Terrific Tuesday

17 Tuesday Dec 2013

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

I’m crazy about this Bougainvillea creeping up the rustic old building in Eze Village, Nice. In South Africa Bougainvillea is very common, but very rarely seen in the UK (waaaay too cold here). When I saw this amazing creeping beauty on holiday in Nice, childhood memories of walking home from school past the deep pink flowers came rushing back. One day I will capture the image in hand-dyed cotton yarn from my shop.

Wishing you all a Terrific Tuesday.

Natasja

Terrific Tuesday

10 Tuesday Dec 2013

Posted by Natasja in Terrific Tuesdays

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

colour palette, colour scheme, cotton yarn, Etsy

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

The photo of the Chapel Bridge over Lake Lucerne, taken by John in June 2010, is the source of this week’s colour palette. I love the combination of strong wood, brightly coloured dainty flowers and reflective water. 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

Terrific Tuesday

03 Tuesday Dec 2013

Posted by Natasja in Terrific Tuesdays

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

colour palette, colour scheme, cotton yarn, Eiffel Tower, Etsy

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

The Eiffel Tower photographed at sunset in July of 2008. If there ever was an image that should be captured in a colour palette of yarn (which can be bought here), this is it.

Wishing you all a Terrific Tuesday.

Natasja

Terrific Tuesday

26 Tuesday Nov 2013

Posted by Natasja in Terrific Tuesdays

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

colour palette, colour scheme, cotton yarn, Etsy

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

When we walked past this house in Villajoyosa, Spain I never thought that the beautiful tiles and blue wall would inspire a colour palette of yarns that I stock in my Etsy shop, but it did and I do!

Holiday memories encapsulated in yarn. I can’t think of anything better.

Wishing you all a Terrific Tuesday.

Natasja

Scrummy hand dyed yarn just for you

24 Sunday Nov 2013

Posted by Natasja in My ramblings

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

cotton yarn, Etsy, hand dyed yarn

Do you remember the Vinnis’ Colours yarn giveaway I had in September? The one where I asked you all to tell me the three shades you would most like to use for a crochet project? Well, being the eager-to-please-wannabe-business-woman that I am, I ordered the fourteen shades my dear blog readers like the most. Yes, I’m that nice.

My Etsy shop is now stocked with seventeen beautiful shades of hand dyed cotton yarn. Just pop over to www.crochetime.etsy.com and they can be yours. You don’t even need to have a PayPal account, I accept credit cards too. And I ship worldwide.

Crochet earrings ta-daaah!

10 Monday Dec 2012

Posted by Natasja in My crochet, Ta-daah!

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

crochet, crochet jewellery, Etsy, jewellery

It feels like forever since I last showed you a completed crochet project. I guess that’s the way when yarnbomb cravings hit, you have 58 squares to crochet and husband goes for an operation.

Fear not, I have been putting my crochet hook to good use and today I have something to show you. Five things actually.

Ta-daaaah! Behold five pairs of crochet earrings.

crochet earrings and crochet thread

Four of these are Christmas presents and one pair is for me. Seeing as the four recipients read this blog, I won’t tell you which pair is mine. What I can tell you is how I made these earrings.

The nitty gritty of the earrings:

Yarn: The Anchor crochet thread I used for all of these, is from The Making Spot’s giveaway that I won in October.

Pattern: Dainty Dangles Crocheted Earrings by Chanteuse Crochet. There are eight crochet earring designs in the pattern, so the $2.50 is very good value for money. I only used three of the eight designs. The pattern tells how to attach the earring hooks and also give instructions for blocking and the use of spray starch.

Hook: 1.5 mm Clover soft touch

Pair 1 – Delicate Fan Earrings, using Anchor Freccia 6 in shade 00320:

mustard crochet earrings

Pair 2 – Funky Granny Earrings, using Anchor Mercer Crochet 20 in shade 0149:

navy granny square crochet earrings

Pair 3 – Simple Circle Earrings, using Anchor Baby Soft 8 in shade 0048:

Pink crochet earrings

Pair 4 – Simple Circle Earrings, using Anchor Freccia 6 in shade 01442. These are bigger than the light pink earrings seeing as the crochet thread is thicker:

turquoise crochet earrings

Pair 5 – Simple Circle Earrings, using Anchor Freccia 6 in shade 00255. To get the earrings so big, I replaced the US dc in the pattern, with US trebles:

green crochet earring

I actually have very bad luck when it comes to earrings. For some reason I always seem to loose one. Just one. Seriously. When I get home in the evenings the first thing I do (after saying hello to hubby of course) is take off my shoes, wrist watch, rings and earrings. Many a time I only need to take off one earring. Heaven knows how you can loose an earring without knowing it. And I’m not talking only dangling earrings, studs as well!

But now that I have this pattern, and I’ve seen how quickly the earrings can be whipped up, I’m going to make myself more. If I loose one I can make its replacement within minutes!

Bring it on ye wizard of disappearing earrings. I have an crochet earring pattern and a big stash. Bring it on.

crochet earrings and crochet thread

It’s all about The Hook

22 Friday Jun 2012

Posted by Natasja in Etsy

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

crochet, crochet hook, Etsy

Pick your favourite crochet hook, or crochet inspired stationery, as found on Etsy.

XXXL Crochet Hook XXLHooks $20.00	Ball of Yarn with Crochet Ho… hoffeeandanuff… $10.00
Crochet Letterpress Notecard… greengrasspres… $8.00	Antique Bone Fid Crochet Hoo… AllVintageSewi… $12.50
Crochet Hook – Ergonomic – … emsyjane $16.00	XL Hand-Carved Wooden Croche… ArtYarnYummies $10.00
Crochet Hook- Black and whit… DotDotSmile $10.00	Custom Rubber Stamp – Person… modernartstamp… $10.00

Treasury tool supported by the dog house

Etsy purchases no. 3

23 Thursday Feb 2012

Posted by Natasja in Etsy, My ramblings

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

crochet, earrings, Etsy, handmade

Here is the third, and last item purchased from Etsy. Remember, I told you about my three purchases here?

