Fleamarket Finds

It's been a while since I visited a Flohmarkt in Berlin, but last weekend the weather was perfect and with a Sunday afternoon to myself I took the opportunity to do a little scavenging. Oh, I could have spent hours and hours sifting through all the boxes and rummaging to my hearts delight. The only problem was that I kept finding things that I needed. You know, really needed, as in "my life depends on it, why haven't I had this before?" kind of thing. After only half an hour of pottering I ended up removing my itchy fingers and greedy eyes from all the goodies and went and had an ice-cream. But not without having first bought a Birthday presents or two (got to take the opportunity when it presents!) and this wonderful sewing box.

I had to do some serious haggling with the stall owner to get this to a price that I was willing to pay. He kept telling me about all the lovely things inside, and even though I did take a quick glance inside at the stall, I wasn't really convinced until I got home and conducted a proper inspection. Not only were there buttons and threads and lovely old boxes filled with thimbles and pins, but hidden at the bottom was this Faber Castel tin full of beautiful, tiny (!) crochet and tapestry hooks.

Just to give you some idea about size - that "huge" piece of thread dwarfing the hook is embroidery floss. Even with my macro lens these hooks look teenie-tiny. I'm not likely to ever have the skill to use them but I love them all the same. Some of the hooks are a little old and rusty now, but they truly are beautiful little pieces of handiwork. The wooden handles are smooth with wear and the detailing is beautiful. They really do put the functional, modern variety to shame.