Bobble galore

Crocheting a cowl, while being all snuggled up in blankets.

Another in between project... I have so many wips... As per usual!

And no, I haven't finished my Giant Granny Square yet, but almost, yes.

And again colours you're not really used of me...

I have a bit of a crush on bobble stitches recently.
Can you tell...?






















I never really liked variegated yarn, until recently.
(Usually I don't make a sample either - I just start something new.)
It's funny how the same pattern looks quite different with other yarn.

Anyway, I frogged this sample last week.



How do you feel about variegated yarn? Love or hate,
or maybe just neutral...?

♦♦♦ Thanks for dropping by & have a nice day! ♦♦♦

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. ;-)

♦♦♦Poncho♦♦♦

Hello & bonjour!

Here's a project that I haven't shown here before.
I made it for a friend. The pattern is from a Japanese crochet book.

(I'll post a photo of the book cover here later, in case you're interested to know which one.) I used an acrylic variegated yarn, I can't remember which hook size I used.

There's something else, so completely different from the above... My heart bleeds for Madelief (from the beautiful blog) and her girls, who suffered such a tremendous loss yesterday. Please send them your love and virtual hugs.

Thank you, as always, for dropping by here.
All the best...
♦♦♦ 

Flabbergasted! (And some unusual wips)

A warm welcome new & old readers,

Flabbergasted, yes, that sort of describes my reaction this morning when I saw the visitor statistics of this little blog had exploded over the last day. The cause: an amazing - amazingly sweet - blog post of one of my crochet & blog heros, the very talented Vanessa from Coco Rose Dairies. So much kindness, it leaves me speechless... (And to think I'm such a complete amateur compared to her gorgeous work and beautifully written blog.) So from the bottom of my heart:
♦♦♦ Thank you Vanessa! ♦♦♦

It also made me realise it really is time for a new post...
However, it has been very busy around here. I don't get much crocheting done. (And I'm seriously behind visiting all your lovely blogs out there, but I will pop around to say hello soon!)
Although work-work takes up most of my time, I did manage over the last weeks to start (but not finish, nope) some new projects. Which have one thing in common: an unusual (as in: unusual for me) colour combination.

This is supposed to become a giant granny square throw with a vintage vibe... I'm struggling a bit with the colours because there so different from my usual palette. Mmm, we'll see how & if that works out. At least a big granny square is a guarantee for relaxing crocheting, perfect after a long & tiring day at work.






















Then there's also this winter project (scarf, hat and mittens). Even more unusual colours, but I fell for the very soft yarn. (Which only came in these colours, haha.)

And the last wip: this potholder sample. It should become the first of a new range of potholders... (And okay, this is made with colours that are more customary for me.)






















Sorry, the pics are not the best (made in a bit of a rush) - I'm slightly worried you will be disappointed about the quality after reading Coco Rose's sweet words. ;-)

♦♦♦ Thanks for dropping by & have a lovely day. ♦♦♦

Sculptural

The scarf I made with the wonderful Vinnis yarn,
- which was gifted to me by Pigtails - is ready!

I loved every second of working with Vinnis.
Also I think I will use this pattern again.
Maybe to make another scarf with my other Vinnis yarn. ;-)



The Vinnis has such a charming texture, it's almost sculptural.



A recap:
♦ The yarn is Vinnis Nikkim - erh, yes, I think I might have mentioned that above ;-) - in the colours Stone (2 balls), Sea Green (1 ball) and Green Slate (1 ball)
♦ Crocheted with a 4,5 mm hook
♦ I came across this pattern via Jeannette's Pinterest board,
♦ which links to the original pattern here.

♦♦♦ Thanks for dropping by. Have a nice day! ♦♦♦

Lots of Yarny Goodness from South Africa

Look what the postman brought me a couple of days ago:
A box full of yarny goodness, all the way from South Africa!
A gift from Pigtails, one of the most talented
crocheters, photographers and bloggers around.






















There was Nikkim Vinnis...
(A cotton I was dying to try for quite a while now.)

And more Vinnis...Not only is this yarn very beautiful,
it is hand dyed and balled by women from an economically depressed area of South Africa.
So it empowers women who can really use some empowerment.

And there was Elle Premier cotton in gorgeous colours...
Looking forward to working with this yarn too!

Pigtails' colour choice is really spot on,
I simply love all the colours she chose!

So yesterday I have been crocheting like my life was at stake.
Finally I could work with Vinnis, hooray! And it is great.
It's soft and a real treat to crochet with.

I'm making a scarf (hoping to finish it today).
In Sea Green, Stone & Green Slate.

About the pattern: I wanted to make something wavy,
but not lacy, so the amazing texture of this yarn would show at its best.
And when Jeannette pinned this picture yesterday,
I knew at once this would be it. You can find the pattern here.
I'm using a 4,5 mm crochet hook.

Thanks again Pigtails!

♦♦♦ Have a great & crafty weekend everyone! ♦♦♦

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. ;-)

♦♦♦