I introduce: Hermine and Hedwig

This is not necessarily "un hommage" to Harry Potter. But somehow those two names were the first ones to come to my mind when I was thinking of my now 2 (in words: TWO) precious sewing machines.

My dear Pfaff classic style fashion 1523, named Hedwig, was a christmas present 2 years ago. Since then she was always very nice and sweet, but also temperamentful and really girly. If I forget some tiny things (changing the needle btw) she always reminds me... But we went through a lot and our bond is still very tight. Being away from her always lies heavy on my heart ;)
Well, have a look:


And now, christmas 2009.
My sisters laptop broke down, so Santa brought a new one for her. And since he didn't want me to have fewer presents than my sister.... I could pick an overlock!
I decided to take the Bernina 1500MDA.
I passed the first tests, putting the right thread through the right needle and everything, and spent the whole day yesterday with trying it. her?.
Wonderful!
So, thanks to the old notebook or my sister, I give you:
Hermine


At the moment I'm planning a rather big project, where both of my dear girls will have enough work for some weeks.
I got tickets to Emilie Autumn in February, and so I'm already designing my "doll" outfit.
Those who know me are well aware, that I have neither the slight build nor the classiness fit for a turn-of-the-century doll, so this project will be rather funny.

Time to scarf!

Best Friend's Birthday Scarf


In the end of December is my very best friend's 2-something birthday. She is really important to me, so every year, I try to make something special for her. But there are some traditions.
Though we don't see each other that often, I will always remember her as a person who's addicted to the colour violet :)
Last year I made a tiny bag thingy for her beauty products big enough for everything you need for a long night out, and small enough to fit in a lady's handbag.

This year (as I'm totally fixed on those beautiful yarns ParaNoire spins) I knitted a scarf for her.
ParaNoire made a bunch of lilac/violet/black yarn for me, mostly cotton, so it feels really good on your skin, and then I started.
See her Blogentry for detailed pics of the wonderful colour- and fabric-changing yarn!

Knitting with normal knitting needles doesn't really look good (my opinion). So I tried another concept: (Don't laugh!) I used one knitting needle, and my fingers.

Sounds weird? It is, at least if you try it first.
I didn't need more than 10 stitches (loops?), because they are reeeeally big. Instead of the right knitting needle (the one you knit with) I did use my index finger and the middle finger. When I was done with one row, I put the loops back on the needle: turn around, same story all over again.

Really simple, and I love the look.
Since I think that the yarn is special enough (It has little beads in it... so great!), I didn't use any extraordinary knitting techniques but knitted just a really simple plain scarf. Any complicated pattern would have been too much :)

I put it on for a try-out shopping day, and it's perfect. Although the loops are very big, it's really warm, doesn't itch and looks great to a black coat.

You can wear it "normal", just dangling cool round your neck:



I like the way it somehow "shrinks" together, but if you want to, you can wear it like this too (look how big the loops are!) I actually really like that the ends of the fabric scraps were somehow a bit loose in this yarn, they look a bit like ribbons added on purpose to the scarf :)



Or you can give it a little spin and wear it like this:



Something funny: My boyfriend didn't really grasp the concept of "wait till I'm ready, then take the pics..."

"pack die badehose ein, nimm das kleine schwesterlein..."

...and go take a bath!
well. It really is too cold to make swimsuits right now, so Santa ordered two bathrobes and a bathing towel :)

Since I don't see my nieces (J, 2y and L, 6m) that often, I always want to have a gift for them, when I see them.
So clearly I had to make something for them for christmas!

J, 2y
Both of them really like taking a bath, and the older one starts being a little princess right now. Of course, being a princess means, that she wants everything her way ;) so she runs all over the house, playing with the dog and the cats. Clearly, she needs to be well-dressed for those important jobs! Right out of the tub - muuum, bathrobe! - and there she goes.

Her bathrobe might be too big for her right now, but Santa told me that she already has a smaller one, so this one should fit perfectly in a couple of months.

I used a burda pattern (2009/11), but had to alter it, cause it was waay to big. On the first try-on size 114 did fit for ME, and I may be small but not _this_ small ;)
I really liked it, because the hood isn't made out from an extra piece of fabric, but it's cut out with the front pattern piece :) This makes a really nice look and is extremely cozy.

The fabric used is red frottée for the robe and the hood, and white cute nicki/frottée with sweet french phrases and elks on it for the pocket and the heart.











L, 6m
She is just sooo cute and I'm really deeply in love with this kid! Since she's too small for wearing a bathrobe, I made a bathing towel with dragon spikes and a hood :) It's big enough to wrap the tiny one, and can be used as a cuddly toy as well. I designed the pattern (well, there wasn't really one), fabric is again the red frottée and for the spikes I used blue felt and they are stuffed.





