African Flower Blanket

I used to only start quick and simple projects. I shook my head at the bare idea of making a blanket in crochet. Well, I just finished my second! 

There is not much to say about it, really. I made African Flower hexagons, and a few half hexagons to make a straight edge. On the long sides I used the same technique I used on my African Flower bag pattern to make it straight, that is starting with sc on the top of the hexagon and increasing the height of the stutches by making hdc, dc as the "V" between the hexagons got deaper. Two rows is what it takes for me to straighten it up. But the corners tend to end up with too many stitches. However, what I make will never be perfect, so I'm still very happy about this blanket.

It's quite a heavy thing, it weighs 1,8 kg, made in Järbo soft cotton with a 4.5 mm hook. But I find the weight comforting, and it's soft and warm. A real winner if I may say so!

Towel crochet edging

In our downstairs bathroom, we can't use standard towels next to the basin. We need the smaller size, like a guest towel. However, when I went shopping for towels, I couldn't find anything in that size that I liked. So I bought the standard size and cut off the bottom part.

I used blanket stitch on the cut raw end, and I made crochet edgings using those stitches.

Short enough!

The patterns I used were simple ones, not building too much since I needed the towels to be short.

The left: ch 2, *skip one stitch, (2 hdc, ch 2, 2hdc) in the same stitch, skip one stitch* repeat from * to *

The middle: *sc, skip one stitch, 5 dc in the same stitch, skip one stitch* repeat

The right: front side facing you, make sc the entire row. Without turning the towel, use crab stitch the entire way back.

I am very happy with the outcome. Oh, and the rugs are brand new, that's why they look so clean.

Decoupage on fabric

I love decoupage. I wish I was a good painter, but I'm not. Decoupage lets me make beautiful decoration without being able to make pretty flowers by hand. Love it!

If you're not familiar with decoupage, it's a technique where you use a glue/varnish to stick the top layer of a paper napkin on a surface. Like on this canvas. The text is my making, but the flowers are decoupage.

I have used decoupage on multiple objects, but now also on fabric. It opens a world full of possibilities! I have made pillow cases for the couch (I made a green painting and the pillows didn't match) and decided to try decoupage when I ran out of green fabric.

I used one motif with stars and one with flowers, the one I used on the canvas. It turned out great! The glue feels a little plastic when it dries, but that's fine.

I tested to use the napkin as it was on one pillow.

Then I cut out the flowers and formed a bouquet on the front of the next pillow...

 ... and on the back I just spread them out.

I also made a new lamp shade for the window. It is a piece of fabric glued with hot glue to the wire frame. I love that I now have a matching canvas, lamp and pillows in this room!

New year, new mittens

Happy New Year! A little late maybe, that's a habit of mine. Yep, I've been knitting mittens. I wanted a pair to go with my red coat, now I've been using the grey and purple made for another coat. Moving them from coat to coat made me worry that I would forget them and end up with cold fingers. :)

I bought grey, red and orange wool and intended to make a pair just like the old ones.



Didn't happen. I got the idea that I would knit with all three colors in every row, making a warm inside on the mittens, with all the strands carried behind. It took a while to find a pattern. And it was made in stripes. So I made up a pattern of my own, making it striped diagonaly (however you spell that).



I like them, but I wish I had done a few things differently. They are a bit tight, even though I thought I had more than enough stitches. I should have made them even wider.

Making the second mitten, I decided to let the stripes turn the other way. I also changed the order in which I held the three strands. Misstake. Now the grey pops out on one, and red on the other. Also the thumbs could have used an extra round. No big things. I just worry they will be cold due to the tight fit, and the whole idea using three colours was making them warm. But still, they're fine. And they reminded me that I really like knitting mittens. :)

Long time... again

I'm not here too often, am I? I haven't let go of the blog, it's simply easier to use the faster social networks these days. Facebook, Instagram... Don't have the patience or enough words for the blog. But tonight I'm here!

Winter is truly here. Snow and all. The son started using his winter hat, which looked a little too tight. So I convinced him he needed a new one. :) I went to my yarn shop today, and made the hat tonight. I love a quick project!


