Like kid in a candy shop

Wow, I have 50 followers!
It's a big compliment to me, I'm so happy you have found something that keeps you coming back. And please, leave comments, I love to know who you are and what you like :)

I feel like a small kid in a candy shop now. Just bought so many new yarns, the basket is filled. And more coming tomorrow!
Some of them are for custom orders, some for experimenting with new designs.

I have a basic policy to use only natural fibers.When I started knitting years ago, main criterion for yarn buying was cheap price. In last year it has changed: I value more quality than quantity and I want my designs to last longer than two washings.
You'll find no acrylic in my stock, mostly wool, merino wool, silk, alpaca, bamboo, cotton and mix of them.
Yep, acrylics are cheap, but loose shape quicker than natural materials and crunch under the fingers while knitting. I do make exeptions for some effect yarns, but usually artificial is outsider in our house.

Monday Moodboard: Purple

My mood is made by fleurfatale, wearaddiction, milloo and mysticfibers from Etsy European Street Team.

Let's face it: purple is a hot color at the moment. It wasn't one of my favorites until this summer, but then I discovered different shades of purple and find it very rich and ambitious color. If you haven't fell in love with purple, you should try: sometimes things surprise and you can find a cool new favorite.

More moodboards on FleurFatale's blog.

Little knitting

Do you remember my little niece? She has grown since you met her last time, the small lady is seven months old.

But it's not the only reason why I wanted to show her fresh photo, taken today when my brother and his family stop by.

It's about the cardigan too. I knitted it a while ago and already forgot I have it, but now, when I was reorganizing my craft boxes, I found it again.
Fits perfectly to little Kaisu (Kaisu is her name and means Cuddly in English. Not very popular name and first I thought my brother is joking, if he told the babies name, but now everyone is used to it), although there's enough space for growing too.

The yarn is ordered from Ebay, from some kind of Chinese seller. Pure wool, extra soft and warm. Not like Estonian wool which is often itchy and uncomfortable. Chinese sheep have probably more sun and daylight than ours, it makes a difference :)

The jacket was knitted months ago, but knitting kept me busy today until midnight. Wanna know what I did? Still too early to tell, but I'll give you a hint with this photo:

Charity fair in kindergarten

On Wednesday we had a charity fair in Oliver's kindergarten. It was a first time event, so nobody really knew how popular it will be and how many parents are ready to create something for selling. You can see the result on first photo, our groups table was filled with interesting things. Most of us made handmade items, some parents brought old toys and other stuff, teachers baked muffins and waffles.

I made some crocheted hats, a neck warmer and 2 pairs of knitted woolen sock for the fair. Socks were sold a day before the event and all items found a new owner :)

Guess what I bought? A jar of jam. And one more... And one more... And more and more and more. 6 jars in total, all with different tastes: cranberry, strawberry, apple, plum and others. Now you must understand that I'm crazy of jam :)

Cristmas giveaway

I would like to thank all my readers for being with me with a small giveaway. One lucky winner will receive a merino neck warmer, made from very soft merino wool and decorated with cables and two beautiful buttons.

From November 2009 I produce my handmade items under trademark Woolmint, the new website will be soon open!

There's only one rule for participating. 

No matter where in the world you live, you have a chance to win the neck warmer if you join my mailing list.

You will be the first one noticed if Woolmint has some special offers or new collection is coming out. You will receive a newsletter once a month with interesting topics to read.

OR: 

Leave your e-mail address and name to the comments on this post.

Giveaway starts now and lasts until 3rd December. Winner will be picked from new e-mail subscribers and blog comments with e-mail by Random.org, I will contact the winner directly by e-mail and let everyone know in my blog who the lucky person is.

Craft house will be open on Friday!

I've been waiting for this for soo long!
We had an exclusive peak to our new craft house which will be officially open to guests on Friday.

There are more than ten open studios where visitors can see artists working and participate in different workshops. And they still have some rooms availible, which keep me thinking of my own studio too.. But I already have a full time job and at the moment I'm not ready to quit it.

