Granny squares - testing a new pattern

Last night I found this exciting granny square pattern (I'm sorry it's only in Swedish) and I just had to try it. Here is the result!

It turned out to be considerably larger than the other (traditional) squares I've done, so unfortunately they don't fit together. However, I'm thinking of trying to make a smaller version of this one. If I crochet the two inner parts (the lilac and white) it's ALMOST the size I want it to be, so if I can just make a smaller square frame around it then... it could work. Not sure how to do it though, I'm still kinda new at doing crochet... Any suggestions? And when on the subject, do you have any favourite granny square versions? I'd love to see more! Do you know of any that fits together (in size) with the traditional (at least, the one I've heard is the most traditional here! You can see them in the second pic.) granny square?

Creating a stone path...

Laying down stones to form a path to what will eventually be an earth cellar... Like a puzzle, always trying to find the best way to fit the stones together. Marvellous, I love this kind of very creative and hands-on gardening!








As much as possible I want to avoid buying stones for paths and decorative features in the garden. We certainly have enough rocks to work with on our small patch of land, plus I really like things not to be perfect and symmetrical.

Crochet ("mormorsrutor")

I've finally learned how to make so called "mormorsrutor" (whatever it's called in english...), I'm so proud!

First time ever - an entire dress sewn by hand! No sewing machine!

Good evening dear friends! It is getting late and I'm getting pretty sleepy, so I'll make this a short entry.

For the last two weeks or so I've sewn more by hand than I've ever done before; for the first time making an entire garment by hand! No sewing machine, not even a little! And here is the result: A short dress in 100% wool, by my own pattern.

As you can see, there is a decorative v-shape both in the front and in the back of the collar. The three buttons on the chest were also made by me, using the same technique that I use while doing medieval cloth buttons.

So there you have it, my first dress sewn all by hand! And I enjoyed it, yay!




(The grey blouse beneath the dress is the one I made a couple of months ago, shown here...)

What we've been up to this summer...

I've mentioned before that we are about to move out of the city and finally get our own house. The house itself isn't actually there yet, though... but it's coming quite quickly!

So instead of playing around at home with sewing, candlemaking or whatever I usually do, this summer we've been crafting on a different scale. We're not actually building the house ourselves, but we have been busy working on other stuff.

And now, time for some pictures! Finally, yay!

Photo update in-between cramps: Mead, paper and painting.

Today is one of those days when I spend every other minute laying down with intense cramps (menstruation from hell!), and I'm thus unable to work. The small chunks of time where I'm NOT actually beaten down with cramps, I thought I'd take some pics of stuff I should show you...

 These bottles are filled with mead, made this spring/early summer. It turned out great and should only improve with time! It's also stronger than it seems and may provide one mean hangover.








I'm particularly proud of these labels. Not only have I finally gotten a hang of writing with an old-fashioned dip-in-ink pen, I've also made the paper myself!

For the paper, I recycled scrap paper and mixed with water. It wasn't a hundred percent successful (the home made frame and mesh could use some improvement, more on that in a later post!) but it was FUN! I'll definitely be making more paper later on, when I have the time. And then I'll try to remember to write a blog post about it right away! :P







Now what on earth is this? Ehm... well, sometimes I paint. Nothing fancy, I'm no artist for sure but I like it. This is my favorite so far.

Well, that's all for now. Time for me to curl up into a ball and try to get through the pain. It's rising again now, like a dark wave knocking me out. Ajajaj...

Update!

If you're wondering why I haven't been blogging very often recently... Me and my husband are about to move to a home in the countryside, and it's been taking almost all of our energy for the last couple of months. That, plus work, haven't left much time for blogging OR crafting.

However, I have just recently started a small sewing project. Handsewing, at work. Yes, I can sew while I work. Lucky me, huh? =)

It's a dress. I'll show you some pics when it's done. =)