My Heart…

the crochet hearts story continues. my plan was to crochet hearts and hang them as a garland for Valentine. I wanted to make silhouette hearts, instead of the hearts we usually crochet like these ones.

so far I am not too happy with the results. the Einband heart is done with single crochet stitches around a little iron wire and then shaped into a heart. I quite like it.

the soft fun by Scheepjeswol heart was done with a chain, then single crochet into each chain, 2 single crochet in the top 3 stitches of each heart-top, skipping stitches in the middle. I find it ok, but not really nice.

the lettlopi heart is a long row of chain stitches, then single crochet around that chain. by moving the stitches closer together or wider apart, you create curves. hmmmm, I find it the least successful heart.

what I do like about the hearts is their different textures, the combine really nice and make the single coloured hearts quite interesting I find.

what do you think? with which one should I continue? or let them all go and start a new version?

my idea is to try the wire heart with both other yarns, and try to felt the lettlopi heart and block it in the right shape. do you think that will work?

any advice is very welcome, I'm a bit stuck with these hearts.

xo

Monday Morning

Monday morning. this week a rather light one, luckily. yesterday I gave our coffee table a fresh coat of  grey paint, so therefore I'm using my tiny chair instead. a tea table for that matter.

some views from last week, including some inspirational meetings with old and new friends, out of town. a change of scene is always good for inspiration I find.

talking about inspiration, how is that doily dust-print bottom-right? it's from the giant doily in this post. we had some construction guys in our conservatory last week, drilling into concrete. I totally forgot to take the doily away and look. after the dust had set, it left this amazing print. it took us forever to get rid of all the dust but that's a different story I won't bother you with. it's done, let's leave it there.

indeed, I am still working on the ends of my scarf, and trying to find out how to crochet heart silhouettes in a simple but effective way. it's a funny puzzle, more about that on Wednesday.

enjoy your new week!

xo

New Yarn for Valentine

are you slowly getting in Valentine's mood too?

I got some cozy new yarns for a little Valentine project. all creamy white, there's SoftFun by Scheepjeswol, and two types of wool: Einband and Léttlopi from Iceland.

the idea I have in mind is to crochet a little heart garland of heart silhouettes. the kind of long shaped, Scandinavian looking hearts I like so much. let's see how this will work out. both wool yarns are good for felting too, that might be interesting to try. also, another idea I have is to crochet around a little wire and shape that into hearts. as usual, plenty of ideas and possibilities…

clearly I lost myself when we finally got to see mr. Sunshine today, some perfect light to take pictures. hope you'll enjoy them

xo

Last Week

crochet-wise last week was all about the scarf that I finished, except for the ends to weave in. I played with little pieces of wood and glued them to a white board for display. healthy lunches, slow coffee, grey days, it is what January looks like in The Netherlands. I try to lift the spirits with flowers from the local market, candle light and cozy crochet.

tomorrow I'll show you some new yarn that I plan to use for a little Valentine's project…

have a great new week and keep up the spirit if you're in grey days too.

xo

Scallop Scarf Update

from two half scallop parts and a little bit of yarn left over…

…to an almost finished scarf with stripes in the middle, and practically no yarn left.

I know what I'm doing the following days when I have a few spare minutes. exactly, weaving in ends.

a finished tadaa post of this scarf to be coming soon, my first in 2014!

read here and here about the scarf and yarn, click here for the scallop pattern.

xo

New Week

these days I am enjoying beautiful January light, both in the city as well as out in the fields with Floyd. cozy knitting and crocheting time by candle light inside, beautiful flowers like these amaryllis but also tulips and hyacinths make me smile. pure mid-Winter loveliness, my favourite season.

have a beautiful new week

xo

Mini PomPom Love

crocheting happily on my new scarf in progress. the scarf itself is not finished yet but I did work on the pompom ends already. why, you ask. well, I have got only 5 balls of yarn for this scarf, one of each colour, and I do not plan to get more yarn. therefore I wanted to make sure the ends were done first, before I run out of yarn. aren't these mini pompoms the cutest thing? I figured that if I wanted both ends of the scarf to have pompoms, I had to make two half scarfs and join them afterwards. otherwise the clamshells would look up on one end, and down on the other. therefore, two halves of one scarf to be.

