Monday 11 August 2014

The finishing bug

Hello all!

I hope you all had a relaxing weekend? Managed to find some time to enjoy being with family and friends?

Things have been pretty busy here! Oh, and I caught the finishing bug! No, it's nothing serious! (I have a lot to show you now).

Friday I started this:

Crocheting some more potholders, consisting of 2 different layers. I made this with my favourite yarn of this summer, Scheepjeswol Stone Washed. As soon as I had seen the first post mentioning this yarn, I knew I had to try it! It is 78% Cotton with 22% Acrylic and is machine washable. I have been using a 3mm hook.
It gives a lovely textured look in my opinion.



Crochet Potholders
Close up of the front
Showing front and back before assembly



Saturday we had a busy day, driving to Brussels Charleroi airport to collect a friend coming to visit. This meant lots of crochet time in the car, yay! :)

I continued with the potholders and finished them on Saturday evening, with the help of our cat, Jasper!

Jasper crochets too!

The finished potholders


Sunday I finished a crochet Shawl, the South Bay Shawlette from Lion Brand, you will find the free pattern here.

I love this pattern! It is easier than I first thought, and I have already made several versions this summer, more of that another time!

This one is made with a thicker Cotton yarn (Catania Grande) - about 400g. I love the Orchid colour! I used a 6mm hook.



The lacy pattern is very eye catching and pretty




The weather on Sunday was terrible, we ended up having torrential rain, so not a chance of going for a walk anywhere. Luckily that meant everyone had time to follow their favourite hobbies. My daughter and her friend helped me greatly with winding some of the yarn! Then we had a nice round of card games. Later that day I returned to my crochet Baby Blanket (made with Apilou Acrylic Yarn from Veritas), crocheted the last row and then proceeded to do the border. This took way longer than anticipated. Around 1 am I had gotten as far as doing one side of the scalloped Shell edging which is the last row! Unfortunately I was too tired to stay up any longer to finish it off on Sunday night.



Scalloped edging


Monday: The weather had improved, the sun was shining! After visiting Hoboken (part of Antwerp) market and making some vital yarn purchases, my partner and I went for a leisurely long walk through the parks and then around Hoboken Fort (which is surrounded by water). We managed to see 3 herons in total, I was amazed! And 2 cute cats. But unfortunately I did not take a camera along!

The rest of the afternoon I spent finishing off the baby blanket! Woohoo! I was so pleased, because I had been putting it off due to the fact that it had close to 300 ends that needed sewing up!

Jasper testing the blanket immediately
The finished blanket lying flat on the floor

Jasper did not want to leave the blanket!

Soft and Squishy!
Update: This evening we drove to see our friends to deliver the blanket, they loved it! It was definitely worth all the hard work!

In summary: I spent the last 4 days concentrating on finishing projects, because I want to move on to some of the WIP I still got to do! Not to mention start lovely new things that I keep seeing elsewhere!

What have you all been working on? Do you have a favourite project you like best? What are your experiences with different yarns?

8 comments:

  1. We had terrible weather at the weekend too but it seems to be improving now. I love your potholders and baby blanket. The shawl is beautiful - such a gorgeous colour. I've finished two blankets but need to take pictures before posting about them. I'm working on two other blankets as well.

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  2. Hi Gillian, oh, glad to hear weather is improving over at yours. Today we went out to Gent with our visitor, but we still had some rain showers in the afternoon. All in all we were lucky that the sun came back out soon afterwards.

    You made 2 blankets already? I must admit this was my first one!
    I'm looking forward to seeing them on your blog when you are ready! Do you tend to make them all to a specific size? In hindsight I was wondering whether I should have made it a bit smaller!?

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  3. Wow you have finished some gorgeous projects Ingrid! I love the shades you have used in the pot holders. Your baby blanket is beautiful-such soothing shades. Jasper thinks you made it for him-I can't see him relinquishing it any time soon! The shawl is so pretty, what a lovely make. It is a good feeling to finish off projects...I really must follow your inspiration! xx

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  4. Hi Alison! Thanks for the compliments! Yes, I felt some relief and also a sense of achievement. Haha, the blanket went straight to a new home where it belongs! I chose these 'neutral' colours since I wanted to avoid it being too pinky and girly!

    However, I was thinking to myself, should I make a blanket for the cats??? What!!! I reckon I better make one for myself first! I must get some more practice.

    Talking about practice, today I made yet another pair of potholders, in yet a different colour scheme (Pastels plus neutrals), completed in one day.

    So what is it that you need to finish off? Please do tell.... (only if you want to, of course!)

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  5. Hi Ingrid! I just found your blog and as I am quite new in blogland as well, I thought I'll leave a comment. I love your shawl, it is such a fine work! I also started crocheting a shawl but I haven't finished it because I haven't decided if it needs a border or not. So it stays in my wool basket until I've made a decision. Have a nice sunday, Viola

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  6. Hi Viola! Thanks for your kind words and lovely to meet you here! :) I will check out your blog! Where are you from originally?

    Yes, the question of a border is a tricky one! I have made several versions of the South Bay Shawlette, but so far I only added a fancy border to one of them (in the same colour as the shawl itself).

    Right now I started on another Shawl from the book PUUR haken (see also here: http://myfunkycrochet.blogspot.be/2014/08/enjoy-little-things-puur-haken-and.html) - however after hours of crochet I came to realize that with the yarn I chose it would take forever, so I started a new one which I will post about soon, and I think that I will add a different coloured contrast border this time.

    Good luck with your shawl!
    Ingrid x

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  7. Beautiful shawl, it has been on my list for a long time! Lovely collection of potholders. Love from India.

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    Replies
    1. Hello Sangeetha! Thanks for your kind comments. Give the South Bay Shawlette a try, it is a lot easier than you might think! I made some smaller shorter versions which go around the neck and you wear it to the front! Nice and cosy!
      Have added your blog to my list!
      Ingrid xx

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