Lete's Buttons Giveaway.

In my previous post I wrote about the fantastic buttons I had received from my friend, Lete. She still has plenty of them and she's happy to share them with you. If you like these little wooden treasures and you'd like to participate in Lete's giveaway, please click on the image below to be transfered to her blog for more details.

Good luck!

photo: (c) Lete

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So it is Spring, in full bloom.

Suddenly, the world around us has become so full of green. Birds sing again, the sun shines and people smile more often. It all feels good, now.

The past few weeks have been pretty heavy on us. With never ending illnesses and weakness, my unexpected hospitalization, sick child, broken toe, stressful search for a new flat etc., our energy supplies have been a bit too low. We all are on the mend right now, believing tomorrow's better.

Certain things became official few weeks ago and we're facing some big changes. We're full of anticipation, happy and a bit nervous at the same time. I will be writing about it soon. There are things ahead of us that we're excited about. But there are also first separations to go through, not understood by little hearts. And that breaks my heart too.

Little surprise.

I need to tell you a little secret: I'm addicted to buttons. I remember that when I was a little girl my grandma had lots of them. Small and big, wooden and plastic, and some of them were even covered in fabric. She kept her buttons in a big jar and I used to play with them whenever I visited her. I would pour out the content of that jar on the floor and I would try to match them or count them all. I believed they were some kind of jewels. One of them ended up in my nose which was pretty scary (hey, I was little and I didn't think that putting a small button in my nostril was such a bad idea. Now, when I'm a mother I do think differently! ;) ). Anyway, the love for buttons survived until these days. Now I have my own glass jars filled up with many kinds of buttons collected over the years. So imagine my joy when I found these in the post today:

A far away friend of mine that I met through Ravelry (what was our life like before Ravelry...?) has kindly shared her stash of these pretty buttons with me. They are so precious! I absolutely adore them and I have already started looking for a project to knit so I can use them soon. I showed them to little G. and she loved them too, especially the little kitties (she loves cats).

Thank you Lete for this surprise!

FO: Mini me.

Do you remember this project? I had some yarn left over and decided to knit mini version of my sweater for little G. I really couldn't stand having the rest of that nice Debbie Bliss Donegal Tweed sitting in my stash, doing nothing so one evening I simply cast on for mini-me sweater. And now it's finished and I couldn't be more happy with the final result. Isn't it cute?

I'm steadily falling in love with Debbie Bliss yarns...

Cooperation from the little model during this photo session was possible only thanks to her favourite crackers :)

Project notes:
Pattern: $5 in Paris
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Donegal Luxury Tweed Aran
Needles: 4mm/ US6 and 4.5mm/ US7

FO: Easter shawl.

Finally finished... And I'm not sure if I like it. I loved the pattern (very easy to follow) but I think it would work better for me in solid colour. Next time (yes, there will be next time) I will definitely use different yarn. 

I called it Easter shawl because whenever I look at it, its colours remind me of Easter eggs. You know, those little chocolate eggs in yellow and blue shells that kids are hunting for :)

The picot bind off was a real pain. It took  f o r e v e r. I managed to watch whole "Out of Africa" while casting off and I thought I was going blind but it was worth it: I love the ruffle section and the edge.

Project notes:
Pattern: Summer Flies by Donna Griffin
Yarn: Araucania Ranco Multy
Needles: 5mm/ US8
Modifications: added two more rows in section 6

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Spring is here, spoiling us with plenty of sun and perfectly blue sky. It's time for some cotton knitting, I am just getting ready, expanding my stash and experimenting a lot with different kinds of cotton.

Have a great weekend Everyone!

Your knitting and crochet time- 2KCBWDAY7

Write about your typical crafting time.

I dream of knitting all day long but unfortunately it's not possible. During the day I usually knit when little G. goes down for her nap. Sometimes, when she's really tired, she sleeps for two hours: it's a real treat for my crafting addiction. And then there are evenings with plenty of time to knit. I find real pleasure in knitting while watching some movies or TV series. My favourite at the moment are "Lost" and "Criminal minds". It's just so nice to be sitting under the blankets and working with needles, following the action. I also love knitting and watching movies based on Stephen King's books. Don't ask me why. It might have something to do with the beautiful scenery.

What I really would like to try is to overcome my shyness and to start knitting in public. It takes me roughly one hour and a half to get to work (if I'm lucky with trains- welcome to London ;) )  and the same (if not more) to get back home. So much time for my craft but I still can't bring myself to knitting on the bus/tube/train. I use this time to catch up with reading books but I sometimes wish I was more courageous to actually pull those needles out of my bag and knit or crochet.

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This is the last day of the 2nd Knit and Crochet Blog Week. It's been so much fun I am so glad I've participated. I'd like to thank you for stopping by and leaving your comments. Thanks to this fantastic blogging experience I've found many beautiful crafty blogs that surely will become my daily source of inspiration. Thank you!

Something to aspire to- 2KCBWDAY6

Something to aspire to. Is there a pattern or skill that you don’t yet feel ready to tackle but which you hope to (or think you can only dream of) tackling in the future, near or distant? 

Since I started my knitting adveture few yars ago, I have learnt many things about this craft but still I feel like I have only touched a wee bit of knitting. There is so much to learn there. I can simply name few things that I would definitely like to explore and master. Let's talk socks, for example. I've always admired beautiful socks knitted from interesting patterns by other knitters but could never manage to knit them myself. Lately I've been thinking that not only I'd love to learn to knit socks. I'd love to knit many many pairs of socks for my little family and get rid of the store-bought ones. I'm looking for a nice yarn to start my first pair of socks so any suggestions from you, talented knitters, are welcome.

I've been in love with fair isle for years now and I would like to knit more projects with beautifully patterned yoke. There's something very special about them that makes me drool over some projects...

And yes, I wouldn't mind to know how to write down patterns professionally. I've got so many ideas running in my head that sometimes I can't even fall asleep at night. If only I could find more time for everything... Is it only me or is a day not long enough for everyone..?

And last but not least: crochet. I hope to learn more about this mysterious craft in the future. I just love the idea of crocheting blankets for my family. They are truly beautiful things, those blankets.

Have a great weekend Everyone!

And now for something completely different- 2KCBWDAY5

This is an experimental blogging day to try and push your creativity in blogging to the same level that you perhaps push your creativity in the items you create.

Happy April Fools' Day Everyone!
(and no, I'm not kidding- I'd really rather be knitting than ironing :) )