Oh dear...

It's all work and no play around here.
Here are some older pics that did't make it to this blog before,
just to say hello, and I'll be back...

Till soon - I hope!
Take care.
♦♦♦

Working on the giant granny square

The giant granny square works up very quickly.
Row after row. Still struggling a bit with the colours.
It's not that I don't like them, but there's just so much contrast... ;-)
I think I will make another giant granny in my 'own' colours.
However, first have to finish this one!

Have a nice day!
♦♦♦
PS. My hands are not as gigantic as might seem from the picture, lol.
it's only the throw that's giant. ;-)

The hexagon blanket is ready...

... And it has become quite snuggly and soft. I want to thank you for your kind comments when I posted about this blanket-in-progress. In this post I'll try to answer the questions I got about it.
So here is the big reveal! I hope you like it and I apologize in advance for the photo overkill, haha.

In case you're interested in some practicalities...






















THE YARN
The offwhite I used for the joining and the edging is Rico Creative Cotton
(because I had lots of it in my stack because of another wip);
all the other colours are Drops Paris cotton. First time I used this, and I have to say, I like its fluffiness. If you visited here before you might remember this picture (made when I started to work on this blanket)...



THE HEXAGON PATTERN
Alas, it's not mine, so I can't share it here. I used motive #1 from a Dutch Marie Claire Idées book with 250 crochet stitches (which is btw a great resource book, I thrifted it for a one euro).
But fret not! You can find a very similar pattern here and another one here. And of course Jeannette's Pinterest board about hexagons is a great source of inspiration!

I didn't have a pattern for the half hexagons, I had to improvise. (And was kind of crushed when I realised that I actually needed two different half hexagons - see the pics below. It's all about knowing your maths. LOL.)

JOINING THE HEXAGONS
What I can happily share is how I joined the hexagons, about which I received some questions. It's a simple join-as-you-go method. You'll just double crochet around your first hexagon without chain stitches in between the double crochet! When joining a square, you'll make a chain stitch in between every 4 dc of the first square. The remaining sides of your second square (the ones that are not joined in that round) only consist of double crochet (without chain stitches, just like all the sides of your first square). When joining a third square, the sides are joined with a slipstitch between every 4 dc again, et cetera. Mmm, I hope this makes sense... Please let me know if it doesn't. Or if it does. ;-)

THE BORDER
The border is an adapted version of this pattern.
I left out the last row of chains, instead I improvised two other rows.



HOOK SIZES
The hexagons and joining are made with a 5 mm hook.
For the first row of dc of the border I also used a 5 mm hook,
for the second row a 4,5 mm hook, to prevent it from becoming ruffled.
The 3rd row is again made with a 5 mm hook, all the other border rows are hooked with a 4,5 mm hook. (It's trial and error really to find a balance between a too tight or a ruffled border.)

THANKS FOR YOUR PATIENCE
That's about it I guess! In case you have questions about the pattern - and you think I might be able to help ;-) - please let me know.

Thanks for paying a visit & have a lovely day! Meanwhile I'll be sailing the North Sea Channel, doing some Spanish dancing in Barcelona, picking mushrooms and berries in Norway, taking a coffee break on my patio and checking my emails more regularly. ;-)

♦♦♦

Pattern * popcorn blanket

Hello there,

Apologies for my absence. I have been travelling through a very crochet minded country... I will post about that soon. Meanwhile I have not been answering comments and emails, but I will get back to you!

But first this: a bit later then anticipated (and promised) the written pattern of my popcorn blanket is finally ready. I tested it, and it should be okay, but please let me know if I made any mistakes.

Which makes me wonder: has any of you experiences with a computer program to write crochet patterns and charts? Like this one by Stitch Works? Or another one?

I'd like to publish more patterns and make charts for my doilies, but it's rather time consuming – and I'm not very good at drawing a neat chart I'm afraid. Love to hear from you about this.

