Merry Christmas hookers and yarnaholics!
25 Sunday Dec 2011
Posted in My ramblings
Category Archives: My ramblings
A change of plan and a Ta-daaaah
24 Saturday Dec 2011
Posted in My crochet, My ramblings, Pattern, Ta-daah!
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If you are a fan of crocheTime on Facebook, you would have seen my public declaration of yesterday, saying that I will not finish the Winter Scarf, but rather finish the Identity Crisis blanket before 2012 (it’s been coming dragging along since 20 November 2009 so it really should not have to see 2012 without a border and ends to woven in). I really really really planned to do it this way but things change…
The problem lies therein that the blanket is already big enough for two people to comfortably sit under, or one person to snuggle under from head to toe… more often than not that one person is Hubby. Case and point last night. I had packed away the scarf, eager and ready to work exclusively on the Identity Crisis blanket but he refused to give it to me! “You can find something else to crochet, I’m sitting under my blanky”. I had to laugh. “My blanky”?! At least I know that when I do (one day) finish it, it will be loved and used.
Back to the scarf then.
I don’t think I’ve given the details on the blog, so here it is. I used Garnstudio Drops Delight in shade no. 10 and myPicot Openwork and Lace pattern no. 2015 with a 3.5mm hook. I can’t remember how many stitches I cast on, but it was quite a lot as the scarf is very wide. It was the width that actually lead me to think that it will work better as a cowl as I’d be able to twist it better around my neck and over my chest, than I would with a scarf. It seemed a waste to have two wide, very warm scarf ends just hanging down the front!
So this is the result.
Strangely enough it reminds me a lot of the Annie’s Attic cowl wrap I wanted to recreate. Looks like I kinda did, without even trying!
This is such a lovely warm cowl! I doesn’t feel heavy or restrictive, just warm and snuggly.
As you can see from my earlier post, it made its debut earlier today in Surbiton and I loved wearing it!
I would say that it’s off to work on the Identity Crisis blanket now but I’m not. Hubby asked for a “draft stopper” for the livingroom. Let’s hope I can wizz through the Lion Brand’s Striped Draft Stopper pattern quickly enough to finish the blanket before 2012 but past experience has taught me that I shouldn’t hold my breath.
Monkey business
22 Thursday Dec 2011
Posted in My ramblings, Other people's crochet
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I was at Accessorize in Waterloo station this morning (buying myself a new handbag – ’tis the season to be jolly after all and what better way to jollify yourself than with a new handbag) when I saw the cutest little crocheted keyrings at the till.
They are on sale at the moment – half price no less! They’re just adorable don’t you think?!!!
This is Polka Monkey:
This is French Monkey:
And here we have Union Jack Monkey:
Source: accessorize.com via Natasja on Pinterest
I think I’ll pop back in at Accessorize on my way home tonight…
Crochet on TV (Dexter)
22 Thursday Dec 2011
Posted in As seen on TV, My ramblings, Other people's crochet
More crochet spotted on TV!
This very pretty granny square afghan is in one of the Dooms Day Killer’s victim’s houses in Dexter Season 6, Episode 12.
I really like the off-white and shades of blue, with just a touch of yellow. Whoever made this afghan also chose not to join the squares in the traditional way where the squares are seamed together, but rather used an open, lacey way of joining the squares. I think they used Crochet Cabana’s Lacy joining method which you can find here.
Le Monde Sucrette describes a similar method here, although hers is a single row of zigzag.
You can also create this effect with rows of shells to join, like Carina does on her Craftblog.
You can also have a look at Robyn Chachula’s sample pattern from her Crochet Stitches Visual Encyclopedia for the written and diagramatic pattern for joinging grannies.
I’ve had an off-white-with-bright-colours project on my To Hook list for a while now. After seeing this beautiful afghan, the project has moved up the list! Traditional joining methods have however moved down the list somewhat…
If yarn were meth
21 Wednesday Dec 2011
Posted in My ramblings
My friend Cornel of Craftshare recently posted a picture of a “Keep Calm and Carry Yarn” tote bag on her Facebook page.
It reminded me of my own “It takes balls to crochet” tote bag that I bought on Cafepress a year ago. Cafepress don’t sell my tote bag anymore but they do sell these….
Source: cafepress.co.uk via Natasja on Pinterest
Source: cafepress.co.uk via Natasja on Pinterest
Source: cafepress.co.uk via Natasja on Pinterest
I can relate to this:
…and to this. I’m forever looking for lost crochet hooks between couch cushions.
Source: cafepress.co.uk via Natasja on Pinterest
Off you go to Cafepress, I know you want to 🙂
Pattern for sale… or not?
