NEW CROCHET PATTERN

hi guys, i've got a new crochet pattern up in my shop. The Cloud Nine Hexagon Blanket. check it out here!
the next days i will be adding some more pattern, of the wristwarmers, and a cute little baby bonnet with bear ears. maybe i will also make one for the diamond pillow... dont know yet!
if you have any requests, let me know!

CROCHET + EXCEL??

// pinterest // (couldnt find the official source)

Pinterest is super educational, don't you think? i see and learn new things every day (because i pin every day... it's addicting!)
but one thing i learned today is something i want to share with you. i think i learned how i can crochet this awesome pillow you see above, using Excel to make the pattern. (all the credits for this excel thing go to apileofsheep!)

havent tried it yet, but i think it will work. every cel in excel will be a group of 3dc.
 ill keep you posted!
if you try this, will you let me know? thanks!

CROCHET DOLL + update

this little buddy i made recently. super easy! if you want i can try to write the pattern. i just made the pattern up as i went :-)

 ** update: i was receiving A LOT of spam, so i put in a word verification (is it called that?) sorry! but i was a bit tired of the p*rn messages... (don't know why they targeted a crocheting blog, well it ís super sexy ;-)

I'M HAVING A SALE!

hi you guys!

it's been so quiet here, i know. but maybe things are going to change, i will tell soon, i promise!

just wanted to let you know i am having a sale in my shop, just for you lovely readers.

use the code 01234 for a 25% discount!

enjoy!

QUIET

it has been quiet over here!
ive been super busy with work, but also with custom orders. so its been a good quiet.
but i thought i'd make a little 'i am still alive' post :-)
i'll leave you with this really beautiful song, i just heard it on my favorite French radiostation: Radio Fip. you can listen to it online via their website.

HOLIDAY FOR A FEW HOURS

hi guys,
not blogging so much lately, when i was having christmas holidays i only felt like relaxing, and now i have to work crazy hours again...
but hey, some things are good! like this walk we made yesterday, in the forest where i used to live. it was so pretty and cold! there were times when i thought it looked like we were in Sweden, so it was a holiday-for-a-few-hours. highly recommended!
and i got 2 custom orders for my Etsy shop, a little bear hat for an adult and a fox scarf. the first one is finished, the other one i still have to find the perfect wool for.
do you have any tips for where to order the wool? the shops in Nijmegen are very expensive OR do not have very nice colors... thank you!

2013

happy newyear!
a brand new year, it always makes me happy to think what all the possibilities are for the year. lovely dinners we'll have, nice evenings with friends, going camping, maybe going to a far away country, or camp in our backyard, because maybe we will buy a house with a backyard. or we can just make a bed on our tiny balcony. who knows! i like the idea of endless possibilities.
and i am hoping to make some more nice things in 2013, like this fox softie i made a few days ago. i surprised myself with the result, it looks nice! and my sewing machine was falling apart but not too much for this fox to not get finished.
so hurray!

and you? have you made goals for 2013?

HOLIDAY CROCHETING

the first week of my holiday is already over. time flies! i hope you also had a nice christmas. i did! we went to my parents for dinner, and my little nephew was also there. he is funny (and a dragon as he kept telling us) but also a bit, well, he's 2y/o, he is really a bít busy ;-)
the day after we went to my sister and i made Bierkip (beer-chicken) It-is-so-yummy! basically you marinade (pieces of) chicken in 0,5 westmalle dubbel (dark belgian beer) onions and thyme. at least for 12 hours. then you take the chicken out, make it until nice and brown and then stew it in the mariande (without the onion and thyme bits) for a nice long time. then add some cream and eat this yummy stuff!

oh and as you can see i have also made a lots of things! ive crocheted a nice edge to a blanket i had. i found the tutorial via Pinterest, ive pinned it so you can check it out. cat seemed to like it too :-)
the crochet triangle thing is a pillowcase i am making, but it is taking looooonger than i thought!
what are you guys doing now?
enjoy the last days of this year !

