Terrific Tuesday

14 Tuesday Aug 2012

Tags

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

xxxxxx

The British seaside on a clear, sunny day. What could be more terrific?

This photo was taken on Saturday at Shanklin Beach, Isle of Wight. Or was it Ryde Beach? I can’t remember now, but it’s definitely somewhere along the Island Line train line.

(I have a few more crochet related photos of our daytrip to Isle of Wight on the Facebook page if you want to have a look.)

Wishing you all a Terrific Tuesday!

Natasja

Hand towels for my Dad

13 Monday Aug 2012

Posted by Natasja in My crochet, Ta-daah!

≈ 11 Comments

Tags

crochet, crochet applique

My Dad turned 60 in March this year. As a birthday present Hubby and I bought him a ticket to come and visit us here in England for 10 days in September. We started to plan the holiday in February, applied for his Visa in July and in last week he collected the visa and currency. All that’s left to do is for him to get on the aeroplane on the 7th September! (To put my excitement about this visit into context, this is the first time one of my parents will see the country I’ve been living in for 8 years, and the house I’ve been living in for 6 years. His visit is a BIG DEAL to me!)

As a welcome gift, I made my dad these crochet applique hand towels:

To understand the farm scene, you have to know that my Dad has been working as a Scientific Technician at the Department of Agriculture farm in Elsenburg, South Africa since 1974. Yes, 1974! His main field of expertise are milk cows. Two years ago he did his Masters Degree on the subject. It’s such a big part of my Dad, that I just had to do something cow and farm inspired for him.

I went for hand towels, as it’s something that he uses daily on the farm. His “office” (I’m using the term loosely as it’s actually a room with desk and chair in a farm outbuilding) also has a basin which he uses to wash his hands after a few hours in the dairy or the stables, so hand towels were the obvious choice.

The crochet appliques are a mixture of two oneandtwocompany patterns: the cow and shed from Cow Pig and Farm, and the tree from The Tree The Houses and The Cloud (I blogged about these cute crochet applique patterns here way back in February). It was so much fun making these, even more so since I knew it was for my Dad and he wasn’t expecting it. The patterns are easy to understand and work up really quickly.

It was essential that I use the cow for both towels, but to make each one special, I did one as a Jersey cow (the brownish) and one as a Friesian (the black and white). The yarn is Rowan Handknit Cotton and Stylecraft Cotton Classiqe with a 5 mm crochet hook.

I sewed the applique onto the towels with invisible thread. I got the idea of using invisible thread from Sarah London’s Crochet Love book (she calls it monofilament thread). It worked really well. You can’t see the stitches at all! I didn’t sew the ears of the cows onto the towel – I think it’s cute that they stand out and can be played with as you dry your hands…. not that my Dad would want to play with cow ears, but I like to give him the option.

Hubby came up with the idea of blanket stitching along the bottom in green yarn so that it would look like grass. I think it looks great and really “pulls everything together” – that’s a direct quote from Hubby. Such a clever husband!!

I really like how the towels turned out. I just hope my Dad feels the same.

(P.S. If you read this post and you know my Dad please don’t spoil the surprise.)

Terrific Tuesday

07 Tuesday Aug 2012

Posted by Natasja in Other people's crochet, Terrific Tuesdays

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

jewellery, Terrific Tuesday

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

Source: spanishandsisters.com via Natasja on Pinterest

Intricate, beautiful, colourful crocheted necklaces by Spanish & Sisters. Surely these will brighten up any day!

Wishing you all a Terrific Tuesday.

Natasja

Childhood Memories shawl Ta-daaaah!

06 Monday Aug 2012

Posted by Natasja in My crochet, Ta-daah!

≈ 20 Comments

Tags

crochet

Three balls of Schoppen-Wolle yarn + one 4 mm crochet hook + one London Olympics = crocheted shawl in a record breaking three days! Ta-daaaaah!

I soooo loved making this shawl. I honestly couldn’t stop hooking! The pattern is really easy to get your head around & remember, and of course the yarn… the gloriously colourful variegated 4-ply yarn which I bought at the Schoppen-Wolle factory!!!

It was a constant struggle to get me to put down the crochet hook.

Conversations in my head went something like this:
“I’ll just hook until the end of the red.” Reach the end of red.
“Maybe just keep going until the end of pink.” Reached the end of pink.
“Oooh, it’s going white!” Reached the end of white.
“I’m halfway through the row so I might as well keep going to the end of the row”. In the last shell of the row, white starts turning blue.
“Oooh, blue! So pretty! The blue will probably zing against the red of the previous row. I’ve just have to see this!”

You get the idea.

I also didn’t have just one shade of variegated yarn, I had two! I took my queues from the yarn as to where to stop using shade Parrot and join shade Spring Has Come. Some sections of Parrot was too orange and/or mustard for me, so I just cut those out. (I have no hang-ups when it comes to customizing a pattern, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that I will customize my yarn to suit either).

The five hdc rows I did in the solid turquoise. This was a 6-ply yarn, so I upped to a 4.5mm hook for these rows.

I used more of Parrot than of Spring Has Come, as Parrot has the shades of blue and green that I love, although slightly different hues to Spring Has Come. The very last row, done as two groups of two trebles joined by a picot, of the shawl I did in Spring Has Come.

