Crochet in the office

09 Thursday Jan 2014

Posted by Natasja in My crochet, My ramblings

In November 2013 I started a craft group at the office. We meet every Thursday from 12:30 to 13:30 in a meeting room. Meeting rooms are usually reserved for client meetings, internal meetings of lawyers, training, seminars and the like….now it also hosts crocheters and knitters.

Conference phone + crocheted hexagons = my kind of office.

Meeting rooms always have water, coffee and tea. We like that.

It’s really one of the highlights of my week: I leave my desk for a full hour, walk up a flight of stairs and enter a room where I can be my True Self, crochet hook and yarn in hand. It’s also nice to know that there are others in the building who also get excited about yarn, spend hours on Ravelry and know what a crochetalong or “frogging” is. Makes me feel less like The Crochet Anomaly PA.

As you can see I’m working on my Crochet For Kidneys Part II hexagons using the Hexagons In Bloom pattern. I’m absolutely loving these hexagons. The blankets are going to be so pretty when everyone’s hexies are put together! We can go absolutely crazy with the colours, as long as the last round is white because the white will pull everything together. I love that! Colour is good, but more colour is better.

To give you an update on the hexagons, I can tell you that I’ve received three envelopes stuffed thick with hexagons. I will open, photograph and blog about them this weekend. I keep the packets closed until it’s time to take the photos on a sunny afternoon, over the weekend. I let them pile up in the week and then pounce as soon as the first ray of sunshine hits the living room. It feels a bit like Christmas every time.

Now I have to stop blogging and do some work. One day crochet will be my work, but until then I’m at the beck and call of the lawyers who pay my salary, or as I like to think of it, gives me money to pay the bills and most importantly, crochet supplies.

More yarn

07 Tuesday Jan 2014

Posted by Natasja in My ramblings

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

cotton yarn, Etsy, hand dyed yarn

“More yarn.” Music to our ears, right?! Today that’s exactly the song I’m singing for you: my Etsy shop has been stocked with more beautiful shades of Vinni’s Colours Nikkim hand dyed cotton yarn.

I added more neutral colours: dark slate grey and light stone grey, and an off-white Natural. I also added two shades of yellow (I adore the bright Sunshine Yellow!), a pastel orange peachy colour and beautiful Turquoise. I also added Lavender blue that’s between the light Cloud Blue and dark Deep Blue. I did the same thing with the brown shades – I now have a medium brown called Camel that’s between Dunes and Mahogany, and a proper Barbie pink that’s between the light Ballet Pink and dark Raspberry pink.

You can click on the photo which will take you to the yarn section of my Etsy shop. Go on. Resistance is futile…. 🙂

I really do love my Nikkim hand dyed cotton yarn. It’s a crazy fantastic treat for me to walk into the garage and see all these beautiful shades, just waiting to be turned into something beautiful.

I’m currently ~~working on~~ playing with two versions of my chevron scarf (which I finished on 4 January but haven’t been able to photograph due to lack of sunlight) that you are going to love. I’m having a fantastic time choosing the colour combinations. I really have to restrain myself, but as it is, one of the colour combinations already consist of 10 shades!!! Do you blame me? How can I not use as many colours as possible? Look at it! You can close your eyes and point randomly at your PC screen to pick your yarn colours and they will all Just Work.

Visit my Etsy shop at your own peril. Mwa-ha-ha-ha. 😉

Terrific Tuesday

07 Tuesday Jan 2014

Posted by Natasja in Terrific Tuesdays

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

colour palette, colour scheme, cotton yarn, Etsy

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 and Pinterest likes every Tuesday and find us a pretty picture to add colour and joy to the day.

xxxxxx

A year or two ago I went to Wisely Gardens with three friends and totally fell in love with the cactus garden, or as they call it the “tender plants”, in the Glass House. This one with its bright green centre really caught my eye. Combined with stone and slate colours, it makes for a beautiful colour palette for Vinni’s Colours. As always, the hand-dyed cotton yarn is available to purchase for £3.50 per ball in my Etsy shop.

Wishing you all a Terrific Tuesday.

Natasja

2013 in review

02 Thursday Jan 2014

Posted by Natasja in My ramblings

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

annual report

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog.

My blog really is growing and growing, and I love it! In 2010 I had 9,800 views, 83,000 in 2012 and in 2013 an astounding 150,000!!!! I can’t thank you guys enough for reading my blog, sharing in my interests and taking part in the crochet along charity blanket projects. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Here’s an excerpt:

The Louvre Museum has 8.5 million visitors per year. This blog was viewed about 150,000 times in 2013. If it were an exhibit at the Louvre Museum, it would take about 6 days for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

Crochet Mood Blanket 2014

30 Monday Dec 2013

Posted by Natasja in My ramblings

≈ 11 Comments

Tags

#crochetmoodblanket2014, crochet along

Tomorrow is the last day of 2013. Can you believe it? We still have leftovers from Christmas dinner and it’s almost 2014! One good thing about the new year being here on Wednesday is that it’s the first day of the Mood Blanket 2014 crochet along. I’m making one square a day. Others are making one a week. Some people are making striped blankets so they do a row a day. Anything goes, as long as the colour is inspired by your mood. (Have a look at the Facebook group for Crochet Mood Blanket 2014 for all the info. You will have to ask to join the group, but get accepted really quickly. It’s lovely to see what others are doing – “others” being more than 2,200 people so far!)

