Yarnbombing in Thames Ditton

08 Monday Oct 2012

Posted by Natasja in My crochet, My ramblings, Yarnbombing

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I did it! I did my first yarnbomb!!!!

I staked out my corner on Wednesday morning and planned the yarn attack all day Wednesday.

Wednesday evening I returned to measure the ~~location of the attack~~ fence. Measure is probably too technical a term: I put my hand horizontally next to the fence and took a photo, and stood next to the fence, making a note of where the top of the fence reached in relation to my body. When I got home I measured those distances et voila: I needed nine 10cm x 10cm squares. (Might I just add that I did the measuring when everyone from the 18:06 from Waterloo had left the station area so as to not draw too much attention. Yes, that’s right. I didn’t want to draw attention to the 2 minutes of measuring …… for a yarnbomb… using nine crochet squares… to be attached in daylight… on a Saturday… on a busy street corner. Sometimes even I have to shake my head.)

The look I was going for with this yarnbomb, was a zig zag design of floating brightly coloured squares, giving a stained glass window effect to the metal fence. I think I achieved this. Sort of.

As I wanted the squares to appear to be floating, I didn’t use yarn to sew them to the railings, but in stead used cable ties. It worked brilliantly! As a bonus the squares won’t slide down the metal when they get wet, so my squares will stay put.

The pattern is “Circle in a Square” from Jan Eaton’s 200 Crochet Blocks, but only did rounds 1 to 5. All the squares are done in Stylecraft Special DK with a 4mm crochet hook.

My ~~willing accomplice~~ lovely friend, Liezel, joined me on Saturday to attach the nine squares and to ~~get evidence~~ take photos of the guerilla crochet. It was so much fun! And such an adrenaline rush! Carrying cable ties and side cutters in your handbag tend to do that.

We weren’t doing anything illegal and we did it in the light of day, but it still felt sneaky and rebellious (says she who’s biggest act of rebellion to date was wearing a rub-on tattoo on holiday last year.)

I really hope people will enjoy the nine little pops of colour on their way to and from Thames Ditton station. If it makes just one person smile, that will make me smile.

How to beautify white towels

06 Saturday Oct 2012

Posted by Natasja in My crochet, Pattern

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

crochet border, crochet edge, crochet pattern

The tutorial that shows you how I made the crochet border for these towels, are available on Boocoos Blogthingy blog, here.

Boo asked me to be a guest blogger on her blog. I’ve never done a guest blog before, nevermind on the blog of a paid crochet instructor who has been crocheting since she was 8 years old. I learned a lot just from the Tips, Techniques & Promises section of her blog so I really didn’t think I could do anything crochet related that would be good enough. Luckily Boo liked what I did and even said that I could come back and do a guest blog on her blog again any time. Whoohoo!

I hope you enjoy the tutorial, and all the other interesting crochet related things on Boo’s blog.

Reconnaissance Mission

03 Wednesday Oct 2012

Posted by Natasja in My ramblings, Yarnbombing

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Yarnbomb, yarnstorm

I’m planning a yarnbomb. Watch this space and that fence.

Terrific Tuesday

02 Tuesday Oct 2012

Posted by Natasja in My ramblings, Terrific Tuesdays

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

crochet, crochet hookup, Instagram, Southfields Crocheters

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

Don’t you just love these images? I took the photos last night at my first crochet hookup with the girls from the Southfields Crocheters. Chris Hindle, she who teaches crochet workshops at Stitchup in Wimbledon Park, invited me to join the group after reading my blog. The group gets together once a month at Sue’s Salt & Pepper deli in Southfields. It’s lovely little place. Cozy, friendly and they have the best coffee and cake. I had a brilliant time with nicest people, surrounded by yarn, crochet hooks, coffee and cake. How could this not set the tone for a Terrific Tuesday?

Wishing you all a Terrific Tuesday!

Hooky love

Natasja

A Manly Scarf

28 Friday Sep 2012

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

≈ 11 Comments

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scarf

Check out my Dad modelling a crocheted scarf!

Doesn’t he look like Sean Connery?

The scarf is a Christmas present for one of Hubby’s friends. I started work on it on 20 August and finished it while Dad was visiting me. I just had to rope in Dad to play model – that beard and suntanned skin is perfect for a winter accessory photo shoot.

Check out the “I’m staring into the Great Wide Yonder” pose:

And “I have to wear my sunglasses against the glare of the snow”:

~~Dad~~ The model requested a mug so that he could “make the blog people think it’s very cold. Brrrrr.” No really, he said Brrrr out loud. Method modelling obviously works for him.

If I can drag you away from David Gandy-30-years-from-now, I’ll tell you about the scarf.

I was inspired by Jan Eaton’s chocolate box block from her 200 Crochet Blocks book . I used chocolate box for my livingroom couch cushions and they look really great. To my great surprise I turn the cushions so that chocolate box is at the front, more than the Roses & Daisies. Who would have thunk?

