pick a new colour .

I swear I'm not mad! I just look mad. It is very important to point that out in my case: I'm barely ever mad but I always look that way!
Another KAL, another project designed by ShuiKen Kozinski and another beautiful lace shawl around my neck:

"My Valentine" shawl.

I went for the same winning combination of materials that i used for my Luna Moth shawl- mohair and glass beads.
Finally, the contenct of one swap package that I received last summer from my German swap pal turned into another triangular shawl.

I love the colours and I love how the shawl turned out. I improvised and now I'm trying to decipher my own notes; in case I succeed, I should have the pattern written down by the end of this spring. Or next spring! :D

Again- not mad!
(I should definitelly find a pro model for my projects! :)))))

Can you knit&read?!

noreply@blogger.com (zMaja) — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 13:21:00 +0000

At the same time, I mean? I can, only I make many mistakes! :D

I've been knitting a lot lately but, besides knitting, I have also been reading about knitting. And I would like to recommend you some of the books that I have come across lately.

The truth is- I'm not really in love with knitting books. I find the majority of very popular books to be non imaginative, overly expensive and often lacking in some basic informations. I apologise to the authors (not that anyone knows who they are!) but it is true. :)
And yet, I do have a secret wish- list and this winter I was lucky enough to actually become the owner of some of the books from that list. But it turns out that some of the books that I'd badly wanted, turned out to be a complete disaster and were erased from my wish-list whilst Luckily, I had a chance to see them before buying them which has saved me some money. At the same time, I fell in love with some other books I didn't even know existed. A few of them are now on my shelves.

Here are some of them:

This is one great book and I'd never even heard of it before this winter. A really great book! Great for beginners, great for intermediate knitters and something every experienced knitter should have or at least read.

And you'll find all sorts of tips and useful explanations in it: cast on, cast off, increases, decreases, blocking, pockets, collars, grafting, short row method, joining yarn, striping, sewing, shaping shoulders (now, that is something that you can't find very often), buttonholes and hems ....many, many great things and yet it is a very simple book. You'll even find some basic tips and advices for shaping garments, taking measurements, adjusting tension etc. ('cause in order to finish something you first have to know how to make it, aye?! :) )

A real jewel, I think it would make a great present for a knitter beginner.

"Knitting on Top of the World" by Nicky Epstein is one of those books that I'd wanted for quite some time and that didn't disappoint me at all. First of all- it is a REAL book , with many pages and many pictures and all. :)))
Second of all- it is full of lovely patterns, inspiring pictures and lovely colours. I'm sure you'd love it.

Now, although my list of great books for lace knitters or, should I say, for the knitters of lace :) is much longer and although I'll probably post it here soon, I just had to mention these two books:
- the first one is called "The Gossamer Webs Design collection". It is a booklet rather than a book is a real treasure for all those interested in mastering Russian shawls from Orenburg. It is probably a rare widely available source of all the tips, techniques and explanations necessary for making traditional Orenburg shawls and it isn't very expensive either.

- the second book is called "Haapsalu sall"and it is a "must have" for every lace knitter especially those who do not own the "original" Leili Reimann's book. In Hapsalu sall you will find what is probably the biggest collection of traditional and lace stitch patterns in general.

This book is still pretty new to me but I think that some of the patterns published in it can be very inspirational for all of us who are still thinking about knitting heavy jumpers and warm shawls and having trouble realising that warm days are just around the corner. I think you could use this book to turn your needles into the direction from which the summer is coming. Because it is on its way!

And, by all means, Jared Flood's "Made in Brooklyn" : brilliant, imaginative, full of fun knits, lovely patterns and actually wearable things. :))) I just love it! You will too- that I can guarantee!

Finally, there's one more thing that I think you should definitely treat yourself with- the Interweave knits Fall 2009. issue. It is called The Natural issue and I'm not even sure what it is that makes it so special - most patterns are quite simple but they're all amazingly appealing. Bulky yarns, easy yet fascinating knits, natural colours, lovely colour-work, warm hoodies, casual purses....oh, just get this issue, it is great!!!!

Here's what you will find in it (among other just as lovely patterns).

Do I need to say more?! :)

Moments of Lace II

noreply@blogger.com (zMaja) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:23:00 +0000

It's happening again....

