My blanket for Crochet For Kidneys Part 4

21 Sunday Jun 2015

Posted by Natasja in Crochet For Kidneys, My crochet, My ramblings, Part 4

Tags

blanket, cfk4, charity blankets, crochet, crochet4kidneys, granny square, granny square afghan

We have one blanket for CFK4!

I just love granny squares! Just look at them!

I started the blanket on the weekend that I launched CFK4, and finished it yesterday. How super quick was that? Nothing beats a simple granny square for speedy blanket making or for a super fun time playing with colour combinations.

For the border, I used Border 138 from Around the Corner Crochet Borders book. It’s a striking border with a slightly raised ridge and very easy to do: just three rows of (UK) double trebles / (US) trebles, but on the second and the third rounds you work around the posts of the stitches in the previous round from the back. If each round is done in a different colour – in my case turquoise, grey and finally navy – it gives an really interesting effect.

I don’t know about you about I always place my darkest shade at the very edge of my border. I think a dark colour on the outermost edge pulls everything together.

The nitty gritty of my Blue Crochet For Kidneys Part 4 blanket:

Pattern: Traditional 6-round granny square, the last round of which is a different colour, arranged as 9 rows of 7 squares per row.
Yarn: Various DK acrylic yarns in shades of blue and a silver grey
Hook: 4 mm
Joining method: My Rose Valley’s Join-as-you-go method.
Border: Border #138 from Around The Corner Crochet Borders
Finished size with border: 135 cm x 97 cm

I am relieved that I’ve done my blankety bit for CFK4. Even if no-one else sends me a blanket for the kidney dialysis patients I know there’ll be at least one that I can hand over to the nurses at the Royal London Hospital.

I’m going to make one more blanket like this, but in shades of pink. Wouldn’t that look nice?

Before I start the pink blanket though I think I want to finish my Marie Wallin Rose top first – especially as it looks like Summer has finally arrived in the UK. Warm sunny days are not the best time to work on a blanket!

If you’re working on a CFK4 blanket, thanks! If you haven’t started yet, maybe you could consider making a blanket – it’s a great way to use up your stash and you’re make a comforting blanket for someone going through very unpleasant kidney dialysis.

All the detail on Crochet For Kidneys Part 4 can be found in this blog post.

A modern take on a family heirloom

12 Tuesday May 2015

Posted by Natasja in My crochet, Pattern

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

crochet, doilies, doily, t-shirt yarn

My great-grandmother, Aggie Esterhuizen, was an amazing lady. I was 11 when she passed away at the age of 92. She was a seamstress who made wedding dresses for all and sundry in Cape Town. My Mom told me she remembers Aggie laying out the huge pieces of white fabric on the floor and cutting the pieces for the wedding dresses without any pattern. I wish I could have seen that!

My few memories of her talent, is the tin of colourful buttons in her room and the white Anchor crochet thread me and my grandmother had to buy for her at OK Bazaars. My only memory of her actually crocheting is me sitting on the floor next to her chair while she crocheted a light yellow blanket with the blanket over her legs. It was just so fascinating to me to see the blanket growing with a slight twist of her wrist and a crochet hook.

I’m absolutely convinced that Aggie influenced my love of crochet without me even knowing it. Just because I can only remember her crocheting one yellow blanket, doesn’t mean my tiny mind didn’t take in more than that, and I love her for that!

Just like she made wedding dresses without a pattern, she also crocheted without a pattern. When I was in Cape Town at the beginning of the year I spotted a beautifully made, intricate doily in the side board of my mom’s dining room. I just had to have it. Mom told me Aggie crocheted it without a pattern using the white Anchor crochet thread from OK Bazaars that I remember so well. I’m not even sorry to say, but I just wouldn’t let that doily go – it just HAD to come back home to me. I wanted that little piece of Aggie as a reminder of her crochet talent that was passed down to me, to be in my home.

More than that, I want to give credit to my great-grandmother and her talents. She passed away before the internet, blogging or Instagram and here I am with access to all these things and a readership from all over the world – I decided I would write out Aggie’s doily pattern and make it available for free on my blog so that all can appreciate Aggie’s talents.

