Christmas sock, scandi style

On the amazing blog Lutter Idyl I spotted this fantastic Christmas sock. It looked fantastic.  I was not surprised. I am a huge fan of Jeanettes work, it is always new and very inspiring. Often with a choice of interesting colors. I love that blog.  Variations of Christmas stockings I had seen before, we're limited to knitted or sewn ones. This one all made up of 16 crocheted hexagons was a must do.

My first attempt was for my daughter,  who absolutely loves Christmas and everything it entails. Needless to say we have already been listening to Christmas music for more than a week now!

She is also of the belief that Christmas has to de done in traditional colors. Not sure where that comes from,  as I would love to decorate with alternative colors. But never the less traditional colors it is.

Jeannette from Lutter Idyl have made a great tutorial for this, that was very accessible. If you followed instructions you would be fine. As usual I am not good with reading manuals, directions you name it, so I had a few u-turns. In the end after a weekend of spending all my free time crocheting hexagons, this is the result, which I was actually quite pleased with.

My next project is a stocking for my son. When I asked him if he would like one like this, his answer came promptly: "yes mom but could you add som HO HO HO's?" 

So that has keept me awake for the past couple of nights, (only kidding) and now I think I have an idea how to do it, without having to look at two totally different stockings hanging from the mantel.

simplicity

Another visit to another fiber event! Stitches East - also called the Knitting Convention had reached Connecticut last weekend. Off course I had to check it out. It didn't feature as many vendors, as I remember seeing last year, but we did find some interesting yarn. One of them I would like to introduce you to here. It is from a little company called Habu textiles. Originally Japanese I believe, but they also have a store in New York. They sell beautiful yarns and textiles, that isn't "necessarily practical" as they state but beautiful and it is the aim  for the artist to be inspired by the yarn and create something beautiful.  They have the finest mohair, line paper warped in nylon string, jute in an alternative form and the list goes on. Check out the website, as stylish and simple as the yarn they sell

This yarn doesn't look like much, but it is in fact warped silk. I just had to buy it and see how it would look made into "fabric".

As there isn't more than 78 meters in this little skein I decided to do a little coin purse.

The finished fabric comes out a little stiff, but I was still afraid that I wasn't able to make it stay within the purse frame, so I stitched a thread of jeweler string around the top edges, to make sure I would be able to push it into the frame. 

And here is the finished result.

And a close up of the stitch. It actually looks really cool.

Reading blogs this week;  I also admired the kit that have been created by Susanne a danish design student. She is also behind the blog Rumfang. Susanne has created the kit as an assignment for her design study. Check out her blog and read about the story behind the pattern and the trends in design this fall 2013.  Susanne has decided to give one kit away as a December Give-Away, so that is another reason to visit.
Here is the beautiful cushion. I love the simplicity and great colors too.

Have a wonderful weekend.

  

Chunky wool experience.

I attended New England Fiber Festival last weekend and it was as always a lot of fun. It is off course all about fibers and there was plenty of that. In all shapes and forms from "still on the lama or sheep" to the most amazing yarns you could think of. 

I have for a long time wanted to try to make something out of the very chunky yarn that I have seen on blogs and websites.

I visited Silver Oak Farms booth and found this. 

 Unfortunately the picture doesn't give the wool credit it looks very brown here, but it is actually a very nice shade of grey.

My initial idea was to make a soft and durable rug, but even though I had about 90 yards, it would only make me a very little rug, so I decided on a basket for my ongoing knitting and crochet projects.

Started out while I was preparing dinner last night and finished less than 11/2 later. 

It works up very quickly as you can see. I used a 20 mm crochet hook.

 And here is the finished project after I steamed it last night.

Wish I had enough for a chunky afghan.