A new apology and a finished project

So.. First of all I want to say that I'm sorry about being so incredibly slow on this post, but I haven't been very productive and also I haven't been able to get pictures from my camera and onto my computer for quite a while so the blogging haven't exactly been easy. Plus I've been very very lazy since before Christmas. But anyway..In the end of November I got an order. My very first international order. It came from a girl in Croatia, with whom I used to play World of Warcraft (yes, I am -that- pathetic). She wanted a bag and so I started making a bag after her descriptions. On March the second it was finished. I know it was slow work but alot was going on, like Christmas and a couple of injuries (there will be a picture of one of them further down the post) and such, but my "customer" was okay with it.
The bag is 30cm (about 12") wide, about 45cm (17,7") long and the strap is 120cm (47,2") long. The bag itself is made from wool and as you can probably see by now the technique is needlebinding. The buttons are regular hard plastic and the red heart is felt. The lining of the bag (which you cannot see in the pictures) is a cotton/elastan mix. And for those of you that actually recognise that sort of fabric, yes I have recycled an old pair of pants from technically being trash to being a usefull part of my crafts. Not the first time I've done something like that either. I just might do a post on that at a later time. But back to the original bag. The only thing I should have done differently was that I miscalculated the length of the strap so it's a bit short for the girl that ordered it, but she managed to find a way to use it anyway so everyone's happy.
Here are the pictures of the finished product.

The bag from the front:

The bag's lid and buttons up close, unfortunatly the flash stole a lot of colour from it:


The bag's behind:

The felt heart and the stitching up close:

Ester with the bag in various ways and poses:




And here we have what sometimes happen when you work on your own and don't know the difference between finger and fabric when you're using the sewing machine:


Thanks for having a peek!

Stay creative!

Bracelet making

Earlier today I bought 25meters (82feet) of black 1mm leather string because I thought that might come in handy some time, and it allready has.
A few weeks ago I got an idea for a "new" use for needle binding. I read on Wikipedia that the women of the Nanti tribe in Peru used the technique to make bracelets and I thought "Hmmm, I wonder if that can be done with leather string?". And it could!

I used a regular, pretty large, blunt needle and bound as usual and in the pictures below you can see the result of this prototype project. It's a little uneven, but pretty good as far as a first attempt go.

This is the bracelet on my boyfriend's wrist. He asked me if he could have it so it's his now.

Here you can see the details a little bit better.
And here's a real close up so the knotwork really shows.

Bits and pieces

In this post I'm gonna show you a few bits and pieces I made earlier this summer and that I was planning on selling on markets, but Madam Fate didn't want it that way, so I've still got them.

First:
This purse was supposed to be just any old purse, but then I decided to do the lid with my spiral technique and it started looking slightly like an owl and when I got an old button from a duffle coat from my neighbour to close it with it became whole. And fully an owl, complete with a beak and everything! This is really one of my favourite items.
The purse is made from wool, the button/beak is horn (I don't know from which animal) and the technique is needle binding. The measurements of the purse is 15cm (5,9") long, 21cm (8,3") wide, the lid is about 10cm (3,9") and the strap is 75cm (29,5").

Second:
A small tote bag-ish thing for carrying little things, like a wallet, glasses, things like that. This is the first time I've noticed that it looks a little bit like a squid. Again, it's made from wool and needle bound. The green decorations along the strap is embroidered in woolen yarn. The bag is 13cm (5,1") wide, 18cm (7,1") long and the strap is 82cm (32,3").

Third:
A simple pair of wrist warmers. I actually had three pairs, the white ones, a pair in forest green and another one in dark grey but I gave away the grey ones to Beate and the green ones I modified and added abit to and gave to my friend Charlotte for her birthday.
The warmers are about 6cm (2,4") in diameter and 10cm (3,9") long. They, like most other of my creations, are made from wool and needle bound.

Gnome's hat!

While I've been working on the sweater I've also gotten time to create another little thing.

This is an official gnome's hat and it belongs now to my friend Gustav. The hat is made with thick woolen yarn and the technique is, as usual, needle binding. Yes, I know that I'm a little one sided, but I'm working on it.


