Blue batts and a 'denim' yarn

One of the best things about our blogworld is the mutual inspiration - how one idea leads to another, like in a relay ...

My dear blog friend Elizabeth/Landanna is working on a big jeans project, where she is unseaming piles of worn jeans and then handsewing them together for new shapes with a bright red thread. This combination of faded blue shades and the red stitches is really awesome, and I just adore the fresh and beautiful look of it.

Having had these pictures in mind, I've been pondering over how to integrate these colours in a project of my own.

And a few days ago I found what I've been searching for - the 'Shizuku' scarf pattern by Angela Tong (free Ravelry download). Shizuku means drops of water, I've learned, and so I think these shades of blue will be a perfect match.

(I admit I'm not really the only one loving this pattern - if you go visit Lavendelblau or MelinoLiesl f.e., you will see other beautiful versions of it.)



To create the feeling of worn jeans, I carded the different blues I had stashed - a little green and white too - together with some red sheep locks I've dyed myself.

I carded the wool quite roughly and only once, then spun the batts into an irregular and a bit bumpy worsted yarn. I decided to ply with a ball of the new Noro Sekku (yes, also stashed!), a very thin cotton/wool/nylon/silk blend, which emphazises the casual denim look quite well, I think.

(German summary: Seit einiger Zeit folge ich meiner Freundin Elizabeth's Jeansprojekt und überlege, wie ich die schöne Kombination ihrer blauen Jeanstöne mit leuchtendem Rot auf ein Strickprojekt übertragen kann. Das nette 'Shizuku'-Muster von Angela Tong gab mir dann den Anstoß zum Kardieren, Spinnen und Stricken ...)

Elk in action/Fortlaufender Elch

And I wondered what would happen if I'd use a black/white paper cord for outlining this elk (or moose) ...

I couched it down with one of my hand-dyed cotton threads -



- and then grabbed a Japanese newspaper I had at hand :-) ... and pasted it down with some napkin glue.



*** to be continued ***

By the way, go see these inspirational YouTube videos about Léa Stansal and her overwhelming fabric work: here is the first one, here the other one! - And for those who don't speak French: it's well worth just looking at the pictures ...

(German summary: Diesmal hat es einen Elch getroffen - ich habe die Konturen mit einer schwarzweißen Papierschnur 'nachgezogen', und diese mit einem selbstgefärbten Baumwollfaden festgestickt. Ich habe auch kleine Stücke Zeitungspapier mit dem Serviettenkleber an den Stoff geklebt ...

Außerdem noch zwei Links zu YouTube und der fantastischen Textilkünstlerin Léa Stansal!)

Knitting gadgets/Kleine Helferleins

Last week I visited Ikea and found this piece of fabric:



I think it's quite interesting - makes me feel inspired to use as a background, or outlining, for using the embellisher and a bunch of wool and fabric scraps ...!

My mother is visiting me right now, which means I won't get too much time for blogging and posting within the next fortnight - but I did some more row- and stitchmarkers lately:



I must admit I love these little useful gadgets - especially when they are so easy to make yourself!



A few I will keep, others will be passed on to knitting friends!

(German summary: Nur ein paar Kleinigkeiten, diesmal - ein lustiger Stoff von Ikea, den ich als Hintergrund für Resteverwertung mit dem Embellisher verwenden werde - und ein paar Reihen- und Maschenzähler, die ich für mich und für ein paar Freundinnen gemacht habe.)