Published in 101 Woonideeën

super excited, honoured and happy I am to tell you, you can now find an interview with me in the crochet special that comes with the latest issue of the Dutch magazine 101 woonideeën! it is one of my absolute favourite Dutch magazines, which makes it extra special and fabulous. the cover of my book is included, as well as two images from Instagram you may recognize. on top of that, I share a spread with darling Petra from the beautiful webshop and blog ByPetra.

this lovely special is full of crochet facts and how-to tips, interviews, links to beautiful patterns, shops and websites. if you love crochet and can read a little Dutch, you absolutely shouldn't miss out on this special.

for more inspiration, have a look here for a fabulous list of Dutch crochet blogs and links. Thank you Monique!

xo

Crochet WIP

progress on my flower cushion cover. yay! I've finished the squares, decided to add a few uni coloured blocks and a little touch of yellow. it just needed that. 

I crocheted the individual squares together, light grey was planned for it but it became all too much of a grid, so I went with dark grey instead. light grey ended up as the outer border, nice and simple two rounds of single crochet. it is all blocked and ready to be sewn to a fabric cover. 

with the left over yarn bits I whipped up this rather simple and large stripe cover for a matching cushion on the couch. the last row of each colour block is done with a bobble stitch. not as fancy as the flower cushion, but I like how they go together and each get their own attention. 

the fabric cover for the stripes is done already, so I know what I'm doing this week!

have a lovely week yourself

xo

Last Week

thank you all so very much for your lovely, sweet and encouraging comments about my crochet book PUUR haken. I have to admit, it was quite scary to bring the news after months and months of keeping it quiet, and I am very happy and relieved you are so excited. Thank you!

last week I managed to work a little on the cushion cover, enjoy Spring and this little bird that just flew out of the nest, pretty flowers, an afternoon at the beach and crocheting the second square of the Simply Crochet granny square app. this week I plan to blog with more pictures about the flower cushion and it's stripy big brother.

have a lovely week!

xo

Big News: I wrote a Crochet Book!

Well well, dear blog readers of creJJtion. 

Last week I told you I would make an announcement, and today is the day. I have been blogging for over 3 year now, and the biggest news I released so far mostly included my private life; getting married and moving to Canada. But todays' news is different. It involves crochet, lots of crochet, and you. I kept a secret from you for the past 10 months or so, and I am happy, excited, relieved and nervous, to tell you:

I wrote my first crochet book

A book! This Summer PUUR haken will be printed, and as of early August it will be available to you in Dutch stores and online. I proudly present the cover:

From the first rough ideas I exchanged with the publisher shortly after we moved back from Canada, to the project ideas, yarn selection, hours and miles of crochet, styling of the items, till when it came all together on the day of the photo shoot recently… I had to hold myself back very tightly not to share every exciting and boring detail with you. But as of now I can, and will share bits and pieces with you, as the publisher and I are in the final stages of putting PUUR haken together. 

In no less than three months it will be printed and available to you. I am beyond excited!

What will it look like? What patterns are included? Will it be printed in English? I hear you thinking. Well, I can share a few things. The book is called PUUR haken, which literally translates to PURE crochet. It will be printed in Dutch and includes diagrams, charts and some close up images of stitches, for non-Dutch readers. The book contains over 20 crochet designs, covering different techniques and styles. The pure aspect of the book relates to the use of mostly 100% natural materials such as cotton and wool, it relates to suggestions for upcycling and yarn scrap projects, the pure aspect relates to every project being a crochet project with one exception for a fun crochet-paper combination, and it relates to the colour schemes with lots of naturals. There are patterns for beginner, intermediate and advanced crocheters. To finish it off there will be lots of pictures, and some illustrations done by me as you can already see on the cover.

beautiful cupcakes made by my friend Taertske, they will be featured in the book…!

In the coming weeks I am still very busy working on the final details. I will give you little sneak peeks into the process to keep you updated. PUUR haken will be available for pre-order in my web shop in a few weeks, and I will let you know when and where there will be a little book-launch event. You are all invited!