If you’ve been following the blog you would know that John and I recently moved into a new apartment. One of the big luxuries of this new apartment is that I have my very own bathroom. (Technically it’s the “family bathroom”, but we also have an en suite which John uses, so “family” became “Natasja”.) I can decorate my bathroom with as many girly things as I like, which is just fantastic! I love the t-shirt yarn doily style bathroom mats that I’ve been seeing on Pinterest, Ravelry and Facebook groups but I could never make one as it’s too girly for John.

Now that I have my own bathroom and a doilie from my great-grandmother, the obvious answer was to remake Aggie’s doily into a t-shirt yarn bathroom mat!

I love the huge loops around the edges of Aggie’s doily. They look just as good exaggerated with t-shirt yarn.

Aggie, I hope you like my version of your doilie. I didn’t do two rounds of the big loopy bits and I left out the beads. Two round of loops would have made the rug too big and the beads are impractical for a floor rug. From one hooker to another, I’m sure you’ll understand.

Aggie’s doily rug

Materials:

1 cone white Hoooked Zpagetti

1 cone blue mix Hoooked Zpagetti

12 mm crochet hook

Pattern:

With White chain 4 and join with sl st to first ch to form a ring.

Round 1: 1ch, 6sc in ring – 6 sts
Round 2: 1ch, 2sc in each st – 12 sts
Round 3: 1ch, *2sc, 1sc. Repeat from * to end – 18 sts
Round 4: 1ch, *2sc, 1sc, 1sc. Repeat from * to end – 24 sts. Fasten off White.
Round 5: Join Blue Mix to any sc. 3ch, 2dctog in same sc, skip 1sc, *3ch, 3dctog. Repeat from * to end. Ss to first ch. Fasten off Blue Mix.
Round 6: Join White. 4ch, 1sc in ch space. Repeat to second to last ch space. Ch2, 1dc in ch space.
Round 7: 5ch, 1sc in ch space. Sl st into dc.
Round 8: 5ch, 1hdc in ch space. Repeat to second to last ch space. Ch2, 1dc in ch space. Fasten off White.
Round 9: Join Blue Mix to any ch sp. 3ch (count as dc), 5dc in ch space, 1ch, *6dc in next ch sp, 1ch. Repeat from * to end. Sl st into top of 3ch – 84 dc. Fasten off Blue Mix.
Round 10: Join White. 7ch (count as hdc plus 5ch), *skip 2dc, hdc, 5ch. Repeat from * 25 times. Ch3, hdc into 2nd ch of starting chain.
Round 11: 5ch, hdc into ch space. Repeat 26 times. Ch3, hdc in hdc of previous round.
Round 12: 6ch, hdc in ch5 space. Repeat 26 times. Ch6, sl st into top of hdc. Fasten off White.
Round 13: Join Blue Mix to any ch6 space. 15ch, 1sc into ch space. Repeat 27 times. Sl st into first ch.
Round 14: 1ch, *7sc, 3ch, 7sc in ch space. Repeat from * to end. Fasten off Blue Mix.
Round 15: Join White to ch space. 1ch, *sc, 7ch, sc in ch space. Repeat from * to end. Sl st to first sc.
Round 16: 3ch (count as dc), 5dc in ch space, 1dc in sc, *6dc in ch space, 1dc in sc. Repeat from * to end. Sl st. to top of starting chain. Fasten off.

I don’t think Aggie could in her wildest dreams have imagined her dainty doily would be the inspiration behind a bathroom mat made with cut-offs from t-shirt fabric. “Goeie genugtig my kind!”

She also would never have dreamed of her doily pattern being made available to thousands of people from all around the globe though a thing called a blog 27 years after her death, by a great-granddaughter living in England. “Wat de dôner my kind!”

But Aggie was up for anything and a very talented lady so I recon she would have been the first to grab a 12 mm crochet hook to design an even bigger and better rug. Then she would have started her own blog.