Some notes beforehand...
– I use American terminology.
– As the first dc of each new round, I chain 2. I know 3 chains is more common as an alternative for a dc, but I think 2 ch gives a neater result.
– If the pattern calls for a 3dctog, the first 3dctog of a new round will be [chain 2 + 2 dc].
– A popcorn is made of 5 completed double crochets in 1 one stitch, they are then joined.
– It is a classic square and there exist a lot of very similar patterns. I adapted one of those for this blanket (e.g. I wanted the popcorn stitches really to pop, so I made them bigger).
– I made 20 squares for this plaid, then I ran out of yarn. Ha! I used a 5 mm hook. Each individual square measures 26x26 cm.

– For those of you who prefer a crochet chart, I'm making one for this pattern, I just need a bit more time...

The square
To begin: ch 8, close with a sl st to first sc.

Round 1
[dc3tog, ch 2, dc3tog, ch 3] 3 times, dc3tog, ch 2 dc3tog, chain 1, 1 dc (this is to close the round in the top stitch of the first 3dctog of this round. This way you begin your next round just on the right spot and you don't have to cut your yarn!)

Round 2

dc3tog, *ch 2, 3 dc in ch 2 space of previous round, ch 2, dc3tog, ch 3, dc3tog in same space to make a corner, repeat from * 2 times, ch 2, 3 dc, ch 2, dc3tog, ch 1, 1 dc (to close the round)

Round 3
dc3tog, *ch 2, 2 dc in ch 2 space of previous round, 1 dc in each of the next 3 dc of previous round, 2 dc in ch2 space of previous round, ch 2, dc3tog, ch 3, dc3tog in same space to make a corner, repeat from * 2 times, chain 2, 2 dc in ch2 space of previous round, 1 dc in each of the next 3 dc of previous round, 2 dc in ch2 space of previous round, ch 2, dc3tog, ch 1, 1 dc (to close the round)

Round 4
dc3tog, *ch 2, 2 dc in ch 2 space of previous round, 1 dc in each of the next 7 dc of previous round, 2 dc in ch2 space of previous round, ch 2, dc3tog, ch 3, dc3tog in same space to make a corner, repeat from * 2 times, chain 2, 2 dc in ch2 space of previous round, 1 dc in each of the next 7 dc of previous round, 2 dc in ch2 space of previous round, ch 2, dc3tog, ch 1, 1 dc (to close the round)

Round 5 This is the round where the popcorn fun starts!
dc3tog, *ch 2, 2 dc in ch 2 space of previous round, 1 dc in each of the next 5 dc of previous round, popcorn in next stitch of the previous round, 1 dc in each of the next 5 dc of previous round, 2 dc in ch2 space of previous round, ch 2, dc3tog, ch 3, dc3tog in same space to make a corner, repeat from * 2 times, chain 2, 2 dc in ch2 space of previous round, 1 dc in each of the next 5 dc of previous round, popcorn, 1 dc in each of the next 5 dc of previous round, 2 dc in ch2 space of previous round, ch 2, dc3tog, ch 1, 1 dc (to close the round)

Round 6
dc3tog, *ch 2, 2 dc in ch 2 space of previous round, 1 dc in each of the next 5 dc of previous round, popcorn in next st of the previous round, 3 dc in each next st of the previous round, popcorn, 1 dc in each of the next 5 dc of previous round, 2 dc in ch2 space of previous round, ch 2, dc3tog, ch 3, dc3tog in same space to make a corner, repeat from * 2 times, chain 2, 2 dc in ch2 space of previous round, 1 dc in each of the next 5 dc of previous round, popcorn in next st of the previous round, 3 dc in each next st of the previous round, popcorn, 1 dc in each of the next 5 dc of previous round, 2 dc in ch2 space of previous round, ch 2, dc3tog, ch 1, 1 dc (to close the round)

