Me-Made-May 2013

'I, Carmela of Carmela Biscuit's Spot, sign up as a participant of Me-Made-May '13. I endeavour to wear a self-made garment each day for the duration of May 2013'

You know, this is not my first challenge of this kind, I took part in Self-Stitched-September-11 a year and a half ago and it was a notable month for the whole family, for I asked, begged and bribed each and everyone of them to take a picture of me every day in the course of a month.

So, the challenge for the upcoming 31 days of May will be not only to wear my own clothes, but to manage to take pictures of myself wearing them every day. I'm starting practicing with the tripod and the automatic picture taking functions of my camera :)))

I also mean to take the pledge to a higher level, challenging myself to finish two new knits to be worn in May and to sew something wearable for myself. I haven't done that in ages! But I want a long gypsy skirt for the summer or maybe a yoga tunic for my Pilates classes ...

As for the report of the challenge, the plan is to take pictures every day and to share them with the Flickr group and to publish a weekly report here on the blog.

So, here we go, starting tomorrow!

Knyazhevo

Knyazhevo is a residential area within the boundaries of Sofia and therefore a popular outset for hiking in Vitosha. Yesterday there were only three of us - Gaby was (and is still as of now) in Shumen, taking part in a mathematical competition (she won first place with her team in the team competition for 8th graders, yey! :). Thus we decided to hike along a route which she already had climbed with her classmates last autumn, so she wouldn't miss much.
Knyazhevo - Golden Bridges is a two and a half hours of fast climbing (700 m denivelation) over well marked paths through beautiful forests and alongside mountain streams. I still like the track to the Golden Bridges from Vladaya better, because the route from Knyazhevo was more tiring (or maybe it's the post-winter-out-of-form syndrome :), but the fresh air and springtime mountain views were totally worth it! A total of approx. five and a half hours hike with an hour rest and picnic at the Golden Bridges.

A view at the Sofia Plateau

The trunk of this tree has formed a natural basket with flowers:

A rock clam or maybe macaroon :)

The Vitosha Mountain TV Tower:

Yellow

Pattern: Obsession by Kim Hargreaves
Yarn: Alize Bamboo Fine 100% bamboo (130 g) and YarnArt Violet 100% cotton (90 g),
held together (approx. 580 m)
Needle: 3 mm edges and neckline, 3.5 mm body
Crochet cast on, hook 3.5 mm
Time to knit: 9 days

I hadn't knit yellow for ages. Because of the yellowish tint of my skin tan I've always thought that yellow was not my color, but now I'm reconsidering. The mustard bamboo and sunflower cotton for this little blouse combined in a lovely old gold color, that I instantly fell in love with. There's going to be more yellow knitting in the future. In fact, because of my overstashing, I've got enough yarn for a little shrug for my daughter, which I want to design myself (because shrugs are no-brainer :)))

The pattern is a classic Kim Hargreaves - easy elegance. However, I chose to knit it with bigger needles and seamlessly, so I had to rewrite every bit of it. And given my preference for purling, I also reversed it, so that I would purl rather than knit most of the rows. The blouse is stretchy and with enough positive ease, so that I can put it on and off without unbuttoning the 9 buttons.

The pictures were taken yesterday in the afternoon by my daughter. My little photographer was so enthused and took so many pictures here and there in the park, that I just couldn't choose fewer. My favourite series - among the dandelions :)))

The weather was warm, but quite windy and with a promise of rain, thankfully the wind blew away the rainy clouds.

And in tone with this posting - one of my most favourite bands with a favourite song - 

Coldpay and Yellow:

Yarn Bomb

 I decided to bomb our building. Of course, I mean yarn bomb :)

The colorful rug is crocheted with 3 mm hook and half double crochet stitches, 11 cm wide and 52 cm long. The yarn is mostly YarnArt Jeans (cotton and acrylic), but I also included a few stripes from other scrap yarns.

We live in a building with privately owned apartments and though the board of owners paid for a major refreshment of the front only last year, obviously we need a new refreshment - the paint is peeling and the railing is rusty. I hope my yarn bomb will not annoy our fellow owners and will rather make them smile. At least my family is pretty fond of it :)

The Bells

Today the weather was gorgeously springlike 20C warm. We didn't have time for long mountain hikes, so we went to the Bells. I love this place, especially when, as today, people ring the many bells and the chime combines in a random melody.
Yes, I love the sound of bells.

We had a picnic at the nearby picnic area, played volleyball, badminton and Frisbee.

And then went for a walk in the vicinity. Where we saw ... grazing cows :)

Miette

Pattern: Miette by Andi Satterlund (free Ravelry download)
Yarn: YarnArt Summer 150 g and YarnArt Violet 90 g, held together
Needle: 4 mm, 3.5 mm button bands and neckline
Time to knit: 11 days

This is a top-down cropped raglan cardigan with a pretty lace detail, quite easy and pleasant to knit. For full disclosure, I should mention that I did make several mistakes in the lace, all of which I went back and corrected, because I'm such a crazy person. My gauge was quite different from the pattern's original (20 st and 25 rows for a 4 inch square), so to get the smallest size I actually knitted the medium 38". But not quite - the sleeves felt narrow, so I added 6 sts to each of them (53 total) and gradually reduced them to 40 sts. before the lacy part.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I read carefully all of Gail's notes on Miette and I would recommend them to anyone planning to make this cardigan. She's provided many useful tips and among other things now I'll never have to wonder any more where to place the buttonholes on my knitted clothes, because I already know that WOMEN ARE ALWAYS RIGHT :))))

Spring. Finally.

Yesterday was one of those rare Saturdays in April and May in Sofia, when the sun shines, the skies are blue and everybody is out in the open. So, we and one third of the city population went to the zoo. Just an (almost) random selection of pictures we took:

    

 

We live at the foot of the Vitosha mountain and spring comes later here than in the rest of the country and with lots of rain. Today is Sunday and its raining since morning, with forecasts for heavy rain till the end of next week. I'm so glad we had such a fabulous walk yesterday!