Speaking of the edging row. I just have to show you the amazing difference wet blocking makes. In this photo everything on the blue blocking board is still unpinned. The edge doesn’t look nearly as nice pre-blocking and even the shell rows open up once blocked.

Isn’t it amazing? Blocking really opens up the patterns and shows off your hard work so much better. It also made my shawl almost double in size. Never under-estimate the importance of blocking!

The nitty gritty of my Childhood Memories shawl:

The pattern is designed by Gabriele Ordenes and it’s called Recuerdos de infancia (which translated to Childhood Memories). You can buy the pattern here or here.
The yarn I used was Crazy Zauberball in shades 1701 (Parrot) & 2136 (Spring Has Come) and Admiral Starck 6 in shade 4780 (Turquoise).
4 mm crochet hook for the Zauberball rows and 4.5mm for the Admiral Starck rows.

This shawl is not end of variegated sock yarn obsession. No sirree. I have enough left over to crochet….. wait for it ……socks! You would think this is the logical use for sock yarn, but us crocheters don’t do socks much – I’m going to change that. Knitters make the most beautiful stripey socks and I want a piece of that action.

I don’t think I’ll wear my socks and shawl together though. That may be a bit much. Then again….. what’s wrong with having too much?!

Crochet meet iPhone

05 Sunday Aug 2012

Posted by Natasja in My ramblings

≈ 7 Comments

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!

Image

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

≈ 1 Comment

Country Dreams Ta-daaaah!

01 Wednesday Aug 2012

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

≈ 20 Comments

Tags

crochet

I finished my second Garnstudio pattern, using Garnstudio Drops yarn and just like Whispers, it’s a huge success!

Behold “Country Dreams”:

I’m really happy with my teal blue creation!

If you look up the pattern here, you’ll see that it’s meant to be a tunic with two bands of open lace prettiness at the bottom. By now you know that I don’t wear anything that can draw attention to the widest part of my pear-shaped body, so I shortened the tunic by 10cm and turned it into a sweater.

I really enjoyed doing the lace bands from the diagram. It was an excellent way of teaching myself how to read the diagrams, as the pattern also provides written instructions for the lace band. I could look at the diagram, do what I think I had to do, and then check whether I was right by going back to the written instructions.

If you’re nervous about crochet diagrams, I suggest finding a pattern with diagrams and written instructions and doing the same.

The neck, bottom and sleeve edgings really finishes the tunic off nicely. If you wanted to, you could even leave out the lace bands and just add the edging and it would still be a beautiful.

The nitty gritty of my Country Dreams sweater/pullover/jumper/jersey (what’s the difference between these anyway?!) is as follows:

7 balls of Drops Safran in Petrol
3.5mm crochet hook
Modifications made: I left out the first band of lace plus three dc rows, which made the tunic 10cm shorter.
The pattern is available for free here

Just a note on the sleeves. They’re tight! I have thin forearms and I’d say average upper arms, yet the size M sleeves is a tight squeeze even around my wrists. As Safran is cotton, it will probably stretch with time, but I just had to point this out to anyone who wants to crochet this tunic, especially if you’re not going to use a cotton yarn.

I’ve been wearing Country Dreams today and it really is a pleasure to wear. Already it feels a bit softer and more drapey than it did last night when I tried it on for the first time. A few hours of body heat is obviously doing it’s thing on the cotton.

My verdict on Drops Safran and the Country Dreams pattern: Lovely!

With Country Dreams completed, I got out my Schoppen-Wolle Crazy Zauberball and started working on the Childhood Memories shawl! I’m only a few rows in, and already I’m loving it. Oooo, you know what, Country Dreams will look B E A U T I F U L worn with this shawl!

I don’t think you’ll have to wait long to see the finished shawl though. I’m addicted to seeing the colour changes (sat up until midnight last night because I just couldn’t put it down) and the pattern is much easier than it looks. Watch this space!

Terrific Tuesday

31 Tuesday Jul 2012

Posted by Natasja in Terrific Tuesdays

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

keep calm, Terrific Tuesday

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

(Made using keepcalm-o-matic.)

More yarn! Yeah baby!

Wishing you all a Terrific Tuesday.

Natasja

Terrific Tuesday

24 Tuesday Jul 2012

Posted by Natasja in Terrific Tuesdays

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

Terrific Tuesday

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

This is Plonlein (Littel Square) in Rothenburg ob der Tauber. You can see the Siebers Tower (Siebersturm) dating from 1385 on the left; and on the right is the Kobolzell Gate (Kobolzeller Tor) dating from 1360. These two roads form a small triangular square, which is Plonlein. The Plonlein is apparently one of the most photographed spots in Germany – and you can see why!

We were here on my birthday, the 19th July as the first stop on the Romantic Road. It’s a beautifull little medieval town and the perfect way to spend a birthday.

I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank my wonderful husband for yet another amazing birthday weekend. The sky was grey, it rained on day 2 and the driving got very tiresome, yet we had great time together and you made me feel special every minute. Love you to infinity and beyond!

Wishing you all a Terrific Tuesday.

Natasja

A day to remember

23 Monday Jul 2012

Posted by Natasja in My ramblings

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

yarn

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. )