Something fun indoor

Hello, everyone. How’s your summer going? Hope you have a fun and enjoyable summer whatever you’re doing. The weather in Korea is getting summer-y now. Rainy almost every day so… the humidity is way high and the temperature is going up little by little. Pretty much not my kind of weather. But, as we all do I have lots of projects to finish and orders to fulfill. Don’t get me wrong. I really enjoy creating things at my little atelier. I won’t trade it with anything. But, I am such a curious girl that my little antennas are always looking for something fun out of my studio. So, the other day I visited this lovely museum in Seoul. There were many posters promoting the exhibition near by. Literally every shop around the area displayed the poster of this exhibition so it was too hard to miss it. The poster was showing one thing: awfully cool-looking chair. I got instantly hooked~ and made a trip to the museum. So here’re posters from the museum’s website. Cool, isn’t it?

A hot and rainy summer day. It is just perfect to enjoy something interesting indoor. This is an exhibition of north-European style chairs by Finn Juhl a famous artist from Denmark. I am sure lots of you are from the Scandinavian area and familiar with those chairs I am going to introduce. Seems like he is a pretty popular designer who also designed the interior of the Trusteeship Council Chamber at the UN headquarters in New York.  

So here are some of photos I am excited to share with you. I did a bit long and tiring trip to the museum and those chairs were looking so inviting. Aww.. it could’ve been amazing if I could rest my little booty on one of those sweet chairs.

Loved all of the chairs displayed. Those are pretty different from Korean styles I am familiar with. As some of you know Koreans used to sit on floors and we didn’t really develop styles of chairs and tables much. Those fun and cool-looking furniture inspired me so much that now I really want to decorate my atelier with some nice things. I will get some cute chairs and then cover them with blankets that I am going to knit some day (hopefully by this fall).  

Finally we arrived at the top floor where we can sit on and take photos with one of famous chairs. The chairs you can sit on switch every month and this month it was the one called ‘easy chair’. Me and my boy friend J did some ‘not-so-easy’ pose (Oh, well. Anyway I tried, but I was a bit nervous if I could break the precious chair.). We were just happy to have a little date in the cool museum as you see through the photo.

It was such a fun day. Museums are exciting and wonderful places to take a vacation from time to time. You will get inspired and recharged by something you rarely pay attention in your daily life. If you’re interested I hope you check out their website, daelim museum. Also, if you’re in Seoul, I recommend you take a trip to the area. There are lots of things to enjoy including the Korean old royal palace and garden called 'GyeongBokGung'. I am sure you will be thrilled by it. I will try to blog about it sometime soon.

Hope you enjoyed my little story. If you have any questions or requests please let me know or leave a message. I will be more than happy to help you. Have a creative and fun summer and see you soon. 

XO, 

Soyun.

Not-so-‘Korean’ yarn shop

I’ve always wanted to introduce you ‘Korean style’ yarn markets I usually hang out to get my craft materials. Many of my foreign knitter friends get very curious and ask me often. “Do you knit in Korea? What kinds of yarns do you use? Where do you get your pattern books?” Well, actually Korea is just like the Western world now. Unfortunately not so many things Korean I can show off. We knit (I guess knitting in Korea has been considered to be granny’s hobby, but it gradually found its renaissance recently.) and have some pattern books (some in Korean, some Japanese, and some western languages) in the book stores. We have a few yarn shops offering various yarns and notions from all over the world. So, I can say knitting in Korea is getting more popular as well as international. By the way, there’s a huge craft market in the center of Seoul that you might want to check out (Don’t worry. I will introduce you this interesting market not too much later. I promise! J)

Today I am going to take you to a lovely yet not-so-Korean yarnshop. A few days ago (well, have to admit it is not a few days anymore.. it’s been a few weeks now. I know. I need to be more diligent for blogging. I am working on it!) I visited this well-organized as well as well-known yarnshop’s house warming party. This shop called ‘banul story’ (http://www.banul.co.kr ‘banul’ is a needle in Korean) has been one of the famous yarnshops among knitters and crafters in Korea. Originally located in Myeong-dong area in Seoul it moved to near Ewha women’s university in Sinchon area recently. 

Being extremely excited and thrilled to explore this new shop I couldn’t sleep the night before it opened. Getting up ‘amazingly’ early (such a night owl as I am it was a huge devotion I made that morning.) and feeding myself well to survive a long and busy day I headed to the place I’ve dreamed of. You could’ve seen me doing happy little dances if you were with me on the way to the shop. J

What a joy! My friend and I turned out to be the very first guests. The shop looked great already yet they were busy for working on some of the final touches. The owner of the shop opened the door for us (Do you see the doorknobs looking like knitting needles? How creative!! I seriously wanted to grab them and run away with. What a naughty girl I am!) and warmly welcomed us. Yay, I got overly emotional and felt my small devotion of getting up early totally paid off at the very moment.

Look at the inside of the shop full of fun and lovely treasures. Colors, shapes, and textures of those goodies grabbed my attention instantly. What a great collection they got! I desperately wished I could live in the shop playing with all of blingy knitting needles and crochet hooks, gorgeous-colored yarns, and cool knitting notions. Do you see these itsy- bitsy buttons? How adorable! It seems like they were waiting for me to pick them up. Those would go perfectly with a baby sweater I am currently working on.  

I already own many sets of knitting needles, but I decided to indulge myself with extra thick knitting needles I’ve been looking for. (As a gift, I received another small-sized circular needle. Wow! Isn’t that amazing?) As many of you understand (hopefully) we knitters do never own enough yarns, needles, and knitting notions. As a serious sewer, I also collect lots of fabrics and always long for more. I know, I know. I need to control and discipline myself. But, those little luxuries inspire me and excite me all the time and I should admit they work exactly like ‘vitamin’ to me. Oh, well, perhaps the most expensive vitamin I could ever take though.

Now, here’s a fun part of the shop. There’s a lovely knitting café on the 2^nd floor. (Sorry, I was having so much fun enjoying the coffee and the interior of the room that I mistakenly forgot to take photos of the café.) But, I assure you that this is the heaven of the knitters and crocheters. I really hope you make a trip here and have fun and enjoyable time with your fellow knitters. What would go with knitting better than good music and savory coffee or tea? ‘Knitting, coffee, and music’ altogether sound so right, don’t they?

I purely enjoyed this day at the fabulous shop. It’s always a pleasure to find beautiful and interesting crafts shops that make you dance. I wish I could open my own atelier just like this someday. I will invite all of you guys and throw a cool party on opening day. Hopefully you can make it and celebrate with me dancing together! It will be wonderful to see you from all around the world!

So, now I am wondering how your local yarn shops look like. Similar to the one I’ve just introduced? Or, do they have any cool personalities? I am sure you have your favorite yarnshops in your neighborhood you’d like to share with me. Or, you might have fantasized your own dreamy yarnshop? If so, please don’t be shy and feel free to leave a comment. Who knows? You can inspire me and I might take your suggestions when I open my own shop later. 

Oh, one more thing before I close. As many of you already know, I am doing a giveaway celebrating my blog renewal. I hope you’ve already checked it out and participated in. If not, you still have time so please take a look. You can be the one of those who will receive the adorable pouches. It will end Apr. 23^rd and I will announce lucky winners shortly after. 
http://www.atelierdesoyun.com/2012/04/returning.html

Thanks for visiting and supporting this new journey. I am so excited to see you real soon.

Have a happy and crafty day!