Spring sewing #1

I go so crazy about sewing that I kinda am developing an obsession about it. When I decided I wanted to learn how to sew a year ago, I never thought I would fell in love with it. 

I am no expert, and as a terribly lazy person, most of the things I do are far from being perfect (but I always find a way to hide it. More or less), but god, I enjoy that sewing machin noise so much! 

I enjoy it for so many reasons: It always makes me proud to answer "I made it!" when someone tells me that he/she likes my outfit, I don't have to worry about wearing the same clothes as everybody else, or have to go shopping in noisy shops anymore, AND (best thing of all) it is SO MUCH CHEAPER. 

Like REALLY cheaper. I went town to buy some fabrics couple weeks ago, I was looking for a daisy printed coton but ended up bying (among others) this navy blue, geometrical printed fabric. And it cost me, well, nothing (actually it cost me 10€ and I made two skirts, a shirt and a maxi dress out of everything I got, zippers included: such a bargain).

Cost me a great deal deciding what to make out it, kimono or maxi skirt? Maxi skirt or kimono? I went for a maxi skirt; as the fabric is see-through I added a petticoat underneath, and a zipper on the back. I thought it would look a bit more clean with a zipper rather than an elastic. 

Spring is slowly taking place here and I cannot wait to wear this, only problem is: here's an other piece of clothing I'll have to find room for in my suitcase when I'll leave for Canada. Something tells me I may need to stop adding clothes to my wardrobe for a while, at least until I move out. 

Something magical #1

I may have a tiny tiny bit of an obession for Harry Potter, but only a little.

Ok maybe more than a little, maybe a huge obsession. I definitely am a Potterhead.

I grew up reading these books, I laughed, I cried, I prayed with all the characters, and I still can't get bored of it. It makes people laugh most of time when they realize how crazy I am about all things related to Harry Potter, and, I must admit, my enthousiasm for it probably should have fade by now. But obviously not, and to be honest, I am so very glad it didn't.

I recently managed to put my hand on all english version (and first editions) of Harry Potter, and for my delight, started to read them again (never mind if I read them all a thousand times in French already).

Anyway, a couple weeks ago I purchased two amazing books that I have wanted for so long (since last year when I first read about them); and these are The Unofficial Harry Potter Knit book and Charmed Knits.I went completely crazy when I got them, and of course, I desperatly want to knit every single project in those two books. 

My next big knitting project will be the Weasley jumper, then the Ginny sweater, and then... then! I will knit Dobby socks (Dobby is free!) for everybody! I already warned the people closed to me : next christmas they will all receive Harry Potter socks, I suspect none of them will actually enjoy it, but I surely will enjoy knitting all these.

Spring crochet #1

Le soleil est au rendez-vous, les coccinelles sont de retour, il fait trop chaud pour porter un pull l'après-midi, j'ai recommencé à éternuer. Oui, le printemps est définitivement en chemin.

Et quelle meilleure excuse pour me faire une nouvelle robe (comme si j'avais besoin d'une excuse pour ça, aha!). 

C'est une robe mi-crochet-mi-tissu. Je la voulais un peu plus longue, style maxi dress, mais malheureusement, le coupon de tissu que j'avais était trop court. Too bad; mais c'est tout de même adorable. 

J'avais donc BESOIN (ahem!) d'une robe dans des tons naturels, toutes mes autres robes sont très colorées, pleines de fleurs (ok, celle-ci aussi, un peu. Mais que voulez-vous, j'aime les fleurs. On ne se refait pas), je me suis dis que ça serait sympa d'ajouter quelque chose de neutre pour illuminer mon placard.

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Sun is out, ladybugs are back, it's now too hot to wear a sweater in the afternoon, I started sneezing again. Yeah, spring is definitely on the way. 

What a good excuse to make myself a new dress (like I need any excuse for that, aha!). It's a half crochet half fabric dress. I wanted it a bit longer, but the fabric I had left was to short. Never mind, she is still so very lovely. I needed (wanted) a dress in some natural tons. All the other ones I own are very colorful, and flowery (ok, this one's a bit flowery as well, I can't help it, I love flowers), and I thought it would be nice to have something a bit more natural to bright up my wardrobe. 

