I cannot possibly watch TV if I do not knit or stitch. I am hopeless to stay awake. I manage for about 30 minutes and then "zzzzzz" ... This lovely green, very soft cotton-acrylic mix was not a pain to knit during the very hot times of August last. Above is the beginning and the swatch.

The front is completed ...

... and the back is about to finish.

  

  

Canan Berber

  

 

İsmail Acar

  

        

Stricter Laws Against Animal Abuse

On October 3rd at 1 pm, there will be an event to request stronger laws against animal cruelty. Public stands and information tables in cities around the world will inform people about animal cruelty, raise awareness and gather signatures for a special created petition. The petition together with the signatures will be sent to the country's governments to ask them to create stronger laws against animal cruelty. More than 30 countries around the world - from A as in Afghanistan to Z as in Zimbabwe - are taking part in this event.

PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION

   

  

My friend Irina of Mishutka Design Studio has started blogging too :) And she is sharing this beautiful pattern with visitors through her BLOG!

  

       

Çeng

The earliest known examples of this musical instrument from the Anatolian, Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilisations, date back to around 1,000 B.C.

Angled harps were used for thousands of years by Anatolian, Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilisations, and the latest to emerge was the Ottoman çeng that was used up until the last quarter of the 17th century, but due to the difficulties in playing, carrying and tuning it, and the increasing popularity of such instruments as the tambur and santur, it slowly disappeared from the stage of history until Fikret Karakaya who had to reinvent the instrument, then learnt to play it himself when he was unable to find a musician to play it.

HERE, Fikret Karakaya plays the çeng he built himself.

   

Dying to Dye :)

Once the bug is in you, dyeing seems to be quite addictive. The pink fabric is a worn silk pyjama which I retained from a visiting friend who was preparing to throw away! I was going to recycle it into a silk yarn but decided to use it in my new medley; the cotton muslin and the silk duet. Adding a bit of cotton and silk thread into this khaki adventure was a very good idea :)  

I love the "trial & error" trip ... While still in dye solution, I observed that the silk pyjama had a different hue to khaki which led me to think that it must have been due to the "pink" factor! However, once they all were rinsed and dried, I now know that it is due to the "cotton versus silk" factor! 

They all were in the same bath but silk had a different variation of the colour than the cotton. Most likely one being a plant fibre and the other being an animal fibre! 

As to what I may end up doing with this crowd, is still unknown!

        

       

Mes chers amis Français, chers visiteurs Français et francophone ... Il ya un article magnifique; une petite histoire a nous raconter encore une fois que le monde est si petit ... SVP visitez chez Nina :

Couleurs d'Istanbul

  

          

This has been lying around for over a year and I decided to make it into a lavender sachet. I had improvised the pattern then, whilst training myself for hardanger.

I enjoyed stitching this sachet ... Very much indeed ... I used "palestrina" and "mountmellick" stitches to decorate the joining edges of the fabrics of different structure. The source for these stitches are from Needle and Thread by Mary Corbet :)

I stitched everything by hand and the beaded crochet carnations ( oya ) are  from the book by Sevgi Şenol ... The price is TL 20 and that is about USD 13.5 with today's rate ... I had the privilege to meet Mrs Şenol two years ago and this book is a first in this country, the native home of "oya" and is full of most beautiful samples from the past and as far as I am concerned, remains to be the only so far.

The sad story is that she is better known abroad than in her native land and the sadder story is that she was invited to Japan for an exhibition and she showed the attendees the little tricks during a workshop. Only a few months later that her doorbell rings to bring her the shocking news. The postman hands her the envelop which bears a book printed in Japan with beautiful bead oya and "how to" illustrations by a Japanese woman. The book is exactly the same bead oya patterns with a different presentation. The Japanese version which I find beautiful but totally "unethical" is now out of print and sold for about USD 40 excluding shipment.  

Well ... If anybody is interested, I - without any PROFIT expectation - volunteer to arrange you to get a copy of the English version to be sent directly by Mrs Şenol herself. Just contact me!

This one is also from a training session and the pattern was found online but alas, I cannot find the link. I did modify it with beads and satin stitch and it looks forward to become a lavender sachet :)