My finished Colourscape Cowl, Knitting an Alpaca Jumper, some yarn love and tiny beads

Hello again!

Hope you are all having a good February so far? Thanks for all your lovely comments on my last post!

With the colder weather here I seem to have concentrated on my knitting lately!

One of my intentions for this year is to look at old WIPs that have been put to one side and left unfinished! Here is one of them that I managed to finish last Friday morning!

My finished Colourscape Cowl

It's a large cowl, knitted in a simple Rib pattern with lovely Rowan Colourscape Chunky yarn, on 10mm needles! The finished size is 70 cm x 40 cm (140 cm circumference). This is large enough to wear as a cape!!! It could also be worn as a cowl, wrapped around twice! I decided to thread a simple knit cord through it, so I can pull it tight! I do not even know why I had left it unfinished!!! At least now I can get some wear out of it in the cold!

The yarn is pure Lambswool, designed by Kaffe Fassett. It has long been discontinued.

The finished cowl laid flat

My unfinished WIP

My finished cowl/cape with a knitted cord!

Knitting an Alpaca Jumper

On Tuesday I sat down and began casting on stitches with Drops Alpaca Boucle yarn, to start a jumper. I experimented with different stitches, I tried out adding a fine colour yarn to the light grey Alpaca, but in the end this is what became the beginning of my Jumper. I started late Tuesday afternoon, then did quite a bit of knitting in the evening with the knitting group 'T Arm Schaap in Zurenborg.

Needless to say that I'm not really following a pattern, but it is somewhat inspired by this jumper which in turn is based on this one here. I also quite like a similar version as a cardigan. It's thecombination of a simple look (Garter Stitch) and using fabulously soft yarn - the prerequisites for a favourite jumper.

This is what it looked like by Tuesday evening: the first 5-6cm!

03.02.15 Starting my new Alpaca Jumper

05.02.15 Making progress

08.02.15 Laid out on top of a favourite jumper dress

08.02.15 The first 37cm

As you can see, it will be quite a large size Jumper, almost a dress, and I am knitting with 2 balls of yarn at the same time! The result is wonderfully light and fluffy and oh so soft!

I am also knitting in the round, because it means that I can knit front and back in one go. Once I have reached the armpits, I will finish by knitting either front and back panel separately. This has the advantage that there are no side seams on the lower body.

Yesterday I had a bit of an indulgent afternoon with continuing my rewatching of 'TheKilling' (Season 1 with 20 episodes!) and lots of knitting. (No, I'm not watching all episodes in one go!) By the end of the evening I had managed to get up to 46cm!!

I always wanted a jumper just like this and I'm pleased that I found such a great yarn to knit with. It will be worth the effort. I'm using 9mm knit-Pro needles with a 100cm cable.


Some Yarn love

Here a little glimpse of my recent purchases, I am trying to be careful with buying more yarn. However, I decided to expand my knit-Pro needle tips collection by adding 6.5mm and 7mm sizes to my arsenal.

I found this wonderful rainbow yarn (by Swedish label Marks&Kattens) on the last day of the January sales! It seems to be similar to my Scheepjeswol Invicta sock yarn. In the Tiger shop I found Sockyarn (last one) for 1 Euro and round knitting needles for 3 Euros. I also got another ball of Lang Mille Colori Baby Merino wool.

My recent purchases

A charity shop find - a small coin purse - in the trend colour for 2015: Marsala

Tiny beads

On saturday I had a laptop and knitting free day - I spent the afternoon playing with my tiny seed beads. I made a necklace which can be worn double and a thing that looks like a pendant, but I think I will make it into a bead brooch instead. I also made a tassel pendant (not shown). I forgotten how fiddly it is to work with such minute beads, I used my strong magnifying Craft lamp - especially useful when you need to get the thread onto a small needle!!! I enjoyed getting caught up in doing something a bit difficult!

I'm sure most of you had quite a bit of snow by now, we had a small amount here in Belgium. This is the view from the upstairs window last Thursday morning.

05.02.15 Snow

This is all from me for now. I must do a bit of studying for a Dutch test this evening! Hope you are keeping warm and cosy, sitting somewhere nice with your crochet or knitting in hands!

Please feel free to leave me some comments, you know I enjoy reading them. I need to catch up on my own blog reading, too! There seems to be never enough time for everything!!!

A Fancy Crochet Bag Tutorial, A walk in Zemst and many shades of Grey

Hello my blogfriends!