Old cushions get a bit of an edge

04 Monday May 2015

Posted by Natasja in My crochet, My ramblings

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

crochet, crochet cushion

When you’ve been crocheting as long as I have, you sometimes need to do a bit of maintenance on your crochet pieces. Luckily I haven’t had anything unravel or fall apart, but what I do suffer with is saggy cushions. They didn’t become saggy by themselves, no it’s mostly due to me grabbing the cushions at one corner, and thereby stretching them out of shape, when I take them off the bed. User error in other words. In my defence these cushions are about five years old and they are used daily…

The cushions in questions are my very first two crochet projects. It’s because of them that I made the Identity Crisis Blanket because who can have cushions without a matching throw?

Do you see the green square in the centre of the cushion below? That was the very first thing I ever crocheted, back in August 2009. That square is the result of an afternoon in front of YouTube with a library book at my side and lots of swearing (from me), comforting words (from John) and cups of tea. There is no way I will ever get rid of the cushion, so when it started to look exceedingly saggy (much like its owner’s bottom) I had to fix it.

All I needed was a plan, a ball of Parchment Stylecraft Special DK and a 4 mm crochet hook.

But first let me show you what I mean by a saggy cushion. Where my thumb is you can see the cushion inner if you look closely. That means there are about two rows of DC shells that don’t sit tight against the inner any more. Flabby and saggy indeed.

But my rescue plan worked! No more saggy cushions!

All it needed was a row of slip stitches around the posts of each DC in each shell, but going through to the corresponding DC post at the back at the same time. Between shells I worked a chain and on the corners I worked two chains. It’s super easy but also super effective.

The light blue DC post you see below, is from the back of the cushion. So here you can see how I place my crochet hook to do a slip stitch over the post of the front and back DC stitch:

Three slip stitch made over the three DCs of the shell:

This is how it look at the back:

Behold saggy cushions no more – in fact they now have A Bit Of An Edge.

The slip stitches on the front makes for a lovely detail which I like.

And in the back the stitches are almost hidden and all you see is the indentation.

So there you have it! If your cushions have stretched out of shape and are in need of restoration, give this method a go. I actually think the row of slip stitches finishes off the cushion so you may want do it on purpose for your next cushion – just make your cushion two rounds bigger than it needs to be, and add a round of slip stitches around the posts of the front and back DCs! The only down side is that you can’t have a cushion opening along a side, you would have to do an envelope style opening at the back.

Now if I can only sort out my saggy bottom, I’d be one happy lady.

Peppy Blossom Bunting in I Like Crochet magazine

02 Saturday May 2015

Posted by Natasja in In the press, My crochet, Pattern

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

bunting, crochet, I Like Crochet magazine

The latest issue of I Like Crochet electronic magazine is out now and it’s all about Summer. It’s difficult to imagine sunshine and warm weather when the temperature for the first official day of Spring in the UK was a mere 12 degrees, with heavy rain predicted for the Bank Holiday on Monday! Come rain, clouds or icy winds, the June issue with the bright colours and Summer themed designs, like the cute tote bag on the cover, is bound to get you in a Summer mood – or at least in the mood to bake a lemon meringue tart. A taste of Summer is just as good as the heat of Summer, right?

I’m also very happy to say that my Peppy Blossom Bunting is in this issue, helping you welcome in Summer.

The bunting is very colourful and not your average bunting – with the bright flower centre it just screams happiness.

Bunting is a great way to decorate any space, and this Peppy Blossom Bunting is the easiest way to add a vivid pop of color to your décor. Perfect for any summer party or gathering, you can easily add more or less flags to create just the size you’re after.

I love the styling of the bunting with the glass containers of colourful sweets.

Just like in the April issue when my clutch bags were used as the introductory page for the Springtime Accessories, the Preppy Blossom Bunting is the introductory photo for all the Household Trinkets in the table of contents! What a great compliment!

Do you see all the great patterns in this issue? It’s chock full! Two of my favourite patterns are the Deep Cut Moss Vest and the Vivid Coral Reef Top. The Deep Cut Moss Vest is for the advanced crocheter and uses Tunisian crochet and the Vivid Coral Reef Top is nice and easy, but so striking.

These patterns, and 29 others are available to subscribers only. A subscription to I Like Crochet include six issues annually, with each issue delivering at least 30 projects and 7 tutorials, for a total of 190 projects and 42 tutorials during the year. Subscription is available for website only, tablet only or for the greatest value and convenience, combine website access to with a tablet magazine subscription.

