Baby vests for my grand nephew

It is not that I haven't thought of you all and of this blog over the last half year. Basically it has been on my mind for at least once a week - but hey I am only human, and life gets in the way sometimes leaving too little time for the blog.

I have been knitting and I have been knitting a lot the past 6 months. One of my goals this year is to create and publish my first pattern. This has now reached the final stages and I promise to tell you much more about it soon.



Today I wanted to show you what is on its way to my grand nephew in Norway. Two baby vests, made in 100% merino wool, and they are so soft and squishy I wish I was the one they were intended to.

By the way, would you be interested in getting this pattern in English?
I am contemplating the option of translating this very popular and frequently used Danish pattern into English, but first I need to find out whether it's at all allowed? and who to ask?



On top of that, I have made two oven mitts for Magnus' parents. I have stamp printed the fabric with my beloved grand mother's stamps. I love them, and I love to think, my grand father made them for her back in the 50'ies and now they are revived in my creative adventures.



For Magnus this prints will connect him back to his great great grandmother - fascinating thought, don't you think.

2016 in review

2016 is definitely approaching its end - and what a year it's been.

We started the year moving into our new home - I will never forget the feeling when we opened the front door the first time, and entered our first own Australian home.
How lucky we are to wake up to this amazing view every single morning. I still pinch myself of gratitude for our luck.



With the  boxes emptied and the family settled into our new area, I could reconnect with my knitting needles again. When looking through the pictures I realise how slack I've been over the year. Several projects haven't yet been mentioned here on the blog. They will of course be included in the 2016 year review, and maybe even be featured in special post early in the new year.

Thomas had long hassled me for a cardigan to substitute the previous brown one. Same style, slightly slimmer and in a beautiful charcoal grey wool. Simple zipped raglan, but with added details at the shoulder seems and down the sides. I thought this would become my first ever pattern, but I forgot to take proper notes during the process, so a knitting designer debut will have to wait until next time.



It is always exciting to cut open the front to insert the zip, but knitting round and cut open is so much more preferable than endless purl rows.

 

To knit for babies is always such a delight. Small projects and the pure joy of imagining the cute little fellars wearing the knitting is half the pleasure of knitting.

 

 

I made a 'grandpa jacket and trousers' for my niece's little Magnus and a 'Rilletroeje' and a 'djaevlehue' for Lachlan, the son of a dear colleague.

 

Further I knitted the babyvests for sale and sold a number of vests this year. The most popular colour combination was yellow/green.

 



 

One of my favourites this year was 'Navy Blue' from the book 'Blue Notes' by Susie Haumann. I love the beautiful lines and the simple structure yet very elegant and effective. The pattern suggest a shorter back and longer fronts, but I wanted a long cardigan so I extended the back to full length. It turned out absolutely stunning - and is of course in my favourite grey coloured light weight wool.

 

 

The cardigan is knitted back and forth and not in the round as I normally prefer. It took a while to finish, but on the other hand, this was the project teaching me to like purl knitting.

I did get the front edge sorted with blocking and ironing, although it still has a tendency to curl up.

 

 

Sky Blue by Susie Haumann. Staying in the greys and in the 'Blue Notes' universe I moved on to 'Sky Blue', a beautiful, simple raglan sweater with the two yarns defining the character. The sleeves are made with one thread silk mohair (lace weight) and are knitted on very thin needles. They took forever to finish, but I was very pleased with the result.

 

Much to my dismay, however I have to admit it is still stuck in the UFO basket with only one sleeve attached. This review post is a good reminder to get it finished.

 

 

 

Line Break by Veera Välimäki This year also brought the pleasure of knitting the Line Break shawl twice. I had this beautiful green cottonwool sitting in the stash, and I thought it would be perfect for a shawl for my Mother InLaw. There was'nt enough yarn though and the shawl became too small.

 

 

The second version is made out of a beautiful purple/grey wool - also from the stash. This time the shawl was the right size, but again the yarn didn't last, so I chose to add a different colour to the lace edge. It turned out very well, and I am very happy with the result.