08 Thursday Dec 2011
Posted in My crochet, My ramblings, Pattern
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Terrific Tuesdays
06 Tuesday Dec 2011
Posted in My ramblings, Terrific Tuesdays
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 holiday snaps every Tuesday and find us a pretty picture to add colour and joy to the day.
xxxxxx
Boats on the Graslei in Ghent, Brussels – May 2009. If I had a boat, I’d decorate it with bunting in stead of flags ;-
Have a cheery Tuesday!
Christmas tree, crochet style!
03 Saturday Dec 2011
Posted in My crochet, My ramblings, Pattern
Behold our christmas tree in all its crochet glory! Doesn’t it look christmassy, colourful and wonderfully crochety? (On this blog, crochety is a word okay?)
You will recognize the granny stars from previous posts. After selling one star at the market and giving 30 away, the rest went onto our tree. Now I’m actually glad they didn’t sell at the market because they look every so cheery on our tree.
The round decorations are rounds 1- 3 of Attic24’s hexagons and the christmas star at the top of the tree is this Super Mario Invincibility Star pattern. I left an opening between two of the points, and also ironed on fabric interfacing to the wrong side before sewing the two halves together so that it would keep its shape on top of the tree. It worked a charm.
All the decorations are done with Rowan handknit cotton in Bleached, Rosso and Gooseberry.
The stars even look good as part of the christmas wrapping!
Have you made crochet christmas decorations? Have you decorated your christmas tree? I’d love to hear from you!
Björk
01 Thursday Dec 2011
Posted in My ramblings, Other people's crochet
Source: fantasyofakind.files.wordpress.com via Natasja on Pinterest
Source: fantasyofakind.wordpress.com via Natasja on Pinterest
Source: google.co.uk via Natasja on Pinterest
For Bjork’s album Volta (2007) she collaborated with The Icelandic Love Corporation, using crochet costumes, masks and dresses for the cover, and publicity shots of the album.
This is what she said of the experience:
flying from iceland on a sunday, slightly melancholic like
i sometimes am on planes but also full of anticipation for the destination. read the cultural pages in the paper.
see photos of the girls i have gradually been getting to know over the past months/years. the icelandic love corporations making art from liquorice. warms the heart. tear out one photo when the flight-attendant doesn’t see and slip it between the pages of my journal.
a photo of a mask.
find it incredible that while some kind of icelandic-woman-voodoo-music has been seething inside of me they have crocheted from cute grannydoilycrochet in neon colours this wild woman voodoo mask. and i can’t believe how similar our thoughts are. but i keep my council and decide to wait until i have worked more on the album, to see if we really are on the same wave-length. however, i do glue it on to the front page of my journal and between me and myself the mask transforms into the protector face of the project. a few months later we are all in the irish pub in hverfisgata and i find the courage to mention this to jóní. she is game. we then meet up in their studio (also in hverfisgata, the street obviously has had a very creative effect on the collaboration) and discuss our first assignment: to make a new character, an electro neon icelandic domestic joyous force of nature.
and it has gone so supernaturally well !!!
and been so much fun
because they are so good at creating creatures
that do not exist
and i wanted so much to be something
that I have never been
björk gudmundsdóttir
Forget the Swan Dress, Björk rocks crochet!
10 Things you didn’t know about me
30 Wednesday Nov 2011
Posted in My ramblings
- My first language is Afrikaans.
- I hate raw tomatoes, but I do like gherkins. Whenever we buy burgers, hubby takes the tomato off mine and I take the gherkins off his. It works out well.
- I wear orthopedic insoles for my dodgy turned-in ankles.
- Hubby and I met on the internet 12 years ago. Next month will be our 10 year wedding anniversary.
- My favourite drink is English Breakfast tea with soy milk.
- One of my subjects in High School was pottery.
- I stole a postcard from the Vatican City. It wasn’t on purpose – really, who in their right mind would steal at the Vatican City?! The layout of the gift shop is part gift shop and part post office, with tills allocated to each section. We didn’t know that so when I got to the post office part and paid for my postcard and stamp, they only charged me for the stamp but I only realised that after posting the postcard. Honestly, it was a mistake!
- I would love to have a Golden Retriever, but can’t as our house and garden is too small. His name would be Chutney.
- My green iPod Nano is engraved with “You rock my world” – it was a gift from hubby.
- I’m irresistibly drawn to milk jugs in any size. Small ones like the one from DovieMoon‘s Etsy shop or bigger ones filled with flowers like the yellow one from MyFrenchCottage Etsy shop. They seem so innocent and perfectly shaped for their function. I think it has to do with point no. 6 and the idea that in the good old days people really decantered milk into jugs – before modern conveniences like Tetrapack and long life milk. Milk jugs, doilies and granny squares seem to go together for me (and you know how I feel about crochet!)
P.S. I got the idea for this post from Messy La – a lovely, creative young lady from Scotland. She also has an Etsy shop, selling beautiful cards and christmas wreaths.
crochetime 
