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crochetime

~ So many patterns, so much yarn, so little time: story of my hooky life.

crochetime

Monthly Archives: January 2012

Good vibrations

31 Tuesday Jan 2012

Posted by Natasja in Etsy, Folksy, My ramblings

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

clocks, crochet, Etsy, gratitude, postive thinking

I just have to share the amazing afternoon I’ve had with you. It’s crochet and yarn related, but it’s so much more.

Sunday before last (the 22nd of Jan) I sent a message via Ravelry to a lady who inspires me every day with the amazing, colourful, creative crochet she does. It’s because of her and her lovely blog, that I got hooked on crochet. I wanted to thank her for all the inspirational blog posts and free patterns she so generously provides, by giving her one of my clocks. In the message I gave her a choice between two of the clocks in my Etsy shop. One a pastel flowers clock, the other a retro red circles clock. The retro red circles clock has been in my shop since the very beginning, with more than 700 views and featured in 8 treasuries on Etsy. I knew people liked it, but no-one bought it. The pastel flowers clock has been my best seller, so I hoped that one of these two options would appeal to her.

Unfortunately, to this day, she has not replied. Which is actually a good thing, because…… both of these clocks were sold on Folksy! The pastel flowers clock sold the 25th of January (3 days after the Ravelry message), and the retro red circles, was sold this afternoon (9 days after the Ravelry message) TO THE SAME PERSON! Lynn, who I found out today also has a Folksy shop selling lovely embroidered and hand drawn cards and collages (please go have a look!), was so happy with the flower clock that she bought the second one for her study!

The pastel flower clock is in hanging in her studio. She even wrote about it on her blog.  I’m so happy to see my clock in its new surroundings, proudly ticking away in someone else’s creative space!!! I’m also loving her wall full of inspirational images!

When I packaged the flower clock, I included a flowery brooch for her, as a little something pretty just to say thank you (you can see it on Lynn’s wall below and to the left of the clock). Yesterday I sold a flowery brooches on Etsy to a lady from Brixton who had bought one about two months ago – another returning customer!

I honestly don’t think these are coincidences. Whenever I give something with love, even if I just offer it and the person doesn’t accept the offer, I receive. It’s such a powerful, wonderful law of the Universe and it astounds me every time it happens.

In another happy twist, I’ve been in the mood to crochet a cardigan of some sort for myself but wasn’t sure what I wanted to make. I dabbled with the idea of a lacy wrap, but the pattern I like is in Portuguese and even though it includes diagrams, I’m not sure it would be a fun exercise…. I also couldn’t find a good substitute for the Pingouin yarn they used in the pattern.

In the end I went with my first instinct: a Garnstudio cardigan from their 2012 Spring collection that I fell in love with when I saw it for the first time last week.

Source: garnstudio.com via Natasja on Pinterest

 

The yarn I bought for this, is Drops BabyAlpaca Silk. Baby… Alpaca….Silk! It’s the very first time I will be working with something as luxurious as this and I’m super excited. Even more excited because as I was placing the order for the yarn, which came to £28.90 for the 8 skeins, the retro red circles clock was sold for £20, so the super duper fantastic yarn only cost me £8.90. It’s a sign of good things to come I think!

P.S. Sales of the clock pattern is coming along nicely as well. To date nine have been sold so there are nine entries into the draw for the square clock that I blogged about here. If you want to be in the draw, you have until midnight Friday 3 February to purchase the pattern and be entered into the draw. Good luck!!

Terrific Tuesday

31 Tuesday Jan 2012

Posted by Natasja in My ramblings, Terrific Tuesdays

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

crochet, LIer, sheep, Terrific Tuesday, true self, unique

On a Monday I can still remember the fun I had over the weekend, Wednesday is the middle of the work week, on Thursday I start getting hopeful and on a Friday I can taste the weekend. But what about a Tuesday? It’s so…. just there. Weekend memories are too far away and the upcoming weekend might as well be a year away.

What we need is a bit of colourful inspiration to get us going on a Tuesday, don’t you think? A pretty picture, beautiful scenery or colourful imagery. Yup, that’ll liven up Tuesdays and turn it into a terrific day!

From now on I will go through my photos every Tuesday and find us a pretty picture to add colour and joy to the day.

xxxxxx

Crocheters love wool, ergo we love sheep so I’m sharing this photo taken in Lier, Belgium in September 2008 with you.


Lovely as sheep are, in life, humans shouldn’t be sheep. Let you heart and your true self lead you so that you don’t have to follow the pack. If you absolutely have to be a sheep, be the black sheep – at least he stands out.

Natasja

Such a good Auntie

30 Monday Jan 2012

Posted by Natasja in My crochet, My ramblings, Pattern

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Baby Born clothes, crochet, crochet pattern, doll cloths, free pattern

My niece is nine years old and loves playing with her two Baby Born dolls.  She also loves pink and apparently she very proudly tells everyone at school that her “auntie from London does crochet”.  Sweeeet. At Christmas she received her second Baby Born, a boy, so she asked me to crochet a jacket for him. How could I say no? And how could I only make one?!