 

 

 

The green Line Break wasn't knitted in vain though. I through it in the washing machine for a bit of felting and cut it into small triangles, added a crocheted stem, put four trees on a string and added them to my stall at the Christmas Market - and wupti a disaster turned into a huge success. 

 

 

 

RUBY by Lene Holme Samsoe. Another of the knitted favourites is this pink, soft and mooshie oversize raglan jumper.  It is knitted with on thread of cashmere wool and one thread silk mohair. It cannot be any softer.

 

 

 

I love this simple oversize jumper - so easy to take on and off as the weather changes. It is way to warm now in the middle of summer, but during winter and early spring it was perfect.

 

 

Matthews Vest by Joanna Johnson. Another gift - this time for my Father In Law - and I had decided to make him a vest. Of course I was way too late, and had to present a gift card for a hand knitted vest as make it during the three weeks they were here visiting.

 

Couldn't have found a better project to bring on to the roadtrip Sydney-Melbourne-Great Ocean Road-Bendigo and back to Sydney and the vest was done the day before we rolled back into our driveway.

 

 

For a long time I had wanted to gather other crafters to share the passion for knitting with. 2016 was the year the dream came into reality, and I hosted the first Craft n'Coffee during the early Aussie winter. Such a delight to meet new people and see good old friends and colleagues joined for a couple of hours chatting, sipping and knitting along. Definitely a success to be repeated in 2017.

 

 

Oven Mitts by Lutter Idyl (Danish). I love the simplicity and graphic structures of everything Lutter Idyl crochets, and I have long wanted to try to crochet the bubbles structure. These oven mitts were so fun to crochet and so rewarding to see the pattern unfold for every row. It is definitely not the last time I will be hooked :-)

 

 

 

Kitchen Cloths - pure carter stitch. Simple, beautiful and most importantly very practical. 100% cotton yarn and pure carter stitches. I think I've made at least 30 Kitchen cloths this year. Many of them were sold at the Balle's Bazaar stall at the Danish Christmas market and some has been presented as gifts - always with great appreciation. 

To continue the kitchen theme I made aprons and matching oven mitts. There are still a grey set and two white sets available for sale. If you are interested head over to the Balle's Bazaar Boutique page for more details.

 

 

Again this year the pouches were a big success. I have decorated them with prints made by the stamps cut out by my Grand Farther, needless to say hoe much I love to work with these treasures.

 

 

 

Finally I have knitted countless woollen hearts. They (and the kitchen cloths) have accompanied me on the train to and from work. I could knit two hearts on a single train ride and I've enjoyed them all. You can find the pattern at Ulla Bella (a Norwegian blog).

 

At the un-felted stage

 

The hearts look absolutely awesome on a naked branch

One of the goals for 2016 was to have my own Balle's Bazaar stall at the Danish Christmas Market in Sydney. It happened. I'm pleased, slightly impressed and very proud of how the stall turned out. Thank you to all the beautiful people stopping by for visit and chat. So happy to serve my customers hand made gifts and Christmas goodies. I'll be back next year.

 

 

2016 was a good year for me, my family and my craft. Thank you to all of you who has followed me through this and previous years. The blog has not been as active as I would have liked, but if you enter 'ballesbazaar' in the search field of Instragram you will find more frequent updates.

To all of you, my friends out there I wish 2017 will be a great year, filled with love, laughter and happiness.

 

 

 

All the best.

Jane  

Danish Christmas Fete 2016

Finally, after several months of preparations for the Balle's Bazaar stall at the Danish Christmas Fete the gate opened and we could say hello and welcome to the guests lined up early.

Thanks to everyone of you who came for a sneak peak, for a chat, for a feel the woolen felted hearts cozy softness, and for stocking up on Christmas decorations and early Christmas presents. It was so lovely to see you all, and I am blown away by all the positive comments, the love and support you all showed me yesterday. It warms my heart.

