Madeline's Wardrobe

Work in progress: green modular crochet shawl

2012-02-06T06:39:00.000-08:00

Work in progress - yes, another green shawl. I can't help it, I simply love green color, especially now during the winter. This time I decided to play with modular crocheting. As you may see on the photos, each of the rows is made of 2 full motifs and one half motif. Oh my... they give me a huge headache when attaching one to another! I had to unravel the connections many times before I made them correctly :-) I think watching a good mystery series doesn't help......

I'm almost done with the shawl, just need additional 4 full circles and 2 semi ones to complete. Then a simple single crochet border around and tassels on two sides. I think it's going to look really nice.

Busy knitting bee

2011-11-18T01:13:00.001-08:00

I had a couple of very busy knitting weeks recently but no good weather to take any photos. My goal this weekend is to finally photograph every single shawl/scarf/hat/mittens from this huge pile! Keep your fingers crossed for a nice sunny day tomorrow!

Not all of the finished items are on the photo - 2 scarves are still blocked and I'm almost done with another shawl.

Christmas Sale - 30% off on all shawls & scarves

2011-11-10T06:51:00.000-08:00

I think it says it all - let's the Christmas crazy time begin! For all my customers I have a special Xmas gift - a huuuge discount on all items from my Etsy shop - 30%!

Learning new tricks - Intarsia

2011-10-16T00:50:00.000-07:00

Yesterday - inspired by a great book I got on sale, Icelandic Knitting Using Rose Patterns, I came up with an idea for a new shawl (actually, the idea was stuck in the back of my head for few weeks now). Here comes the tricky part - garter intarsia! I've never tried it before but it sounded like fun.... lot of fun with 6 small bobbins at a time and a yarn which loves to tangle :-) If you think normal intarsia is easy - try garter intarsia!

Unfortunately, the book didn't have any clear instructions how to deal with all these colors and how to twist the strands without making holes or the whole thing breaking apart... To my surprise, you can't find much info on garter intarsia on the net or even YouTube.....

After a couple of tries (and different styles of bobbins) I finally found the solutions - my old business cards as bobbins. Now I'm working only with 3 colors but I'd love to add another two, blue and green - that's gonna be fun! I think I need another 50-70 rows to practice before I move to the shawl.

Shop Update

2011-10-14T12:47:00.000-07:00

I have listed 2 new shawls in my Etsy shop this week - have a look!

The Rainbow Shawl
Have to say I'm really proud of this one! The colors are great and I love the design. It's a semi-circular shawl hand knitted with pure wool yarn.

Purple Plum Shawl
This shawl is knitted with one of my favorite yarns - Zauberball. Love how the colors change creating a lovely striped pattern. This shawl is based on my own pattern as well.

Halloween for Cats

2011-10-14T10:20:00.000-07:00

Top Hat by ToScarboroughFair

First of my Halloween themes - today I decided to find a cute outfit for Mr. Julius The Cat. I couldn't stop laughing while exploring Etsy listings! Here are some of my favorites.

Knitting a rainbow

2011-10-03T10:01:00.000-07:00

I'm knitting my own personal rainbow! I absolutely love how all the colors blend together. This shawl will definitely become one of my favorites, the colors are so vivid and nice. I had this yarn for a few months before I decided to use it, 'cause I really liked the look of the center-pull ball.

Today on my needles

2011-09-30T22:20:00.000-07:00

I'm working on 2 new shawls currently - an airy and super soft mohair/silk stole and yummy purple/pink semi-circular shawl. Can't decide which one is my favorite. I absolutely love working with mohair lace yarn (but HATE unraveling it) but I like how the 2nd yarn creates beautiful striped pattern.

I've also listed one of my last shawls - a beautiful brown triangular shawl knitted with Crazy Zauberball yarn. You can find it in my Etsy shop.

Madelines Lace Scarf - new Ravelry pattern

2011-09-25T14:21:00.000-07:00

I just published on Ravelry a new pattern for this gorgeous lacy scarf .

You’ll need:

pair of straight needles or circular needles – 4mm (US 6)
lace weight yarn (the grey shawl was knitted with Cashwool by Ice Yarns, 50g/250m per skein, 2.5 skeins used)

The pattern includes:

written description row-by-row
2 charts

Stitches & techniques:

knit, purl, k2tog, skk, yo, sl1-k2tog-psso
pick stitches up along an edge

Madelines Lace Scarf Knitting PDF Pattern

Waiting in line

2011-09-16T10:30:00.000-07:00

I just realized I have a huge collection of shawls I've finished within last month and never listed! I need an assistant :-) Here you can see 6 new shawls, one is currently blocked and I have 20-30 rows left to knit of another.... Wow - sometimes I amaze myself!

I'm still waiting for my new mannequin to be delivered, so I think I'll use my good old hanger this week and retake the photos later using the mannequin....

What you can see behind the shawls is one of my all time favourite film poster by a great Polish artist - Wieslaw Walkuski. I'm a huge fan of his works!

There's no such thing as too much yarn

2011-09-15T02:18:00.000-07:00

I got these beauties yesterday - the white one is for a custom ordered wedding shawl and the other colors are for new shawls. Can't wait to start working with them!

New lace shawl in Shetland style

2011-09-13T10:53:00.000-07:00

I really like experimenting with different styles and techniques of knitting and maybe that's why most of my shawls are one and only. I have to remember to start writing down the patterns for my shawls as most of them are designed by me.....

This one is a variation of a shawl I've found in one of my knitting books. The shawl is inspired by traditional Shetland shawls. It's worked in garter stitch from the bottom to top, with center panel. I have to say I was slightly terrified after casting over 400 stitches on and the first 20+ rows where a huge pita. I'm half done now and the works goes faster with every finished row.

As I rarely work with stitch markers, this time they were a must! Otherwise I'd have given up after first 5-10 rows.... The tiny stitch markers you can see below where made by my Plurk friend, Selana and I have to say that I absolutely love them as they are very light and perfect for lace knitting! You should definitely check her Artfire shop out!

