Humour for a change ... Everybody knows Maxine ... This is Marvin, the male Maxine :)

  

  

This delightful old pattern was probably designed for a lace weight yarn to add romance to a shawl or stole but I am using a worsted weight yarn which makes the width 20 cm ( 8" ) and far being from romantic. I was not expecting the width to be that wide but this will not stop my me :) OK ... The plan is to knit it enough long until it makes the lower edge of a cardigan, surrounding the periphery of my butt :) So, imagine it horizontal on which I shall be knitting the upper part of the project and am also planning to add another edging at the bottom to make it even more complex :)

Below is the swatch I knitted for the upper part of the cardigan. I still need to decide the lower edging which should be a narrower pattern. Or may be just do something with the crochet. We'll see! Shall definitely inform of the progress :)

I have started another knitting project to keep me awake while watching TV and to dissolve the immense but colourful acrylic yarn stash. However, I cannot yet provide you with a picture cause it is some 350 stitches and I was only able to knit a few rows :( Will share that as soon as it starts looking handsome :)
   

  

Pénélope Brode

I want you to meet Cristina ... A talented artist with sweet, warm character! I am sure we would make wonderful friends if we meet one day because as I see, we have loads in common :) I knew her web page since some time but my first contact was when I recently bought a nice piece from her, without realizing that she stitched it herself ... A lovely little reproduction, a Berlin Work pattern stitched on linen with silk. Apparently, everything you see at her online shop are model-stitched by herself!

If you like my style of patterns, I am sure you will love her web page and her compositions, all reasonably priced. She also sells at eBay, so feel free to pay her a visit :)

  

      

    

   
When I came across the knitting instructions of the lovely lacy border, I said I found the right colar I have been looking for for my hand-sewn dress. Despite the heavy look, knitting it is amazingly simple.

However, this morning, I have decided to use it for a pending project of mine that I had posted along with my lavender sachet.

Need to do a bit of sewing before I can post the final look :) I hope it to turn out nice cause this makes it a special little piece where all three essentials of handcraft are used ... The needle; the crochet hook; and the knitting needles!

      

        
Beidermeier Sampler



Anna Kirchner - 1852

Wool on Linen

         

 

Et Voilà!

               

          

Silk version of my Sunday Trio ... Again, only water and naturals. Nice and pale, kind of an antique hue with a sheen :)

     

Sunday Trio

Vitex Agnus-Castus ~ Walnut Husk ~ Onion Skin

Spent all afternoon dyeing the wool yarn with available naturals in a farm near-by owned by a friend. I now have a nice book on natural dyeing but did not get to read to see the essentials so with my friend's encouragement, we did "all naturals" on wood fire ... No mordant, no salt, no vinegar!

 

 

Cloudy day here and my sweeties are drying indoors. Below picture taken while the yarn is still wet, so I expect them to be a bit paler! The yarn used again is PURE by the Knitbox :)

BTW, I want to thank Chantal who thought me how to make the mosaic pictures!

                

                 

Berlin Work sampler from my collection

Austria - Late 19th Century

            

  

THANK YOU ... Thanks to all that signed the petition :)

World Animal Day
marked in Turkey with calls for law change

Turkish animal rights activists are hopeful of a securing a change in the country’s laws that would criminalize the abuse of animals after collecting a record number of signatures for a petition campaign.

The petition campaign has collected 250,000 signatures in only 55 days, higher than the total amount of signatures gathered by Greenpeace during all of its campaigns in the country, fashion designer Barbaros Şansal, one of the campaign’s supporters, said during Oct. 4 World Animal Day.

Signatures collected by nongovernmental organization Animal Right’s Platform during a sit-in led by Turkish actress Tuna Arman on Istanbul’s İstiklal Avenue were taken to the Justice Ministry’s General Directorate for Law early Monday.

The campaign, which started Aug. 15, argued that animal abuse should be reclassified as a criminal offense rather than a misdemeanor. Under current Animal Law No. 5199, which falls under the Law on Misdemeanors, a person who abuses or rapes a stray animal receives a fine of 300 liras, but the case is not investigated as a judicial case.

“My experience as we stood there gathering signatures from passersby is that those raping animals consider their acts as a natural sexual preference, not as perverseness,” Şansal said.

Speaking on the issue in the past to the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review, Arman said, “If there is a person who raped an animal in your district, your children are not in safe.” Oct. 4 is also World Children’s Day.

After presenting helping present the signature campaign to the Justice Ministry, Tuna Bayık said Justice Commission Chairman Ahmet İyimaya told him that authorities plan to work in collaboration with the group to rectify the matter.

There were protests in many parts of Turkey ahead of Animal Day, Anatolia news agency reported.

In Konak Square in the Aegean province of İzmir, activists from the Animal Rights Federation protested animal abuse with banners reading “The murderers in the air, on land and under the water are among us.”

The action was supported by the animal activists from the Mediterranean province of Antalya, who “urged deputies” to stop animal abuse.

...
  

   

I am the proud and happy owner of this gorgeous baby that has been anxiously waiting to be exhibited in one of my drawers ... Had gotten it from Germany and it is in fascinating condition compared to its age. All samples done in silk floss ... As to fabric, it may well be silk too but cannot really tell. I'd say very finely woven linen. Except for the corner "peacock" bit as I call it, all patterns are about 5 cm square. Peacock is an 8 cm square!

   

 

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.