I've decided to change the blog. Unfortunately Livejournal doesn't give me all the features I want from a blog (even the paid account), so I moved to http://brahdelt.blogspot.com/
You are all welcome to visit me there! ^^
I'll still be visiting your journals and the groups I belong to, leaving comments, ect, but I won't be updating here anymore (at least for now).
Cheers!

Last night I had my first Kalaripayattu dance class.
Surprise, surprise... I didn't like it! ><
First, it doesn't have much in common with this ancient martial art, because the teacher told us she will be teaching hindu folk dances with some elements of bollywood dances. So, I have no idea why they put the name Kalaripayattu in the description of the course.
Second, she started with a short but VERY strenuous warm-up, then she went quickly through several mudras (hand gestures), and started to teach us several dance step sets, each one practised maybe twice or three times. And then we had to create a circle and dance the whole choreography!... OMG! We were making milions mistakes, bumping at each other, trying to figure out the steps looking at her... It didn't make much sense to me apart from the fact, that I got SO EXTREMELY TIRED after only one hour that I thought I won't survive till the end of the class (another 30 minutes).
I know that for the teacher all those steps are obvious and well-known, and she is very fit so she can dance for a long time without a rest, but it's not the case for her students!... I payed for the next two classes (till the end of March), but for now I am seriously thinking about quitting this and sticking only to bellydancing classes, (which I love!!! and can manage a single class!...^^).

My mystery - the registration for a hindu dancing class - is revealed. It was my friend who registered me for this class, she told me this afternoon.
Well, I was a bit angry with her because, first - she did not aks me first and I'm busy on Saturday the class is held, second - she knows I just HATE surprises like that and she did it anyway, third - I start to feel uneasy being friends with her because she tries too hard sometimes, for example she gives me lots of small presents and I don't know how to react, should I also buy things in pairs and give one of them to her?... Or what?... She is just too sweet, too helpful, and I feel that she wants to do exactly all those things I do - she went with me on the jewelry course, she wants to learn belly dancing, she wants to take artistic weaving classes with me... I feel trapped, I must admit... As if she is trying to live my life, because she doesn't have her own ideas. Well...
I'm trying to be polite and all, but I cannot stand the way she even talks to other people as if the two of us were one and had the same opinions, it's always "We think..., we are going to...", and then I say "No, it's not my view, please say for yourself...", and she apologises, but then it's the same again.
Sooner or later I will just finish this acquaintance once and for all. Maybe she will be offended but I will breath again!...>

Last night I had the first bellydancing class and... "I'm loving it!"... ^^
I have a very good teacher, she started with a good 30 minute warm-up, then showed us one step and we practiced with music, then another, and another - each one separated with a good portion of practice and correcting our mistakes. At the end we worked upon the moves of our hands and we even got a homework - to figure out the best palm position for us. The lady is very friendly and you can really relax in her presence and not think about how clumsy you are or how big your belly is (in fact, the bigger the better in this dance! ^^). And we dance in front of a huge mirror, so it's easier to assess whether we make the right moves.
My group consists of about 20 girls of all heights and sizes, and some of them are very good from the beginning, and some are clumsy with no sence of a rhythm, I was wondering which ones would give up after several classes (there was this girl in the front chatting with a friend all the time when the others were dancing, it was rather annoying...).
Today my body aches a bit, but I'm going to practice the steps at home in a moment, so I should suffer less in a day or two.
*happy, happy*

And next week (hopefully) I'm starting another dance classes - this time it's a hindu Kallaripayattu dance. I know nothing about this dance so I have no idea what to expect. I only know that this is some kind of ancient martial art, probably the source for kung-fu and karate, and you learn wave-like body moves. We'll see! ^^

One more thing, very mysterious, if you like detective stories...
This morning I got an email with a confirmation that I was enrolled on a course "Hindu dancing" (which is a part of the PROGRESSTERON Festival held regularly by www.dojrzewalnia.pl). This is just one class, held on 11 March. I was totally surprised, because I did not apply for this or any other courses at this festival, I didn't ask anybody to do it for me, and they have my e-mail (I took part in some courses held by dojrzewalnia, but it was three years ago), and the reservation was made on my current surname Kostrzewa - but they can only know me by my maiden name!... It's all very strange, I have no idea who refgistered me for this class, but... I'm thinking about going! ^^ I must decide and pay 50 PLN for it in a couple of days. Maybe this surprise will unfold...