Playing with dyes.... again

2011-09-12T10:28:00.000-07:00

Here's a new batch of yarn I hand dyed with food colourings over the weekend. I'm still stunned with how well the yarn catches colours. I have to say that I get better results with the food colourings than with the normal, quite toxic dyes.

The first two from the right side are merino/silk yarn and I dyed them for new shawls I have in plans. The other two are nice and soft angora yarn, this time for cute stripped mittens and a matching hat, maybe there will be enough for a cowl as well.

I wish I could spare more time for knitting, dyeing and other crafts but it's quite difficult to do with my day job (which I really like). Can't wait to be retired and to have all days for my hobbies only.... but that will probably happen in 40+ years so all I can do now is to cut one more hour of sleep and spend
it on things I love.

Busy holidays

2011-08-20T02:15:00.000-07:00

It's the last day of my summer holidays... buuu... but it was really great! My mom and brother&sister came to Cyprus to visit me. We had lot of fun and spent most of the time on a beach. I'm 5 shades darker than I was 2 weeks ago!

Here's one of the places we visited - the Aphrodite's Beach, a place where - according to Greek myths - Aphrodite was born from a sea foam. It's beautiful, isn't it?

And that's a place really close to Aphrodite - Kourion Archaeological Site, the ruins of ancient palace and amphitheatre.

I also managed to find some time to knit in the evening - the results are great! I have finished 5 shawls, yes - FIVE! Very productive 3 weeks :-) Here's one of the shawls I've finished - a lovely Halloween coloured semi-circular shawl with decorative lace border. I really like how it ended up, I've used one skein of Crazy Zauberball yarn - my new love!

Monday Update

2011-07-25T01:48:00.000-07:00

So I finally finished the custom shawl I've been working on last week - it looks great! I hope the nice lady who ordered it will love it as much as I do. I knitted the shawl based on one of my own knitting patterns available on Ravelry. I used hand dyed merino/angora yarn.

I've also started working on another project (I know, I'm crazy.... but I can't just sit and do nothing). It's a next shawl, this time knitted with 2 different colors - olive green and dusty blue. The yarn was also hand dyed by me and this idea for a shawl was in the back of my mind for last couple of months.

New packaging for MadelinesWardorbe shawls

2011-07-24T11:39:00.000-07:00

To cut on the shipping costs, I decided to change a bit the way I pack the shawls before shipping - I use standard white envelopes, a rubber stamp I made by myself some time ago and the yarn the shawl inside the envelope was knitted with.

I use various colors of ink to stamp the envelopes - I think they look quite cute :-)

On the needles

2011-07-23T01:38:00.000-07:00

Today, I have a lovely custom ordered shawl on my needles. I hand dyed the yarn by myself and the customer really likes it (yay!). The color is quite difficult to describe, one time it looks like rose pink, the other - like peach.

That's the yarn before:

And that how it looks on my needles:

I'm using one of my own patterns - Addi Rectangular Shawl available on Ravelry for $5.

A bit of brown and purple

2011-07-19T04:52:00.000-07:00

I just finished these lovely shawls last week - had no time to publish new posts as I've been quite busy with custom orders. I'm working on 2 custom pieces - one for a bride and other one for a groom's mother. How cool is that?

The Purple One
I knitted it using one of my favourite fiber blends, 80/20 merino/alpaca, hand dyed in lovely lavender violet.
You can find it in my MadelinesWardrobe Etsy shop.

The Brown One

This one was knitted using very soft yarn, 70/30 merino/cashmere, in lovely chocolate brown shade. The design is my own. The shawl also available at MadelinesWardrobe shop

Dyeing yarn with food coloring

2011-07-10T10:16:00.000-07:00

I was always curious if the food coloring really can dye yarn... It definitely can! I bought red, blue and yellow food coloring at local grocery store a couple of weeks ago and couldn't wait to try them out.

All you need do dye your yarn are food coloring (liquid or paste), vinegar, water & a large pot. You can use any pot you normally use for cooking because the food colorings are not toxic.

The food coloring + vinegar mixture will dye almost all animal fibers.

Soaking:

You need your yarn to be in a loosely tied skein. Fill a large bowl with a lukewarm water and put the skein inside, making sure it's fully covered by water (you can put a small plate on top of it so it'll press the yarn down). Leave it soaking for 30 minutes.

Prepare dyes:

To prepare your food dye, you need hot water, a large cup an food coloring in a color you want. You can always mix different colors (color theory - yellow + blue = green, yellow + red = orange, red + blue = purple etc......).

Remember to wear gloves and an apron or old t-shirt. The food coloring can dye your fingers as well :-)

Fill the cup with hot water and add the food coloring a (you don't have to add much) - you can test the color by dipping a piece of paper towel in the mix.

The fun begins!

Fill the pot with a lukewarm water and add the dye mixture. Take the yarn out of the bowl and slightly squeeze to remove exceed water. Now, put the skein in the pot and gently stir it with a plastic/metal spoon to be sure it's fully soaked with the dye solution.

Now bring the content of the pot to shimmer for 15 minutes, don't allow it to boil. Try to move the yarn as little as possible - if you rub or move it too much it could felt.

Vinegar

After 15 minutes of shimmering, it's time to add vinegar - it "opens" the yarn and helps it absorb the color making it solid. You will need approx. half of a cup of vinegar - add it to the pot trying not to pour it directly at the yarn. Delicately stir the solution and move the yarn around.

Bring almost to boil and then back to shimmer, let it shimmer for 30 minutes. You will notice that the water gets clearer with every minute.

After 30 minutes, put the pot aside and let its content to cool to room temperature. When it's done, rinse the yarn with lukewarm water, gently squeeze and hang it in to dry, making sure it's not in the direct sun.

