Mini Summer Project III: Tiny neck bag/Kleines Sommerprojekt III: Winzige Umhängetasche

Since it's raining cats and dogs almost every day lately, I decided to do the best of it and curl up under a warm throw on the couch and amuse myself with listening to audiobooks while knitting or crocheting ...

After having treated myself to a small MP3-player I now needed some kind of tiny bag to hang it around my neck - so I came up with this:



The whole bag is quite small, only 9 x 9 cm, still it can hold both the player and the ear phones along with the cable.

I took some sock wool scraps and a 3,5 mm crochet hook, doing 10 chain sts and working scs for three rows, then connecting the rings to one another with a couple of stitches, using the yarnend left.

The neck string is simply done with double yarn and chain sts - this is the 'backside' of the bag:



(German summary: Diese winzige Umhängetasche haltet MP3-Player, Ohrhörer und Kabel bereit für meine Hörbücher - sie ist aus Sockenwollresten gehäkelt und nur 9 x 9 cm groß.)

Mini Summer Project II: Flower Doodles/Kleines Sommerprojekt II: Maschinenstickerei

This was quite fun to do!

While helping my daughter with her jeans bag project, I had some time inbetween to try out some doodles/free embroidery with my sewing machine. This time, I wanted to find out if I could do it on the plain no-name household sewing machine, which hasn't got any additional equipment at all for doing this type of job.

And it worked! All I had to do was putting some sticky tape over the transport feeding/feed dogs, adjusting the stitch length to zero, removing the fabric foot (but still lowering the lever for sewing) and start moving the fabric around!

It helps, of course, if you double your fabric with some vilene first and/or mount it in an embroidery frame (flat side down) before stitching ...



(German summary: Dieses mal wollte ich ausprobieren, ob man auf einer ganz einfachen Haushaltsnähmaschine ohne Zusatzfunktionen auch frei sticken kann - und jawohl, es geht!

Einfach die Transporträdchen mit Klebeband kaschieren, den Nähfuß abmontieren (und trotzdem nicht vergessen, den Fußhebel beim Nähen herunterzulassen!) und die Stichlänge auf Null stellen - und dann den Stoff mit beiden Händen hin- und herbewegen - sanfte Bewegungen und Finger weg von der Nadel!

Natürlich ist es eine zusätzliche Hilfe, wenn man den Stoff mit Büglevlies verstärkt und/oder noch den Stoff in einen Stickramen spannt - Stoff flach nach unten )

Mini Summer Project I: Brooch/Kleines Sommerprojekt: Brosche

While sitting in the garden and chatting with my Mum, I worked on this small brooch -



- all by hand and with scrap materials found in my glass jar. I think it looks a bit folkloristic Scandinavian, especially with this white blouse.



(German summary: Nur eine kleine Brosche mit Material aus dem Resteglas, das ich gemacht habe, während ich plaudernd mit meiner Mutter im Garten gesessen bin - ich finde, es hat etwas Skandinavisches, oder?)

Have a nice summer holiday!/Schöne Ferien!

Did you know that a yarn can almost make you feel the sea shore nearby? Well, I think these yarns do:



When wandering through the net, I discovered Susa's shop and her beautiful handdyed yarns - this is a 30/70 silk/wool blend ... as you can see, I just couldn't resist ...

I have started knitting already, but as I'm still experimenting with it, you'll have to wait a little bit yet.

School's out and the kids are at home, my mother is here to visit - so I'm a bit busy right now - but I will be back in a while :-).

Enjoy your summer too!