Happy New Year to you all!!! (plus a Fairisle 'Hottie', an Alpaca Cape, some stripy knitting and Chunky South Bay Shawlette

Hello my friends,

Hope you had an enjoyable Holiday period!!!

This is just a short little post to wish you all a wonderful New Year!!!!
Hope it will be filled with inspiration and great makes!

A Fairisle Knitted Hot Water Bottle Cover

Here is what I have been making since my last post just before Christmas:

This was my last minute Christmas present - a Fairisle Knitted 'Hottie' (Hotwater Bottle Cover).

You can see my sketched chart, together with a knitted sample and the actual cover in progress all in these pictures. It is all my own design. I knitted it in the round, using Veritas Laura yarn which contains wool.

Knitting my Fairisle 'Hottie'

Heart pattern

View of the 'wrong' side (the inside of the cover)

Finished with knitting - inside out

Envelope closure

Ta-Dah for a finished Fairisle Waterbottle cover

The envelope closure

A Visit to Maastricht

Last sunday we went for a drive. In Belgium it snowed a lot during Saturday and the next morning there was a lot of snow outside. However, once we were driving towards Holland, the snow disappeared. When we arrived in Maastricht, there was no snow! Some cherry trees even had blossoms!!! After a nice coffee break in one of the 'Coffee lovers' cafes we went to have a look around the town centre. It looked very festive with the decorations. Unfortunately it was getting dark early so I did not take many photos.

Walking across the bridge into the old town centre of Maastricht

Maastricht! Pleased to meet you!!!

My Alpaca Cape

I showed you the beginnings of this project which I began as soon as I had completed my black Alpaca Triangle Shawl (see my previous post here!)

I made up my own design, starting off with 100 stitches and 7mm needles, later switching to 6mm, and finally decreasing to 80 stitches and using 5mm needles. The yarn is Drops Alpaca Boucle in Old Rose.

Ta-Dah for my supersoft Alpaca Cape/Cowl

My new Alpaca Cape with a nod to 'Outlander'

This is my current mystery WIP using Scheepjeswol Invicta in 2 different and contrasting colourways. I bought this during the summer and I knew then that I wanted to try knitting, alternating the 2 shades.

Enjoying knitting with Scheepjeswol Invicta

Colour effect with two different variegated yarns

And a final finished project: I made a Shawl with very chunky yarn, using a 9mm hook. I picked it up today and finished it off, there was only one row to go!

Ta-Dah!!! A chunky South Bay Shawlette

Here one last little look at my Harlequin Crochet Blanket, it has now reached about 1.80m long. It will need a number of TV sessions so I can catch up on my crochet here. (Unfortunately it is not feasible to take it with me on the buses!)

And finally....

Thanks to you all, my dear friends and readers! You are a great inspiration and I hope in turn, I will provide you all with new inspiration, too! It's still amazing that I can now call myself a 'blogger'!!!
I am truly grateful for all your support!

I want to wish you all a very Happy 2015!!!!

I love reading your reactions and comments, please leave me one after reading this!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU!!!!!!

Knitting a new Nordic Fairisle Cowl and Harlequin Blanket update, plus a visit to 'T Arm Schaap and Madam Wol

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Hello again!

Thanks for your lovely comments on my Vordenstein photos, looking back now it seems strange to think that only recently the weather was still so summery, now it is definitly Autumn here! For a start, we have been having more rain, but also the temperatures have dropped quite a bit. Still, as long as we get a bit of sunshine from time to time, I won't complain!

My new Nordic Fairisle Cowl

Since I am currently spending more time on the go, I began a new project yesterday afternoon on the bus!

It's another small snug fitting cowl, this time in Nordic Blue and White colours. I started knitting with my favourite Knit-Pro needles again. I love knitting fairisle and I want to get back to making more with this technique, it is so much fun! The yarn is Veritas Laura.

I got the idea from a book by Lynne Watterson, where I spotted a pattern she used for a bag - I made my own pattern sketch, sadly I don't have the book (yet - it is on my ever growing wish list). You can browse through the book here! (For my Dutch speaking friends, there is also a translated version - I once spotted it in the library!)

New WIP - Blue and White Nordic Fairisle Cowl

Knitting with Knit-Pro Needles in the round

Close-up showing inside and outside of cowl

Pattern seen in Lynne Watterson's Fairisle Book and noted down from screen

'T Arm Schaap in Antwerpen

On Tuesday evening I went to a new Knitting Group in Antwerp called 'T Arm Schaap (The poor Sheep) where I received a warm welcome! (My new friend Christine, whom I met at Lana, asked if I wanted to come along!) I was the only person crocheting there, having brought my big blanket along! I found it very inspiring to see so many different projects in work!  You can read more on their Ravelry Group page.