This year I had a bit of a kitchen theme going on. Aprons, oven mitts and kitchen cloths all held in grey, white and black - with a lime green splash of colour, and as previous years there were stamp printed purses and the very popular knitted and felted woolen hearts.

Again this year the bestsellers were the red felted hearts, closely followed by the knitted kitchen cloths in 100% cotton.


Did you miss out yesterday? No worries, I have been busy photographing and updating 'Balle's Bazaar Boutique' so you don't miss out on the goodies


Please check out the Boutique for options for a unique and handmade gift for the all the holiday celebrations which are just around the corner. Should you not find the colour you are looking for, send me an email and we'll sort something out.

Thank you for your amazing response here and on instagram (@ballesbazaar). I'm so grateful for being part of this craft loving community.

Happy Mother's Day - a day of precious memories

Happy Mother's Day to my lovely Mum and to all of you amazing Mums out there.


A day to appreciate everything our Mums have done for us, and for our kids to appreciate us for everything we do for them. Asger made breakfast for me (and the rest of the family). He actually did it last Sunday too, because we thought it was Mother's Day then, but he wanted (self declared) to do it again today.


Apart for a delicious breakfast I got to do what I really enjoy doing - textile printing.

In the love for simplicity the theme is black and white These prints these prints will later be turned into the next batch of cosmetics pouches.


My Grandfather made the stamps. He cut the pattern in linoleum, glued them to wooden blocks and my Grandmother (Mormor) used them to make gorgeous fabrics and turned them into totes, tea cozies, pillows, tablecloths, napkins, aprons and more.


I have two large boxes filled with different stamps. Some with rabbits, eggs and flowers to celebrate Easter and gnomes, hearts, cantles, Santa to make adorable Christmas tapestry and table cloths.


When I was a kid, I went to my Grandma's every December to create Christmas presents with these stamps. My Mum still decorate for Christmas with the table cloths I made for her 40 years ago.


I was reminded of my Grandma today while printing away. I hear her instructions for how to apply just the right amount of paint for the print to be even and beautiful. My Grandma would've loved the thought of her stamps going all the way to Australia and giving me so much joy. They are very precious to me and I think of them as one of my greatest treasures.

A lovely Mother's Day is ending. A spicy Thai soup is in the making. It has turned dark outside and we have lid a few candles. I feel so blessed for beautiful memories and my family who has made this day to special.


What made your day special? and how do you appreciate your Mum and Grandmother?

Preparing for the Danish Christmas Fete in Sydney

Early January 2014 I promised myself (and published it here on the blog) that Balle’s Bazaar would participate in the Danish Christmas Fete in Sydney this year. 

Juggling a busy schedule of work duties and family logistics I found it hard to find enough time to pursue my dream, and I was beginning to lose faith in own abilities. One evening though, I thought: Jane, you have to start looking after yourself and your dreams. If you don’t act they will remain – dreams and you’ll never experience the thrill of actually accomplishing anything’

And yes - next Saturday I will be there – at the Fete with a small Balle’s Bazaar stall – woop woop!!! 

I’ve made pouches – one bigger version, excellent for cosmetics or as a pencil case and a smaller version ideal for all the small items otherwise foating around at the bottom of the handbag. Both pounches are made using Unikarina's guide (in Danish). The smaller came by after accindently having printed out the model in half the size. This has now become one of my favorites. 

For the pouches I’ve used fabrics from the stash and only added a handful or two of zippers.

As you may notice, I’ve also played around with the blog header. The pictures are gone, and now substituted by a clean, simple and sharp font instead – just the way I like it. Hope you like the change too.

I’ve also been doing some knitting. What I've made, I will show you in a coming post. 

Finally, please accept (again) my apologies for the low frequency of blog posts. If you want to see more please join me at Instagram – my profile is @ballesbazaar, and I will love to see you over there, and I promise the frequency of posts is much higher. 

Hope to ’see’ you again soon.


