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: ;)

Knitting a new Nordic Fairisle Cowl and Harlequin Blanket update, plus a visit to 'T Arm Schaap and Madam Wol

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Hello again!

Thanks for your lovely comments on my Vordenstein photos, looking back now it seems strange to think that only recently the weather was still so summery, now it is definitly Autumn here! For a start, we have been having more rain, but also the temperatures have dropped quite a bit. Still, as long as we get a bit of sunshine from time to time, I won't complain!

My new Nordic Fairisle Cowl

Since I am currently spending more time on the go, I began a new project yesterday afternoon on the bus!

It's another small snug fitting cowl, this time in Nordic Blue and White colours. I started knitting with my favourite Knit-Pro needles again. I love knitting fairisle and I want to get back to making more with this technique, it is so much fun! The yarn is Veritas Laura.

I got the idea from a book by Lynne Watterson, where I spotted a pattern she used for a bag - I made my own pattern sketch, sadly I don't have the book (yet - it is on my ever growing wish list). You can browse through the book here! (For my Dutch speaking friends, there is also a translated version - I once spotted it in the library!)

New WIP - Blue and White Nordic Fairisle Cowl

Knitting with Knit-Pro Needles in the round

Close-up showing inside and outside of cowl

Pattern seen in Lynne Watterson's Fairisle Book and noted down from screen

'T Arm Schaap in Antwerpen

On Tuesday evening I went to a new Knitting Group in Antwerp called 'T Arm Schaap (The poor Sheep) where I received a warm welcome! (My new friend Christine, whom I met at Lana, asked if I wanted to come along!) I was the only person crocheting there, having brought my big blanket along! I found it very inspiring to see so many different projects in work!  You can read more on their Ravelry Group page.


Harlequin Blanket

Here is also a look at my Harlequin Blanket, it is progressing, currently there are now 26 colours and it measures around 75-77cm approx.

Harlequin Blanket 16.10.14

close up of the Blanket

Madam Woll in Antwerpen

Last not least, here is a photo showing Natalie, the friendly and helpful owner of Antwerp's Wool Cafe called Madam Woll - combining the idea of a Wool shop with a Cafe where you can sit down and enjoy a drink and a piece of homemade cake with likeminded people! Her Shop/Cafe has only been open since April 2014 and recently an outdoor sitting area was also added.

I was very excited when I visited there last week to find out that she stocks Scheepjeswol Stone Washed, both in the normal and in the new XL version (which I had to buy!) She also stocks more unusual yarns by labels We are Knitters, Mirasol and Lopi.

Natalie at Madam Woll, Antwerpen

See more interesting photos and information on her website here!


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Thanks for stopping by, hope you are all having a good week so far, let me know about it, and feel free to comment, I love reading all your comments!