Some photos

I enjoyed the last sunny Sunday and decided to refresh some photos for my vanity gallery in our back garden... See more here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/koticzka

How about knitting?

Excuses, excuses, excuses: I am still trying to re-organise my life so I can re-introduce things I used to like so much - I still knit but I had to give up blogging for a while. I am present now on facebook, pinterest and twitter, it is so much easier to mark one's presence over there. Blogging needs more commitment, which I am very eager to deliver. It needs more thoughts than "like or not", "pin" or "IMHO so true! CU there"-twit. What kills my freedom is a simple every day life of a commuter, not much more, thanks Merlin. Yet, I did not put my tools down - crocheting hook dominated recent months. I was finishing this piece for my Mum:
Yet, in the meanwhile, I finished a couple of other items:
Or this one (poor quality photo; so much to catch up with in this area, too):
or this one (sold on etsy.com):
Now, the time came to clean a bit of the boxes with previously started jumper, which turned into the cardigan but can mutate again into something else; who knows... This is the beauty of hand knitting or crocheting. Options are countless. And all yours! :) Talking about other places online, I mentioned pinterest and twitter (all links will want to open in a new window):
http://twitter.com/Mrs_koticzka
http://www.pinterest.com/koticzka/
 
And I am still on etsy.com, my little vanity gallery:
Koticzka on etsy.com Do pop up from time to time! :)

WiP

Dulcinea? La Bonita Doncella?

Finished previous week. This seemingly simple design took me faar too long - just because 2 small tiny tricky things: 1) black yarn on winter evenings requires good light 2) circular needles are not for me. Bonus reason: 3) the routine of MY size! Now waiting for a proper photo session. My face looks horrible on the photos - I can only hope it is different in the normal light (I used flash). And there is also my crocheted dress getting dry with a cat on top, e-khem. OK, he did try but I would not let him. Not because of the dress (it is for me so it is my choice; I secure things ordered or for etsy - I pin to the mat to block it and peg to a simple cloth hanger; in the past I would need to close the room - but try to stop him from scratching the door!) - but it was dump so I did not want to him to catch a cold :) Still not sure about the name. I like naming each of them.

Mother Hen & 4 chicken Co.

A set of four coasters with a teapot doily - crocheted, handembroidered, a bit kitch, a bit folk, a bit of fun! :) Get inspired and make your own! Or choose the lazy option here: http://www.etsy.com/ie/listing/186100216/hen-chicken-co-4-coaster-set-teapot

Heart Tide

I made something last night, too. In January, I got a heart of glass made by Mariaela. It waited for a proper moment and it came... The heart got a crocheted string with some beads like blood drops.... De gustibus not disputandum - I like it very much. It is made for myself and not for sale - because the heart was a gift :)
Check Mariaela for her stunning handmade jewellery!

Silver Siren's Scallop Necklace

This necklace made of a true scallop and soft linen+viscose thread and a fistfull of glass and syntetic beads will be available on in my little shop koticzka's Cottage later on :) I really like it with its imperfect perfection and harsh beauty, the contrast of the thread and glass and the ribbed scallop...



By the way, scallop is different than a cockle (pardon me if I am using too common English terms here) - scallops are flatter, more delicate and seem to be made of porcelaine, they are quite fragile. They were used commonly as a decorative motiff, particularly in art nouveau. Black ones are my favourite (to be honest they have many shades of gray when dry), pink are less frequent, white are - for me - unique; spotty ones are also charming. I feel like finding a treasure each time I get a scallop, which is not damaged. Cockles instead, are deeper (which makes them also so much better for little tea-lights), harder and heavier, their ribs are also deeper. The colloring takes frequently a shape of stripes but it is quite easy to find plain white, brown, pinkish or black on the Eastern beaches of Dublin Bay. Cockles are piling over there and give me this overwhelming joy of a child out of sudden thrown in - choose, whatever you craved most for as a kid - in a big chest of toys, dolls with pretty clothes, colourful crayons and paints, marbles in bright colours and various textures? Or just a magical beach full of treasures and mysterious never ending fairy-tales... Oh, the season of beach wondering is coming! :) (beachnig would not be the perfect word here, but whatever you choose! ;))