I'm back !

Hello ! 

I'm back or I think I'm back to this little space and I've missed it. 

I know I've said that in the past. . . but life gets in the middle, doesn't it ? 

Or 2020 gets in the middle . . . let's not talk about 2020, right ? 

Let's talk about our creative life and how grateful I am to have the hobbies I have. 

Since I wrote here last time I have evolved as a maker, a lot. . . 

I now have discover also the love for embroidery, and increase my passion for patchwork. 

but what I love the most is that I have so many crafts to fall into depending on my time availability,

depending on my mood and depending on where I am also. 

Like knitting is very portable, but sewing isnt, but then patchwork can be portable too, right ? 

Today I wanted to pop in to show you my latest creations which combine all of my passions at the moment, 

I love Christmas, is that a secret ? 

I know some people dont love it and to be honest I think what I love most is the run up to Christmas, 

more than the week where all is concentrated. 

I love October, November and December . . . I love the coziness of those months, I love it when is cold. 

Then, I know, I live in Madrid where we have gorgeous winters . . . I just love winter in Madrid. 

It is cold but we have blue skies and it is sunny for the most part. 

But I love rainy days too. .. there is something very romantic about rain that I love. 

I'm babbling . . .

Back to my creations. 

I was saying they combine all my passions. 

Xmas, embroidery, sewing, patchwork and knitting. . . 

The knitting part is because the bags are made to be project bags for knitting projects. 

But that is what I had in mind and what my moment of RELAX is. . . knitting. 

These are now up on my Etsy shop. 

Aren't they cute ? 

I think they are adorable ! 

I'm working on more but this all the Xmas fabric I had left at the moment. . . 

It was my dream to make my little Etsy shop and that dream stands now more than ever before. 

My main job is in the tourism industry . . . so that is now . . . well, let's leave at quite quiet. . . 

So back to my happy place. 

I have enjoyed so much making these bags, 

and 

I hope someone loves them too and makes someone as happy as I have felt while making them. 

By the way. . . while I was making them I was listening to Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong . . . .oh ! 

and dreaming of a better world, or a better future for all. 

Well now, I better go pick up my son from soccer training. . . 

I do hope you are all well and safe 

and that you find solace in your crafting. . . 

What has been your favourite thing to make this year ? 

Take Care and Stay Safe, 

xEva 

 

Has it really been 9 months ??

Hello all,

Anybody there ? - I feel I lately start this way when writing in this little space of mine.
I always have the intention of being  more regular, but then life gets in the middle of it.

It's been a good while, since October 2016, really ???? that long ???

Ok, so lots happened, some knitting happened too, not much though.

Ok, so I'll tell you a bit of the highlights of all this time.

At Christmas we went to France (as we usually do since my husband is French), and we stopped at Lille for 1 night before going to my in-laws. Of course and as every time we go somewhere, the first thing I look up is yarn shops. . . I guess every yarn loving person does, I don't feel I'm the only one.
And so I went to La Droguerie and bought these beauties:

It is Alpaca yarn, and even though I mentioned in my YouTube channel a few times I do not consider myself someone who would gravitate towards blue, well, I think I need to rethink that because I have for the most part of 2016 and 2017 gone straight for blues 😏

I bought it to make a cardigan for my son but then in the end it was too fine, and so I;m saving it to make something for myself, maybe a shawl or a fingering weight cardigan, I'm not sure yet. I have a few favourites saved in Ravelry.

In February I had my birthday and my husband got me a few lovely things. Amongst those where these sock blockers (finally 😍) and the amazing Anne of Green Gables DVD set, which he ordered from Canada, no less. I cannot tell you how I adore Anne of Green Gables. I watched it when I was 12 years old for the first time and loved it since. I always felt a bit like Anne, and also the part of me that was not like Anne admired her and wanted to be like her. . .

I managed to finish these socks too. They are the Mercury Socks. It is a great pattern and it's free ¡¡

I is perfect for knitters that want to try lace knitting as the lace pattern in it is easy enough for adventurous beginners I'd say. If you are an experienced knitter, it is also lovely to knit this pattern since it is quite enjoyable and mindless. I love the result and really love how the socks turned out. 