(Fleur-de-Lis by Shui Kuen Kozinski)

Voyager

noreply@blogger.com (zMaja) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 17:52:00 +0000

"The young women emigrants of more than a century ago stepped on a ship and began their voyage to a new home in Canada. They brought with them their skills as knitters and spinners and the willingness to use those skills to clothe their families. Despite the need for utility items of clothing, they incorporated creativity, skill and beauty into the garments needed for warmth in the cold Canadian winters. "
(From the description of the Voyager scarf/stole Shui Kuen Kozinski and Benne Ferrell, at Elann.com)

It's a lovely story to think about while knitting. And it is even lovelier to have a scarf with a story around your neck! Remember my lace from the last post? Well, the scarf is now finished - it is one amazing piece of lace!

Since the end of May, I've been thinking of making myself a nice lacy shawl or scarf in neutral colour, possibly with cotton yarn and with rich and decorative edging. But, each time I'd started making a design, I'd end up with an idea of a lovely edging and nothing else. All this time I've had the beginning and the end of my dream scarf in my head- but not the body of the scarf!

Then I checked Shui Kuen's designer's page on Ravelry again- she has proved to be my saviour in such situations. :)

Of course I found just the right thing there! :) Voyager lace shawl/stole design by her and Benne Ferrell, another dear and interesting lady!

And that was it; before you know it- it was on my needles! Apparently- the force was with me this time and I was able to find the best possible yarn the very same day!

I only "had" to make one small adjustment - to add that only thing that I was able to come up with myself- my lacy edging! :) (The original version is actually extremely cute but- you'll understand me- I had to do it for purely pathological reasons! :))))

It was done in less than 4 days! I really enjoyed working on this pattern - and it was so exciting to watch how this beauty grows under my fingers!

I used 150g/370m of (20 wpi) fingering pure cotton Unitas- Hana yarn and worked with 4mm circular needles. I made the bottom edging and the body of the scarf in one piece and then I made the top edging separately and grafted the two pieced together. I am more than happy with how it turned out!

I can only advise you to make it some day as well and say a huge "Thank you" to Shui Kuen and Benne for designing this beauty!

For those of you who are Ravelry members, the pattern page can be found HERE,

or,

you can simply open the Elann.com patterns page - HERE.

See something strange in the upper right corner of this picture? It's a fish! It jumped out of the sea while I was taking this photo (probably to make sure that it was not a fishing net). A fish! I was lucky! The last time the animals decided to (unexpectedly) show up in my pictures was when I was taking photos of a canyon near my hometown. Then I ended up with a dozen pictures of the canyon with two bugs mating in the bottom right corner (I could have sworn that there was only one!!!!).

I'm not lying!!!!

Moments of lace

noreply@blogger.com (zMaja) — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 13:06:00 +0000

Currently on my needles....

pure beauty!

Christmas in July

noreply@blogger.com (zMaja) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 10:38:00 +0000

Hello, dear peopleS! :) Hope everyone has had a lovely July and August and I wish you all a beautiful autumn!

(It is so good to be a knitter; we are always looking forward to wearing sweaters and shawls!!! )

Let me share my deepest and biggest secret this summer with you! (I'm talking about my knitting experiences, of course- stay with me, please!!! :D )

I TOOK UP KNITTING WOOLLEN GLOVES IN THE MIDDLE OF JULY!

There, i said it!

AND, I was doing it at the beach (knitting gloves!!!).

I don't think the latter part actually changes anything as most people didn't really know what I was actually doing- seeing my hands maneuvering a set of sharp stainless steel (commonly called surgical steel :D ) double-pointed needles kept them from asking any questions.

Not normal, aye?! I thought so too. I mean, I did speak to a very good psychiatrist about it and he thought that it was tolerable. He also mentioned a few more words in Latin that I'm not sure I completely understood, 'tho!

The person to be "blamed" for all this is my pal from the previous round of the "Sending Some Sunshine Swap" on Ravelry- BiancaG from Germany! It's the same person whom I got my lovely drop spindle from in June! Besides the spindle, she also sent me some amazing German yarns .( probably in case I never learn how to spin! :) ) that I simply had to use right away.

