So when I got this amazing birthday present from M last December, the full color range of Rowan Belle organic DK by Amy Butler, I knew I wanted to make that scarf with it. This yarn is 50% organic wool and 50% organic cotton, so warm and soft at the same time, perfect for a winter scarf.

And just in time for the next winter, it’s finished, yippeee!!!

I used two colors of Rowan Handknit cotton DK, 334 Delphinium and 348 Aubergine. I crocheted with a 4 mm clover soft touch crochet hook, and this project was addictive to work on, so very easy to finish. (except for the fact that I ran out of yarn, so I first had to go to the shop again before I could finish it, and off course I bought more yarn then I needed :-) )

The pattern I found here, it was a very easy to follow description.

I was inspired by the brilliant ideas of Yvonne (Yvestown): she made this wreath for her TV room and last year she shared this tutorial for making the pompom garland.

Pointy star pattern:

• Start with an adjustable ring
• Secure and add two more chain stitches
• Round 1: Two treble crochet in the ring, * chain 2, three treble crochet in the ring, repeat 3 more times from *, chain 2 and slipstitch in the top chain of the beginning chain 2
• Round 2: Slip stitch across to chain 2 corner space, chain 3, two treble crochet in the chain 2 corner space, chain 2, three treble crochet into same chain 2 space, * chain 1, three treble crochet in next chain 2 corner space, chain 2, three treble crochet in same chain 2 space, repeat 3 more times from * , chain 1, join with a slip stitch in top of beginning chain 3.
• Round 3: Slip stitch across to chain 2 corner space, chain 3, two treble crochet in the chain 2 corner space, chain 4, three treble crochet into same space, *1 dc into chain 1 space, three treble crochet in the chain 2 corner space, chain 4, three treble crochet into same space , repeat 3 more times from *, 1 dc into chain 1 space, join with a slip stitch in top of beginning chain 3.
• Fasten off.
• Work away all thread ends

I wanted to try something different for sharing patterns with you. If you click the image you can see a larger version, which will be better readable.

Last two weeks I have been sailing on the clipper ‘Stad Amsterdam’. Together with my dad and sister we embarked in Lisbon, sailed to Tenerife and from there to La Palma, la Gomera and back to Tenerife again. It was great! When you are at sea, you are disconnected from everything at home, also literally: no phone, no e-mail no nothing. The weather was warm and sunny and we met a lot of funny, nice and interesting people. (And yes that’s me working on the sails, and yes that’s a beautiful sunrise)

I took some time to crochet too, I finished two christmas star garlands, and an owl badge for which I found the pattern on the blog of Haakmuts. An english translation of the pattern can be found here.

Picture from ‘Haakmuts’ blog

To liven up the studio/atelier I want to make a whole bunch of crochet potholders in bright colors. I googled for patterns, and found one for a vintage rose potholder. As you can see in the upper right picture it’s a quite nice pattern. But I couldn’t manage to get it look like the picture….. as you can see in the upper left picture. It looks like if I created too much stitches, so it became a wavy version instead of a flat one… too bad.

I find it easier to read diagrams then written patterns in english, so I tried one from one of my two favorite crochet pattern books: Pretty color crochet and knit goods, it’s one of the potholders from page 8. With this one I had no problem to get it look like the picture :-)

I want to make many more potholders, do you have any good patterns to share?

A while ago I discovered Ravelry. A lovely lady in my local yarn store asked if I was on Ravelry. When I looked at her with questioning eyes she explained what is was all about, and the same afternoon I was hooked.

I found this pattern for a scarf/muffler (could anybody explain what’s the difference?) and then tried to find the book. Unfortunately I found out it’s out of print :-( Butttt an other lovely lady wrote an english translation and posted that on Ravelry (yeah ho for Ravelry :-) ) So now I’m happy hooking on this scarf. In total I will need 99 little squares, 9 of each colour, I now have 59 squares finished!

After I have finished all the little squares, I’m going to hook them together with this method Lucy (Attic24) has written down.

This is a little pouch that can be finished in no time. I just used single crochet and you don’t need a sewing machine, because it is small all sewing can be done by hand. You could use it to hold your money when you go out without your jacket or purse. It easily fits in any pocket.

What you will need to finish this project:

• Piece of crochet measures 11 x 16 cm. I used my 3mm hook with corresponding yarn and started with a chain of 32 and crocheted only in single crochet.
• 12 cm zipper
• Sewing thread
• Left over yarn from the crocheted piece
• Darning and sewing needle

First attach the piece of crochet to one side of the zipper. I used the sewing machine but you could easily do it by hand. Then attach the crocheted piece to the other side of the zipper.

Open the zipper by half and turn the pouch inside out, right sides facing inside. Take a piece of yarn and sew the sides together. When both sides are finished cut the sides of the zipper when needed and turn the pouch right sides out again.

You made yourself a little pouch that you can give away as a present or use yourself for a day at the beach :-)

What a busy week it was. I finally finished my book projects, I mailed them yesterday.

I posted the magazines for the give away, sorry Tuija for the delay.

On Wednesday I took care of my both nephews of 1 and 5 year old. It was really fun, I had to take the oldest one from school, we played with water, and had the nicest ice creams for dessert.

This weekend I worked hard for my shop update, I discovered Ravelry and started a new crocheted scarf project (I will show you the WIP this week), I had some busy days at the office, Thursday it was dinner time with a friend, after three weeks I just had to do the ironing, and my room could use some tiding but I saved that for later :-)

The coming week I can really use some relaxing and me time……

And oh yes, I took some pictures of the finished towel project. I made a grey one for our toilet, as the colours are black and white in there.

Talk to you later!

This weekend we spend some relaxing time on Texel. The weather is not summery, so enough time for crochet! Today I went window shopping and was inspired by a towel from Rice, see left picture above. I took a guest towel and altered Lucy’s Granny Wheel Square a bit. It’s not finished yet, I have to add one more square and then attach the crochet to the towel. But I will share the pattern already so you can make your own summer towels.

I used Schoeller & Stahl Limone yarn, 100% cotton, with crochet hook 2,5 mm (instead of the advised 3,0 or 3,5 mm hook).

Pattern:

• start with an adjustable ring
• 1st round, start with 4 ch, 1 dc, 1ch, 1dc, 1ch, etc. till you have 16 dc in the ring, end with 1ch and a slip stitch in the 3rd chain of the 4ch at the start.
• 2nd round, attach a new a colour in a 1ch space, 6ch, 1 tr in the next chain space, 2ch, 1tr in next chain space, etc. and with 2ch and a slipstitch in the 4th chain of the start chains.
• 3rd round, attach a new colour in a 2ch space, 3ch, 2 dc, 3 ch, 3dc, (this is the first corner), 1ch, 2dc in the next 2ch space, (in total 3 times, till the next corner) work till you filled the whole round. End with 1ch and a slipstitch in the third start chain.
• To attach the squares to each other I used Lucy’s join-as-you-go method.