The yarn used is Bergere de France, their Goomy 50 line in the Imprime Beige colour way. 

Well, that it for today. 

Oh, and if you are interested in cotton yarn I'm doing a Clearance Sale at my Etsy Shop of the Natura Just cotton. I really need to clear all the stock I have so that I can begin new ventures with my own hand dyed yarn ¡¡ 

I hope you are all having a wonderful summer ! 

Love, 

Eva 

Country Maison Podcast - Episode 3 is now up on YouTube !

I have started a YouTube Podcast . . .

Hello all ! and thanks for hanging in there during my long periods of absence.

After a long time wanting to do a video podcast I finally took the plunged and beat up that fear that

was keeping me from doing it.

Now you can see all things I'm currently making but it will be me showing them to you, in my channel (click above).

Please subscribe if you like it and like the video to show me some love, which is much needed in this new beginning.

After giving it a lot of thought I decided to do it in English since I wanted my international friends to also understand it, I'm sad my mother won't be able to understand it but she has me in real life to explain things to her and she has seen everything in the planning, making and the finished objects.

I have to plan a structure for the podcast yet and show notes will follow.

Please feel free to ask me anything you want to know about what you see in the podcast in the meanwhile. Remember you can also find me on Instagram, Facebook and Easy. I'm CountryMaison everywhere. . . .

I look forward to your feedback on my first episode !!

Thank you all in advance,

xEva

Evolve. . . . knitting, hand dyeing, new projects...

Hello !

Anybody there ??

First thanks for the followers that have not clicked the 'unfollow' button :-) and the ones who have, well, I totally understand them.

I have been away from my little space here for so long. . . so much has been happening in my little creative and crafty mind. . . I have evolved into so many things. I still feel I 'm trying to find myself if that makes sense ?

I like trying everything I get my eyes on, I'm curious by nature and want to know how things work, how is it done, I like solving misteries. . .

I learned to knit socks because it was an utter mystery to me. . . often times once I resolve the mystery of it I go on to something else. . .

Crochet stayed in my life for a few years and in fact all my life on and off. . . and knitting seemed to be just out of reach. I learned to knit when I was a child, I must have been 10 or 11 ? I can't really remember but I remember it not being a nice experience. I knit a scarf in 2x2 ribbing. . . how did that happen ? I wonder when I rescued the scarf from a bag with old things. . . .

The thought that I could not get passed knit and purl stitches stayed with me and so the idea of doing just that bored me.

Anyway, I picked up my knitting needles again 3 years ago and knitting has stayed with me and crochet was abandoned there and then (not forever though) but 3 years on I just can't put knitting down. . .

I have made cowls, hats, a cardigan, 3 shawls, socks. . . not very much to be honest as I'm a slow knitter and I spend more time ripping back than actually knitting on something :-)

I have now started the so called 'cozy memories blanket' although for me is not about memories but about using scraps or 'minis' I have dyed myself. . . I have been experimenting with dying yarn (yet this is another mystery solving for me). . . . the colour creation has proved fascinating for me, so much fun (I need to write a post about this). And yesterday I could see this also reflected on my kids.

Yesterday we had one of those nowadays rare free afternoon . . . .and we all needed calm and a quiet time. We made 'homemade' painting using corn flour, water and food colouring. My kids loved mixing the colours and try to get as many different colours as possible. Once the colours were mixed they were done with it, the fun was over. Mixing the colours is supposed to be only the preparation so that they could paint with them afterwards, but no, no painting happened.

I leave you here a few pictures of my blanket and the newest shawl I have started, and also the plan is to start this week this cardigan for my daughter.

Above is the French Cancan Shawl I have made for my mum

These are my first hand dyeing experiments, using food colouring which I will talk more about in the future, as I have also now have started selling full hanks hand dyed by me in my Etsy Shop

This is green ball is one of my favourites, the colour is not as bright as it looks on my screen, it is bright but not as much

 This is how my hand dyed yarn blanket is looking . . . so far

This mini here is also one of my favourites. . . .not sure why but I got lots of these pink/lilac minis, my hands and mind just seemed to mix the colours into these most of the time. . . 

