DogWoolShawl

Right before Christmas 2016 my weaving project was ready to be finished.

I just needed to be brave and cut it all off from the loom!

Here is my own design shawl. It looks rustic and rough but feels unexpected soft. It is made of our own wool: 25% arctic dog wool and 75% Finnsheep wool. (We get the dog wool by grooming the dogs. Arctic dogs grow wool  under the normal dog hair to stay warm.)

Out Of Africa

I have finally finished The 2016 Reading Challenge. Last book to finish was the one I own but have never read: Karen Blixen's Out Of Africa.

To be honest I have read this for months. Not because it is dull. No, not at all. Because it is something I didn't want to bring to the inexorable end. I've seen the movie of it several times but this book is greater than the film despite it is one of my favorite movies. I must confess that if I had not visited Karen Blixen's grave and farm in Denmark last summer I had cried my eyes out of my head when reading through the misery end. But because I was at her Danish home I know it all was not -at the end- her end.

If you can read only one book; read this. Through these pages you really can hear a strong, advanced & progressive woman to tell you her story. You really can hear her speak. Despite it is old fashion story with old language we all can learn something from it; a bit of humanity... from even those things you may feel cruel at first. This book gives so much more than the movie but it is not either the book or the movie; it is definitely the B O T H!

I think this is going to be the one I will name if I'll be asked -in the future- to name my favorite book.

❤

PS. This year -2016- I have finished 20 books! It makes 12 of this complete challenge and even 8 more! I do challenge myself for the next year with this idea "a book you own but have not read". Meaning that next year I will read only the books which can be found at my library and have been waiting there ages for me to read them! Next year I will tell you all about them!

Christmas Is Back!

Merry Christmas to everyone!

❤

I wish you peace, joy, warmth and good future!

(The cross stitch Xmas tree decoration is stitched on plastic canvas. It is not my own design. It is from a magazine but right now I can not check it out because my Xmas tree stands front of the bookshelf right by the corner where are all my craft magazines and books. I will tell it to you right in January when I will take the tree out.)

(Updated: Designed by Maria Diaz, CrossStitcher, October 2005, p. 59. Instead of aida fabric I used Plastic Canvas to create the Christmas decoration.)

AAW SingleCable Socks No1

My own design SingleCable socks made of our own wool AAW (50% arctic angora wool, 40% FinnSheep wool, 10% nylon) (100g = 238m) for YoungLady's fencing teacher. It seems that woollen socks are the most desired wish from Santa Claus here in Finland. They are also considered made by love and care. Even kids & teens wish to have them!

Wall hanging

Do you remember cute little Robin designed by Lesley Teare (CrossStitcher, Christmas 2005) which I stitched at early December this year? I now made a pretty wall hanging of it. I used grey felt to create the frames. The back side is made of white raw silk. I placed some cotton wool fabric between the front and back side to make it look more soft.

Weaving

During the past days I have finally had time for weaving.

It is going to be twill.

And these are the shades I have designed to use.

FairIsleMittens

 

I designed and  knitted one more pair of mittens for coming Christmas. I used Single Cable stitches...

...and fair isle knitting to decorate them, make them practical and warm.

And they are big enough to fit a pair of gloves under them to make them even extra warm.

DoubleRunning SingleCable Mittens

I knit a warm gift for our riding teacher (one of them). When you wear gloves under the woollen mittens they get extra warm.

I decorated them by double running Single Cables. I used yarns I inherit from my Grandmother without labels.

Sewn bookmark -tutorial

I promised yesterday 

to publish tutorial about sewn bookmark today. 

Here it comes!

You need double amount of felt as you need bookmarks; for both front and back side. The needed size of the felt is the desired size of the bookmark. If one's finished size is 5 x 20 cm for five bookmarks you need 25 x 20 cm → twice, one for lining and one for front side.

By gently pen touch mark the bookmark edges on the felt. It is easier to stay in lines by starting sewing in this way: the edge decoration lines first.

Then sew always next one to the central direction.

If you are advanced in using sewing machine you can use back side's shade as bobbin thread. Otherwise always use similar shade with bobbin thread as the sewing thread. Mistakes with adjustments can not be seen so easily then.

When you are finished with the decoration place the back side fabric (lining) under the front side fabric and pin it onto its place.

Make sure you have marked all the edges and cut off the thread ends.

Sew around the bookmarks and cut off. Compare this and the picture above to notice you don't sew over the pen line that separates the individual bookmarks. That is the line for cutting.

Now you have easy home made personalized sewn bookmarks! My own design  but for sure you can personalize you own ones too!

Siblings - sewn bookmark

I designed and made two almost similar bookmarks. They are bookmark siblings for human siblings. This is also easy and low cost gift idea if you wish to give something for Xmas for someone special but can not afford much or want to give something hand made but are not very skillful. Tomorrow I will publish tutorial about it how to make these as a serial production. You need sewing machine with some decorative stitches, felt and different shades of threads.

FourCables' HandWarmers

 

It's been a long time since I made last pair of HandWarmers. But now I've actually done two similar pairs for Christmas 2016.

They are my own design. I used four SingleCables to decorate them but also to make the structure to stay in SlimFitStyle.

I used Novita's Rose yarn. It has 70% acrylic and 30% wool (50g = 190m).

Robin

This cute Robin is designed by Lesley Teare. It was published on CrossStitcher magazine's Christmas 2005 issue on the page 38. I used my loose end threads so I changed few shades to matching ones to avoid the need to buy any new floss.

For the 1st time I tried out Thread Heaven's Thread Conditioner & Protectant when using metallic threads. It worked well and was not waste of money. If you are not experienced with metallic thread stitching this is something you could try out to get it along better. I warmly can recommend this for beginners to learn to stitch with metallic threads. It is also an excellent gift idea! I found this one on sale; so despite I use a lot metallic threads without trouble I decided to try it out.

SomeBunnyTime

 

Yesterday I sheared the angoras. For a week they had been nagging at me and intimidate me by animal rescue patrol if they can not get rid of their coats. It all looked like it is just going to fall off. But of course it won't. They were still eating well but the time had arrived.

I cut it all down to 1-2 cm but left them two hand size coat over their backs. I needed to cut it down because it looked annoying them all so much. But because we live in North Finland and for example today the temperature has been -12 Celsius degrees I had to leave something on them.

They all are so happy now and jump around satisfied because the thick heavy wool is not on anymore. But to me they all look like silly funny hedgehoogs! ☺

I did brush all the long wool I left and got some wool off to make the coat be thinner. When the sheared parts grow up a bit I can cut off the coat. Or if it gets warmer for a week; meaning around zero temperature.