A Darling Doily...

... Or a Mega Mandala... Not sure which name is more apt.

I used a pattern from a Portuguese crochet magazine called Croché de Filé, nr. 32. I'm sorry, that's all the information I can find in it. I can't remember when I bought it exactly, but the year of publication is either 2013 or 2014.

I made this piece recently as my contribution to Kathryn Vercillo's project Mandalas for Marinke: Kathryn's important and touching depression awareness project in memory of crochet blogger Wink from A Creative Being. It's great to see how many crocheters from around the world contributed to it.

Thanks for your visit! So lovely to meet you here!
I wish you a happy day.

It's a Pastel Day

Love these happy stacks of crochet... There are quite a few of these stacks, most of them neatly tucked away in boxes in my little studio... Sometimes I open a box at random and am surprised by what I find... Pieces I had forgotten about... I take a picture and stow them away again... Maybe I should open an Etsy shop after all. ;-)

I'm curious to know what you do with the work you make.

The weather is getting sunny here again and I'm hoping to do a spot of outside crocheting this weekend. Looking forward to that.

Thanks for your visit. Wishing you a lovely day!
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Doily Delights and Potholder Pastels

Just so to say a quick hello and hit the publish button for a short post... Lately I've been digging deeper in my boxes with - mainly older - pieces of crochet. It was fun to look back at what I've made.

Many thanks for your visit, happy day to you!
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Crochet Extravagance

Last week I have been rummaging through my boxes with crochet. The smaller pieces, that is. And - since I had something of a doily-and-potholder-phase - there are quite a few of those smaller pieces... Anyway... I thought I'd share some my finds here with you too. Introducing... 'Haafner - The Early Works'. ;-)

Now, this potholder has an - for me - unusual colour combination... ;-) 

Have a lovely week - craft on!

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PS. Still working on the pattern for the bag of my last post. Will post it later this week.

Instacrochet

Although I have been using Instagram for quite a while now, I don't have a public account. Or rather, I didn't - because earlier this week I switched the button from private to public. I feel this comes with an obligation to go out for an arty cappuccino more often and to spot all kinds of quirky details in the wild... Anything to feed my account, right?! *Ahem*

I guess what I'm trying to say here is that it might take me a while to get used to the fact that it's now a public account. But without joking: I'm tremendously excited about the prospect of having another creative outlet. I'm also tremendously anxious that - with one unfortunate swipe on my tablet (they happen) - I will publish an uncensored picture. ;-) In general I will - from now on - post about works in progress on Instagram where as on my blog I will focus on finished works. You'll find yarn on both!

Anyway! Here's a taste of the older pictures you will find on my Instagram. There are quite a few older pictures that you might have seen popping up on this blog before, but there are a whole bunch of new ones too. I hope you'll enjoy it.

Feel welcome to visit me  over at my Instagram account! (With a huge sense for originality called byHaafner.) I now officially declare it open for the public. *champagne*

Thanks for being here - I hope you have a most lovely day! And don't forget to...


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(A Lot) More Crochet in Lisbon and A Little Giveaway

Happy New Year To You and Your Loved Ones! To live up to my resolution of blogging more often, it seemed a positive start to be posting on the very first day of the year.

Let me now first explain this Granny Galore to you... I didn't make this vibrant blanket myself. (I wished!) However, when I was in Lisbon I stayed part of my time there in a lovely apartment. One where I had stayed before. It's an old, very spacious and airy apartment, flooded in light, lovingly restored by owner Joana, who is an architect and who also acts as a host together with her mother Martha. Both are the most welcoming people you can imagine. If you're planning a visit to Lisbon I can really recommend this place, you can book here via Airbnb. But I haven't told you the reason I chose this apartment. Well, in one of the pictures I saw a beautiful vintage granny square blanket, so that was that, choice made! ;-) It was this blanket...

And a great choice it was! When Martha heard I was into crochet she gifted me two lovely doilies. I still treasure them on the board above my desk. She also showed me this vintage pink popcorn blanket. It's just a quick snapshot with my phone, but isn't it a beauty...?

When I returned recently, a good 1.5 year later, she not only remembered my love for crochet, but she had a huge stack of doilies waiting for me to admire and two other beautiful blankets. What's more, she insisted I took some doilies and a blanket of my choice home with me. The kindness! I was seriously tempted to accept this generous offer, but travelling light as always, I had not enough room in my suitcase for a blanket. ;-) These are those blankets... (Pictures, again, taken with my phone.)

Aren't they amazing? Imagine the many, many hours that it must have taken to make these...

Below a compilation of the doilies, photographed against a concrete background.