A dark picture, I know. But do you really expect me to wait until tomorrow?

This hat is a Minecraft hat. If you have young kids you know what I'm saying. It's a computer game. "Everybody" a certain age plays it. The hat is supposed to look like a creeper, a creature from the game. He has a cap with a creeper and he loves it.

The hat is made in crochet with three strands of baby wool in two different greens. With a big hook. 7 mm. I made the face in black and stitched it to the hat. It's a very soft hat, so I might have to make one for me too. Without the creeper... I hope he will enjoy wearing it!

Re-made

Spent last night in the crafting-room. The clock in our livingroom stopped a while ago. Since I wasn't very happy with the look of it, I decided to give it a re-make. I stripped it and only kept the hands and the mechanism. And then... nothing. :)

So last night I felt the inspiration. And went with it. This is how it turned out.


It's a dark picture, but Sweden in November doesn't get much lighter... :)

My favourite detail? The pink second hand! I painted the canvas with a "sea green" acrylic paint, and the hands with green and pink hobby paint. Rhinestones and a paper doily.

The green colour on the hands was also used on the lamp shade i finished last night too. It used to be an ugly pink velvet shade, but I stripped it and painted the wire green. It stayed like that for a while, but last night I decided to add some paper roses from my scrapbook flower box.


It was hard to catch the lamp with the camera last night, so I took a new shot today.


I like it so much more than the old lamp...


Best of all is that both clock and lamp didn't cost me much at all. The canvas was a cheap one and the lamp shade was bought on a flee market. I love budget crafting!

Tired of crochet

Or tired from crochet? I don't know. I only know I won't touch a hook again. Today. Maybe tomorrow. ;)

I guess I have been working a little too hard these last few days. My thumbs are hurting. But at least I got something for my trouble. For a while at least. She'll be up for sale too.


She's a sweetheart, don't you think? I was worried she would look all weird, since I never manage to make the flowers flat when I work with a small hook. And I have to, to avoid the stuffing to sneak out. Especially the pentagons are hard. But she flattened out when I filled her up.


Want to make one? Here's the pattern!

Prince Charming

I am in love! ♡


Isn't he gorgeous?! Heidi Bears should get the Nobel Prize in crochet, she's a genious!


I was afraid I might not finish him today since I ran out of yarn, but I worked my magic with what I had and it turned out fine.


I'm glad I had some gold hidden in my yarn treasure too, for his crown. He was pretty fiddly to make at times, but I love him dearly. He will be up for sale on that market, but I'm starting to think I should make him so expensive that noone will buy him! ;)

If you want to make one, here's the pattern.

Me, a crochet teacher?

Not really, but today I had the joy to knvite a friend into the World of Crochet. She's been interested for a while, and always send me pictures of cool crochet stuff she has spotted on the web. She is also the reason I found the pattern for the african flower pony. And today she popped in. I got started on a new piece of crochet and showed her how to. She seemed to get it so I threw her a hook and some yarn, and a few hours later she had made this.


I'm impressed! She really got the hang of it and she loved it too. And she was fast too, I am making the same thing and I didn't get so much further.


Do you want to know what we are making? Stripey owl rattles! I have made one allready.


Cutest pattern! And easy to make too.

Do you want to know what else I'm working on? Okay, I have made this (so far) leg-less, blind guy.


I hope to finish him tomorrow. Another pattern from Heidi Bears. I saved a week from my summer vacation, so I will be at home this entire week as the kids are free from school. Lots of time to crochet. Yay! :)

My flower pony

Hi there! Just a small post, have to show you the pony I just finished. Pattern by Heidi Bears, "Fatty Lumbkin the brave African Flower Pony" found here on Ravelry.


Try it! It's a brilliant pattern! This beauty will follow me to a handicraft market a bit before Christmas and hopefully be sold. Yes, you are allowed to sell objects made from her patterns, as long as you make them yourself.

Love knots again

Maybe I can look into the future. Or rather, I know myself too well. I finished this beauty today.


A shawl, just like I predicted a long time ago. I get bored easily if I make the same thing over and over again (at least when it comes to crochet), I want to make something new! But I never get tired of making shawls in love knots. Maybe because different yarns make so very different shawls?


