From the garden with love

Oh we had such a wonderful weekend!
We took the bus on Friday evening and enjoyed the two hours trip to reach our destination in Lithuania. It was amazing to see the fields changing colours with the golden hour, and the white storks feasting in the fields or nesting in their gigantic nests.
We found ourselves busy, working in the garden, drinking copious amount of herbal tea, eating fruits from the bushes, wildcrafting herbs in the little paths around the house, and knitting (for me).

Everytime that we get there, and spend time in this little Eden, it reinforces my dreams to own my own land, and start working on my little homestead: taking care of a small livestock, gathering eggs, harvesting fruits and veggetables, baking bread, harvesting honey (maybe -I'm allergic to bee stings)...

We came back home on Sunday evening with bags full of the garden deliciousness. The plants are now drying in my kitchen, getting ready to be blended for medicinal tea.

Yarn Along

Knitting/ I've been enjoying knitting my Keynote a lot lately. And I'm planning to work even more on it over this weekend: I'm going to spend some time in Lituania, eating homegrown food and relaxing.

Sewing/ The other day I found this lovely fabric in a charity shop and decided to turn it into a simple tote bag. The process has been very interesting but so long - since I don't own a sewing machine, I had to do everything my hand.  The fabric is quite light, so I make sure to not put anything too heavy inside -I only use it to bring the plants and flowers that I foraged outside and clothes from the thrift store. I found many lovely things lately, you can have a look in my Etsy shop!

*I'm joining Ginny's yarn along this week.

Ps: Don't forget to enter the Bluebirdlab giveaway!

A knitter's Summer wishlist

I hope that you're enjoying your Summer. We're having such a blast in here, and all I want to do is to spend time outside. And I do! We reached 30°C last week, and the only kind of material that I could/ wanted to wear was linen and cotton. These simple linen dresses by Blue Naive are perfect for a long Summer day.
In the evening, I usually head out to the small park close to my home, and knit a few rows before sunset. I absolutely love knitting my Keynote cardigan outside, but merino wool is a bit hot between my hands sometimes. So I’m secretly dreaming of this and this. Aren’t the colours so pretty?
And this little pouch would make the most perfect project bag!
I recently started to forage for herbs outside, and found camomille and spearmint growing not far from a neighboor's garden. I love to make solar infusions on my windowsill and bring my beverage with me at the park in the evenings.

Yarn Along

Knitting / Keynote I'm really enjoying this knit so far. For a long time I thought that I had made another mistake with the increasing, but I figured out that everything was fine eventually.
/Warble. I haven’t made that much progress since last time. I both love the yarn and the pattern, but I’m not convinced that the yarn will be soft enough for the person that I’ll be gifting it to. It’s always very challenging to buy yarn online because you will never really how it feels between your fingers. Therefore, I don’t really know if I should keep going or not.

Watching / Have you seen Lori’s last knit? Did you know that she’s going to Shetland in just a few weeks? Well, I got very inspired both by her trip and her last creation. So I (bought some yarn) started watching the BBC show Shetland. The landscape is so beautiful and whimsical. I also really like that the characters wear traditional knitwear, I even spotted a Kate Davies design!

*I'm joining Ginny's yarn along this week.

A BluebirdLab giveaway {Closed}

Linen dress: Thrifted | Pants: Old | Bag: Vintage | Pendant: Bluebirdlad | Shoes: Seychelles

About a year ago I discovered Juste's work, and I was immediately drawn to her sense of creativity and felt connected with her aesthetics. She's not only a wonderful photographer, but she also creates stunning jewels for her Etsy shop. She captures the world in such a beautiful manner both in her photography and in her creations. I'm very honoured and humbled for the opportunity to work with such a wonderful soul.

First of all I would like to thank you for inviting me to your lovely blog.
Photography and Etsy jewelry shop both came to my world very naturally. I have been living in an artsy environment from when I was a little kid – I have been attending music lessons for many years and later I have decided to try myself in doing fine arts. Both of my parents are graduates in artisan specialties as well, so I could probably say that art is in my blood. After graduating from art school I have been studying photography in the academy of arts for four years and I now hold a bachelor’s degree in photography.
Since I have always loved to spend time making handmade items I have discovered Etsy and decided to open my own online handmade shop while still being a student and a photographer at the same time. Many things have changed in my shop since then and even more will probably change in a future but in my opinion creativity is always about transformation.

What’s the favorite part of your work?
Most favorite part is design and production of the item. Packaging and handling is something I appreciate as well, I like to think about how the little note I left in the package box travels to a most distant place far away in another side of a world. My greatest dream is to visit those places and see the people wearing the items I have made for them.

Which item that you created do you like the most?
It would not be easy to pick a single one item. I tend to give myself in completely to what I do at the moment therefore I like my most current successful creation the most. My series of famous geometric necklaces is something that makes me proud the most, unfortunately I had to cease them and I am currently seeking new ways to produce them more efficiently so maybe they will come back one day

What effect do the seasons have on you?
As days grow longer and trees go greener, unexpected contrasts, playfulness and easiness begin to show. And quite the opposite, brown, grey and deep tones take over in the autumn. Currently my color palette is dominated by vibrant and bright undertones.

Any plan for the future?
I have lots of plans. I am thinking of my winter collection now however I tend to keep the plans to myself to save their energy until I finish a product completely.

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So today, Juste is generously offering one lucky winner a Green Aventurine Gemstone Necklace.
Made of brown wooden beads, rough green aventurine gemstone beads and antique gold metal beads.

➔ TO ENTER: Visit BlueBirdLad and tell me which item you like the most. I'll close the thread on Thursday 17 by 8pm EST and announce the winner shortly after (make sure to leave your email adress so I can contact you). This is an international giveaway. You don't have to follow this blog in a reader, pinterest, or instagram in order to enter, but if you're new here, it'd be great to have you on board!

➔ In addition to the giveaway, enjoy 25% off in Juste's shop with the code MANDARINE, now through 24/07/14. The giveaway is now closed. Congratulations to Jordyn!

Unexpectedly

The berries got even bigger than last time and are flourishing now. When I head outside with my baskets, I know which path in the woods will lead me to find my favourite bushes. No later than yesterday afternoon, I was there again, filling my baskets with these precious fruits. The satisfaction that you get from eating a jam or a soup made with food that you found for free in the wild is priceless. I know that this abundance isn't going to last, so in the meanwhile, I'm trying to enjoy it as much as I can. If I would listen to myself, I would eat all of the berries at once. But then I remembered the cold months of the year, and how much I was craving for some homemade jam on my toasts. I know that this week might be the very last one for blueberries. So I headed back this afternoon for one last harvest. After getting my little container almost full with them, I decided to go and explore some parts of the woods that I didn't know very well. Unexpectedly, but very gratefully, I found mushrooms on my way. If you've ever been mushrooming before, you might already know this feeling, this frenzy that empowers you, and pushes you to find even more. With my little basket on my back and my bottle of water, I was unstoppable! We found many Cantharellus cibarius. Some of them were already so big! We also got some Boletus, and there is one mushroom that I had already seen before but wasn't very sure about. Luckily, there was a grandma that was mushrooming too, so we asked her, and she said it was a Suillus. I'm so happy when I get the chance to expend my knowledge on wildfood. Yum.

When I'm not too busy running around in the woods, I try to find the time to knit some stitches. Yesterday evening, I started working on my Christmas in July knitting. The chart is very easy to follow so far, the repeats are very entertaining and not too complicated. This yarn is also fantastic, I absolutely adore the little gold and green flecks that pop out here and there.