En af mine (mange) planer for 2014 var at Balle’s Bazaar skulle være repræsenteret ved det danske julemarked i Sydney. Længe gik jeg som katten om den varme grød og synes ikke rigtigt at jeg kunne få plads til det kreative midt i arbejds- og familielogistikken. Men en aften da jeg sad i sofaen tænkte jeg: ’Nu må det være nok. Du skal også forfølge nogle af dine drømme og gøre det der skal til for at føre dem ud i livet’ 

Næste lørdag er der så en lille bod med navnet Balle’s Bazaar med på julemarkedet.  

Jeg har syet punge – en stor version, perfekt til alle kosmetiksagerne og en lille version, som er helt fantastisk til alle småtingene der ellers ligger og roder rundt i håndtasken. Begge er lavet efter Unikarinas vejledning og hvor den lille version fremkom ved en fejl – ved at printe vejledningen ud i halv størrelse. Den er nu blevet en af mine favoritter.  

Jeg har brugt stof fra lageret og kun suppleret med en sværm af lynlåse og lidt ekstra bånd. 

Jeg har også leget lidt med design af Balle’s Bazaar logoet. Har fundet en fed skrifttype og så arbejdet derudfra. Væk er billederne i ’headeren’ og ind er kommet en stilren skrift – simpelt og rent – sådan som jeg bedst kan lide det. Håber I kan lide den lille forandring.

Jeg har også strikket. Hvad der er kommet ud af det vender jeg tilbage til én af de nærmeste dage.  

Midt i al hverdagsvirakken lider bloggen en kummerlig tilværelse. Det beklager jeg (igen). Der er noget mere aktivitet på Instagram og du er velkommen til at følge @ballesbazaar hvis du er nysgerrig efter at se lidt mere af hvad jeg går og laver. Det håber jeg du har lyst til.

Ha’ det godt til vi ’høres’ ved igen.

A cosmetics pouch

The removal boxes are piling up around the house. Fabrics, yarns and other craft material are packed in boxes and the sewing machine is going to go the same way.

No crafting what so ever is happening here at the moment.

I can however show you one of my previous creations. A cosmetics pouch given as birthday present to my niece when they visited us from Norway during the holidays.

She had one my cosmetics pouches from before, but had an accident with a broken bottle and nail polish all over inside the pouch. Well, I was lucky to have one left i the cupboard.

Same approach as all the other pouches I've made, but this time I used the structure in the fabric and embroidered the flower pattern with beautiful colors. Adding a purple zipper and lined it with turquoise oil cloth the result turned out both romantic and cool.

My niece loved it. I hope it will be used as much as the previous one.
Maybe I should whip up a few more, when being reunited with my fabrics and sewing machines a few streets away.

Søjlerne med flyttekasser vokser sig højere og højere rundt om i huset. Vi er godt med, og inden de sidste dages, hvilket bliver i den kommende weekend hektiske kaos melder sig, nyder vi følelsen af at være ovenpå. Det sker nemlig ikke så tit.

Alt mit stof, garn og andre hobby materialer ligger pakket ned i kassernes dyb. Symaskinen går snart den samme vej, og der bliver lavet nul og en hattefis kreativt her for tiden. 

Heldigvis har jeg da lidt på lager, jeg kan vise jer. En kosmetik pung skiftede hænder under den nys overståede ferie. Min niece havde fødselsdag mens de var på besøg, og hvad var mere nærliggende end at forære hende den pung der lå på lager til erstatning for den hun tidligere har fået, men som har måttet lide den kranke skæbne at bliver overhældt med neglelak. 

Denne kosmetik er syet over samme læst som alle de foregående. Denne gang er den dog syet op i en fin lysegrå hør med et fint præget blomsermotiv. En enkelt blomst er fremhævet med påsyet broderitråd og med en kvik lilla lynlås og tyrkisfarvet voksdug i sit indre, blev den da både romantisk og rap, synes jeg. 

Modtageren blev meget glad, og jeg håber hun får lige så stor glæde af denne kosmetikpung som af den sidste. Måske der er basis for at lave flere, når engang er genindstalleret med stoffer og  symaskine.