Old doilies table runner

Found this on Pinterest.

Here's my version: 

Calling out for summer

"Rop på sommer'n så kommer'n" is a Norwegian saying, meaning "call for summer, and it's coming".

So I'm calling out by making a new pair of shorts! Inspiration found here, shorts made from table runner. I used a scarf. Just enough fabric for a pair of shorts. Ready for summer!

And a flower belt to spice it up even more! 

First flower after Olavas pattern, found on her blog, in Norwegian, but with lots of photos. 

Second flower from Lucy in the Attic's super cute "Happy Flower Decoration". 

There are lots of projects on Ravelry.  

Third flower is a Lily, found here.

I would have loved to go outside in my new outfit (there is a "new" black top from Fretex to go with the shorts, too). but due to rain and 5 degrees Celsius, I'll probably be better off with a a pair of gloves.

Anyway, in May we still have the hope for a long and sunny summer. Have a nice weekend, everyone!

New project bag

 

Found this pattern on Pinterest, Origami Lotus Bag. You find the free tutorial here.

It's surprisingly easy to make, I'll definitely make more! Would make a perfect gift for a knitter, with a nice skein or two inside.

The advantage of sewing & redesign

Instant gratification!

In a couple of hours I had a new dress.

It started with a stripey pair of tights I never used. I liked the fabric, though, and thought, hmm... sleeves maybe. Then I found a t-shirt with a cute little snail at a 2nd hand shop. The rest is from my stash:

- green fabric, left over from a friend who turned a dress into a tunic


- red flowery fabric, brought to me from Tanzania a few years ago

I cut off the sleeves and the lower part of the t-shirt.

The legs of the tights became sleeves, the rest became a flower and edging.

And voilá! Ready for spring!

♥ 1 ♥ Torirot's Advent Calendar

I wonder if I'll be able to write a small post each day till the 24th of December?

I'll give it a try, hope you'll support me!

Here's our advent calendar. You might notice there are two rings on each heart and only one gift today. Well, the calendar was made when there were only two kids. Now that there are four of them, they get a gift every four days only. Bad mother, am I?

Preparing for Christmas market

Eplas Julebasar is only a few days away. Not quite ready yet, but we'll get there. Hope to see some of you!

Another redesign tunic

Between knitting, football and pot holders I have been able to do a little sewing:

I found this skirt at Fretex second hand shop.

I liked the fabric and the colours, but I seldom wear long skirts.

So I turned it into a tunic in stead:

The sleeves are from a shirt, that had som ugly stains on the front.

I'm quite happy with the result. Makes me want to do more sewing.

FCBarcelona tunic

I like wearing tunics, here my newest one: It's a cotton tunic from Fretex, decorated to become a FCBarcelona tunic by me.

There are many reasons why I like that football club:

Their colours.

The fact that the club is owned by its supporters.

Messi (not Pinto)

The city

Their Unicef support

The Barcelona t-shirt could have been worn by the family's youngest, but he's a Real Madrid fan, so he won't wear it ...

Butterfly tunic

More than twenty years ago, a good friend of mine made me a yellow butterfly summer top. It was a swap, I sewed her a skirt, she didn't know how to handle a sewing machine at the time.

The skirt is long gone, but I've kept the top, even though I haven't used it much. It was cute, but a bit to short for my belly...


Since then, my friend has learnt to sew. In easter, during her dress exhibition, I was inspired to turn the old top into a tunic, using an old college sweater from my father and some lace ribbon.

Redesign is fun! My friend has an Epla shop now (Epla is the Norwegian version of Etsy).

Have a look!

"Håndlaga 2011" Norwegian handmade championship

I'm participating, are you? You can, if you're a Norwegian crafter, that is. Click on the photo to see the blog.

Everybody can nominate, and you can nominate two items in each category, something you have made yourself, and something made by somebody else. All the items have to be published online, on a blog, on Epla ("Norwegian Etsy"), on Flickr, or somewhere else. You can read the rules here.

The organizers are Elisa Kolle from Lin & Papir and Unni Strand.

Thank you, ladies, this will be fun!

Here are my nominees:

(To nominate, you have to comment on the category on the "Håndlaga" blog, which I have done, I just thought I'd tell you about it here too.)

Category 1 - redesign

My "Birthday tunic" made for a friend last year. Read about it here.

I nominate the on of the dresses by Karin in 2jinter, MODELL: 2jK-023.







Category 2 - children

My Lullaby Love Blanket.

More photos on Flickr.

And to make sure I don't win this category, I nominate this blanket, by Pinneguri.