I love how the yarn get to show every beautiful detail in this stitch. Every colour shift...


Knitting or a different crochet stitch would blurr the colours, make it duller. Now, I can admire every pretty inch of it!


I won this yarn on a blog. Lucky me! Now, I will probably put it out for sale. I've booked a table, you see, at a handicraft market before Christmas. It's going to be so much fun, but I have to fill my table with beautiful things. (But I hope nobody will buy this one, so I can keep it! ;))

Granny square pillow

Made something a week ago that I wanted to show you. I haven't been making a lot of things in regular granny squares, but I'm really in love eith them now. Thought I needed some colout in my new white sofa, so this is the result.



Since I like both sides equally, it doesn't really have a front and a back. It simply has two sides. :)


I have found it hard to close a pillow case neatly and still be able to take it off for a wash every now and then. So I tried something new this time, that worked perfectly. I joined the two sides with join-as-you-go technique (I hate sewing things together!) and saved an opening on one side. I then tied a piece of yarn in each end of the opening, twisted the strands and an knot in the end. Then I weaved the yarn through the holes in the ends until they met in the middlle.


Tied a knot, but I didn't want to leave them hanging on the outside like this.


So i grabbed my hook and pulled the strands inside the pillow case. Perfect!



Do you have the perfect way to close a pillow case, without buttons? Feel free to share!

Something homemade

When I'm invited to any kind of celebration - birthday, wedding, christening.... I always try to come up with a gift I can make myself. Today wad no exception. We celebrated my youngest nephews, the twins. And they seemed to appreciate my gift. A book for kids with recipes and an apron. Homemade, of course. Well, not the books...


This was the first time for me sewing aprons. I used a bought apron in kid size as a template for the body part. Bias binding around all edges, but under the arms I made it wider and as a canal for the ribbon. I let the ribbon around the neck continue through the canals and out on the sides to be tied in the back. This way, if you pull the ends the neck ribbon gets shorter to fit a smaller child. Most of you have probably seen it before.


And a big pocket in front. Used for candy at the party, since the aprons were tried on. And kept on! That warms auntie's heart! ♡

African Flower Tasche

Now I am very happy to present to you the African Flower bag pattern in German, thanks to Sabine Raster who made this translation for her Ravelry KAL. She was kind enough to let me use it on the blog for anyone to use. Vielen Dank, Sabine!

(The pattern is also available in English and Swedish)


Abkürzungen:
M = Masche
Lm = Luftmasche
Km = Kettmasche
fe M = feste Masche
Stb = Stäbchen
hStb = halbes Stäbchen

Ich habe bewusst nicht beschrieben, welche Runde in welcher Farbe zu häkeln ist, das kann jeder nach eigener Kreativität (oder nach dem Foto) machen.

Du hast also 12 Blüten gehäkelt. Von denen werden nun jeweils 6 zu einem Ring zusammengenäht (wahlweise auch gehäkelt) und diese beiden Ringe dann übereinander zusammengenäht.

An der unteren Seite des so entstandenen Zylinders arbeitest Du nun wie folgt weiter: (Hinweis: Jede Runde wird mit einer Km geschlossen, um „Treppen“ zwischen den einzelnen Runden zu vermeiden. Beim Übergang auf die nächste Runde wird vor fe M 1 Lm und bei Stb 3 Lm als Ersatz für die erste M gehäkelt.) Neue Farben grundsätzlich mit einer Km ansetzen.


Runde 1: Die gewünschte Farbe mit einer Km anschlingen; nun in jede Masche dieser Unterkante sowie in die Naht zwischen jeweils 2 Blüten 1 fe M häkeln

Runde 2: 1 fe M in jede M der Vorrunde

Runde 3: Nun wird eine gerade Kante gearbeitet:

An der Spitze eines Hexagons (also, an der höchsten Stelle eines Blütenblattes)
anfangen und wie folgt häkeln:

4 fe M, 3 hStb, 2 Stb, 3 Stb zus. abmaschen, 2 Stb, 3 hStb, 4 fe M Diese Folge auf jeder Blüte wiederholen.

