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!

♦♦♦

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

My New Crochet Bag and a Giveaway Winner

Yarn, twine, rope, thread or even plarn: they're all suitable for crochet. Although the results will be quite different. :-)

Personally I love experimenting with different kinds of fibre. So I was excited when I got the chance to crochet with the fibre of the kudzu plant, also know as JungleVine.  

This is the skein I received.

Beautiful, isn't it?
Let's do a closeup. ;-)

Beautiful as it may be, it's an understatement to say I was not looking forward to handwinding this into a ball. I'm notoriously bad at this and I always end up tangling the yarn beyond rescue with me somewhere stuck inbetween - desperately crying out for help. However, this time I was in for a pleasant surprise. the skein was divided in mini-skeins, like this:

There's even a a little loop (which you can see in the picture) between every mini to prevent any untimely unravelling. I have never seen this before and I think it is such a clever way of creating a skein. 

I'm really curious: is this a common way for making a skein? Seriously, I'd love to know! Because it was really, really, a piece of cake to handwind it into a ball. No tangling. So, I was happy and I ended up with this huge, squishy ball.

Then came the really fun part: crocheting. I decided to make a bag, similar to the Nature Bags. Also, I decided that I wanted to make it without having to cut the yarn. So that the bag would be as strong as possible. And I wanted it to be simple. So this is what I came up with - Meet the Breezy Bag:

I made a small, cream edging with cotton crochet yarn. 

Some facts... I used a 2.7 mm crochet hook. But I think you could use up to at least a 3.5 mm hook for this fibre. It's a bit 'harder work' than crocheting with a regular yarn (probably also because I used a relatively small hook) but definitely very doable. Plus I found it fun and interesting because it's just completely different than all other yarns I've worked with: although it's very sturdy, the surface is at the same time much smoother than, for instance, twine. And the result is very stretchable. So I would use it again. Which is good news, because I still have some left! Ha!

I will post the pattern for the Breezy Bag here next week.

A Winner!
And now... Thank you all so very much for participating in the Nature Bag Giveaway. But there can only be one winner and that is... Kotbury from the lovely Kotbury blog! Congratulations to you and please mail me your address and I'll send you the bag asap.

If you did not win but would still like to be a proud owner of such a cute fairtrade bag you can find them online here. If you'd like to work with the JungleVine yarn yourself: Nature Bag sells JungleVine skeins, although they're not listed in their webshop yet. If you are interested you can send an email to service@naturebag.org.

Thanks so much for your lovely visit. I wish you all a most happy day!
♦♦♦

Nature Bag and a Giveaway

Hello dear readers,

Ohoh, it's been too long... But it's good to be back, both at home and on my blog.
I had a lovely time in Thailand and today I would like to take you with me to an interesting project in a neighbouring country: Laos.

Maybe you remember the first photo, I posted it before on this blog last September...

It's a bag from Nature Bag - I bought it a couple of years ago when I was in Laos. I sometimes use it as yarn bag when I'm abroad, because it's flexible and lightweight. It's from made of the natural, strong kudzu fibre which is traditionally used in Laos (and other countries) for making bags and baskets. Kudzu (also known as Japanese arrowroot, as Wikipedia kindly informed me) is a climbing vine that is native to Laos and many other parts of Asia.

On the occasion of posting that photo last year I was contacted by the kind Terry from Nature Bag. Nature Bag is a fairtrade project based in Laos. They make these traditional tote bags with a modern twist from the JungleVine as they dubbed the amazing fibre that is destined to be turned in a Nature Bag. We agreed that I would style and photograph more Nature Bags. The results of which you see here! I loved doing this because fairtrade has my heart.

I tried to highlight the fact that they are very lightweight by pinning them to my wall. I only needed a two or three pins. (Good news for my wall.)

Despite their lightweight nature and delicate looks, the bags are very strong, capable of expanding to carry heavy cargo. (I loaded mine with books!) The bags are knotted, not woven or crocheted, so in the unlikely event that a hole develops, the bag should not unravel. I wish I could say the same about my crochet. ;-)

Nature Bag gifted a bag for a giveaway for my lovely readers! If you would like a chance to win the blue-striped bag below, follow this blog and leave a comment. You can enter until April 2th 2015. [Edit: now closed]

If you'd like to see all styles of bags and meet the people who craft these lovely bags click here to go the Nature Bag website. (They have a webshop.)

In my next post I'll show you a bag I crocheted with JungleVine. I'll also share my pattern!
Okay, that's it for now. I hope you'll enter the giveaway. [Edit: now closed] If you do: Good luck!

