Love This

One of the sites I check regularly for cool design stuff is Dornob.

Yesterday I saw this post and fell in love a little bit ;)

Juliana Santacruz Herrera has started a street art project in Paris, filling in potholes and cracks in the pavements with brightly coloured yarn *grins*

For more images, click on the link - it looks so cool. How much do I want to go to Paris to look for it right now?!

Work In Progress Wednesday

This week, for the first time, I am participating in Tami's link party, where bloggers write a "work in progress" post on Wednesdays (there's also a Finished Object Friday, but I'm always too eager to post my FOs to wait!) If you're interested in what other people are working on, click here to go to Tami's blog and see the WIPW posts.

I figured this week, as I have just cast on two new projects, it would be a good time to get involved.

So, as I finished my cardigan and my shawl (yay for long weekends *laughs*), I needed new projects...

As you saw from yesterday's teaser, I am knitting something green. Really green ;)

Actually, yesterday's pic is a better representation of the colour, it really is very green.

This small amount of progress will eventually turn into Blithe from the Kim Hargreaves book Breeze. Not sure what possessed me to start a pattern in 4 ply cotton on 2.25mm needles.... Aaaargh! This is going to take me forever. Also, I don't like knitting with cotton! Ok, so I know the book is all cotton patterns, but I plan to substitute on most of them. But for this one, a cotton summer top, it needs to be the right yarn... See:

By the "right yarn", I don't mean the recommended yarn though. I figured out that even buying it from the Kemps sale bin, it would cost over £35 to make this top. It's cute, but not that cute! I went for a cheaper version, which will come to about £13. Much more like it *smiles*

Anyway, onto my second WIP. As a reward for knitting with crunchy feeling cotton (and a break for my hands, which don't appreciate the lack of soft after a few rows!), I also cast on using my wonderful 100% silk.

It's soooooo very soft *smiles* Unbelievably so. I struggled at first to find the right pattern for it, as I was advised I might. Various stitch patterns didn't work with the drapiness of the yarn. I decided it needed something more structured than too much lace, but not boring, it's too special to be just stocking stitch!

This is what I ended up deciding on (after trying 4 or 5 different things)...

It';s really hard to show this pattern properly - once stretched out a little it is beautiful. And I really can't capture the sheen of the yarn. I've decided this is going to be called my Mermaid scarf - I think it should be clear why ;) It's quite narrow, as I don't have much of the yarn, but I can't wait to wrap it round my neck!

So, there we have it, 2 brand new projects *grins*

I Could Have Done That*

At the weekend I went to the Tate Modern to have a look at some art.

I was really glad I went this weekend, as it was the last weekend of the sunflower seeds:

I love this exhibit, although I'm not sure why. It just seems so very peaceful.

This next one I saw towards the end of my wanderings. A photo of it doesn't have nearly the same effect, but in person it totally scrambled my eyes!

I loved this part of an installation (the rest of which I didn't love)

It's silly - all it is is a bunch of pieces of card and paper painted red and nailed to the wall, but I really love it. I tend to doodle geometric-ish shapes like this, plus it was one of the few pieces of art in the whole place where the explanation of what it represented didn't make me laugh/snarl/roll my eyes/furrow my brow in confusion *laughs*

And finally, on my mini tour of the stuff I quite liked...

This was one of 6 huge canvases that the artist had painted on, scraped, painted, wiped...etc  Not to everyone's taste, I appreciate, but for some reason I really liked it. 

So, in conclusion, fun day out but a lot of stuff to see, much of which did nothing for me. I also discovered that I have no recollection of who any of the artists were...Oops ;)

Anyway, here's a sneak peek of tomorrow's feature (to prevent this being an entirely craft free post!)

* "Modern Art = I could have done that + Yeah, but you didn't." Can't remember where the quote came from originally, my brother has always quoted it and it's funny how often while walking around the gallery I'd think "I could make that myself"!

Shawl-y Not...

Another finished item!

Yep, yesterday I finished my blue shawl *grins* I was glad to get it off the needles, the rows were getting so long that I was losing the will to live halfway through each one!


So, I really need to cast on something else now... This was my last WIP after finishing the cardigan *runs to my stash to start planning*
Details:
Pattern: La La's Simple Shawl
Yarn: Patons Smoothie DK - 3 balls
Difficulty: 1/5 (not hard, just time consuming!) Excellent introduction to the world of shawls.
Overall like? Yes, I like it. The yarn is quite crisp, although it did soften a bit after steaming. I like the simplicity of the shawl, it's not too fussy and works will in DK yarn - it feels fairly substantial without being bulky.
Would I knit again? Probably not as is, I like it but there are so many shawls out there that I'd like to try something a bit more challenging next time.

New Look

Hey, check out my new look *grins*

I decided a few days ago that I wanted to move away from the default blogger templates to make my blog a little bit more personalised.

So, here it is, my new look. I think it's a bit cleaner, crisper and a bit more me. I'll probably be fiddling with some of the little design pieces over the next few days/weeks, as I try to get it just right, but I like having something that feels like it is totally mine.

Hope y'all like it ;)

Every Gentle Wind*

I'm a bit behind on the "what I did over Easter" post, mainly because I was too excited about my finished cardigan and had to post that ;) Also, that's mostly what I did over the long weekend *laughs*

On Monday I did go out for the day.

I had a very happy time in Paperchase. I love that shop. I have an unreasonable love of paper and stationary and new notebooks and all the other fabulous things they sell. I managed to restrain myself though and only bought a couple of things...

Not sure why - but I picked up a couple of these gift tags (what can I say, they were in the sale!) I think they're quite cute, and probably will be good for card making or something ;)

I also got something I keep meaning to get...

Incidentally, it is very hard to take a picture of clear plastic. As you can see from the label, it is a cookbook stand - where the plastic goes over the book to keep it clean. As I have a small kitchen, having cookbooks propped up will be helpful, and as I am extremely messy in the kitchen, keeping things clean easily is a good thing *chuckles*

*"May brooks and trees and singing hills join in the chorus too, and every gentle wind that blows send happiness to you.” Irish Blessing

More Details

I completely forgot to provide any pattern/yarn details for my finished cardigan, d'oh!

Pattern: Lore Hoodie from the Vampire Knits book (Rav details here)

Yarn: Wendy Aran with Wool (75% acrylic, 25% wool) in Tarn Heather - a bluey/purpley colour

Modifications: I hadn't seen the errata for the pattern, so I didn't catch that it was supposed to be chunky yarn rather than aran - although I did keep thinking that the picture looked bulkier than aran. I just cast on for the larger size to get what I was after, so no problems there. I also made the edging narrower - more from laziness than anything else really *cheeky grin*

Difficulty: 2/5 as long as I paid attention ;)

Love? Yep - I love it. I'm really happy with how it came out. The hood's a little snugger than I would have gone for, although I did steam block it out a bit. I just need to get the right buttons (or toggles) now. I have to say, I'm so pleased with it. I keep looking at it, amazed that I actually made it! *smiles*

One thing that made me smile while I was wearing it was the 2 guys I go to lunch with every day. When I mentioned that I'd made the cardigan one of them said "I didn't even ask because I didn't think it was possible to make stuff like that". The other piped up with "I like the holes" *laughs* He even pointed to the lace section so I knew he meant the deliberate holes ;)