Minty, the rabbit

I've been into knitting lots recently. Now that Easter is approaching I thought I could knit some bunnies. Perhaps you remember my first knitted rabbit. The pattern taken from Arne & Carlos book Easter Knits. Eggs, bunnies and chicks with a fabulous twist. Time I had a go at another Easter bunny :) Actually I started knitting this minty green rabbit months ago, I just couldn't finish it for a long time until one day I told myself: That's it! No more UFOs! No more leaving the unfinished stuff behind.

So here he is! Minty, the rabbit :) Finished and ready to be adopted by a soft toys loving kid :)

All I had to do is to help him out of his rabbity "deafness" and knit him a pair of ears as well as his jumper :)

I'm pleased. I think he came out quite well. The stitches are smooth, the yarn knitted well, the colour looks fresh.

Doesn't he look happy, this little soft fella? :) I'm also happy with this tiny cute stripey jumper :)

Minty has quickly found his companions - the rapping bear from Muller Rice and Monkey from PG Tips :) If you watch the British adverts you must surely know these advertising characters. 

They have even had their photos taken at a photographer's :D

Cool, huh? :)

Have a happy crafty weekend x x x

Martha

Scandi-style knitted bags (2)

Hi all. Hope you are enjoying your weekend :) I'm trying to catch up with my long overdue blog posts so here is another one, this time about the knitted bags I made last autumn. 

Perhaps you remember these - my first ever 3 knitted pouches from Arne and Carlos crochet / knitting book. I found them very enjoyable to knit so I made some more! Floral theme is definitely my favourite and I just fancied seeing some colourful patterns on them. 

I tend to knit the bags in threes then take a break and move onto something else as I get bored easily and need frequent changes in my crafting. This time I made 3 floral ones and one extra pouch using my own pattern and colours. I was very pleased with how they turned out. 

I used various types of yarns to knit them - Vipe from Dalegarn (mercerized cotton), DMC Natura (DK Cotton), Sublime Egyptian cotton and a mercerized cotton yarn called Wendy. They all give slightly different textures and thicknesses. I like to see these knitted pouches in various colour combinations. 

DMC Natura cotton seems to be working really well for these kind of knitted bags. The thinner yarn, the better because as it always happens in colourwork, the thickness doubles depending how many colours are used in the pattern and it's just nice when a bag is nice and flowing rather than overly thick and puffed up from the yarn. 

For the knitted bag below I used the well know Marius pattern and combined it with my own colours. Sort of wintery hues. The Ivory shade of DMC Natura looks so ... natural here and I like how it combines the with ashy blue shade.

My mum ordered some of the pouches and some have already been sent home. They have so many uses. You can store anything you like in them.

There is always a dilemma for me: should I crochet a string for the pouch or just use a ribbon. Actually I like both ideas so I do a bit of both. 

These seashells in the photos make me really want to go to a seaside now! :)

In the meantime a new knitted pouch is coming on on my needles. To be seen soon on my blog! :)

Have a great weekend and enjoy your crafty time. 

Thank you for your comments and feedback. 

Martha x x x

Christmas Cards of 2014

Hi all. I'm alive but still struggling to find more time for blogging but hey, here I am here today with some more crafty news. I know, I know it's way past Christmas and most of us are already thinking of Easter days but I still wanted to show you my festive cross stitched cards into which I  had put lots of time and effort so it would be shame not to mention them. 

So here they are. Ta Dah!

A set of 6 Christmas cross stitched cards. Patterns for the motifs come from an archival issue of Cross Stitch Cardshop, issue no. 81. I liked these as soon as I saw them and knew I'd have to stitch them one day.

It takes at least 6-8 hrs to stitch a single motif. There are satin and metallic threads in them too. They give  those nice shiny light effects. Buttons add an extra dimension too. A few close-ups:

I think the Christmas tree with tiny cute buttons is my favourite in this card collection :) I may feel tempted to stitch this motif again sometime.

The elf boots are sweet too, I think.

All in all it has taken me 2 years to finish these cards. I lost my motivation and patience half way through and came back to finish them off 2 Christmases later. I'm very pleased how they turned out.

I obviously couldn't resist embellishing the aperture cards as well. Not too much though otherwise the embellishments would overshadow the cross stitch itself.

And this is what they looked like when put on my still festive window. They look quite good as a group, don't you think? :)

In the meantime I couldn't stop myself from starting another big project - a gorgeous Christmas sampler. This one will be stitched throughout the whole year and hopefully finished by Christmas 2015. 

