Knitting crush *Madder*

The Internet is magic. It's full of awesome people and inspiration, and you find new ones every day. I started following Liesl a while ago and she has that awesome Sunday feature where she interviews really cool creative people. It's how I discovered Melody's blog Mandarine's (it's full of pretty photos, knitting, plants and basically all things handmade and natural). Through her blog I then found Lori's blog. She's an amazing knitter and i completely fell in love with her take on the Shwook hat! It's made with Shetland wool and the pattern is free to grab as part of the Shetland Wool Week that will take place in October. I'm planning to cast on my very own Shwook hat on that week (and so is Melody! What about you?)

But that's not the subject! Because through Lori's blog I then discovered Madder! Behind that site is Carrie Bostick Hoge, an other amazing knitter who has just self-published a book! Instant crush! The patterns are all stunning. I'm completely in love with the Sibella Cardigan (photo below), the Camilla Shawl Light (top photo) and the Beatrice Scarf in particular! 

So that's a lot of links, a lot of inspiration and a lot of love. What have you been crushing on lately?

all photos by Carrie Bostick Hoge

Life right now - July 2014

loving the postcards i've been receiving (thanks to Sian awesome Postcard Exchange idea!)  

thinking about going to the beach for a day or so.

eating pizza. yum.

wondering if i'll ever feel comfortable wearing crop tops. they're so pretty though!

listening to Where does the good go? 

enjoying my current minimalist obsession. empty shelves are so full of promise.

making plans for the next 3 weeks. i have the house for myself!

struggling with the very very hot weather that makes my train rides to Paris nightmarish!    

feeling excited for a friend's visit! it's been 2 years since we were on the same continent!  

dreaming of a trip to Denmark! 

finding a lot of very cool new blogs and IG feed to follow. the internet is magic <3 

celebrating with Rosé! Summer is nice this way.

watching Shetland! it's an awesome BBC show very similar to Broadchurch only without David Tennant and in Scotland. and everyone's wearing amazing knitted garments!

hoping i'll finish the scarf on time!

Yarn Along

Joining in with Ginny for the Yarn along. 

I love to read. I love to knit. Here's a little bit about both.

A dear friend of mine for the US is coming to Paris at the end of August and asked me to knit him a scarf. After the initial "i'm supposed to knit something for a BOY?!" reaction, i browsed Ravelry and found this cute (and super simple) pattern for a unisex scarf. He is actually moving to Scotland this September and so i went with a 10 ply 100% wool yarn by Malabrigo to keep him hot this winter. I thought blue was the easy choice. But then actually took forever to choose just the right blue. This one is called Azul Profundo (but I call it Tardis :)) and it is beautiful. There's midnight blue in it, as well as some lighter tones and even some hints of green like the green of the sea. I'm secretly hoping i'll have extra at the end so i can also make a hat ;). The scarf is coming along pretty quickly since it's almost only knit stitches so it's pretty nice to work on!

It was actually through a previous Yarn Along that i noticed quite a few people reading Homegrown & Handmade. It appears that i am more and more drawn to a self reliant kind of life so i thought i'd check this pretty book out. I've also just ordered Cold Antler Farm which i think will be awesome! I'll let you know what i think of both pretty soon!

So, what are you working on and reading? I'd love to know!

Knitting: The Big Pile

So, I like to make stuff. As in, lots of. I find something cute, start working on it, then find something else, get a start on it too, and you know where this leads us: a big pile of work in progress. It's honestly not a big surprise if you know me. I have about 15 books near my bed, still waiting to be open or finished. I'm working on 4 different scrapbook albums and my loom board is gathering dust. I am the worst at finishing things. The worst is, it's in my blood I think, because many people in my family are the same. And I sort of feel guilty about it, but clearly not enough to actually motivate me. So the hope is, now that I know that you know, the pressure will be a bit bigger ;)

A few details maybe? Well of course. Here's what i am working on:

1// My bobble sweater. This one if actually done, as in wearable. But i had issue with my cast off around the neckline. it's really not pretty and i know i should re do it, but it means i have joined all these parts for nothing, will have to do it all over and it's really not my favorite part...

