I've been knitting and sewing up a storm lately... so much so, that I haven't had the energy to do any blog posts. I'm getting ready for the upcoming fall/winter season, and have been trying over the past couple of years, to buy as little new clothing as possible, and to make as much as possible. I guess like many crafters out there, I have an enormous stash of wool and fabrics that I want to start whittling down. This was the impetus for this personal challenge of mine. I'm happy to say that I've managed to only purchase 7 new pieces of clothing and two pairs of shoes this year.  I don't know how to gauge this though... what do most people buy in a year?

On a sad note, one of our very dear friends is leaving Berlin tomorrow for bigger and better opportunities, and she will be sadly missed. I'm looking forward to your first visit back B, I hope that it's before the year's end!

Some recommendable things going on in the city:

Lesen Lounge - our friend Leah has a great collection of zines that she wants to share with you, so pay her a visit ( she also got some great press here)
KW - Wael Shawky exhibition
CFA - KIDS show
Etsy labs - Workshop to make a really nice, inexpensive, versatile piece of furniture

I would also like to make it out to the Reading room *, a project of Do you read me?! on Potsdamerstr. sometime next week... anyone up to joining me?

* Which reminds me... M has an artist book at the Reading Room, a totally separate project in Berlin, run by two artists here. I also want to check this out sometime... any takers?

Happy Thursday.

It's been busy yet quiet around here. We're slowly getting ready for the holidays and have a lot of making on the go. I spent the better part of Sunday baking cookies with some friends. I pulled out M's copy of Tiptopf and picked out a few swiss classics to try out, like Spitzbuben and Mailänderli. Aside from all the holiday cheer around, the days are getting darker, I always find it difficult adjusting... missing Canada where there is already periodic bouts of snow, with it's warm sunny reflection!

The dark cold evenings give me a good excuse to stay in and get cozy with one of about a million projects that I have going on. I'm attempting to knit a Christmas dress for P from this great book that M found for me at a flea market awhile back. I've been working on a couple of Christmas presents and have just been doing some repair work on a few favourite but hopelessly worn out pieces of clothing.

I really want to go and see the Helen Mirra show at KW... anyone feel like joining me?!

Happy Thursday.

pants etc.

As I've posted before, I've been working on making my own summer wardrobe, because I have the time and I have lots of fabric that I've been stockpiling over the years. Last week I finished my first pair of pants and I even figured out how to sew a fly and welt pockets! I followed a pattern out of a Burda magazine that I've had lying around for a while. So here are some photos of the pants and a tank top that I finished a few weeks ago. I'm happy with the tank top but would like to make a baggier version of it. Maybe I'll get started on it this weekend.

I have another interesting project idea involving old t-shirts that I'm hoping to get started by the weekend. Maybe I'll have some photos early next week.

Happy Thursday.

Catching up.

Ahhh. There is so much going on in the city. By "so much going on" I mean that there are just so many reasons to hang out outside. I can't keep up with this blog. Plus I've been spending a lot of my time at home either getting projects finished around the house or sitting in a park somewhere (i.e., planting window boxes, sewing, cooking, cleaning etc...). The weather is just too beautiful to be on the computer.

I've been doing a lot of sewing and have resolved to sew all of my new summer clothes. I have been stockpiling fabric here for the past couple of years and ended up bringing a bunch back from my stash in Canada. I'v already made a tank top from this free pattern that I heard about through make something. I'm working on a pair of pants now, from a pattern I found in a Burda magazine.

If you're in Berlin right now, Based in Berlin is on all over the city. We ended up going to KW last week for a glimpse of what's going on. This week I'm going to try and check out what's going on at Hamburger Bahnhof and Berlinische Galerie. This great thing about this exhibition is that everything is free!

Yesterday we had brunch with a friend at Felix Austria. I can't tell you how much I love this place. Being able to sit outside and enjoy all of the activity on the streets is a plus. Afterwards we moseyed over to a sweet organic farmers market on Chamisoplatz and bought some fruit, flowers and plants! I've been obsessed with buying fresh cut flowers lately!

Happy Sunday.

A storm.

I've been sewing up a storm here. I've finished making all of our cloth diapers. Finally put together a pattern for baby pants and here's the first sample. I wish there was a newborn around here so I could check and see if they fit!

There's a busy weekend coming up for us. We're having dinner with friends at WAU on Friday night. My friend Ninon has an opening at Staalplaat Store on Saturday night, plus other friends of ours are having a housewarming. This could be my last weekend of action for a while.

Happy Wednesday.

Dezember.

It's here! This year has just flown by. I can remember last December so clearly, getting ready for a long trip back to Canada. It makes me sad to think that it's been almost a whole year since we've seen so many of our friends back home.

I've started knitting my first pair of baby pants with feet in them. I've never knit anything with a fine yarn so I'm hoping that they don't take forever to complete. Today will be a day of pattern drafting, cutting, and sewing... hopefully I'll have some photos to share with you soon.

We're off for a mini-vacation soon... back to the Baltic sea. I'm looking forward to having a few days of relaxing, reading and knitting.

If you're in Berlin over the coming weekend here are some nice things to explore...

semidomesticated show and sell
trendmafia

Happy Wednesday.

Offline.

I've been pretty productive lately... this doesn't include the online realm though. I've been concentrating on getting back into sewing and crocheting and have been finishing off tons of small projects that have been sitting around and staring at me for awhile (some of them for a couple of years).

Last Sunday we actually did some Sunday things. I dragged M. out of the house to go to the Arkonaplatz fleamarket. It might be one of my favourites in Berlin. Nice and quaint.

Some fun events are coming up in Berlin over the next couple of weekends. This coming Sunday there will be a giant outdoor clothing exchange at Moritzplatz... and next Friday there's another at the Stadtbad Oderbergerstr. in Prenzlauer Berg (starting at 9pm). Who knows maybe I'll even swing by one of them.

Happy Tuesday.