Colourful South Bay Shawlette, knitted Moebius Cowl, Queen Anne's Lace Scarf and much more!

Hello and welcome!

Thanks for your many enthusiastic responses about my last post, I loved reading your comments!

Today I have lots of things to share! Hope you are sitting in a nice warm and dry place and have a few moments for reading this!

First, my current WIP - The colourful South Bay Shawlette

I have been working on this every day, currently on my 5th 100g Ball of the colourful Fenna yarn. Here are some progress pictures:

Cleo checks out the Shawl!

27.10.14

29.10.14

I will keep working on it for a bit more! It is still slightly smaller than the SBS that I made with the Malabrigo Silky Merino yarn this summer.

As the rows are getting longer each time, it also takes longer to crochet along the outside. The (current) last row had about 540 stitches! I must have crocheted about 4 rows yesterday!

I probably would have done more, if only I had not started a new project yesterday mid day!


Queen Anne's Lace Scarf (new WIP)

This free pattern was saved in my favourites on ravelry for a long time! Basically it is a long skinny scarf with a curly motif on both sides that gets made in a continuous way, so no awkward joining up and sewing up of pesky ends!

I managed to find a good video which I followed and tested with some Scheepjeswol Stone Washed to see if I could master this pattern.

Here is another (written) pattern link in English.

As explained in the video, the pattern could be adapted with smaller/larger loops and different yarns/hook sizes. It works a treat with variegated yarns in my opinion, if you just look through the over 3000 projects featured on Ravelry!

Have any of you ever tried this out? What did you think?

Trying out the pattern first with Scheepjeswol (left) , then with Fenna (right)

Scarf detail - made with Fenna in a different colourway than the Shawl

29.10.14 Queen Anne's Lace Scarf

Such a lovely pattern!

Yesterday I managed to make 38 motifs which is about 106 cm long so far, I will probably aim to do about 60 motifs (150cm) and then it will be finished!


My finished knitted Moebius Cowl - Ta-Dah!

Moebius Cowl finished 27.10.14

Wearing my new cowl 28.10.14

Sometimes random comments spark interesting results... On Tuesday I went to the cinema to finally see 'Gone Girl' after having devoured the book in March 2014. (You can find out about the film here!)

Well, have you ever knitted in a cinema? (That is what the random remark was about). I can say now that I have! I must have knitted the last 25-30% of the above cowl in a dark cinema whilst watching the above film! It was a dare to myself and I'm happy to say no stitches were dropped (phew!) and the result was equal to my normal knitting standard! (it was also easy enough since it was all garter stitch = knit every row).  And yes, I enjoyed the movie! ;)

When I got home that evening I cast off the stitches and sewed the cowl together in a Moebius loop. (The rectangle scarf before sewing measured about 30cm wide x 100cm long). You can see me wearing it in the above photo, but in fact the cowl is stretchy enough to be worn double and is very warm.

The colours are lighter and darker Turquoise, with some brown and golden Ochre shades for contrast. I used 3x 50g balls of Rico Creative Design Melange Chunky (34) - the same yarn I used recently for my Red Shrug! It is very warm and cosy!

I have already cast on stitches with the same yarn in another colourway for a new cowl! (No photos yet)


'T Arm Schaap Knitting Group 28.10.14

Last night I went to this Knitting Group again and I got a couple of snapshots to show you:

Lots going on at the knitting group!

Crochet Mobile Phone Cover with Mini Granny Squares (by Christine)

My friend Christine (who is very active for this Knitting Group) made this adorable crochet mobile phone cover from Mini Granny Squares! (Thanks for letting me photograph it!)

You can spot Christine on the above photo (second lady on the left, wearing a striped Top). You might also spot my Harlequin blanket on the table towards the back! (Apologies for the bad quality of the 1st photo, lighting wasn't very good!)


Happy Cats!

Here are our 3 cats on the brand new Cat Seats with Scratching posts!

Cleo and Jasper demonstrating their new multistorey appartment!