Off to bellydance practice! Cheers! ^^

All my shoulder-warmers are on Allegro auctions, people are observing them, so I hope they will sell well! I'm finishing a black one now.
I need money, because on Thursday I'm starting a bellydance classes! ^^ Moreover, I also applied for a Kallaripayattu dance classes - it's a kind of dance-fighting style from India, it'll probably start in March.
I cannot wait! ^^

Knitting up-date! ^^

I finished a flower scarf for Astarise-san!
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Here is presented with a brooch she made, plain black. Darling, let me know, when we could meet because it's ready to be given to you! ^^

I also made one for myself, but modified it a bit - I added crochetted white edge and a mother-of-pearl button.
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Finally, I made something unbelievably beautiful!...
(I know it's a shame I'm saying that, but I really think so, I can't do anything about it! ^^)
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For the first time I've tried cable pattern and ... I succeedded! In fact, it's not THAT difficult to knit cables as I thought. ^-^ I used the pattern found here --> http://www.helloyarn.com/cherrygarcia.htm, but I used a thicker yarn so I finished after two cable sequences, not three (I don't have a neck like a giraffe!... ^^ ). I fact I think mine looks better, because when you knit such distinctive pattern it's more visible on solid color yarn, not a mixed yarn, like in the original.
Very quick and very cosy! ^^ And I'm thinking about the golden one, I have a ball of golden yarn and gold is supposed to be the colour of this Spring, I've heard!... ;->

I also have knitting failures... >< Because I needed circular needles nr 6 for some other project, I decided to finish the turtleneck sweater I started last November. It is a two colour piece, in shades of orange and brown. I took the pattern from a magazine, but I used different type of yarn, and it didn't turn out nice... The turtle neck lays flat, and the waist part is somewhere else than my waist line... Anyway, it was my second knitted project and I think it was just too ambitious for such an inexperienced knitter like me! Still, I learned a lot while making it, so I do not consider the time lost. ^^

And two more unfinished projects:
(I always do several things at the same time, because I easily get bored and have to turn to something else, well...)
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It will be a rainbow-like shawl, very nice subtle pattern from some magazine. It's mohair, I have now three panels about 60 cm each, I'm going to continue as long as the yarn goes, then sew them together. I'm also going to make three more panels of this brown/yellow shades:
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The last one is a VERY unfinished project! ^^
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Out of all those shades of purple I'm going to make a funny sweater, that has only sleeves and a wide reversed part, pattern comes from here: http://knitty.com/ISSUEspring05/PATTcleaves.html
I'm not sure about the colour in the very middle, it's too red for this combination, but I'll see.

Cheers! ^^

I got soooo pisssed off a couple of days ago...><
I applied for a Paypal account, payed them 1,5 Euro for a Verified Account, because I wanted to sell some of my stuff abroad and start my ebay shop with corsets and knits, and then ... it turned out that unfortunately Paypal doesn't treat all nations equally, and my Paypal account does not allow me to receive money (only to send, and I have a Business Account, not the Stardard or Premium ones...). So if anybody from outside Poland would be interested in my stuff, they should consider direct money transfer to my account or concealed cash in an envelope, at their own risk. Wrrrr! ><

Other news - I was soooo proud of myself yesterday at my jewelery course! ^^ But first - on Tuesday I decided to do some soldering without any help from my teacher (because he is not present on Tuesday classes!), and I was soldering a silver wire to my copper leaf brooch. It was a nightmare! It didn't want to get hot enough for a solder to melt, I was afraid to keep the flame too long over copper because it was turning black!... But then, after four tries (soldering a bit, cooling, into the acid, and again, and again...) I succeeded! ^^
So, yesterday was the time to solder on the brooch clasps, so my teacher said:
"Prepare everything and I'll help you, because copper is very difficult to work with, it requires higher temperature than silver, and you won't be able to do it on your won..." (then I realised the source of my problems from the previous day!!!... ><),
and then my teacher looked at the leaf and said:
"Oh, but you did this part yourself yesterday, you already know how to do it! Good job! Do it yourself!"
And I did! ^^ When you know, how to work with different types of metal it's not that difficult after all!

Pictures of my leaf brooch and my "angel" necklace next week, when it's finished.

I finished the fourth shoulder-warmer, this time in Gothic Lolita style (off-white, with black satin ribbon).
It's going on sale tonight on Polish Allegro.

