einfach nur so

...habe ich angefangen ein paar Reihen Stäbchen zu häkeln. Die graue Colourmart Wolle hat mich grad angelacht und ganz weich war sie auch. Also hab ich einfach ein paar Reihen gehäkelt.

Aber was tun mit dem grauen Häkelding? 

ein bißchen herumfalten, Stoffrestekiste durchwühlen...

und tata... ein Täschchen  ist fertig. 

Meiner Tochter gefällt es prima und sie braucht es damit sie ihre Kosmetika in der Tasche wiederfindet.

❀ Glückliche Tochter und glückliche Mutter! ❀

Wieder eine Noro Decke

Ich liebe Noro Wolle und ich liebe Häkeldecken. Sie sind absolut ohne jede Denkarbeit nebenbei zu häkeln und schauen immer wieder hübsch aus.

Muster: einfach ein klassisches "Granny square"
Wolle: Noro Sockenwollreste in verschiedenen Farben und Qualitäten, ein paar andere Reste in ungefähr der gleichen Stärke
Nadel: 3.5mm und dann später 4mm Häkelnadel

Ravelry Link 

My motto for the next time

will be :

Work with what you have

I know it sounds simple but it is not always so simple. Every day I receive new emails with yarn sales, book sales, "only today 20% off", fabric sale,.... and for me SALE is just a magic word. And ebay isn´t any better for me. But when I look around here, I already have lots of yarn, fabric, pattern,....I know there are always newer and shinier onces out there, but my plan for now is to work with what I have. Only buying crafting stuff for a special project or if needed to finish a project. Buying just because something is on sale ro in case I could use it one day is not planned.

Last weekends sewing projects and the stitching already were all "from stash". And I really plan to work on like this. To reduce the stashed things in my house and to reuse things I already have around.

I know, nothing new, but nevertheless a challenge for me.

Over the last weeks a lot of this crochet jar covers popped up on blogs. I wanted to try it out too and I think it looks cute.

pattern - my own - I love the little hearts :)
thats just a little trying and error crochet with mystery cotton yarn found in my stash
an empty (and clean) jam jar and a tea candle



here I´ve tried this pattern
I´ve made it for an other jar, but it became too loose and the yarn was finished
so now I´m using it to cover a bit of the clutter inside this glas

So two finished projects in no time. Cost 0 Euro as everything was at home already or reused and I´m happy.

What do you think about the "Work with what you have" plan and what type of person are you? The collecting and stashing type of or more the organised "only buy what you need" type of?

A little crafty update

A little crafty update about some of the projects that got finished recently.


I loved knitting this hat. The pattern is free and wonderful. It is charted and very easy to work. Suvi Simola did a great job again in designing this little cute slouchy hat.

Pattern: Sirle by Suvi Simola
Yarn: Frankengarn Merino Naturwolle in lightgrey
Needles: 3,5mm and 3,75mm DPN mixed (couldn´t find 5 from one lot)



Teresa with her new "Sirle" hat



Back in July 2011 I´ve started this blanket and now I call it finished. It is 1.50m x 1.50m, colourful, bright, heavy and warm and crochet only with yarn from stash. It´s in the livingroom now and warms the members of the family while watching tv in the evenings.

just a large granny square out of stashed yarn, measures 1,50m x 1,50m

   Some warm and heavy socks for me.


Pattern: Konnichiwa by Judi Sumner
Yarn: Drops Nepal in a really vibrant green

There are some other - secret - projects on the needles and hooks but one never knows who reads to blog so no pics until Christmas is over :)

I wish you all a nice rest of the week.

Busy days

October was a busy month here for us. We had a lot to do in the garden and still are not finished.
Philipp renovated his room with help from us. So he has a youth room now and not a childrens room any more. He did a lot of work himself including painting his walls. The room looks cool boyish now and he likes his "new" room. We are proud of him  :)

Than the boys had autumn holidays and today all are back to school. We had a lot of family meetings and nice days together but today Felix and me enjoy some quite hours in the morning.

Inbetween there was always a bit of crafting time.