Je nachdem, wie Du die Hexagons zusammengenäht hast, hast Du evt. eine abweichende Zahl an M. Aber keine Sorge! Gleiche einfach die Anzahl der fe M oder jede andere M, die Du möchtest, entsprechend an!

Das mittlere der 3 zus abgemaschten Stb sollte allerdings in der niedrigsten M zwischen den Blüten sein.

Runde 4: Wieder an der Spitze einer Blüte beginnen. 5 fe M, 3 hStb, 3 Stb, 3 hStb, 5 fe M Diese Folge auf jeder Blüte wiederholen.

Die Kante sollte jetzt ziemlich gerade sein!

Runde 5: 1 Stb in jede M der Vorrunde

Runde 6: 1 fe M in jede M der Vorrunde

Runde 7: 1 fe M in jede M der Vorrunde

Runde 8: 1 fe M in jede M der Vorrunde

Faden abschneiden, durch die letzte M ziehen und vernähen.

Jetzt zur oberen Kante:
Diese genauso arbeiten, wie die untere, aber nur bis Runde 8!!


Runde 9: 2 Stb, 2 Lm, 2 M überspringen – diese Folge die ganze Runde lang wiederholen
(so entstehen die Löcher, durch die Du später die Kordel ziehst.)

Runde 10: 1 fe M in jedes Stb der Vorrunde, 2 fe M über die beiden Lm der Vorrunde –
diese Folge die ganze Runde lang wiederholen

Runde 11: 1 fe M in jede M der Vorrunde

Runde 12: 1 fe M in jede M der Vorrunde

Runde 13: 1 fe M in jede M der Vorrunde

Faden abschneiden, durch die letzte M ziehen und vernähen.

Jetzt arbeitest Du den Boden des Beutels!


4 Lm anschlagen und mit einer Km zur Runde schließen.

Runde 1: 9 Stb in den Lm-Ring

Runde 2: 2 Stb in jede M der Vorrunde

Runde 3: 2 Stb in 1 Stb der Vorrunde, 1 Stb – diese Folge die ganze Runde lang wiederholen
(jede 2. M wird somit verdoppelt)

Runde 4: 2 Stb in 1 Stb der Vorrunde, 2 Stb – diese Folge die ganze Runde lang wiederholen
(jede 3. M wird somit verdoppelt)

Runde 5: 2 Stb in 1 Stb der Vorrunde, 3 Stb – diese Folge die ganze Runde lang wiederholen
(jede 4. M wird somit verdoppelt)

Runde 6: 2 Stb in 1 Stb der Vorrunde, 4 Stb – diese Folge die ganze Runde lang wiederholen
(jede 5. M wird somit verdoppelt)

Runde 7: 2 Stb in 1 Stb der Vorrunde, 5 Stb – diese Folge die ganze Runde lang wiederholen
(jede 6. M wird somit verdoppelt)

Runde 8: 2 Stb in 1 Stb der Vorrunde, 6 Stb – diese Folge die ganze Runde lang wiederholen
(jede 7. M wird somit verdoppelt)

Runde 9: 2 Stb in 1 Stb der Vorrunde, 7 Stb – diese Folge die ganze Runde lang wiederholen
(jede 8. M wird somit verdoppelt)

Runde 10: 2 Stb in 1 Stb der Vorrunde, 8 Stb – diese Folge die ganze Runde lang wiederholen
(jede 9. M wird somit verdoppelt)

Runde 11: 2 Stb in 1 Stb der Vorrunde, 9 Stb – diese Folge die ganze Runde lang wiederholen
(jede 10. M wird somit verdoppelt)

Der Boden ist nun fertig und Du nähst ihn (oder häkelst ihn wahlweise) an den unteren Rand des Beutels.

Eine ausreichend lange Lm-Kette (evt. mit doppeltem Garn) häkeln und durch die Löcher am oberen Rand ziehen.


Wenn Du magst, kannst Du nun noch einen Henkel arbeiten, und zwar wie folgt:

Eine Lm-Kette häkeln, die so lange ist, wie der Henkel am Schluß werden soll. Nun fängst Du in der 3 Lm von der Nadel an und häkelst 1 fe M in jede Lm, und zwar auf beiden Seiten der Lm- Kette. In die jeweils äußerste Lm häkelst Du allerdings 4 fe M (damit Du um die Runde kommst).

