Cozy Crochet with New Yarn

how I love this time of year. warm by the fireplace, candle light most times of the day, fifties Christmas music through the speakers… hmmm can't get cozy enough if you ask me! of course a little bit of crochet goes perfectly well with this. 

so here I go, starting a new project just in time before Christmas with Scheepjeswol Softfun yarn. it's a mix of 60% cotton and 40% acrylic yarn. usually I don't work with a mix yarn, but this would be the perfect yarn for washable potholders to keep their bright colours. 

for the pattern I send an email out to my dad's sisters, to see if they had any potholders left that were made by their mother, my grandma. and look! I am stepping in my grandmothers' footsteps and making the same potholders. I think a lot of her while I try to come up with a pattern through trial and error. where did she find the pattern? how many has she crocheted of these? did she enjoy it?

these beautiful cool blue tones remind me of peacock feathers… ooooh the possibilities

if you're looking for me, I am crocheting by candle light, working up a pattern for the both of us

xx

Last Week

last week a dear friend from Canada visited and we enjoyed a great time together in Amsterdam and in our village. so much fun to be reunited for two days again, we had the best time. also, some lovely Fall walks with Floyd happened, we welcomed Sinterklaas to our village and I did a lot of crocheting. I just couldn't stop working on the shawl haha. it is finished now and as I am typing, it's wrapped around my shoulders keeping me warm. I just love it and will show you pictures this week. also this week, the pattern for the second design fingerless gloves. yay!

have a great week

The Best Of HEMA Breiboek

getting my vintage crochet style going with The Best Of HEMA Breiboek. to all of you who don't know HEMA, it's a famous Dutch store. hmmm how can I describe it best. it has been around for a long time, you can get anything there from cute stationary and washi tape to bath towels and curtains, baby and kids stuff, clothing and skin care products. cake and sweets, candles and tableware. all pretty. it's the store Dutch expat ladies miss the most when living abroad. Do you get the picture? 

by the way, I am sorry non-Dutch readers, I am afraid the book is in Dutch. as far as I know it won't be translated to English. it might be available in their German, Belgian and French stores but I am not too sure.

anyway, HEMA used to carry yarn and related products until 1992 as I read in this book. and recently they have been reintroduced. yay! they published their own pattern books for knitting and crocheting from 1976 till 1992. now you can get The Best Of HEMA Breiboek that includes, I quote, "timeless classic designs, as well as designs that suit today's fashion".

they even released a new small collection of yarns and one of them is a 100% fine cotton, worked on needle size 3mm. I picked a vintage/ traditional looking set of 5 colours to give some patterns a go.

there are projects ranging from giant capes and baby suits, to pillows for your couch and potholders.

just to try them out, I started crocheting the potholders listed on the last page of the book.

so cute, don't you just love that flower design? and the colours, quite vintage looking but also, they get me a little in that jingle Christmas mood…

and of course I had to get my accidental matching nail polish in the picture, haha.

with these potholder patterns they recommend to use double the yarn and that will make them of course in a bigger and more practical size. the ones I made suit my nieces' play kitchen better I think.

the yarn seems nice, just a tad less shiny and soft as the Catania I am used to. but it crochets nicely and comes in fun colours too. this is the link to the full HEMA online knitting and crocheting collection. I used the colours donkerblauw, turquoise, beige, wit en rood.

have you found the new HEMA collection yet? how do you like it? 

wishing you all a happy weekend! 

Dutch Design Week 2013

after quite a stormy weather day here in The Netherlands, an update on what's going on here. a few more pictures than I posted on my creJJtion Instagram account, some of them I posted over at the Gatherings Magazine account @gatheringsmag. there are some other talented ladies posting there as well, it's worth having a look!

last Friday I went to the Dutch Design Week 2013 with my mom. we visited the graduation show at de Witte Dame and it was, as usual, great to see what the graduates came up with this year.

above: the result of crocheting (or weaving) with two tone twined yarn, making the unpleasant a little pleasant by covering a medicinal infusion bottle in a pretty crochet wrap, a fantastic two seating knitting bench with baskets full of supplies aiming to have mentally ill people connect through their knitting, and pretty tassels

below: more weaving with great results, nice colours and another view of the knitting two-seater cart

it was great to be inspired by new use of materials, colour combinations, textures and purposes. have you been there last week? how did you like it?

this week I'll be away from my computer a lot, road tripping in The Netherlands and even going to Berlin for a few days. busy and exciting, I'll report about it all next week. by the way, it has been about 15 years since we visited Berlin. your tips and ideas on places to see and visit in Berlin are more than welcome!

have a great week 

Hello!

flower love

our living room in the making and sunny backyard

crafty happiness - envelope making, crocheting, showing my first-ever-crochet-piece and exploring new coffee places

organizing our house, saying hi to the ladies and showing off our new but old front door

Fall is here too ~ and that is a farmers kitchen, not mine

hello my friends! loooong time no see, due to our final move and lack of wifi connection. but, all is well and we are settling into our new home a little more every day. we are starting to love to the charming little village we entered with it's friendly people, lovely old buildings, shops and outdoor life around it. at the same time I find myself wondering about every other day when our flight back home to Canada is scheduled, and then of course I realize there is no more home in Canada. it will take months and months for that feeling to sink in, I am sure. home is where the heart is, and a big piece of my heart is still in Canada that's for sure. I am telling myself every day that it is ok that way. moving is more than just packing your stuff and unpacking it somewhere else. so it is ok, and it needs time. and there might be a flight to Canada in the future, with a seat that has my name on it, who knows.

on a crafty level, a few weeks without wifi has been very productive. I finished a large knitting blanket that was on my WIP-to-finish list for 2013, made some smaller items, a few doilies and such. I made envelopes from scrap pieces of wrapping paper and enjoyed myself so much. whenever I am busy like I am now with moving stuff, I turn to easy and quick crafts and become a production machine, haha. it really helps me get everything sorted out. I got some new yarn which I will post about on Wednesday and start a little new series, it is going to be fun so watch out for that one. I owe you big time with a pattern for the edging of this blanket, and there are many more projects I will update you on.

a few weeks without wifi got me thinking. of course I was mad it had to take weeks before we would be connected. but while I missed reading your blogs and admiring your pictures and work, at the same time I enjoyed being creative without any interruptions. digital interruptions. inspiration can be overwhelming, do you recognize that? besides blogging, it is mainly instagram that takes lots of time every day and even though I love it so much, I also enjoy pure quality time to create new things, just like when I was a little girl. does this make sense to you? it is my new goal to find a time schedule for myself in which I am doing digital stuff, and time when I am not. any ideas? how do you manage this for yourself? I'd love to hear your stories!

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!

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

Sunny Days

and so it happens, my blog diaries will continue in The Netherlands. we are still living like nomads, but seriously house hunting and hopefully will find a place of our own soon. the weather has been very good to us, lots of sunshine and warmth which we enjoy very much. also, definitely a benefit of being in The Netherlands is the availability of flowers, I missed my weekly catch of reasonably priced flowers.

I did some baking, a bit of crochet, a stroll along the harbour... you would almost guess we are on holiday.

happy sunny Monday to you!