I’m going to use leftover Hayfield Bonus from the Granny Square blanket I made for Nicole. Here are my colour choices to represent my moods.

The pattern I’ll be using for my squares is Lacy Cross from Jan Eaton’s 200 Crochet Blocks.

Here’s hoping for a predominantly green, turquoise and white blanket for 2014!

Size of the hexagons

29 Sunday Dec 2013

Posted by Natasja in Crochet For Kidneys, My ramblings

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

crochet4kidneys

Just a quick post to show you what I mean when I say the hexagons for Crochet For Kidneys Part II has to be 15 cm side to side. It means measured from the straight edge to the opposite side’s straight edge.

How are you guys getting on with your hexagons? As soon as I have time and there is enough sunlight in the living room, I will take photos to show you my hexies. They are crazy colourful!!

A visit to Greenwich and a mood blanket

28 Saturday Dec 2013

Posted by Natasja in My ramblings

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

#crochetmoodblanket2014, crochet blanket, crochetalong, Greenwich

Are you enjoying the Festive Season? Recovered from all the turkey and ready for the New Year’s party? I’m not. Except if you by “New Year’s party” you mean crocheting in front of the TV when the fireworks start on BBC 1. For that, I’m ready!

I’m not at work for the days between Christmas and New Year as my Dad is visiting us. He arrived on Christmas day. He’s only been here three days but it feels like he’s been here forever. He’s the perfect house guest and a real joy to have around.

Today was the most amazing Winters day here in London. Clear blue skies and not too cold. It really was something special. Dad and I used the day to visit the Greenwich Observatory and Planetarium and also popped in at the National Maritime Museum.

View from the Royal Observatory

Greenwich Park

Ship heads at the National Maritime Museum

Me and Dad taking a break in Greenwich Park

The Peter Harrison Planetarium

Greenwich Park

Trekking up the hill to the Royal Observatory

“He’s my jolly sailor dear”

On a different note, are any of you taking part in mummy_stacey’s the Crochet Mood Blanket 2014 crochet along? I am! Have a look at mummy_stacey’s Instagram feed here for all the info. She explains it all on there, but it basically boils down to you allocating a mood to a colour and crocheting a square a day to reflect your mood, or you can do a square a week. I’m making 9 cm squares and so far I have allocated 5 colours (I’m not very complex so I don’t need many colours :-))

I’m thinking of red = stressed, lime green = happy/positive, grey = depressed/sad, white = okay, bright blue = grateful/blessed, purple or yellow (I can’t decide which) = irritated.

I think it’s great that at the end of the year I can look back on my blanket and see what my mood was every day. It might be a shock if the overall colour is grey or red, but that’s the chance I’m going to take. At least I’ll have a blanket at the end of it.

If you take part you can use #crochetmoodblanket2014 whenever you take a photo on of your mood blanket on Instagram or Twitter. It will be great to have you on board too!

Merry Christmas everyone

24 Tuesday Dec 2013

Posted by Natasja in My ramblings

≈ 1 Comment

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you will have a great Christmas day filled with friends, family, loved ones, yummy food, great gifts (hopefully a ball of yarn or two) and of course that you will have time to do some crocheting in front of the telly/roaring fire/CD player.

If you click on the picture below it should take you to a website where you can get down for a bit of ♫ Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree ♫♪ with me. It’s a catchy tune so it may stick in our head for a while 🙂

Hexagons In Bloom patterns

22 Sunday Dec 2013

Posted by Natasja in Crochet For Kidneys, My crochet, Part 2, Pattern

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

crochet pattern, free pattern, hexagon, hexagon pattern

Looky what we have here! Colourful hexagons featuring bobly flower centres. It can only be Hexagons In Bloom.

Hexagons In Bloom

Hexagon In Bloom (shells)

As promised last week and on Instagram, this post is my pattern for not one, but two types of hexagons specifically designed for our Crochet For Kidneys Part II blankets. They measure 15 cm from side to side and has the white border that you all voted for.

The plan was to only change the shape of my Granny Square In Bloom to a hexagon, but when I started playing with my Vinni’s Colours Nikkim, the creativity bug just took over. I ended up changing the flower (no raised petals), and as you can see, I also made two versions for the body of the hexagons. I honestly couldn’t stop playing. I blame the yarn. I don’t think it’s hand-dyed with dye, it’s dyed with creative juices.

The colours I used for my hexagons are Blue-Red, Red Violet, Cloud, Fern, Lime, Denim, Plum and Violet. It was so much fun going into my ~~shop~~ garage to choose the colours for my hexies. Like a kid in a sweet shop I tell you! (You can click on any of the shade names to go straight to my Etsy shop where you can buy a ball for £3.50.)

