Friday Fancies and Finishes

It is Friday and I have not only one, but two finishes!

A dress and a skirt! One for me and another baby finish.

I had a hard time with the sewing, luckily for me I had a good sensei teaching me, although I finished I am not yet confident enough to make one on my own so I am hoping A can come by and sew with me some more. But I do love my skirt, not as much as the original, and there are a lot of room for improvements, but still I love it and it fits too, even after several bites of cake.

My knitting adventure is still not quite finished, I still have 18 or so rows to go before doing the weird sewing together and coupling and what not before making the lining. But I wanted a finish first so I stuck with these two which payed off.

The Angel Wings pinafore with the Angel Pop over dress. I like both patterns but I think a merging of the two might be more useful.  The first is open all the way down with lots of buttons which I don't think is particularly useful and the latter might have too small an opening for a baby head.

I made my Angel wings pinafore closed by sc-ing up each side and then sc-ing them together up to the neck lining so that a big baby head can fit through. I need buttons still, but I didn't have anything that fitted, so that and the jacket is not quite finished yet, but that can wait a bit I think.

As you can see this dress is shorter than the other but wider.

I used 119 grams to finish this.

I prefer the dc's in this dress over the trebles in the pop over dress but I like the neck lining a lot better in the pop over dress. So I am thinking making a third dress with elements of both, and I want to make an opening on the side where the increases go if possible...

And I still have two and a half balls of pink yarn from Mister M going yarn shopping.

Other things I am making is another gacha stitches pattern. I am making two in fact, one in cotton and one in wool, one with each square separate and the other three in a row.

Can you guess what we are making?

Bunnies are chilling, we need more chilling in this world I think.

Mister M and I had sushi again whilst watching QI.

And I have been doing lots more board games this week, when we finally understood it, elevenses was rather fun, not as fun as Zombie Fluxx but still more fun than sewing on the sewing machine which does not want to do what I want it to do. And btw E2 didn't know why the underline thread thingy misbehaved so last time either, so there.

Oh, and Mister M had a lot of fun with his aunt and apparently I am approximately 67,19% Norwegian, 18,75% Sami, 13,28% Swedish and 0,78% Dutch and one of the Swedish prosents may be Belgian or something. Rather amusing if you ask me, Mister M seems to have almost as many nationalities in his family history as I do.

A Happy Hooker Hooked on Yarn

Remember I started a new cardigan and dress? Then I ran out of yarn on both?! Luckily my LYS had the dark pink for the cardigan but I needed to get into town to buy more of the light pink and so I asked Mister M nicely if he wanted a happy wife and he did. He was going to town anyway to go to the movies. 

It was a bold move because Mister M is not the best with colours, but I gave him the dress for comparison and he came back with the right colour. He was lucky though because for some reason there was only one shade of pink in the shop, last time there was four different pinks so he didn't really have any other colours to choose from.

And I was very lucky since he came home with six balls of yarn and I didn't need that much yarn so now I can make another dress and perhaps a baby blanket although I might need more yarn if I start a blanket;)

I gingerly continued on both the dress and cardigan with a goal to finish within the weekend, but with a girls night out, book reading and housework I didn't finish. But I did have a lot of fun on Saturday with friends and reading on Sunday with Mister M in the rain, and we actually managed to take a small walk between showers.... 

(I haven't finished all the June books yet, I am on the last one so that post will have to wait, and there is no Bunday post since it was all thunder and lightning yesterday so we didn't watch TV or sit on the computer all day, sorry E2 who I know loves bunday posts)

but I finished the dress tonight, and a small baby bonnet by Marumin Crochet.

The colour in this picture is off. I made chains to make the thread at the bottom to use up this scrap of yarn, but I still have a tiny bit left, so I may have to make another bonnet. I used a 4 hook, but I think a 3 would have been better, so I had to stop sooner than the pattern said.

I used Søstrene Grenes bomuldsgarn in cotton. Almost three balls for the dress and bonnet I think, will weigh them later. Next time I want to make the shoulder part open and add buttons for closing so that it will be easier to put on and take off. And I am not too sure about the trebles (US), I think it would look nicer in dc's... I used dc in the scallops both on the shoulder trim and bottom of the dress. I love the pattern though and hope to find someone who can wear it. But it would be a nice baby gift so maybe I will just put it in the box. 

And I am on the last arm on my cardigan so that might be finished soon too. You might be getting sick of all this baby stuff, but I am crocheting other things too, honest, just that those things are Christmas presents so I can't show them off yet... ;)

So toodeloo from a happy hooker who might be a little yarnoholic.