I´ve started a ripple blanket for Teresa out of Drops Alpaca (doubled)

some simple mittens for Greta

On a weak moment I´ve casted on for some Kai-Mai for me....but I only knit on them from time to time

And with my wonderful Noro Silk garden I´ve bought on ebay I´ve knit an Azzu Shawl for myself

I´m totally in love with this autumn colours

Shawl pattern: Azzu bei Emma Fassio (this is a free pattern and very nice and fast to knit) thank you Emma Fassio. Iused heavier yarn and 6mm needles and knitted only garter stitch to make it fast and mindless. I love it:)

As I´m not doing very much Christmas knitting/crocheting I´ll soon have time to knit something nice for me again. I love the new Look Book from Brooklyn Tweed!

Warm feet again

Two posts ago I´ve written that fall is near...now it arrived! They boys started with school again this week (Teresa´s school will start next week), the nights are getting colder, the grass is wet in the morning, and one needs to wear more knitted things again. Yeah!

Beside beeing busy with the school start and organising hunderts of things for the kids and generally getting back to normal business I´ve started some autumn knitting.

Only easy things these days as I need my mind focused on other stuff.

Hiking socks for Philipp for his size 43/44 feet (modelled by his sister)
Yarn: sockyarn from stash (Drops Fabel/Lanagrosse meilenweit) used doubled throughout
Needle: 3.5mm DPN
CO: 48 sts/basic sock pattern

And for Teresa some bed/couch slippers crochet with some leftover worsted weight yarn from stash.
Fast, easy and cute. The white crochet border is to make the fit better. I used a 4.5mm hook and followed (more or less) this pattern: Mary Jane Slippers

Some shawls are on still on the needles but I´m not really in shawl-finishing mood these days. One crochet blanket (the large granny square) will soon be ready to use and show you and another ripple blanket is planned.

I hope you are all having a great time and looking forward to coming crafting times again.

Some colourful granny again

I´m haveing lots of projects on the needles (and hook) and really don´t need to start a new project....but... you know, it´s always nice to have something totally mindless to work on. Where no thinking at all is required and as a bonus, all those single skeins and  unloved ones get a new purpose.



So here I´m crocheting along using up stashed leftovers, bits and pieces, colours I don´t like anymore. I think this is going to be a lovely blanket one day.

How are you using up your bits and pieces, leftovers, ball of yarn which became unloved (and you are asking yourself why did have ou bought it) ?

A wonderful Friday to you!

Some weekend projects

These days I´m very unfocused and have a lot of things around on the same time without finishing anything. Sometimes ´m like this. On other days I´m organized and finish up stuff, but not at the moment.

This weekend was a quiet one and we were staying at home relaxing and´(more or less) anyone did what he/she wanted to. So for me it was a bit of gardening, a bit of sewing, a bit of crochet and knitting and the other time just hanging around...

The bag I wanted to sew for my sister didn´t turn out how I wanted it. I think it is a bit to small and because both fabric I´ve use are quite thin ones it has not enough body to look nice. Something learned for future projects. 

 

 This little clutch turned out surprisingly good. It looks super neat and tidy and I´m  a little proud of myself that I managed to sew it this way the first time. It is the "cute-as-a-button-clutch" from the book Meet me at Mikes by Pip Lincolne.

 And because it needs not much attention to crochet on this ripple afghan, I´ve contuinued a bit while watching tv...

...started a new Lacy Baktus because I wanted to try out the ShiBui sockyarn that I´ve ordered from the U.S.......It is lovely sockyarn and it would be a shame to hide it boots. AND I think that the yarn pools too much on socks. The colour is mulberry (deep winered/purple) and I love it.

And finally I´ve picked up my Soay cardigan again and started with the first sleeve. But it needed to much attention so I´ve put it aside again. maybe an other day....

New on the needles and hook

After finishing some larger stuff this week I´ve immediatly started some new projcts. None of them are really urgent to make. All just nice things to get done someday eventually.

With blue, grey and green merino yarn and merino mixes from stash I´m going to crochet a second ripple blanket. This time I´ve chained 143 only to make it smaller, but I fear this might be really small. But okay, it will be weide enough for the kids anyway.

