Magic & Harry Potter

What can hapen if we combine those?
Of course big triangular shawl!

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With two skeind of YarnArt Magic (and 5.5 needles) I made easy shawl, but it's for a guy so it is going to be used as a scarf. It took me five Harry Potter movies (we had HP night the other day), few hours of blocking.

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Shawl is really soft and warm.

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Lace Baby Alpaca

Hurray! I managed to blockthe shawl for my mom, so I have two Christmas presents ready :)
First, it's knitted from 1 skein of Baby Alpaca - the softest wool I ever seen and touched (also the most expensive, but worth every PLN). I used 2.5 needles and it was perfect. The pattern is Triangular leaf shawl from Ravelry.
The shawl is so bi it didn't fit the size of the picture ;)

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Close-up on the lace pattern:

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And finally the picture with whole shawl!

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And some other:

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Turquoise shawl

Some time ago I wrote, that I have a plan to make all my family handmade Christmas presents. Here is the list:
Mom - Baby Alpaca shawl (done, I'll post pictures after blocking)
Aunt Ania - beige shawl
Bro - socks
Gem -
Zuzia - grey thin bolero
Grandpa - socks
Grandma - lacy scarf
Gem's side of the family:
Mom - shawl
Dad - socks
Grandpa - ?
Grandma - shawl (picts in this post)
Some of the friends:
Ula - beret ?
Kasia - bolero
Ignus - socks
I think that's all but you can never be sure. So much work to do...
But for now, today I blocked a turquoise shawl for my grandma-in law. It is very light, not so big, rather for warm days. The colour is what distinguish the shawl among others. Fabulous yarn from e-dziewiarka, needles 2.5 and here we are:

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I made the pattern myself, therefore it's extremely simple ;) It was ment to be flowers on meadow. See any resemblance?

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The actual size of the shawl:

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Cable mittens

Today I finished mittens for Ilona. She wanted them for riding a bike. It can be really cold early in the morning, so I made it with wool (Hobby, no 782) bougth in my favourite on-line store. At first, I wasn't convienced to do it in such crazy pink, but Ilona picked this fuchsia yarn, and after making mittens I think they are quite interesting accessory. Let's give autumn some colour!

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Close-ups:

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Cable pattern was based on THIS but, as usual, I made finger part not as wide as the wrist and palm part. I believe it gives the mittens better fit

Spinning on a spindle - update

I tried once again spinning with thiner stripe of wool and it work acceptable. I produced two small balls of yarn, and the twist of the thread is OK.

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The only problem was it took me a lot of time... So I searched the internet and found out that the majority of hand spindles had a little hook at one end. My husband drilled one side of my spindle and screwed a hook. At first he put the hook at the wrong side of the spindle, but then, after I explained in details what is the hook for, he screw it once again. Interested, how this works. he observed me spin and had a brilliant idea. Before I say what it was, it's important to know that we both are engineers, and Mati has talent for DIY stuff. The ingenius idea was to use a drill :D i dont' have to spin the spindle myself, the drill does it for me. The only inconvenience is that the button starting the drill is not easily accessible at this position (picture below).

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Summing up, I don't have a real spinning weel but drill is as good :) Technology FTW!

Spinning on a spindle - Attempt no.1

The wool arrived yesterday, and even after twelve hours at the university I was so excited to try to spindle that I read Fanaberia's post again, watched another tutorials from Meg TUTORIALS and started the production of my first yarn.
First, I split wool on two, four, eight parts, and all the floor was covered with soon-too-be yarn.

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Then, after first really unsuccesful try (I won't even show the pictures) I split my wool on two once again. And, using on the great idea of Fanaberia to use kitchen accessory as a spindle, and after watching Meg's tutorial once again, I started spinning !

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I must say I have a big problem with determining how tight the twist of the yarn should be. I either make it too loose or too tight. Mainly too tight, so this is the effect:

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The yarn is a bit thick for me, I think I must prepare wool for spinnin more carrefully - it must be thiner and more even, so I think I will split it once more. I could use some advice on this matter :)

The next level

Few words defining some relationships:
She:"You never stand up to me"
He: "Because you'd never agree"
What more can you say ;)

Yesterday I decided to make something new, that I've never done before. Inspired by Fanaberia's post
post I bought some wool and as soon as I get it I'll try to make yarn out of it. I found great tutorial on youtube:
tutorial
Further plans are to dye the yarn and make shawls - Christmass present for my in-laws.

