Literally modern times/Klassische Literatur modern

Question: How do you get your kids off the computer and into reading classical literature instead?

The answer is simple: You buy them an e-book reader and make them a nice cover for it! (Bold decision for me, being a part time librarian!) But indeed, my daughter spent several hours today out in the garden, reading ...

And for the homemade cover: this is the front -



- and here's the back (usable the other way round as well):



And for a young mister, I made a wristband this weekend out of a piece of an used truck tyre and some old adjustable resistance out of my stash - quite cool recycling, isn't it ? (Do you now begin to imagine what my stash looks like ;-) ...)





(German summary: Und wie bekommt man seine Kinder weg vom Computer und hin zur klassischen Literatur? - Man kauft ihnen ein e-book reader und bastelt ihnen eine hübsche Hülle dafür ... Bei uns war's auf jeden Fall ein voller Erfolg! Ein Armband aus einem gebrauchten LKW-Reifen und einem alten einstellbaren Widerstand gab dieses Wochenende dann auch her.)

Spinning and knitting/Spinnen und stricken

Oh deer ;-) - it's been a bit of a time since last ... I'm sorry for that.

Yes, I have assembled my deers roughly -but I'm not satisfied with the result yet, and therefore it will have to 'mature' in a safe place until inspiration strucks me anew, I'm afraid.

Summer has come to Austria, and I've been spending a lot of time in my garden, also spinning and knitting.

Do you remember the hand-dyed wool I bought last month? I've spun it all during the last weeks, and the icecream-coloured New Zealand lambswool turned out like this, when plyed with a golden-yellow silk thread from my stash:



For the first time I made a fringe as well - wound it over a pocket book to get the size right, cut it and passed it through the border stitches with a crochet hook and made a slip knot.

This shawl is dedicated to become a luxurious present for someone later on.



The other wool roving I bought from Dornröschen was a wool/linen blend, which I spun quite thin and plyed with a linen thread - one part with a green, another part with a black one.

You can see how much darker the same wool appears with the black plying than with the green one!

I worked front and back the same again, so I can wear the vest/slipover both sides. This time, however, I knitted the mitered diamonds horizontally, like a patchwork, to receive a different look than for the Noro slipover though the pattern idea is the same.



It's a wonderful thing to wear, lightweight and yet warm, still with a touch of 'coolness', due to the linen part ... and it was marvellous to spin as well because of those long and grasping linen fibers - with eventual soft short-fibered bumps!

And while I was on the go knitting, I made myself a shoulder poncho too - one single string (100g) of one-ply Swedish Gotland fur sheep wool from 'Färgkraft' - this hand-dyed colour is called 'Dusk' ...

I worked two pieces of triangle shawls, beginning at the top center, sewing them together in front and back. This light-weight piece only has 100 g but is as warm as an oven on neck and shoulders - perfect to put on over a T-shirt when the evening chill comes around!



I finished it up with a crocheted picot border, using some Schoppel Crazy Ball Lace yarn I had at hand.

(German summary: Meine Rehe und Hirsche sind zwar grob zusammengefügt, müssen aber noch etwas nachliegen, bis mir die zündende Idee für den Abschluß kommt.

Inzwischen habe ich aber fleißig gesponnen und gestrickt - der bunte Schal und der Pullunder sind aus dem Spinnfutter von 'Dornröschen' entstanden - den Schulterponcho habe ich wie zwei Dreieckstücher gestrickt und dann vorne und hinten mittig zusammengenäht - die Wolle ist von 'Färgkraft', handgefärbte einfädige Gotlandspelzwolle ... mmm, luftig leicht und trotzdem warm wie ein Ofen an den kühlen Sommerabenden!)

The return of the Moosepaper Elk /Wiedersehen mit dem Zeitungselch

Before I'm starting with the assembling, I just wanted to show you how the 'Folkloristic Reindeer' and the 'Japanese Moosepaper Elk' turned out when finished (the beginning of it was here and here):






Anke at Wolle/Natur/Farben gave me some nice ideas in her comment on my last posting, Sara mentioned a quilt - and I myself feel that I would like to try some ragged piecing ... maybe combined with some embellishing - well, we will see what there will be when inspiration finally strucks me :-).

(German summary: Ich wollte nur schnell die beiden fertiggestellten Tiere zeigen, bevor ich mich ans Zusammenfügen mache ...)

A lacey deer/Spitzenhirsch

Well, this is definitively a lacey deer - different bits and scraps of lace sewn onto the fabric print ( here is where the deer story began). This time I added a couple of transparent glass beads which I found in my stash as well.

I'm beginning to wonder how I can assemble these experiments to some kind of a unit - in one of the comments, Sara suggested that I'd make a quilt out of them - but as my wall space is very limited, I think I'd rather mount them vertically somehow, like for a long, narrow wall-hanging. But maybe still in a 'quilty' way ... Any ideas?

(German summary: Ja, ein Spitzenhirsch, aus kleinen Spitzenresten, die ich auf dem Stoffdruck (hier hat es angefangen) aufgenäht habe. Jetzt überlege ich hin und her, wie ich diese Serienexperimente zu einer Einheit zusammenfügen kann ... etwas schmales, langes ... irgendwelche Ideen?)