Sweden 2012 - Creativity

As I already mentioned yesterday, I've been busy in Sweden.

Project 1 is a pair of potholders using some fabric I also picked up in Goetheborg. There was no real pattern, but we saw something similar in a store downtown, so we reverse engineered the whole thing. For a first try pretty good, though there's some room for improvement.

The potholders are fairly small, but thanks to the opening in the back, you can almost wear them like hot gloves, so very usable. They are also totally reversable.

Project 2 was a small beaded bracelet we found the kit for in a sale. The bracelet is super easy to make, so not really very crafty, but pretty.
In the photo I present it over a lovely cup my sister got me for my birthday. There's this super cute little dragon peeking over the rim of the cup. Happily I managed to transport the cup back home without breaking it.

 Project 3 and 4 (and some trials inbetween) are made using a technique called tatting. Using a special long needle, you make a couple of slip knots on the one end of the needle and then pull through the tread to either form a ring or a chain before moving on to the next set of knots. Adding little loops (picots) during the process of the knot making will give you added decoration and also a point to connect the chains and rings to each other, enableling the making of a large variation of shapes.
I still need some practice though ....

Number 5, a project I've started before I came to Sweden, some cross stitch. This is the first in three so called Mini Garden Mandalas by Martina Weber of Châtelaine Designs. The kit I have contained the pattern for all three manadalas and the specialty threads and beads, but no fabric and none of the DMCs needed. Lucky me, I've got plenty of fabric and DMC. I picked some unbleached linen in 32ct to stitch on and enjoyed (and still am enjoying) stitching it. Currently I'm plowing my way through the back stitches on the second mandala.

Finally, I also did some knitting. I started a cardigan in Wollmeise lace, but am not happy at the moment with it. I'm thinking about ripping everything up and starting again with a smaller needle size, but first I want to give what I have (back and front down to about 5 cm underneath the armholes) a bath and see how it fits.