Mystical Lanterns - playing with colour

Hello,


Today I want to show you a really interesting pattern! It is By Jane Crowfoot and is called Mystical Lanterns.

You will find more information here on her website: http://janiecrow.co.uk/presta/

She has designed a special shape called an 'ogee' which fits neatly next to more of the same shape, a bit like a granny square or a hexagon for example. You can make a number of these shapes and combine them into a scarf, shawl or blanket.

Up until now, this pattern was only available in kit form. I wanted to have the blue coloured shawl kit (Aurora) with real Shetland Wool but it was sold out for quite some time. Then I dared to ask if they would soon stock more kits again, and I was in luck! So I went ahead and ordered my kit which includes all the wool you need plus a very detailed instruction how to make the shapes and join them!

When it arrived, I was thrilled to see the amazing colours. It was all very professionally put together. The service I received was friendly and fast! (Remember to scroll all the way to the bottom for further information!)

Last week I thought I would try out how to make one of these shapes. I used my Pingouin cotton yarn to do my first sample. I didn't find it very difficult and was pleased with how it looked. Each ogee is made of 4 different colours.


Mystical Lanterns


The colours of my kit is mostly blues, purples and greens which I love.*

However, this first version will be a wild mix of lots of colours in typical funkycrochet fashion!!!
I'm already very excited about it!

Here you can see the humble beginnings of this great motif!



Then I started making series of 4 motifs, always using the same 4 colours but in different sequences.

And finally I had about 28 colours together of this Pingouin Esterel cotton yarn, spent ages winding these into yarn cakes and laid them all out on the table!

It's starting to look great!!!

I love vibrant colours!

Luckily, you can now buy the pattern on it's own, check out the ravelry link here.

*And this picture shows the colourway of the kit I bought! Isn't it fabulous?

Mystical Lantern Shawl by Jane Crowfoot, copyright Jane Crowfoot

By the way, Jane Crowfoot is a fantastic designer, she did the Lily Pond Blanket CAL 2015, in 2016 she is doing the Frida's Flowers Blanket CAL currently, the Persian Tile Crochet Blanket, the stunning Special DK (Stylecraft) Tartan Blanket - just to mention some of the amazing patterns!
Be sure to check out her website for more details!

I hope you enjoyed this post as well, feel free to leave your comments below, thank you so much!

I will be away for nearly a week to visit a famous Music Festival in Germany, and of course my crochet will come with me!

Spring time Crochet - Airy Cotton Top

Hi again,

An airy Cotton Top

Today I want to show you what happens when you find an intriguing crochet chart on pinterest and then start trying it out and liking it. I didn't even peek at the original website, but I got excited simply working it out!



PS ; This was photographed upside down!

One row soon leads to another and it makes you think: wow, it is growing so fast!

Link to the pin which originates here.

ABC knitting patterns call this pattern : Prayer shawl.

Here is a copy of the stitch pattern which is found via the same link: (copyright ABC-knitting-patterns.com)

You can easily work out your own pattern, you need a multiple of 6 chain stitches + 3 extra stitches (which are the first stitch and the first 2 chains of the second row)


I'm using Pingouin crochet cotton again in a lovely leaf green (or a pale olive green), it is actually called Papyrus.

Laid double - I love how the holes line up exactly 

Maybe you like to give this pattern a try yourself? Of course you could easily make a scarf from it if you want to.

I look forward to your comments!

Crochet Updates: A Cobalt Blue Crochet Windowpane Cowl

Hello again!


A Cobalt Blue Windowpane Crochet Cowl


This is my last finished project. I really enjoyed making it! The pattern is the windowpane scarf, you can find it here on ravelry: Windowpane scarf. It is a free pattern.

I first found this on the lovely Dutch blog: http://blij-dat-ik-brei.blogspot.be/2014/05/venster-ruitjes.html and I had saved this to my favourites ever since (which is almost 2 years ago). I knew I just had to make this one day!

I decided to turn it into a cowl and make it for a friend in my class. The pattern is really quite easy and can be adapted to make something in the size you want.

This time I actually made a proof square to see how many stitches there were to 10cm. In my case this was 24 stitches which worked out well for a pattern of multiples of 6 stitches.

Swatching for correct size

I just love this pattern! It looks great in this pure cotton yarn, but it would look equally good in wool! The electric blue looks stunning! The stitches show up clearly.

Here is the finished Windowpane cowl!

Trying it on!

 

 And here is my friend modelling her new cowl. She is very pleased with it!

 

The finished cowl measures 140 cm round x 30 cm deep. It weighs around 400g.

 Here it is photographed against the light.

 

I hope you found some new inspiration and visit again soon! Feel free to leave your comment below.

 

Mochilabag Crochet - a new funkycrochet adventure courtesy of Femma

Hello my lovely blog friends,

For those of you who already follow me on instagram, you will have noticed my current crochet obsession!!!

For the rest of you, I am going to tell you a bit more about it here!

Mochila Bag


Last week I attended the first part of a three part crochet course (to make a mochila bag) in one of the neighbouring villages (in Aartselaar). It was hosted through FEMMA (the same organisation that hosted the clothes upcycling workshop I went to last year).

This was the first time I had to pay for learning new crochet skills (if you disregard buying crochet books), but it was great to have a teacher there.

We had a choice of three different models, you can see them in colour on this page here.

Mochila comes from the Spanish and means backpack, rucksack.

The practice of making these very colourful crochet bags comes from Latin America.

Check out google images of Mochila Bags.

Well, I won't keep you waiting any more, here are the photos which chronicle my work these last few days.

 

 

 

 

 

Yesterday afternoon was the second workshop. I took some pictures. This is our teacher with her bag model (leopard print). She has also made a ribbon string to go through the holes to tighten/fasten the bag, plus a long shoulderstrap which you cannot see in this photo because they are not attached yet.

The diameter of her bag is 20cm and it is about 30 cm high.

The diameter of my bag is 27-28 cm and therefore my bag will be bigger overall.

You can also see some of the lovely ladies of this Femma group working alongside me.

Here in the photo below you can see how my pattern along the side is now progressing.
Today I started using different colours. The side is about 6cm high now.

Day 9 Mochila Bag

Well, I hope you enjoyed the many photos! I'm going to continue chronicling them on instagram, as before. I had many lovely and encouraging comments (Thank you all!)

And if you want to leave a comment below, then you know how I look forward to them!!!