HOLIDAY

the past weeks have been busy and a bit stressfull, but that's over now, because i can enjoy doing nothing for 2 weeks. that is the plus for working at a school!
friday was the last day before the holiday. with my colleagues there is a tradition that we make christmas floral arrangements in the afternoon. i'm not much of a christmas girl so i usually make a normal arrangement. but i wouldnt be me if i didnt hurt myself doing so. so this year i decided to not only cut the flowers, but also my hand.... ouch! stupid mistake, talking and cutting something hard with very sharp flower scissors...
but hey, the flowers look good!
i also wanted to share this iphone cover i made with the tapestry crochet technique. it really gets easier once you practise!
and this lovely cute cup, made by the girls of het Paradijs. <3 

CROCHET TILL YOU DROP

my working week was crazy. i was organising a theme-week for the school i work at. it was tough! organising lots of different elements and schedules for 250 students, with the flu going round, sick colleagues and children. but i've managed, with my good little team! today we celebrated with some cake, and now i am half sleeping, half sitting on my couch, and not getting of it very soon.
this week i've crocheted this nice pillow. i thought it would be easy and mind clearing. well it wasn't! it did make for a good take-your-anger-and-stress-out-on-a-crochet project.
and it does look nice now that it's finished! 

WRISTWARMER GIVE AWAY

Ingrid from the super nice blog ing-things is hosting a give away week. yes that's right, a give away WEEK! how awesome!
head on over to Ingrid's blog this week for a chance to win a pair of my warm and soft wristwarmers (or order a pair here)

this weekend was a snowy weekend, we celebrated Sinterklaas (do you know what that is?) which was extra nice because of the winter weather.

i wont have much time to blog this week, but check out ing-thing if you are looking for some nice little crochet tutorials!

bye!

C-C-C-COLD

oh it's so cold!
everything is covered in a coat of snow. it looks real nice, and soft, and makes all the outside sounds quiet.
yesterday there was a weather alarm, code orange. sounds so James Bond-y i think! we usually dont have extreme weather here in Holland. So when there's snow predicted ánd wind, advice is to stay indoors. i like it.
i dont like to ride my bicycle in the snow or even ride in the car in the snow. so a weather alarm is good news for me :-)
but just imagine if i lived in Norway or Sweden, i would never go outside any more! just kidding, i was in Sweden a few years back in february, snow was pilled up 1 metre, but i loved it. because there they understand that using salt against snow doesnt cut it, sand and stones do!

so i leave you with a sunny little movie, by Mike Matas:


p.s: i'm hosting a give away next week, more soon!

GEOMETRIC INSPIRATION

 //via//

these are some photo's i found on pinterest, i think i will try to crochet them, tapestry style.
the color combinations inspire me most. that how it works for me usually: i see something with an awesome color combination, or a nice soft chunky texture, i want to make it immediately!

hope they inspire you too!

 //via//

//via//

WANT TO TAPESTRY CROCHET?

some of you lovely readers asked if i could share the pattern for this tablet cover, so here goes!

a few things to keep in mind with tapestry crochet:

* when you want to change color, you change color the stitch previous. take a look at the photos for a how to

* tapestry crochet makes for a really sturdy cover, because you are crocheting over the yarn that you’re not using at the moment

* do not join rounds, this pattern is worked in the round, so use a stitch marker to mark the first stitch of every round.

* if you want to make the cover another size, make sure that you end up with a number of chains in step 2  that you can divide by 6

step 1: chain 21, skip one and sc in the next stitches. sc 3 in the last st and turn. sc in the bottom of the chain you just made. you should have 42 stitches now.

step 2: sc in every st of the round.

now we are starting on the tapestry part.

make sure your tablet, phone, thingy fits in the cover you are making! now is the time to start over if it doesn’t. trust me, you do not want to find out half way in to this pattern …

//how to change color in a sc//

triangle pattern:

sc 5 in grey, change color in the 5 ^th sc, sc 1 yellow and change to grey in this sc. repeat. 

sc 4 in grey, change color in the 4^th sc, sc 2 yellow, change to grey in the 2^nd sc, repeat. 

sc 3 in grey, change color in the 3^rd sc, sc 3 yellow, change to grey in the 3^rd sc, repeat. 

sc 2 in grey, change color in the 2^nd sc, sc 4 yellow, change to grey in the 4^th sc, repeat. 

sc 1 in grey, change color in this sc, sc 5 yellow, change to grey in the 5^th sc, repeat. 

now you can change colors for the next round of triangles like i did, or continue with these 2 colors.

that’s it!

have fun making this, and id love to see your results!

