et laine

oh, hello!

noreply@blogger.com (heleen) — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 10:16:00 +0000

I am thinking a lot about my blog lately, about that you don't see what I am doing here (all the beauty.... and the decayed). So I took a look at my blog and discovered that blogger updated its possibilities. I clicked a bit ..... and changed my template. Without first saving the old one. Stupid. I liked the old one better, but cannot get it back.
Guess I just have to show you what I've made these past 8 months.

hallelujah indigo!

noreply@blogger.com (heleen) — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 13:11:00 +0000

Who doesn't dream of dyeing with indigo, to see the magic color change happen? I do, I did and I still do. When I just started dyeing my own yarn I tried it out ones. It worked and it was magical and I was happy. But back then I used the chemical method to reduce the indigo (with soda ash and hydrosulfite, there are many information sources on the internet). Last year I read on this blog that it is also possible to use a more natural way to reduce indigo: by natural fermentation. I immediately ordered indigo and madder root powder on-line. But it took a hell of a long time to arrive, too late in the year to start a natural fermentation indigo vat. You need warm weather to get the fermentation process going that uses all the oxygen in the vat and by doing so reduce the indigo.
So this year I was more than motivated to start my vat. I started it on June 10. I added 50 grams of ground indigo, 28 grams of ground madder root, 28 grams of wheat bran and 170 grams of soda ash (sodium carbonate or washing soda) to 14 liters of warm water and stirred and stirred. Every morning I watched and stirred and waited. But nothing seemed to happen, no foam as described on several manuscripts I found on-line. Just nothing. After 3 days of taking a photo of the vat I decided to only take the next photo when something would have changed. After 8 days I thought that I lost and ordered some more indigo to add to the vat with more madder root, wheat bran and soda ash because I guessed that I used to much water for the process to work. And I stopped stirring.
Today, still waiting for the indigo to arrive, I took a look in the vat. I opened the lit and: a coppery sheen!! I quickly dipped a strip of fabric in and could see that magical color transition happen when taking it out! From green to that beautiful blue: INDIGO blue!

Let the dyeing party begin!

Day 1, day 2, day 3, day 12 (from left to right and top to bottom)

colorful

noreply@blogger.com (heleen) — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 21:28:00 +0000

Together with the girls I am searching for nice end-of-year-gifts for their teachers. I saw this tutorial for perler bead bracelets on Pinterest. I immediately saw many lovely possibilities and me made some bracelets, it only turned out to be too difficult for small girls (mine are 3 and 5 years old). But they really enjoy to make designs on the star and heart template I bought with the beads (Hama). They make cool pendants and brooches.

bubble

noreply@blogger.com (heleen) — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 10:24:00 +0000

From this Japanese sewing book (yes, the French translation!). My only modification was that I added a 20 cm long zipper at the back because else my daughter couldn't get into the dress.

Daughter 2 has a bubble as well, she has only grown so fast that I will have to make her a new one.

Look what I had in the mail today! Beautiful organic cotton fabrics designed by Gennine for Cloud 9 fabrics. I am in full sewing mode with my new sewing toy: a serger. It makes a sewers life so much more easy!

And you might have thought my girls were such sweeties, but here they show their usual selves:

this day

noreply@blogger.com (heleen) — Mon, 21 May 2012 13:22:00 +0000

This day is my birthday. A rainy monday and I am home alone. That sounds a bit sad doesn't it.
However I am currently:

Thinking back at the tremendous long weekend that my love and I spend in Paris.
Enjoying the sight and smells of this delicious cake I baked (with the grapefruits instead of blood oranges and I feel it's tangy taste goes even better with the sweet caramel).
Making plans for our vegetable garden (the rain prepares the earth for me!).
Drinking a good cup of tea.
Eying longingly to Maya Donenfelds book 'Reinvention' that arrived today in my mailbox (a more than perfect birthday present!).

But most of all:

Waiting for my girls and love to return home to celebrate a bit and eat that cake.

Have a nice day, even when it is raining!

back again

noreply@blogger.com (heleen) — Mon, 14 May 2012 10:05:00 +0000

hello! It took a while, but I am back again. Back from working a lot, earning money I mean. In the meanwhile I also crafted a lot, but I didn't find the energy to post about that here. I'll try to show what I did in the coming days. Here is to start with a potholder I crocheted for my sister, because it looks so cheerful and to celebrate the sun that is shining so brightly out side!

