hey 2015

It's 2015 - yay!

I'm excited for a new year with new opportunities. A few things:

There will be some posts showing you the Christmas presents I made but never had a chance to share on here.  I'm talking the 3 S's - socks, shawls & sweaters.

I'm embarking on a new creative journey in 2015 called 4 out 1 in. Basically it means I'm gonna use up(or sell or give away) four items from my stash before I can buy materials for a new one. That way I'll - hopefully - reduce my yarn stash a little and use up some of the lovely fabrics I have. Ideally, I won't have any old WIPs at the end of the year. Feel free to join me. The more the merrier!

Do you have any creative challenges planned for the new year?

ps: The shop reopens 5th of January but there won't be a shop update until January 19.

hello, november!

Photo was taken almost exactly three years ago in Victoria, BC, Canada.

I love November! The month is usually calm compared to October (exams, start of the new term, lots of birthdays) and December (exams, lots of shop orders, CHRISTMAS). So here are a couple of goals I set myself for the next 30 days:

• finish the Christmas quilt (that I started last year...)
• bake a sweet potato pie
• finish decorating my sewing room
• learn a new spinning technique bought the craftsy class 'drafting from worsted to woolen' by Jacey Boggs Faulkner and learned so much, it's overwhelming!
• finish knitting at least five Christmas presents
• knit a pattern from a book. (done! though I can only share the project after Christmas...)
• publish my first knitting pattern
• walk at least 6k steps each week
• read a book. I cheated and had a CD read it to me, but I finished 'Fall of Giants' by Ken Follet & loved it!!

So many fun things to look forward to!

Do you have any (crafty) plans for November?

52 craft projects // daily planner cover

I've been using the Moleskine daily planner (pocket size) for four years now and I'm really happy with it. I use it to keep track of appointments and school deadlines, to jot down ideas for craft projects and recipes and my daily to-do lists. This year I got the magenta version which I love but the cover is plain so I thought why not add some linen goodness to it?

I went through my scrap bins and found a bunch of echino (and some other kokka) scraps of various sizes - perfect for a patchwork book cover!

Even the backs of the covers are pretty!

The deer with glasses that's on the back is probably my all time favorite echino fabric - so happy I got to include it right next to some sheep and a camera!

I've been using the cover for the past days on my 2013 calendar and it's awesome how easy it is to find it - I used to empty half my bag because small planners tend to be at the very bottom of bags but with a colorful cover it kind of flashes at you when you open the bag. I'm exited for a colorful and well-organised year 2014!
This is project #42 of 52 craft projects I'm attempting to complete in 2013. You can see all the other projects I've complete so far here.

around here

It feels like spring around here. We've had a couple of sunny and warm days that were real mood lifters. Remember my 'to do list' for March? I've made some real progress these past days; I filed my taxes (woohoo, feels so good! I've had this one on my mind since last fall and everyone in Germany makes such a huge deal out of it though it's no biggie at all if you just sit down and do it instead of just talking about it for months.), handed in an important paper, organized my craft shelf (I'll post a room tour soon, promised!) and started looking for a job.

Studying and painting my nails seem to go together so I've had many different colors these past days. Also I finally figured out the perfect raspberry banana smoothie. I treated myself to a new lipstick and it's officially my favorite - I've worn it every day since I bought it and got so many compliments. Also, I ran (at least) one mile a day since Saturday. It's only been five days but I feel so much better already. I love running because you don't have to feel bad for eating lots of cake afterwards ;)

Lina seems to have realized that spring is on its way, too; she's been super active lately. She used to just sleep on my bed/chair/windowsill all day long but lately she's been playful and active. Her favorite time to play of the day? The second I go to bed to read a couple of pages before I fall asleep. As soon as I lay cozily in my warm bed with a hot water bottle she starts running across the apartment and leaves a trail of destruction.

What have you been up to?