• Bewusst Leben,  Sarines Göteborg

    DIY | Knitting Café

    Last night I went to a knitting café for the first time. I had walked by the store the week before and had seen their sign that read „Knitting Café | Mondays 5pm – 8pm“ (well, ok, it said that in Swedish). I obviously didn’t happen to have my yarn and needles with me, plus I was on the way somewhere else. But I hoped I’d remember until this week – and I actually did!?

    If this isn’t fate: I had a bag from the store where the knitting café was held. A really pretty bag, too.

    Ironically, the „project“ (= yarn, needle and instructions for a sweater jacket, no actual work started yet) I took with me was a birthday present that Peter had gotten me from that place. Two and a half years ago, ehem. It wasn’t even the same owner anymore, so technically I didn’t have to tell her that story and thus embarrass myself … oh well.

    It’s going to be sweater when it’s big. I hope.

    There were four of us (including the shop owner), and although I’m afraid I was too busy counting in the beginning to be social and join in the conversation, it was nice. There were even sandwiches, and one of the ladies had brought cake since it was her birthday. When I joked that I had picked the right night to show up, I was informed that last week, another participant (who wasn’t there yesterday), had sort of „kidnapped“ them to her own home where she had prepared an entire dinner for the group. I am liking this already.

    I even have the perfect buttons for the jacket. Yep, another thrift-store find.

    I was also relieved to find that these wonderful ladies weren’t judging me for being an amateur who has to look down at her project the whole time to see what she’s doing. Also, I am slow. I mean, I didn’t seriously worry about not being allowed to „play with the pros“ if I wasn’t on their level. I guess the competitive part of me kind of did worry exactly about that, though. Frowns and eye-rolling. Luckily, that part of me is just paranoid, and was obviously proven wrong.

    This is the yarn Peter gave me. Organic wool with 15% camel hair. Better not mess this one up, huh?

    Oh yeah: Between all the chatter, coffee, sandwiches and cake, I did get started on that sweater jacket.

    This is what I am hoping it will look like:

    Here are the instructions, in case you want to beat me to it:

    http://www.garnstudio.com/lang/us/pattern.php?id=3676&lang=us (you can change the language on the page)

    A great site with lots of free patterns, by the way.

    Does this make you sad because there are no knitting café near you? Well, how about starting your own? That’s one thing that struck me last night: I didn’t technically have to wait for this to happen to me. I could have done that myself. You know, invite a bunch of your friends, everybody brings what they want to work on, you take turns with the snacks, … Simple.

    And if you want to go pro: Decorate according to the theme, like in Pyssla Duka Bjud.

  • Bewusst Leben,  Sarines Göteborg

    Jewelry | Sternenkind Creations

    I did it! Just sent in an application to à la London – Gothenburg Design market. Now I better get busy making more jewelry. I’ll post pix and all things related on the Sternenkind Creations page rather than as a blog post. Feedback – yes please!!! Wish me luck!

    Related posts:

    Going with the flow

    Pearls + neon yellow nylon thread = true

  • Bewusst Leben,  Sarines Göteborg

    Project of the day | Staging Spring

    I did get the balcony fixed up. Then I went to a store that as I discovered yesterday had locally grown hydrangea. So far, so spring. Then, on the way back – guess what – it started snowing. It would appear that sometimes wishful thinking isn’t enough (who knew?).

    Since desperate times require desperate measures, I resorted to what any home-story-teller who is worth their grain does anyway: I faked it. Rather: tried. As will become apparent in a moment, this is probably one of the worse attempts at staging spring. So … here goes nothing.

    Yeah, that table cloth under the hydrangea is not ironed. Neither is the table-cloth on the table, which is actually a curtain. I mean, the table-cloth is actually a curtain, not the table.

     

    I must say, those teacup candles are versatile. I need more so I can have them EVERYWHERE.

     

    Hyacinths. Just noticed that one of them is molding a little bit. Meh.

     

    Hello beautiful!

     

    Or should I say: hello bluetiful?

     

    Less elegant, more playful. You might say this balcony’s style is all over the place. I choose to call it „eclectic“.

     

    Unless I don’t show you the picture I just showed you, and show you this instead. Doesn’t work with real life visitors, though. Unless I make them leave the balcony frequently so I can rearrange things according to what they’re going to look at next. Seems like a lot of work, though, so … probably not.

     

    Now we’re getting somewhere with the spring feeling!

     

    So … another picture of the same just from a slightly different angle.
    And another! OK, I’m done.
  • Bewusst Leben,  Sarines Göteborg

    DIY – Three tier servers

    Like I said: I have been obsessed with (making) these three tier servers.

    You need:

    • 3 plates in different sizes
    • 2 candle holders or other appropriate items to stack the plates
    • Two-component adhesive
    • a pencil to mark where to glue what

    The first time I made these I went through a complicated process of figuring out the exact center of each plate and the candle holders. It was time-consuming, and I realized that it was no guarantee for getting everything perfectly centered anyway. So now I am just going with my visual judgment, which works fine, so I recommend you do the same.

    To glue the pieces together, follow the instructions of the specific glue you’re using. With the one I used, that meant applying glue on both objects you want to glue together, not just on the one of them. That’s all, now you just need to wait for the glue to do its thing.

    Yes, La, you guessed it …
    … this one is for you.

    This one’s a little more funky:

    I use candle holders to stack the plates.
    As always …
    … everything’s thrifted.
    Well, except for the lemons. And the super-glue I use to keep everything from falling apart.

    Which do you like better – romantic or „funky“?

  • Bewusst Leben,  Sarines Göteborg

    Food from a bird’s eye view

    Today my bloglovin-feed made me smile:

    I sense a trend here – VERY SUBTLE but if you look closely, you’ll see what I mean!

    Ko-inky-dink – or do we all read the same blogs? Either way, think of this as my attempt to pay homage to Sandra/Niotillfem and UnderbaraClara while contributing something new:

    Can you guess what I had for breakfast???

    Have a great Saturday everyone!