7-27.2.10 Gilet sans manches de Phildar

GILET SANS MANCHES #026-T9-269 (Phildar No. 026, Hiver 2009/2010, size 34/40) by Phildar Design Team, is the first knitted cloth I have ever knitted ( excluding all accessories).
I used 9mm round needles and 3 skeins of Peach Pastel Super Soft Yarn of TeDdY's Wool , knitted with doubled thread (exactly 300 m/300 gr).
After painful trial and error, I had to unpick 13cm height of work with 196 st, to discover that the right number of st for my size (S) with this doubled thread is 110 st.
Glad to have accomplished it. Got the drive to make it when I saw it on one of my French relatives, in one of her visits to Israel.

27.2.10 Arum Lily by Lesley Stanfield

To fit the "Gilet sans manches" from Phildar 26, I prepared this Arum Lily brooch from Lesley Stanfield's book "100 flowers to knit & crochet", p.57. It took about an hr of knitting, maybe more and I really like the result in those pastel colors. The cactus underneath is called nopalitos, originating from Mexico and is also edible. I got it as a present from Uri Regev and I can't wait for it to grow so I can cook it with garlic, salt and olive oil. Yami...

27.2.10 Carrot by Lesley Stanfield

About an hr of knitting, this cute carrot brooch designed by Lesley Stanfield, appears in her book "100 flowers to knit & crochet", p.49. I had in mind to fit it with the "Gilet sans manches" from Phildar 26, but Omer told me I would look like someone who has just got out from the kitchen, so I had to try something else...
The green part of the carrot differs from the instructions and is crocheted in one part only.

19.2.10 From Bar Giora Old train station to Dir Hasheich (near Ness Harim)

Another beautiful day trip, this time closer to Jerusalem. We prepared a great omelet from the edible flower buds of the poisonous plant Ferula communis כלך מצוי. We also saw 3 different species of orchids:

and beautiful ciclamen leaves...

17-18.2.10 A basket from rolled newspapers (canudos de jornal)

Following a visit to Arbel's very interesting blog "סיבוב נוסף", I was quiet enthousiastic of her basket weaving creations, especially the ones with the rolled newspaper (or newspaper canes) basket such as this one.

Then I got an email from my friend Pnina with a link for an Hebrew tutorial of basket weaving with newspaper canes. Of course, that was an immediate decision, the same day all preparations for the task were ready.
In fact, it happens to be a bad experience at first, since rolling newspaper sounds so easy, but actually requires a lot of skill in order to get a unified/even roll/cane from both sides.
I almost gave up, feeling really stupid not to manage rolling a cane of newspaper evenly, but I gave it another try the day after. I saw that one of the rolling techniques uses a skewer and that was very helpful to practice in order to get better looking canes.

The rest went more smoothly until the finishing of the basket. There is also a problem that I haven't solved yet, "how to connect the canes with the white plastic glue so that I won't have to wait ages but on the other hand - the connection will be stable enough?" Maybe using hot glue?
Maybe preparing a giant cane and let it dry 24 hrs? (nah...? too messy?!). I have seen somewhere that people use laundry hanger to hold the connection with the white glue, but that makes the work really slow, isn't it?

For the finishing, I tried the technique (I don't know its professional name) I learned in the basketweaving workshop with Yonit Crystal, but I couldn't remember it. Finally, I somehow recalled it and just later discovered that the technique showed in the Hebrew tutorial is much simpler, but wasn't clear from the explanation there ( it is folding the 2 cm warp edges simply backward or forward).

I have gathered here some interesting links on the subject in case you get hooked, so enjoy!
It seems that this craft is very popular in Brazil, where the term in Portuguese is apparently "Canudinhos de jornal".

• Another rolling technique -Potes de canudo de revista - tutorial for spiral rolling of newspaper canes
• Portuguese tutorial for a newspaper recycled bag
• English tutorial Newspaper Basket
• Newspaper jewelry
• Handspun newspaper recycled yarn!
• Yarn from old newspapers by Greetje van Tiem
• Yarn made of newspaper
• Greetje van Tiem Site
• Newspaper Ballet Shoes
• A blog with many rolled newspapers creations

My basket is not yet finished, but I have to decide how to continue:

• Just go over with white glue
• First paint it with acrylic and then go over with oil varnish
• Spray it with some color
• Leave it like this

???

15.2.10 Omer's Homemade Spindle

Very proud of my Omer, after begging him for a while to produce me a spindle, he prepared for me this perfect tool. Yourrai!!! :-)
Now I need to find some time to practice on it ;-)

12.2.10 Bitronot Beeri

Meloe cavensis

חיפושית רפואנית מצויה

מכלוא של סחלב דבורנית דינסמור עם דבורנית צהובת שוליים

Bitronot Beeri is located in the south of Israel, close to Gaza. It is well known in Spring for its anemone carpets. Actually, there were many anemones but mostly dispersed. Omer and I spent a beautiful day trip with a tasty picnic among the flowers.

2.2.10 Crocheted Baby Double Strap Booties for Einat, designed by SylverDesigns (Size 2) Wrapped with an Origami Phalaenopsis Flower

Project info

Pattern: Double Strap Baby Booties by Sylvia Schuchardt (SylverDesigns)

Size: 9.5 cm length 4.5 cm width
Hook: 4.0 mm (G)
Yarn: Cotton Thread 50 gr for 125 m.

A small present for a small newborn girl, very similar to the ones I made for Jade, although this time they are bigger. The booties are filled with 2 pair of socks; the white ones are folded and the pink ones rolled.

The Origami Phalaenopsis Orchid Flower is made based on Hiromi Hayashi instructions (Project 42) from the Japanese book:
折り紙フラワー (No.2) (ブティック・ムック―折り紙 (no.606)) (単行本)