Two skeins of beautiful variegated lace weight yarn in autumn shades that I love so much and a huge 100g skein of pure merino super-wash self-striping yarn in lace weight again. That one I had to start knitting with immediately! I'm not really a sock knitter but a pair (or two) of gloves seemed like a great idea! Especially great in July! :)))

Ok, so, maybe I'm not really a normal person but, if nothing else, unlike normal people- I'll have a lovely new pair of striped gloves this winter! :)

B-day present make-over

noreply@blogger.com (zMaja) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 17:32:00 +0000

Here's the thing!

My birthday was on 11th July. Ok, my 30th birthday was on 11th July, thank you very much for asking! :D And my friend Coey, whom I've been exchanging letters with lately, decided to squeeze a lovely hand-knit present into one of her envelopes and surprise me. She sent me a cool cotton dishcloth in lovely summer colours with a hand-made greeting card attached and the dishcloth pattern written on the back of it! It arrived two days after my birthday! All the way from Halifax, Nova Scotia! How 'bout that?!

I really loved it!

But there was a small problem!!! Just a few days before , I realised that my family was A BIT too lazy and so I firmly decided to give up on doing dishes for them! (I'm not sure if they even realised that it was me who had been doing it all the time; they never saw me doing dishes- they're usually on the beach; they never heard me complaining- the water is often too loud; they don't even know what happens to the dishes once they're done eating from them but they do know that they're always clean and shiny when they're hungry so- maybe it happens naturally?!?! ). And just to "seal" my promise, I took a whole set of newly bough kitchen cloths in lovely pastel colours and decided to turn them into even lovelier beach bags! For me! (:Cheeky grin!:)

And then I got the dishcloth! And what does one do in a such situation? Personally, I thought that turning it into a motley pouch would be the best solution. When I saw it folded inside the envelope, I even thought it was a pouch. A person with kitchen cloth beach bags (absolutely) needs a dishcloth beach pouch- it doesn't get any more simple than that!

But first, I had to ask Coey for her opinion! And she told me that I should BY ALL MEANS turn it into a pouch and spend this summer swimming and sunbathing instead of washing dishes (my friend Coey is SO smart!).

And so I did! I know, I know; modifying a hand-made b-day present is rude- and I apologise! I will never do it again! :)

First, I went to a thrift shop and picked a few light summer shawls. Then I found a piece of lovely orange pure cotton fabric in one of my quilting leftovers basket and decided I didn't really need all the shawls from the thrift shop :D; I bought a zipper and a piece of cotton tape, picked a button.....attached the sides of the dishcloth together with a piece of white cotton yarn....

And, voilà!!!!! it's a beach pouch!!!!!!!

Thanks Coey (Nichole) for a lovely B-day present and for suggesting that I should stop doing dishes! :)))) It took me only an hour to finish it! It took my family about three days to find out that the dishes cannot clean themselves! :D

I really love it!

P.S. Oh, and BTW (and after seeing the pictures again)- in case anyone dares to ask what the blue "thing" in the last picture is- it's a DEODORANT!!!!!!! :D

Summer knitting

noreply@blogger.com (zMaja) — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 14:24:00 +0000

I'm here! Hope you haven't missed me because it would mean that you've spent this whole July and a good part June staring at your monitors! Have you???? It's summer, peoples- go outside, 't'aint that hot - if you're lukcy, you'll survive and maybe you won't even get a stroke! (dark humour!!!!!!!!!)

As for knitting.....I've been knitting...a little! But I have been knitting and that's what matters! For those who don't believe me, I'm posting a proof; a picture of me knitting taken by my dear friend Zox. (I've always wanted a realistic portrait!)

As you can see- there are two black sheep and a cat in thise drawing! And one left sleeve in progress! :D

All ready to become a spinner

noreply@blogger.com (zMaja) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 14:35:00 +0000

As of today, I am a spinner beginner and a proud owner of a drop spindle!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've spent the last few months "designing" a spindle, trying to improvise it and talking to my friends, part-time carpenters (full-time doctors and architects :D ), about it but, apparently, I had made the smartest move in this search even before I actually started looking for a spindle or how to make it, without even being aware of it. I had written how much I was craving for a spindle here on my blog some time ago and, my my pal from this round of the "Sending Some Sunshine" swap on Ravelry, decided to peek in here and get a better picture of my likes and wishes and there it was- my wish to become a spinner- written black on white (well, white on black in this case). And so- she sent me a drop spindle.

A letter with a spindle inside in my today's mail. What a letter. What a thrill. What a morning!

