Time Away

and just like that, last week a few phone calls were made and now this week happens to be moving week. our final move for now, to our own place. busy times are slowly coming to an end, we are so happy. pictures will follow, but first we have to wait for our wifi connection. apparently it can take up to weeks before that happens. it will be strange to be offline for so long, but good for some quiet time as well. wishing you well and hoping to see you again in a few weeks!

International Crochet Day 2013: Shop Discount

thanks to my friends on Instagram, I learned today is International Crochet Day! haha I didn't know such thing existed, but I love it. to celebrate, I created a coupon code for my shop: CROCHETDAY2013

it gives you 25% off all crochet patterns in the shop from today till Sunday September 15, 2013.

had I known this earlier... I will try to upload a new pattern in the shop before Sunday.

cheers to many more wonderful, calm, colourful and happy hooky times!

Multi Coloured Squares

mid week update on what is in the making here. the latest blanket is finished, yay. a little sneak peek of the edging in the pictures above. more about the blanket and it's edging later this week. with the left over bits and pieces I worked up some multicolour squares. a nice try out for me, it is always fun to see what different rows of colour can do to a pattern. these particular squares will go to a lovely lady who called on Instagram for squares, to be made into blankets for very ill people who can use some warmth.  one special friend of her in the first place. I have seen projects like these in the blog world before, people sending in squares from all over the world, one lady stitching them together into blankets. such a wonderful thing to do. I love it when the power of social media is coming together for a good cause. if you're interested in donating some squares too, say hi to @tantetuntel on Instagram.

I uploaded a diagram of the crown-edging pattern I posted yesterday, and a new knitting pattern is in the making. I hope your week is coming along nicely too.

Pattern: Edging for Crochet Baskets

 

a while ago I made these baskets for my friend who made this gorgeous cushion for me. the baskets have arrived at her place a while ago, so I can now freely share my pictures with you. we both used the same yarn, although I left the pink out. reason for that is she gave birth to a baby boy, and I thought these baskets would come in handy in the nursery. I guess our culture-colour-code does not allow a decent amount of pink in a boy nursery, haha. so I worked with green and white, a ball of each colour. I varied the stitches and the sizing, both in diameter as in height. this way they fit in each other when not in use. as you can see, rows of single crochet gives a nice and sturdy look. probably the most useful stitch for a basket. although it of course depends on the purpose you have in mind for your baskets.

two of the edgings were a lot of fun to make. I thought you might be interested in giving these a go as well, so I wrote down the pattern for you. the crown-edging is perfect for a round project. the increase in stitches makes the base I made for the pattern curl up right away. the bobble stitch edging could be used on flat projects too.

some of you may say: nice edging, but I don't know how to crochet a basket. luckily for you I also have a write up on how to make a basket. I made some last year and you can find a written tutorial here. just leave the handle-gap out and use the edgings from these patterns to your liking. please let me know if anything is unclear in these patterns.

enjoy!

Tiny but Pretty

long Summer nights, beach walking, city viewing and crocheting the days away. the days where I feel to be nowhere; having left our home in Canada, waiting for our new home to come in The Netherlands. we behave like tourists in the country where we were born and raised. through North American eyes we watch the cute little houses that say 1614 on their gables and stand still. we never noticed the beauty of these places like we do now. such a tiny but pretty country we are from. still living out of 3 suitcases we are getting very ready for a place to call home again. soon I hope to show you pictures of our new place and give the blanket a couch to hang on. I am almost done with the blanket, pictures and a little tutorial on the edging will follow too.

wishing you a happy week somewhere between Summer-end and Fall-beginning

Happy Weekend

late Summer happiness outside, beach trip and backyard beauty ~ happy weekend to you

Chunky Yarn Love

secretly working on a gift. so I can't show more than these yarn pictures. but I had to share this lovely chunky hand dyed yarn which I am using with knitting needles size 8 mm. so soft, so rich, hmmmm

and how about that beautiful visitor? loving the last days of Summer!

Diagram Pattern

what started as a quick try out to figure out a pattern, is quickly becoming my new favourite blanket that will hopefully be finished when we move into our new home in a couple of weeks from now. yes, we found a place and we are very excited to move in. it is hard to be patient sometimes.

in the mean time I am crocheting and enjoying the beautiful Summer weather here in The Netherlands. I can hardly believe how fast this blanket is growing. the main reasons I am working on it so much is because I like the squares and the colours, but definitely also because I am not in the need of another 'projects in progress'. when we have access to our belongings from Canada again, it will definitely be my next goal to finish a decent amount of the projects in progress before I start new ones. it feels so good to finish things, it clears my mind and gives a satisfied feeling.

ok, back to this blanket. you can find the pattern here. I tried a little piece of the pink edging I had in mind, but adding a different colour became a little messy to my eyes. instead I decided to go for a dark blue edging. I will show you pictures soon. oh and last but not least, after your positive replies to the pattern of these squares, I decided to try draw a diagram pattern too. I hope this will be helpful for those of you who don't read Dutch or English so well. I have added the diagram to the pattern blog post too.