Category 3 - clothes

My Sparkle! cardigan, made last autumn. More photos here.

I also nominate a dress by Torill Vestad, from Cocoon Art, a local crafter, who makes the most wonderful dresses. (I'm the lucky owner of this one, btw...)



Category 4 - jewellery

I have made very little jewellery, but here is a necklace I made some years ago.

I also nominate this cute bird by Flowermouse Design

Category 5 - for your home

This is an old blanket I made 14 years ago, initially two baby blankets, later joined to cover an old chair.

And the competition is hard, look at this fantastic blanket by Solgrim, which is my other nominee in this category.

Category 6 - accesories

My Hippocampus mittens. More photos here.

Another pair of mittens, by "Knittnetty", Winterland.

Category 7 - picture

Not much to choose between there, here's the only picture I could find, made for a friend when she moved into a new appartment some years ago.

Have not decided on what else to nominate yet.

Category 8 - best craft blog

"You can nominate one item made by yourself, and one by someone else".

So, challenging the Jante Law, I nominate my blog.

And then I nominate a fellow knit blogger, Pinneguri, whit her blog "Med pinner".

**********************************************************************************

There is one jury in each category. There are already lots of nominations - I'm not sure the know what they've taken on yet. Have a look for yourself! And have a nice weekend, everyone!!

**********************************************************************************

Another birthday tunic

For my friend Johanne, I made this brown tunic. I've used two old trousers, one fabric from a thrift store, another one from my stash, crocheted flowers and edging. See details on Flickr.

Congolese tunic and Mama's lace

I bought this lovely fabric in Congo (Brazzaville) in 1988. I made a dress, that I used to like a lot, a big sack with shoulder pads, as you might guess, at some point I stopped liking it. But I still loved the fabric, so I decided to turn it into a tunic. I sort of removed the central part of the dress; I cut it right under the bust, and then sewed on the bottom part of the skirt. I made a V-neck and added a velvet ribbon and some flower buttons. It was still a bit wide, so I knitted a lace to hold it in a bit, and add to the cuteness. I found the lace pattern through Ravelry, it's from Janine. I thought the story of the lace was sweet, so I'd like to share it with you. Here how Janine describes the pattern on Ravelry:

"I was recently going through my late Mom’s craft things when I found this knitting pattern.

It is the pattern my Grandmother used to make lace. She was a simple country woman. A farmer’s wife and mother of four children.

I can remember her making quilts and knitting lace.

She used this simple lace to edge all of her pillowcases.

I am not a knitter but I wanted Grandma’s lace to live on so I decided to share the pattern. "

The pattern is easy, and gives a simple but cute lace. It's worked from one end, so you can make it as long as you wish. Thanks for sharing, Janine! I added a crocheted cord of chain stitches to the lace in this tunic.

Fretex tunics

I come from a family who seldom threw things away. At a time, reuse was a necessity, but still now, when we have everything we need, I like the idea of reuse. We throw away too many things in this part of the world.



These tunics are made from one sweater from Fretex, the Salvation Army's second hand shop in Norway. The rest is fabric, ribbons and buttons from my stash. By making the two "flowers" with buttons, I managed to use the whole sweater! The darker green turtle neck is from the bottom ribbing. The rest of the ribbing was turned into a flower (see collage).

I don't have a photo of the original sweater, beeing too eager to cut it up. There were some stains in the front, those are now hidden behind the cuffs.

I intended to make a sort of tutorial. for the flowers. But when it came to finishing, I got to eager, and the last steps went without photographing. But you can probably work out how they're made, it's quite simple. Here you see the first steps, anyway.

Then you just sew the cutted edge with tack stitches, pull tight and fasten. Hide the stitches with a button. Voilà!

This little girl wanted to help sewing, too!

Hawaiian flower tunic

I fell in love with these flowers when I found them on Flickr. Later, I saw them on Ravelry, and found a link to the free pattern. I sighed when I saw "Pattern is written in Australian terminology" - so, I would have to struggle through a third crochet terminology... But it turns out, British and Australian terminology are the same, at least for the stitches used in this pattern.

Tunic tutorial

You need: Twelve flower motifs joined like this. My motifs measure 8,5 cm, inner square 17 cm, outer square 34 cm.

A big t-shirt

Cut t-shirt like this

Cut sleeves like this

Sew together like this.

Add flowers

(Note about the flower motif pattern from Ravelry: "This pattern was originally in a single post, but when the designer’s blog was migrated she re-posted it round by round as a mystery motif. The pattern starts in the post titled “rings” on the linked page. You will then need to view the posts for each additional round, navigating to another archive page for several.")