 This will be another cardigan for me. It is planned (until now) to knit a Soay cardigan. The pattern is from Gudrun Johnston (Shetland Trader) and I´ve bought it on Ravelry.

I´m using Extra Fine merino yarn from Colourmart in winered mix. It is not really dk weight while knitting, it is thinner. But this is how Colourmart yarns are usually. I´ve made the experiance that they are not too lovely to knit while still oiled, but when the yarn is washed it bloomes wonderfully and makes beautiful garments. I´m knitting with the oiled yarn and I´m exited how the cardigan will be after washing. I keep my fingers crossed (virually - would be a bit tricky to knit with crossed fingers )

Do you remember I´ve told you about the Drops Supersale in May and that I´ve ordered some yarn? It arrived this week and as I´ve never knitted with Drops Andes (65% Wool, 35% Alpaca) before I HAD to cast on immediatly the cardigan I´ve planned.

As this is really warm and heavy wool and the cardigan is planned for fall outdoor use I´m not in a hurry. The yarn is nice and soft in the hand while knitting but not next to skin soft for me to wear (no problem for a warm outdoor garment anyway).

Pattern: Splash of Blue by Suvi Simola

This pattern is not easy for me as one has to look at the charts all the time. So no tv knitting with this. But I think I might have it down by September/October when it is getting cold.


I wish you a nice and relaxing weekend. Have fun!

Ripple Blanket

Juhu! Yesterday I´ve finished my first Ripple Blanket. I´ve started at the end of February and always again crochet some stitches or even rows so it slowly grew larger and larger. I´ve decided it is enough now as it really got warm working on it :)

I´ve used several different yarns from stash, mostly with a bit acrylic in it and some (18 skeins) new ones (Acryl/Wool mix from Hofer/Aldi or Pagro). I´ve used a 5mm hook for the crochet. Only´for the casting on part, which was a bit chellenging for me, I used the 6mm hook.

The yarn weights were aran, worsted, dk (double), sport/fingering (double).

The pattern is easy and free and I´m sure I´ll make one of this blankets again.

Pattern: Neat Ripple Blanket by Lucy of Attic24

Thank you Lucy for this free and lovely pattern!

For the books

I love books. And I have quite some around. Mostly I read more than one book at a time and so I need quite a lot of bookmarks. This way a lot of postcards, recipes, fotos, dry and pressed flowers and lots of other pieces got lost over the years. Sometimes I received magnetic bookmarks or so, but I do´t really like them. The best ones are mostly colourful pieces of yarn. These days while browsing Ravelry I found a pattern that I´ve queued at the very beginning when I´ve joined there, but I never started it.

I´m sure a lot of you already know it and tried it out. For me it was a first time. It was much easier than I expected and took about one evening. Ant I think it turned out quite nice. I´ve used sport weight cotton from stash which turned out a bit too heavy for a bookmark. Next time I´ll use some thinner tread or lace yarn maybe.

Pattern: Fan bookmark by crochetroo  (the pattern is free)

I´ve used a 3mm hook and sportweight yarn but I recommend using something thinner!

The last week...

...was a busy one. There were some birthdays, hospital visits, worries and hopes and always a bit of knitting, sewing and crochet inbetween.

I´ve knitted my 2nd Ishbel and I really like how it turned out. The pattern yarn combination is a good one and the blocked shawl drapes beautifully.

Pattern: Ishbel by Ysolda
Needles: 4mm circular needles
Yarn: Garnstudio Drops Baby Alpaca Silk (in colour 1760)...yarn from stash

The Ripple Blanket grew a little....It is really getting heavy now.

And I did some sewing but had no time to take pictures. This weekend we are going to start the fence making but I´m sure there will be some time inbetween to knit a bit ;)

A wonderful weekend to you :)

Last week

 Last week I did some sewing and planning new projects. I´ve made some bags (without photo) which are already sold (yeah!!!).



I´ve sewed bed pillows for each child in his/her prefered fabric. There were so exited when I received the new fabric this week and that I decided they should get something from that colourful stash too.

Owls (Teresa), Skulls (Philipp), Peace sign (David) and Giraffes (Felix)

For my large project were I sew new covers for all the pillows on the (3 different) terrasses in our house I continued and got another 5 pillows done.

