Lace Socks and Sock Blockers. Pitsilised sokid ja sokijukud.

 I knitted lace socks. Straight from needles lace items look a bit like 'Ugly Ducklings'.

Kudusin pitsilised sokid. Otse varrastelt tulnud pitskoelised esemed näevad välja üsna Inetu pardipoja moodi.

I made new sock blockers as I needed smaller size than I had made before. Sorry, Santa Clause had to loose his head!

Tegin uued sokijukud, sest vajasin väiksemat suurusnumbrit.

Kahjuks pidi jõuluvana oma peast ilma jääma õilsa eesmärgi nimel. 

Blocking, blocking, blocking!

Nii nad nüüd kuivavad.

Voilà! Socks like swan-princesses!

Ja ongi Inetust pardipojast luik sirgunud :)

 The most dramatic effect of blocking knitting can be seen with knitting lace. It really is magical. Blocking knitting evens out stitches and allows the fibers to bloom.

Pitskudumi venitamine teeb imet ja laseb pitsil särada täies ilus.

Ravelry

Lovely Beads from Blakemere Craft Village. Lihtsad kõrvarõngad.

Time and time again I have travelled past the Blakemere Craft Village and always think to myself that one day, I will turn in and have a look.

Recently I finally had the chance to check it out and after having a look round what I have to say is ‘more crafts please’.

Some years ago I visited a candle store in a small Danish village which was completely filled with locally made candles of different shapes and scents. There was a workshop where visitors could dip their own candles in the permanently hot cauldron of paraffin wax.

Unfortunately in Blakemere there was just a Yankee Candle outlet.

Fortunately I did manage to see one real artisan who was working in the craft village and selling his output. Ray from the Glass Beadand Marble workshop made these colourful beads which have become my new earrings.

I also got the hematite pendants from Ray, the lovely elephants and the long wavy ones to which I have added white beads (actually, these are buttons from Coats).

There is a lovely coffee shop on the site in which we had lovely coffee and a huge slice each of coffee and walnut cake. The coffee was served in cute cups and saucers from the PiP Studio Collection range of goods which the coffee shop stocks and sells.

Ikka ja jälle olen mööda sõitnud Blakemere Craft Village teeviidast, mõeldes, et järgmine kord keeran sisse ja vaatan, mis seal käsitöökülas huvitavat on. Lõpuks sain küla oma silmaga üle vaadatud. Kokkuvõtteks ütleks, et rohkem käsitööd paluks. 

Kunagi käisin Taanis mingis külas asuvas küünlapoes. Pood oli kohapeal valmistatud erikujulisi küünlaid täis, kõrvalruumis pada kuuma parafiiniga, kus sai ise küünalt kasta. Siinses küünlapoes müüdi lihtsalt Yankee küünlaid. 

Üht tõsist käsitöölist ikka nägin, kes kohapeal töötas ja oma toodangut müüs. See oli Ray oma The Glass Bead & Marble töötoas klaashelmeid valmistamas. Tema toodangu hulgast on pärit need värvikirevad klaashelmed, millest said mu uued kõrvarõngad. Samast poekesest on pärit ka need hematiidist elevandikesed ja lainekujulised hematiit ripatsid, mille juurde lisasin helmed, mis on tegelikult hoopis nööbid Coats'ilt. 

Pisikest kohvikut ei saa ka mainimata jätta. No kas pole armsad kohvitassid? Tegelikult see ongi kohvik ja PiP Studio poeke koos, ja nõud kuuluvad PiP Studio kollektsiooni. 

Marius Socks.

I wanted to use up all leftover yarn from Mariusgenser and knitted toe-up socks, using the same pattern. I knitted until I ran out of blue and red yarn, just a bit of white still left over. 

Keep your toes warm!

Ravelry

Mariusgenser'ist jäi lõnga üle  ja nüüd vastu talve, Soktoobrikuu raames, kudusin sama mustriga sokid. Alustasin varbast ning kudusin, kuni sinine ja punane lõng said otsa, vaid nutsuke valget jäi veel järgi.

Varbad sooja!

Ravelry

Knitwear Exhibition. Näitusemuljeid.

During the summer an advert for an upcoming exhibition of knitwear caught my eye. Called Knitwear – Chanel to Westwood, it was being held in the London Fashion and Textile Museum.

The title referred to knitwear in high fashion from the worlds catwalks.

Fortunately I had a need to go to London so I was able to schedule a visit to the Museum.

During my visit I discovered that the exhibits are from the private collection of Mark and Cleo Butterfield (some of the pictures are from their blog).

I have to admit that my expectations were a bit greater than what was exhibited as I was not expecting to see items sewn from knit fabric. There was also hand knitted items on show.

However the display of colourful fair-isle patterned vests are certainly worth seeing but I was hoping to find a bit more inspiration for my new knits.

Much more interesting was an exhibition called Visionary Knitwear which was on at the same time. It was a showcase of bold visions of contemporary fashion knitwear celebrating the work of new British graduate designers and gave them an opportunity to let their fantasies fly.

There are some pictures I have taken (below Estonian text), however the pictures are a bit poor as I took them on my phone.

Suvel jäi silma kuulutus Londoni Moe- Ja Tekstiilimuuseumis avatavast kudumite näitusest, Kudumid Chanel'ist Westwoodini. Pealkiri viitas kõrgmoele ja maailma moelavadele. Kui nüüd tekkis vajadus Londonis käia, võtsin kohe näituse ka päevaplaani. Üllatusena leidsin, et näituse eksponaadid on pärit Mark ja Cleo Butterfield'i erakogust (fotod ülal nende blogist). Kahetsusega nendin, et mu ootused olid märksa kõrgemad. Trikotaaźist õmmeldud esemeid poleks oodanud näha. Ka käsitsi kootud esemed olid esindatud. Vitriinitäis värviküllaseid kirjatud fairisle veste on imetlemist väärt. Lootsin leida rohkem inspiratsiooni ja ideid uuteks kudumiteks.

Huvitavaks osutus aga kaasnev näitus Visionäärsed kudumid, millest mõned võtted allpool.  Pildid on küll kehvad, telefoniga tehtud. 

Eskponeeritud on Suurbritannias tekstiilialase koolituse saanud disainerite loomingut. Tööd on teostatud käsikudumismasinal. Fantaasial on lastud lennata :)

Julien MacDonald, Utopia beaded dress

Alice Palmer, Vertigo collection

Iben Høj, Kraka dress

Julien MacDonald, Utopia beaded dress
Rory Longdon, Stitch transfer zip dress