Finally, some more crochet news! Sources of inspiration and a walk in Boom

Hello again,


You would be forgiven for thinking I have been doing more knitting than crochet lately. In fact, that is not the case. It is just, that my making things has been racing ahead of my blogging! I tend to get caught up in thinking, just another row, just finish this part, and then I notice I haven't taken enough photos, let alone written about it!

I actually started two more crochet projects and one knitting one (the Moebius cowl which I just blogged about) in the last two weeks!!!!

As always, I soak up new ideas and patterns as part of my daily diet! To me they are as important as vitamins!

One large source is of course, pinterest. You can find me there: https://www.pinterest.com/myfunkycrochet/

For those of you who have not used it before, it is a never ending source of images and ideas!
I follow countless other people and boards and so I get a feed with new images. I save some of them to my own boards which in turn might inspire other people who follow me or my boards.

I tend to follow through a lot of pins to their original source because often you might find additional information as to how you can get the pattern (often free!) and then I download the PDF files.

Here is a handy tip if you want to download a pattern or tutorial from a website: copy the URL into the box on printfriendly.com which will then generate the option to download it as a PDF file! So simple! (This has the advantage that you only download the important bits and not the sidebar and/or advertising of the source site/blog.

Often a pin links to the original pattern on ravelry. This is another great place to dive into ideas and patterns. I have mentioned about it before!

What is your source of crochet (and knitting) inspiration?

Here you can see my recent haul when I went to visit Germany :

Two crochet books: Pixel Haekeln and Granny Squares,
one knitting book: Cardigans stricken,
One crochet bookazine (Simply Haekeln) , 1 filet crochet mini magazine (filethaekeln) and 1 general craft magazine (Selbst gemacht)


I will try to tell you more about interesting things in them once I have 'digested' them a bit more.  I can tell you that the bookazine from Simply Haekeln (Haekelmode) is already a great favourite, there are things I definitely want to make!!! I just need more time....

Two of the magazines also included free crochet hooks, yippee!



A Sunday walk in Boom

I leave you below with some nice spring photos I took last Sunday, we went to Boom (which is a small town near us, where we went for a little walk around the park there! It was such a beautiful day!

Are you enjoying the nice spring weather?

Hello Spring! Travels through Germany, Visit to a Bison Wildlife Park

Welcome back to another new week, dear blog friends!


I hope you enjoyed the weekend, finally we had some Spring sunshine!!!

First of all, thank you so much for all your lovely blog comments, they are much appreciated and I always love reading them. Your encouragement and enthusiasm helps to drive me on to new things!

Also, a warm welcome to my newest followers! Make yourselves at home and feel free to join in! I look forward to hear from you, don't be shy!

You might have seen from some of my recent replies to your comments that I have been away last weekend. We went on a trip to the east part of Germany - to a place called Altenburg. We go there every year as there is a music festival which we visit.

On our drive home, we passed a town called Schwalmstadt-Treysa where we had a delicious lunch.
This is a picture of the town hall, you can see that the sun wasn't shining that warmly but nevertheless people enjoyed sitting outside and having ice creams!

If you are interested, you can find more info about Schwalmstadt here!
It seemed a nice town geared towards tourists and visitors with restaurants and many shops.


Wisent-Wildnis am Rothaarsteig (Bad Berleburg)

Back on the road, I noticed a sign for a wildlife park, so we decided to follow it! After about 20km cross country drive we finally got there!

It was for Wisent which is the German name for Wild Bison. At one time they became nearly extinct. Therefore conservationists are working to bring them back.

Wild Bison at Wisent Welt - Photo copyright Wisent Welt

I took some photos, but unfortunately the bison were pretty far from the fences. Their habitat was very large.

From the wildlife park wisent welt website you can find a lovely picture gallery and even videos. The site and entire communication on there is in German, but you might find it interesting nevertheless.

Apparently this Wildlife Park is unique in Europe - letting the bison roam through woodland. There are no cages! However, there is a large fence that protects the animals.

The visitors have to hike across uneven terrain through pine forests, there are no fortified footpaths as such. Part of the fun is exploration and discovery. It is very hilly.

 

 

Last, not least, if you are interested in more information here is a Link for Wikipedia.

I hope you enjoyed this travel post today. There will be more crochet news soon again, I promise!

Have you ever been to a wildlife park? Which animals did you see? Where was this?

A colourful Granny Square Crochet Bag, some nice New Yarn, a Sunday walk and Ombre knitting

Hello all,

Thanks for your kind responses to my latest projects. I know you are curious to see what I made out of all those granny squares I was busy with!

I can show you now - I made a new bag and it is finished!

A colourful Granny Square Crochet Bag

Side A of the Granny Square Crochet Bag

Side B of the Granny Square Crochet Bag

How to make this bag:

Here you can see a few of the steps that shows how I made the bag. First I worked out that I needed a total of 28 squares. I had seen instructions for making a small bag out of 17 squares, but I wanted mine to be a bit bigger.

Crocheting some squares while enjoying my cup of tea!

Squares of various sizes

I used Scheepjeswol Stone Washed and a 3mm hook. I crocheted 5 rounds with different colours for each squares. (In theory you could make the squares any size!)

Before I started attaching the squares to each other, I laid out all the squares on the table how I liked them best.

Squares laid out in the shape of the bag

I tried to balance colours on both sides of the bag similarly.

Using purple for crocheting the squares together.

Crocheting the squares together

The bottom of the bag

The bag from above, opened up

The handles were sewn to the sides

Initially my plan was to crochet some straps, but then I found a suitable strap at Wolle Roedel, a wool shop in Germany on our visit this past weekend.

I have already used my new bag, but I'm considering lining it with fabric still.


Some nice New Yarn

I also found  some pretty Linnen yarn in Germany, here is a photo of my purchases. You can see the bag handles underneath the Knit-Pro tips.

In a bookshop I got a new hobby book on making Stampers and Printing!

Here in Belgium  I bought some more Rowan colourscape Chunky wool which I will use to sort out an old WIP.

Rowan Colourscape Chunky and Scheepjeswol Stone Washed

And yesterday I discovered some new shaeds of Fenna yarn!!!! I'm currently trying out a new crochet stitch.

Hello new FENNA!

Ombre knitting

Meanwhile I started on another knitting project. I'm trying to mix yarns to create an ombre effect. The yarn is Drops Alpaca Silk Brushed. It feels incredibly soft. Here are the first two colours.

A Sunday walk


On Sunday we went for a nice little walk around a public park domein called Vrijbroek near Mechelen. It was still quite cold outside, so we wrapped up warm!

The Road less travelled (it was closed due to safety concerns!)

Fishing lake

Impressive clouds

Walking along water

Rhododendron with flower buds

The Rose Garden

My Harlequion Blanket

Recently I took my blanket to school to talk about it and my hobby! It made me realize that I haven't worked on it for over 2 months, I really should get back to it and get it finished!!!

My big Harlequin Blanket in my first crochet Granny Square Bag

My Harlequin Blanket draped on the stairs

The problem, as always, is time! I have so many plans and ideas and I come across interesting patterns and stitches every day! I keep making lists and notes to try and hold on to it all so I won't forget! Do you feel the same?

Nevertheless, every so often, something new comes along unexpectedly and I tend to drop everything and start on yet another WIP. The above Crochet Bag took me a week and is an ideal project to do whenever you get time to make a few squares. Unlike a blanket, it is finished so much quicker!!!

Thank you all for your patience and loyalty! I hope you enjoyed reading this post and I hope to see you back soon again!

I would love hearing from you, so please leave me some comments, I love reading them!