Round 7
dc3tog, *ch 2, 2 dc in ch 2 space of previous round, 1 dc in each of the next 5 dc of previous round, popcorn in next st of the previous round, 1 dc in each of the next 3 stitches of the previous round, popcorn, 1 dc in of the next 3 next stitches of previous round, popcorn,1 dc in each of the next 5 dc of previous round, 2 dc in ch2 space of previous round, ch 2, dc3tog, ch 3, dc3tog in same space to make a corner, repeat from * 2 times, ch 2, 2 dc in ch2 space of previous round, 1 dc in each of the next 5 dc of previous round, popcorn in next st of the previous round, 1 dc in each of the next 3 st of the previous round, popcorn, 1 dc in the next 3 stitches, popcorn, 1 dc in each of the next 5 st of previous round, 2 dc in ch2 space of previous round, ch 2, dc3tog, ch 1, 1 dc (to close the round)

Round 8, 9 and 10 are the same as round 7, except that you increase every round with one popcorn following the same increasing scheme as the previous rounds. Which leads to 6 popcorns on each side of your square in round 10.
Of course you could make more of less rows, according to your taste (and your amount of yarn!).

Joining the squares
I single crocheted the backs of the squares together with the same colour yarn.

The border
Borders really are the cherry - or icing, if you prefer sugar ;-) - on the cake, and I do like a big border. However, I felt that this one needed a simple border, so I restrained myself.
Using a contrasting colour I simply single crocheted one row along the squares. In each corner I made 3 sc.
The 2nd row of the border is also made of single crochets, alternating with popcorns. The pictures below shows where I made the popcorns.

In case you give it a try: I hope you like this pattern as much as I do! I'd love to see the result.

I hope to be back here soon with some delicious crochet work (not mine) and new yarn (mine!).
Thanks for dropping by & all the best.
♦♦♦

Hexagons!

While I haven't quite finished writing down the pattern

for my last throw (it is coming, really!).
I thought I'd share some pictures of a work in progress,
a project I left untouched for months, while it was nearly ready...

I won't be able to finish it before my holiday,
because I'm planning a nice big border on this one
(for which I still have to choose a pattern).

So, in case you have a suggestion for a (slightly over-the-top) edging...?
Welcome!

♦♦♦ Take care. ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦
PS. I posted about this work in progress before: here...

Another blanket finished! (Only three more to go)

Wow - I'm quite pleased, another blanket is ready!
And oooh, I do really enjoy the tactile sensation of this one...
- You can probably tell by the gigantic number of pictures. ;-)

It's not a huge throw, but fairly heavy nevertheless...
I crocheted quite a few potholders with this pattern,
and liked it so much I wanted to make a throw with it as well.
So I did! (But slightly adapted the original potholder pattern.)

I will (promiss) share the adapted pattern here,
and aiming to do so within a week.

I used a 5 mm hook and all the powder pink yarn I had in my stash of this brand. (They don't have this colour any more, so I had to stop after 20 squares.)
I single crocheted the squares together (back sides),
and added a simple border - maybe too simple?
That's all!

^ This last photo shows you what the backside looks like (on the left)
BTW, I do apologise for the photo overkill. ;-)
♦♦♦
Thanks for dropping by - much appreciated! - and have a lovely, crafty, relaxing weekend.
♦♦♦

The first blanket and sunshine

Thank you for your kind and encouraging comments on my last post.
It means a lot to me that you take the time for reacting

- and that you liked my blanket ;-) - so thanks!

Meanwhile I managed to catch of bit of the glorious sunshine
in our little corner of the world.






















A good book, a throw - in this case, the first one I ever crocheted, with the the first granny square I ever crocheted... and it shows ;-), sunshine and tea. Life can be good.

Enjoy.

Finally - a finished throw

Or rather: finally pictures of a finished throw,
since I actually finished this one rather quickly.
But man, it took me ages to make the photos.






















Anyway, when I came across this pattern online.
I just couldn't resist and I had to make it. Pronto.
Let me elaborate a bit on how & where I came across it...
I saw this Obsession Afghan ;-) mady by Twyla from Two Crazy Crafters,
and loved the pattern at once.
The pattern is from another blog: The Adventures of the Gingerbread Lady.
Where the Gingerbread Lady is so kind to share it with us. (Thanks!)






















