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.

♦♦♦

Yarn Talk & Other Tittle-Tattle

Oh dear - it has been too long.
Very busy, but - alas - not blog related.

So no progress to show you unfortunately.
However! I did buy new yarns.

Love the powder pink colour...
The yarn on the left looks more like twine, doesn't it?
It's organic hemp yarn. I used it before, it comes out nice.
I'm planning to make a set of placemats with it.

I like the old fashioned crochet cotton
from the brand Modinetje.
I got the last one (for only one euro).
The brand design is like a flashback to the fifties.
Wonder if it's still being produced?























Mmm, I'm afraid this is going to be a quite messy blog post.
(I apologize.)
I'll show you some old pictures, which I didn't use before here.

This is where I store stuff like leftover yarn.
Old shoeboxes...

Craftroom snapshot...
With lots of crocheted doilies, thrifted finds & a garland.

And why not end this chaos with potholders?

What are you up to this weekend?
I personally hope to have some time to crochet.
Have a happy weekend!

♦♦♦

Thank You and A Warm Welcome ♥

Welcome dear followers,






















Thanks to this amazingly sweet blogpost
from the talented Maaike of CreJJtion
many of you found your way to this little blog,
others came here via Pinterest.
A warm welcome to you all!
(And thanks again Maaike for your nice words...)






















I do find it a bit intimidating to have followers now.
For the first time I'm a bit lost what to blog about. ;-)
Even more so because these weeks are very busy for me,
and I have hardly time to blog (or to crochet, or to try new recipes).
- But hey, I came up with something...






















And BTW, as I wrote in my last post,
I'm planning give away (my first!),
not sure though when it will be online,
but it will be as soon as possible.

Have a very good day!

♦♦♦

Procrastination Equals A New Doily

The hexagon throw I recently blogged about is nearly finished.

Nearly...
I have to make all the half hexagons now - to get an even border.

Which I find more of a hassle than crocheting the hexagons.
A good excuse to make another doily...

Have a wonderful day.

♦♦♦

♦ PS. Give away coming up next week, so stay in touch. ;-) ♦

Breakfast on a gloomy day

It was dark this morning,
but at least my new potholder perked up the breakfast table.






















I decided on a dark brown backside and edging.
It makes the light blue really pop out,
- plus this colour combination has a certain nostalgic feel.






















The Japanese crochet book had a photo of this potholder
- with a nice border,
but unfortunately the matching pattern lacked the border.
So I improvised something similar.

I think this pattern would work great for bags, cushions or small plaids too.

Have a non-gloomy day!
♥

Potholders to be & a new button...

Just a quick post,
to show you something that isn't even finished yet.
But I'm so glad with this pattern
(from a Japanese crochet book I received earlier this week)
that I can't wait...
- Even though the light is too gloomy to make a decent picture.
I simply love how the bobble stitch in this pattern works out.

Unfortunately the book didn't give a pattern for the back,
I will make something simple for that.
Hope to show you the result tomorrow soon, after I blocked them.

Oh, yes, before I forget:
I finally added a followers button (on the right, below).
So feel welcome to press it... :-)

Gelukkig nieuwjaar!

Happy New Year!
May 2013 be a happy, crafty, creative, sustainable
& an animal friendly one...

This time we didn't make any traditional oliebollen for New Year's Eve,
but a coconut & lime cream pie instead -
from Vegan Pie in the Sky.
I wrote about that wonderful book before: here.

And to be honest...
When I state something like 'we made a pie':
My task was confined to picking a recipe. ;-)

Anyway. It was the first time we had this pie,
and it didn't disappoint! At all.
Creamy it was indeed... Mmm.

So, before we ate the rest of it today,
I managed to take some pictures. (Only just!)

To end this first post of the new year:
I'm absolutely thrilled by the fact that there are a growing number of people interested in this blog. :-)
I find it terribly exciting to have visitors from all over the world.
Thank you for visiting and commenting.
It's appreciated, a lot!

I hope you had a good start of the year too.
♥