The packaged arrived on Tuesday but I had to wait until today to open it as I wanted to photograph it for you. I knew it would be the green crochet rose earrings from Singapore so it was torture having to wait this long! I was super eager to see whether they would look as pretty in real life as they do in the Etsy listing.

Before I can show you the earrings, I have to take it out of the envelope. The earrings are somewhere inside the plain brown envelope.

Then…. I fold over the flap of the brown envelope to be greeted with bright beautiful trees. Not so plain anymore! In this photo you can also see the “Thanks” written on the bottom right corner of the brown envelope. Things are looking very promising…

And then, behold my green crochet rose earrings!!! They definitely are as pretty in real life as in the listing!

I know you want a closer look.

Aren’t they beautiful?

Perfectly formed roses made with tiny stitches: I think 1.5mm or 2mm hook, and cotton thread.

I honestly can’t wait to wear them!

The seller of these beauties is Khin, a 20 year old Civil Engineering student from Singapore who loves to do crafty things. If you also want beautiful crochet earrings, visit her Etsy store. Or you can read all about Khin on her blog: Khins-craft-space.

I now have two pairs of green crochet earrings bought on Etsy. The other pair look like this. I totally love green, so I think it’s justified that I should have a hanging pair of green crochet earrings, as well as a stud pair. I also love rose stud earrings, so to my thinking it’s perfectly fine that I have two pairs, one in red felt. The red studs look like this. And who can forget my custom made turtles, blogged about here?

I’d like to think of these earings not so much as earrings for me, more like support for Etsy sellers. That’s a good way of ~~justifying~~ thinking isn’t it?

(I may have to get more ear piercings. It’s a disgrace that I can only wear one pair of earrings at a time.)

So this concludes my Etsy shopping spree unboxing posts. Don’t fear, I guarantee there will be more of these in the (very near, knowing myself) future.

I hope these three unboxing posts have inspired you to also support handmade sellers. If you like instant gratification, support handmade by buying at craft markets. If you like a leisurely browse and opening parcels, buy online. Either way, you’ll be making a crafty person very happy.

Hear, hear for handmade!

Etsy purchases no. 2

21 Tuesday Feb 2012

Posted by Natasja in Etsy, My ramblings

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Etsy, magnetic bookmark

Here is the second item purchased from Etsy. Remember, I told you about my three purchases here?

The package came all the way from the US of A, so I knew it had to be the magnetic bookmark from Lori A McKee. I really love Lori’s artwork. So much in fact that this was my second order from her. The first was a perpetual calendar, like this one, that I bought in December.*

Behold my beautiful silhouette lovebirds bookmark. Even the business card is pretty!

On the back of the business card Lori wrote a note and gave me a discount code for my next order. Yeah!

The bookmark is brilliant. It’s pretty, practical and it can’t fall out of my book. Perfect!

Please have a look at all the other beautiful things Lori sells in her Etsy shop. I think I’ll be using my discount code for a set of notecards or a pocket mirror. I have visions of myself sitting in the train, opening a book at the magnetic bookmark, and then checking my lippy in a matching mirror. How chic!

*I started to enter birthdays and anniversaries into my brand new calendar, in pen, only to realise I was entering January dates into December! Suddenly my Mom’s birthday fell on Christmas Day instead of 25 January. In pen!!!! I got out the Tipp-ex but I haven’t had the nerve to start again. Bad Natasja – you have a beautiful calendar just waiting to be used. Grow a spine woman…. and use a pencil.

Applique to match

17 Friday Feb 2012

Posted by Natasja in Etsy, My ramblings, Other people's crochet, Pattern

≈ 11 Comments

Tags

crochet, crochet applique, crochet pattern, Etsy

When I launched the pattern for my crochet wall clocks, I said that in stead of crocheted circles to indicate 12, 3, 6 and 9 you can use any applique motif, as long as the hands of your clock are able to move over it freely. To quote myself:

I’m thinking stars, hearts, cupcakes.

The Gods of Crochet must have been reading my blog and sent inspirational hooky vibes to the owner of OneandTwoCompany. This young nurse is selling applique crochet patterns in her Etsy shop, which include exactly that: the most beautiful stars, hearts and cupcakes! Can you believe it?!

She also sells patterns for whales and hedgehogs that would work well with my clocks. I’m especially loving the hedgehogs!

Can you see it? A white clock face with a brightly coloured whales or hedgehogs (or both!) on 3, 6, 9 and 12?! It would be sooooo cute!

Ooh, and what about this scene. Absolutely perfect*!

OneandTwoCompany sells many other applique patterns, but I think only the ones I mention here, would work on my clocks seeing as they are flat enough.

PLEASE NOTE: I have to point out that her finished items (apart from the hearts pattern) are a bit big for the standard size clock, so you would have to:

either keep going in pattern rounds for the clock face so that the clock is large enough to accommodate the applique; or
use a 4 ply yarn and smaller hook for the applique.

Even if you haven’t bought my clock pattern, I’m sure you will find something to decorate with OneTwoCompany’s cute applique. Hats, scarfs, blankets, towels, cushions – just about anything!

The patterns start from as little as $2.50 (roughly £1.62) so what are you waiting for? I certainly didn’t wait…. *I bought the cloud, tree & houses pattern. Not sure what I will be using it for yet, but inspiration will hit soon enough I’m sure.

Pattern stashing is like yarn stashing isn’t it? You know you love it, you know you have to buy it, and you know that you will (probably, eventually) find a use for it. Right?