New creations with felt

It is still the beginning of autumn, but the European group of Etsy has already began the preparations for Christmas promotion,since people abroad prepare and plan their Christmas shopping on time. I desided to make fill my shop with gift items. Starting yesterday, I made these necklaces with felt:

This week’s creations

The cool and rainy weather of the last days inspired me to knit and craft a lot. I starting a capelet for the weekly challenge "minimalism", but didn't finish it on time, so I made these simple felt bangles.

And since I started working with felt, I made these cute pins.

The winner of the challenge was Matilou, and she chose the next theme, which is : "revival"
I searched my stash and found a piece of lovely multicolor yarn, that was a leftover from a scarf and I gave it life, making a pair or cabled gauntlets J

In the meantime, I finished the capelet with the chunky Colinette yarn:

And now I'm knitting a scarf with several grey, white and black yarns J

Grab you needles!

The weather has cooled, and it's ideal for knitting! This season the designers have played with knitwear, creating awesome designs, other chunky and oversized, with volume, huge collars and sleeves and other with more feminine style. Take a look and get inspired!

Waiting for the rain

Now that the weather is changing slowly and it;s getting cooler, I start to long for autumnal dishes.The fisrt thing that came to my mind, while I was looking at the grapes at the super market, was stuffed vine leaves, which I adore!

Here are two recipes:

Stuffed vine leaves with rice (Dolmadakia yialantzi)

1 lb fresh or preserved vine leaves
1 lb short grain rice
3 cups finely chopped spring onions
2 cups chopped onion
1 cup chopped parsley
1 cup chopped fresh dill
1 cup olive oil
1/3 cup lemon juice
Salt & pepper for seasoning

Wash the vine leaves and trim off the stems. Blanch them, a few at a time, in boiling water. Drain and let them cool. Mix the rice with the onions, the herbs, half of the oil, and the seasoning. Lay the vine leaves one by one on your left hand, put a tablespoon of the rice mixture in the middle of the leaf, fold the sides over and roll it up into a neat parcel. Continue stuffing the vine leaves, until all the filling is used. Cover the base of a large pan with plain vine leaves. Arrange the stuffed vine leaves on top packing them in, with the folded side down, in more than one layer if necessary. Pour on the remaining oil, boiling water to cover the layers and the lemon juice. Put a heave plate upside down on the top of the stuffed vine leaves, to keep them in shape while cooking. Cover the pan and bring to boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until all the water is absorbed (30-40 min). Let them cool and serve them. They are delicious with yogurt and can be served warm or cold.
Alternative: You can add ¼ cup pine nuts to the mixture if you like.

Stuffed vine leaves with meat (Dolmadakia me kima)

1 lb fresh or preserved vine leaves
1 lb ground beef
1 lb ground pork
1 large onion finely chopped
½ cup finely chopped parsley
½ cup finely chopped fresh dill
½ cup short grain rice
1 cup olive oil
1 cup boiling water
2 eggs
Salt & pepper for seasoning
1/3 cup lemon juice

Wash the vine leaves and trim off the stems. Blanch them, a few at a time, in boiling water. Drain and let them cool. Mix the meat with the rice, the onions, the herbs, half of the oil, and the seasoning. Lay the vine leaves one by one on your left hand, put a tablespoon of the rice mixture in the middle of the leaf, fold the sides over and roll it up into a neat parcel. Continue stuffing the vine leaves, until all the filling is used. Cover the base of a large pan with plain vine leaves. Arrange the stuffed vine leaves on top packing them in, with the folded side down, in more than one layer if necessary. Pour on the remaining oil, boiling water to cover the layers and the lemon juice. Put a heave plate upside down on the top of the stuffed vine leaves, to keep them in shape while cooking. Cover the pan and bring to boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until the water is reduced by one third and the meat is cooked (30-40 min). Lightly beat the eggs in a bowl, add the lemon juice gradually and continue beating. Drain a cup of hot liquid from the vine leaves and slowly pour the egg-lemon sauce over the stuffed vine leaves, shaking the pan gently to spread all over. Remove from the heat. Allow to stand for 15 minutes before serving.