I feel very thankful and honoured to be given the chance to write this book. It is a big relief to share this news with you today, and have it 'out there'. Now, I'd better get back to work…

xo

Crochet Granny Square

a new free app, I downloaded it just for fun. a granny square pattern a week, by Simply crochet magazine and Red heart yarns. you can find the app here - iPhone only I am afraid, and read more about it here.

the first square is the classic granny. inspiration for the colour combination came from an interior page I ripped out of the magazine Martha Stewart Living, April 2014. 

to keep my magazine pile at a decent size, I go through it every now and then. rip interesting pages, articles or colour combinations, and toss the rest. those loose sheets I keep in binders, together with words about what I had in mind when selecting this page, and sometimes, like this time, with little yarn pieces to suggest colour combinations. it helps me to keep my inspiration organized, and whenever I am looking for colour combinations or ideas I know exactly where to find them.

how do you keep track of things you find inspirational?

yarn: scraps of Catania 100% cotton #106 white, #263 salmon, #146 blue and #254 taupe
hook size: 3 mm

xo

Easter Crochet Doilies

after having seen this gorgeous little doily on numerous blogs and websites for quite a while, I was delighted to see the cover of this book Crochet Living by Nicki Trench recently. I must have been hiding under a stone not having found this earlier, and I ordered right away.

then the fun part started; selecting colours for my own Easter version of these doilies. I used my stash of left over Catania yarns, cotton instead of wool and a slightly lighter weight than the recommended Debbie Bliss baby cash merino yarn. adding yellow to the selection was new to me and I still have to get used to it haha, but Easter without yellow seemed odd to me.

I loved making them, playing with colours and the pattern is very well written and rather simple. they recommend to block the final doily, but I actually like those scallops popping up so I'll leave them like this. up next, maybe some matching egg cozies?

have you been thinking about decor for Easter lately? any crochet plans included?

Last Week

another week has gone by and unintentionally I didn't blog. days seem to pass by like hours… 

I am enjoying them greatly though, in good company and with lovely weather. a little bit of Spring cleaning and de-cluttering here and there feels good. fixing the sleeve Floyd chewed a bit was easier and quicker done than I thought. fun times exploring new places and spaces in Den Bosch, taking the blossoms all in, and crocheting up some Easter themed pastel doilies. the pattern is from the lovely book Crochet Living by Nicki Trench, one of my favourite designers. it's a book made with Debbie Bliss yarn and the doilies are named Dashing Doilies. the colour possibilities are endless, I love them.

I will try to arrange a blog post about the doilies and Den Bosch this week. 

But first I'll enjoy a latte in the sunny backyard. Life is good!

xo

Update: Flowers and Crochet

 a little midweek update. Spring flowers for you and a scrap-project in the making, I'm thinking a cover of some sort. let's see where the scraps take me.

happy day to you!

xo

New Crochet Pattern

and there it is: a brand new crochet pattern. the Ontario Baby Blanket. totally made up in the new style I have been working on for months. it includes lots of pictures with clear how-to's, both left and right handed. a detailed row by row guide to make this baby blanket. it is a lot larger than the ones I made before. upon request from you, this new design measures about 90x75 cm, 35x30 inches. that means it is not only suitable for babies, but also for toddlers and small children. even as a lap blanket for grown ups it works well!

the colours make this blanket suitable for both girls and boys. the Catania cotton makes this a very washable and bright item to use and to keep for years. can you tell I am in love with this blanket?!

in the coming weeks I will work on updating all existing patterns in my shop to this new standard. I am very happy to share all the crochet knowledge I have with you through this pattern first, and the rest to follow. 

the crochet kit, pattern + yarn, will be available somewhere next week when the new shipment comes in. even the finished blanket is for sale, if you're interested please send me an email.

happy weekend and very happy crocheting!

link to the Ontario Baby Blanket

link to the creJJtion pattern shop

xo