Many thanks for your visit and I wish you a most lovely week.
♦♦♦

A New Shopper

Thank you for your kind comments on my recent posts and my sincere apologies for not answering them personally yet. I really appreciate them a lot though!



I would love to have made a travel blanket like last year's, because it is such a nice souvenir. It brings back memories of all the places where I've worked on it. Unfortunately this year there will be no travel blanket. However I did make a small project. If you follow me on Instagram you've seen the work in progress on this one.

The result: a shopper!

I've always wanted to try this spider pattern since I came across it on the internet. Unfortunately it is one of those - as I call them - orphaned patterns, without source. I tried to trace it back to its origins, but alas. If you know where it is first published, or who the designer is, please let me know so I can give credits and link to the original pattern, if possible. Thanks!

I really like this pattern, because there is a bit more to it than shows at first sight: the rows are not very tidy, if you know what I mean - I like that. ;-) 

When I was about to crochet the handles I was a just a tad grumpy because those would sort of ruin the pattern when using the bag (because it crumples). Then I realised I was being stupid because bamboo handles are widely available here. So off to the market I went and I found the perfect size hangers. Pattern saved!

I'm sorry for the somewhat crappy photos. Some people had a good laugh when they saw me trying to capture me-with-my-new-bag with the self-timer. My camera on a pile of yarn cakes to get the right height. Aaargh. Well, this is the best I could do. (What on earth is that arm doing there in the air? Seriously.) A tuk tuk driver thought I had gone mad when I hung my bag on that wall (the nail was there already!) in the middle of a crowded street because that beautiful wall just seemed the perfect backdrop. (Unfortunately I did not have my camera with me then, it was still chilling on top of those yarn cakes. So just a telephone snapshot there.)

Okay... A lot of words for a small project... Sorry about that...
Many thanks for your lovely visit!
I wish you a most lovely day.
♦♦♦

A Crochet Project Revisited

Chiang Mai has a thriving craft scene. There is a lot of really interesting crafting going on. Bookshops stock lots of gorgeous books on crafts. Last year I showed you some pictures from Bantaktor: a crochet (and a bit of knitting) project in Northern Thailand with a shop in Chiang Mai. They employ about fifty women who crochet and knit good quality products in return for which they receive a fair payment.

Recently I revisited them and they had lots of cute, new things. I think you don't mind having another peak inside. ;-) So here we go!

Would you like to see more? You can find Bantaktor on Facebook - here. And of course do pay them a visit if you are in or near Chiang Mai. It's well worth it! Click here for my post from last year.

That's all for now! I hope you've enjoyed this little crafty tour.

Many thanks for your kind visit and have a lovely weekend.
♦♦♦

A Field of Tulips Hangers * The Pattern and a (Little) Tutorial

Are you ready for spring? I know I am! You can now invite spring to your home with the tulip hangers. Here's the pattern and a little tutorial for you.

You'll need
♦ Cotton yarn suitable for a 3 mm hook (I used Rio Cotton from Lammy Yarns, except for the white, there I used something else from my stash, but Rio would do nicely there. And having seen the lovely colours from the brand new byClaire range, I think they would be perfect for these hangers too!)
♦ Crochet hook 3 mm
♦ Hanger with a minimum width of 2 cm (0.8 inches). The length doesn't matter, you can easily adapt the pattern accordingly.
♦ Blunt needle.

Remarks beforehand
♦ American crochet terminology – sorry UK-friends!
♦This pattern calls for a v-stitch: 1 dc, ch1, 1 dc in same stitch
♦ And for a 4dc-cluster:
Yarn over (yo) and insert your hook into the ch1-space.
Yo and draw up a loop – 3 loops on hook. Yo and pull through 2 loops – 2 loops on hook
Yo and insert your hook into the same space, yo over and draw up a loop – 4 loops on hook.
Yo over and pull through 2 loops – 3 loops on hook.
yo and insert your hook into the same space. Yo and draw up a loop – 5 loops on hook.
Yo and pull through 2 loops – 4 loops on hook.
Yo and pull through all 4 loops on your hook.
♦ You'll be making an identical front and back which are sewed together.
♦ For a 3d effect you could substitute the 4dc-cluster with a popcorn stitch.

Mmm, I realise that my symbol for a 4dc-cluster resembles that of a popcorn. Meant here is cluster stitch, although a popcorn would be a nice alternative. See above under Remarks beforehand...