So, now, I can officially start spinning! She tucked some fleece inside the envelope as well and there was a yarn sample she had made so that I could see what it should look like. Thank you ever so much, dear swap partner. You have made my day! No- you have made my century!

And, now, since I'm already mentioning it, I know I should show off with other goodies found inside the envelope too so, here you go! It was a VERY MUCH stuffed envelope... :)

...with all sorts of cool things tucked inside! Including two chocolate bars! They're not in the picture- I ate them while waiting for the batteries to be charged. You wouldn't want to see two empty, smudged tin-foil chocolate wraps in a picture anyway, would you?! :)

The spindle came with this cool "small garden" note card- it's lovely from the outside but simply amazing from the inside; there's a package of seeds with a small bag stuffed with soil and a pocket in the middle of the card where the seeds should be planted. It's a slow process- but so is learning how to spin, my pal says in the note. :))) It would be very hard to top this choice of presents for a wannabe spinner who is also a freak when it comes to propagating plants from seeds (read:ME). :D

And I also got this!

It's got nothing to do with knitting (it's got a lot to do with frogging, 'tho! :D) - a gorgeous frog-shaped shower gel holder. And the gel smells FANTASTIC!

What a lovely (sunny) day!

Knit 'N' Natter

noreply@blogger.com (zMaja) — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 18:06:00 +0000

I wonder why they didn't get through to the next round!

(I'm not being mean!!!!!! They're cute!!!!! :)))

PhD in Dreamweaving

noreply@blogger.com (zMaja) — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 12:49:00 +0000

Guess what I've been doing for the past few weeks?

Yes, making slippers! :)

And the more I think about it, the more I'm sure- when I grow up, I want to be a Slipper maker!

Just listen to the sound of it- a SLIPPER MAKER!

I can already imagine the envy in other people's eyes when they hear that I was a slipper maker while they have wasted their youth studying to become lawyers, or doctors, or presidents....

Curious/nosy/good-looking/well-educated/male/stranger (further in the text: CNGlWeM stranger) : (inquisitively) What do you do for living ?

Me: I'm a slipper-maker!

CNGlWeM stranger: Oh...really? (shocked and embarrassed) That sounds...magical!

Me: (totally cool) Yah, I know...'tho, it's just a job like any other....(cheeky-grin, optional)

CNGlWeM stranger: Yes i know but...a slipper-maker...wow! is that something like a dream-weaver?

Me: (victoriously) Weeeelll, sort of...only slipper makers are Dream-weavers with PhD!

Yes! Mr. CNGlWeM is right -it really is a magical thing to do! The coolest profession of all! :D

'Cause, in case you've forgotten, this is what slipper-makers can do! (And these masters don't even work for money! :) )

Wollknaeuel's - Dzonba- The Himalayan Slipper by Tracy Hudson

Icelandic's Crocheted Felted Slippers (designed by Josephine Woo)

Cinderella slippers, made and designed by Baerbel Born (aka heathergem on Ravelry
Ta-ta for now!

Dress my feet II

noreply@blogger.com (zMaja) — Thu, 07 May 2009 23:31:00 +0000

What you've seen in my previous post is only one half of my "slippery gallery!! :)))

I've got a few more aces up my sleeve!

Ready for more?....of course you are! :D

Do you know what this is???

:)))) It is one great idea, that's what it is - elf slippers!

They're designed by Carolyn Christmas and, this time, made by graylagran . (And she has made oodles of these :)) - here's her blog haphazard knitter )

Beautiful Irish slippers

Made and designed, knitted, felted and embroidered all by Tarjanne . You can see the process of making them on Tarja's Stitsailuja blog! Just lovely!

Spiritely Elf Shoes

another lovely example made by msblondieknits who is also their designer. You'll find the pattern on her msblondieknits blog.

Felted slippers

Needless to say- modular knitting is another great option for non sock knitters.

Or crocheters...

kedama's Square motif slippers

by p.24 Square room shoes pattern, designed by Keiko Okamoto. (You can find kedama's blog in Japanese HERE).

See, you don't even have to know how to turn the hell (or toes for that matter!). With crocheted blocks, shaping is as easy as pie!

Felted clogs!!!!

Yes, CLOGS! Knitters make clogs!!! :))) Another design by Bev Galeskas . The pair from the picture above ("Fuchsia Felted Slippers") were made by a fellow Raveler Topfrog (and a fellow blogger Topfrog ) .

