Shark Fin Mittens

When the winter time is here it is neccessary to have great mittens to warm your frozen hands during the chilly evening walk with the dog, or bear, or whatever... If you are going to have mittens, why don't you spice them up with some cool shark fins! :) Well, that was the question I asked myself and then I came up with these cuties!

The pattern for these mittens is actually a combination of two patterns which is a bit strange, well... that is the way I am really... mixing and matching freely between patterns to make my "own thing". I don't know why I can't just let it be, it happens only sometimes when I really like a full pattern and then I can use is like crazy haha! The patterns is from Drops Design Studio's website where you can find many many free patterns - a treasure of creativity!

The idea with the sharkfins is my own idea, I have not seen it anywere else. Since I think it it terribly hard to work intarsia knitting I decided to sew these shark fins with stitches after I finished the mittens so it will look like I have knitted them :) Why make things the hard way when you can make it the easy way, right?

Happy knitting everyone!

Blue/Green Baby Hat

Hello and welcome to a new year of creativity! I think the best way to start the new year of 2016 is a cool, colorful and fun baby hat for those chilly winterdays :)

This pattern is from Drops Design Studio's website and I can really recomend their patterns, they have a lot of baby patterns and they are all free. If you are lucky you can even find a video tutorial on their website for your garment, or at least get technique tips from their videos. The link I attached in this post for the pattern is in swedish but if you would like other laguages than swedish you can easily change the language in the bar to the left under the picture in the pattern. Isn't it neat?! ;)

For this hat I used a green/blue acrylic yarn from RedHeart. I really like the color and the thickness is great for me, I think the result is getting smooth and nice.

Happy knitting everyone!

Purple Knitted Mittens

In Sweden we are starting to get closer to winter time, and this morning we had -11 degrees Celsius. It is the perfect time to curl up in the armchair under a cozy warm blanket and knit mittens.
This model is borrowed from Drops Design Studio's homepage and you can choose your language in the menu at the right under the picture in the pattern.

If the thought of making your own mittens have crossed your mind once or twice my advise is "Go for it!", because it really is easy once you understand the pattern instructions and it really feels great to put the finished mittens on your hands and be able to say "I made these" to all of your friends and family :) Maybe you even surprise someone with a great homemade christmas gift <3

Since I always do "my own thing" with patterns I find, I just made stocking stitch for these mittens and used two purple colors to lighten things up a bit. I really like the type of ending in the top, it turned out very good. I hope my friend feels warm this winter when she gets this gift :)
Happy knitting everyone!

Knitted Orange and Brown Wrist Warmers

I am very into knitting right now, probably since I got large amounts of yarns for my birthday but also because it is getting colder and soon it will be winter here in Sweden. I found a very nice and simple pattern for these wrist warmers on Drops Design Studio homepage, and you can easily change the language right under the picture to the left in the pattern :)

I will definately save this pattern for the future because it is great for both wrist warmers and ordinary mittens. The thumb increase is easy to understand and the only thing you do differently to use it as a pattern for mittens you don't bind off the stitches for the thumb, just saving them on a piece of yarn for later to make the thumb.

Happy knitting! :)

 

Blue Knitted Mittens

I took a glance into my basket of yarns and found some unfinished business. A half-finished sad little mitten was hanging around with the yarn balls thinking about if it ever would be a real mitten someday. Actually that mitten has been laying around ever since last winter when I thought it would be nice to knit mittens for my husband for Chrismas. However, I had too little time back then and I decided to give him something else.
Well now the half-finished mitten is finished and so is his brother :)

I combined two patterns for these mittens and that is because I started making a model were every finger is individual but I found that it was too hard for me so I found a pattern with only the individual thumb. Here is the free pattern for mittens with individual fingers and here you find the free pattern for the mittens with only individual thumb.

The yarn I used is acrylic and it has its positive and negative features for sure. The positive features are the strong bright colors that is not very common in cotton yarns or wool, at least not where I live. The negative features are that the garment you make will almost always get uneven on the knitted surface unlike wool or cotton who will stay firm amd smooth.

Crocheted Wrist Warmers

This weekend I found some really cute wrist warmers to make in the sofa while watching television. I was looking for a easy project and something I could really use.
I am a true beginner when it comes to crocheting so I was very pleased when I found this video tutorial for these wrist warmers on Drops Design Studio's homepage. The video is really easy to follow (no sound, only visual) and you work with both the video and the free pattern at he same time. When you get the hang on the pattern routine you don't have to look so much in the pattern description and it turns out quite fun when the fingers just go with the flow :) Oh, and you can change the pattern language in the menu just below the picture!

Since I had these yarns I really wanted to use (because I love how they shine in the sunlight) the thickness of the yarns doesn't match the thickness recomended in the pattern and the final result of the hand warmers is not very graceful and smooth like the pictures in the pattern. However, I don't really mind, I think that the colors turns the roughness to look quite charming so I am proud to put them on anyway :)

This type of garment is not ideal for my own use because my fingers gets very cold easily. These wrist warmers cover basically the whole hand except the fingers so if it is a bit cold outside it is better for me to use knitted gloves. These wrist warmers will however be good to use between autumn and winter when it is not too warm but not too cold either.   