And this is the new shawl I've casted on. . . I started this 3 times so far. The yarn is lace (2 ply) and I'm not used to working with such fine yarn. I was knitting with 3.5mm needles but the project did not call me, I was being put off . 

I changed needles to these zings 2.75 mm and I'm loving it !!

the pattern is this one. 

And just yesterday I bought this pattern in Ravelry to make it for my daughter. . . .

That is it from me for now, hope to post sooner this time :-)

Thanks for reading !

xEva 

Project Bag - a quick hello !

Hello all !! 

It has been a long time but I miss my little blog but summer seems to be always really busy for me. . . shouldn't summers be long lazy days ?? - not for me. . . but I do dream about those days. 

I was telling my husband today that I miss reading Country Homes and Interios (I had a subscription to it for years. . . :-)) What do I miss from it ??

Looking at lovely houses, relaxed settings and lots of lovely things, recipes, and what not. 

And more than anything because it made me dream. . . dream that one day I will be able to relax a little bit in a house like those of magazines, in a garden like the ones I see in there. . . 

Maybe I am a fool but what I know is I am a DREAMER and I will never stop dreaming. 

Ok, enough babbling now. 

See that little bag in the above picture ?? Cute isn't it ?

It is actually a project bag I made myself. For my knitting. For my current sock WIP. 

I needed a bag to carry my kitting and I wanted to make it myself, out of my favourite fabrics (or at least some of my favourite fabrics. . .)

And I love the expose zip. I wanted to make a different project bag and I had not seen any with exposed zips. It adds a very romantic touch to it. . . I feel !

I have even toyed with the idea of making some for my Easy Shop. . . but the idea vanishes in my mind as it fills up with my busy work life and the crazy months ahead of me. 

And so we will see. . . do you think people would buy it ? - I'm always insecure about things like this. 

This bag started when I was playing with my fabric stash. . . 

And I'm making socks and shawls. . . shawls ??? me ?? A beginner knitter ?? 

Yes !! and I want to learn more and more, knitting is so addictive that I have neglected quite a bit my crochet. . . :-(

I bought these sock yarns in Barcelona back in June . . . lovely, aren't they ??

and I'm making socks for my daughter . . .  

and I'm doing the Fish Kiss Heels for the first time. . . the pattern is only $1 in Raverly. 

The sock pattern I'm using is the Everyday Socks by Erica Luder (a free pattern in Raverly)

 And that is all I have to show you for today. . . I hope to be back soon to show you my shawls and other lovely things. .  .

What have you all been up to lately ?

xEva 

Garden Granny Blanket. . .

Hello dears !

I can finally show off my new blanket, 

which I have called Garden Blanket, because of the flower motifs. 

I started this blanket ramdonly and not knowing 

what I wanted it to be. Well, that is not true. 

I knew exactly the idea I wanted for this blanket, 

I just could not picture it, but I knew what I wanted. 

One thing is sure, I kind of wanted to make a Cath Kidston inspired blanket. . . .and I'm not sure if I achieved my goal. . . and to be honest I could not care less now because I just love the result !! 

This blanket is a gift to a very special baby. . . .(but tell me, is there any baby in the world that is not special ??) 

I mean special because she is my cousin's daughter. 

This cousin has been very special to me throughout my childhood, but about 15 years ago we kind or grew apart. As it happens in many families, there were some family problems. . . at the same time I moved abroad and we lost contact. . . 

We have met again in February and it was an extraordinary day full of emotions and memories. 

I made this blanket mainly with my yarn stash. . . from the yarn I used to make this blanket I made for my daughter. It is a 50% acrylic 50% wool yarn. I buy it locally and a couple of skeins of some colours left. . . I started using green first. . . . instead of the baby blue...

Then the shade of green was just not right, I thought. 

I also bought red and turquoise to give it a boost of colour. . . 

For the border I did a single crochet round in white. Then I used the 2 first rounds of border #120 from the Crochet Borders by Edie Eckman book. 

