Oma's pull through scarf

This is a great little gift-knitting idea. It is a small scarf with an elegant look because of the yarn I used : it is Aiko (Lang Yarns), a merino-mohair viscose blend. The yarn feels soft but not too stretchy. And I love the colour, purple with some speckles, a bit of a tweedy look. I bought it at Lana in Antwerp, a nice shop with lots of the more classic quality yarns and lots of knowledge to tap into. 

You can find he pattern in "Cute and easy knitting" from 2013, so not brand new. I know there are lots of books for beginning knitters but these patterns are really lovely, beautiful, very cute and worth knitting.

I knitted this little scarf some years ago, for my mother in law, when all my Christmas presents for that year were handmade. As I mentioned before on here, I'm recovering from shoulder surgery, so this year no handmade presents sadly. But I am doing much better and am determined to carry on bravely with the physio, so 2020 can become a crafty year once again! 

From a bit too much to just enough William Morris

I really love most of the William Morris designs. When I was given this dress, I adored the pattern. But there was a LOT going on in it, way too much if you ask me. Wearing it, I felt like a wallpaper advertisement. Perhaps it's because I am more of a skirt person rather than a dress person. So I decided to turn it into a long skirt. The dress had a waistband so it was an easy job, even for a novice like me, to undo the waistband, remove the top and sew up again.

Et voilà, just enough William Morris for my taste! 

Wow, that is a lot of drama!

undo...

Katahdin hat

My favourite hat so far! Love the colours, love the slouchyness, love the softness of the knitted fabric.
And it was super fun to make, once the ribbing was done (I am not a big fan of ribbing…).
It's a free pattern on Ravelry, and you can find it here.
The yarn is The Fiber co Acadia, a wool, silk alpaca blend. It is rustic and so soft and lovely, I will definitely use it again !!

For a cloudy day

Now this is a great project for a beginner, or for a more advanced knitter who wants to make something quick and easy.
It's all garter stitch, two pieces sewn together, in chunky wool, so much fun!
And lovely and original in every living room I think.
I got the pattern from the book 'Breien en haken met dikke naalden' (the Dutch translation of 'Knitting with giant needles') by Hanna Charlotte Erhorn.
It's the same pattern I previously used to make some mobiles. You can read up on them here

Tintin

Needle felting is something I really like. It may be time consuming and every time during the starting phase of the felting process, there is this moment when I think that this time, the magic is not going to happen. And then it works out fine.
A couple of years ago I made Tintin, the famous reporter from the comics. Originally, his hands were stuck fast to his body, but the person I gave Tintin to (and whom I asked to take a photo so I could write this blogpost), detached them, so the hands look a bit unfinished.
Nowadays I pay more attention to photographing my work, it has become part of the crafting as it were.

This old sweater is a pair of wrist warmers

This is my favourite kind of upcycling: something has become unusable (seriously shrunken sweater), another thing is actually needed (wristwarmers for my son) and it all results in an easy project with great result (imho)!
I cut the sleeves from the sweater and made holes for the thumbs, sewing round the holes so that there wouldn't be any unravelling. The sweater had already felted a bit, but I wanted the wristwarmers firmer, so I put them  into the washing machine on a high temperature. They came out super warm and nice. And quite cool too, if I may say so :-)

Here you can see how much more the wristwarmers have shrunk:

 cool!

A small cape in autumn colours

The pattern for this cape you can find in the Dutch magazine "Simply Breien" (nr 1van 2012). I really enjoyed knitting it, in the round. That has a lot to do with the yarn I used : Rowan Hemp Tweed. It is a blend of 75% wool and 25 % hemp, feels lovely and soft and has a natural and tweedy look. And the colours are gorgeous! I bought the yarn at the Stitchery in Lewes on one of our holidays in the UK, as always looking for local yarn shops.
This cape is simply great to wear on autumn walks!

Duttons for Buttons

Some years ago, I visited Harrogate in Yorkshire (UK). There is this wonderful shop, Duttons for Buttons. What a treasure cove, or in their own words : "For haberdashery & lace & spare-time & needles & thread & ribbons & rainy days knitting with friends & wool & needlewordk & making stuff with the kids & just about every needlecraft thing you'll ever need…" Along with some beautiful and unusual buttons, I bought the shop's environmentally friendly souvenir bag. I
customized it, as is the idea, with lots of buttons from my button box. It took a while to sew them all on, but for what's now my favourite tote, it was totally worth it!

When you can't do what you love and when there shall be sunshine after rain

For the last couple of months I have been suffering from severe shoulder and back pain that has been preventing me from doing practically any crafting. So for the past months most of my blogposts have been on work I did earlier. Now that I know I need surgery, which will involve a long rehabilitation period, I wanted to let all you readers know I will sadly be posting less frequently. Luckily I still have some material to write about, so I won't disappear alltogether.
I am full of hope that surgery will bring an end to my pain and to these physical limitations and that in a couple of months I will be able to continue my crafty path. I am so looking forward to that moment. It is hard, as it would be for any crafter, not to be able to spend time in my happy crafty place.
I really very much hope you can all bear with me and keep following my blog. Thanks so much all!


Here is my dear stash... waiting and waiting… wait for me!

And my ongoing projects, protected against light and dust, also waiting, albeit much more patiently than me...!

A happy garland

For my birthday I got a box of Quality Street chocolates from my mum. As a child I loved these sweets (still do actually) and I always thought the colourful wrappers enchanting. In fact I still love these shiny bits of paper.  I decided to keep the wrappers and make them into a kind of a garland. I looked for some bright ribbon, decided on pink. With a bit of thread I attached the wrappers in a kind of butterfly formation onto the ribbon, added some tinkling bells and these was my happy garland! Perfect for our outside spaces, it gives a wonderful festive feeling and when wind and sun play with it, spots of light dance on the patio tiles, or on my book. Makes me happy!

Yay for summer !

Sun and wind make these magical spots of colour dance over my book and over he tiles, fun!