Bunnies are happy too and say hello, they are still molting.

The dress weighs 89 grams and the bonnet 29 grams. So it was after all good that Mister M came home with six balls of yarn and not just two as requested.

I will calculate my in and out yarn input sometime later this week, so stay tuned, have I managed to use up any yarn? Or is my running out of yarn and having to buy more ruining everything?

Finished Friday, rebels and buns

Remember I was busy making baby clothes for a gift for little Maru-chan who was born in May, I made booties, a blanket and four bibs and since I finished the Flower Power Cardigan too last Saturday I included it in the gift (with a vintage Postman Pat book) for the next day because we were invited to meet the baby and see the adults and we got cake the next day^^ The parents said they loved the present but because I finished just the day before I forgot to measure how much I used, I know I started one ball of new dark pink and used a little on the next ball and a tiny bit lighter pink... So I am guessing about 60 grams... And three shiny new pink buttons from my LYS. Little Maru-chan looked super cute in her clothes but I do think wool is a bit hot for summer but you never know, for the past week it has been mostly raining. But I would gladly make another when she is too big for her gift;)

 I felt inspired and started another Flower Power cardigan from the book Cute and Easy crocheted Baby clothes by Nicki Trench, and would you know I ran out of yarn :S 80 grams of dark pink, so I started a dress, but what happened? I ran out of yarn again, at 80 grams again, so I need to buy more yarn... Shoganai yo.

So I did. I went to my LYS, in the rain and got soaked.

#yarnaddict

And I got the last two balls of this colour and I will finish my cardigan, I also bought four tiny pink buttons. I wonder what kind of finish I will do on this. The original has flowers, so either that or a pocket I think. But I haven't bought any more of the pink cotton because then I have to go out of town, so maybe next week, unless I can bribe Mister M to go yarn shopping for me;)

In other news, the bunnies, and mostly Mimle is molting again...

The blob to the right is Valmin and the one on the left is Mimle and just one session. They both hate brushing so i try to pluck whilst petting which sort of works better for us at least... But they are still at the point where they run away from me if I come close with a determined look. I swear those bunnies are mindreaders and always know what I am up to.

Also I am a rebel. Using my clothes pin for taco spices on my tea and sporting a Christmas towel in July. But it is Jul-i-gjen i Juli so there, a bad joke for you Norwegians.

A-Z challenge G

G is for granny

Crochet might be thought of as granny-ish by some, but it is in the wind like never before and there are more and more stylish, wonderful and fun designs. Yarn has vastly improved since your granny's time and honestly the good old granny stitch is fashionable.

But let me show you some granny stitches, because granny stitch is 

not just for grannies and it is not just the classic granny square.

This is a granny square, a really big one I made in alpaca.

(yes, it is the one I frogged yesterday)

Here is the granny stripe pattern.

Here is the granny ripple stitch

Grannies are very in style at the moment, the colours you choose help define the project as either retro or modern.

I wanted to show you what you can make with this very versatile stitch.

A good old stash buster granny square blanket.

Granny Tree ornaments

Granny square baby jacket (no pattern)

Granny square top by Maria valles

Granny mitts

Granny stripe poncho

Shoulder piece with picot edges by Drops design

Granny square dress

Also you can get the granny square as circles or hexagons and with many different designs on the square.

Flower in granny square

Sunburst Flower granny square 

As you can see the granny is delicate, sturdy, classic and versatile and lots of fun!

Which granny style do you like?

Attende Desember

Today my mother came over for our annual baking day. Usually we do it at her place, but this year we did it here. With my decadent breakfast cake from mum I had my advent tea anti was green with ginger, cardamom, cloves, nutmeg, pepper, soursop and orange. 

My mug for this day was the one I made myself at my hen-do.

We made these two types, which coincidently is two of my favourite kinds of Christmas cookies. Mum forgot her cookbook so we had to find recipies online, which were unfamiliar so it took a while, but in the end they turned alright. They might very much not last 'til Christmas, but mum left her device to make more so I can make more if they mysteriously disappear...

  So now we have five kinds, I am not so sure we will make the last two kinds, there aren't that many types I am fond of, so what is the use of making something no one will eat?

Oh, and I am set for Christmas, I got this from my friend for my birthday, it is a lovely dress, that actually fitted! Even my mother asked if that was my attire for Christmas eve so I guess it was festive enough.

Look, a yawn! 

Valmin and Mimle are not the bests hosts, most of the day they hid, but when the humans went for the sofa they ran up and told us there was no space for guests in it. We bribed them with treats so they got down eventually. Little trolls.

