2011 m. rugpjūčio 26 d., penktadienis

End of summer- time to go to forest!


Today I spent amazing day with my family!

Quess what we did? We went to the forest pick up mushrooms.All of us three love this fun thing so much! Walking in the forest and hunting all these mushrooms we know.



We spent in the forest today about 6 hours! But it was such a pleasure to breath fresh and nice smelling air and feel a bit melancholy that summer almost gone....

Yes,that is not fun part- when mushrooms start to grow it means that Autumn is very close and you are in some steps closer to long and cold winter.

I cook these mushrooms and froze them for winter- so I can say that I conservate my summer memories and happy moments:-)

We back home very tired but also very happy and full bucket of forest wealth!

Happy Autumn my dear friends!








2011 m. liepos 6 d., trečiadienis

Knitting silk

At this moment I am knitting swiss lace silk yarn,which Ingrid(Liloucolours) dyed in my favorite purple color and sent to me.

This is a top quality lace yarn and it is truly pleasure work on it. It softly slides through my fingers,just a like dream!

I am knitting it on very thin 2mm needles,I use only one ply of this yarn and it is an adventure work with that small size:-) But result really worth this!
In this way the slubby texture creates thick and thin spots and looks just amazing!
When I started this blouse I thought to make some lace pattern on whole blouse,but row went after row and I saw that it looks fantastic without any pattern. The yarn creates its own pattern and that's enough!
Maybe on the bottom of this blouse I put a little lace,but still not sure.

Also I am knitting this blouse top down again,and can't not mention that it has no seams!!! When I done knit it will be done!







2011 m. gegužės 13 d., penktadienis

Spring is time for gardening

I love when spring comes.Then I go to my summer house,spend time with family and gardening.

At the 4th of April I sow tomatoes,they are my favorites. Our flat is in the south side,so every day when sun is shining it is very warm,so I don't need heating at all. So my green kids grows up very fast and ready to go to green house.

Also on my balcony I growing parsley,basil and petunia.A couple of days ago I sow cucmbers to the flower pots- they grows faster than I seed them directly to garden-bed.

Now my green kids are ready to go to my garden and I will see at the autumn what they brings to me......




2011 m. balandžio 6 d., trečiadienis

Sewing adventures.

Since I started sewing at 16(like a hobby first) it slowly moved to my main work.

Many years I am sewing women's clothes,wedding dresses,big curtains,roman curtains and original design coverlets.

When I started my Etsy store I browsed on products and saw lovely shop LilouColours which listed some fantastic hand dyed yarns. I put heart on that shop that don't lost it.

After some time I received conversation from Ingrid(the shop owner),she asked me if I could knit a scarf or someting else for this yarn, if she send that yarn to me.

I am person who likes challenges,so of course I said Yes! That way started our lovely friendship...

When Ingrid decided to start weaving project,she asked me- could I make to her some patterns for tote bags. I said- ok no problem.

Then Ingrid said me, that she would wish that I make to her some bags from her fabric as a sample.
I thought- why not!

She sent sketches to me first,that I could make patterns till she weave fabric and send to me.After some conversations on Skype she said me- maybe will be better if I came to you and we will make them together?

I said- cool! It would be best way to make them together,so we could make some changes during the process.
She came to Vilnius at October 17th,2010 for 2 weeks, after almost an year our online friendship.We met her together with my son Dominic in the airport.

And bag's sewing started- Ingrid worked on leather parts,hand stitched them,I made the bags.

First bag was "Frankenstein" but we checked all our mistakes.
And then in those 2 weeks we finished 4 small and 4 large bags! 2 crazy girls in 2 rooms flat,he he he!

And then we decided that our international team is JUST WONDERFUL! We joke often- that yarn she sent to me is very long way:-)

So to be continued:-)))

Diva


Eye Candy


Libertine

2011 m. vasario 11 d., penktadienis

Fiber adventures...

Finally I done my alpaca-silk cardigan!

I was so excited to make it. It was made fully by me- I handspun silk and alpaca fiber,and then knit this lovely and very soft and warm cardigan.

The dyed and carded alpaca fiber I bought from my fiber friend Maple,she runs the Northstaralpacas store at Etsy. I met her on Etsy more than year ago,and I am so happy to have so sweet and helpful friend.

This alpaca fiber I spun on my lovely middle sized Turkish drop spindle(it weighs about 30 gramms) ,which my hubby and daddy made to me,they both has they own shop Woodstory at Etsy.
The silk fiber I dyed by my own,I used Jacquard dyes in Periwinkle colour. It is very easy to do,so I will dye more wool and silk in future.
The silk was handspun also on Turkish drop spindle,but for silk I used little spindle-it weighs only 15 gramms. So it is perfect to spin very fine fibers as silk,yak,camel or cashmere. Now I am spinning cashmere,it spins like a dream!

This cardigan was top down knitted,it was second project in my life finished in that way.I never knitted top down,so that was a little challenge to me,because I totally designed it and haven't used any pattern for top down cardigans.

The most great point in this knitting- it has no seams!And when you finish knitting- you already have finished garment:-)

I knit lovely lace pattern at the bottom of sweater and on the end of the sleeves.
This scheme is available here.


Pagaliau aš užbaigiau savo alpakos-šilko megztuką!

Man pavyko jį numegzti pakankamai greitai,neskaitant to,kad siulus šiam megztukui as susiverpiau pati.

Alpakos vilną nusipirkau Etsyje, is labai malonios moteriškės vardu Maple,ji gyvena Amerikoje,Michigano valstijoje.Su ja susipazinau daugiau nei prieš metus,ir nuo to laiko mes viena kitą vadiname pluošto draugemis(angliškai -fiber friend).
Ji turi nuostabią Northstaralpacas parduotuvę kurioje prekiauja jos pačios išaugintų alpakų vilna.Ta vilna tokia švelnute,tiesiog neįmanoma to nupasakoti!

Vilną verpiau pati, Turkišku verpstuku,jį man padarė mano vyras su tėčiu. Tai vidutinio dydžio verpstukas skirtas verpti plono/vidutinio storio siūlą,jo svoris apie 30gramų.

Šilkui naudojau lengvutį Turkišką verpstuką,kuris tesveria kokį 15gramų ir labai tinka verpti tokiems ploniems pluoštams kaip jako ar kupranugario vilna,šilkas ar kašmyras.
Vėliau atidariau parduotuvę ir vyrui su tėčiu kuri vadinasi WoodStory.

Šilko pluoštą dažiau pati,naudojau Jacquard dažus,atspalvį Periwinkle.Jais dažyti vienas malonumas,pigmentas susigeria į pluoštą ir lieka baltut baltutelis vanduo-tinginio džiaugsmas!

Šį megztuką mezgiau nuo kaklo žemyn naudojant virbalus su valu,tai antrasis mezginys mano gyvenime kurį numezgiau tokiu būdu. Jis man nerealiai patiko,negaliu nepaminėti to kad gaminio nereikia siūti! Tas punktas matyt labiausiai mane ir sužavejo,asmeniškai man mezgime bjauriausia dalis yra gaminio susiuvimas:-)

Rankovių bei megztuko apačiai padailinti naudojau man labai patinkantį kiauraraštį.

Man rezultatas labai patiko- minkštutis,laaaabai šiltas ir sukurtas su meile savo pačios rankomis...