My crochet clutch bags in I Like Crochet magazine

04 Wednesday Mar 2015

Posted by Natasja in In the press, My crochet, Pattern

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

crochet, crochet accessories, crochet clutch bag, I Like Crochet magazine

It’s March, which means Spring for us in the Northern Hemisphere. Yeah! Everywhere I’m seeing daffodils, the sky is blue and the days are noticeably longer. Triple Yeah! The Spring issue of the electronic magazine, I Like Crochet is also available for download today. Don’t you just love the very Spring-y cover of the April 2015 issue? I Like Crochet April 2015 cover There are more than 30 patterns in this issue. Check out the Table of Contents here. I’m especially excited to tell you about this month’s I Like Crochet e-magazine because my Vintage Granny clutch bags appear in this issue! The bags were also chosen to be the introductory photo for all the Spring Accessories! I’m so happy!!! Springtime accessories cover Two of the other projects in this issue that I really like are the Retro Flower Cushion by Jo Bodley and Easy Homemade Organizers by Pauline Fitzpatrick. The organizers are definitely on my to do list! I especially love the grey one. Jo’s cushion is truly something different. It’s lovely to see a crochet cushion this artsy and unique.

Retro Flower Cushion

Easy Homemade Organizers

These patterns, and 27 more, are available to subscribers only. A subscription to I Like Crochet include six issues annually, with each issue delivering 30 projects and 7 tutorials, for a total of 190 projects and 42 tutorials during the year. Subscription is available for website only, tablet only or for the greatest value and convenience, combine website access to with a tablet magazine subscription.

I’m very grateful to I Like Crochet for publishing my clutch bag patterns. It’s a great electronic magazine with beautiful photography, which I’m proud to be associated with. If you have bought this issue, and especially if you make one of my Vintage Granny clutches, I’d love to hear from you!

Serina crochet top ta-daaah

07 Saturday Feb 2015

Posted by Natasja in My crochet, Ta-daah!

≈ 12 Comments

Tags

Bamboo yarn, crochet, Garnstudio, Vinnis, wearable crochet

Long time no bloggy! Sorry I’ve been so quiet dear readers, but I was on holiday with my family in Cape Town. I met up with dear friends, met Instagram friends in person (that’s you @redheadmom23 and @Liezelvs) and made amazingly creative and lovely new friends (that’s you Ella and Ananda). Huge shout-out to the girls of the Hekel Innie Kaap Facebook group. (“Hekel Innie Kaap” means “Crochet In Cape Town”). Have a peek at their January meet-up photo album to see what I experienced – 50 crocheting Afrikaans-speaking ladies all in one restaurant! Cape Town is filled with extremely creative crocheters who love sharing their inspiration and knowledge, and enjoying coming together to crochet. People after my own heart. (I say “come together to crochet” but I only managed to crochet one row of DC in the four hours I was at the meet-up. Talking about crochet is just as good as crocheting right?)

While I was in Cape Town I of course did a bit of crochet. I worked on the Convergence top (it’s half way done!) and finished one sleeve of this crochet top. I ran out of Vinnis Serina Bamboo yarn just before I left for Cape Town. I left the front piece, back piece and one sleeve in the UK, bought the extra yarn and finished the second sleeve while I was there. Yesterday I sewed all the pieces together and today I wore my top. I was positively glowing with pride. I just love it!

Drops Design crochet top

I am over the moon with this pattern and the Vinnis Serina yarn!

Drops Design crochet top

As I mentioned in this blog post, Drops Design Collection 136 contains the most beautiful collection of crochet pieces for me. I already made Whispers and Country Dreams, and now pattern 136-23 “Blues” Jumper is my third and I have to say, it’s my favourite. The pattern was easy to follow and it works up really quickly. The square motifs are done quickly “join as you go” and they make up almost half of the top. For me it went even quicker because I didn’t have any colour changes. Not that I needed colour changes to make my top interesting – look at the subtle marbling from the hand dyed yarn. Isn’t it amazing?!

