new year's preparations

I'm spending New Year's with a dear friend of mine in Frankfurt. Our plan is to eat, watch movies and knit. Perfect, right? Here's the yarn I'm using for my next knitting project: the Romy cardigan!
I'm excited to finally use this lovely, soft and very fluffy alpaca yarn I bought last summer. I created a project page on ravelry so you can stalk my progress. One of my 2014 resolutions is to keep track of my wips so a) I won't have a bunch of wips at the same time and b) I don't find wips scattered around the apartment that I completely forgot about (like the shawl I started in 2011... or the cardigan I casted on in Vancouver...) - wish me luck!

I'll be back next year with the rest of my 52 craft projects (sorry I didn't have time to post them this year but there were just too many Christmas presents that I didn't want the recipients to see before they actually got it) and my new project for 2014!

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.

52 craft projects // patchwork mug rug

It's extremely difficult to find a present for my uncle because he has a very different taste than I do, he has 'everything he needs' and enough money to buy anything he wants. Naturally I decided to make something for him that he doesn't have already and can't buy in a shop: a handmade mug rug!

I chose a color combination to match his taste. For inspiration, I simply looked for patchwork mug rugs online and stumbled about this beautiful blog. Lots of inspiration for beautiful mug rugs there!

My beloved sewing machine has been having some major tension problems. The tension seems to change ten times during one sewing project. Not fun! But I have plans to purchase a mechanical straight-stitch machine next year so hopefully that will solve my tension problems ;)

This is project #41 of 52 craft projects I'm attempting to complete in 2013. You can see all the other projects I've complete so far here.

52 craft projects // chicane cardigan

Yet another Christmas present: Chicane cardigan by CookieA for Brooklyn Tweed. I love all the BT patterns I've knitted so far and this cardigan is no exception. The pattern was very easy to understand and it was a fun knit (except the sewing everything in/together at the end... thankfully my mom did that part!).

This cardigan was a gift from my mom and me; my dad chose the pattern and the yarn and my mom and I knitted it. You'll find mods, yarn information, etc. on the ravelry project page.


This is project #40 of 52 craft projects I'm attempting to complete in 2013. You can see all the other projects I've complete so far here.

52 crafts // echino tote

Yet another project I've made as a Christmas present. My mom is the lucky new owner of this tote. I came up with the design and pattern myself. We both love echino fabrics and linen so naturally I used both in this project. I started with a bunch of echino fabrics and determined the width of the strip by the size of the green bike fabric.

I just love how bright and summer-y it looks. I'll definitely have to make a similar one for me - once I found a source of high-quality linen in Germany! [other than flea markets...]

I made the handles long enough that the tote can be carries on your shoulders or in one hand. The lining is a repurposed bed sheet and the cute pink polka dot pockets are ideal for cell phones, keys, etc.
I used a lightweight fusible interfacing to five the bag some stability without adding too much weight and bulk - it's suppose to be a tote that can be carried around to flea markets, the grocery store, etc.

I'm sorry about the picture quality - we're having a very rainy Christmas over here so we had to wait for the rain to stop for a few minutes to hurry outside and snap some pictures in my grandma's garden. This bag is definitely my favorite gift I made this year - do you know those gifts that you'd love to keep yourself and you're having a real hard time giving them to the recipient? This tote is definitely one of those and I'm glad I decided to make it and finally use some of my beloved echino fabrics. They're too pretty to stay hidden in my closet!
This is project #39 of 52 craft projects I'm attempting to complete in 2013. You can see all the other projects I've complete so far here.

52 craft projects // hand dyed socks

These socks were made from yarn two friends of mine hand dyed. Originally we wanted to dye yarn together but I had to spent the day at the ER with my grandma so I couldn't make it. I was really bummed that I couldn't make it. My two lovely friends gave me some gorgeous fingering weight yarn they hand dyed that day for me. I LOVE the colors - not too many colors yet the splashes of green make the socks interesting and fun.

I made up the pattern in my head as I knitted the sock - nothing fancy just some cables at the beginning. I love the way these socks turned out!
This is project #38 of 52 craft projects I'm attempting to complete in 2013. You can see all the other projects I've complete so far here.

52 craft projects // christmas cards 2013

I'm terrible when it comes to sending Christmas cards. It's the same every year. Yesterday evening I made a couple of simple cards to have them on hand for next year. No more excuses not to send Christmas cards next year!
I like minimalistic cards. For the first batch I cut out trees from a pattern paper, stuck them to a simple white card and stamped 'Merry Christmas' in German on the card. Super quick but I love the way they turned out.

For the second batch I experimented with wash tape. I got a bunch of Christmas themed washi tape on sale a couple of weeks ago and have used them for gift wrapping, home decor projects and packing orders.
The cut out trees are definitely more my style but I like the wash tape cards as well. Better to have simple homemade cards than no cards at all, right?
This is project #37 of 52 craft projects I'm attempting to complete in 2013. You can see all the other projects I've complete so far here.