De Rerum Natura & Mandarine's: Pinecone&Mulberry kits

I'm so excited to share what I've been working on with De Rerum Natura today. Over the past few weeks, I've been busy selecting colors, making swatches, playing with stitches, designing new pieces and taking photographs outside. Today the Pinecone&Mulberry kits are available. They contain 2 skeins (in the color of your choice) of Gilliatt which is a 100% french merino wool, and a booklet of 8 pages featuring three patterns: Pinecone&Mulberry hat, scarf and cowl. I've enjoyed working with this yarn for a second time so much. I love the rustic feeling that it has, its elasticity and its softness.

To celebrate winter, cosy days at home and our love for beautiful wools, we've decided to make you win a Pinecone&Mulberry kit and two gift cards of 10€ to spend on the De Rerum Natura shop. To enter, please visit De Rerum Natura on facebook.

Good luck everyone and happy knitting!

A swap, stash enhancement & a new design

A few months back, I got in touch with the dear Grace a.k.a Juniper Grace. She's hosting the most wonderful podcast, and I'm always hoping that she's going to release a new episode every week. So when she asked me if I would like to swap yarn + goodies with her, I was thrilled. I asked her what kind of yarn she'd like to receive from me. She immediately pointed the yarn that I've used for my very first cardigan -and she could not make a better choice than that. Ulysse is by far one of my favourite yarns. 

Then she told me that she could send me yarn that I cannot find easily in Europe. And when she mentioned Quince & Co, I'm sure you could see two stars shining in my eyes for a second. I've been dreaming of their yarn for months and months and months. It is so hard to get one tiny skein here in Europe!

I've also received the dilemma yarn from De Rerum Natura. Could Giliatt be better than Ulysse? I don't know, but it's perfect. 

And finally, I'm working on several projects. One of them will take place this summer. There's a lot of work and homework to be done, but that's something that I enjoy with all my heart. I'm also working on one more personal project this time. If everything goes well, I hope to publish it in the early days of fall. Have you ever knit with plant fibers? Nettle yarn?

Happy Spring!

The yarn dilemma

A week after casting off my last big project, I found myself browsing cardigan patterns on ravelry - again. I thought my wrists would get tired after knitting non-stop, but they don't seem to mind at all. That's the exact opposite actually. The more I knit, the more it makes me want to knit, and acquire more knowledge about natural fibers.

I usually tend to select the patterns first and then find a yarn that would work. But for some reason I already knew which yarn I'll use this time. I put this idea in mind that I had to try Gilliatt from De rerum natura. While I was trying to reorganize my yarn leftovers, I found the Ulysse yarn samples that I had received for my Praline cardigan. I took two of them in my hands, and realised how beautiful they were, and how difficult it would be for me two choose only one of them.

Well, the crazy lady that I am, found herself dreaming about them the same night. So, when I woke up the next morning, I knew that I had to make a choice and select only one of them for my next big project...  So I went to the online shop, to have a closer look, and realised that "salt and pepper" -the left one on the picture, was out of stock. Great, I didn't have any choice to make after all! So I selected "pepper", and clicked "buy".

Two days later, I received an e-mail from the sweet Solenn, to tell me that she just has a few skeins of "salt and pepper" left, and I still could get my hands on them... After much thoughts and kind advices on Instagram, I made a wise decision and ordered the light one.

Now that the yarn is on its way, I have time to ask YOU for more advise! Here's the situation: the yarn that I ordered -Gilliatt, is a worsted weight yarn. The pattern on the left is my favourite (for now), but it calls for DK. I also really like the one on the right "Helga", which needs worsted weight. But I think that Keynote would look better in "Pepper & Salt". If you have any recommendation/ advice/ suggestions/ preferences, you could share your thoughts with me.

PS:I've never substituted yarn before.

Lately & an Ode to Ulysse

+ My beautiful friends were doing quite well, especially the little purple one. I love spending time with them, nourishing them and rotating them in the house, to let them enjoy the light.

+ I've been working hard to finish my cardigan. I think I still have a 20% left. I'm currently working on the second sleeve increases. The yarn that I'm using for this project is just so lovely. I trully think that it's one of my favourites.

+ I've been steaming something like 25 jars today. I'm about to make more pickles and more slaw/sauerkraut. I'll try to share some of the recipes on the blog soon! I find canning/preserving so fascinating.

+ My sweet Anna sent me the most adorable card for Christmas. Thank you so much again! She finished a beautiful mustard sweater, and is planning to knit another one very soon. I love to see her behing the scenes so much.

+ I stumbled upon this interesting article about knitting.

+ Liesl just published an article about her last knitting project. I could  never tell that Levenwick is her second cardigan. It's just perfect!

Sweet December

The other day was pretty special and different from my daily routine. I spent the whole afternoon knitting, dreaming, writing and blogging in a lovely coffee shop. The time past by so quickly, that I even didn't notice that it was already dark outside (In this part of the world, the night comes as early as 4pm). Then I took the tram to reach the other side of Riga, to meet some new friends for my first Latvian knitting club.

We spent the evening talking about culture, knitting traditions and life. And it was absolutely fantastic. We gathered in a very old wooden house that Kristin was renting, and we sat and talked with a warm cup of ginger tea. These ladies were so skillfull! Two of them were knitting gorgeous icelandic sweaters/dresses, and they were both pretty confident with steeking (brrr)! I cannot wait to meet them again next week!

Project bag Jena Rose // Dress ℅ Joules // Snood Mandarine's // Knitting Praline

I'm still working on my Praline cardigan. And I got the body finished yesterday evening. I'm going to start knitting the sleeves today, and I'm pretty excited about it, even though it stresses me out a bit. Praline is my very first "big project" and I really want it to turn out beautifully.

I'm also going to start knitting my December hat for the Knit twelve hats in a year challenge. I already got the yarn, bought the pattern, but I'm still waiting for it to come...I hope that you're all having a lovely week!