Blue and White Summer Dress

Last Friday, the 19th of June, Sweden celebrated Midsummer's eve. For swedish people this holiday is almost as big as Christmas. We eat smorgasbord as lunch, which includes pickled herring, sour cream, potatoes, chives, eggs and crispbread. Later in the evening we barbecue and for dessert we eat cream cake with strawberries or strawberries with unwhipped cream or ice cream. During midday or early afternoon it is a tradition to gather loved ones, dress a maypole with flowers and leaves and then dance around it together with the children to violin music or accordion music.
We celebrated together with my husband's brother's family and for this occation I sewed this dress I will show you today!

The pattern is taken from BurdaStyle magazine no 6/2014. I wanted a dress with simple lines and few details and I liked the fact that it has two hidden pockets in the side seams. When I was finished I was a little unhappy with the neckline because I thought it was a bit too deep. When I leaned forward people would see more than I wanted to show so I sew the two front parts together were they crossed. However, that was not enough so I used a white tank top under so it covered as much as I wanted. Maybe I will add a white or blue patterned piece behind the two front pieces so I won't need a tank top in the future.

The fabric I used is cotton fabric with not much stretch. However, there is no need for much stretch because the zipper in the side seam is long enough to make it easy to get the dress on without trouble.
The fabric is called "Twelve Oaks" from the collection of Judie Rothermel for MARCUS Fabrics (see picture below) 

Baby Body with Air-Balloon Print

Children's clothes are so small and easy to make and for me the choice of colorful and happy fabric prints is the best part of making children's clothes. This time I found a very cute cotton tricot fabric with air-balloons! I tried to look for the name and the producer of this fabric on the internet but unfortunately I didn't find anything. Maybe you know?
I still have some of this fabric left and my fabric shop around the corner has tons of other cute fabrics so I will definately make more baby garments in the future  :)

For this body I used the same Burda pattern as also I used for this baby body with apple print I made for an earlier post. In that post you will also find the type of buttons I used for this garment and they are really easy to use, you just need a hammer and you will get a great result!

Summer Jeansjacket

For the past two weeks I have been working on the greatest sewing project of this year so far for me, and I am now ready to show you the result!
I love jeans jackets but I have never found anyone anywere that fit my body. I am slim and tall and my arms are quite long. Either the waist is good but then the sleeve length is too short, or I have to go up a size to make the sleeves fit but then the waist is too wide. I have been very tired of these issues for years and this spring I decided to make a jacket myself to hopefully make it fit for all parts of my upper body.

I used a Burda jacket pattern from the latest BurdaStyle magazine but because I am who I am, a girl who always wants to make changes to make the garment fit "my style" I changed some things along the way.
For the pockets I cut out the pattern pieces as the original but I only used one piece of every pocket and kept the rounded shape on the sides.

Because the Swedish summer is not very warm I wanted a lining for this jacket to make it a bit more resistent to cold weather. I used the same fabric I used to make this cotton summer dress last year and I think the pattern of this fabric fits well with the blue jeans fabric.

I made this jacket in size 36 but if I cold do one change I would change it to a size 38, at least in the area around the shoulders and maybe in the waist because it feels a little tight in those areas when I have a sweatshirt or a hoodie under it.

I sew the lining into the jacket by hand because it was quite hard to do it with the sewing machine. It took a good while to finish it and my fingers were sore but it turned out nice and I am happy :)

Knitted Pink And Purple Striped Cap

I hope you have had a lovely time during the Christmas and New Year holidays! I celebrated in my couch watching movies and video games while knitting :) My husband is currently playing a quite new game called "Lords of the Fallen" and that is, along with "Dark Souls" and "Demon's Souls" the type of games I really like watching because there is a story and it is a reason why you should go to certain places. Knitting is a very good occupation while watching TV and this cap I will show you today is a easy project even though you have to count sometimes. The original free pattern you can find here at Drops Design Studio and it is not striped but in the picture below you can find my homemade striped pattern. I really like to take a pattern and change it even if I do a very small change - I like to do it my way.
The reason why I decided to make a cap was because I got my hands on yarn in such beautiful colors some time ago and I just had to make something of it and I also really needed a new cap. I did these knitted slippers in a previous post and it is the same yarn I am using for this cap. I gave those slippers to my sister in law as a Christmas present so I hope her feet are getting warm this winter :)

I hope I get you inspired to try make your own cap, it may take a while to finish it but you will feel proud wearing it all winter :) Today I am taking mine out for a walk!

Happy Knitting!

I used needles no 5 and in 10 cm2 I knit 17 stitches and 36 rows.

Dark Green Baby Socks

It was quite a long time ago I knitted something and last week I felt I really wanted to start a new project. Since my inspiration was low and I had not much time I thought I would try to knit baby socks because they are small and easy. Once again I fell in love with knitting as soon as I started and I could not stop until they were finished. It is a big mystery why I think it is so much fun but that is how it is.

This pattern is easy to understand and you don't have to know all kinds of techniques.  Here you can find the link to the free pattern at Drops Designstudio's homepage. If you would like to read the pattern in a different language you can choose your language in the flag menu at left side just below the picture.

The yarn I am using is Read Heart Soft Baby Steps 100% acrylic. I like acrylic yarn because the colors are so intensive and the yarn shines very pretty. 

Happy knitting everyone!