Wedding Pictures Spam

Here comes some pictures from our wedding-day! They are all taken by Anne Andersen over at Studio Lk. We were lucky because everything was at the same place, the church, the party and the photographer.

Just married!

Picture taken By: Trude

This is a picture of the cake my cousins wife made which was yummy. I think we ended up with six cakes for a little over 60 people and we are still eating cake! 

Cake for breakfast anyone?

I was amazed because both husband and I look great in all the pictures, and I attribute partly my make up artist, hairdresser, and the great taking picture skills of Anne!

I adore my shoes, too bad I broke them later XD

And my flowers look so good! 

Apart from the sting I can honestly say the day was a success, partly because of my mothers co-workers who came and helped in the kitchen and our families who helped clean up later when I was a bit visually impaired.

I hope I get pictures from family and friends soon, because I want to show off the decorations inside too, we got lots of praise that everything looked so professional and matching.

All my years of looking at Hello Project pictures has given me some skills in modeling as well. Maybe. Because apparently we were lots of fun to take pictures of and had great ideas on how to pose.

Does my dress look good?

The blanket was my first real crochet project and the shawl is something my mother knitted for me.

We are off on a picnic.

I think this place might have been the culprit. I thought I got stung after dinner, but when scrutinized I can see a small pink dot on my eyelid in the pictures so I must have been stung early in the day.

The vest looks good on M too. I think we look smashing!

And we are off

So today is the day, the countdown has finished

I am really sleepy but we are off soon to get my hair done and stuff.

Mimle is tired too, but was extatic when she saw I was up and demanded to be let into the living room. I think she went back to sleep on the right side of the gate already.

Valmin is hiding in the closet, I think the bunnies feel a bit left out and lonely since we haven't been home thatch lately.

But they will get Basil and hayracks today to celebrate.

They got hay cakes yesterday too so now the house is a mess. 

Our things are ironed and good to go!

Almost now.

Want to see my dress?

What do you think?

Four

Today I had my friends over again and we made some more headway.

Todays sneak-peek is:

The underdress, my friend helped me a little  (or rather she did everything) to customize the back because otherwise we would have seen the underdress. Now that the straps have been modified the dress is invisible when I have my dress on. And speaking of my dress, it is AGAIN, finally finished. The ruffle is on, all the beads are on. Everything is set. I am going to lay it flat with some pins in it, in the hopes that some of those pointy picots will lay down flat instead of curling upwards until the the big day. And this time it will stay finished, I will not add anything more, because I think it is perfect.

But there is still lots to do. 

Boyfriend wanted the vest a bit modified so that is next.

I am thinking of modifying a beautiful shawl my mother made for me, if she has any leftover yarn that is...

My friends and I got some more of the decorations done as well.

Here we are, crocheting heart garlands, sewing the underdress and cutting the paper-stars for the glasses.

It was a lot of fun and we got a ton done.

Boyfriend also had his own little craft workshop with a hammer and later with his trusty mac, not necessarily on the same project though, more info to come at a later time.

In the last minute we checked to see if we could understand the napkin folding we decided on, and we did, so on Friday we need to fold almost 70 of these.... No sweat right?

Friday will be a busy day.

Five

 Since it is a wedding which is a special occasion and I love to make scrapbooks of memories we decided to make the greeting book a bit more complicated.

I have decorated the front and glued (I used up all my glue!) different colored paper and other things we are using for the wedding into the book.

The idea is that the guest write messages in it and later we will add photos of the day in between.

This is something you'd think would not necesarrily take that much time but I spent a few hours happily gluing things onto the pages until the glue was used up. I don't think the guest needs more pages to write on, but if I have enough time, (and glue) I might do the remainder of the pages.

Sorry about the blurry photos, but boyfriend and I had a busy day today and so todays post got a little delayed. (I mean I had to finish the book, or in this case the glue).

 We voted and had a chat with the photographer and managed to squeeze in a shopping trip to buy some of the drinks for the wedding. We were lucky enough to borrow a car while the owner was working so we did as much as we had time for. 

I did decide to bead the neck ruffle, but I decided it needed some blocking first, so I am busy doing that. I hope I can start attaching more beads tomorrow.

But since I couldn't do what I had planned for today, you know the beading, I got a little crazy. Or maybe a lot crazy. A bit too much crazy according to boyfriend.

I have started a (two) shawl(s), and yes, the idea was for the wedding... But I know I am not that crazy and could possibly do only one shawl in time.

But then I would have to make a decision, and you know how good I am with those?