You'd think that's enough crochet to make my heart sing. And it was. But even so, my crochet luck didn't end there... In one of the retrosaria's (haberdashery and yarn shops) I discovered a wobbly pile of old crochet mags, tucked away in a dark, dusty corner. I bought two. (Which I will show another time here - still have to make some decent pictures of them.) I might go back next time to buy the rest of the pile. ;-)

Which reminds me that, from a previous visit to Lisbon, I still have another magazine waiting for a little giveaway that somehow never happened. It's the one below, with classic patterns for filet crochet. You could of course tweak the patterns a bit, and give them a modern twist by using a sturdier yarn and other colours. It contains 62 patterns, mainly doilies, but also other items, like curtains. Since every pattern has a chart, you don't have to know any Portuguese.

Interested? Leave behind a comment before January 6th and I will pick a winner.

I'd like to end this post with my favourite sunset - ever. Lisbon. In pastels. Of course.

Many thanks for your kind visit and I hope we'll have many more online encounters in this new year.
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Pastels do Lisboa

Not sure if this title is correct Portuguese... [Update: I'm informed it's not. ;-) It should have been Tons pastel de Lisboa. Thanks for pointing me to the correct wording!] I very recently came back (again!) from a stay in Lisbon and was (again!) totally inspired by the amazing light and the gorgeous colours everywhere. Pastels mainly!

I did my usual tour of retrosaria's (yarn & haberdashery shops). I bought this organic cotton yarn called For Nature (from the Portuguese brand Rosários4) and a piece of this most lovely flowered cotton (here in the background), in matching colours.

When I was there I crocheted this doily. The pattern is not mine but from a Japanese crochet book. (I'm sorry, I don't have the title.)

This is where I got my inspiration from colourwise... (I did not bring my camera, so here is a compilation of snapshots I took with my phone.)

I could certainly see this colours in my crochet. :-) What a lovely and inspiring city Lisbon is. Wonderful! I have another post lined up about it... (And I am planning to go back there for even more inspiration. Ha!)

♦♦♦ Many thanks for your kind visit... I wish you lovely, animal friendly, crafty and stress free days!♦♦♦

It's Just Another Doily Monday...

... And it's Manic too. ;-)

A short post, just to say hi and to doilify the beginning of this week.

The pattern is - again - from a Japanese crochet book. Let me know if you'd like to know which one, and I will look it up for you. I've used the Thai version, which is called Crochet Lace, from the Mini Crochet Series and is published by Maeban Publishing Co. in 2012. Click here for their website. The original Japanese edition was published by Nihon Vogue Co. in 2010. The designers of the projects in the book are Hiromi Endo, Kazekobo and Yasuko Sebata. Hope this helps!

♦♦♦ Wishing you a good week! ♦♦♦

Happy Pastels Day

Today I declare Happy Pastels Day.
Just because. ;-)































No such day without a doily though! This doily pattern is from a Japanese crochet book, published a couple of years ago.

I deviated from the pattern for the last rows and edging...

























Oh, before I forget: here is a glimpse of Mollie Makes #41 which has tutorials for three hangers I made. All très pastel chic. ;-) Hope you like them...!

♦♦♦ Thanks for your visit & have a lovely Happy Pastels Day! ♦♦♦

*Black*Grey*Whites* ~ #1 & #2

Oops ~ another deviation from my usual palette! Today I'd like to share two works in progress with you. (Mainly because I've got too many wips & therefore little finished stuff to show you...) Both projects are actually two or three months old, I have not been able to do a lot of crocheting or blogging recently. Hence a post about the wips!

This my first serious stashbusting attempt. A while ago I decided to hook away all my acrylics I always randomly buy. I started with the blacks and greys in my stash. I crocheted like a maniac for a short while, and somehow abandoned it. Came across it today, pinned it on my studio wall and voilà. The idea is to make rectangles in different sizes using different patterns and ultimately sewing or crocheting them together. It's a nice way of trying out some new stitches and patterns. Still have some yarn left from my stash in these colours. I should really finish it soon!

And then there is my second crocheted rug. I wrote about it a few post ago. Another project I worked on very intensively for a short while and then abandoned it. (And of which I only wanted to show the work, but there you go ~ so much for principles, right?) I guess I'm sort of restless right now. Anyways. I made these photo with my phone so I'm afraid the quality is not great. (And I'm wearing socks, aaargh! Very elegant indeed...) But I think I like this rug-in-progress so I shoud really do an attempt to finish it soon. It's actually such a quick project too.

By the way, if you are a reader of the lovely Mollie Makes, you might have noticed my crocheted hangers are featured in issue 41. I got my copy yesterday. :-) I'll share a sneak peek here soon. If you'd like to get your hands on a copy, you can get it here.

Thanks for your visit ~ enjoy your weekend!
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