PS: the pattern is in German, but you can find similar patterns on Ravelry, or elsewhere on the internet.

sun

noreply@blogger.com (heleen) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 19:54:00 +0000

During my lunch break I have been knitting in the sun! Incredible (and a bit frightening actually since it is just end of January).

gotye

noreply@blogger.com (heleen) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 08:18:00 +0000

Even the girls are addicted to this song.

month of the galette

noreply@blogger.com (heleen) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 21:10:00 +0000

In France January is the month of the 'galette des rois', a pie one can buy in every bakery and supermarket to celebrate Epiphany. Although Epiphany is originally just one day (the 6th of January), the French (marketing?) stretched it to a whole month. No problem in this case, because the galettes are delicious (well, usually). Specially the kids love them, because each galette hides a 'fève'. In the former days a dried bean, now a small ceramic figurine. The person that finds it in its piece of galette is the king or queen.
Sure we ate several this month at home, at work, to friends, the kids at school. I made one myself as well using this recipe for the almond filling, sooo delicious!

A nice recipe to wish you all a happy new year with!

sewing kit

noreply@blogger.com (heleen) — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 21:37:00 +0000

From a wine box to a sewing and creativity kit. A Christmas present for a little niece. The pattern for the needle book comes from here.

Right now....

noreply@blogger.com (heleen) — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 14:01:00 +0000

..... I made this tarte tatin (recipe in French) with these oven baked preserved quinces. I didn't even taste it (yet) but if it looks like this it can only be good. What? DELICIOUS! Will keep you posted about that, I hope I can wait until everybody returns home from school and work.

December 7: this is such a heavenly tasting pie!! We finished it today. The first day it was wonderful with a crunchy crust, today it was still super good with a soft crust that soaked up all those heavenly fluids, yummm!!

no 3

noreply@blogger.com (heleen) — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 20:59:00 +0000

My third February Sweater rolled of the needles some days ago. Now every lady in our household owns one. This time it was knitted in a violet color, because that's the 'only color I like, with rose of course'. I nowadays only make things this almost 5 year old lady agrees with, because else she doesn't wear them. Like a pair of cosy felted slippers I made her last month. In purple with green. And that last one was wrong, totally wrong. Luckily she loves her February sweater, she is wearing it every day and that warms my heart.

Pattern: February Sweater/Baby Sweater on Two Needles by Elizabeth Zimmermann (see Ravelry for my modifications)
Yarn: Alpaca by Drops/Garn Studio (color 6347 held double)

for him

noreply@blogger.com (heleen) — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 10:41:00 +0000

I rarely see sweaters for men that I really like. Until I saw this version of Cable Guy. He liked it as well. Could even hardly wait until I was finished. Is a happy man now. Of course I like that. I love that. I love HIM.

Pattern: Cable Guy by Heather Dixon published in Son of Stitch 'n Bitch by Debbie Stoller (my modifications here on my Ravelry page).
Yarn: Chanvre à Tricoter by Le Chanvrier (100% recycled cotton and hemp).
Pants: handmade by me.

for the princesses

noreply@blogger.com (heleen) — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 12:40:00 +0000

My little princesses made themselves a crown. Gold and glitter of course and pink thread for sewing. We used this excellent tutorial.

The lace is vintage and found in the nearby Emmaus thrift shop.

En passant, we also applied some golden glitters on the princesses' nails.

last weekend

noreply@blogger.com (heleen) — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 10:47:00 +0000

Beautiful weather, we measured 22 °C, very uncommon for this time of the year.

We went to the forest, a forest like a cathedral with high beech trees. My favorite trees, so majestic.

We found mushrooms, many of them. We picked some Boletus Edulis (see photo below) and ate them the next day.

On sunday morning I woke-up earlier then the rest and sat down to knit and enjoy the morning sun.

Some precious moment all for myself.

Than the girls woke-up and the day begun.

We baked cookies, we painted hearts.

My chair out side kept waiting for me with my knitting ready to pick up.

It was a wonderful weekend!

azul profundo

noreply@blogger.com (heleen) — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 20:12:00 +0000

Azul Profundo, that's the name of the color I knitted this cardigan with. I finished it already more than two months ago and have been wearing it when ever it was cold enough during this summer. It is that comfortable, that soft, that versatile! I am secretly looking forward to autumn..... Malabrigo yarns come from merino sheep that are raised in Uruguay. It's hand painted - that's why the colors are so lively - and known to be the softest sheep wool in the world. I can only agree to that. The only drawback is that it pills quickly.

