Summer sewing

Remember the linens I bought this summer? I actually used some of them to make a tunic for Emma and she liked it a lot. It has been worn a lot already and I am hoping it will still fit her next summer! The pattern is from this Japanese sewing book, it is a very popular pattern in the blogosphere. 

Originally there was a casing in the waist with same pale blue silk ribbon as the sleeves have but I got tired of re-attaching the ribbon (my girl likes to climb a lot and the bow just kept getting stuck to tree branches and such. Now there is elastic in the casing and I am considering adding just a small pale blue bow to the side. Chances are that it will get ripped off just as easily as the whole ribbon did but it would be pretty...

Black!

Pattern: Mario beret
Yarn: Peru Wool by Grønhøj Garn
Needles: 5 dpns

Last year I made my mum this Mario beret and thought the pattern was excellent. I wanted one for myself as well and bought black wool to make it. I finally made it this week and to my disappointment, it is too small for me! Or it does fit, but it is not as slouchy as I would want it to be. Perhaps it will stretch when used. Also, I do not think black hats suit me! Perhaps I need to buy some grey yarn and try again. Also, I do not recommend this yarn, it is quite coarse and the surface of the finished hat is not nice and smooth. Serves me right, it was very very cheap...

My lovely girl promised to model for me so I could get at least a few decent outdoor pictures of it. As you can see, the hat fits her perfectly. Just guess whether she likes it or not? Yep, she hates it (and she's playing tigers, LOL).

Fall socks

Basic socks, cannot even remember the yarn. Like the colours separately but the combination of these yarns is not working IRL for some reason. And the ribbing is not long enough, I like longer sock cuffs.

Sorry for these long absences from my blog, somehow this year it seems that I am just too busy. Or actually, I don't have time to take photos of my creations, since I am never home when there would be enough light! Don't go away, I'll figure something out and start posting more regularly sometime soon(ish).

Cat bag

I made this bag already in June but I've had no time to blog about it before. I got the idea from a Korean website (I guess it is Korean, not sure), webshop to be exact. The original bag is not crocheted but I really wanted to make one and let Emma choose the yarn. Naturally her choice was purple! 

Source: http://www.goroke.co.kr/shop/shopdetail.html?branduid=32502&xcode=017&mcode=000&scode=&type=O&search=&sort=order

This bag is a bit smaller than the original and the handles are longer, just to make it more practical for Emma to carry. I lined it with the same flower fabric that I used for this ruffle skirt.

By the way, I have collected all kinds of inspiring crochet pictures and instructions to my Pinterest crochet board. I hope you'll like them!

More unfinished knits

More blurry pictures of unfinished knits, LOL. Can you guess what this is?

Time flies...

Sorry for the long absense! It was not planned but somehow life got in the way of blogging which is not so bad, I guess. I have been making all kinds of crafts but I have not touched my camera for ages, and now it seems so dark and gloomy all the time that it is impossible to take nice photos. Never mind, Ill try my best to take pictures of my crafts some day soon, when I have time and light.

As you can probably see from the blurry picture above, I have winter in my mind already. The linens are folded back to closet, waiting for next summer... I did manage to sew something from the pastel linens, I'll show you later.

More prettiness

I've been sewing pouches and small bags like crazy lately. It seems that we did not have any and that we desperately needed them. I just emptied Ikea's fabric section and started sewing. Quite boring stuff and I will not be showing you all of those, even though I've promised to! 

This pouch is really cute but not at all useful. So far I have been using it to store my bras and knickers during our recent weekend trips but it is a bit too big for those. Nevermind, I really like the fabric. It is "Penger" from Finlayson (designed by Anu Kanervo), and I bought 2,5 meters of it. Love it. I guess I need to continue sewing...

Pretty pochette

I found a Japanese crochet pattern site and printed out a few instructions, this pouch or pochette or clutch (cannot decide!) was one of them. There were many really cute patterns, but I cannot find the site anymore -  so frustrating! Anyway, this is not my own crochet pattern but the idea is something that I am going to use with different doilies as well, might even take a few from my doily stash... This doily pattern brought starfish to my mind, I like it a lot.

Edit. Found the Japanese site, this pochette pattern is here.

Baskets

I used some leftover fabric strips that I got from my mother (her closets seem to be bottomless) to make a few baskets. We were at the summer cottage and I had lots of time during a thunder storm - crocheting kept my fears under control, LOL. I like the subtle sheen of the fabric strips, some polyester blend most likely.

Pastels

I have been inspired by pastel colours lately. I don't know why, since usually I like my colours bright. Perhaps the heat has something to do with it. I bought these underwear elactics from a yard sale for 40 cents and I am still kicking myself for not buying all other colours as well. I took only the pretty ones that went well together. There would have been a very nice yellow and a few different blues as well. Sigh. And if you are interested, I have no idea what I will do with these!

I also bought over 10 meters of pastel coloured linen fabric from Eurokangas. I don't know what I was thinking but I love these fabrics a lot. Just need to use them quickly before my mood changes back to brights!

Last night I made this skirt for Emma. The stripe fabric is actually a man's shirt, the purple fabric is linen. More pictures coming after the weekend. I might even write a tutorial, since there's a trick to this skirt which makes it a really simple and quick project.

Linking this again to Tea Rose Home, go and check it out!