After nearly one year of blogging this blog is moving. Please visit us HERE from now on.

After I moved into the new apartment I planned a massive attack to the UFOs (UnFinished Objects :-) I have around. The easiest one (because it was almost finished) was this crochet cushion I started in Ireland last year. The project was for a crochet-only cushion to recycle some old yarn but it was too ugly to be true (or too ugly to be mine) so I finished the back with some lovely Lamb's Pride green wool and handmade buttons, and I covered the still ugly front with  Sandi Henderson's fabric.   



Next target is the hopeless case of the sweater that wanted to be a blanket.

Second, make bee wax candles:

Last Christmas a friend who keeps bees in Sicily as a hobby gave us a big piece of a honeycomb:

It was very interesting to observe it. Some cells were full of honey, others had pure propolis in them and others served as storage space for tiny bits of pollen, strictly separated by the kind of flower they were taken from (amazing, isn't it?). After we ate the honey we melted the honeycomb and we poured the wax into little candle molds (not the prettiest, I know...). The colour and the smell of them are gorgeous.

I think my spring cotton scarf offended the Winter God. Today Barcelona is blocked under the worst snow storm of the last I-don't-know-how-many years. Really impressive. My street is on top of a hill, next to a park. My neighbours are riding on plastic bags sleighs down the street... I'm wearing my wool scarf again (and hat and gloves and two pairs of knee-high socks... I hope this will soothe His wrath)

These days you can feel the spring is round the corner, so it seemed a better idea to use cotton for my next weaving project. What looks like navy blue in the picture is actually a nice purple colour in reality, but I couldn't get it right with my camera. You can't see me smiling but I am really happy with it.

It doesn't happen very often that you can wear your school assignments. I suppose this is one of the privileges of studying textiles. The project was about a colour: I chose pink. It was about making something to represent it: I chose crocheting a shawl. A very feminin, victorian style lace shawl was the pinkest thing I could think of. This is hairpin lace, a crochet technique made with a hairpin fork and a hook (see first picture below). My mother is an expert of this technique and she taught me how to do it. There's no pattern for it, we just started working together during the holidays and I finished it on my own.

On Sunday afternoon we walked around the city. We chose a new neighbourhood to discover, Sarrià. There were surprises along the way, including nice patterns and terrible monsters. We ended up at the museum of decorative arts Palau Reial de Pedralbes.

This is a batik piece I made on silk.

I've been learning this technique in the Textile Dyeing workshop at school. I'd like to show a quick photo sequence of the process as I learned it:

1. Preparing the wax by melting it together with paraffin and filtering. Once it starts to solidify, we slice it into small dices.

2. Melting the wax in a canting and drawing with it on the fabric, stretched on a wooden frame, in order to isolate the areas we don't want to be dyed.

3. Dyeing the fabric.



4. After repeating the process of painting with wax and dyeing, the fabric is ironed between newspaper to absorb the wax.

 

 

A few of my experiments in batik, a textile decorating technique. The lamp covers are cut and sewn to fit an Ikea lamp. I made three different ones, so I can change the look of the lamp.

I love the weaving room at school. Specially the wall with the wardrobes full of yarn cones.



The rest is nice too. Have a look:

This is my first woven scarf!!

... I mean, hmm hmm...before it was woven, of course.

A bit of order in the yarn chaos, and eventually...

it's wrapped around my neck.

I'm learning to weave in a rush to complete a few scarves before the warm weather arrives to Barcelona!

I'd like to start my new 'blogging season' -this is, blogging again after a long busy period without internet at home- with some pictures from our holidays in Sicily last Christmas.



The most delicious tangerines ever, from my boyfriend's family land.





We watched a friend harvesting honey. Don't let the digital zoom fool you, we stood very far back!

I'm back from the sunny Christmas holidays in Sicily (pictures coming soon) and ready for a new year. Christmas time is not  yet finished in Spain, because on the 6th of January we celebrate the Epiphany by giving presents to family and friends. On Sunday we are having the second edition of the Craft Market.
I am moving house now so I won't have access to the internet for a few days. But I'll be back soon, promise!

If you are in Barcelona this weekend come to our Christmas market. There will be handmade crafts, Mexican food and good music!