Terrific Tuesday

08 Sunday Jun 2014

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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

This is the main motif of this Japanese pattern for a crochet top. I adore it! Unfortunately, I won’t be making more of these pretty square lacy motifs because I need 18 50g balls of yarn for top! I only have 10 ballsof Vinnis Serina and seriously can’t justify having to buy eight more at almost £5 a ball – on top of the 10 I already bought! So, the yarn will be used for a knitted sweater which only needs 8 balls and this motif will beautify my bedside table. Once I worked away the two tail ends of course.

Wishing you all a Terrific Tuesday.

Natasja

Japanese V-neck ta-daaaah

29 Monday Jul 2013

Posted by Natasja in My crochet, Ta-daah!

≈ 24 Comments

Tags

crochet, Japanese crochet, wearable crochet

The V-neck top from a Japanese crochet pattern is finished! I’m wearing it today and I like it more and more with every hour that goes by. For it’s debut, I’m wearing it over a black vest, but I know it will look great over a longsleeved t-shirt as well.

You probably notice the draping around the V of the neckline. Those folds are changing the whole time. It’s 14:30 now so I’ve been wearing the top for a couple of hours and it already looks softer. I used 100% cotton, so just like a denim jean, the longer I wear it and move around in it, the softer it becomes. This top is only going to get better!

I don’t always walk around like this, but I had to do it to show you the design more fully:

I really, really, really, like my Japanese V-neck. The only thing I don’t like, and feel I have to share with you in the spirit of full disclosure, is that the sleeves drop off my shoulders the moment I move my arms, and not in a sexy shoulder revealing way. Oh no. I completely lose a sleeve. Totally impractical, irritating and not pretty. My solution? Safety pins on each shoulder to pin the top to my vest. As easy as that. (No way am I going to let hours of hard crocheting go to waste because of a minor wardrobe malfunction!)

Japanese crochet v-neck top

Nitty gritty of the V-neck:

Pattern: In Ravelry, the pattern is called #5 V-neck pullover. It’s designed by Eiko Matsumoto and published in Knit/Crochet With Ease – Seasonal Knits, also known as Easy Popular Knit and Crochet Wear. I bought the book on Etsy from Pomadour24. You can find the listing here.
Yarn: Patons 100% Cotton 4 Ply in Garnet, shade 1738. I used 4 and a quarter balls.
Crochet hook: 2.25mm
Modification: I made one modification: in stead of slipstitching the bottom 9 picots together to make the sides, I added another pattern repeat (but without the picots) to the bottom 12 picots on each side, thereby forming a very large armhole and widening the bottom of the top. In the photo below you can see this modification. The side inserts don’t have picots on the bottom edge, and it also means that I don’t have a cute 3-picot grouping in the corners of my top because I used one of the three picots to kick off the rows of the side insert. No-one is going to notice the lack of picots in my sides, and it was more important to me to make the top fit around my hips, than sticking to the pattern. A lot of ladies on Ravelry also had trouble with getting the top to fit around the hips. I could have added a third pattern repeat all around like they did, but that would have 1) made the top longer and 2) made the sleeves longer which would have added weight and pulled them down my shoulders even quicker than it does now. My solution was to do these side inserts – it fixed my problem, but without creating more problems.

Wet blocking is highly recommended for this pattern. As with anything lacy it opens up the crochet stitches and gives the top shape. I can’t believe I’m saying this, or that I did it, but I pinned each picot seperately. There were hundreds! Looking at the top now, I’m very glad I did. Those picots on the arms and the bottom add the detail you need to round it all off.

The Easy Popular Knit and Crochet Wear book is full of the most beautiful Japanese crochet patterns. This is my second top from the book. Out of the two, I like this one the most. I already have my eye on a waterfall cardigan. I’ll even use the same Patons 4 ply cotton yarn.

I think as a rule Japanese patterns are quite boxy and straight up-and-down. This means they are easy to make because they consist of repeating motifs or they’re basically just one big rectangle (like this one), so us ladies with a more womanly shape, need to make modifications. That, or just embrace the floaty, square shapes. Floaty tops can work well when paired with a tight-fitting top underneath and balanced out with a straight / slim leg trouser. (Oooh, check me out – giving fashion advice! Hahahaha.)

One last thought: I love this V-neck top, I loved being challenged by the crochet diagram, I loved using Patons cotton 4-ply and most of all, I love that wearing this V-neck top makes me feel unique and a tiny bit special.

Still Going Japanese

05 Friday Jul 2013

Posted by Natasja in My crochet, My ramblings

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

Japanese crochet, wearable crochet

In between working on photo tutorials and designing motifs I’ve been hooking away on my Japanese V-neck. The one on the cover of this book.

I really do love this and can’t wait for it to be finished.

Terrific Tuesday

04 Tuesday Jun 2013

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

≈ 5 Comments

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crochet, crochet thread, Japanese crochet

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

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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!

Blue Japanese Top – Ta-daaaaaah!

10 Wednesday Apr 2013

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

≈ 14 Comments

Tags

crochet, Japanese crochet, wearable crochet

Here it is. My blue crochet top hooked from a Japanese pattern!

This is my second project from a Japanese pattern. The first one was the red variegated scarf which I blogged about here. The scarf was given away as a gift, so this is the first item I can wear.

I really, really, like it! It feels great walking around London in something I crocheted myself (that always feels good), but this time I add a swagger because I know that the pattern I followed didn’t have one single word in English to guide me!

