I’m going to take part in this CrochetALong. Do join us!
200 Blocks Crochet Along with Rachell
15 Wednesday Aug 2012
Posted in CAL, My ramblings, Other people's crochet
Category Archives: My ramblings
Crochet meet iPhone
05 Sunday Aug 2012
Posted in My ramblings
This blogpost has been a long time coming. I found out about this handy iPhone app in the Spring/Summer edition of SimplyCrochet magazine way back in June but never got round to blogging about it.
It’s August now (can you BELIEVE it?!) so it’s about time I tell you about the app.
The app is called “Crochet Decoder” and is made by Sugar Coded Apps. You can download from the Apple iTunes store for $0.99.
They say on the home screen it’s “a reference tool for crocheters” and it really is.
I think most crocheters will have a book or a favourite website that could give you all the information the App has, so I don’t think Crochet Decorder will take the crochet world by storm or anything, it’s just handy to have. (Especially when you’re in your LYS expanding your stash, trying to read the yarn labels).
What the Crochet Decorder can do is:
1) give you the full name of commonly used crochet abbreviations;
2) give you the crochet hook sizes in mm;
3) be a yarn guide, showing you the commonly referred to name of a yarn weight (in this case, weight category 5 of the Standard Yarn Weight System) and the suggested hook size for that weight. If you think of your crochet hooks in mm’s, you can of course use the screen above to see what that would be.
5) give you a key to crochet chart symbols
And that’s basically it. A quick, handy reference guide on your iPhone. I have to admit I haven’t used it yet, but it’s nice to know I have it.
Now, if someone could only think of an App that can weave in ends and crochet the first row after a foundation chain!
Making memories
04 Saturday Aug 2012
The Childhood Memories shawl is coming along nicely. Loving my Schoppen-Wolle!
Posted by Natasja | Filed under My ramblings
A day to remember
23 Monday Jul 2012
Posted in My ramblings
Tags
I’m back from the weekend in Germany and boy did I have a great yarn experience!
I told you about my plan to visit the Schoppel-Wolle factory shop in this blogpost. I can now honestly say that this visit was the highlight of the whole trip!
We arrived at the Schoppel-Wolle factory in Wallhausen just after 11am, eager for some heavy Mastercard action. The shop looked a bit quiet and dark when we rang the bell, but I didn’t think much of it. A lady come to the door only to give us the devastating news that the shop only opens at 2pm! I was so disappointed. I explained that we couldn’t come back at 2pm seeing as we have to drive down to Fussen. I think she could see the disappointment in my face. She asked whether I knew what I wanted to buy (as opposed to just leisurely browsing for no reason). As soon as I said “crazy zauberball” she opened the door for me! I almost kissed her! I had the whole shop for myself!! I am so grateful to the lady for taking pity on me. My day could have turned out so much differently if she hadn’t.
So, here I am shopping in the factory shop. I couldn’t stop smiling. The shop is floor to ceiling full of yarn. It’s heavenly! I was so happy I had to do a little happy jiggy. You’ll spot the photo with the jiggy easily…
From this blog I knew there was a discounted yarn area as well, but I didn’t want to ask the nice lady how to get there – I was just grateful to be in the full price shop! Luckily she came back into the main shop to switch on the light for the discounted yarn room. Aaaaaaahhhhh (I’m hearing angel voices as I recall that moment). Balls and balls of yarn at discounted prices! There’s that super excited, can’t control myself jiggy again.
Later, when I got back to the car (and off the yarnfumes high) I saw that the packets of yarn from the discounted area, are marked in groups. I’m not sure what the yarn groups mean, but from what I paid it looks like the higher the group number, the more expensive it is per gram, so I think it’s has something to do with yarn/colour quality.
I don’t mind what the reason is, I know the yarn will still be of excellent quality. Why do I know that? Because Hubby and I got a behind the scenes tour of the factory, lead by Mr. Gerhard Schoppel himself! During the tour we saw how the coloured wool is spun, steam treated, wound into balls and quality control done. It was brilliant! Considering I wasn’t even supposed to be in his shop, for him to then come out to our car just as we were about to leave to ask if we wanted a tour, was amazing!
I’m so glad I knew what I wanted to crochet with my yarn, otherwise I could very easily have bought everything in that factory, especially in the discounted yarn room. It was difficult to choose, but I knew I had to be strict with myself, and I could always buy Schoppen-Wolle over the internet so I managed to (barely) restrain myself.
What I ended up buying was this:
A 150g ball of Admiral Starck 6 in Turkis, shade no. 4780 for €8.25. It’s DK (and my shawl is supposed to be done in Fingering) but I didn’t notice and I don’t care. This also the only full price yarn I bought.
Three balls (a total of 257g) Lace Ball in Brombeeren, shade no. 1872 for €5.14. This was marked Restegruppe 3.
Two balls (a total of 190g) Crazy Zauberball in Der Lenz Ist Da, shade no. 2136 for €9.50. This was marked Restegruppe 4.
Two balls (a total of 185g) Crazy Zauberball in Papegei, shade no. 1701 for €3.70. This was marked Restegruppe 3.
Bearing in mind that a full price 100g of Crazy Zauberball is €10, these were absolute bargains.
Schoppel-Wolle has a fan for life, and I haven’t even used the yarn yet!
(I also came across yarn shops in Ulm and Tauberbischofsheim. The photos for these quick visits are on my Facebook page. After the Schoppel-Wolle experience I didn’t feel the need, or have the space in my luggage, for more purchases so there’s no blog post about those three shops. )
Mollie Makes Luggage Tag
08 Sunday Jul 2012
Posted in My ramblings
Tags
The latest issue of Mollie Makes dropped through the letterbox on Saturday. Joy!!!! This month’s issue included fabric and instructions to make your own Wild West style luggage tag. I’ve been a subscriber to Mollie Makes from issue no. 2, but this was the first time that I though “What the heck, I’m gonna use the Mollie Makes freebies and make something!”