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I almost finished a flower scarf for Astarise-san. Almost, because I ran out of yarn at the very last moment - the main part is done, a flower is ready, all that needs to be done is to connect them both! ^^ I'll do it tomorrow, pictures next week, because this weekend my husband is going away for a company integration trip and he is taking our camera with him!... >< (sightseeing the mountains, the caves, skiing and lots of free drinks on the company!... ^^), so I'll be sewing all weekend. I have everything ready (fabrics, patterns, ideas), so look forward to new stuff next week!

Cheers! ^^

First, about something totally different from knitting, namely: books!
I love love love reading and I love buying books (even more than buying clothes! ^^ ), and today I've received a parcel from merlin.com.pl with another order.
That's what I got:
--> S. Kokowski "Ancient Poland" (because of my reenactment hobby, it covers very early period of Polish history, from 3rd century B.C. till almost the appearance od Slavs).
--> Lian Hean "Grass for his Pillow" - second part of a Japanese fantasy trilogy, I really enjoy reading this, the atmosphere of the story is very Japanese in style and feel, if you know, what I mean, similar to books by Polsih fantasy writer Anna Brzezińska, highly recommended!
-->two Murakamis: "Dansu-dansu-dansu" and "Suputoniku-no koibito" - everybody'e reading this so I decided it's time to try! ^^
And last, but not least...
-->"Japanese Esthetics. Antology" part I (of three, they're expesive, so I have to buy them one by one... ><)
This one covers the ideals of beauty, theatre No, poetry Waka and Haikai, the art of tea and the notion of space. I cannot wait till I get to this one! I looked through it and it seems sooooo interesting, enriched with pictures showing different aspects od Japanese culture!

And now, some of my recent knitting creations:
I've decided to work upon some short shoulder-warmers, because in winter this is the part of my body that usually needs warming up when I sit still and knit or do embroidery (I cover the lover part of my body with a blanket, and move my hands so they are warm enough, but shoulders are left out to chilly breezes...). So, here what I've made:

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Three different colours, but the same type of yarn - extremely soft and very cozy! ^^ And I'll be selling those, because I still got lots of those yarns (also in violet and white), so more to come soon! ^^

And of course, I cannot sit without doing anything, so I've already started the scarf with a flower for Astarise-san ^^
(not very impressive at the moment, but I promise, it'll develop into something nice! ^^)
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Cheers! ^^

You Are Strawberry Pocky

Your attitude: fresh and sweet Comforting, yet quirky ... quietly hyper You always see both sides to everything

Tomorrow I'll post some new knitting creations! ^^

WARNING! IMAGE HEAVY! ^^

I found out I didn't put here any of my knitting projects!...

Shame, because I've knitted some nice stuff since November. ^^

First, my turtleneck vest:

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I bought some acrylic/wool yarn (Velluto light, 50% acryl, 50% wool, 100g - 170 m) and started to make a jumper according to my own picture of how it should look like when it's finished. (I did not use any ready patterns, but occasionally looked through knitting magazines to estimate the number of stitches, ect.)
Very quickly it turned out that I don't have enough yarn, I bought the last four balls of this yarn (sic!) so my jumper changed into a vest.
I really like the way the turtleneck covers my neck - not too tight, yay! Although it has many flaws I'm still very proud of my first knitted creation!

And then followed several scarves I'm selling:
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This one has been made from two types of yarn, in a nice brick pattern. It has three panels, the white one protects the back of your neck, the front ones are very soft and they keep your chest warm from a cold wind. It has a wooden button and w woolen loop to keep it tight.
The colours I used are milk chocolate mix and snow white.
Width from 19 to 29 cm (depending on a panel), lenght 76 cm.

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This one has been made from five types of yarn, in a great wavy pattern (you will definitely seen more of this in my future projects!). It has several panels, and additional twist - woolen flowers sewn onto the first panel.
The colours I used are honey brown, bright red, dark red, blueberry violet and light lavender.
Width from 15 to 20 cm (depending on a panel), lenght 110 cm.

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This one has been made from two types of yarn, in an unusual seed stitch pattern (I think it looks very interesting, you will definitely seen more of this in my future projects!). It has several panels, and a woolen flowers that can be taken away and worn on some other clothing (it has a pin at the back).
The colours I used are blueberry violet and light lavender.
Width from 15 cm, lenght 90 cm.