Pattern: Shalom cardigan (with modifications, see my Ravelry page for those that are members)

Gosh, I did it

noreply@blogger.com (heleen) — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 19:49:00 +0000

I did it. I steeked. I just cut the front of my freshly knitted Brynja cardigan in two. I hardly believe I dared to start cutting. That is the most difficult part, to find the courage to do it, after climbing that mountain, the final cutting was easy.

thingies

noreply@blogger.com (heleen) — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 12:23:00 +0000

Home alone, without camera. So enough time, but impossible to finally shoot photos of the skirts I made for myself and the pants I made for my love. But while looking through my iphoto library I find several photos of things I made for a swap but haven't shown here. I would like to get photoshop to present them better here....

* The book cover is made from an embroidery and a old button.
* I spun the white wool on my wheel and the colored wool on a spindle (that's the only way I can spin thin).
* The scarf is crocheted from mohair (more details on my Ravelry page).

fly baby, fly

noreply@blogger.com (heleen) — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 20:08:00 +0000

She dreamt of flying and asked me to help her make wings. We cut them out off card box and she painted them with a little bit of help. Then she put on her new skirt and tried her wings.

swap beauty

noreply@blogger.com (heleen) — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 13:39:00 +0000

Look what a beauty Christel send me as a swap present (amongst some other sweet things)! She is the queen of shawl-knitting of my knitting group. Thank you Christel, I am SO happy with it!

holiday cookies

noreply@blogger.com (heleen) — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 13:09:00 +0000

Today was Mathilde's last school day of this year. Time to say thank you to her teachers. I made them a make-your-own-cookies-package. Found this lovely idea at Bakerella, via MaandagDaandag. The teachers just have to add 100 g of soft butter and 1 large egg.
I packed all dry ingredients layer by layer in 1litre glass bottles that I kept after drinking the juice (those bottles are super handy for all kind of things). They were actually just to small to store all the ingredients, so I left the pecan nuts out. A pity, but I just started to late preparing these presents to be able to change the quantities or go to the shop for bigger bottles. But I think the cookies will be delicious anyway. I smell them right now, because I am making a batch to eat when the girls come home from school (with pecan nuts!).

Evening up-date: This is how they turned out, they are D E L I C I O U S

things I made last winter

noreply@blogger.com (heleen) — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 12:07:00 +0000

We just came back from a long weekend on Brittany's beaches, where we dived into the sea, dug deep holes in the sand and ate crêpes and ice creams. While protecting myself from the fierce sun I knitted. I knitted a warm cardigan from the lovely soft Malabrigo Worsted I got for my birthday. Always strange to knit for winter while being on the beach wearing a bikini. But at least I will be well prepared for the cold weather that will definitely follow this heat. Yes, I learned from my much too last minute winter knits that were finished when the warm weather started. My brother will have this nice scarf next winter and my husband these warm socks.........

Scarf version of the Herringbone Cowl by Purl Soho made from Schoeller + Stahl Zimba Fix.

Kalajoki socks by Tiina Seppälä made from hand dyed sock yarn (thanks to Mme Mouton).

I will publish soon more details on Ravelry.

knitters birthday

noreply@blogger.com (heleen) — Mon, 30 May 2011 14:03:00 +0000

I celebrated my birthday a week ago. No special celebration, just some colorful flags and balloons in the living room because my daughters like that so much. And of course I needed their help with blowing out the candles on my birthday cake.
And my presents? Big kisses from my husband and girls, cards and lovely presents from family and friends and a box full of yarn, enough to knit 3 cardigans for myself. YEAH!!!

This wonderfully soft Malabrigo Merino Worsted in azul profundo will be a fitted Shalom cardigan with long sleeves (like this one).

I will knit myself a Brynja cardigan with these skeins beautiful colored Léttlopi.

And these skeins of Cascade 220 will be turned into a cardigan with a colorful yoke out of my own hand spun yarn (I'm thinking about something like this).

Preparations for these wintery warm cardigans are already started, while outdoors it is for already for weeks on end summer in springtime.