And VOILA! You have your yarn dyed the color you wanted!

Coffee + knitting = perfect lazy Saturday morning

2011-07-09T00:39:00.000-07:00

I woke up quite early today and decided to start Saturday the most lazies and nicest way - sipping delicious hazelnut coffee and working on my new shawl.... Mohair is such a nice yarn to work with (unless you have to unravel 5 rows of your project, 350 stitches a row.......) and when it's 75/25 mohair/silk - I'm in heaven!

I've started the shawl yesterday morning before going to work (yay for waking up at 6am....) and it looked like this:

I'm using KidSilk Aura yarn in beautiful dusty blue shade. I just hope that the 5 skeins I bought will be enough to finish the shawl!

And here are my latest addition to the stash - oh my, it's growing fast! I'm still waiting for some yarn I ordered last week. I just wish I could have 8 hands and knit faster :-)

Work in Progress 2: lovely mittens and lavender shawl

2011-07-08T06:02:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I decided to play a bit with a new type of project - fingerless mittens in a lovely shade of grey. Still haven't decided if I want to keep them for myself or list them in my shop.

And here comes another of my WIPs - a lovely lavender shawl, half done.

New shawl is added to my shop

2011-07-07T10:09:00.000-07:00

Here it is! A new shawl just added to my Etsy shop. A large and amazingly soft shawl knitted sideways, with a ruffled edge. It was the first shawl I knitted using this method but I'm already in love with it - just have to think about a clever way to combine knitting sideways, short rows ruffle and more lace!

This shawl is available at MadelinesWardrobe Etsy Shop for $79

Work in Progress: A no-lace shawl with ruffles

2011-06-28T04:40:00.000-07:00

No lace this time! I'm trying a new method of knitting shawls out - from one side to another with short rows to create the ruffles. I have to say I really like it! I'm using my favourite yarn - DK Riots by King Cole, it fits perfectly the simple pattern of the shawl.

Work-in-Progress: Believe it or not but it's not a shawl

2011-06-24T00:39:00.000-07:00

I decided to take 1-project-break from shawls and ended up knitting this lovely vest/camisole/top. I couldn't find a nice pattern for such a thin mohair yarn so I'm improvising :D

I'm using the same soft and luxurious mohair yarn I used for this shawl. I had 2 skeins left so not enough for a shawl :-) I still haven't decided if I want to keep this camisole for myself or put in on sale.

Custom ordered shawl is finished as well!

2011-06-22T09:05:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know you've seen this design a million+ times, but I really love knitting it and my customers seem to like it a lot :-) This shawl was knitted for a lovely lady who contacted me via Etsy. I have to say I like it a lot!

I've used all my merino snow white yarn to knit this shawl - time to order some more!*

* I know I said I'm not gonna order any more yarn in a month but I'd like to have the white one stored "just in case"

Custom order: white leaves lacy shawl

2011-06-21T08:13:00.000-07:00

Just started working on a new shawl for one of customers who contacted me via my Etsy shop. It will be big, white and super lacy! I'm working with 100% fine merino yarn in snow white shade.

Remember the pink mohair shawl? It's finished

2011-06-20T17:09:00.000-07:00

It took me ages to photograph this shawl! I love how soft and delicate it looks, will be great to wear with a dress. It was handknitted with extra fine mohair yarn, hand painted in shades of raspberry pink and whites.

I'll add it to my Etsy shop in a couple of hours.

Lime green shawl is officially finished and looks great!

2011-06-20T06:08:00.000-07:00

It's one of my favorite patterns to work with and the lime green yarn makes it look really great. The shawl is huge, approx. 210cm wide and I'm really happy with the end result.

You can find it in my MadelinesWardrobe Etsy shop

WIP Day 1: Lime green leaves lacy shawl

2011-06-14T09:12:00.000-07:00

Here grows a new shawl! I have to say I really love this color and it matches the leaves pattern perfectly! The yarn is pure merino & I'm knitting using 2 strands of it to make the shawl slightly heavier. The yarn is lovely but really thin.

Just finished: A lagoon blue triangular lace shawl

2011-06-14T00:12:00.000-07:00

Just finished my latest shawl - beautiful blue triangular lacy shawl in 50/50 cashmere/merino yarn. I'm quite pleased with the final result. You can find it in my Etsy shop.

Old curtains + scissors + sewing machine = fun!

2011-06-09T09:18:00.000-07:00

I got slightly bored of knitting yesterday and decided to play a bit with fabric. I had some old curtains in the closet and no idea - or I should say way too many ideas - what to do with them. And then the huge light bulb above my head lightened up - let's make a tote bag! I absolutely love that kind of bags and wanted to try to make one. Et voila! Here it is!

I think it's the most advanced sewing project I've done so far (and I have learnt some things the hard way making it....) Not bad for a newbie, huh?

I heart mohair - another shawl is growing fast

2011-06-09T04:36:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know I'm crazy :-) Here comes another of my shawls, this time in beautiful pink shades. The mohair was handdyed by one of Etsy sellers - mynameisyarn. I bought it last year and used half of the skein for this shawl and couldn't decide what to do with the other half. I didn't want to waste it! And here it is, a beautiful rectangular shawl. I still have to finish the body panel and knit a nice edging. I just hope I have enough yarn for the edging. If not - I have a nice plan B.

The blue shawl - Day 4

2011-06-01T14:11:00.000-07:00

4 days later and my new blue shawl is almost finished! YAY! Just 20-30 more rows left to knit. I totally improvised this design and can't wait to see the shawl finished and blocked. But I have a feeling that it will look really nice.

And I'm still in love with this color! I think I'll have to order more of this yarn because I've used almost half of the cone for this beauty.

8.5km... 8500m..... 8705 yards.....

2011-06-01T12:26:00.000-07:00

That's how much yarn I have used for my shawls this year ONLY! Can't believe it! Here are all (except one) shawls I made this year. Not bad, huh?