Runde 2: wieder in jede fe M der Vorrunde eine fe M häkeln und um die beiden Enden 2 fe M in eine fe M, 1 fe M, und wieder 2 fe M in die nächste fe M. Noch einmal wiederholen, dann bist Du auf der anderen Seite.

Runde 3: wie Runde 2, aber für die Rundungen an den beiden Enden in jeweils 4 fe M je 2 fe M arbeiten

Faden abschneiden, durch die letzte M ziehen und vernähen oder gleich zum Zusammennähen verwenden.

Das ganze nun zu einem Schlauch an den Längskanten zusammennähen.

Um den Henkel stabiler zu machen, kann man eine Kordel oder entsprechenden Stoff einlegen und dann erst zusammennähen.


Den Henkel dann an der Oberkante annähen.


Dreh die Naht nach unten und nähe um die abgerundete Kante. Nähe mit der Grundfarbe noch einmal darüber, damit der Henkel auch wirklich fest sitzt und sich nicht dehnt, wenn Du den Beutel befüllst.


Wenn Du magst, kannst Du nun noch einen Innenbeutel (Futter) nähen.

Leg den Futterstoff doppellagig auf die Arbeitsfläche und den Häkelbeutel längs an den Stoffbruch. Nun zeichnest Du die Höhe (von unterhalb des Kordeldurchzugs bis zum Beginn des Bodens) zuzüglich 1 cm Nahtzugabe nach. Schneide den Futterstoff zu und nähe ihn an der kurzen Seite rechts auf rechts zusammen, so daß ein Schlauch entsteht.

Dann zeichnest Du einen Kreis in der Größe des Bodens auf den Futterstoff, ebenfalls mit 1 cm Nahtzugabe. Diesen Boden schneidest Du aus und nähst ihn an einer Seite des Schlauches rechts auf rechts an.

Nun hast Du einen Stoffbeutel. Dreh nun die linke Seite nach außen. Falte die obere Kante nach hinten und zwar so weit, daß der Innenbeutel bis knapp unterhalb des Kordeldurchzugs reicht und säume diese Kante mit einer geraden Naht.


Jetzt hast Du schon eine schöne große Tasche. Aber wäre sie nicht noch schöner, wenn noch eine kleine Tasche für's Handy oder Zubehör sowie ein Karabiner für den Schlüsselbund drin wäre?

Diese kleine Täschchen ist ein einfaches Rechteck in gewünschter Größe mit einem Saum oben und geraden Kanten, die knapp nach hinten gefaltet werden, bevor Du sie in den Innenbeutel nähst.


Das Stück Stoff für den Haken ist ein Streifen, den Du längs rechts auf rechts faltest (die Größe entsprechend dem verwendeten Haken) und an der Längsseite sowie einer kurzen Seite zusammennähst, dann die rechte Seite nach außen wendest und auf die gewünschte Länge abschneidest. Nun durch den Haken ziehen und ebenfalls in den Innenbeutel nähen.

ACHTUNG: Es empfiehlt sich, diese Kleinteile anzunähen, bevor der Stoff zum Schlauch geschlossen wird. Das ist einfacher!!

Als letzten Arbeitsschritt steckst Du jetzt den Innenbeutel unterhalb des Kordeldurchzugs fest und nähst ihn mit einer elastischen Naht (oder per Hand) an.


Tadaaaaaah! :))

Wenn Du einen größen Beutel mit dünnerem Garn machen möchtest, kannst Du ebenfalls diese Anleitung verwenden. Erhöhe einfach die Anzahl der Blumen und mach einfach mehr Runden an den Boden und evt. auch an den Henkel.

Und natürlich, wenn Du irgendeinen Fehler findest, oder Fragen hast, bitte lass es mich wissen.

Und: ich würde mich freuen, Deinen fertigen Beutel zu sehen!

Viel Erfolg! ♥

Deutsche Übersetzung von Sabine Raster