Do you ever wonder what to do with leftover yarn?
Confessions of a Yarn-A-Holic posted a wonderful link today: 34 Adorable Things to do with leftover bits of yarn, composed and arranged by Buzz Feed. (Thank you for posting this!!) Below are my favorites: pom poms as bookmarks and a clock sweater.
Maybe I should post pictures of the yarn stamps, the bows and the ahern too.
Maybe you should have a look at the article yourself. Eventually, you’ll like it just as much as I do!
Years ago, a colleague gave me his mother’s old sewing machine. Dusty, a little battered, and long hidden in his attic, it finally came my way the day I casually mentioned that having one would be nice. I can’t say I ever used it for anything “big” – I’ve always been more about fixing than creating.
Over the years, though, it became my go-to for patching the kid’s jeans. Zillions of patches. The machine was reliable, eager, humming along as it stitched whatever I needed – straight stitches, zig-zags, you name it. Sure, I occasionally broke a needle, but that was the extent of the drama. No serious breakdowns.
Still, we never really bonded. Maybe it was the weight – it’s a beast. Dragging it out of the basement, carrying it into the kitchen, setting it up on the table… I hated every step. So naturally, I procrastinated, letting the pile of jeans grow until, inevitably, the kid had nothing left to wear. By that time, of course, he’d grown, and all those freshly patched jeans were suddenly too short.
So why am I telling you this? Because today I finally decided it was time to find a new home for my 1950s Ideal Zick-Zack Deluxe. I listed it on eBay for free, hoping someone out there would convince me they’d be the perfect new owner. Within an hour or two, about 20 people responded.
My gut led me to Ritva – a young mother of two, devoted to needlework (at least that’s what she said). I loved her emails, the way she wrote, and I have to admit, I was curious about someone named Ritva. Isn’t that a beautiful name? I’d never heard it before.
To make a long story short: an hour ago, Ritva came by. She seemed to really adore the machine, its accessories, and even the suitcase it came with. It was love at first sight. And when she started praising all the advantages of an old machine over the newer “plastic” ones, I couldn’t help feeling a tiny pang of regret for letting it go.
Have a wonderful new life, Ideal Zick-Zack Deluxe, and thank you for being part of our family for the last 25 years. I promise I’ll think of you every time the kid rips his pants.
This year’s wrist warmers are decked out in classic Christmas colors – rich red, deep green, and soft light grey. With the temperatures as low as they are, it’s definitely cold enough to wear them. I spent the morning carefully packing them all up, and now I’m off to the post office to send them on their way.
There’s so much snow in Berlin at the moment that it actually feels like Christmas! The kind of scene you dream about in holiday stories… if only I had a sleigh to ride through it or a long white beard to complete the festive look 😉
And the very warm ones:
Be that as it may, I’ve already started thinking about New Year’s resolutions – do you? One in particular keeps popping into my mind: I really want to learn how to knit Fair Isle properly. There’s something so appealing about the clean, even colorwork it creates. I know it would make wrist warmers (and other projects) so much nicer, without all those pesky loops and tangles on the inside.
I’d love any advice or recommendations – whether it’s a book, a video tutorial, or even a course. Anything that could help me get started and actually understand the technique. Has anyone tried it and fallen in love like I think I will? I’m all ears!