If you need any help with rounds 1 to 4, you can have a look at the photo tutorial for Granny Square In Bloom, as the flower instructions are the same up to round 4 (apart from there only being 6 popcorns in the hexagon, but 8 in the square).

I included a few photos that should help you figure out what to do in Round 4 and Round 5.

Hexagon In Bloom – shells

This pattern is written in US crochet terms
(US sc = UK dc, US dc = UK trb, US hdc = UK htr)

Hook: 3.5 mm

Yarn: Five shades of DK cotton. If this pattern is used to make hexagons for the Crochet For Kidneys Part II, one of the five colours has to white and should be used for Round 10.

Make a magic ring with colour A.

Round 1: Chain 1, 6 sc in ring, slip stitch in chain. 6 sc.

Round 2: Chain 1, 2 sc in each sc, slip stitch in chain. 12 sc.

Round 3: Chain 3 (count as dc.) *Popcorn stitch, 1 dc* Repeat from * to *. Join with slip stitch in chain. Six popcorns made. Fasten off colour B.

Round 4: Join colour B to any Popcorn stitch. Chain 1, 2 sc in same stitch. *Long sc over dc (crochet hook should be inserted in the sc of round 2) , 2 sc in Popcorn* Repeat from * to *. Join with sl st to top of starting chain. 18 sc. Fasten off colour B.

Round 5: Join colour C to long sc of round 4. Chain 1, 1 sc in long sc, chain 3, *dc4tog working first 2 legs in first sc and next two legs in next sc, chain 3, sc in long sc, chain 3*. Repeat from * to *. Join with sl st to starting chain. Fasten off colour C.

Round 6: Join colour D to sc between flower petals. [Chain 3 (count as dc), dc, chain 2, 2 dc (corner shell made)], *chain 1, sc in cluster of round 5, chain 1, corner shell*. Repeat from * to * end. Join with sl st at top of starting chain. See Good To Know.

Round 7: Chain 4 (count as dc plus 1 chain) [2 Dc, 2 chain, 2 dc] in chain 2 space of round 6. Corner shell made. 1 Chain, 3 dc shell in sc, chain 1, corner shell in 2 chain space of corner shell of round 6. Continue working 3 dc shell in each sc and corner shell in each 2 chain space, separated by 1 chain to last sc. 2 dc in last sc. Join with sl st to 3rd chain of starting chain.

Round 8: Chain 3 (count as dc), 2 dc in chain space (3 dc shell made), chain 1, corner shell in 2 chain space of corner shell of round 7. Continue working 3 dc shell in each chain 1 space and corner shell in each 2 chain space, separated by 1 chain. Join with sl st to 3rd chain of starting chain.

Round 9: Chain 4 (count as dc plus 1), 3 dc shell in chain 1 space, 1 chain, corner shell in 2 chain space of corner shell of round 8. Continue working 3 dc shell in each chain 1 space and corner shell in each 2 chain space, separated by 1 chain to last chain 1 space. 2 Dc in last chain 1 space. Join with sl st to 3rd chain of starting chain. Fasten off colour D.

Round 10: Join colour E. Chain 2 (count as hdc). Continue working 1 hdc in each dc of round 10 – do not work a hdc in the chain spaces. Work *1 hdc, 2 chain, 1 hdc* in corner shell spaces. Join with sl st in chain.

Good To Know: Unlike granny squares, corner shells of granny style hexagons consist of groups of 2 dc, whereas the corner shells of granny squares are groups of 3 dc.

Hexagon In Bloom – solid

This pattern is written in US crochet terms
(US sc = UK dc, US dc = UK trb, US hdc = UK htr)

Hook: 3.5 mm

Yarn: Five shades of Vinni’s Colours Nikkim DK cotton. If this pattern is used to make hexagons for the Crochet For Kidneys Part II, one of the five colours has to white and should be used for Round 10.

Follow this instructions as for Hexagon In Bloom – shell to Round 6.

Round 7: Chain 3 (count as dc); *dc in next dc, [1 dc, 2 chain, 1 dc] in 2 chain space, dc in each of the next two dc, dc in 1 chain space, dc in sc. Continue working dc in each dc and in chain spaces of round 6 and [1 dc, 2 chain, 1dc] in each 2 chain space. 9 dc on each side of hexagon.

Round 8 and 9: Work dc in each dc of round 7 and [1 dc, 2 chain, 1 dc] in chain spaces of previous round. Round 8 will have 11 dc on each side of hexagon. Round 9 will have 13 dc on each side of hexagon. Fasten off colour D.

Round 10: Join colour E. Chain 2 (count as hdc). Continue working 1 hdc in each dc of round 9. Work *1 hdc, 2 chain, 1 hdc* in corner shell spaces. Join with sl st in chain.

If you have any questions, feel free to send me a message or comment on the pattern on Ravelry. If you’re on Ravelry please link to the pattern when you’ve used it because I would love to see how your hexagons look. You can also add your hexagons to the Crochet For Kidneys Part II Ravelry group so that we can all gawk and ooh and aaah about your pretty hexagons.

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