Je suis un peu, disons, obsédée du crochet depuis un moment, il a du coup était ultra simple de choisir quel type de robe je voulais faire. 

Le haut de la robe est constituée d'une bande de 7 carrés granny basique (de 10/10cm) + 3 autres sur le devant et de bretelles en dentelle.  J'ai ajouté 3 petits boutons dans le dos. Le reste est un simple rectangle de tissu.

Tissu que j'avais depuis un moment déjà (que j'ai surtout volé à maman oui) et dont je voulais ABSOLUMENT faire une robe. L'imprimé et la couleur étaient tout simplement parfait pour le haut au crochet. Et même si je voulais au départ une maxidress, il était HORS DE QUESTION d'utiliser un autre coupon de tissu, celui là collait trop bien pour ne pas l'utiliser. 

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I've been a bit obsessed with crochet latey, it was easy for me then to decide what I wanted to make.
The top of the dress so, is and addition of 7 basic 10/10cm granny squares + 3 more in the front and laced straps.  I added 3 little buttons on the back.
I had the fabric for quite a while now (actually it was my mom's, I just stole it from her), and I wanted to make a dress out of it; it was just perfect for the crochet/lace top.
I said, I wanted a maxi dress, but unfortunately, I didn't have enough of this fabric, and there was NO WAY I would use another one. 

Le pull de la flemme / the lazy sweater

Je voulais un pull bleu. Je le voulais désespérément. Maaaaaais, je ne voulais pas m'embêter, il me fallait un truc simple. ARCHI SIMPLE, et du point mousse évidemment. 

Je fouille donc l'internet à la recherche d'un modèle easy, à tricotable en 5 (un truc archi simple j'ai dis, pas de petites aiguilles pour moi, merci), avec un col rond. Et là, pas moyen d'en trouver un! Jusqu'à ce que je pense à Garnstudio. Dieu merci, en deux clics sur le site, j'avais mon modèle, un échantillon qui colle à celui donné, et jolie laine qui ne demandait plus qu'à sauter sur mes aiguilles. 

Il s'agit donc du White Sand, proposé par Drops Design. 

De l'ultra basique; des côtes 1x1 pour le bas/col/bas des manches, et du point mousse en veux-tu en voilà, 3 arrêts de mailles pour les emmanchures, on fait tous les morceaux, on coud (c'est la partie que j'aime le moins, béni soit l'individu qui à inventer les aiguilles circulaires et les modèles fait en un morceau) tout ça, et voilà!
Seul le col se tricote avec les aiguilles circulaires, on relève les mailles et le tour est joué. 

J'ai aussi modifier les manches, que j'ai fais en 3/4, pour le style parce qu'il me manquait de la laine et que j'avais la flemme (encore!) de me mouvoir pour en acheter. 

Il est donc bleu et noir, il est doux, il est loose, il tient chaud.

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I wanted a blue sweater. I wanted it desperately. Buuuut, I didn't something complicated, I needed something easy. SUPER DUPPER EASY, garter stitched of course.
I searched the whole internet for this pattern, needle 5 (something easy I said, no tiny needles for me, thank you), round collar. Impossible to find one, until Garnstudio came to my mind. thank God I thought about it, and in no time, I had my perfect pattern. All I had to do was to take out my yarns, patiently waiting to jump on my needles.
Let me introduce you to White Sand, by Drops Design.
So very basic; 1x1 ribs, garter stitch, just need to knit all the parts, a bit of sewing (I hate this part, god bless the one who created circular needles and pattern you can knit in one go) and tadaaaaam!
Only the collar is knitted with circular needles.

I changed the size of the sleeves that I decided to stop 3/4 because I like it better I was missing some yarn and was too lazy (yep!) to go buy some more.

It's black and blue, it's soft, it's big, it's warm.