This scarf is basically just a row version of the chocolate box square. I thought I was very clever turning a square into a row. Little did I know that the stitch is an existing crochet stitch called Brick Stitch. I found this out when I bought Robyn Chachula’s Crochet Stitches Visual Encyclopedia. Right there on page 15 is my Manly Scarf sans the Sean Connery lookalike! So much for originality. On the other hand, I was quite pleased to see that my handwritten filofax pattern looks almost identical to Robyn’s diagram for the stitch. Brownie point for me.

The nitty gritty of the scarf:

Pattern: Brick stitch as per my pattern below. For more accurate instructions than my handwritten scribble, see Crochet Stitches Visual Encyclopedia. (On Amazon you can “Look inside” the book and if you log into Amazon you’ll be able to see the full written and diagram instruction for this pattern.) The @ on the edges of my pattern tells me where I should put the stitch markers to indicate the top of the 3 chain turning chain. I know it seems a bit over the top, but whenever I’m doing anything with straight lines I rely heavily on my stitch markers to keep track of the top of my turning chains.

Hook: 4.5 mm. I know the photo above says 4mm, but once I started working on the scarf I felt that a 4.5 mm was better.

Yarn: I used seven colours varying from 100% acrylic, to an acrylic & wool mix, to 100% wool. They were:

Charcoal: Stylecraft Life DK

Claret: Stylecraft Special DK

Gray: Stylecraft Special DK

Black: Stylecraft Life DK

Turquoise: Schoppel-Wolle Admiral 6-fach left over from the Childhood Memories shawl

Silver: Stylecraft Special DK

Mocha: Stylecraft Special DK, left over from the Identity Crisis blanket

The tassels I made using my Finishing Techniques for Crochet book, but you can also get the instructions here. It’s extremely easy to do. Promise. Whenever the tassel is attached to a DC row, I used three strands, and for a SC row, I used two strands.

That’s it. One manly scarf as modelled by Dad.

Thanks for making the scarf look so great Dad, and for being such a great (role)model. ♥

Terrific Tuesday

25 Tuesday Sep 2012

Posted by Natasja in Terrific Tuesdays

≈ 1 Comment

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Instagram

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

From my window sill to you:

Wishing you all a Terrific Tuesday.

Natasja

Crochet Along blocks one to nine

24 Monday Sep 2012

Posted by Natasja in CAL, My crochet, My ramblings

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

200 crochet blocks, crochet along, Polamatic

Ooo, this post has been a long time coming! Since 1 September in fact. Bad Natasja! But in my defence, I was entertaining my dear Dad on his visit to my neck of the woods, and enjoying it so much that I didn’t even have any time to blog. I’m sure you’ll understand. (It’s a good sign when real life takes precedence over blog life don’t you think?)

Anyway, here’s what I want to show you. Blocks 1 to 9 of the 200 Crochet Blocks with Rachell Crochet Along. We’re making two to three blocks per week, starting on 1 September, so seeing as we’re in week four I should have at least eight blocks. I’ve got nine to show you and two more at home that I haven’t photographed yet. I’m back on track baby!

So here are my nine blocks. They are all done in Stylecraft Special DK with a 4 mm crochet hook.

These blocks have already been wet blocked, but not very successfully… That’s the thing with acrylic yarn – it doesn’t block as easily as natural fibres. At least the blocks are all 15cm x 15cm, just a bit wobbly around the edges. Hopefully they will straighten up nicely when sewed together. I hope…. if not, I’ll just wet block them again en masse.

My favourites are Popcorn Flower and the Corner Granny. I don’t like Twin Stripes and Triangle Stripes very much, but I’m glad I made them. This CAL is forcing me to make things that I wouldn’t normally be drawn to, which is a good thing.

If you’re taking part in the CAL, how far along are you? Do you have a favourite square?

Simply Crochet Winter 2012

21 Friday Sep 2012

Posted by Natasja in In the press, My crochet

≈ 18 Comments

What do we have here? It’s me, holding a copy of the latest issue of Simply Crochet magazine. Why am I so excited about this magazine?

I’m excited because on Page 9, this blog is listed as one of the two Top Blogs To Follow!!!!!

I was contacted by Jenny of Future Publishing in July to ask me for a couple of photos to use for this piece, so I knew it was coming but in the back of my mind it seemed to good to be true so it was a HUGE thrill to see it right there in the magazine! I feel so blessed that a UK magazine, dedicated to crochet, would think of my little blog as worth mentioning. Blessed I tell you!

If you’re reading this blog because of the mention in Simply Crochet, welcome! If you’ve been with me for a while now, thanks for sticking round and please go out and buy the magazine – not to see my blog in it, but for all the other wonderfully interesting articles, interviews and lots of crochet patterns.

I just have to say it one more time: blessed!

Terrific Tuesday

18 Tuesday Sep 2012

Posted by Natasja in Terrific Tuesdays

≈ 5 Comments

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

Dad, Hubby and I have had a fantastic time together. I’m going to miss him sooooo much! He’s flying back to Cape Town tomorrow evening which makes me sad, but at least we have one last Terrific Tuesday left to spend together (and hundreds of photos to remind us of our time together).