And to finish off I continued with border #105 from the same book. 

The final round of the border was done in red as I think it kind of frames the blanket and finishes it off. 

Blankets have a lot of history in them. . . I made this one while dealing with a lot (more than I bargained for. . . ) family emotions, good and bad. . . I also made it while traveling to different places for work, pleasure.... and also and mainly watching a fabulous tv series called Gran Hotel (Spanish production) which I have loved !! 

I also made this blanket in a record time (for me). . . 

I started it in February and it was finished on April 5th 2015, 

so about 2 months. . . . wow !!! I'm amazed !! 

I never thought I could make a blanket in 2 months ?!?! 

Now I suppose you want the details ?? 

It is made with Solid Granny Squares (this is a very simple pattern, that can be easily found in Google or any pattern site like Rarely) 

The flower motifs are the Waterlily square from the 200 Crochet blocks by Jan Eaton. 

It has 29 solid squares and 11 waterlily squares. 

It measures: 29' x 45' aprox (74cm x 114cm)

It weights: 438 gr

This means over 6 skeins of 50gr balls (200 cm per skein) = 1,752 metres of yarn !!

And now I leave you with some more pictures to enjoy !! 
I hope to write again soon. . . and be more regular on this little blog of mine. 

Take Care for now, 

xEva 

Pom-pom little girls knitted cowl and other late makes. . .

Hello to all and thank you for being there during this long absence.

What have I been up to ? 

The months before Christmas it was busy at work and involved some travelling

and I just could not keep up with work, the house, blogging and my online shop and what all that involves. 

I have lately had that dilemma about juggling so many things in my life and sometimes some things take priority and others have to be put on hold. That is the way life works, isn't it ?

In terms of crafting we have been up to a lot around here. 

My latest creation has been this cowl. 

I made it with the yarn leftover from another cowl I had made for my daughter here.

The cowl, I made it for a friend's daughter, and she loved it. 

I improvised the pattern and this is something I had been wanting to make for a long time: 

a girl's cowl that had a pom-pom closure. 

I think the result is very sweet. 

Then, if you follow me in IG, you would have already seen these pictures. 

I make lots of crafts with my kids, daily if we can. 

I try to make them as crafty and creative as possible as this is something I love and it is part of my life. I cannot think of my life without the creative part. And I believe creativity opens the mind to many other things in life. 

and so here below we made some hamma beads coasters. . . 

The blue one is a CK crosshatch pattern and the white one was our own creation. . .

the kids can spend ours doing that. 

Here below are some pretty things I also posted in IG. 

I lately have something for Liberty Fabrics. . . I just love them ! 

Below is my new knitting/crochet corner in our living room. And a cushion I have also recently made. 

 Below is another IG picture. .. :-) 

This was one of my quite afternoons. . . .it's funny when you see a picture like this you dream of a quiet afternoon, enjoying your tea and some knitting/crochet and also a few moments enjoying a good recipe book ! Far from reality....I took this picture and had literally 10 mins of quiet before picking the children up from school. 

My 'me' times are that . . . .literally 10 mins in the afternoon if I'm lucky and then I might get a couple of hours at night.  

But those evenings are often lacked of energy and I just need to put my brain on a side, put on my favourite TV series and crochet or knit for a little while. 

I'm not a night owl and have always been a morning person and so it is in the morning when my energy is at its highest ! 

And those granny squares you see below it's my current WIP. I cannot show you too much as it will be a surprise present for a 1 yr old baby. She will be 1 in May and so I don't want to spoil the surprise for her lovely mum, that happens to be my cousin. 

And below a funny snapshot ! 

My kids always find different fun uses for my crochet blankets. . . one day they can be a tent, another a picnic blanket, a princess or queen's cape, a boat. . . the imagination of a child has not limits !! 

 Well thanks again for being there and for reading my blog. 

I hope to get back again to the routine of writing often as I really miss this little world. 

I have found wonderful people in it and I love the 'positive' vibe and good energy it is surrounded with... 

Love, 

Eva