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This one has been made from two types of yarn, in brick pattern (I like this pattern, too, it looks very good dane with thick yarn!). It's the longest of my scarves, made with nr 10 knitting needles (very quick job! ^^ )
The colours I used are milk chocolate and dark chocolate, with some thin caramel yarn.
Width from 18 cm, lenght 114 cm.

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SOLD! This one has been made of red 100% wool, so I would not recommend wearing this on a bare neck, just onto a blouse collar, for example.
The pattern I found on the Web (www.knitty.com), but modified it a bit - I added a bright red satin band that runs around the scarf through the holes.
Width from 14 cm, lenght 55 cm.
I love it and I'm going to make one for myself, too!

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This one has been made from a woolen yarn, in an unusual seed stitch pattern (you've seen it already on my Blueberry Ice-cream scarf). The colours I used are dark chocolate brown, hazel brown and cream.
Width from 20 cm, lenght 145 cm.

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This one has been made from an extremely soft yarn in a 4x4 seed stitch pattern. The colour I used is smoky pink.
I love this one! And it was so quick to make - needles no. 10 and double yarn.
Width from 38 cm, lenght 170 cm.

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SOLD! This one has been made from three shades of green, and the pattern has small holes all over. This scarf really suprised me during making because it started to slant from the very beginning! ^^
Width 19 cm, lenght 115 cm.

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This one has been made in a pattern taken from a sweater I'm making - it is 4x4 seed stitch for 6 rows, separated with 4x4 seed stitch inverted (one row).
Width from 20 cm, lenght 155 cm.

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This one is a typical 2x2 seed stitch pattern. The colour I used are orange, red and violet.
There are ruffles at the bottom of first two panels (I plan on another scarf with such ruffles all over the whole lenght)
Width from 20 cm, lenght 170 cm.

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A blue acrylic scarf made using a very decorative Long Stitch (you knit six rows, then put a needle into each loop as if to knit, wrap a yarn around the needle four times and knit it, and while knitting the next row you just let go the yarn and it forms long strings. If anyone's interested I will find the tutorial I used, just let me know).
Length 139 cm, width 27 cm.

That's all from old projects, then I had a break because of my hurt sinew in my right hand, but now I'm starting to knit again, so I promise new items soon! ^^

Okay, I haven't updated in ages, gomen... Busy, busy, doing many things, trying to make ends meet...

First of all, I'm unhappy, because I planned something for this morning and I couldn't follow my plans, well...
I decided to make a line of Spring clothing and for the last few days I was making designs and collecting fabrics. Today I've got up and sat at the table to work upon the patterns. Unfortunately, it turned out that I've run out of sheets of pattern paper so I have nothing to work with! >< Well, Tomorrow I'm going to buy some, and for now I have to turn to sth else (glad I'm always working upon thousands of projects, so there will be no problem with finding one...)

Moreover, I've been thinking recently about many things connected with my life, namely, the future of my artictic creations - which way to go, what to concentrate on, ect. It seems I shouldn't start too many different projects, because I cannot split myself into several persons (what a shame!... ><), and then I don't have time to finish them all properly. Sometimes I am like a child who reaches for ten different types of sweets and puts them all into his mouth at the same time, and it's not a good solution, because if you do that you will choke!
My current professional interest/projects are:
- sewing
- embroidery
- knitting
- making jewelery
- weaving
- calligraphy
All of them are vast in themselves, not to mention me trying to be good at everything... Well, I have to make some choices, give up some of them, because when you try to master many disciplines, you'll end up being mediocre in all of them. Not to mention I don't have space for all those projects and enough money to engage in them properly.

Also, I am thinking about the future of my on-line gothic shop, Atelier Bizarre. It's been open 1,5 year now and I think it's time to change its formula. I'm really getting sick with rummaging through second-hand clothing and then selling one or two blouses sooooo cheap that you wouldn't believe and listening to teenage customers saying "it's all nice but too expensive for me..." It's not worth it! >< It's not worth spending lots of time going from one second-hand store to another, selecting clothes, carrying home massive bags of junk, washing them, ironing, taking measurements, photos, having one wordrobe occupied by the shop clothes, NOT having time to sit at the sewing machine to create something nice!...
I am seriously thinking about giving up second-hand and concentrating only on sewing. Make Atelier Bizarre a real atelier, more exclusive, more satisfying for myself - because you know, what they say --> if you are satisfied with your job, the others will be, too!

Getting grumpy, I know, but sometimes you have to rethink your life and make some decisions.