Slippers for Lily

made by melissalm (knittingsandwich on Typepad). It's Bev Galeskas's design again, it's clogs again only, this time, it's Children's Felt Clogs (CH-38).Children need clogs too!

And how about this pair?! Filz puschen

made by knitrose (her blog Rosige zeit ). It's a very simple basic felted knit slippers ( at the moment available only in German) by COATS GmbH but with a lovely floral decoration and in adorable colours!

And more lovely slippers for kids!

Tocino & Velocidad

made by monotrans (here's her blog ).You'll find this pattern as "Barnyard Cow Slippers" by Spinrite on Ravelry for free.

You never thought these can be hand-made, did you?! :)) It's a lovely present for a kid. Well, you can make them for a kid or you could make a pair for me- I love such slippers (I wear tigers!!! :)))

To be honest, I wouldn't mind having these either :)))

They're tantej's lovely version of Caroline Dlugy-Hegwer's Petit Chou Slippers pattern.

A blog about tantej's knitting adventures can be found HERE!

And a lovely, furry pair of Baby Ballerina Slippers

a pattern by Debra Paradis aka knitdivad,published on her Yarning for You site and available from Ravelry.
So cute!

And, I'm almost done. It's been one long list of beautiful patterns and, still- there's at least a zillion of lovely pairs of slippers out there that I haven't mentioned. At least I've managed to convince some of you that making slippers is a very cool thing to do! :)))

I hope you've enjoyed it!
And, since this odyssey has started from the Orient- it's time to take my magic slipper back home! Remember the Turkish slippersfrom the beginning of my first post?
Here they are again!

"Good Morning Slippers" (yes, that's what they're called when you decorate them with a pompom :)) ) made by nikkinimble aka Three little purls blog.

Or, you could make them in bright colours

only, bare in mind- that's how they become Bookworm slippers. By nikkinimble again!

Thanks to the authors for participating and making all these lovely slippers!

Dress my feet

noreply@blogger.com (zMaja) — Tue, 05 May 2009 19:07:00 +0000

I love the word "slipper"! It's one of the first words I usually look up in a dictionary when I'm learning a foreign language and, for some funny reason, that word always sounds adorably cute: babbuccia, babouche, pantofola, pantoffel, pantufla, terlik, туфля "tooflya", papuča "papoocha"...probably because slipper is a lovely thing. No wonder you need to lose a slipper to get a leading role in a fairytale (losing other pieces of clothes surely does open new opportunities as well...not in fairytales, 'tho!!).

The other day, while I was searching for some old sock patterns in one of my knitting baskets, I stumbled upon a few lovely traditionally knitted slippers my late grandma had made long time ago. WHY DON’T I KNIT SLIPPERS? Do other knitters make them? I don’t recall ever seeing a pair of slippers on Ravelry. If there were any, I guess I would have spotted them by now (what a mistake!)! But, again- with so many sock knitters out there….
So I typed the word “slippers” into the Ravelry Projects browser and…oh, my! The picture was breathtaking! Ravelers do make slippers! And boots! And clogs! Ballet flats, Cinderella slippers, shoes…They make miracles! In circle, flat, toe-up, upside-down, felted, knitted, crocheted…all kinds of miracles.
And that treasure chest has been in front of my nose all this time.

I had to share that beauty with you, of course, so I picked a “few” projects and made a gallery-like post (well, two posts to be more precise, there’s no reason to reveal all the beauty right away, is there?!) of what bare hands can make (to make bare feet feel warm). All that with help from their authors and designers, of course!
And, no, I won’t get paid for saying how beautiful their works are (recession!!!). :)))

I’ve picked some lovely pictures and I’ll put links to the original patterns wherever it is possible - you can drain the inspiration from them, CO some of the projects yourself, enjoy watching them, buy them or get them for free, faint or bow to the authors if you like…what ever you do, I promise you it’s going to be a jaw dropping set of pictures. (I’m allowed to say that- none of the projects from this post is mine. But, then again, it’s my blog and I’m allowed to say whatever I want, anyway! :)) ).

Only, bare in mind- this is not a top list of THE most beautiful projects; there’s still a sea of outstanding hand-made slippers out there. My main intention was to show you some of the most interesting shapes, designs and ideas. Oh, well, yes, I did add multiple examples of the same pattern here and there but I just liked them so much…Yah, I was a wee bit subjective too, I admit! ;-)

That said,

The story of the magic slipper from my imagination begins long time ago somewhere in Persia…

...and that is where this list begins as well...