Roll on Sunday morning and I was in my payamas, ready to craft me some luggage tags! (I’m saying this with a John Wayne cowboy twang, cigarette dangling from the corner of my mouth.)
Being the bad@ass cowboy that I am, I wasn’t really feeling the mustard spotty fabric, so I used leftover greyish-green from my Larger Than Life crochet handbag for the front of the tag.
My horse sewing machine is somewhere in the garage, so I got out the needle and thread and did it old school style. Backstitch by hand baby, that’s how wild I am.
When it came to attaching the loop, I realised that if I follow the instructions to the letter, I wouldn’t be able to attach my tag to my luggage, as the loop is sewed into the top of the tag, so I improvised – cowboy crochet style. I made two chains of 25 chain stitches each with a Rowan Handknit Cotton yarn and 3mm crochet hook and sewed the two to the top of the tag. Now I can tie it in a lasso bow to my luggage.
I love my luggage tag! Do you see how the wooden house peeks out just above the green frame and how the deer and duck is framed behind the clear acetate. I didn’t plan it that way, it just worked out brilliantly well this way! When my name and address info is in the tag, the house will be visible just above my home address. So perfect!
My next flight is the 19th of July to Stuttgart. I’m only taking hand luggage, but I’m definitely going to be using my handmade Mollie Makes luggage tag. So bully (that’s cowboy slang for happy)!
Say you don’t like my luggage tag. Go on, say it.
Business card anyone?
03 Tuesday Jul 2012
Posted in My ramblings
Tags
My new (blog) business cards.
Roses and Daisies cushions; Belle; Hexagon scarf; Yarn; Identity Crisis Blanket
Ever heard of Moo? It’s a genius company that allows you to make business cards, mini cards, postcards, stickers, address labels and more using your own photos! You can even load the photos straight from Facebook, Etsy, Flickr or Picassa onto their (very easy to use) website.
Moo is brilliant! I’ve used them to make stickers, postcards, address labels and of course business cards for my Etsy shop and can’t recommend them highly enough.
They have a referral system, so if you do use Moo please use this link – I will get points as I referred you, but you will also receive 10% off your first order! Win-win.
Now I just need somewhere to go to so that I can hand out my cards. Wonder of the barista at Starbucks will take one?
*P.S. The photo was taken with Instagram and a filter applied. In real life, the cards are much more vibrant.
A hooker’s mug
28 Thursday Jun 2012
Posted in My ramblings, Other people's crochet
I’ve got to show you something. It’s so, so, so, cool (it feels wrong for a 34 year old to use the word “cool”, but that’s really the only way to describe it).
It all started with a print I bought from from Stephanie, the Head Hooker and mastermind behind Obey Crochet and the super creative & funny crochet related drawings. She is so extremely talented I really wanted to support her. It’s one thing to read her blog, like a drawing on her Facebook page and mention her in one of my blogposts, but that’s not money in her pocket. So I bought a print that I could totally relate you: Will Hook For Yarn, because I will.
The print will be framed to hang somewhere in our house but that’s not good enough for me. I spend 8 hours a day at work, so how could I enjoy my Obey Crochet print at work? Oh I know – have the print transferred onto a mug!!!
Stephanie agreed that I could do this with my print, so I scanned the image and used Printster to have it printed on both sides of a plain white mug. I think having it on both sides is key – I see the drawing when I pick up my mug, but so do everyone that walks past my desk. Spreading my hook & yarn obsession as far as possible.
Behold, the tea drinking vessle of a desperate hooker.
Tripping on granny squares
27 Wednesday Jun 2012
Posted in My ramblings, Other people's crochet
Granny squares as you’ve problably never seen them: tripping.
The Adelaide-born photographer, Diana Melfi took her grandmother’s granny square blankets and used them for a photoshoot called “Granny Takes a Trip”.
Genius, I say!
photography / Diana Melfi
makeup / Pia Lorena Bedregal
styling / Penelope Curtis
model / Tori Trigg @IMG models
Crochet on TV (Mad Men)
13 Wednesday Jun 2012
Posted in As seen on TV, My ramblings
Last night I was lying sprawled out on the couch under the Identity Crisis blanket getting my final fix of Mr. Don Draper in Mad Men.
Geez, I love Mad Men! The smoking in the office, the drinking in the office, the unashamedly sexist comments, the fashion, LSD trips, everything! I love it so much I didn’t even crochet in front of the TV, just so that I could give the season finale my undivided attention.
As a reward, the Gods of Crochet rewarded me with a granny square blanket right there on Beth’s hospital bed!
The blanket is a basic granny in the typical late 1960’s colours of brown, olive and orange. It’s done in big squares of orange or brown, the last round of each being olive green. I think the squares are about 10 rounds each with the olive as the last round. When you join up all the squares, the olive round of one will lie next to the olive of the square next to it, forming a grid of olive which sort of frames the orange and brown squares.
If I remember correctly, the edging was done as a row of brown with a scalloped edge in olive. Something like this.
If the Season 5 Finale was a let down for you, you can always count on your granny square afghan to bring you comfort. It may not be Don Draper, but it’s just as easy on the eye.
Crochet a crochet hook!
13 Wednesday Jun 2012
Posted in My ramblings, Other people's crochet, Pattern
I was looking for something (totally different) in Google images when I came across this amigurumi crochet hook. Is this not THE cutest thing you’ve ever seen?! Oh what joy that Google image searches are so very random.
Best of all? You can make one of your own! Nerdigurumi, who is the creator of this mind blowingly cute amigurumi, gives the free pattern here. Check it out and go forth and hook a hook!
crochetime 