It is an addictive pattern. Once I started I couldn't stop.
I decided it would be the perfect stashbuster.
Except that it wasn't...
Because after a couple of rows a certain colour scheme appeared
that I quite liked. So I ended up buying lots more of aqua and ocher yarn, and added a hint of green.
(I just can't do it, letting go of the colour control freak inside me. Oh well.) In the end I used at least ten different shades of aqua, and quite a few ochers too.

Like I said, it's an addictive pattern,
I finished the actual blanket within two weeks.
Then it took me some time to add all the fringes.
(As you might remember: I bored you with it in at least two blog posts.)
I didn't want a 'proper' border because I wanted the stripes to fade out, as it were.
Hence the fringes.

By the way, I found it difficult to make a decent picture of this throw.
Something to do with the stripes?

Anyway, I hope to make much more blanket with this pattern.
I made a few changes to the original pattern:
- I changed colours after every row (instead of every two rows).
- The stripes are in the width of the blanket (instead of the lenght).
- As said, I didn't make a real border.
A hook of 4.5 mm did the job, I used lots of different brands of acrylic yarn. (Some really, really cheap ones as well, think 'Zeeman' if you live in The Netherlands...)
Some yarns are actually a bit thinner then others, but I actually like the structure that gives.






















^ BTW - why does my arm look huge in this picture? ^

I really really really enjoyed working on this one.
So off you go to the Gingerbread Lady to make one yourself!
And I'm off to finish another blanket. :-)

♦♦♦ Have a lovely weekend - or what's left of it...♦♦♦

Fringes

My blanket is ready! Except...
For the fringes.

Have a nice day!
♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦

Lots of aqua * Lots of loose ends

Last week I promised a sneak peek of my latest
- unplanned *big sigh* - project.
Well, here is a peek of the work in progress.
Or rather, mainly of all the ends I still have to sew in...

I have been crocheting like a maniac for the last 1,5 week.
Really. There's no nicer way to put it.

It's definitely my favourite crochet project so far.
When I'm back with the pictures of the finished throw,
I'll post a link to the blog where I found this wonderful pattern.
(Which I just had to make, without delay, when I saw it.)

There's somebody else in the house who shares my enthusiasm for this project. When I left it unattended for just a few secs, she claimed it as hers right away. :-)

♦♦♦ Enjoy your Sunday! ♦♦♦

Oooh, I think I really like this project so far...

Only four squares ready though.
:-)






















Have a wonderful & crafty weekend with lots of love & some good food too!
♦♦♦

A new throw?

Finally I had a few stolen hours to crochet.
Which I should have used to work on a WIP.






















But I started something new instead.
I just love this bobble stitch pattern.
- I often use it to crochet a potholder -
This time I decided to make a throw with this pattern.
Just one square finished though...

Do you have anything on your hook right now?

♦♦♦

Give away * Winners

Well - I was touched by your sweet reactions
on my little give away.
I really wish I could send a garland to all of you.






















 But alas...























Blindfolded (seriously!) I picked the winners...

The little notebook goes to...






















Baukje!

And the garland goes to...






















Heather from Vintage Grey!

Congratulations & please send me your addresses.
Everybody: thanks for participating & good luck next time!

Oh - before I forget: I will write down the pattern of the garland asap,
so all of you who crochet can make a similar one yourselves.
♦♦♦

Let's hope this one doesn't take a year...

Of all things one can crochet,
I think I like throws the best.
But oh..., they can take so very long to finish.
(Well, at least it costs me ages, but I'm often amazed
by the speed of some crocheters... Respect!)

I learned to crochet just over one year ago.
And finished three throws in that period.
& a fourth one is still work in progress, since last spring,
and I really want to finish it.

Nevertheless, I started to work on a fifth one very recently,

and hopefully I will be able to finish this one within a couple of weeks.
Should be possible, since I make it with a 5 mm hook,
and the pattern has a lot of gaps. ;-)

So, here is a sneak peek.

Hope to show you the end result soon.

Almost weekend...
♦ Enjoy! ♦