O, 1y
This big boy will turn one year soon, and so I wanted to give a little something to him as well. Although I only met him in the summer, our love runs deep ;) I was honored by being allowed to help the little hero bathing and having supper and going to sleep ;)
Since, of course, he'll once be a rocker like his daddy, his bathrobe has got evil trve dragon spikes too.
Pattern is the same as above, but much smaller.









I really enjoyed sewing those things, but I now know: I hate frottée. working with it makes your whole appartement look like a mess, because you have those stupid red tiny pieces of fabric everywhere. EVERYWHERE.

denocte

Beading for secret Santa pt. 2

The second wish I picked was for a jewellery set of a necklace and maybe earrings.
Well, since I wasn't sure if I got the first one right, I made two sets :)

black.japan.green

The first one is made of this silvery wire I always use (I think its new-silver or something alike), with a pendant and earrings.

I braided the wire and used the silver-white leaf-thingies to stop the 4 swarovski pearls in a really nice emerald green.
The pendant itself is made from a ring-bead in green emaille with a flower on it. To me it's got some asian touch ;) Then there is a tiny butterfly and a black pearl and a silver bell.


The earrings are rather simple: White roccailles, transparent and green stones and then two white and black synthetic beads.

black.butterfly.lilac
The second set is lilac and has got its main focus on lilac butterflies :) unfortunately their colour seems very un-photographable. hm. just imagine, they are of a strong, beautiful lilac and a bit transparent :)

The necklace this time is made of the wire, spun together using just some tiny roccailles. The wisher wanted the necklaces to be simple with a pendant :)

The pendant: A lilac butterfly bead, a tiny butterfly, two beads alike the big one in the other necklace set (santa part 1), I don't know what they are made of.
The earrings: tiny butterflies, butterfly beads (a bit smaller than in the pendant), synthetic pearls in dark lilac and black and a tiny star

The colour of the beads is more like on this pic:

Thanks for looking,

denocte

Beading for Secret Santa pt. 1

For this year's secret Santa in NuS I picked two wishes, both were wishes for some new beaded jewellery.
Since I have some severe problems with my neck, I can't sew these weeks, and beading is perfect. I can lay down, sit, stand - perfect, and I don't need to use much pressure on my right arm.
The first parcel was already opened, so I can show you pictures already, the second one will follow!

lilac.sweet.goth
The first jewellery should be something "goth", black, lilac, sweet and perfect to wear to e.g. simple shirts, oh, and it should be a long or short necklace.
Well, since I couldn't decide whether I wanted to make a long OR a short one, I just made two :)

Both of them, just to see the two different lengths:



For the long necklace I used silvery and purple wire, and I put black and lilac stones on the wire (fixing them on their place by using small black roccailles) before spinning them together to a long necklace. The pendant is made from a white/transparent synthetic bead, a lava pearl spun with silver wire and a long silvery wing of an angel.


For the short necklace I used the same technique, but instead of using the stones just on one wire, is now put them on both wires. And I added white/silvery shining beads formed like leaves in the middle of the necklace. The main "attraction" on this one is the big lilac/silvery bead, but I don't know what it's made of.



Both necklaces have a small label too: "Made with a smile" or "Made with love"


I really like the necklaces, and I was relieved when I heard that the person I made them for likes them too :)

Have a nice evening,

denocte

The inaugural stitches

Hello there,
Denocte proudly presents the first entry in her new blog.

Inspired from the wonderful project of ParaNoire, who helps fabric and yarn leftovers finding a new destiny and spins them into wonderful and really unique yarn!
We swapped materials and so now I'm the proud owner of those two crocheted projects:

The cool indie wraparound necklace
The yarn simply was _made_ to be a necklace. Seriously. It was not very long, so it was clear that you should make some accessory out of it. First I tried knitting the yarn, but since it was not really long and knitting was somehow too "stiff" I decided to do a bit of crocheting. After some time I found out, that it looks best if you just make a really loose chain. I used some black feathers and a ring with black stone beads too, I just stuck them into the chain while crocheting.
I really like it, my boyfriend doesn't - but well, I'm the one who will wear it ;)






And the kitschy sweet hairband/necklace
Since the yarn was muuuch pinker in reality than it looked on the pic, at first I wasn't really inspired. But then I just tried a bit and then I knew it: this will be my new hairband / necklace.
Again i crocheted the yarn, but then I spun (?) it with itself, so i got a thicker band of really pink and gloriously irregular thick garn. Exactly as I wanted :)
Finally I decorated it with a pink bow made of a leoprint net fabric and two buttons. Those are more than just decoration, I use them for adjusting the length:
Short: Wear it as a band thingy in your hair
longer: Weat it as a necklace again :)











Unfortunately I have brown hair now, this colour would have fitted perfectly to my black-pink hair. Now it's kind of strange *lol*

It was definitely not the last time working with this kind of yarn. But I still need some practise, I want to find a method how to knit this yarn and still have this loose look.
Ideas?

denocte