You can see them all on my Ravelry page

A new shawl is growing fast

2011-05-30T11:45:00.000-07:00

Yes, it's the same yarn I posted about earlier - 50/50 cashmere/wool mix. I'm kind of bored of knitting rectangular shawls so I decided to go with a triangular one for a change. The design is my own, I came up with it few weeks ago but had no chance to try it earlier because of the custom ordered wedding shawl and the mohair shawl that was already started.

I'm still not sure how to finish the shawl but I will probably find some ideas when I get there.

Supply me #2

2011-05-29T14:06:00.000-07:00

All you need to knit is on Artfire! Here are some amazing items I found this week:

Ocean waves - handdyed sock yarn by Selana
Vitreous Copper Enamel Handmade Buttons Finding for Your Clothing by LBStudio
Yarn and knitting needles - hand carved stamp by paperfruithair
Yarn Bowl Cobalt Blue Handmade Pottery by TheMudPlace

Ohhh.... me has a new yarn to play with!

2011-05-29T10:37:00.000-07:00

My preciousssss.... lol..... I just got this amazingly colorful yarn, aren't the colors beautiful? It's a 50% cashmere 50% wool mix, it's much softer than merino and knits like charm. I bought these 2 to try a new supplier from eBay - definitely will buy more. But first I have to use the 123890+ skeins spread beautifully around the house... Sometimes I really would love to have at least 8 arms.

P.S. Did I mention I'm still waiting for 5 skeins of yarn.... Yes, I'm addicted!

My 16th lacy shawl this year - pale green mohair rectangular stole

2011-05-28T22:26:00.000-07:00

Just finished! My 16th shawl this year.... wow, that's a lot of shawls! This one was hand knitted by me using amazingly soft an airy kid mohair yarn in a very interesting, pale green/almost grey shade. I've used quite large needles (4.5mm) to get the airy look. I have to say this yarn is great - Twilleys of Stamford Wisper. Unfortunately, this yarn is discontinued but I was really lucky to find some on eBay.

You can also check this post, where you can see the early stages of knitting this shawl.

The shawl is quite big, it measures 75x163 cm. It's available in my MadelinesWardrobe Etsy shop.

Work in progress: very lacy mohair rectangular shawl

2011-05-22T07:33:00.000-07:00

Oh, I absolutely LOVE this mohair yarn! Knitting with it is a pure pleasure. The color is quite difficult to describe, it's something like pale mint green, slightly greyish.

I'm using quite large needles and very thin yarn so the lace shawl will look extremely airy and light, perfect for summer evenings.

The patterns is - as most of my shawls - my own. Still have to decide on the edging, though. I have a couple of ideas and will decide a bit later.

Long time no see.... a new custom wedding shawl

2011-05-19T00:37:00.000-07:00

Long time no see! I was quite busy last couple of weeks - one of the reasons was this lovely new wedding shawl I knitted as a custom order from one of my Etsy customers. The design is my own and it's the same with one of my earlier shawls, Blue Lagoon one. This time, it was knitted with 2 strands of very fine merino lace yarn in pure white.

I'm thinking about knitting another shawl like this one, have to say I really like the pattern and it knits like a charm.

Wanna see what's drying on the floor?

2011-05-02T08:01:00.000-07:00

A brand new shawl :-) This was a quick project, I had to take a break from the tiny lace stitches and decided to play a bit with DK yarn (this is my favorite yarn, Riot DK by King Cole Yarns). I used slightly larger needles than recommended so the shawl still looks lacy & delicate.

Work-In-Progress: Cashmere pale blue scarf

2011-04-30T20:30:00.000-07:00

I couldn't wait to start knitting with the new yarn I've received recently. My first choice was the soft and extremely delicate cashmere yarn. It knits like a charm and looks beautiful. It's slightly thinner than I expected it to be (yards/meters conversion, in which I really suck!) but I love it anyway.

The pattern is based on one of the Estonian stitches. I'm planning to add a simple edging, nothing to fancy to make the body pattern stand out.

My new yarn is here!

2011-04-30T08:20:00.000-07:00

My new yarn is here! I absolutely love the colors! 3 of them (white, navy blue & lime green) are 100% fine merino and the pale blue is 100% cashmere. Can't wait to start working with them :-) I'm still waiting for a delicate mohair yarn in pale grey color I ordered last week.

New shawl is drying

2011-04-30T02:20:00.000-07:00

My new shawl is finished & blocked! Now I just have to wait for it to dry. I'm pretty happy with the end result 'cause I had some problems with the crocheted edging. The first time I made it, it was too tight and I couldn't block the shawl properly. Now, when I know the pattern by hard, you can expect more shawls finished with this edging :-)

Easter Cupcakes Surprise!

2011-04-20T00:07:00.000-07:00

Today - as a part of my small tradition - I baked these little cute cupcakes for my friends from work.

Each cupcake has a different color & flavor and is decorated with white vanilla icing. I'm so proud of them! The guys from the office couldn't believe I made them by myself :-)

Royal Burgundy hand-knitted stole with decorative edging

2011-04-18T11:53:00.000-07:00

And my 12th finished project this year! WOOHOO! I had the chance to work with my favorite yarn again - this time hand-dyed in rich burgundy shade. I'll have to order more of this blend soon because I almost run out of it.

You can find it in my Madeline's Wardrobe Artfire shop and on Etsy

Blue Lagoon - a new lacy scarf

2011-04-18T06:02:00.000-07:00

Ohh... I'm so happy with the end result of this project. I wasn't sure about the edging first, but after blocking it looks perfect. The design is my own, based on Estonian lace stitch patterns. You can find the pattern in my Ravelry Shop

The finished shawl you can find in my Etsy Shop

Work in Progress: lagoon blue scarf

2011-04-16T00:50:00.000-07:00

A new scarf that I'm currently working on - I absolutely love the blue color. I hand-dyed 90/10 merino/nylon yarn by myself a couple of months ago and finally I found some time to knit with it.

