Tuesday, April 9, 2013

The winter is (almost) over so I need a new hobby....

... as usual, I am  a very impatient person and want to learn every possible craft I can. The one I've chosen now it something I've been thinking about picking up for years now, thinking that it is extremely difficult and impossible to make.... it's tatting!

.... jak zwykle ja, osoba super niecierpliwa, która chciałaby opanować wszystkie techniki rękodziełowe - znalazłam sobie nowe hobby - coś, co chodziło za mną od kilku lat jako super trudne i prawie niemożliwe dla zwykłych śmiertelników..... frywolitkowanie!


My weapon of choice is a shuttle and a fine mercerised cotton thread (so far my favorite is Altin Basak 50). After some trial and error I finally started making small pieces good enough to show to the public.

Narzędziem zbrodni jest czółenko i cienki kordonek (Altin Basak 50). Najpierw trenowałam na grubszej nici ale wydawały mi się te moje próbki jakies takie toporne, więc przerzuciłam się na coś cieńszego. Po paru próbach i błędach w końcu wyprodukowałam coś, co się nadaje do pokazania publicznie.

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

New week, new hats!


Just look at these beauties! 3 new hats finished over the weekend, all based on my own patterns (coming soon). Now all they need are cute pompoms and a photo session. Will be listing them in my shop later today and release patterns by the end of the week, just have to make sure there are no mistakes in the written patterns I've prepared.

Tylko zobaczcie jake śliczności! Trzy nowiutke czapeczki skończone przeze mnie w ciągu weekendu, wszystkie na podstawie moich wzorków. Teraz tylko trzeba im doprawić pompony i zdrobić sesję zdjęciową. Wrzucę je dzisiaj do mojego sklepu, jeśli ktoś chętny - a do końca tygodnia postaram się wyrobić z wzorkami. Muszę się upewnić, że nie zgubiłam oczek w czasie piasnia instrukcji :-)

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Even dogs love Fair Isle!


Meet Scully, our sweet and cute as a button Irish Setter. It's been super cold these past few weeks and our dog was cold all the time, so one day we found this cute, small sweater at the local thrift shop. The dog looooves it! She wears it after coming back from outside to warm up a bit after playing on the snow.
The Disney Princesses dog bed is a bonus (old kid's duvet cover).

Poznajcie Scully, naszego ślicznego i super słodkiego setera irlandzkiego. Kilka ostatnich tygodni było bardzo mroźnych i biedna psina strasznie marzła, więc pewnego dnia znalazłyśmy dla niej w secondhandzie ten śliczny sweterek. Scully go uwielbia, nosi go po domu po zabawach na śniegu. Posłanie w Disneyowskie księżniczki to super bonus :-)

Friday, February 22, 2013

Look what I got today

I love books and knitting books in particular. These books can be super expensive sometimes and you can end up spending hundreds of dollars on them. If you're looking for cheap, interesting knitting books eBay is a good place. There are many sellers out there who sell old knitting books for as little as 99p. That's where I got these great books about Fair Isle, aran and stranded knitting.

Uwielbiam książki, a książki o robótkach w szczególności. Niestety, czasami te książki są super drogie i można stracić fortunę na uzupełnianie swojej kolekcji. Na szczęście jest na to sposó - jeśli nie zależy Ci na najnowszych książkach, na eBay'u można znaleźć wielku sprzedawców wystawiających stare książki po niesamowicie niskich cenach, czasami nawet poniżej funta! Właśnie z eBay'a przyszły do mnie te super książki o Fair Isle i żakardach.


I think the oldest book is like 25 years old, but I don't mind as these are packed with knitting techniques, patterns and charts with traditional motifs. I especially like The Complete Book of Traditional Knitting as it covers traditional styles of knitting from countries all over Europe - Scandinavia, British Isles, Estonia or even Turkey and Greece!

Najstarsza książka ma chyba z 25 lat, ale mi to kompletnie nie przeszkadza, ponieważ są one pełne sztuczek, wzorów i motywów, które mogę wykorzystać w swoich projektach. Moją ulubioną książką jest chyba The Complete Book of Traditional Knitting. Jest ona pełna informacji na temat tradycyjnych robótek z krajów europejskich - Skandynawii, wysp brytyjskich, Estonii czy nawet Turcji i Grecji!


What I love the most about these books is that they're full of old photos either of people knitting or wearing knitted jumpers, hats or gloves. 

Uwielbiam te książki za stare zdjęcia ludzi robiących na drutach albo mających na sobie tradycyjne swetry i czapeczki!


There are many great patterns included, very easy to follow and illustrated with great photos from the 70's -80's. I definitely looooove them!

W książkach jest sporo ciekawych wzorów na swetry czy czapki, ilustrowanych zdjeciami z lat 70-tych czy 80-tych. Te fryzury..... cudne!




