Something big in the making

No, I didn’t get the grammar wrong on the title of this blog. I really do have an Ideas: a digital copy of the April issue of the South African craft+decor+food+entertaining magazine, Ideas.

The fact that I have a magazine really isn’t blog worthy, so why am I telling you about this you may ask. It’s because…..

In their “Web Inspiration” article (giving tips on how to create a blog) they list 14 of their favourite websites and blogs, and crocheTime is one of those 14! See, there I am at the bottom right of the page:

I was blown away when I found out! Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that a huge magazine like Ideas (they also publish the magazine in Afrikaans) would know about little ‘ole me, and not only know about me, but think my blog is worthy of a mention in their list of favourites!
Some of the other websites & blogs they like are Pinterest, The Pioneer Woman, Craftzine and Ravelry so I’m really amongst the Big Ones.

To any new readers from South Africa: thanks for looking me up and popping in! To the person in charge of deciding which blogs to include in the article: thank you so much!

Circular Coastal Colours Cushion

05 Monday Mar 2012

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

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

crochet, crochet pattern, cushions, GIF

It’s all about the sea “c” today in this Circular Coastal Colours Cushion blogpost. ~~Sea~~ See what I did there? You ~~sea~~ see, *okay, I’m stopping now* Lynn Holland asked me to make her a 12 inch round cushion in coastal colours after seeing *told you I’d stop* my square cushions.

I’ve always wanted to make a round cushion, but now that our home is full of crochet things I dont’ think my dear husband would survive another crochet cushion venture of our own… I therefore jumped at the opportunity to hook something round and cushiony, even if it is for someone else.

I sent Lynn a couple of photos and links to round cushion patterns, and she decided on the back of Lucy at Attic24’s Blooming Flower cushion. That’s exactly what I would have chosen if I had made the cushion for myself!

I already had yarn in coastal shades in my (huge) stash of Stylecraft Special DK that was left over from the Identity Crisis blanket. That meant all I had to buy was the duck feather inner. I bought a 14 inch inner (two inches bigger than the crochet so that it would be nice and puffy) from Design-a-Cushions. If you live in the UK, I highly recommend this company for cushion inners.

So here it is. Lynn’s circular coastal colours cushion! Ta-daaaaah!

From this GIF you can see that the front and the back is different. I did the side with the green stripes first, and then realised it looked a bit dark, so the other side has no green and more white and light blue. It’s amazing the difference one colour can make don’t you think?

Of course I had to put the cushion on our bed with the granny square cushions and Identity Crisis blanket. It looks soooo good!

As of 12:45 today the cushion is on its way to its new home. I really enjoyed our time together but I’m sure it will be very welcome and loved in its new home.

(There is a slight possibility that I may have the opportunity to make another one of these. My niece, the one for whom I made the Bayb Born jackets, is coming to visit at the end of March. Maybe, just maybe, she’d want a pink stripey round cushion to take home with her. Here’s hoping.)

Big Benny

27 Monday Feb 2012

Posted by Natasja in GIF, My crochet, My ramblings

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

clocks, crochet, GIF, wall clock

Tick Tock. Tick Tock. Can you see how time flies?

I thought my first GIF must show one of my ticking clocks – it just makes sense considering the theme of this blog don’t you think? But what clock should I choose for the GIF debut?

It’s got to be the biggest one I have – the 45cm Big Benny in shades of green. I don’t think people realise just how big it is! Big Benny is for sale in my Etsy shop for £40. Just click here.

As for GIF’s. Well, a GIF is the name of a file extention (like PDF, JPG or DOC). It stands for Graphics Interchange Format (geek speak to my ears) and basically means a file of moving images in a loop – not a video, but not a static photo either.

I was introduced to GIFs in blogs, by Christelle who told me about One Sheepish Girl’s blog. She has the cutest GIFs! I use a iPhone App to create mine but a quick Google search will produce many other GIF creating websites.

My GIFs are nothing compared to the amazing, fascinating, beautiful GIF-type images by fashion photographer, Jamie Beck. Honestly people, have a look at these photos – it’s not photos, and it’s not GIFs – it’s cinemagraphs.

The GIF possibilities are endless, so expect to see a lot more on my blog.