Step 1, in white

♦ When making a slip stitch to start your work, leave an extra long tail. (This ensures that you are flexible in adjusting the length of your work if it turns out too short later on. More about this under Step 2.)

♦ Crochet a chain that's at least 5 cm (1.5 inches) longer than your hanger. 

♦ Sc in 2nd sc from your hook, single across the chain. Measure every now and then against the lenght of your hanger. If you think it's long enough, do not cut yarn yet.

Step 2, in green

♦ Do not turn your work.

♦ Attach green yarn in the first sc. 

♦ Chain 2, skip 1 sc

♦ * v-stitch, skip 2 sc* repeat until you nearly reach the end of the row.
♦ Measure if your work is long enough to cover the length of the hanger. If necessary you can pick up the white yarn again and make a few extra single crochets in your begin chain. You could even add a few chains to your begin chain (if necessary) because you left an extra long tail right in the beginning. How nifty. ;-)
♦ If your begin chain and/or your round 1 (the single crochets) are too long, you can easily unravel the redundant stitches from both. This is the reason you did not turn your work at the beginning of step 2.
♦ Okay, is your work the right length? Then, after the last v-stitch: skip 1 st, 1 dc, cut green and white yarn.

Step 3, in colour of your choice

♦ Don't turn work 

♦ Chain 3 in first dc of previous round

♦ *4dc-cluster in the ch1-sp of previous round, chain 2* 

♦ repeat across this round

♦ Than ch1, 1 dc in last dc of previous round
♦ Cut yarn.

Step 4, in white
♦ Don't turn work
♦ 1sc in 2ch of 3chains of previous round, 1 sc in ch1-space
♦ * 1sc in top of cluster, 2 sc in ch2-space*

♦ repeat 

♦ 1 sc in the last ch1-space, 1 sc in dc

Step 5 (in white)
♦ 1 turning chain

♦ Turn your work.
♦ Sc in every st, till end of round
♦ Now measure if your work is wide enough. If not, add an extra round of single crochet. You can decide whether you'd like this extra row here, or at the bottom of your work. (My hangers are 2 cm (about 0.8 inches) wide, and I didn't need an extra row of sc.)
♦ Weave in ends.

Step 6
Make an identical back side, repeating step 1 to 5.

Step 7
Hold the two pieces together, wrong sides facing eachother. Use your blunt needle and the white yarn to whipstitch front and back together (only stitching though the outer loops). Start on the side, then whipstitch about half of the lenght, slip the hanger in, stitch past the hook of the hanger, continue until done! Weave in the very last ends and let your Tulips Fields hanger invite spring in!

One more thing...
All this information might make this seem like a really complicated pattern – which of course it is not. I just wanted to give some tips on how to easily adjust the pattern to any lenght hanger. Of course, if you're making more hangers you can just count the stitches of your first hanger and duplicate that number for your other hangers – assuming they have the same size. ;-)

I hope you will enjoy this little project.
As always I'm delighted with your visit. Thanks!
♦♦♦

A Field of Tulips * Hangers

Oops, and suddenly is over a week since I last posted here. A lot has happened since then. Last week I decided it would be a good idea to relocate temporarily to Thailand. And so I did. Booked a ticket, got the visa and here I am. Never a dull moment, ha! The next sixs week I will be reporting from here. :-)

However, before I packed my bags I made something I'd like to share with you. May I present to you... My Field of Tulips Hangers! (The only thing I lacked was time to make decent pictures of them.)

I made these because I was so looking forward to spring. I hope you like them. The tutorial and pattern will follow soon. If you can't wait that long and you want to give your hangers a crochet coat like right away, may I suggest you buy a copy of the Big Comic Relief Crafternoon Magazine, to which I contributed other patterns to spruce up your hangers. ;-)

#smittenblanket
Before I end this post, I would like to ask your attention once again for the Smitten Blanket. I know some of you are already making it - which truly fills me with happiness! For everyone is making one and sharing photos of it: I would really appreciate it if you tag it #smittenblanket on social media, because in a while I'd love to make a compilation on this blog of all the Smitten Blankets around the globe. And also because I just love to see all your blankets. ;-) Thanks so much, I really appreciate your help!

These two lovely ladies are making the blanket:
♦ The amazing Smilena, who had already made four squares the day after I posted the pattern: *click*. Wow! And since then she has made even many more squares *click*.
♦ The talented Ellebel, you can find her progress on the Smitten Blanket here on Instagram *click*.

♦♦♦ Thanks for your kind visit. Happy weekend to you! ♦♦♦