Focus on the close-up of the crochet, not the tiramisu (if you can…)

Back view

The nitty-gritty is as follows:

Pattern: On Ravelry this pattern is called #4 2-way Top because that’s really what it is. You have two construction options. My way, and leaving the front open to make it into a cardigan. It’s from the Japanese book Easy Popular Knit and Crochet Wear which I bought from Pomadour24 on Etsy.
Crochet hook: 3 mm
Modifications: To make it the right length I had to add a few rows of the shell pattern before starting with the fan pattern at the bottom. If I could, I would have added extra squares but I had ready crocheted the shell rows on either side of the squares so couldn’t go back and add more squares to make it longer.
Yarn: I used Garnstudio Drops Delight in Shade 03. The yarn is a holiday momento from a weekend in Barcelona in January. I bought it at a shop called All You Knit Is Love. The sweetest little shop! Tucked away in a alley close to the Picasso museum. If you find yourself in Barcelona, be sure to pop in.

Yarn!!!!

Japanese crochet really isn’t that difficult. Honestly. At the end of this blogpost I give a few pointers and links to helpful websites.In case you’re wondering, yes I’ve already bought the yarn to crochet my next Japanese top. I mean, I have a whole book filled with patterns. How can I not?!

*The setting for these photos is of course Genoa, Italy on the weekend of their citywide yarnbombing, Intrecci Urbani. I blogged about it here.

Image

My Sunday afternoon

10 Sunday Mar 2013

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crochet, Japanese crochet

I’m on a Japanese crochet adventure…

Posted by Natasja | Filed under My crochet, My ramblings

≈ 12 Comments

Japanese scarf Ta-daah!

06 Thursday Sep 2012

Posted by Natasja in My crochet, Ta-daah!

≈ 20 Comments

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crochet, Japanese crochet, scarf

Raise your chopsticks crocheters, my first crochet item from a Japanese pattern is done!

I know it’s only a scarf and that once you get the motif under the belt, it’s just a case of repeating it a hundred times – literally, so it’s probably not the fanciest, most intricate piece of Japanese crochet, but still. I’m proud of it and I think my friend will like it too.

I’ve shown you the halfway mark and some sneak peak photos but this photo really shows off the intricate lacyness to its best (hanging from a hanger, hooked onto the Ikea floor lamp. As you do.)

Doesn’t the scarf look great with the coat (hanging from the neighbour’s fence. As you do.)?

I just love a scarf that can throw shadows on your coat! To get the scarf this open and fine, you absolutely have to, have to, have to block your work. Have a look at my halfway mark blogpost and you’ll see how the scarf looked before blocking. For this scarf, blocking isn’t optional, it’s essential.

The magic of this scarf and yarn combo is that eventhough it’s super light, open and lacy it’s still nice and warm as a scarf should be. And there’s so much going on! Every motif is different.

I think the variegated yarn really works extremely well with this scarf. The scarf in the book was done in navy and it looks great, but I think variegated yarn looks better. On the other hand, it might be that I’m just biased seeing as I really can’t imagine enjoying crocheting 100 navy motifs, but 100 uniquely different motifs, that I could do.

The nitty gritty of the Japanese scarf:

Pattern: Pattern no. 17 from Ondori Motif Crochet – Japanese cloth, sold as an e-book on Etsy.
Yarn: 4-ply variegated sock yarn by Garnstudio, called Fabel in shade 911p
Hook: 4 mm
Modifications made: The pattern calls for 6 rows of 20 motifs each, but I only did 5 rows.

I hope I’ve inspired you to also try your hook at Japanese patterns. It really isn’t that difficult. Honestly. If I can do it, anyone can! (If you need a couple of pointers, I give links to helpful websites towards the end of this blogpost.)

Konichi wa hookers!

Halfway mark for the Japanese scarf

20 Monday Aug 2012

Posted by Natasja in My crochet

≈ 13 Comments

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Japanese crochet

54 Circle motifs done, 54 to go.

Venturing into Japanese crochet

16 Thursday Aug 2012

Posted by Natasja in My crochet, My ramblings

≈ 21 Comments

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Japanese crochet

Yesterday I posted a picture of a scarf I’m working on for friend. I’m really loving this scarf and it’s my first project from a Japanese pattern. Japanese, people! A language I don’t speak, can’t read or understand. It’s pure magic that I can create a scarf from an unreadable pattern!

It all started when I fell in love with a crochet e-book that Cornel of Craftshare shared on her Facebook page. The Facebook page she shared, had an album of all the beautiful patterns available in the e-book, but no charts, and only a link to a dodgy download website. This is the cover, and two of the projects in the book. Can you see why I fell in love with it?!

Source: etsy.com via Natasja on Pinterest

Stunning isn’t it?

Thanks to Google I found Craftebook on Etsy which sells this pattern e-book for only $5 (Zycee emails you the whole book in PDF)!!!! Zycee calls the book Ondori crochet motif: Japanese cloth. I also found the hardcover book available on Amazon here in case you prefer real pages and something to put on the shelf.

I have my eye on a beautiful pullover that I just HAVE to make, but for now I’m doing Scarf #17.

The scarf consists of 6 rows of 18 motifs per row – you can see the motif at the top left corner of the picture – that you join as you go. It’s a nice and easy way to ease myself in to Japanese crochet patterns and reading crochet diagrams. The yarn I’m using is a 4-ply variegated sock yarn by Garnstudio, called Fabel in shade 911, with a 4mm crochet hook.

So far so good and I’m enjoying my venture into Japanese crochet. It’s not as difficult as I thought it would be. If you can read crochet diagrams, you’re good to go for Japanese crochet patterns. The iPhone app I blogged about here, was a great help. Alternatively you can use this very handy guide on how to read crochet diagrams from MyPicot and this for a list of all the crochet diagram terms for UK and US.

Have you ever crocheted something from a Japanese pattern? I’d love to hear from you if you have.