Drops Design crochet top

As for the Vinnis Serina bamboo yarn – oh my word. So super soft! I am aware though that the yarn has a tendency to sag a bit after a few hours of wear. There is no cotton in this yarn that will help it keep its shape; it’s just 100% bamboo. That makes for a super lustre and lovely drape, but it can become “floppy”. To compensate for this, I made my top in Size M, even though my measurements are for a size L. It worked like a charm. The top fits beautifully and even if it does stretch a bit during the day, I’m not going to look like a bag lady by the end of the day.

Drops Design crochet top

The nitty gritty of my Serina Top:

Pattern: Drops Design pattern 136-23 “Blues” Jumper
Yarn: Vinnis Serina 4-ply bamboo in shade 631 Turquoise Green
Amount of yarn used: 12 x 50g balls
Size made: M
Crochet hook: 3.5 mm for the sleeves & squares and 3 mm for the body
Modifications: An extra row of SC around the neck before doing the edging. Also using a larger size crochet hook for the sleeves as I know from previous experience that Drops Design sleeves tend to be a bit tight for me.

Drops Design crochet top

I have a few crochet wearables that I don’t really want to wear outside the house, but this one is definitely not one of those. If you’ve never tried crocheting a wearable piece, give this pattern a try. It’s a winner!

Crochet Mood Blanket 2014 ta-daaah!

31 Wednesday Dec 2014

Posted by Natasja in My crochet, My ramblings, Ta-daah!

≈ 12 Comments

Tags

#crochetmoodblanket2014, crochet, crochet blanket, Mood Blanket

Behold my Crochet Mood Blanket 2014!!! All 357 squares of it in its colourful glory! I started it on 1 January 2014 and completed it 31 December 2014 – precisely one year in the making.

crochet mood blanket 2014

The Crochet Mood Blanket is the brainchild of Stacey Wentworth-Hall (@frofunky on Instagram). You basically just crochet or knit a block or stripe everyday (or once a week if that suits you better) using a colour that you feel reflects your mood.

If you would like to get on board for 2015, have a look and join the Facebook Group here.

Our blanket will be moving between the living room and the bedroom. I just love how colourful it is! It cheers up any space!

The Mood Blanket has taught me a lot about myself and how my moods change. John said the blanket is a testament of his patience 🙂 I love that for years and years to come I will always be able to look back at my blanket, and therefore on my emotions during 2014. It’s been a good year and for that I am very, very grateful.

lacy cross crochet squares

The border I chose for my Mood Blanket is a variation on Border #39 that I used for my Dad’s Atlantic Waves Ripple blanket. The border is made up of three rows of single crochet, a row of double crochet (which in the original Border #39 is a treble) and a final three rows of single crochet. I used all seven of my colours for the border.

Seeing as the Crochet Mood Blanket is based on the days of the year, I wanted to be able to remember where it all started. In other words which square represents 1 January 2014? I did this by switching around the colours of the first two rows of the borders. See?

Around the square for 1 January, I used purple as the first row, whereas for the rest of the blanket I used yellow for the first row of the border. I don’t think anyone else would even notice this small switcharoo, but it’s the perfect reminder of my very first mood of 2014 – in this case a happy lime green.

The nitty gritty of the Crochet Mood Blanket 2014:

Pattern: Lacy Cross from 200 Crochet Blocks by Jan Eaton
Yarn: Hayfield Bonus and Hayfield Baby Bonus
Crochet hook: 3.5 mm
Joining method: Join as you go
Border: No. 39 from Around The Corner Crochet Borders by Edie Eckman.
Size: 21 rows of 17 squares, which makes 357 squares. Completed size with border is 165cm x 135cm.
Colours: The colours of the Mood Blanket were chosen to represent my seven moods. This is how may of each colour I used for the blanket:

Crochet Mood Blanket 2014

I did some number crunching and at the end of 2014 I can reveal that I had 6% sad, 7 % irritable, 7% ditsy, 4 % stressed, 30% not great but not bad either, 29% happy and 17% grateful days. I know this because of a crochet blanket! How crazy and amazing is that?!