The picture of just the hat is taken on the bus and the one of Gustav wearing his hat is taken at Heimspikka, a viking village/living museum/kultural experience centre in-the-making that a bunch of us are building.

My new big project

As you know, my last big project was the bag I made for my friend. Well now I'm working on another big project, this time a sweater for my boyfriend.

Here's the first bit of the sweater, still had quite some work left before I could start the chest and neckline bit at that stage. Not to mention the sleeves.

The reason why I chose to make a sweater for my boyfriend and not for myself is because he's rather small so it's not that big a project and because he's been hinting furiously about me making him one for quite some time.

For this piece I'm using quite thin woolen yarn (superwash) and the bone needle you see in the picture.

Inspiration in a packet

A little while back we had this little project called "Inspirational Packages" at this forum I'm a member of. We had a certain limit when it came to price and a time we had to send the packages. Then we were given a name and an adress to send it to.
So here's what I sent to my "chosen one"; A small needlebound bag made from wool and two small bags of self-picked herbs.
Bag no.1 contains dried and ground stinging nettles and bag no.2 contains yarrow flowers. Both herbs are great to use as tea. Yarrow can be used against fever, colds, the flu and also for cleasing the liver and kidneys. The nettles are good for rheumatical pains and it's also full of antioxidants and vitamins.
Unfortunatly I don't have the measurements of the bag, but it's pretty small.

Here's what I got from my secret friend;

A crochet tablecloth, a collection of insence and a nice little note.

Asking for some help...

As I've mentioned in earlier posts I'm planning on selling some of my stuff this summer, but my problem is that I have no idea what to charge for them. So I'm asking for a little help. Could you just take a little while and think about what you'd expect to have to pay for these items (all needle bound) and then leave a comment.

*Babysocks
*Socks for adults
*Small bags
*Medium bags
*Large bags (like the one in the previous post)

In advance, thank you!

My first proper bag

Here is my first semi-large needle binding project, Beate's Bag!

The yarn I used is rather thick, durable washable wool.
The bag itself is 40cm (15,7") long, 38cm (15") wide, the lid is 17cm (6,7") and the strap is 65cm (25,6").
In addition to the bag itself there's also two seperate "compartments" inside the bag. One small pocket for mobile phone and such and one suitable for a wallet, lipstick, camera etc.

This bag was made for my friend Beate in exchange for a leather case that I can have in my belt. Just a few days ago we met up at our favourite leather shop and bought the materials for the case. I'm going to post pictures of it once I've gotten it, and believe me it's going to be beautiful! It will even have spirals on it and that's sort of my trademark.

Stay creative! And comment!

Tiny socks!

These days I'm working on some various things that I'll to try to sell at a viking market this summer.
So far I've got these two pairs of woolen baby socks, but more is in the planning. Been thinking of doing a couple of bags, more baby socks, some socks for bigger children and maybe some for adults, but we'll just have to see how much I have time to get done and also how much my shoulders and hands can take before they give up. Not like I want to make a fortune anyway. Just try to get a bit more spending money, you know. That's always nice when you want to buy everything around you.

The socks are made from semi-thick washable wooled yarn and one pair takes me about two hours to finish.

If you want to read more about the market I'm going to, check out this link: http://njardar-vikinglag.no/pages/vikingmarked-2009.php

The joy of trading

Last summer I attended a needle binding class at Borre Viking market. After a bit of trouble and messing about I got the hang of it and really started enjoying it. When the class was over I showed my friend Rina (beautiful name, isn't it?) a pair of socks that I'd made and she asked me if I could make her a bag for her camera and that I could have one of her ceramic cups in return. So I said yes and a couple of weeks later at a different market we traded bag for cup.

So here's the bag in the colours of Rina's choice. It actually matches her hair aswell! I know that it's a little uneven and that the design is not optimal but keep in mind that it was my very first attempt at anything other than a sock.

The yarn used for this is rather thick wool and I'll be posting a piccie of my needle rather soon.

And here we have the cup I got in return. I really really love it and the reason why it's looking a little icky around the top is because it's been my regular coffee cup for several months and you try to get coffee stains out of un-glazed ceramic.

I'll be talking more about needle binding later on, but if you want to read more right now go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N%C3%A5lebinding and check it out.