I found the perfect pattern here. The jackets whip up in a couple of hours and you can really go to town with the customisation… as I did.  I adore buttons, so I used this as an opportunity to use as many as I could. Sticking to the same colour range, but using different designs. I think the mismatched buttons make these look extra playful and cheery, don’t you?

The pink scallop edge on this jacket are just shells consisting of 4dc, then you skip one sc, sc, skip one sc and then a shell of 4dc again and keep going.

I’d like to think of this one as having a sporty feel. Sort of.

The flowery button-hole on this short sleeve version is from Betty Barden’s book “Finishing Techniques for Crochet” (you can find a link to the book on the right of this page). I love this book and refer to it such a lot. It’s perfect for adding your own personal touch to a crochet piece.

The row of bobbles here, are also from Betty Barden’s book. See what I mean with using it to customise crochet?

I hope Cayla, and her dolls, like their jackets. I certainly enjoyed making them!

Knit and Crochet Now! TV

25 Wednesday Jan 2012

Posted by Natasja in My ramblings, Video

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

crochet, crochet pattern, free pattern, Knit and Crochet Now!, Robyn Chachula

Back in December I was merrily clicking around on Etsy, when I received a message from Candi Jensen, the producer of Knit and Crochet Now! TV, asking me whether I would ever consider selling the pattern for my clock. I nearly fell off my chair. I didn’t even know there was an American PBS TV channel dedicated to knitting and crochet, nevermind in my wildest dreams did I think that a producer on that show would be interested in my little old clock.  Once I had stopped jumping up and down in excitement, I visited their website. What a lovely surprise! This Emmy nominated show’s website is a treasure trove of helpful tips and beautiful crochet and knit items.  How did I not know about these people?!

Clicking through the list of free patterns, I fell in love with the “garden granny” scarf of Season 3-112. In that episode they also did an interview with Edie Eckman, whose crochet edgings book I’ve referred to so many times on this blog. I may just have to buy the DVD of Season 3!

Another one of my favourite crochet designers is Robyn Chachula, who is one of the experts on the channel. I’ve made two of her Floating wraps – one in grey and one in a variegated green and blue yarn. I love that pattern! I really love Robyn’s easy but very beautiful designs. In Knit and Crochet Now! TV’s online shop you can buy designs from Robyn, as well as other designers. Have a look at Robyn’s Colourful Snow Scarf, it’s really pretty.

The best feature of their website for me, is the videos section.  A lot of the crochet patterns they show you here, are part of the afghan square of the week feature. Sometimes the written word just isn’t enough when you’re trying to get your head around a new crochet pattern and the only thing that will do is having someone show, and talk, you through it. (I taught myself to crochet with videos on YouTube, so I may be biased.) Here is an example of the type of videos they have on the website (and therefor the type of content on the show). 

Lace Ripple from Candi Jensen on Vimeo.

See what I mean? Videos are so much nicer!

It was the encounter on Etsy with Candi that eventually lead to me selling the pattern. Candi also very kindly promoted the pattern on the Facebook page of Knit and Crochet Now! TV. I am so grateful to her! Their Facebook page has 17,477 fans, which is amazing exposure for a simple hooker like me.

Candi, if you’re reading this, thanks again! May your TV channel grow, never to be frogged, always with a lovely WIP on the hook and a stash of rainbow colours to choose from.

 

Terrific Tuesday

24 Tuesday Jan 2012

Posted by Natasja in My crochet, My ramblings, Terrific Tuesdays

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

crochet, Terrific Tuesday

On a Monday I can still remember the fun I had over the weekend, Wednesday is the middle of the work week, on Thursday I start getting hopeful and on a Friday I can taste the weekend. But what about a Tuesday? It’s so…. just there. Weekend memories are too far away and the upcoming weekend might as well be a year away.

What we need is a bit of colourful inspiration to get us going on a Tuesday, don’t you think? A pretty picture, beautiful scenery or colourful imagery. Yup, that’ll liven up Tuesdays and turn it into a terrific day!

From now on I will go through my photos every Tuesday and find us a pretty picture to add colour and joy to the day.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Aren’t these flowers just too colourful for words?! Hubby bought them for me while he was at the shops on Saturday. He knows his wife so well!

As you can see the Striped Stopper is still doing his draft stopping thing, and very successfully at that!

I hope you are having a terrific Tuesday friends!

Natasja

A pattern and a giveaway

20 Friday Jan 2012

Posted by Natasja in Etsy, My crochet, My ramblings, Pattern

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

clock pattern, competition, crochet, crochet pattern, giveaway

Today is a HUGE day me and crocheTime. It’s the official launch of my first pattern! It’s this pattern that kicked of my little crocheTime shop and lead to this blog. It’s the crochet wall clock pattern!!!!!!!

Now you too can crochet a clock for yourself or as a gift (please don’t sell it as it’s still copyrighted to me).

I listed it on Ravelry last night. What a rush to see my own little pattern right there in “recently added crochet patterns”!

The possibilities with this clock really are endless. You don’t have to use white for the clock face, and of course the four cirlces can be any colour, or combination of colours. I also give crochet instructions for four different types of edgings, so even if you stick to circles for numbers 12, 3, 6 and 9 you can make four different clocks just by changing the edge.