Making the Mood Blanket was a great eye opener. I had to be honest with myself about my moods. If that meant that there were three days of being depressed, then so be it. Three grey squares it shall be. I also had to reflect on my day at the end of every day. Some days may have started as green (happy) days, but then something would happen at work which upset me and the day turned into a stressed day. At the end of the day I had to look back and decide what was the prevailing mood for the day: the happiness of the morning, or the stress? Did I allow the stress to get to me or did I look on the bright side and manage to keep my day happy. If I allowed the stress to get to me, then it had to be honest with myself and make the day a red day.

At one point during 2014 I also realised that although I had lots of green (happy) days, I didn’t have that many grateful (turquoise) days. That’s not good and that’s something I had to, and still have to, work on.

If you are ready to be honest with yourself and stick with it, you can use a crochet project to analyse your moods, attitude and emotions for a whole year. As a bonus you’ll have a blanket at the end of the year. I highly recommend it.

Free pattern for a Christmas Tree Ring

14 Friday Nov 2014

Posted by Natasja in My crochet, Pattern, Ta-daah!

≈ 14 Comments

Tags

Christmas, christmas crochet, crochet jewellery, free crochet pattern

It’s almost Christmas (shock, horror) so I decided to design a free Christmas crochet pattern for all my lovely readers, Facebook followers and Instagram followers.

Christmas tree crochet ring

The christmas tree ring is a cute accessory to wear on Christmas day, it’s a great stocking filler, or wear it throughout December to spread the Christmas cheer every day.

crochet thread crochet christmas tree

I use crochet thread for this ring. Please don’t be afraid of using crochet thread and the required 1.5 mm crochet hook. I used crochet thread for two of the projects in Crochet Pretty. Out of all the patterns in Crochet Pretty, the Oh What A Cute Oval Brooch is my favourite and that’s all down to the use of crochet thread for tiny flowers and picots. I’m falling in love with crochet thread more every day.

We are spoilt with choice when it comes to yarn weights and most of the time we go for the double knits or 4 plies, but crochet thread is made for us! Literally! Making something with thin yarn and a tiny crochet hook is just like regular crochet, you just need to look a bit closer when you’re crocheting. That’s all there is to it.

crochet thread crochet christmas tree with seed beads

Hopefully this tiny crochet christmas tree will give you the confidence to also use crochet thread more and see the 1.5 mm crochet hook as your friend.

crochet thread seed beads ring blank

You will need

1.5 mm crochet hook

Anchor Freccia ticket no. 6 in green

Ring blanks like this one sold at Hobbycraft

Clear super glue or use a mini glue gun

5 x size 8 red seed beads. I bought this pack of mixed colours at Hobbycraft and just picked out the red beads.

Notes and abbreviations

This pattern is written in US crochet terms. The sc (single crochet) in this pattern is the equivalent of a dc (double crochet) in UK crochet terms.

Bsc is a Beaded Single Crochet. You make a beaded crochet stitch by moving the bead up against your crochet before doing the last “yarn over” of the stitch. Watch this video to see how to make a beaded treble – the technique is the same no matter what crochet stitch you use.

Beads have to be threaded onto the yarn before you begin crocheting. Watch this video to see how to thread the beads onto yarn.

Turn your work after every row.

ch = chain

sc = single crochet

bsc = beaded single crochet

st = stitch

Pattern

Thread 6 seed beads onto yarn.

Foundation row: Work 2 chains.

Row 1: 1 sc into second ch.

Row 2: 1 ch, (1 sc, 1bsc, 1 sc) into next st. (3 st.)

Row 3: 1 ch, sc in each st to end. (3 st.)

Row 4: 1 ch, (1 sc, 1 bsc) into next st, 1 sc, 2 sc in next st. (5 st.)

Row 5: 1 ch, 1 sc in each st to end. (5 st.)

Row 6: 1 ch, 2 sc in first st, 1 sc, 1 bsc, 1 sc, 2 sc in last st. (7 st.)

Row 7: 1 ch, 1 sc in each st to end. (7 st)

Row 8: 1 ch, (1 sc, 1 bsc) into next st, 4 sc, 1 bsc, 2 sc in last st. (9 st)

Row 9: 1 ch, 1 sc in each st to end. (9 st)

Row 10: 1 ch, 4 sc, 1 bsc, 4 sc (9 st)

Row 11: 1 ch, 3 sl st, 1 ch, 3 sc (last 3 st remain unworked). (3 sc)

Row 12: 1 ch, 3 sc. (3 sc)

Fasten off and weave away the ends.