2// My Diana Sweater. It's missing a sleeve, which is quite unfortunate right. Very little knitting to do, but a lot of joining and sewing.

3// My Juliet Tee. The front is done. And I've started the back. I'm definitely working on this one, it's just that seed stitch takes forever. But it's so pretty right?!

4// The big crochet blanket. So much fun. I work on it here & there, one color at a time. Should be done in time for winter hopefully (even though i sort of thought i could use it as a picnic blanket!)

5// The cabled snood. I'm excited about this one, the yarn is just so pretty. The pattern changes every row though, so it's more of a slow meticulous project. I know i was right to start a winter knit in the summer, 6 months should do it!

So, wish me luck? 

Now if you'll excuse me, i'm waiting for the mail, i've ordered two gorgeous skeins of Malabrigo for a scarf i promised a friend I'd make! ;)

1 PHOTO & 20 WORDS // The woods

"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately (...)  and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived" 
Henry David Thoreau, Walden

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This is not exactly my story, but you know how it is with books, you start reading them and all of a sudden you get lost, start flying with the birds, studying witchcrafts at Hogwarts and living in the wild. it's magic.

Joining in with Abi over at Creating Paper Dreams for A photo & 20 words. check it out.

100 Happy Days

Remember 100 days ago? Well on July 1st I completed my #100HappyDays challenge! I already shared the things that made me happy on my Halfway Through post, and you can see many more pictured here, so this time i figured i'd share my thoughts on the challenge itself:

One hundred days: that sounds like a lot right? Well honestly i feel like it was only yesterday I started the challenge. Time flies people, like seriously way too quickly! I can't remember where (i think it was in a podcast) but I heard someone say that it wasn't the amount of money we had that made us rich but Time and what we did with it. SO TRUE. I'm really trying to get better at this. I sleep too much, and I watch a lot of TV shows. And more than often, suddenly it's 6pm and i don't feel like i did much in the day? Which might explain why I am most productive between 7pm and 11pm, it's the guilt! My new challenge for the summer will be to TAKE CONTROL OF MY TIME. Can you tell I love challenges?

Time is the only true currency you have. Stop spending it on things you don’t need.

Everyday little joys: they're not that hard to find! There are many statistics on Happiness all over the world. According to some, only 23% of the french population considered themselves to be "very happy" (38% in the UK). I think mostly we try a lot harder to remember and complain about the bad days than the good one. And this is what this challenge was a lot about to me: discovering than being happy is not that hard. What about you? Do you think you're very happy? or could be?

Capture. Record. And remember: Taking all these photos was so much fun. And looking at all of them now? Even better! There are so many ways to record the days and the little details: taking photos, writing in a diary. You can even buy "Happiness Journal" on Amazon and co. And at the end of the day, having those memories make everything so much more real, especially on the not so good days. I have already printed some of these photos and included them in my 52 weeks of art journaling album, but i think i might do another smaller one with just those photos. You can never have too many mini albums right?

Oh captain my captain

It was a stripe kind of day. It was morning, I felt inspired and decided to scrapbook. I started picking pretty papers and somehow ended up with only stripes. why not right? The stripes led me to the triangle idea and what do you know this layout was born. The background was the biggest challenge. It started with white bazzil but seriously didn't work. And then i found this pretty one in my stash. Bonus point for the fact that it's lines and lines of the definition of WATER. That's how i knew it was meant to be!

The title was super obvious too. I had just recently told Sian I thought she needed to see Dead Poets Society (seriously, watch it people, it's the best!). So i got stuck with the quote in my head. Then i saw that photo. And I had my story. 

Super simple, super quick to make. Looks like i'm scrapbooking again!