My new creations

I don’t know if it’s only me, or three are others like me, but I have the tendency , as soon as I start a new creation to have already in my mind the next one! Many times I make two or three things at the same time. This week, I have three knitting projects in progress and I managed to finish my item for the “frost” challenge chosen by Ingermaaike at the last minute! I made a wristlet/clutch with felt and needlefelted snowflakes on it.


The new challenge theme for this week is “minimalism”, chosen by JKphotography, who was the winner of the “frost” challenge. You can read more about it and see the submissions so far on her blog. I haven’t figured out yet what to do!

Here are my unfinished and finished creations:



At first I started this as a scarf, but it is is wide enough and I'm thinking of making a sweater for me, or a wide cowl, haven't decided yet, but I love this yarn which has a lovely sage green color that gradates to off-white!And I love the bobbles too!

This is a fabulus wool chunky yarn by Colinette, and will be a cowl, with several stripes of cables!


I finished this scarf from crochet flowers and now I'm making fingerless gloves with the same yarn, and if I have enough yarn remaining, I'll knit a cap too!It's a fabulus soft light yarn wool with silk.
I also made this felt necklace:

This scarf was finished some time ago, but I hadn't taken the photos. I will list it tonight.

Designs for inspiration

I always loved the knitwear and accessories of Benetton. They have lovely bright colors and designs. The new designs for this winter are except from grey and purple, nordic style colorwork, stripes in bright colors and many knit accessories, such as scarfs, neckpieces, necklaces a.o. I was impressed by the scarfs with the loopy stitches and thought to saw you how to make them. You can do loopy stitches either knit or crochet. And besides scarfs, you can decorate sleeves, or collars.  

Loopy stitch with needles

1st row (wrong side) purl. 2nd row: edge st., *Knit 1, Knit 1 but don’t slip the stitch to the right needle, bring the yarn in front of your work, and loop it around your left thumb making a loop 3cm long, hold tight, move the yarn to the back of your work again and knit the stitch of the left needle again, then slip it to the right needle* edge st. Repeat the two rows.

Loopy stitch with crochet hook

Chain the desired number of st. 1st row: single crochet. 2nd row: 1 ch, insert the hook in next sc, put your middle finger before the yarn . Pull the yarn and pull through both loops. Pull your middle finger out of the loop and insert hook in the next sc. Again put middle finger in front of yarn, pull yarn through both loops and continue the same for all the stitches. Repeat row 1 &2.

what's on the table today?

Today I mixed German and Greek cuisine and made Viener Schnitzel with fried potatos and eggplant salad (the Schnitzel of course is an Austrian speciality, but I learned it form my German mother :D).

For the schnitzel:

Oil for frying

6 filets pork sirloin

1 cup cake flour

2 cups dry bread crumbs

2 eggs

¼ cup milk (optional)

Salt & pepper to taste

Heat the oil in the frying pan

Place the flour and bread crumbs in separate dishes.

Lightly beat the eggs and add the milk (optional).

Coat the filets first with flour, then dip them in the egg mixture and drain slightly. Next, coat with the bread crumbs by lightly pressing the bread crumbs into the meat. Fry in cooking oil until golden brown. Taste with salt and pepper.

Eggplant Salad (Melitzanosalata)

2 lbs eggplants (aubergines)
1/4 teaspoon salt
2-3 garlic cloves, crushed
3/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup vinegar
2 tablespoons chopped parsley (optional)
1 green mild pepper, seeded and chopped
1 tomato, seeded and chopped
Wash, wipe, and put them on, or under a grill and turn frequently, to cook on all sides, for about 20-40 minutes, until soft. Pass each eggplant quickly under running water to cool slightly and peel them immediately, while they are still hot. Do not leave the eggplants to cool unpeeled, as the flesh will turn black. Put in a strainer and allow to cool, then chop and combine with the salt and garlic. Add vinegar, oil and parsley. Garnish the eggplant salad with the chopped green pepper and tomato.