First, thank you so much for all your kind birthday wishes! I had a lovely day, first spending it with my oldest daughter who is currently visiting and in the evening together with the nice ladies from the Knitting group 'T Arm Schaap in Zurenborg, Antwerpen.

The other day I made another Crocodile Stitch Flower Brooch when visiting my friend. I also gave her the South Bay Shawlette I recently made with chunky black yarn (I wrote about it in this post) . My friend was very happy with both!

04.01.15 Finished Crocodile Stitch Flower Brooch made with Scheepjeswol Stone Washed

For those of you who are interesting to find out more how I made my Fancy Crochet Bag/Purse I will share this Tutorial with you!

A Fancy Crochet Bag Tutorial

You will need:

A crocheted piece approx 25 cm wide x 30 cm long (I used Fenna yarn and this crochet stitch pattern)

I first mentioned about making this 'sample' piece in this post. Sew up the ends.

Note: I crocheted this sample piece well before I managed to find the metal frame for the bag. I was hoping to buy a more rectangular shaped closure, but they were only available in a gold tone colour which I didn't like for this project.

In hindsight I could have crocheted a more rounded shape (in 2 parts) for my bag. You could do so from the start, if you wish. Remember to add a little seam allowance for crocheting the sides together.

A similar sized piece of material for lining the bag (I used a kind of velour/fake suede material which I found cheap in a charity shop).

Note: Using a more stiff fabric/material it had the advantage that I did not need to add a seam allowance all round. If you use thin fine Cotton for example, you will need to stitch around at least the top part to prevent the fabric later from fraying.

Note 2: You could probably omit the lining if your crochet piece does not have any large holes (The pattern I used certainly makes big gaps between stitches!).

A bag fastening called Bella by Prym (it measures approx 19cm across the pivotal points at the sides) or similar.

Sewing thread that matches the lining plus sewing needle (I used a long darning needle that could go through the stiff lining)

Steps:

Fold your lining fabric in half (pin together) and draw the outline of your bag shape onto it - use the metal closure as a guide for the top part.

Cut out lining shape leaving pins in place.

Fold crochet piece in half (inside out) and arrange edges to make a tapered shape.

I gathered the top edges by inserting a yarn thread into the crocheted edge stitches and pulling tighter. Do not cut the yarn yet. If your crochet edges already follow the rounded bow of the metal frame you do not need to gather anything.

Crochet each side (seam) together, making sure you attach both layers firmly to one another.

(If necessary, sew the seam for the top of your lining before....)

Likewise, sew lining along the side seams just below the point of the pivots of the metal frame. Take care to double check this corresponds correctly to your frame and that the side seams do not go beyond that point or you might have trouble opening your bag fully later on).

Lining with side seams, Crochet outer with either side seams crocheted together

Insert sewn lining into crochet outer and pin both crochet and lining together. You can now tighten the drawstring yarn in order to gather the top part of the crochet layer.

Both layers pinned together

Sew both sides with tiny stitches using thread. Check that the bag opens as far as it should corresponding to your metal frame. Once sewn together, you can now sew up the drawstring yarn ends.
 

Crochet layer and lining sewn together at the opening top part of the bag

Now take the closure/metal frame and line up with your sewn bag shape. The closure has tiny holes along the outside, you can place pins through them and pin bag and frame together.

Sew in and out of the frame and make sure the thread is reasonably taut (without breaking the thread!). You can see the stitches pretty well in this picture. After sewing frame and bag once together, you should try to sew it a second time to secure the stitches.

PS: This is the first time I made a bag like this and I did not follow any instructions, would you believe! I thought I was going to glue the bag to the frame, but sewing it instead seems the better option, especially since the crochet makes it a bit too bulky! (Hope this answers your question, Birgit!)

Your bag is ready!!!

A Walk in Zemst

On Sunday my partner and I went on an organized walk in Zemst near Mechelen. Here are some photos I took.

Start and Registration Point in Zemst

Walking across countryside

Scenic Interlude with Swans

A field full of Brussel Sprouts!

Chickens

An amazing tree with red berries

A majestic double alley of trees...

...and the beautiful castle at the end of it!

Walkers everywhere!

My refreshing break at the control point after 4.5 km

Turning back towards Zemst

The route of our 7.5 km walk

We did the 7.5 km long walk (including short break) in about 100 minutes. When we returned to our starting point I noticed a sign where it said that by 3pm 1400 people had registered for the walk!!!! (This includes all different length of walks from 4 km to about 20 km).



Finds for my Wool Stash

On Monday my daughter and I went to the charity shop and I came back with a small bag of mixed yarn! I got now at least 50 8 new shades of grey!!!