To personalise it further you can use any applique type crochet design (like I did with flowers) for the 12, 3, 6 and 9. As long as it’s flat enough that clock hands can move over it freely. I’m thinking stars, hearts, cupcakes. Anything will do!

Apart from crocheting instructions I also explain (and show with a couple of photos) how to assemble the clock, using hardboard and a hot glue gun.

The pattern can be purchased for £3.50 in my Etsy shop. Just click here to go straight to the listing. If there are any buyers from South Africa, you can choose Other as your payment option and pay R35 into my FNB account. Just send me a message via Etsy and I’ll give you the bank details.

Once payment is received I will email you the pattern as a PDF file.

But wait, there’s more!

Everyone who buys a pattern between today and midnight GMT on Friday 3 February will go into a draw to win this clock. I’ll draw the name at random on Saturday 3 February and let you know via my Facebook page and the blog who the lucky winner is.

I look forward to sending out lots of clock patterns to you all. Lets hook around the clock!!!

A crocheted chandelier

19 Thursday Jan 2012

Posted by Natasja in My ramblings, Other people's crochet

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

chandelier, crochet

A friend emailed me today with a photo of these most beautiful crocheted chandeliers for sale at  From The Heart Emporium (the South African version of Etsy). Isn’t it amaaaaaazing?! 

The seller is called Living Life, and she has loads more crocheted (and non-crochet) items for sale, but I think nothing beats these chandeliers.

Source: fromtheheartemporium.co.za via Natasja on Pinterest

Three versions

18 Wednesday Jan 2012

Posted by Natasja in My crochet

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

crochet

One of the three projects, no, I lie, as of this morning it’s four, that I’m working on at the moment is cushions for our livingroom using Melody Griffith’s Roses and Daisies Throw pattern.  I showed you a photo of it yesterday.

Well, the 16 rose squares are done and I’m so happy with them! They look beautiful. However, me being me, I didn’t stick to the pattern.

I added another round to the squares, using Rowan Handknit Cotton in Mist – it’s a super light grey which I love.  I didn’t want to use white as my background colour as it would be too bright for the colour scheme in our livingroom (but I do love, love, love, white as a background colour in colourful crochet cushions and blankets). I still needed a colour that would blend in nicely, be neutral, and make the flowery circles pop. Round of applause for very, very, very light grey!

But what I actually want to show you today are the three versions of the square. At the top of the photo is the square as designed by Melody. It’s very pretty as it is, but I felt I needed a wider border of Mist. So I added a round of DC (middle square). However, on my very last square, I changed my mind. 15 Squares in, I was happy with them and then on square 16 I changed my mind. Typical. 

The DC round looked a bit bulky and when laid out together all those DC borders were just a tad too much. So I unpicked all 15 squares and replaced the DC with a round of SC.

Now

I

love

it!

Sometimes changing your mind is a good thing. I just have to try and do it a bit earlier.

Terrific Tuesday

17 Tuesday Jan 2012

Posted by Natasja in My crochet, My ramblings, Terrific Tuesdays

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

crochet, Terrific Tuesday

On a Monday I can still remember the fun I had over the weekend, Wednesday is the middle of the work week, on Thursday I start getting hopeful and on a Friday I can taste the weekend. But what about a Tuesday? It’s so…. just there. Weekend memories are too far away and the upcoming weekend might as well be a year away.

What we need is a bit of colourful inspiration to get us going on a Tuesday, don’t you think? A pretty picture, beautiful scenery or colourful imagery. Yup, that’ll liven up Tuesdays and turn it into a terrific day!

From now on I will go through my photos every Tuesday and find us a pretty picture to add colour and joy to the day.

xxxxxx

A work in progress photo of my Roses and Daisies cushions from Melody Griffith’s Crocheted Throws and Wraps book (you can find a link to the book on the right of this page).

Have a terrific Tuesday friends!

Natasja

Anthropologie

16 Monday Jan 2012

Posted by Natasja in My ramblings, Other people's crochet

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Anthropologie, crochet, Urban Outfitters

In an earlier post I mentioned Anthropologie to you. I said I would go have a look at their Christmas display window in Regent street and report back. Well, I did go. On the 27th of December. There was no Christmas display anymore. Just a big red “Sale” sign. Missed the boat on that one!

I did however go inside and sneekily took four photos.  A shop attendant was giving me very harsh looks so I could only sneak in four snaps.

When we were in Santa Monica in December I took some photos there as well. In the Santa Monica shop I photographed a beautiful blanket, or “Quirky Heirloom Throw” as they call it. It’s not strictly a crocheted blanket but it’s beautiful and would easily be able to recreate it in crochet. If not, buy it here.

I made a little slideshow for you of all the Anthropologie sneeky snaps. The first three photos are from the Santa Monica shop and the next four, the London shop.

Ooo, and before I forget, I also saw granny squares used as part of the shop display, and even part of the lighting installation, in Urban Outfitters in Santa Monica! Just love love love it! They’re the last two photos in the slideshow.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The Crochet Hunter over and out 🙂




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