Harlequin Blanket

Here is also a look at my Harlequin Blanket, it is progressing, currently there are now 26 colours and it measures around 75-77cm approx.

Harlequin Blanket 16.10.14

close up of the Blanket

Madam Woll in Antwerpen

Last not least, here is a photo showing Natalie, the friendly and helpful owner of Antwerp's Wool Cafe called Madam Woll - combining the idea of a Wool shop with a Cafe where you can sit down and enjoy a drink and a piece of homemade cake with likeminded people! Her Shop/Cafe has only been open since April 2014 and recently an outdoor sitting area was also added.

I was very excited when I visited there last week to find out that she stocks Scheepjeswol Stone Washed, both in the normal and in the new XL version (which I had to buy!) She also stocks more unusual yarns by labels We are Knitters, Mirasol and Lopi.

Natalie at Madam Woll, Antwerpen

See more interesting photos and information on her website here!


PS: (Please ignore the above code at the top of the page - it is for verification purposes only!)

Thanks for stopping by, hope you are all having a good week so far, let me know about it, and feel free to comment, I love reading all your comments!

Beautiful September Days and some new things in the making

Welcome back! 

Thanks for all your lovely comments on my recent makes and a warm welcome to my new readers! I also want to thank each and every one of you for inspiring me with your makes, your friendship, your strength of character and also your sense of humour! I'm eager to read what has been happening in your world and I want to contribute!

I thought this time I will show you a few other things, apart from my crochet! On Monday night there was a beautiful clear full moon (whilst I was waiting for a bus home after my evening class), sadly I cannot show you a picture because I didn't have my camera with me. So the next day I carried it with me on my travels out and about. This is what the weather looked like on Tuesday lunchtime:

Beautiful sunshine in September!

Schelle

The Church in Schelle

These are pictures from my neighbourhood where I live (Schelle). The Church is a landmark and can be seen from afar.

After my knitting/crocheting group on Tuesday afternoon I took a tram ride across town to Mortsel which is part of Antwerp. Here I managed to track down some wool I needed! As you can see it was still a nice day, but in the afternoon it went more cloudy. Often you can see pretty flower displays in public places.

A Flower Display in Mortsel, Antwerpen

And here for some updates on the crochet front! First of all, I have started making some more granny squares, just for the fun of it. I love using that Veritas Laura yarn, nice and chunky, it is fun to work with.

Furthermore you can see the scarf I have been knitting, it was finished on Monday.

Sunday evening I had started with a matching hat. (This is for my son's birthday, pssst!)

Monday: Mystery Granny Squares and WIP: Scarf and Hat

By this morning I had turned the remaining 3 smaller squares into big ones! (If in doubt, crochet a granny square!!!)

Wednesday: And then there were 8!

To give you a better idea of their size: Each square measures about 15 cm across (6" for my English friends!)

Just look at these whoppers!!!

Tuesday: Hat and Scarf finished - Ta-dah!

Here is the finished Hat and Scarf Set (it's going to be soft and warm to wear!) - which I am going to hand over in person this Saturday (because we are going to visit my Son for his birthday, yay!!)

Mystery WIP - 3 balls of yarn

The Mystery WIP has also grown enormously! Luckily I managed to find some more of this yarn on Monday, phew! Still debating the possibilities as I got several ideas for this.

Cleo is keeping an eye on things here!

Today I got very busy with yarn!!! No, not crocheting, but winding! Cleo, my cat kept me company and watched the proceedings!

First you take a lot of yarn (by which I mean 21 balls of 100g!) which look super pretty in their little bags. Then you wind as hard as you can, for as long as you can, until you think your arm is going to drop off, or that you could not possibly unknot yet another 23 knots in one ball of yarn alone, or that you have to go back to the kitchen for yet another cup of coffee to sustain you! You don't even pause and carry on winding whilst having phone conversations (time is running out!!!) And most of all, you don't even ask yourself what possessed you to buy such a bumper crop of yarn in the first place!

My Stylecraft Stash (from Loveknitting)

In the end, it was all worth it, just to see them next to each other like this:

After much winding - some lovely yarn cakes! Yumm!!!

Well, to be precise: I wound about half of each ball so that my project would be portable! (I try not to think about the other half yet!). So what am I going to do with this rainbow of yarn? I am going to make a blanket! This evening I went to another craft group and I had a go with doing some test crochet squares!

