a good start not only for my knitty side

January is almost over. I think 2007 started quite good for me: I was busy in a prolific way. How and why? For New Year’s Eve holiday my sister came over from Romania. Her visit was like a cold shower. I was feeling quite “lost” here, in Istanbul. I still feel myself as foreigner; even I got the Turkish citizenship instantly after marriage and my Turkish language improved a lot. Well, her visit woke me up; she gave me strength and made me think positively. We all need a cold shower from time to time. 2007 is a year for changes. I dramatically redecorated my home: all by myself, without any help. I painted the walls by myself, changed the furniture in a Feng-Shui manner. I am changing the water for my 2 small turtles more frequently, I am taking decisions faster. Big or small changes, they all are positive. I feel myself more confident. I really feel good.

Now my living room walls are vanilla color. Before they were lila and all the decorative items were matching lila. Now I have to change (changes again) them all. I wanna knit some decorative cushion covers. I did some researches, read a lot, and my colors harmony skills improved a lot. This will help me for my knitting. I have so many plans, suddenly my agenda got so busy. I really do feel so good.

She is my sister, thank you Giselle, your visit was a real blessing.

ka-chow

If you watched the movie "Cars", definitely you know what "ka-chow" means. I felt this title would be suitable as title for my post. My New Year's holiday was unexpectedly so knitty. My sister came over from Romania with her two kids: a girl and a boy. She had used to knit during high school but gave up later in university. Now she is 35 and hasn't "touched" a knitting needle since 15 years. She saw my stash of yarns, my needles collection andd suddenly she felt her fingers itchy, very itchy indeed. Same time my cute niece needed a purple wrap and cap for her new jacket. The perfect match. Well, that's how things continued:





Then, my 7 years old niece got infected by the knitting virus... such a young victim... She was constantly demanding yarn, knitting needle and a knitting "instructor". It was such an "experience" for her, at the end she got so tired and decided to wait till her physical condition will improve ... maybe after 5 years.

stitches for your poncho and not only

I like this pattern stitch a lot. It's easy to knit it, it only requires a bit more attention. It will be great for my wrap: there is a small grocery shop near my home from where I buy my daily bread. Usually I am so lazy and go only with slippers. Now it's cold outside, I need a wrap for my shopping at a run.

I am so late

First of all: Happy New Year to everybody! I know I am so late, but better later than never. I guess most of you are already thinking and making plans for Valentine's Day. Well, there's plenty of time to start a Valentine's Day knitting project. Something red, with very red yarns... that's my imagination, I guess red will be suitable for a Valentine's Day gift: something for him OR something on you for him... now it depends on you and your guts.

I am afraid I won't be able to knit something for Valentine's Day. I still have many unfinished knitting projects. I've also decided to paint the living room: my husband hates the actual color: Lila. It really doesn't match his fanatic passion for soccer. If I would ask his opinion, I will have only navy blue and yellow stripes on my walls, because these are the colors of Fenerbahce club. Well, these colors don't match my passion for knitting. The final compromise: a champagne tone. I am very confident that I can finish this project by myself only, even I haven't painted any wall till today/this year. I will ask advice from the paint shop and.... say a little pray before I will begin it.

self-striping yarn

I am deeply amazed with this fabulous yarn. I run out of adjectives... my friend came over and she was looking at the both sides of my project, but couldn't find the ends of contrasting color yarns and there are no knots. I feel myself like a magician. Well I don't expect the yarn to do the decreasing and increasing as well, but...who knows what future will bring!? I have patience since I got plenty of yarn this week. The weather is getting worse or, shall I say, favorable for knitting. I rearranged the furniture in living room; my favorite armchair is now strategically placed near window, with a floor lamp beside it. Nowadays is so cloudy, it looks like daytime turned into a continuous sunset.

My next knitting project

Last week I visited a yarn shop situated in Profilo Shopping Center. It was Sunday and the shop was so crowded: everybody was looking for yarns for a future knitting project. I was amazed to see many young women as well. Their usual choice: fancy and novelty yarns. Now it is a new fashion for knitting in Istanbul: knitted bags, knitted fancy bags. So, I followed the young crowd and did finally choose two types of beige yarns. I intend to knit a handbag which will match my new beige boots. Here is my choice of yarns. As my knitting project will grow, I will post pictures with different stages.



This pink and black pillow influenced my choice of yarns.

Knitting around the world

I can say for sure knitting is the most popular craft in the world. I was born in Romania, I can still remember very clearly how my grandma was knitting: very fast and daily. Then my mom: during dictator Ceausescu time she had to attend endless meetings with the same thematic: the glorious achievements of a great president: Nicolae Ceausescu. Actually nobody was listening, men were reading books and women were knitting discretely, with hands under the desks. At the end of a five-six hours meeting, everybody was showing happily what he/she accomplished: how many chapters in a book were read or a completely knitted sleeve…well, since then almost 25 years have passed. Now I am married in Turkey, and I can say that undoubtly Turkish women have amazing hands. They are so gifted, and they adore knitting and crocheting. Gorgeous items are knitted just for the sake of offering gifts or to decorate homes. All my lady neighbors are avid knitters. One of them, Fatma, is knitting a lot for her baby girl niece. When the knitting part is finished, she likes to embellish the knitted items with decorative stitches: cross stitches, looped stitches, etc using linen threads. It is amazing how a decorative stitch can change the look of a knitted sweater or vest. I strongly advise beginner knitters to try this very simple technique: if you don’t know (or don’t have time) to change colors and/or to knit laborious hard-to-follow patterns, just knit simple and then embellish with a decorative stitch using linen threads. For cotton yarns it is advisable to use ribbons for your decorative stitches.

For the busy knitter

Hi:

Welcome to my blog. I am an avid knitter; Unfortunately I can't knit very laborious patterns, so I am using easy-to-follow patterns and stitches. Here I'll share with you some of them.