Jasper in the Penthouse Pad upstairs!

Twinkle, the Invisible Cat (Jasper's brother)

Finally...

Today I received my parcel from Woolwarehouse in England! I placed the order on Friday, it was despatched on Monday and arrived here in Belgium on Wednesday morning! Fantastic service!!!

Hooray! More Stylecraft yarn for the Harlequin Blanket!

For those of you who are interested, I picked the Attic 24 pack with 17 shades, plus an additional ball of Teal. Hopefully I will have more than enough to complete my Harlequin Blanket! (Looks like I will have to wind a lot of yarn next!)

A few more things...

I also have more ideas buzzing around in my head, things I read on other blogs, that I can't wait to try out!

I was sad to read that some people have decided to take blog breaks for personal reasons, needless to say that their contributions will be missed and that I will be thinking of them! Hopefully they will return soon again.

The weather in Belgium has gotten wet and rainy, much colder now.
Having said this, it was about 20 degrees on Monday afternoon when I came out of the cinema!

Yesterday I discovered that some of my balcony plants have begon flowering anew!
I got some small pink blossoms on the Azalea and also on the Mini Chrysanthemums.
I got Cosmos and Sweetpeas flowering (from the seeds I got of the first flowers!).
Sorry, no photos for now!

Thanks for your patience in reading this! I hope you enjoyed it, and feel free to post me your comments!
I am looking forward to find out what you got to say! 

Happy Colourful Weekend - a new WIP

Hi everyone,

Hope you are enjoying your weekend!!

Thanks for reading through yet another long post last time, I promise I make up with a very short one today!

Welcome to my new followers and another thank you for all your lovely comments!

This is my latest WIP - it is a new South Bay Shawlette!

23.10.14 Started at lunchtime

23.10.14 afternoon

23.10.14 late evening

24.10.14 Morning

24.10.14 Evening

And here are some close-up of the incredible colours!

I'm having so much fun with this Shawl, it seems my fingers still remember the rhythm of the stitches from the last one! And I love the colours of the Fenna yarn! Very happy I managed to find some yesterday in Antwerp, because it sells out fast and is only available for a very short time! Of course I was crocheting this on the buses and trams I had to take to get to the shop! :) And during my travels I meet Greet, a friend from the Knitting Group in Borgerhout, where I also go from time to time and I showed her my shawl and the yarn! (Thanks for your comment on my last post!)

I wish you all good relaxing weekend with family and friends! Happy crocheting or knitting!

And now you can leave a little comment, if you wish! I absolutely love reading them and hearing from you!

The Beauty of Stars, Nordic Fairisle Cowl, Postcards from Brussels and Luik, and the Harlequin Blanket

My dear Friends,

If anybody had told me a year ago that I would spend this morning ironing stars, I would have not believed them! If anybody had told me a week ago that I would spend some time perched pecariously on a high ladder, taking photographs for my blog, I would have said: Of course! Anything for my dear readers!!! ;)

Some stars I ironed this morning

  
Postcards from Brussels

But first, let's go back in time to last week. I had to travel to Brussels and this is what I saw:

The Escher-like Escalator steps in the Shopping Centre City 2

How big is your pumpkin?

...Mine's bigger!

Auf Wiedersehen Nordsee! Bonjour Happy Fish!

The endless escalators, 2 huge pumpkins and finding the Happy Fish restaurant all caught my eye!

To explain: In Germany we have a chain of Fish Restaurant called 'Nordsee' (a bit like Harry Ramsden's in England). I had managed to find the only branch of Nordsee in Belgium and it just happened to be situated in the very City 2 shopping centre that I was passing through! And they serve the same menu as in Germany, yay! Missing England, I had to try their Fish and Chips, complete with German Remouladensauce, and it was very tasty!!!

The other thing that benefitted from my travelling was the Nordic Fairisle Cowl - it was finished in exactly 3 days (on Friday evening). Here it is:

Nordic Fairisle Cowl - Ta-dah!!!