Persian Slippers

by Gryphon Perkins . You can find them at Sanguine Gryphon portfolio page. Beautiful!

Traditional crocheted Turkish slipper pattern by Erika Knight

with a touch of Italy and lovely floral insole made by windspirit...

...or...

...with a touch of Persia again, Pixie slippers made by flexibleknits . You'll find more lovely pictures of her slippers on flexibleknits blog.

I just love this pixie look!

Plain or Flowery Slippers by Sarah M. Hughes from Ravelry Patterns Library

Three examples of how different colours and the right choice of small decorations can make all the difference

A warm and feminine version in pastel shades by Kristiinake

then

a Brazilian "white flower power" version named "Tathi" by OliviaClaudia (her blog in Portuguese is Pequenospontos )

and

AnnaPuh's Flowery slippers in beautiful cool colours. AnnaPuh's blog in Swedish is HERE!

You should check out this pattern sometime(the link is in the title)- it's great for non-sock knitters and for all those who are not familiar with short row techniques and working with DPNs or aren't keen on working in that manner as this pair of slippers is knit FLAT!

Let's continue,

beautiful Ballerina Slippers

made by another Ravelry member bongomama (here's her bongo-mama blog ) and by Bev Galeskas's Felted Ballerina Slippers pattern.

(These are REAL shoes!!!!!! :)))))

And, another example of the same pattern only in apple-green

Slippers for 2paw by Aussie (Tassie :))) ) Raveler ratherbeknitting (I agree with the nick-name, of course you would, who wouldn't. ;-) )

More lovely green

staceyb's version of Julie Weisenberger's "Pleated Ballet Flats" pattern called "Jen's Magic Ballet Flats".

Julie is the author of cocoknits.com and one of the most imaginative "footwear" knitters out there. I've included two of her designs in this list but I might have just as well added them all. I'll get back to cocoknits near the end of this post but, until then, you might also want to check out her cute knitted loafers on Cocoknits . Adorable!

A pair of vintage, toe-up slippers called "Amy March slippers"

made by Pamie and designed by tiny owl knits (even if you don't intend to knit these slippers- read the pattern, it's hilarious :) ).

A pair of "regular" open House slippers designed by Tracey Ullman and Mel Clark

and knit and felted by Smeelia (aka Cecilia knits )

Now, why would I ever want to buy a pair of open slippers again after seeing those?! :))

And, like I promised, cocoknits and Julia Weisenberger again

and their lovely Prairie boots .

And only one more for now- Ice Age Boots designed by Maggie Pace

and made by imlovinknit (agreed again! )

Didn't I tell you- knitters do make boots! :)))

Enjoy, and I'll be back with some more soon!

TO BE CONTINUED....

Ho lavorato....ho fatto l’uncinetto!

noreply@blogger.com (zMaja) — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 01:09:00 +0000

This is one of the most talked about stories among bloggers today. Especially among Italian, female and bloggers crafters. And it's likely to stay that way for some time more.

I'd generally try to be original but this time- I'm going with the flow. I just can not but to mention HER as well.

Her name is Maria D’Antuono. She is a 98 years old lady and
lives in a village of Tempera near L’Aquilla in central Italy. Last Monday, during the devastating earthquake in the Abruzzo region, her old stone house collapsed while she was in it. She spent the next 30 hours trapped under her bed, bellow the ruins of her home. Determined to stay alive!

She was rescued on Tuesday . And she is feeling well.

The question – how did she spend the 30 hours after her house had collapsed onto her.

Her answer: ”Working!..Crocheting!”.

She was crocheting!!!
I’ve read this story in about 10 different newspapers, blogs and web sites, even languages and written by different journalists. Apparently, not all of them thought that what she had said next was as important as her first words after being rescued. I do. I’m sure they are important!

Before going to hospital, she was offered a package of biscuits. But she wanted something else. Something more important than having her first “meal” after a day and a half without food .

“Almeno fatemi pettinare!”.

She wanted to comb her hair!

Of course!

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Femininity, dignity, human pride….. You choose!

I’ll only quote my Italian (fellow) blogger for the end: “Evviva la signora Maria!”