The scarf is based on my own design, I'm going to publish the pattern as soon as I finish this one.

New emerald green lacy scarf/stole

2011-04-15T04:53:00.001-07:00

And finally it's done & listed. Actually, it had been finished for about 4 weeks but I had technical problems with my camera. Now I got a new one and can start listing again.
This stole is knitted using my favorite yarn - 80/20 merino/angora blend. I hand dyed it in beautiful sapphire (or emerald) green color. The color is not perfectly solid, but it's the way I wanted it to be.

The stole is available both in my Etsy and Artfire shops - pick the one you like the most :-)

Ireth Lace Scarf - new knitting pattern published on Ravelry!

2011-03-31T02:37:00.000-07:00

I just published my 2nd knitting pattern on Ravelry! This lacy scarf will be a great addition to any dress (even a wedding dress).

The pattern includes charts and written instructions for the body and the edging. The charts are enlarged on an A4 page, ready to be printed.

2 new shawls waiting for a good home

2011-03-28T01:39:00.000-07:00

Finally finished & listed! Two brand new shawls from Madeline's Wardrobe.

The first one - white wedding lace shawl can be also used as a wedding veil, it will look gorgeous! The other one - pale pink delicate lacy scarf - will be also great for a wedding day (but not only!)

You can find them at MadelinesWardrobe Etsy Shop or MadelinesWardrobe ArtFire studio

NEW! Now you can buy the knitting pattern for the scarf

The pattern includes charts and written instructions for the body and the edging. The charts are enlarged on an A4 page, ready to be printed.

Work-In-Progress: New lacy scarf - Day 2

2011-03-27T09:01:00.000-07:00

Almost finished! Now I' knitting the decorative border. Wanted to go with a wider one with similar motif to the body, but I think it would look too heavy. The narrow one looks perfect!

Work-In-Progress: New lacy scarf - Day 1

2011-03-26T00:55:00.000-07:00

While I'm waiting for the white wedding shawl to dry, I decided to start a new small project - this time a narrow lace scarf with decorative border. I'm using the same yarn I used for this stole and traditional Estonian motifs.

Work-In-Progress: the wedding lace shawl/veil is finished!

2011-03-23T14:20:00.000-07:00

It's finished! The new shawl I've been working on for last 2 weeks is now officially finished :)
You can see the progress here and here.

Now it has to be blocked and shaped, photographed and listed. I hope it will find a good home really soon, because I absolutely adore it!

And now the shawl is finished & available at my ArtFire studio. Free worldwide shipping :-)

See more photos of the finished shawl

Work in progress - Knitted veil, Day 5

2011-03-16T04:43:00.000-07:00

The hand knitted wedding veil grows quickly! I'm half done after 5 days and I have to say that I really love the results. I just have to find my 3mm circular needles because the straight ones are getting too short to handle all the stitches.

Work-In-Progress: a hand knitted wedding lace veil

2011-03-12T03:59:00.000-08:00

I was inspired to start this project by one of my customers who asked for a hand-knitted veil. I've never seen one so I did my research and - WOW - knitted veils are so beautiful, airy and delicate! Just look at this one:

I was so happy to see that I still have few skeins of undyed white lace yarn that I started knitting a veil almost immediately. Here're the first 10cm of a semi-circular wedding veil I'm working on right now. I think it will look gorgeous!

Madeline's Friday Finds: Green

2011-03-11T08:57:00.000-08:00

It's the time of year when you desperately want to see something green - the first sign of spring. Here are some great ArtFire finds from my Plurk friends' studios.

Busy day and Etsy Front Page

2011-03-11T00:43:00.000-08:00

And I missed it again... One of my items was on the Etsy's Front Page yesterday! That's the treasury by ZYKdesigns my fabric brooch was featured in:

Some of my items were also featured in these beautiful treasuries:

Going faraway... by cloveristanbul

all dressed up for spring by VintageStylez

Ready for Spring by FabDangle

Dream.... by CrysallisCreations

New lace scarf finally finished

2011-03-10T02:15:00.000-08:00

Finally finished & listed! I have to say I'm pretty proud of this scarf - I love the combination of the lace leaf pattern and the simple border. I think they go well together.

It took me approx. 46h of knitting to finish this scarf! It all started from my favorite yarn - 80/20 merino/angora mix, which I hand dyed using shades called Reindeer Grey and Pale Peach (lovely names, aren't they?)

Here's the scarf drying on my wall

NEW! Now you can buy a pattern for this scarf/stole

Written instructions and charts provided both for the body and the edging.

My new stitch markers

2011-03-01T00:18:00.000-08:00

Look what I just got in my mail! A beautiful set of stitch markers that son of one of my Plurkies friends made! They are absolutely gorgeous and I can't wait to use them with my next knitting project.

If you like them, you definitely have to visit Selana's Artfire shop - full of cute stitch markers and hand-dyed yarn in beautiful colors.

Supply Me! A Knitter's Dream

2011-02-17T09:14:00.000-08:00

There's not such a thing as too much yarn - every knitter will tell you that! I lost track of how many skeins of yarn I already have at home, but just can't walk away when I see a gorgeous yarn :) Here're some of my favorites found on Etsy.

FUSION Hand Dyed Handspun Superwash BFL Wool Yarn by theytoldmesew
Shiraz - SW Merinonylon sock yarn by SpringtreeRoad
Handpainted Merino/Silk combed tops by WiddershinWoolWorks
Van Gogh merinobamboo handspun yarn- 132yds by craftygirl83

Inspired by... The Cat Who...

2011-02-15T11:56:00.000-08:00

Oh, how I love detective stories! I've been reading recently a great series of murder mystery novels written by Lilian Jackson Braun, entitled "The Cat Who...".