BLOGGING LATELY (well, not blogging...)

i havent blogged in a while. thats ok, because ive been doing a lot of cool things with my friends (oh ok,  working a lot... and some cool things)
i did however crochet some, which you can see in picture 1 & 3. I'm very proud of my first ever tapestry crochet item that actually worked, maybe Yarnfreak's pattern will make sense to me now.
i also made a stash of wristwarmers in the colors that i love: a lot of neutrals, with a pop of burgungy or mustard yellow. i'll list them soon in my etsy shop!

autumn is very pretty (pic 2) , i have to remind myself that it's also pretty, not just cold, wet and dark!
but these new house shoes from Collegien (pic 4) make even the cold part not so bad anymore!

ive started to learn more about blogging, design etc. i didnt think of it myself, but i have the lovely JustB blogschool from Pip, the book of Oh Joy! and an ecourse from A Beautiful Mess to thanks for that!

now, if i can just find the time to actually read and do everything i want to... :-)

BOOKGIVING

 today is thanksgiving. we do not celebrate thanksgiving in the netherlands, but for those reading this who áre celebrating: happy thanksgiving and bring out the stretchy pants!

as i am being swallowed by all the stuff in my house, because i'm a bit of a hoarder, i decided to host a bookgiving. here, on my blog.

if you see a book that you like, just email me which one you like and i'll send it to you. it would be nice if you would pay for the shipping fees (because i have got LOTS of books...)

because most of my books are in dutch i'll also post a summary in dutch.

//

een kleine boek weggeef actie voor jullie! ik heb zo veel boeken, en te veel zooi, dus bedacht ik om jullie de kans te geven om wat boeken uit te zoeken. het enige wat ik terug vraag is of jullie zelf de verzendkosten willen betalen, anders wordt het wel een duur grapje met AL de boeken :-)

dus stuur je een berichtje welke boeken je leuk lijken, dan stuur ik ze op!

NEW THINGS

well i'm crocheting away!
a lot of custom orders, and hopefully also for these wristwarmers
i love these, so usefull for this weather!

workmen are doing something to my house, i suppose its for the good, but why do they have to pack all my windows in plastic? now it really stays dark inside, even if the sun is shining...

Have a nice, autumny, day, hopefully without plastic covered windows!

AUTUMN THINGS (and give away winner!)

autumn has really begun, foggy mornings, afternoons and evenings. but i'm getting used to it! quite a difference from the 36 degrees in Surinam!
look at that sweet donkey at my work, he's the best. and a bit spoiled...
i put pumpkin in everything i eat i think. this is a very good salad with feta cheese, pumpkin, cherry tomatoes, parsley, walnut, and red pepper. yum!
ive been crocheting a lot, trying the tapestry crochet from Yarnfreak, but as you can see i'm struggeling a bit...
this weekend ive been to the Efteling amusementpark, and it was beautiful with all the lights and winter decorations. the new rollercoaster was also veryyyyyy good. i think my stomach still has some ajusting to do, it's still somewhere between the ground and the sky ;-)

and as for the give away, here is the winner ........

congratulations to Elke!
the number 1 comment almost never wins, so i'm really happy for you!
you can email me your adress on handgehaakt@gmail.com

DANISH CROCHET

//Yarnfreak//

today i got a really nice surprise. this is how it went:

- i saw something really beautiful on pinterest 

- it was crocheted, danish, beautiful colors, everything i love (but it looked so complicated...)

- i followed the pin to the source, a lovely danish shop: yarn freak

- i emailed the shop asking of they had they pattern in english

- she emailed back: no, i'm sorry, maybe with google translate?

- i thought: allright, but couldn't buy it because i don't have a danish card

- AND THEN SHE SENT IT TO ME AS A PRESENT!

wow!

some people are SO nice!

i'll have to study hard to understand, but i think ill manage, because this sweet lady gave me lots of positive energy :-)

so thank you very VERY very much Camilla!

and i think that you should go ahead with your plan in selling english patterns on etsy, i would buy them all!

don't you guys love this webshop?

<3

BIRTHDAY GIVE AWAY!

//via//

yesterday was my birthday, i dont think ill share my new age with you ;-)
yesterday was also a monday so i had to work all day, not very festive. but thats ok, because ive celebrated with my friends on sunday. and my friends, they are so sweet! they picked out lots of things that i love.
but hey, since it was my birthday, i would like to give away something crochet-related to you!
you can leave a comment below.
i wont tell what it is, like a real birthday, it will be a surprise!
since it is a crochet give away, i'd like you to tell me what you love about crochet, or if you cannot crochet yet, what you'd like to learn.

ill draw a random winner on november 19th

xx

p.s. the link will take you to an awesome DIY of these paper lanterns, by Martha Stewart