Tuesday, February 19, 2013

3 new hats finished & listed


Three new hats I've finished last week - now beautifully photographed and listed in my online Dawanda shop. More hats coming soon, including this one:

Trzy nowiutkie, świeżutkie czapeczki, które skończyłam w zeszłym tygodniu, już są pięknie sfotografowane i wystawione w moim sklepe na Dawanda.com

A obecnie pracuję już nad nową czapką - klasyczny niebieski i Norweskie wzroki, czyli to, co lubię najbardziej!



Monday, February 18, 2013

WIP: The Fair Isle mittens and a new hat!

Finally, the mittens are finished and I am in the process of adding the thumbs.... to tell you the truth, I am not a big fan of knitting thumbs this way, but it worked well this time! I definitely prefer my usual method.


I have to say I love the yellow yarn contrasting with the blues.... It's a pity I don't have yellow colorway from the same yarn as the blues. Maybe it's time to order some? Yay! Yarn shopping!



I've also started working on a new Fair Isle hat pattern, this time only in 2 colors, jeans blue and pale beige/off-white. So far so good!



I think this design would make a cute baby sweater! Frankly speaking, I've been thinking about knitting cute baby Fair Isle sweaters each time I am about to start decreasing the stitches to shape a hat's crown.... maybe one day :-).

Saturday, February 16, 2013

Review: Interchangeable circular needles from KnitPicks

I've been wanting to buy interchangeable circular needles for a long time now, but had no idea which ones to choose. As most of the needle sets are quite expensive, I wanted to test which needle tips are going to be the best for me. KnitPicks came with a nice and reasonable priced TRY IT needle kit of their best-selling needle tips - one pair from the wooden Harmony, the acrylic Zephyr and the metal Nickel Plated collection plus two cables, key and 4 stoppers.


I am so happy I got this set as now I know how it feels to work with each type of the needles. I've tested each pair of tips on both acrylic & wool yarn, lace and worsted weights and the Harmony wooden tips  definitely win. The tips are very sharp and smooth, perfect for precise lace knitting and great for heavier yarn as well. The Nickel Plated tips are great as well, perfect for heavy yarn but a bit too slippery for lace yarn. The Zepyr tips get a huge NO from me as I was not able to knit more than 10 stitches on them due to the terrible feel of acrylic/wool blend yarn on acrylic needles. 

I've read about many people having problems with the connection between cables and needle tips. In my case, I had no problems at all. I just made sure that the connection is nice and tight (use of the small key is advised). What I like about the cables is that they are very flexible, great for knitting socks or mittens using the magic loop method.

My opinion? I'm definitely a huge fan of the Harmony wooden needle tips, they are not only beautiful but also great to work with any type of yarn. 

The only bad thing about KnitPicks is that I am not able to order from their site as they don't ship outside USA. I have to use one of the European resellers instead (and pay more). A bit annoying if you ask me....

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

WIP: Extreme Knitting Experience with Fair Isle Mittens


Fair Isle mittens.... worked 2 at a time.... on one circular needle.... with 4 strands of yarn... hell yeah!
I always wanted to knit one of these but was trying to find a way to knit two mittens at once. Why? Because if I knit them separately, they usually differ in size :-) It happened each time I was trying to knit socks or mittens.... 

Dzierganie ekstremalne... rękawiczki Fair Isle... dwie na raz.... na jednym drucie z żyłką.... 4 nitki wełenki.... hell yeah!!! Bardzo lubię wyzwania! Nie lubię pracować nad jedną skarpetką czy rękawiczką na raz, bo (prawie) zawsze trochę różnią się wielkością, mimo moich usilnych starań, żeby robić równe oczka.... Taki już mój los!


I found a great tutorial on how to cast on 2 top-down socks or mittens on one circular needle.
It comes from Heidi Bears' blog. The instructions are clear and easy to understand. I will definitely use this method for all my sock & mittens projects.

Dlatego bardzo ucieszyłam się, gdy znalazłam na jednym z angielskich blogów, które śledzę, metodę robienia dwóch rękawiczek/skarpetek na raz i wykorzystując tylko jeden drut z żyłką (metoda Magic Loop). Można ją znaleźć tutaj.



Knitting Fair Isle pattern this way is a bit tricky but after some practice it goes smoothly. I choose a simple Fair Isle star motif for the top (looks great) but I am not super happy with the bottom pattern. Next time, I will go with lines or squares.

I am slightly afraid of adding the thumbs as I have never tried this method before (Icelandic way).

 Trochę boję się dodawania kciuków, bo metody stosowanej w skandynawskich mittenkach jeszcze nie trenowalam... no cóż, będę się o nie martwić jak już skończę obie rękawiczki :-)

Monday, February 11, 2013

Moose Fair Isle Hat - Free Knitting Pattern




I've been wanting to knit a hat featuring the traditional Scandinavian reindeer/moose motif for a long time now. And here it is! Of course - as with most of my hats and other knitted items, I try not to follow any ready patterns, I try to create something on my own. I have to say, this is the cutest Fair Isle hat I've knitted so far - and definitely my favorite!