The main character, Mrs. Qwilleran, an old gentleman and a reporter with complicated past, solves murder cases that occur around him. He has two small and incredibly intelligent helpers - 2 Siamese cats, Koko and YumYum.

I highly recommend you these books!

Penncrest Caravelle 12 Manual Typewriter with Case by TagSaleFinds
5 X Pussy Cats - 4 X 6 prints by matouenpeluche
Print of watercolor painting - Prince Charming by rachelsstudio
Amphora Pipe by sadieolive

Monday Moodboard - Airy White

2011-02-14T10:37:00.000-08:00

I'm awake but still walking with my head light and full of light. These items perfectly show my current mood!

Fleur 8x10 Limited Edition Print by evesimone
Natural Pearls Linen Necklace by DreamsFactory
Pasodoble Porcelain Necklace Sterling Silver by MaaPstudio
Pretty in Pink - Fine Art Photograph (8x10) by elr104

Chill Out, Weekend!

2011-02-12T11:21:00.000-08:00

I absolutely love weekends (who doesn't?). Two days, when I can wear what I want, sleep until late, spend a whole day reading an interesting book. A couple of weeks ago I visited my friends abroad, living in a country house. I have to say I absolutely love their style! Here are some Etsy picks that reminded me of the lazy weekend with my friends.

Country Fried French Quarter Boho Style Ruffle Dress or Pinafore in Linen by bayousalvage
Winter Meadows - Fine Art Winter Photography - 8 x 8 by ZenzPhotography
Vintage Dark Wooden Rustic Carrier Tote by BunnyRabbitVintage
Rustic Gingham Napkins set of 4 by SewnNatural

Madeline's Friday Finds: Hemp

2011-02-11T09:37:00.000-08:00

I finally decided to start this great series of posts - Friday Finds! Today's theme is hemp :-)

50m FINE JUTE kraft string by rikyandnina
Brown Nest Hemp Placemats by willywaw
Hand Stamped XOXO Bird Christmas Ornament Eco Friendly Hemp by recycledparts
Sun Spiral- Hemp Necklace by mindfulove

Quick Shops update: 3 new shawls!

2011-02-01T11:26:00.000-08:00

Finally available in my shops! My 3 new hand knitted shawls!

Olive Greens - hand knitted lace shawl

Plum purple lace shawl with leaf pattern

Ocean Deeps - hand knitted lace shawl in blue grey green and violet

Ocean Weaves Shawl

2011-01-25T11:35:00.000-08:00

Today I want to present you one of my new shawls - its design is based on traditional Shetland shawls.

I used a beautiful yarn by King Cole called Riot DK - it's a single ply, double knitting yarn that comes in various colors - I'm absolutely in love with it, this is my 2nd shawl knitted with this yarn and definitely not the last one!

Work in progress - violet leaves shawl

2011-01-19T05:20:00.000-08:00

Here's one of the projects I'm working on right now. Have to say I like it a lot!

Purple hand dyed yarn for a custom order!

2011-01-14T09:49:00.000-08:00

A new yarn I hand dyed for a custom ordered shawl. It was a difficult one, the yarn seems not to like a blue dye but I finally managed to get the color I wanted. I had to dye it 4 times to get the hue but it was definitely worth it!.

That reminds me I have to order more undyed merino/angora yarn - that was my last skein and I have to say I really love the feel of this yarn. It's very nice and soft and is not as "solid" as pure merino.

Here's a shawl I hand knitted using the same type of yarn, dyed olive green.

Quick post-Christmas update

2011-01-13T04:25:00.000-08:00

I'm back and have 2 brand new shawls ready to be listed in my shop! Just have to fix the rest of the images and I'll be ready to go. Both of them are 100% natural wool, very nice and soft. Can't decide which one I like more - these are two of my very favorite colors.

I will be updating the shops with new items during the weekend, somehow I still can't force myself to go back to my standard routine.

Don't Deny Your Dark Side - an AF Collection by sandeeknits

2010-12-17T00:16:00.000-08:00

My brown satin hair pins have been included in this lovely, dark chocolate collection curated by sandeeknits, a very talented knitter.

Sandeeknits has many lovely hand knitted scarves in the Artfire shop - check it out!
My favorite is this beautiful scarf (now on sale!)

And we have a winner!!!

2010-12-12T00:31:00.000-08:00

The giveaway is now officially closed and it's time to pick the lucky winner!

Thank you all for sharing your favorite Christmas recipes! I definitely have to try most of them, they sound absolutely yummy... Ok, I know you are impatiently waiting for the results so I will stop talking and let the random.org do it's job.

There are 69 comments on the Giveaway Post and the winning comment has number.....

The prize goes to a fan of maple walnut fudge and caramels - Marija!

Congratulations!

Collection: Warm and Toasty

2010-12-10T00:48:00.000-08:00

Warm and Toasty

Curated By: SmallComforts

ArtFire.com

I woke up today to discover I've been featured in this lovely ArtFire collection by SmallComforts.

In the SmallComforts Artfire shop you can find many amazing and colorful quilts.

This one is absolutely my favorite quilt from SmallComforts - with the Paddington Bear

Candy Canes and Licorice Drops

2010-12-07T12:59:00.000-08:00

Candy Canes and L...

Curated By: Jeraluna

ArtFire.com

What a great collection to be featured in! Absolutely love all the items included by Jeraluna in this lovely ArtFire collection.

Jeraluna sales in her ArtFire studio porcelain and ceramic beads,charms and pendants. Here are a couple of my favorites from her shop:

You may also want to check her blog: http://jeraluna.blogspot.com/

Collections: Christmas Cheer from Europe

2010-12-01T01:02:00.000-08:00

I woke up to find out I'm included in this lovely European treasury by gr8jewellery - amazingly talented jewelery maker.

Just check these lovely pieces out:

Luscious shades of red

2010-11-30T10:34:00.000-08:00

My red and pink fabric brooch pin has been featured in this great collection curated by CatsWire, a very talented artisan who creates amazing jewelry pieces out of wire, beads, polymer clay and more.