 

63 squares of "ready-to-sew" fabric for the new patchwork blanket for my dear husband.

this is how it should look when sewed together

And because a little wool playing in between is always good....

I contiued a bit on my ripple blanket....if I should get bored I already have a stole

A nice and clean new shawl design from Veera from 100% rain


Pattern: stripe study shawl
Needle: 4mm circular
Yarn: Old Maiden Aunt Alpaca/silk (in bras taps and oak) and ColourMart Cashmere Merino Lace weight (in ecru/used double)

 Stripes and garter .... I HAD to start it!

I had both yarns in stash as I´m going to knit as much from my stash as possible. But I´ve bought both yarns online. Both Old Maiden Aunt and ColourMart are UK based and excellent Online yarn suppliers with perfect customer service.

A new blanket project

For a long time I was admiring all those pretty Ripple Blankets out there in Blogland and on Ravelry.

Finally I´ve started one too, following  Lucys of Attic24s pattern of Neat Ripple Pattern. Andrea also made a very nice one.

I´m using acrylic mix yarn from stash and some cheap one I´ve bought at a local store. Most yarns are worsted or aran weight and I use a 5mm hook for the ripple pattern. I´ve started with a 227 sts long chain which turned out much longer than expected (no, I didn´t swatch first). So maybe this will be the long side and I crochet the wide now. We will see.

There is no deadline for this blanket. I´m doing it just for fun and when I´m in the mood for a bit of mindless happy colourful crochet :)


Have a nice and happy Monday!

Some crochet blankets

 The large granny square blanket out of Noro Kureyon sock yarn in greens. I´m not sure if I´m going to add an other skein or call it done. It has already a nice size. Until now I´ve used 6 skeins of Noro.

This is Davids birthday blanket. Out of Noro Furin for the green/blue squares and crochet together and the border I´ve crochet with Mirasol Qina in natural white. The size is for one (smaller) person. Maybe I´ll get some modelled pics once he received his present.

Project progress instead of FO Friday

Today I´d like to show you some progress on my long time crochet projects. They are both different and in the same time have a lot in common. Obviously both are blankets. Both are crochet and both use a very simple pattern. Here the things end that they have in common.

This one is made of little colourful discs and then joined in the end and I use only dk yarn from my stash. I have no colour plan or anything. Just crocheting discs and then joining them from time to time. Now I have a blanket that is 7 x 8 discs large which is about 1 x 1.10 m (unblocked).




This one is my beloved Noro blanket! It is a large granny square out of Noro Kureyon Sock Yarn in green shades. In the beginning I´ve added a half skein of Fabel Delight what I regret now, but...I´ll live with it. For this blanket I buy new yarn when I need one. Now it is about 1 x 1 m with 3 skeins Noro Sock yarn and the bit of Fabel yarn. Today the ordered 2 skeins came so I can carry on.



I love both althought they are very different....

Crochet a Rainbow

Sarah London  founded the project "Crochet a Rainbow" where people from all over the world can donate granny squares for the flood victims in Australia.

I´ve joined and I think it is a nice and easy way to help. I´m sure there will be a lot of people crocheting little granny squares and giving the people who lost everything a bit of hope and warm back.

Come on and join too :)))



http://sarahlondon.wordpress.com/crochet-a-rainbow/

Japanese inspired

It seems to me I´m a bit into Japanese inspired crafty things these days.

"Square Doily-pattern"

 Some crochet samples from the new book. I´m using yarn I have in my stash and it is always much heavier than the one used in the book. I don´t even have cotton treat and a 1.75mm needle. I think I might get blind crocheting with so small stuff.

The pattern look a bit complicated on the first few but after looking at them a bit longer and "studying" them, they are quite easy and logical. The book has nice diagramms and explanations.

"Hook Case pattern"

"Inro"

Inro Socks from the new Sock Book. Japanese inspired stitch pattern again :) I´m not sure if I should have made the wrapping a bit looser. I´ll see when they are finished.

I wish you a nice and relaxing Saturday like Lucky´s.

Lucky