Three Cowls I made recently (1 Crochet, 2 Knitted ones)

Here is just a brief Postcard from Antwerp - there are quite a number of roadworks going on, including in Antwerpen Zuid, and recently the Brederode Straat (Wide Red Street) has undergone a facelift with new road and pavement surfaces, including this fancy red sign, which I want to share with you! (I was walking from Madam Woll to my tram stop).

Brede Rode Straat, Antwerpen

Postcards from Luik

On the weekend we visited Luik (or Liège in French). Here are some quick impressions. The city has 2 rivers, Meuse and Ourthe which makes it look quite unique. We also passed by the old Cathedral.

Luik Cathedral

River Meuse (looking left)

River Meuse (looking right)

...and again, but standing further in on the brigde than in previous photo

Slightly overdressed on a hot day in October!

We had a lovely day, and even managed to spend some time sitting outside in a cafe in the afternoon! As you can see from the previous photos, the sun was shining brightly and it must have been above 25 degrees! (I had dressed for autumn, with long sleeves and wearing a coat, which I soon had to take off!

Wiki page Luik  
Liege Cathedral Wiki page

Star Garland

It began with this blog post. Which linked on to this blog with complete tutorial. All sorts of bells were going off in my head as soon as I had seen the pictures - because I suddenly remembered that I actually had bought the book some months back -I was sold because of the Star Garland on the cover! Doh!!!

Hook, Yarn and Crochet by Ros Badger

So, late on Sunday night I got out my book and followed the instructions, making 3 fancy crochet stars in my favourite Scheepjeswol Stonewashed yarn which I knew would look good for something like this.

On Monday I managed to make some more stars (great for taking bits of my yarn and hook along on the bus) and by Tuesday lunchtime I had come up with 16 stars, one of each colour of the yarn. (Yes, I know! I don't do things by halves!!!)

Off I went to the Knitting Cafe in Hoboken where I sewed up all ends, and attached the stars to a crochet chain. The finished garland is just under 3m long! Ta-dah!!!

Crochet Star Garland

Ta-dah!!!

This morning I proceeded to iron my precious stars, like you do. (I hate ironing, but needs must!)

Spot the difference - before and after ironing!

We are all made of Stars!

And then I climbed onto aforementioned ladder to attach them to the wall above our balcony windows/door. Luckily I managed to climb down safely, after taking several photos for you all!

My Crochet Star Garland

 And last, not least, here is what I am currently working on:

Harlequin Blanket (WIP)

Harlequin Blanket 22.10.14

More rows added!

Knitted Chunky Cowl (WIP) - started Tuesday evening (21.10.14)

Began this cowl with the same chunky yarn I recently used for my Shrug, but in another colourway which is amazing! I'm halfway through the first ball of yarn! I love an easy going project like this one! Also good for travelling, the blanket is getting pretty heavy and needs it's own bag!!!!

Chunky Knitted Cowl WIP

And here is a little music to go along with the Stars! :D

So, thanks for sticking with me and reading yet another bumper edition this time, hope you enjoyed it as much as I did putting it all together for you all. Also thanks for your lovely comments, you are spurning me on to more and greater things all the time. I get so inspired by what you have to say, and what I read on your blogs in return. It is amazing to think how many of us are all busy doing something creative, maybe even now in this very moment, and it isn't purely that we have to, but that we choose to do this!

I hope I can help to inspire you, and I would like to tempt you to check out the tutorial for the crochet stars and give it a try, and if you do, please leave me a comment below. Happy crocheting!

I promise it is quite easy! These would make lovely Christmas ornaments - or use it to personalize a Card?!

One last thing: I am very proud and pleased that I managed to make use of my Ravelry account and actually added the Star Garland in all it's technicolour glory to my projects (well, it is my only project on there so far - you can find it on this page!!!) If you are also on there, feel free to 'befriend' me, and I can find your favourites!

Have a wonderful week and weekend! Comments are open now: ;)