The canvas is navy which means stitching this piece of work requires a great deal of sunlight and I can only stitch it while I'm sitting in my conservatory without risking an eyestrain. Too cold at the moment but it will be more pleasant later in the year and I'm really looking forward to see how this sampler is coming on. The pattern requires a lot of Anchor Reflecta metallic thread so I predict some battles with fraying threads. The stitching with metallic threads is slow but the design is stunning so eventually it will be worth all the effort. 

Currently I'm busing myself with knitting some Easter bunnies as gifts and a bit of crochet too. I'm thinking of trying some new projects, some being a little out of my comfort zone. Lots in plans, just need to stretch my day a bit... by a few hours at least ;)

Hope you are all ok and thanks for stopping by here x x 

Scandi gift tags. The last blog post this year.

Hi!!!! I'm alive and I'm back. It's going to be the last post of 2014 and I didn't want to miss this opportunity to write a few words to you. I hope you all have had a magical, cosy and warm Christmas and looking forward to the New Year. 

Looking back, it hasn't been a particularly good year for me and that can explain some periods of silence on my blog as I've had not much blogging motivaton but I do hope that with the New Year some bright sunny days will come too and my creativity will be back. 

In the weeks coming onto Christmas I stitched these cute Scandi-tags from the Cross Stitcher magazine. My kind of thing - little, quick, easy and cute :)

And what have you been up to recently? I've got so many blogs to visit for some catch up :) Hope to see you soon x

And for the coming New Year 2015 I wish you all lots of health, happiness, plenty of love and joy and sunshine, days full of creativity and may all your dreams come true in 2015! 

Hugs, x x

Martha

Knitted Bags - Scandi style and KnitPro Spectra Flair

Hi everyone. It's been a very "knitty" week for me as I've been working hard on my current knitting projects and trying to finish them asap. Today I have finished my 3rd knitted bag and they are ready to be presented to the public :) So here they are: the three Scandi-style knitted ... bags ... pouches ... favour bags ... gift bags, name them all...

The knitting pattern for these pouches comes from Knit-and-Crochet Garden book by Arne & Carlos. I've kept my eye on this knitting project for months and finally I got round to do it! I even managed to buy the recommended yarn - Vipe from Dalegarn. It's a thin mercerized cotton with a sleek satin touch. It knits well and smooth and creates that nice knitted pattern so typical of cotton yarns. I just love it! 

I'm pleased with how they turned out. When knitting your colourwork, you have to stretch your knitted fabric every so often so that it doesn't pucker on the surface when you've finished. I tried to avoid that at any price otherwise the pouches wouldn't look nice. 

The bags are knitted on double pointed needles. It took me well over a week to knit all three with 2-3 hrs knitting daily. They are about 12-13 cm in height and larger than the Christmas balls (julekuler) I knitted in the past. The Vipe yarn is thinner than Heilo wool and there are more stitches to work through but all is done in almost the same way as you knit the balls. The pouches are finished off with a crocheted frill on top and a string / ribbon drawn through the yarn-over loops.  

I really love the floral designs on these bags - they are my favourite and there's a Scandinavian vibe in it. It's the whiteness and simplicty of the design I love in them most.

This what the bags look like when spread flat. You can use a crochet chain or a decorative ribbon or even a tape according to your preferences.

These cute bags are very versatile. You can use them for many purposes. They can be scented pot pourri bags, seed bags, jewellery bags, gift bags, favour bags, Easter treats bags, bags to keep coins or beads or spools in or even any beach treasures - sea shells, stones, sea glass etc. In my case, they are going to hold my jewellery pieces safe. I already know I will be knitting more of them. Would love to try out new colour combinations and perhaps use different patterns on them. Oh, I may even try knitting some festive ones and give them away at Christmas. My mum is a keen gardener and a fan of scented sachets, she's likely to ask for a couple of them too!

I really enjoyed knitting those bags. It was great fun trying new yarn and working out the new patterns. There will be some more coming in the future.

Now on the shopping-tool front line, this is what my postman left for me today in the mailbox - a set of 5 funky pink double pointed needles! :) I love them! So girly.

They are the KnitPro Spectra Flair Acrylic needles :) I love all KnitPro products.

I didn't even know such existed! I only came across them as I was browsing through eBay offers searching for some 9mm dpns. This is my first acrylic needle set from KnitPro and my first acrylic knitting needles ever. Hope it knits well with them. If you have got any of these yourself, please, feel free to share your opinions in the comments. I'd love to hear from you.

Girls love pink. I'm gonna have fun knitting with them! :D

Thanks for reading and even more thanks for your comments x X x

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Hand-made Moday Blog Hop no. 182 :)