Reactivation (hopefully)

So much time not writing on my blog...
Today I wanted to show stuff I've been working on lately, but before that I'd like to show a shawl I barely go out without.
I bougth fabulous "Magic" by Yarn Art on e-dziewiarka.pl - multicolor wool, easy to work with and fast to give results. First I made myself a shawl. Nothing hard and complicated, because transition of colours of the wool is enough for a decorative element.Then, when my friend saw it, she wanted to have one but bigger. So second "Magic" shawl was given to Lucha as a birthday present. I'm workin on the third one for her fiance ;)

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I recently work on few things:
1. Socks for Zuzia
One sock is ready, second on its way. This is the first pair of socks I knit from cotton yarn and I think it's a bit stiff. I hope it gets better after washing.

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2. Read cardigan - for me
Decided to have enough knitting experience , I started red cardigan of my own design. We will see what comes out... Here is the main part of cardigan's body with armpit holes.

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3.Shawl for Mom
I have a plan to give every member of my family something handmade for Christmas, so I started on September to finish all the shawls, socks and other creations.
Here is a shawl for my mom (made from Baby Alpaca, needles 2.5) still in production phase:

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After blocking the lace pattern shoul look like this

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mittens frenzy

In the last week or so I made two pairs of mittens - one for Ula (long black ones) and one for Kate. Ula specifically wanted long mittens to wear it with 3/4 sleeved coat.



From the last time I wrote, there are few changes in my life. I started PhD studies and work. At work I mainly read articles about my discipline (turbulent flows) and after that my brain opposes to make any more efforts, so when I go back home I listen to Harry Potter audio books (read by Stephen Fry) and knit mittens ;)
I must also write that I finally finished my moms birthday scarf, but I will post pictures when it will be colder and my mom starts to wear the scarf.

Knitting mathematician :D

Finally :D I finished studies, passed master exam and now I am officialy Master of Science (in Applied Mathematics).
My knitting has been neglected lately, but I managed to finish blue cardigan (pattern by Fiubzdziu). I really like it, because it's perfect for summer days - light and with short sleeves.

knitting frenzy

For last week or two I've been knitting like crazy. It's probably to run away from bigger things, like writing my thesis, but don't worry, I'll finally finish it :) - thesis of course...
To the point... I found this wonderful side www.ravelry.com , where people share their projects, make new friens etc. On ravelry I found a great pattern for a cardigan and that is what I've been doing last days. Pattern comes from fiubzdziuu blog (http://fiubzdziuu.blogspot.com/). Here is what I have done:

Of course I haven't forgot about my crafster swaps. Right now I signed for tea swap (I love tea, I can drink liters of it) and lately, I received packages from earring swap. Two pairs I like the most:

and

lace scarf

My mom is an extraordinary person. When I was 9 or 10 I learned how to knit and first think I made was a scarf for my mom. It wasn't looking any good, was very simple and didn't come out straigth ;) But my mom have been wearing it for a long time so I would feel that it meant something to her.
Now when I can knit better I decided to make her a proper and beautiful scarf. I found the pattern on ravelry and I started to craft:

Od ravelry

blue lace mittens

Hooray!
I finally can make lace patterns.
My first lace mittens were Ula's birthday present, so I can't post photos, but second pair I made are for me :)
I used yarn from european swap and pattern from the book I bought in empik (bookstore).
Lately, I started to knit while travelling to school (by bus or tram), so it takes me less time to craft and I don't get bored in a bus - an everybody wins situation ;) I wonder why more people doesn't do that. What's the point in sitting unproductively for half an hour if you can make something ?
pattern:

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final product:

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swap addict

I need to say that lately I became a swap addict. I participate in swaps on craftster and I am still finding some new and interesting ones.
Right now I send my items for House MD swap and Creative Constuction Kit swap, but they haven't reached their destination yet. That's because economic package from Poland goes by sea and it can take even 3 months;(
Still I can post photos of the swap I was in before - European swap. Here are the things edel sent me:
Monster - Mati said we should hang it on the wall to remind me of him when he's at work ;)

some knitting suplies

(I post this picture, because I used the blue mohair for mittens I'll post next time)
and many more stuff from edel:)
The thing I love the most from House swap is a tray:

Soon, I'll post more of swap items as well as my knitiing achievements.