This rose started flowering again with the warmer weather recently

Just a couple of pictures from my 'garden', I mean balcony garden! One of the roses has produced new flowers which are very pretty. And I am eagerly watching my sunflowers as they get bigger and start to open up slowly!!

I got 3 tall sunflowers which are starting to flower

Well, by now you are starting to get to know me better, you already know how much I love colour! And seeing these yarn cakes together like that makes me happy, plain and simple!

Hope your week has been a good one! Leave me a comment or two, let me know what's been happening or what you think, I'd love to hear from you! I'll try to answer when I can (but I will be in England this weekend, to which I am looking forward a lot! I might be visiting the odd tea room or two!)

Finnish Granny Square Scarf, V-Stitch Cowl, Flower Necklace and more Autumn Crochet

Hi, nice to see you here again!

How was your week? Mine was very busy, but the good news is that I have got lots to show you here!

I'm starting with some flower power - read more about that further down!

My Little Crochet Flower Necklace

V-Stitch Cowl

On Monday and Tuesday I was busy making this V-Stitch Cowl with a 7mm hook (Veritas Laura yarn). It is both lightweight and warm! I found this stitch strangely soothing and the Cowl was finished pretty quickly. As usual, there were plenty of ends to sew in, but luckily I did some already in the first third or so.

Also at the beginning of the week I had another go at crocheting the same doily I made recently in colour. This one I made with very fine white Cotton and a 2.5mm hook, you can see it it slightly smaller than the first one (underneath). I gave it to my mother in Germany when we visited her on Wednesday and she was very happy with it!

White Doily

The crochet bracelet that I won from Marianne in the Netherlands!

On Thursday I received some post from the Netherlands - it came from Marianne. She organized a give away and I had won one of her hand crocheted bead bracelets, yay!!! I was so happy to receive this and immediately put it on! You can read more about it here.

I thought it such a brilliant idea! I've been reading her blog for a while and I'm loving her unique colourful style, what an inspiration! Please do check it out for yourself!

Modelling my new bracelet

Ok, back to the flowers! On Wednesday we left in the middle of the night to drive to Germany so we could get there during the morning. As usual at breakfast time, I went to read a few blogs and came across an inspiring post, so I quickly printed off the tutorial and took it with me (together with my Granny Square Bag full of yarn and hooks!) I tried to sleep in the car, but as soon as the sun had come up I got busy with my crochet hook, the tutorial and some of Scheepjeswol Stone Washed yarn.

And this is the result: I joined the flowers to make a necklace. I used all 16 available colours, luckily I had them all with me in a bag of small yarn balls.

Atty gives a fantastic tutorial how to make and also join up flowers here.

I've only found her blog relatively recently, but already have come across a number of interesting ideas with regard to joining modules (such as the flowers in this case).

My little crochet flower necklace

The Flowers close up, aren't they pretty?

On Thursday I managed to finish off the Finnish Granny Square Scarf, here it is!

The Finnish Granny Square Scarf

I joined the squares with a simple blanket stitch and did 2 rows of double crochet all around.

Close up detail of scarf

I even blocked the scarf!

I wanted some sort of tassels at the ends, but something different! I made triple treble clusters of 4, with 10 chains and let the ends hang loose!

My quirky Tassels! (reverse side here)

Thursday late evening after coming home from my Dutch class, I found this lovely pattern by Maaike from Crejjtion - Flower Square Cushion here. I immediately had a go to make a little square following her instructions. You can see the result here, next to one of the Maybelle flowers I made before (to get an idea of scale.

Crejjtion Flower Square and Maybelle Crochet Flower

Also on Thursday late afternoon, I took some new Fenna variegated yarn and some hooks with me and just started some granny crochet. That yarn works up nicely and the colours are like gems, rich and colourful. I've not yet decided what it will be made into, I got 3 balls of yarn, but I am making it quite wide (about 36cm - it would fit a cushion nicely! On the other hand, if I can still get some more, then it could be made into a scarf/shawl. This is what it looked like this morning:

Current Mystery WIP

I'm loving these deep colours!

Close up colourful stitches

So, there you have it, a summary of what has been happening in my crochet corner of the world! Apart from that, I started 2 different Dutch courses in the evening, went to a crochet/knitting meeting and been to Germany and back. This means I need to catch up on everyone else's blog which I'm hoping to do over the weekend!

Please don't be shy and write some comments in the space below, I'm pleased to hear from you and like to know what you think!

And last, not least, thank you again to Marianne, Atty and Maaike for their brilliant blog inspiration!
Please, go and visit their pages!

http://atty-s.blogspot.be/
http://crejjtion.com/
http://marrose-ccc.com/