Thursday 28 February 2013

This and that



I told you about the next knitting project last week. It is a Ravelry pattern.
People that had made it told all how they did in just one day. Right, yeah it took me a week, much to Estella's fun. Let me say in my defence that I knitted with much thinner wool than indicated in the pattern, and I had to put number tags on every rectangle lest I got hopelessly confused.


The thing grew and grew, till I disappeared behind it.


Here it is sewn together, a very large thing indeed. My fear was that the wool that I had used wouldn't felt properly. It was hard to believe that those very elongated rectangles would become squares after felting.


But lo and behold, wondrous indeed, they did became squares! I just put it in my front loader washing machine at 60 degrees with the other laundry. I didn't dare to do it at 90 degrees, next time I will for I hope a thicker felt.


Not that this one is thin, it is very nice. I want also to try knitting wool together with a synthetic ribbon yarn and see what happen when felting. I hope that it will produce bobbles of ribbon enmeshed in the felt. We will see.




And this is the next experiment (for a bag). Thick wool knitted with 6 mm needles. I than traced a drawing on the knit stitching through  paper . After removing the paper I appliqued a fake leather cord with a zig- zag stitch.


I was afraid that the machine stitching would flatten and distort the knitting, but that didn't happen. In fact it makes the knit firmer. I did put the pressure of the presser foot at the lowest. It looks so neat that it does not seem hand made anymore. Duh!  Well, some veining with embroidery floss will help.


And here is Tommy, as happy as a clam, restored to full health and one of the tribe :)


He has that delightful gait that young dogs have, all loose limbed and floppy. Sweetie pie. They all are, really.


Monday 25 February 2013

Monday Moodboard


1. alekaki  2. foldi  3. LandofDante  4. ayawedding

I love the color of eggplant, I also love it as food. There are alot of meals in Turkey involving eggplant.
I found some English recipes of Turkish meals, like karniyarik (stuffed eggplants), eggplant salad, and mousakka, although I'm not sure if that is originally Turkish as you also have it in other countries too. Bon appétit!

Wishing you a wonderful week!

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Thursday 21 February 2013

Our Creative Space...


This time at least I didn't attempt to knit the bag itself. 'Only' knitted leaves and crocheted grapes.



What can I say? It is winter and just the time for knitting. And the next one (all knitted and going to be felted), is in the make. That will be my first foray into felting. Wish me luck!


See more creative spaces at Our Creative Spaces.

Monday 18 February 2013

Monday Moodboard


1. BarbaraSzepesiSzucs  2. YanArt  3. perimelodi  4. ShebboDesign

After last week's adventure doggies are on our minds :)
Tommy is doing good and the rest of the family seems to accepted him, which was really a big question for us as they could have not accepted them.

Wishing you a wonderful week!

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Sunday 17 February 2013

New Kid at Home


Ten days ago, a friend of us asked our help. His dog was missing (he lets her roam freely on the street), and the dog was rounded up by the shelter people and brought to the shelter. Only the dog was not in the shelter.
The people there didn't let him in to look for the dog, as they couldn't take responsibility if the dogs would attack him.


So we went to the shelter and the guy in charge did let us in. Probably he felt we wouldn't take no for an answer. As a place, it is not a bad place, there is a large enclosure where there are all together and covered booths where they can go in at night or when it rains. The new comers are in cages.


We went in every corner. There are 260 dogs there and it was a lovely experience to walk among them. They only want to be loved and petted and pushed their heads under our hands. We both felt extremely relaxed and it was a surreal experience to be among so many dogs, we constantly had a furry head under our hands and we petted them while we searched for our friend's dog, it felt very natural and zen :) We never found our friend's dog. It is a mystery  what happened to her. Probably nothing good.


And then it happened. I came eye to eye with this little guy. And I was lost.
He was pretty far away and in a cage but he kept looking at me. When I cam to his cage he licked my hand and was so very sweet.
This happened on Thursday  last week and the whole weekend I could't put him out my thoughts. So on Monday we went back to the shelter to get him.


And then we heard that we couldn't till he was castrated. They don't give not neutered dogs or puppies. It is quite a dictatorial measure, but o.k. we said, let's have him neutered.We were told to come back the next day, he would be operated first thing in the morning.
So we came on Tuesday, and of course, it hadn't happened.
The vet has a lot to do, they told us. He is responsible for the shelter AND for the slaughterhouse. This is of course, a most bizarre form of multitasking. I mean, somebody with the stomach to witness the slaughter of sheep and cattle, is no friend of animals
We had our vet call the shelter vet, asking to release the dog on our word that we would have him neutered. To no avail. Apparently the vet has a basis salary and a bonus for his ministrations, so we decided to wait till the vet arrived.
In the mean time we chattered with the employees there. One told us that he worked as a butcher in the slaughterhouse and was commissioned to the shelter when there was no work in the slaughterhouse.
A group of English women come everyday to bring extra food. They were struggling with the heavy sacks while the employees smirked.
At last, at 2.30 PM the vet arrived and told us to leave a phone nr. We would get a call when it was done. I didn't want to leave the dog any day longer. Between our first and second visits, the dog had deteriorated visibly. So we talked and talked to the vet till he gave up and mumbled 'I can better do it now than make them understand'.
Estella was a great help with this. She wasn't enthusiast about bringing an other dog in house, we surely have enough, but she cajoled with the vet till we had him.
So the dog was brought to the 'operation room', and the vet, with a cigarette hanging from his lip proceed to operate on him. At the last moment we heard that he had to get a tag in his ear as well. After a lot of talking the man just shaved his ear and held the tag on the ear for the photo. Based on that rapport he gets paid. The rapport also says that he is fully vaccinated, but the butcher told us that they had no vaccines.
So, after all these adventures, we got the doggy wrapped in an old newspaper and we took him home, minus his nuts. We got zero post-op advise, it is good that we have collars, meds and experience, but the vet didn't knew that, he just couldn't care less.



We have a routine when we get a new dog. Usually it starts with a bath, treatment for internal and external parasites, vaccines, and when the dog is over all these shocks, the neutering. This all takes about a month.
Now it is harder for the dog. We thought that it was an old dog, he has white hairs all between the black, but he is young, with very white teeth.


The next day we had an scare, blood in his poop. We rushed him to our vet, thinking of course of parvovirus, but he tested negative. He has a bad intestinal infection and  has now prescription food. We hope that he will get better soon and we are very happy that we have him.


We named him Tommy.

Monday 11 February 2013

Monday Moodboard


1. vadjutka  2. velanch  3. karlita  4. Akkord

Some vibrant colors to cheer up the grey dark days we have been having lately. I can't remember a winter with so much rain as we had this year. I'm not complaining though as soon as the weather starts to get warmer, we will miss it :)


Wishing you a wonderful week!

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Thursday 7 February 2013

Our Creative Space...


You saw the  knitting of the body of this bag a long time ago. Here is it, being blocked after all the crocheted carnations have been sewn on it.


Than the fluffy interfacing and the lining were sewn in by hand. And finally the bag is given shape by crocheting it in a certain way.


Knitted handles and a crocheted button finish it.


The bag is now ready, waiting for the first sunny day to take pictures. The colors are not washed out in real life. It is funny that although I can figure in advance all the work involved, I cannot figure the time that it shall cost me. I guess that I dream that I am a lot faster than I am!
All by all, probably eighty hours of work went in this bag. We are pricing it in the $300 region and hoping that the buyer will appreciate the labor and the bargain!
See more creative spaces at Our Creative Spaces.