Wabi Sabi Threads

...getting there?

When you are self employed and take a day off, all the work is waiting for you when you come back.So this week I really didn't have much time to write and when I had some time I was tired of writing mails, and letters for my job. So I'm really delayed in my knitting as well as in my posts. This is how much I knit in Amsterdam. I hope I can knit a little bit more this weekend. Another thing is Xmas. Is this time of the year... when you have to focus on Xmas presents. I'll love to make them but I don't think I'll have time to make them all...  I'll have to start working and see how it turns. So I guess I'll not have time to play dolls for a while... I have some neat ideas for three dolls, sculpted dolls, big projects...together with thousand of small projects... and I have designed three bags or purses... I don't know if I'll ever get to sew these.

Hands!

After a whole weekend I only got two pairs of hands, but I can swear that I made three thousand fingers.LOL

Well back to making a serious review. I really enjoyed the workshop, and my hand sculpting has really improved. It's a great workshop for anybody who wants to finish a particular project, or like I did to practice one feature a lot. I have posted a gallery with pics on everybody's projects.

If you want an introduction to sculpting or even another look at sculpting (new techniques and a different approach you'll have to get one of her one week workshop. You can try Paris next year or check her schedule for different places.

Some Shopping in Holland

I didn't get to see a lot in Holland, but you can always do some shopping at Schiphol Airport.

Of course I couldn't resist some Miffy souvenirs. When I was a kid I have alot of Dic Bruna's book, and I love them. I love then so much that my mother copied (by hand) some drawings, painted them with acrylics and then framed them. I'm sure that this infringes some laws of copyright, but back then when we didn't have access to photocopies we didn't think much abou that, and it was for personal use ; D

If you like Miffy visit the official site. You can shop, play, send Miffy cards and you can even download free colouring images (Oh boy times has changed...)

While looking for some cheese for my family I also bought this book. It's name is Pluk van de Petteflet by Annie M.G. Schmidt with illustrations by Fiep Westendorp. I thought that Wee and tania (there are some birds!) would enjoy this. Although you can visit the illustrator website I recommend that you visit the author site. You can even read a chapter on this book as well as see other book's illustrations. She said: "I myself always stayed eight years old. And I actually write for myself. I think that 's the whole point. I'm eight"

I'm back

It has been a wonderful weekend. Today, I don't have time to write about it but I have put together an album with pics of the weekend.

On my way to Amsterdam

I'm on my way to Amsterdam for a weekend workshop with Marlaine Verhelst. You can choose what to learn in it, so I'm going to practice with sculpting hands, wish me luck! i don't think I'll have the time to post before Sunday, you know I'll be having fun... so in the meantime visit some other great blogs:

Mimi Kirchner is struggling to get her kids done for saturday, and as she shares the procces with us. I'll be visiting her site as soon as I get back to see how they have turned out.

And Hillary (WeeWonderfuls) is undergoing another of her oh so creative, so productive phases. I'm madly in love with her creature from Japan. You have to see it!

I'm going to miss reading all the blogs.

November Knitting Meetup

This is what I knit at the Madrid Knitting Meetup.

We had a great time, only Sabine and I showed, so I have one to one classes from her on sockmaking... Wonderful.

It was my first time with five needles, socks, etc, and we spent most of the time just chatting. So I guess I didn't get really far.

We had a great time, and even went for dinner later, so I think this is the beginning of a great friendship, as well as the beginning of a Knitting Group.

Regarding the Group I have some Hot news from the oven, Hilda (the knitter superstar of Lisbon) is coming in December to Madrid and she said that she may be able to join us! Wow

Today is the day...

... I'm going to the knitting meetup. The appoinment is at 7:30 pm at an Irish Bar. I can't wait to ge there.

I have spent all my free time surfing the net , looking for knitting sites. I can't find any in Spanish or from Spanish people. If you can understand German (wich I don't) you can read Sabine's blog: Knit a bit, Sabine is the other member of this growing Meetup Group.

A great post on knitting in public, an article on KIP (Knitting in Public), and another article about the new generation of knitters (this one is great).

At Knitters Review I found two wonderful tips or techniques for creating exclusive yarns. One is about mixing two yarns, and the other one is for using your leftovers. I have to try these two.

There are more essays but I just read the two mentioned above and the one on colors. Do you remember that I'm through a green phase? Well if I follow this article my pick means that I have chosen to improve my Family, I guess that as a newlywed this is true. And also:

"Green: Corresponds to your fourth chakra, which is located at the center of your chest. This chakra controls your heart, personal power, and healing."

So I made a green flat for improving my family and empower myself...nice!!!

See some nice green shoes at WeeWonderfuls.

And I found a wonderful site: Knitting from Japan, with lots of eye candy, articles and links that I didn't have the time to explore in depth. I just went for the eye candy, and now I have three super super super favourite knitters: Chizu Nakamura, Noriko Takamatu and Mininami Ishibashi. Awesome!!! Which one are your favourites?

And a great definition of Wabi Sabi

Things...

I'm knitting an sleeve in beige alpaca, the color is a bit boring, but the texture is amazing. It's for my knitting meetup on Wednesday, we are just two, but proud to knit in public.

My order from Material Girls arrived faster than I expected, and they have a sale on some Amy Butler patterns, so somebody is going to receive a Velma bag for Xmas.

And I also wanted to show my 2005 Agenda, i s a gift from my dad that went to Lisboa last weekend, it's from the Selo-fan store, of the Portuguese Postal Office (not available online yet), it depicts old toys mostly portuguese, and it's very beautiful. I think that you'll get to see more in this blog.

A Wee Pincushion

When I saw the tutorial that Wee posted I knew that I would have to drop everything that I was doing and give it try. This is the result, the tutorial has so many step by step pictures that is impossible to get it wrong. I love this kind of project quick and fullfiling.

Thanks Hillary.

I also spent some time reading her blog, I'm impressed by the amount of things that she gets done, even being a Supermom.

Her posts are very funny and guess what, while I was sewing her pattern she was commenting my post.... World is so small!!!

Mushrooms: Edible, poisonous, etc.

A tribute to Mimi's Pic : Thank you for reading me : D