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.
♦♦♦

A little give away! (Finally)

Although I wanted to have one sooner,

here it finally is. My first little give away.

The first item I'm giving away is this set of nine coasters 

which doubles...

... as a garland (photo below) - in case you're not the coaster type...
(I'll send it as garland - with a long string attached.
But it's easypeasy to remove the string.)

Secondly I'm giving away this cute little Chinese notebook.
(Which is partially lined.)
I use a similar one for scribbling down my crochet notes.

Just leave a comment and tell me what you would prefer to get.
A follow or tweet is appreciated, but not necessary to win.
I'll announce the winners on Thursday the 21th of February.
Until then you can enter the give away. [The give away is now closed!]
(I do find this rather exciting, what if nobody cares for these things at all? Yikes!)

Good luck!
♦♦♦

Let's Ease into this Monday with Some Soft Colours

It's a grey morning here.
The few sunny days last week made me longing for spring...

What do you think of these pastel fabrics?
I purchased them in Laos from a lovely lady who had woven them herself.
Such a sweet memory.

The bobbin with the paper yarn is patiently waiting
till I have a moment of inspiration.
Which can last quite a while. :-)

Have a wonderful week!

♦♦♦

To Dress up a Dull Doily

Somehow I was just not convinced when this doily was ready.
The pattern (from a Japanese crochet book) was cute enough,
but the offwhite made the result, well, just a tad dull.

And although I'm not one for glitter,
I spruced it up with some sequins.
- You know, out of your comfort zone & living dangerous & all that ;-) -

I used a fine gold thread to sew them together,
and embroidered the center of the doily with the same gold thread.
And now I'm ready to go back to my comfort zone.

♦ Thanks for visiting & have a lovely day. ♦

Spring is in the air

... At least, it was in the air, yesterday,
when I crocheted these tulips.

But now, with today's grey weather,
it would be more suitable for me
to be crocheting cats & dogs.

But I'm not moaning. :-)
Whatever the weather might be:
Have a wonderful, loving weekend.
♥

♥♥♥
PS. The pattern is from Redheart, click here for the link.
Happy crocheting!

Ready? Check. Pastels? Check.

In September last year I already blogged about this cushion,
and yesterday I finally finished it.
*sigh*
It's vaguely inspired by the pastel cups (a gift from a friend)
and the thrifted Sphinx plates.

As you can see I'm still looking for a place
in my house where this newest addition can live.

It's the simplest of patterns: a straightforward granny stripe.
Front and back are identical and crocheted together with a single crochet.
I added an extra round of single crochet for a more finished look.























Have a wonderful (crafty?) day!
♦♦♦♦♦

Pink meets Hemp

Last weekend I made this potholder.
(Yes, another one...)
The front is made of organic hemp yarn,
the back & edging of cotton.
I quite like the combination of the rough & soft textures.

If you're interested in the pattern, it's as simple as it looks. :-)
The front is a granny square of nine rows.
The back is a solid square, also of nine rounds.
I used a 3 mm hook.
The pattern for the back is as follows (American terminology):

♦ Chain 6 and slipstitch to form a ring.
♦ Round 1:
20 double crochet (dc) in the ring. Join with a slipstitch.
♦ Round 2:
[in 1 dc of the previous round: 2 dc, chain 2, 2 dc. Then 1 dc in each of the next 4 stitches.] 4x.
Join with a slipstitch.
♦ Round 3
[in the corner space: 2dc, chain 2, 2 dc. Then dc in each of the next stitches till the next corner space.] 4x
Join with a slipstitch. 
♦ Rounds 4-9: repeat round 3. (The number of stitches between the corners will increase.)

For the loop you can use a key chain as a base, then single crochet on it.
You can sew or crochet it to your potholder (I did a bit of both.)
I then single crocheted the back and front together, using the cotton (one round).
To make an edging I used the crab stitch, which is fun doing.
It's a backward single crochet; on YouTube you'll find lots of great tutorials.

Okay, that's quite enough about one potholder.
I hope you haven't falling asleep. :-)
Thanks for visiting! Wishing you all a very fine day.

♦♦♦