She has dozens of unique items in her ArtFire shop but one of my favorite pieces her studio is this polymer clay and silver collier - Rain Cloud ($30).

Behind the Scenes - Kansashi flower bobby pins

2010-11-30T04:56:00.000-08:00

The first thing I have to do for all my fabric flowers is to pick the right fabrics - mostly cotton, but I also use satin or silk fabrics. I like to use patterned fabric, but solid colors are great too. After I decide on the fabric, I have to cut it into identical squares.

Now it's one of the most important parts - folding the petals. There are many different ways of doing it in traditional Japanese Kanzashi style. My personal favorite is the round petal. I usually use 6-8 petals per flower so I have to fold dozens of them before I move to the next step.

Next step - I have to carefully cut ends of each petal and thread it with a needle. When I have 6 petals threaded, I can start forming the flower. I open the petals up and delicately put them in the correct positions.

After the flower looks OK, I tie the thread. Then, I cut a small circle out of felt fabric in matching color and glue it to the back of the flower. I also glue the bobby pin.

Now it's time for finding buttons! I usually use vintage buttons I buy from Artfire sellers - a great way to get unique and beautiful buttons. I glue the buttons in the center of each flower.

Voila - the Kanzashi flower pins are ready to wear!

You can see the results in my ArtFire shop

www.MadelinesWardrobe.artfire.com

Special Christmas Giveaway

2010-11-30T01:30:00.000-08:00

THE GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED!

MEET THE WINNER

Hear me! Hear me! Here's a special Christmas giveaway! Who doesn't love getting free stuff during the Holidays -and what's even better - you can pick ANY item(s) from MadelinesWardrobe Artfire shop (the total amount should be under $20).

Here are just a few samples of what you can find in my shop - headbands, hair & bobby pins, brooches and more!

The rules are very simple:
Please leave a comment on this post about your favorite Christmas recipe - and don’t forget to include your email where you can be contacted if you win!

You can gain extra points when you:

subscribe to my mailing list
follow my blog
follow me on twitter
like my Facebook page

Please leave one comment for each one of above.

GIVEAWAY CLOSES on Saturday, December 11th at 8pm EST
The winner will be selected using random.org and announced on Sunday December 12th.

I'm also running a Chrismas sale in my shop right now - 30% OFF on orders over UDS $30 of all my fabric accessories. I also offer a free worldwide shipping and a special gift for all my hand knitted shawls.

Straight from the oven

2010-11-29T12:51:00.000-08:00

Look what I just took out from the oven! They smell so tempting but I promised myself I won't try them until tomorrow morning. The filling is made of crushed walnuts and raisins soaked in white rum for 2h. The frosting is made of the left-over rum and icing sugar. I hope they are as delicious as they look.

I have more of these goodies to test before Christmas - I'm in charge of baking this year and want to do something new apart from the standard cakes we always bake.

Collection: Oh Christmas Tree

2010-11-28T13:04:00.001-08:00

O Christmas Tree!

Curated By: MadelinesWard...

ArtFire.com

New flower bobby pins in Kanzashi style

2010-11-27T00:12:00.000-08:00

Finally finished!

I have a huge number of new items to list and finally managed to go through all 100+ photos, correct them and pick the nicest ones. Here are the results! 4 brand new sets of super cute fabric flower bobby pins in Kanzashi style.

I have to admit I'm an addict... absolutely love making flowers like these. I just received a package full of lovely fabric scraps so you can expect more lovely bobby pins, brooches and headbands very soon!.

Collection: A festive touch from the Handmade in Europe Guild

2010-11-25T13:33:00.000-08:00

A festive touch from the Handmade in Eur...

Curated By: KittyBallistic

ArtFire.com

Unique Gifts

It's tangerines time!

2010-11-22T10:42:00.000-08:00

I absolutely love this part of yearn here in Cyprus! I'm surrounded by gardens full of orange and tangerine trees, the fruits are now ready to eat straight from a tree :-)

Unfortunately, I don't have my private tree but fruit markets are full of boxes with beautiful, extremely sweet and fresh tangerines.

Here are some lovely items I have found on ArtFire using "tangerine" keyword:

Tantalizing Tangerine Soap

Monaluna Organic Squares Tangerine Lovie, Security Blanket

Tangerine Dream - Czech Glass and Rosy Copper Earrings

Chunky Woolly Mammoth Tangerine Orange Neck Warmer

Tangerine Souffle Sugar Scrub by Body Language Soaps

New fabric flowers

2010-11-22T00:19:00.000-08:00

I had a very busy weekend. I finally managed to take pictures of my new creations. I absolutely love all of them, the colors look great as well as the new pattern I used for them.

And here some of the white cotton rosettes I finished. My favorite ones are the small brooches with buttons. They will look very cute pinned to a bag, a hat or a jacket.

You can find them in my ArtFire shop

Collection: Feeling a little blue

2010-11-21T10:37:00.001-08:00

Feeling a little blue

Curated By: EverImprovingMe

ArtFire.com

Unique Gifts

Collections: Brown Deconstructed

2010-11-18T23:49:00.001-08:00

Brown Deconstructed

Curated By: fabrickat

ArtFire.com

Fine Art Photography

Are you ready for Christmas?

2010-11-16T02:16:00.000-08:00

Are you ready for Christmas? No? Need some gifts?
I decided to go with a special promo this Christmas (we all love sales and saving money, don't we?)

Free worldwide shipping on my shawls

15% OFF on all my fabric flower accessories
for orders over $30

All you need for Christmas is already on Artfire

2010-11-12T02:01:00.001-08:00

Christmas tree

Curated By: MadelinesWard...