One of my favorites is Raina's workroom, where she creates amazing hand felted pictures. Her favorites are landscapes and flowers, I fell in love with one blossom cherry tree picture. The big picture on the photo is made for exhibition.

Besides Raina you can meet a lot of interesting people with fascinating stories.
Eddi is the best known ceramist in town, former major Margus Rebane is making baskets from willow and newspapers.
The women are felting, knitting, making jewelry and leather items, there are textile artists, a doll house, carpet chamber and a lot more interesting.

On the first floor the gallery is selling applied art and crafts made in same house. Whenever you come to Pärnu, the place is really worth to visit. The address is Uus5, the house is open from Tue-Fri 11-17 and on Saturdays 11-15.

Black Friday sounds scary

I’m a bit scared of this Black Friday thing.

It’s first time I heard about this kind of shopping event, because it’s not in common in Europe, especially in Estonia.

We have had some sales here that drive people crazy. Lately a new shoe shop opened doors and offered for their 99 first clients any of the shoes for price less than $9. Means, grab a pair of $300 boots and if you’re in 99 first buyers, you will pay only $9.
After first 99 clients they had to close down again for cleaning the mess, because hundreds of people tried to grab a bargain.
But no one was insured, no one was dead.

Last year at least 3 people died in Black Friday events in US. One was Wal-Mart’s worker and two people in Toys R Us were shot and killed during an argument. It makes me chary. No matter how good the price is, it shouldn’t be the reason for hurting someone else.

That’s why I like the idea of Cyber Monday more. People buy online, sites may crash under big amount of visitors, but there’s no need for ambulance or coffin.

It seems that people forget the real meaning of Christmas. It shouldn’t be about shopping and great gifts. For our family it’s time of caring, commitment, attention and love.

But even if I’m not a big fan of shopping events, I’m tolerant to people who likes it. That’s why I’m offering some deals in my Etsy shop too.

Merino fingerless gloves have a special price and free worldwide shipping until the end of Cyber Monday.
And some other items are offered without shipping cost too.

Monday moodboard: fairy tale

My fairytale is made by fleurfatale, lapomme, star of the east and PamelaAngus.

"If you see the the magic in a fairy tale, you can face the future."

Here's a good article about fairy tales in modern advertising campaigns.

Monday Moodboard : Intimate

you make me so... by BlackWhitePrint 

tea and honey by honeyandjamphotos

purple passion amethyst by HighDesertDesign

autumn harvest incense cones by kimberquinn

The best things are those that

Have no words to describe them.... 

Last night was intimate and I've been feeling like this all day. Nothing else but someone important to me, a cup of hot peppermint tea and long talk beside the kitchen table. Glance, feelings, thoughts, discoveries.

I'm not in love, but he's someone I feel good with.

We all need a special person who's with us on the right moment and understands us even if we say nothing. Who holds hand and feels so secure.

I am an independent woman. I can change light-bulbs myself, I know how to hang wallpaper and I'm strong enough to carry my shopping bags to 3rd floor.

But there's one thing that can't be done all alone. It's a hug. It's the feeling when someone holds you, gives a small kiss to your forehead and says the world is full of surprises.

Feeling sad? Feeling creative?

I love getting mail, that's why I keep buying online.

Mum called today and said I have a parcel from Belgium. I knew immediately that postcards I ordered from Art have arrived.
They're even more pretty than I expected. So minimal, but very deep and full of emotions.

I keep repeating it, but Art is one of the best examples of crafts, product improvement and marketing.
First she stared on Etsy with felt necklaces, at least that's what I remember. Then came the totally fabulous 99 feelings project (see the 99 photos here, or watch the film) and I wish I could have all of them!
I'm so happy that she also made 99 feelings postcards and little copies of the big products, so everyone could have at least one special feeling.

Misty knows exactly how to make people happy. From communication to packaging, everything is perfect.
If you read tutorials from her blog, you understand how less you need for being creative.

