Terrific Tuesday

04 Tuesday Jun 2013

Posted by Natasja in My crochet, Ta-daah!, Terrific Tuesdays

Tags

crochet, crochet thread, Japanese crochet

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

Today we have two pictures. Lucky us!

What you see here is a crochet coaster that I made as an extra little something for the South African lady that commissioned the lace crochet basket. The basket looked so sad and lonely, and she is such a lovely lady, I just had to make her something extra.

Nitty gritty of the coaster:

Pattern: Round Coaster by Sachiyo Fukao from Kuuto! Japanese Crafts Lacy Crochet (the lace basket is from the same book)
Hook: 1.5 mm
Yarn: Coats Aida 10 in light grey to match the basket and DMC Coton Perlé 8 in shade 932 for the blue edging
Time spent: 30 minutes

I’m really starting to enjoy working with crochet thread and a teeny tiny crochet hook. I think it’s because I know this is how my great grandmother, who passed away when I was a little girl, crocheted. Whenever I use crochet thread I always think of her and imagine what life was like the last time she used Coats Aida thread. I distinctly remember the towers of Coats Aida thread in her room. My grandmother always had to buy it for her from OK Bazaars (the, then, John Lewis of South Africa.) I can’t remember Aggie ever using bright colours, but I was certainly drawn to the bright balls on the shelves of OK Bazaars. (Not much has changed then.) What she did have was an amazing tin of brightly coloured buttons which I adored. Now I keep my buttons in a glass jar and just like when I was a little girl, I can play with and admire then for hours.

I may use an iPhone to take photos of my crochet, use the internet to tell hundreds of crocheting strangers about what I do, buy my crochet thread online and use a Japanese pattern, but the basics of that which binds Aggie and I are the same. I have a bond with Aggie through crochet, and I love it.

Crochet baskets

15 Monday Apr 2013

Posted by Natasja in My crochet, Ta-daah!

≈ 17 Comments

Tags

crochet, crochet thread, Japanese crochet

In October 2012 I blogged about the great selection of Anchor crochet cotton I won. In that post, which you can read here, I said that I would use the crochet thread for a cell/mobile phone cover, a basket and a doily. I haven’t got round to the doily yet, I did make the cell/mobile phone cover but before I could photograph it for you I lost it (read: fell asleep on the train with the cover on my lap and jumped up when the train got to my station), and today I’m showing you the basket.

The basket is not big, and it’s shallow, but I think that’s a good thing. Working with crochet cotton I don’t think the sides would have been able to stand up if there were any more than 3 rows.

I especially love the little handles on the sides. You need very small buttons though!

It was such an easy pattern and pretty result, that I ended up making two.

crochet basket carnation crochet hook

These shallow crochet baskets will be perfect for keeping odds & ends together. I can see it on a table in your hallway for the car keys, on a dresser for perfume bottles, or the bathroom for the handwash and hand lotion. You can see it too can’t you? Yes, I know you can! If you want to make one (or two) for yourself, here is the nitty-gritty:

Pattern: Lace Baskets from the Kyuuto! Japanese Crafts! Lacy Crochet book.
Hook: 1.5 mm
Yarn: Aida 10 in silver grey and Freccia 6 in shade 01442
Modifications: For the silver grey basket I had to add an extra round before starting with the sides, as the crochet thread is thinner than the Freccia 6 and I wanted my baskets to be the same size.

I’m giving these baskets away to friends on foreign shores so my desk still needs a basket for post-it notes and pens. I think I’ll make my one in shades of green. Striped!