also, do you use a scale when crocheting or knitting? I do quite often, to calculate how much further I can go with this one ball. in this particular project, to estimate how long this scarf will be if I continue with the same pattern. it may look or sound complicated and I agree, crocheting is much more fun than calculating weights and sizes. however it does save you lots of out-of-yarn stress, issues with different die lots, discontinued colours etc etc. trust me, I have been there several times. also, I often find that limitations ~ aka limited amounts of yarn ~ lead to creative ideas.

if you're interested: more about the start of this scarf and the yarn here, clamshell pattern to be found here

pattern edging: repeat *slip stitch, single crochet, half double crochet, treble crochet, chain 2, slip stitch in top of treble, double crochet, half double crochet, single crochet*. make sure you are facing the front of the bottom scallop when making this edging. 

pompoms: attach contrasting coloured yarn in chain 2 loop, chain 2, bobble stitch of 7 double crochet leaving last loop on hook, yarn over and pull through all 8 loops on hook in once. chain 1 and weave in ends. you're right, I haven't completed that last and fun step yet. I'll save that for later, ahum.

wishing you a happy Friday and a great weekend

xo

Gloves going on Sleeves

a couple of weeks ago I shared with you the pattern for these fingerless gloves. many of you picked up on the pattern right away and I received lots of photo's with your beautiful gloves in my inbox as well as on Instagram. I am so happy to read you are enjoying the pattern as much as I do. 

dear Deborah from  the cute Crochet Tea Party blog contacted me about her beautiful version of the pattern for a slightly thicker yarn. you can find it here, she even included a full crochet chart, isn't that fabulous? thank you so much Deborah, I am sure we will all enjoy your efforts in making this pattern so perfect!

 in the mean time I made 3 more pairs of gloves. I mean sleeves. yes sleeves, I crocheted the pattern in the round all along. no thumb part. these were the first ones I made:

you can read more about them in this blogpost. I found myself using them a lot in the house, for typing and holding my latte or tea. they make me happy when I wear them. 

I decided to share the happiness with my brother and his girlfriend, and crocheted a sleeves couple for them. they were wrapped up as gifts under the tree in Sweden, which is why I am showing them now.

the two-tone sleeves for her are also done with 2 balls of yarn; one green and one pink. I make them at the same time, to make sure I have enough yarn for each glove to reach the same hight. with the little bits that were left over I made the teeny decorative roses and leafs.

his gloves were made each of 1 ball of yarn. still, I made them simultaneously to make sure they would be the same in size.

my guess is I will make more of these in the future. they are perfect for quick gifts, and tempting to make matching with different of your own outfits and scarfs. I'd recommend using merino wool, or a wool blend that is washable. have you found 2 balls of yarn in your stash yet that are suitable for these?

happy crocheting

xo

First Week of 2014

hello you! how have you been? did you enjoy the holidays? family time, good food, NYE, quiet time and time to craft?

we celebrated Christmas and NYE with our families, the first time since we moved to Canada 3 years ago and it felt really good. actually when in Canada, the holidays were the times I missed our families the most. so it was really nice to be together again. We enjoyed good food, laughed, played board games until the little hours, walked Floyd in the Swedish woods, slept a lot because of the darkness up there, and I did not crochet. honestly? yes. not on purpose, it just happened. and it was good. both to be away from it for a week, and to be back at it now.

2014. a brand new year. and I can tell you, it is going to be an exciting year for creJJtion and myself. behind the scenes I am working on a new blog design, lots of crochet patterns and many more… I can't wait to share it all with you! in the coming months it will all reveal itself.

for now, some images from the past weeks.

new scissors from Kelmscott Designs and some green Swedish images, can you believe we got no snow?

crochet sleeves were my Christmas gifts for my brother and his girlfriend

new colour scheme for a squares baby blanket

all sorts of greens to start 2014 fresh! a wonderful, healthy and crafty new year to you.

xo