All our EST friends already know her and can assure that all my words are true, but in case you haven't met Misty yet, go and find her on the web:

The blog
The site
The shop

I wanted to keep this post for the morning, but couldn't resist blogging now!

Monday moodboard

1) Rick Poppy Red Dupioni Raw Silk Wrap by bonzie
2) Spring Bracelet no86 by byMarianneS
3) Dasha Fascinator by PinMeUpCouture
4) Love is 2Maroon SL by cocoricooo

My moodboard could be red every day as I just like this color so much. It's one of the Cristmas colors too, so can't hurt to post it now, right?

See more moodboards (I wonder why I always want to write moonboard?) on fleurfatale's blog.

Etsy is back

If you look the right column of my blog, you can see that my Etsy shop is back. New designs hopefully coming soon, but some favorites from past winter are still available.

You're always welcome!

One knitted, one to go

I must admit the sock on this photo doesn't look like a Karisma sock on the previous post.

But it happens all the time. I plan to knit by the pattern, but soon discover I should do some modifications.

The sock is a bit too big, but I don't have a heart to ravel it and start again. It took 3 days to finish one sock and I already have a plan how to make it smaller.
Already started second, after a few days I can show the full result.

* When I was writing this, my son woke up and came here with totally serious look on is face.
"Mommy, let's make an agreement that I won't go to nursery today," he said.
Too bad that mommy can't make an agreement not to go to work when she feels like she doesn't want :)

It's all about me!

What I love about SITS is a lot of different new blogging friends.
Today we met Karen and she's doing a "Confession Wednesday" today. The theme is "It's all about me".
I have a confession to make: I have some very strong habits and beliefs that I can't give up. And I want everything to be perfect.

Some examples:
* In March, when I renovated the kitchen, I bought a whole bunch of new napkins, because old ones didn't mach the wall color any more.
* I iron bed sheets every evening, because I can't fall asleep if the bed is messed up.
* I only wear white socks while running.
* Everything has to be at their place. I don't like if the milk is on the 2nd refrigerator's shelf when it supposed to be on the first.
* I'm always on time. I can't stand if people are late. If the meeting is 3 pm, then it's 3 pm, not five minutes after 3 pm.
* I have a coffee addiction. I drink 2 cups every morning and a lot of coffee during the day. I know it's not healthy, but I can't resist.
* I like to surprise people. I make gifts even if there's no reason. But you have to be careful while making gifts to male friends, because they can accidentally think that you're in love with them :) (been there, done that).

Karisma socks

Originally it was a knitting blog. In fact, is still is.

I took my needles out after a long time and bought new yarn: red and white wool for my new long socks.
I found a pattern from Garnstudio and on the photo you can see my progress, started this morning.

Multicolor designs is not something I like much. It takes forever to knit them, but the result is worth it hopefully.

They will look like this:

Sunday Citar

Fresh Mommy has a great tradition to post every Sunday one favorite quote. Mine is a bit longer, but I try to live by it every single day:

"Most of what I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sandpile at Sunday school. These are the things I learned:
Share everything.
Play fair.
Don't hit people.
Put things back where you found them.
Clean up your own mess.
Don't take things that aren't yours.
Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.
Wash your hands before you eat. Flush.
Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.
Take a nap every afternoon.
When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together.
Be aware of wonder.

Everything you need to know is in there somewhere. The Golden Rule and love and basic sanitation. Ecology and politics and equality and sane living. Take any one of those items and extrapolate it into sophisticated adult terms and apply it to your family life or your work or your government or your world and it holds true and clear and firm. Think what a better world it would be if we all - the whole world - had cookies and milk about three o'clock every afternoon and then lay down with our blankies for a nap. Or if all governments had as a basic policy to always put things back where they found them and to clean up their own mess. And it is true, no matter how old you are - when you go out into the world, it is best to hold hands and stick together."

Robert Fulghum, American writer.