It included some Vintage Phildar Wool. I really love the label!!!

Front and Back of the Wool label

Hope you enjoyed reading this bumper length post!!! If you are making a similar bag and got any questions, please ask!

Feel free to leave me your comments below, I love reading them!

A knitted hat, an update on the Harlequin Blanket and a most wonderful party!

Hello my friends,

Welcome back, hope life has been treating you well. Some of you have been extremely busy recently, making decorations, gifts and new clothes! Well done, all of you!

I love reading about the things people have been making, often it sparks off new ideas of things I want to try! I am truly grateful for all this inspiration!!!

Today I have more things to share with you! For those who love a dash of colour, you won't be disappointed!

Welcome to my colourful world of crochet!!!

A Knitted Woolly Hat

First, another finished project - a knitted hat! I cast this on whilst still making the first one, but this time I decided to use moss stitch because I love it. Personally I really love the natural and Autumn colours! It has a slouchy fit but is very snug!

Woolly Hat after finished knitting (laid flat)

15.11.14 Finished Woolly Hat with Pompom!

My Harlequin Blanket

I am sure some of you might remember that I am in the process of making a huge Crochet Harlequin Blanket! (For my new readers please take a look at some recent previous posts, if interested!)

Ok, here are some new photos, to show what it looks like at present!

17.11.14 Harlequin Blanket

Happy colours

Walking on Sunshine!

As you might gather from the first photo, this blanket is getting big! So big, that I had trouble photographing it laid out on the floor. In the end I stood on top of the sofa to get a good angle to take shots! (I know, I know, it's all for you people, no trouble too much!!!)

I decided that I must concentrate more on the blanket now, in order to make good progress. So I thought about this project and realized that it would help if I set myself a (daily) target. So now I am keeping track of how much work I put in each day. It is nice to have a feeling of achievement!

This means, of course, that I need to do much less besides, apart from the odd little bit of knitting project that I could take along on the bus easily. The blanket is definitely not so easy to carry about now and is better off at home.

Launch Party at LN KNITS, Antwerpen

Last night my friend Christine and I went to a launch party in Antwerp, for which I had received an email invitation!

It was for the opening of a temporary pop-up shop and book launch for LN KNITS.

As soon as we walked into the beautiful store, we were being photographed!!! We felt like VIPs!!! Apart from a professional photographer, there was a young man in charge of the evening Cointreau Bar, promoting their cocktails which we could mix ourselves using some fantastic exotic ingredients, such as limes, passionfruit, berries, mint and various fruit juices! Very tasty! :)

Also in the store was a DJ, providing musical entertainment. And of course, there was some yummy food!!!

But first, we were eager to get our hands on the Alpaca Knits in the shop and feel the softness. It was pure heaven!!! The garments were displayed by colour and were breathtakingly beautiful.

Gorgeous Alpaca Knits!

Cointreau Bar!

The shop was filling up as the evening progressed!

LN Beanies

Ellen Kegels, the shop owner and author, was launching her brand new book that evening.
Both my friend and I bought the book (Euro 20), but also benefitted from a gratis 100g skein of Alpaca (retailing at Euro 18)!!! What a fantastic offer! Of course we both picked an additional colour, it was hard to choose (see our photo).

Which colours shall we buy? (PS: Spot my granny square bag with the Harlequin blanket!)

Ellen Kegels with her new book 'In mijn Nopjes'

My Shopping 'Loot'

Some of the wonderful knitting projects from the book

Ellen modelling in her own book!

100% Pure Alpaca Wool

Here is the link to Ellen's website: http://www.lnknits.com/

On her facebook site can you find a few more photos of the launch party:
 https://www.facebook.com/pages/LN-Beanies/174893575508

We had so much fun experiencing all the thrills of seeing so many beautiful and handknitted garments in the most tempting soft Alpaca!

We both left, feeling even more inspired to create something new with our new yarn! And the book is so amazing, both the photos and the projects to make, which are grouped together by the 4 seasons. (The book is written in Dutch and will be available in bookshops in Belgium).

Afterwards we went to the Knitting evening 'T Arm Schaap and told the others about our visit! :) And I managed to crochet a bit more on my Harlequin blanket which I had brought along especially!

And just so you know, I have written this post because I enjoyed myself and because I adore hand knitted things, not because I received anything for writing it! (Hope you enjoyed reading it, too! If only you could have all felt the Alpaca....)

Please write me a little comment below, I love reading them all! And I usually do reply to them, as soon as I get the chance to do so!