ArtFire.com

Collections: Purple love Purple by MariaPalito

2010-11-08T08:24:00.000-08:00

Purple love Purple

Curated By: MariaPalito

ArtFire.com

Handmade Soap

Work in progress: 2 new lace shawls

2010-11-07T09:12:00.000-08:00

This week I finally started knitting again! I have 2 new shawls in my plans - couldn't decide which to start first so I'm working on both at the same time. The first one, will be a lovely stripped lace wrap in blue and olive green. The other one - a large triangular shawl with leaf pattern. For both of them I'm using a yarn I hand dyed a couple of weeks ago.

Here are some photos of the shawls started:

I think I will finish both of them next week and will work on them at least 3-4h a day.

Another great news! I finished new fabric flower accessories - this time lovely hair pins with folded roses. I absolutely love how they came out and I'm planning to do a pair of the stripped ones for myself.

Stripped fabric flower hair pins in yellow and white

Buttons and Bows vs Incredibly Pretty in Pink, Rose and Gold

2010-11-07T00:45:00.000-07:00

Buttons and Bows

Curated By: DyeingToSpin

ArtFire.com

Incredibly Pretty in Pink, Rose and Gold!

Curated By: GoldBracelets

ArtFire.com

Collections: What's in your wood?

2010-11-06T02:02:00.001-07:00

Whats in your wood?

Curated By: CrysallisCrea...

ArtFire.com

Collections: Along the Forest Trail and All I Want for Christmas

2010-11-05T05:56:00.001-07:00

Along the Forest Trail

Curated By: AbacusBeadCre...

ArtFire.com

All I Want for Christmas

Curated By: popnicute

ArtFire.com

Handmade Soap

Update: New flower accessories

2010-11-05T02:18:00.000-07:00

This week wasn't as busy as the last one because I'm still waiting for supplies I ordered to arrive. But I managed to create new flowers and list them in my MadelinesWardrobe shop. They will make a great Christmas gift for girls who love to put flowers in their hair.

Elastic white headband with two fabric flowers attached

Set of two French barrettes with fabric flowers

I have more flowers ready - including new line of hair pins - and I'm going to list them during the weekend. I will be adding a new hand knitted lace shawl as well, this time in beautiful olive green color.

Shop Update: New flowers accessories now available!

2010-10-31T10:49:00.000-07:00

It was a very busy weekend for me! I managed to finish a dozen of new flowers, clean the flat,do the laundry, knit, read and cook a delicious dinner for my friends.

Here are 2 of my new fabric flowers brooch pins and barrettes:

Handmade satin and organza flower in purple - brooch pin

Floral combo - 2 fabric flowers with buttons on a barrette

You can find more hair accessories and brooches in my MadelinesWardrobe shop on Artfire

Tuesday's Update

2010-10-26T13:14:00.000-07:00

It was a very busy day for me. In the morning, before going to work, I managed to take pictures of my new flowers. Have to say that my book about medieval manuscripts is a perfect background for my rich, Byzantine-inspired satin flowers.

Later, I listed some of the items for kids I made during the weekend. I have to say I absolutely love them! The cotton fabric flowers have really great colors and the cotton wrapped necklace works perfectly with them.

Fabric flower pendant with yellow necklace

Fabric flower ponytail holder

I also worked a bit in the evening - 10 more centimeters added to my newest shawl + some pretty cool new flowers finished (will list them tomorrow, so feel free to check MadelinesWardrobe Artfire shop)

And last but not least, my item was featured on this lovely blog by RiskyBeads.

THANK YOU!

Satin flowers - new in my Artfire shop

2010-10-25T00:46:00.000-07:00

I decided to add more life to my shop and offer lovely handmade fabric accessories. Knitting takes a lot of time and I definitely need something different to do from time to time.

Today, I give you 3 beautiful brooch pins.

Olive green flower handmade satin brooch pin

Purple and green satin flower brooch pin

3 fabric folded rossette flowers brooch pin

Behind The Shawl #1

2010-10-24T00:23:00.000-07:00

I decided to start a new series of posts on my blog, showing the process of hand knitting of the shawls available in my ArtFire shop. Here is a story of a beautiful hand knitted wrap I've finished yesterday:

So it all started from a ball of beautiful and soft yarn (80% merino 20% angora to be precise).

For the main body of the wrap I decided to go with one of traditional Estonian patterns called Pohlamarjakiri or Ligonberry Pattern. It's a very nice pattern, looks great when knitted with lace yarn and slightly bigger needles.

After 5 days, the wrap's main body was finished and it was time for the decorative edge. I had to pick up stitches from all 4 sides of the wrap - 648 in total.... sounds scary, I know!

After another 2 days of knitting, the lace edging was finished and the wrap was almost done. Next, it had to soak for one hour in a warm water with liquid soap added and then....

... while it was still wet, gently pinned to a wooden frame to stretch and shape it ( if you ever wash a shawl like this by yourself, you can simply stretch it on your bed and use pins to block it). I left it like this for a night to slowly dry.

And here's the final result!

A hand knitted lacy wrap that goes perfectly with a wedding dress as well as with everyday jeans!

You can find it in my ArtFire shop.

Now, it's time for some numbers behind this shawl!

75cm - the width

178cm - the height

87g - the weight

7 - number of days invested

670 - meters of yarn used

and last but not least...

91*320 + (92*2 + 232*2)*20 = 29120 + 12960 =...

42800

total number of stitches worked.

Colors of an Autumnal Wedding - 2 new collections

2010-10-18T03:41:00.000-07:00

Colors of the Nature

Beautiful collection featuring some amazing photos by very talented ArtFire photographers.

Lovely photo by FacingTheLens

Handmade Autumnal Weddings

A collection featuring some stunning wedding items, perfect for an autumnal wedding.

Earrings by somethingjeweled

New wedding shawl

2010-10-15T06:24:00.000-07:00

I listed in my MadelinesWardrobe shop my third hand knitted white wedding shawl yesterday - I made it using absolutely great alpaca/merino yarn and traditional Estonian lace pattern - for both the body and the edge of this shawl.