Tuesday, 25 March 2014

wild at heart

 Crochet poncho - a long wrap stitched together with a neckline added - like this idea!
when I stumbled the other day over this pin at Pinterest and got all excited by the idea to knit up all my carefully collected yarn scraps.
Seriously, I never thought that there is a way to match the awful colour and texture mix of them.
But from my experience in scrap patching, I know, the wilder the better!!!
So I just got started last Friday evening and by the time it was past midnight I was already half up the way...
as I looked at the job at day light the following morning, I was stunned by effect.



I am working with a circular 100cm wooden 7mm needle and use what ever I have in the scrap basket,
merino, mohair ( doubling the yarn), Aran tweed ( my favoured) and pure new wool, a lot of the wool I
brought down to Spain nearly 20 years ago!!

Like I don't know yet, if this is going do be a poncho or a wrap, I casted about 180cm length of stitches.
Working in rows of Knit and Purl stitches as it pleases me, and if sometimes I just get confused in the middle of a row -doesn't matter...

So this is an other WORK IN PROGRESS !! and so much fun...

Hasta luego
Silvana

Thursday, 20 March 2014

All you knit is love




I was giving a knitting workshop this month for beginners,
introducing them into knitting with circular needles.
It was quite a task, as my students are Spanish and they already new a bit of the job, working with long needles...
and this was my dilemma!!!
Cause they have this funny way of  clamp them under the arms and lift the yarn over the needles, instead of catching it...
The mere look at it gives me muscular cramp,
but they resisted to learn it the other way,
so we kept on going round and round...


and made beautiful and comfy double  loop scarves from wonderful 100% wool, 



which
I bought in my favoured wool shop in Barcelona

All you knit is love

Carrer de la Barra de Ferro, 8




Friday, 7 March 2014

It has to be something like this...



a few days ago I was looking for a wrap tunic pattern in the Internet, but I couldn't find anything interesting.

Instead I came across with a lot of wrap dresses, most of them referring to the fashion icon from the 70ties, Diane von Fürstenberg.

As I scrolled through the images I got really amazed by the way a simple design can be so feminine, comfy and easy to make and decided to get me pattern and fabric...







Thursday, 13 February 2014

Work in progress...

you remember the gorgeous Japanese fabrics I purchased for one of my students???

we started one of my favourite 9 patch design for beginners.
ohh, its so easy and the effect just stunning!!

you sew blocs of 9 from
13.5x13.5 mm squares
ones the blocs are finished you make a cross cut right in the centre of each bloc
(you get 4 pieces)



than turn two opposite corners of to the centre of the bloc
(now two large squares and two small squares are facing each other in diagonal)
sew the bloc together again and join as much blocs as you need
for your desired quilt size.



 this one will have 4 by 6 blocs and a size of about 140x210cm



Wednesday, 12 February 2014

Five playing...


...or how to knit cute boot cuffs!!

I used 100g bulky yarn and a set of 3,5mm bamboo needles and a 5mm crochet hook

cast 12 stitches on each of for needles
than start with the fifth working in rounds
always K2, P2
work up to a length of 22cm
than loosely cast off
use the last stitch to crochet the shell edge
stitch in between two K stitches and work 5 DC
and in between two P stitches work one SC
all the round

work the second boot cuff the same way,
if you like you can add a crochet flower!!!

Enjoy!!




Tuesday, 28 January 2014

shopping..


the other day in Barcelona, I popped in one of my favourite shops:


nunoya, Carrer de la Palla, 6

they sell gorgeous Japanese kimono fabrics, as well as the extraordinary Echino collection designed by Etsuko Furuya.
Over the years I have sewn a lot of things with these fabrics and I just love them!!
Here a selection of my latest purchase for one of my students..







it's going to be a quilt soon!!!



Thursday, 19 December 2013

Red Pepper Quiche


I got loads of red peppers for a really good price on the weekly marked
and backed them in the oven at 180`C with aubergines until they where cooked,
then pealed them and put them with an egg, cream and a ripe goatcheese mixture, salt and pepper
on top of puff paste. After backing the quiche for about half an hour, it was only a matter of a few minutes
to see it disappear with a glas of red wine ...

Oven backed veggies is a  traditional way of cooking them here in Catalunya, and they are just delicious that way!!!!!