EZ rocks!

noreply@blogger.com (heleen) — Fri, 27 May 2011 10:42:00 +0000

For a long while I was having this beautiful sweater in my Ravelry favorites. Too bad the pattern is only available in a kit with the yarn. Very beautiful yarn, but also VERY expensive yarn. So that was a no go for me. But the pattern kept popping up in my mind and was perfect for early spring with its cool mornings and evenings. When I got hand on 10 balls of nice cotton yarn and a copy of Elizabeth Zimmermann's 'Knitting Workshop' (thanks Elisa!) my dream sweater suddenly came within reach. My own version, that is!
I wrote already several times about my love for EZ. This book is my third of her and I want, NEED, to have her other books as well. She was a knitting genius and so very witty! And, oh joy, her daughter Meg Swanson recently published a new book wholly dedicated to garter stitch, 'Knit One Knit All'. She made her mothers wish come true with that book that is of course high on my wish list.
To get back to my sweater, in 'Knitting Workshop' EZ teaches amongst others several ways to knit your own perfectly fitting and personalized sweater. Her famous 'Elizabeth's Percentage System' (EPS, explained here), with which one can calculate how many stitches to cast on for body and arms and how to decrease for the shoulder and neck part, is of course the base of her bottom-up sweaters knitted in the round. And that was what I wanted for my sweater: seemless. No sewn set-in sleeves and seams on the sides of the body like in the original pattern (if I saw it well on the photos). EZ also describes in her book all the other design features I wanted for my version of the sweater, how I could make a V-neck and seamless set-in sleeves. I very much like how set-in sleeves accentuate the shoulders (specially my round shoulders), but without sewing please! The only thing EZ doesn't describe is how to calculate waist shaping, but that might be due to the changed fashion nowadays. I found several waist shaping calculators on the internet and I chose this one.

So after securely determining my gauge and quite some calculations, I started with the fun part: knitting MY sweater. The body and the separately knitted sleeves went fast. Knitting the intricate cabled knot (based on the knot in this pattern) at the breast section of the body was a nice transition to the difficult part of the sweater: joining the body and the sleeves and in the same time start the decreases for the V-neck. But with some ripping and re-knitting I finally ended up with a fit that satisfied me. I just would have preferred the shoulders to be a bit wider, but I consider it a minor flaw.
The finishing of the back of the neck was also a nice challenge. I wanted to add some short rows (as EZ explains to do to get a comfortable fit) and also that the ribbing lining the V-neck continued all around the neck. The latter meant that I had to knit the ribbing after casting-off the back of the neck and grafting the shoulder seams. And, shame on me, I have to admit that there I didn't keep to my no-sewing-rule. I continued knitting the ribbing lining the V-neck from both sides of the neck until I reached the middle of the back of the neck (get it??). Then grafted the ends together and SEWN it to the body. Ai ai, I really have to learn to (or have the guts to) directly attach a border while knitting it. I tried it several times, but always ended up with borders that were way to wide or otherwise to tight. Any tips for me how to tackle this?

That was the story of my own sweater, that was inspired by an other sweater and that got possible by EZ. She rocks!

Pattern: my own with some help (more photos on my Ravelry page)
Yarn: Bergère de France Coton Fifty in denim blue (Nigelle, E 7198)

kids clothes week - day 4-7

noreply@blogger.com (heleen) — Wed, 18 May 2011 13:30:00 +0000

I have learnt a lot during this KCWC. I learned that making one garment a day is not possible when choosing patterns with multiple parts. I learnt that it is also not necessary to make one garment per day and that it is ridiculous to have a goal to post every day about it. I just stressed myself. So next KCWC (oh yes, I will participate!) I will either choose simpler patterns, or will sew without putting my goals to high. Although I just read here that perfectionism (because that is what was bothering me) can be used positive as well (read that link!). And I must admit that when looking at my girls in their new skirts and dresses (albeit one of them, see below) I feel proud about what I made. I MADE that and it looks GOOD!

So here are some photos of the dresses I made during day 4-7 of KCWC. You already had a small look at the dress Noémi is wearing in the photo above. It is pattern r of Happy Homemade Vol.2. I used fabrics of Anna Maria Horner's Little Folks collection with some green and white vichy for the lining. Noémi loves it and I love it. (On the photo above Mathilde is wearing the Bo Peep skirt from Anna Maria Horner's book Seems To Me).
Sadly I am not so happy with the dress I made for Mathilde (pattern k from Happy Homemade Vol.2). She seems to feel the same because she took it off after her first exited reaction when she saw it. Maybe she felt my disappointment. I think that I don't like the fabric for this dress, although I like the fabric in general. It is too stiff and the pattern too busy. I am now busy thinking how I can still make something nice out of it. My idea now is to cut it into a skirt and a top and add some nice details. I'll show you when I have done something with it.