reactivation

Finally, I found a bit of time to post on my blog:)
Right now I'm preocupied with my master thesis, so blog reactivation won't be full.
I just wanted to post pictures of my work I'm the most proud of - orange shirt. I was sewing it for 3 days, so every detail is perfect - patern (grids) on the left side perfectly fits the right side, buttons are made from the same material, every stitch is precise.

feels like summer

Of course... What can I do instead of studying statistics? Post on my blog;)
This year I broke the curse of not-passing exam on my birthday (June, 17th):) But on the other hand many people forgot about it. I don't blame them, because 23 is not a very interesting number ;) That makes me think I entered the age when no one can say how old I am. If I wear shorts and a top I would look like 19, while when wearing high heels, elegant dress and make up - like 27...
Nevertheless, more optimistic was my last trip to Ustka with friends. Because of it I miss holiday even more. Finally I know what a real sea is - waves, wind, unreachable horizon, but also the feeling of freedom. I seek for this feeling for a long time , but since I left music school I find it only in walking on mountains. In music school it was the freedom of improvisation, confidence that whatever you sang/played would fit the rest of the team and sound well. In mountains, it's space and views that make me feel the great inner harmony. I think I could find it also in riding a motorbike or racing a car, but I've never had the opportunity to do so. What I'm seeking for is the feeling of the confidence of an expert doing well his job, of a scientist discovering new ideas, of a man risking his life to move the boundries, of a person who feels true connection with nature.I hope you understand...
Continueing this reflexive mood, the view that took my breath away was year ago in Lechu's mountain house. There was full moon and cloudless sky. The moon was shining so bright that one could have read a book. Trees seen on the horizon were black and their shape was ligted by the moon. My description is poor, the landcape was truely like from a picture. I'll never forget it.
Finishing:
my favourite photo from Ustka - me and my girls :) It was windy and cold so we hugged to keep ourselves warm :)

music again

As many of you know I love certain singing women:)
At first position, for many years, has been Tori Amos. With her touching personal lyrics and piano improvisations she is totally queen of my heart. Second position has, also undeniably, Bjork. Her scale of ideas what can be done with voice and instruments continously amezes me. To be honest, I can listen to one song ten times and still not feel bored. Right now I'm enchanted by song "Earth intruders" from "Volta". Truely, I didn't expect that cooperation beetwen Timbaland and Bjork can be so fruitful.
I learned how to put films from youtube on blog, so I do :


On Tuesday I'll post some pictures of my new earrings, I learned something new, so it's worth waiting.
Right now I need to study for the exam I have tomorrow. Wish me luck :)

new earrings

Finally I made photos of my animal earrings:
first - kitten
(whisks are made of special wire)



piggy earrings - inspired by Gucio, who was always drawing pigs in my notebook, especially during dull lectures ;)



And not animal, but also based on wire hoop - spiral hypnotic earring. Unfortunately I couldn't find proper background for them ...

If you watched Futurama these earring should remind you Hypnotoad :D "All hail the Hypnotoad" :D

And now for something completely different. Recently I felt in love with this song:

It's great for dancing. In fact I first heard "Ramalama" in Polish edition of YCD...

There were few days of silence...
I needed to digest the new situation, calm stochastic shit emotions...
And now is almost OK. I didn't allow the guy to write 2 in my index, I'll delay it till September ;)
Lately I often listen to the 3rd programm of Polish Radio (God bless mobiles with radio). It plays really relaxing music, and of different kind that other stations. I'm fed up with easy music with stupid lyrics, that no one would listen to if they were sung in Polish, or at least they would be considered dicso-polo style. On the other hand I had great time walking the mountains (Polish Tatry) singing Rihanna (umbrella - I truly hate this song but it's so mindraping that you can't free from it). In fact any song with a bit march rhythm could do the trick, but it happened to be Rihanna at the time... That's why I listen to different radio station to have some more reasonable mountain song as I go to Tatry in 3 weeks time;)
Last time I posted some of the things I want to make, that I have ideas of them in my mind. I am working on them little by little, and be sure I'll post some of them in
few days time.

crafty planns

I need to write my concepts down, because otherwise I'll forget them:
- kitten earrings (in production)
- series of magic symbols earrings (on hoops, I'll start with plains)
- neclace (with bigger sunflower on the front)
- biohazard earrings
- black neclace, lace-like
- blue big swirl earrings
- yellow big swirl earrings
- piggy earrings
- recycled spiral earrings from blue plastic