Glue the christmas tree to the ring blank.

xxxxxx

Christmas tree crochet ring

Crochet Pretty is now available in iBooks

10 Monday Nov 2014

Posted by Natasja in My book, My crochet, Pattern

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

crochet, crochet book, crochet ibook, crochet pattern, iBook, ipad, self publishing

Crochet Pretty book cover

This is my crochet ebook! I am so, so, so excited to say that I’ve published a crochet book and it’s ready for you to buy for £4.99 / $7.99 over in the Apple iBooks store!!! Just click here.

The ten accessories that I designed for this book are the drawstring pouch that you see on the cover, a pair of beaded earrings, two pairs of wrist warmers, a scarf, a wrap, flowery ring, necklace, brooch and a headband. The accessories are really pretty, colourful and easy to make.

Crochet Pretty iBook projects on chair

I loved every minute of writing this book. Everything about it was amazing, thrilling, exciting and so rewarding. It’s such a blessing to be alive in the 21st century where you can publish your own books, and not just any book, a book with five instructional videos, and an interactive quiz built in!

Unfortunately Apple are the only ebook publishers who support such an interactive book, so Crochet Pretty is only available on iPad and Mac. (You won’t be able to purchase Crochet Pretty on Amazon for instance.)

If you are as excited as I am and want to buy my iBook, you have to hop on over to this page on iTunes. If you already have iBooks installed on your iPad, just go ahead and click on the link.

If you don’t have iBooks installed yet, follow these steps to buy Crochet Pretty:

1. Download the iBooks app from the App store for free.

2. Once it’s downloaded tap the “Store” button in the top left corner of the iBooks app.

3. Search for Crochet Pretty in the top-right corner search box.

4. When you tap on the book title you will see screenshots of the book and you can download a sample of the book. Do this by tapping the “Get Sample” button.

5. When you are ready to purchase the book, tap the price. The button will turn green and read “Buy Book”. Tap it again to purchase the book with your iTunes account and password.

6. Crochet Pretty will start to download as soon as you’ve entered your iTunes account password. Once it’s finished, it will appear as a title on our bookshelf in the iBook app.

These screenshots give you an idea of what to expect from the book.

Zig Zag Wrist Warmers

Beadazzling Earrings

The first “page” of the book is a short video to show readers how to navigate through my book. Crochet Pretty is a different kind of book with features that not everyone would be familiar with, so I thought I needed to show off those features a bit. Luckily the video isn’t just inside the book – I uploaded it to YouTube too, so everyone can watch it. In the video you see the first three patterns of the book – it’s a nice sneak peek into my book 😉

When you’ve bought my book I would love, love, love to get your feedback. Please leave me star ratings and reviews on iBooks. I plan on writing at least three more crochet books with iBooks, so your feedback on the first one is crucial.

I hope you are as excited as I am about Crochet Pretty – Ten Accessories To Make You Feel Pretty.

My pattern in a magazine!

03 Monday Nov 2014

Posted by Natasja in In the press, My crochet, Pattern

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

christmas crochet, crochet, I Like Crochet magazine

I have some very exciting news to share with you today. Something that I’ve had to keep under wraps for months and months. It’s been so hard not to shout it from the rooftops, but now I can:

I am a published crochet pattern designer with a pattern in a magazine! Whoo-hoo!!!!

My very first published pattern is the Festive Lace Doily in the December 2014 issue of I Like Crochet magazine.

I Like Crochet Festive lace doile I Like Crochet is a bi-monthly interactive digital magazine optimized for tablets and feature top-rated projects, gorgeous photography, step-by-step instructions, patterns, charts, video and more. Each issue has 30 projects and 7 tutorials. You can buy individual issues for $6.99 or subscribe to any tablet edition on the website, or use your iPad to subscribe in the Apple App Store. It’s a great magazine – and I’m not just saying this because I design crochet patterns for them!