Pastel Colors

I was totally obsessed with pastel colors this spring and though I haven't been knitting much, I did dye and then knit a pair of socks and crocheted a necklace and a pair of earrings.

For the socks I used a new to me yarn, 50% merino and 50% poly-amide. It is thinner than my usual sock yarn and it feels less warm because of the lower merino content. I had bought 300 g of it and dyed 50 g for a pair of socks, so I have 250 g more, which I intend to dye one day into similar pastel colors and make a spring sweater for Gaby.

For now, I only have the socks :) I wound the yarn into skeins, divided into 5 consecutive sub-skeins.  I dipped each sub-skein into the dye until it was exhausted, then added the new dye and dipped the next sub-skein and so on - a very fiddly and long process just in order to avoid breaking the yarn and having to weave in ends between colors. I know, sometimes I do act crazy, but I thoroughly enjoyed the process of continually knitting each sock from a single ball of yarn.

The socks are my usual toe-up recipe, fish lips kiss heels, 1x1 rib with Lory's twisted bind off. There is a difference between the two socks - one is knitted on 2.5 mm needles with 60 sts, while the second was knitted on 2.25 mm with 64 sts and magic loop technique. There isn't however much of a difference between the textures of the two, so in the future I'll keep to my preferred 2.5 mm sock needles.

And while I was still in the mood for pastels, I dyed a few strings of cotton yarn and made a necklace for Gaby. She already wore it and got a lot of compliments (which feels so good to hear!). 

And as it turned out that neither of her pairs of earrings was a good match for the necklace, I made her a new pair of earrings as well. 

Meanwhile, May came, the temperatures rose, we took out the light summer blouses and my plans for the pastel sweater became weather-inappropriate, so I've put them off for now. The transitional seasons here are so short some years, that the boots get changed directly for sandals and spring sweaters become redundant.

Turquoise Jewelry

A couple of weeks ago Gaby was dressing for going out and trying various pairs of earrings and she casually mentioned that she would like a pair of crochet ball earrings in every color. Why not, actually, thought I :) They are easy to make, I love dyeing yarn and creating outfits, so - there we go!

I bought a string of turquoise semi-precious stone beads and metal connectors, combined them with orange wooden beads and crocheted balls and made a necklace, that sings sun and sea to me. To go with it I dyed half a dozen shades of turquoise cotton, out of which i chose these two to make two pairs of earrings, combining crocheted balls with wooden beads in the same turquoise color as the stone beads.

And another pair of simple crocheted ball earrings in blue, for her various blue outfits. I might come up with a necklace to go with these too, still waiting for the idea to clear in my head.

Chequered Skirt 112 Burda 5 2019

Just a few modeled photos of the chequered skirt #112 Burda 5 / 2019, which I blogged here, the denim backpack - notice that I added a small leather "Handmade" label and changed the string with denim string, blogged here, the gradient necklace, blogged here and the earrings, blogged here:

Isn't it the perfect spring outfit! If only we weren't under quarantine :(

New Crochet Balls Earrings

I've been so busy knitting, crocheting and sewing lately, that I barely find the time to document my new makes. I sewed a dress, two cardigans, a new pair of boxer shorts and two tailor's hams, I started a new sweater and I also made half a dozen pairs of earrings, one of which was already gifted and I don't even have a picture of it, but never mind.

: One of my favourite pairs - double balls:

: A bright red pair (the red is somewhat lost in the picture), which suits Gaby magnificently:

: A yellow pair for another of Gaby's friends

: This one goes nicely with the gradient necklace I made for Gaby last month

: I bought a string of small quartz balls and turned it into a necklace with a pair of purple earrings with small quartz balls to go with it:

: This was a another string of semi-precious stones - carnelian chips, which I turned into a necklace, bracelet and earrings:

: And another string of semi-precious stones - agate chips, again turned into a necklace, bracelet and earrings:

Crochet Ball Necklaces

It all started with an idea for a small present for one of Gaby's sweet friends, who always brings me fresh rosemary from her family garden. I had one cake of YarnArt Violet 100% mercerized cotton in bright yellow, a remnant from a yellow sweater I knitted years ago. And I also have various wooden beads I´ve bought over the years for craft projects. On Wednesday after my Spanish classes I passed through one of the craft shops downtown and bought two metal wire circles for necklaces and two waxed cotton strings with clasps.

First I crocheted around two beads with the yellow cotton yarn, added three more bare wooden beads and voilá - the necklace was done. But as easy as it sounds, don't get me wrong - I'm so clumsy and inexperienced with the crochet hook, especially with such a small hook and thin thread, that crocheting around each bead took me probably half an hour each and cost me at least one aching finger :)))

However, I was bitten by the crafting bug and I spent the next day dyeing small amounts of the yellow yarn with different concentrations of blue cotton dye to get a gradient. Thus the second necklace was born, with crocheted balls for complementing earrings, which I intend to finish once I buy the necessary hardware. This necklace is for Gaby.

But how could I not make something for myself! This one is a long pendant, hanging on a waxed cotton string, with complementing earrings, of course.

And because husband complained that the colors I was using were too dull, something bright and cheery - reds, oranges, peaches and yellows on a waxed string:

I have plenty of dyed cotton yarn and ideas for necklaces and earrings, so there'll be at least a couple more before I exhaust my inspiration.

First Fimo Attempts

Gaby's BFF had a name's day yesterday and my daughter decided to make her a FIMO necklace. This is her first attempt with FIMO and I think it turned out pretty good. I didn't take pictures of the process, but I'll add the youtube tutorial she used to make the balls. I thought working with FIMO clay was challenging, but for such simple items it is actually easy and I'm inspired to make some FIMO jewelry for myself.
This is the process of baking the clay - on an aluminum foil in an oven at 110 C for 30 min.

 Placing the ear for the string:

 Drying the balls after lacquering:

Hubby and I left for a hike and I couldn't take pictures of the final version of the necklace and the handmade greetings card that accompanied it, but I'm told the present was a big success.

First version of the necklace: