Grannysquares galore

So fun to make, I'm addicted!

Got hooked

A long long time ago at school, I was very disappointed when my teacher refused to teach me how to crochet. Of all the things we had to do (knitting, sewing and embroidering, while the boys had much more fun with carpenting and painting) I really really wanted to make those brown and orange (yes we're talking 1978-ish, me being 6 or 7) pillowcases the other girls were chrocheting. But I was lefthanded (still am) and my teacher said she was not able to show me how to do everything the other way around. My grandmother took pity and teached me to double crochet, but we both lost interest very soon.
So crocheting remained something I wanted to learn, sometime.
Until last week. I got Debby Stoller's book from the library, my hooks (also handy for picking up dropped stitches in knitting) and some cotton and started crocheting. The normal way, righthanded, I knit that way too.
I crocheted a whole evening and frogged everything. I crocheted another evening and frogged that too. I crocheted and frogged for a week and than decided my work finally looked like something.
So, here's my first FO in crocheting: potholders. Very simple, just single crochet and double crochet, but I'm kind of proud of it...

Curtains

I finished the curtains, but I can't get a good picture, the light outside is too bright. This is the best I can do.
Before:

After:

Now the chair needs a new cover, it looks terrible with the new curtains. But I think there will be some smaller projects first.

Some FO's

Yes, I still do some knitting, I just never got around to posting these.
A top, my own design. very simple. It didn't work out exactly the way I wanted it, but it's wearable..

One of the things that bothered me about the top were the seams on the sides. So I decided to try circular needles. This dress is rather thight, with a haltertop and no back. I don't know if I'll ever wear it, but it was fun making it. Knitting on circular needles is rather mindless, but I like the seamlessness. I think I'll be making another top on these.

I'm still working on a blanket, logcabin design. I finished the first block, still at least eleven to go (the blocks are about 40 x 40 cm, I want at least a blanket of 120 cm x 160 cm, maybe even bigger.

Little things - 2

Things that make my day: finding "The Good Life" on tv-links. I love that show, but have never seen the first season. I do have the last episodes on the recorder though and can't watch the final episode without crying. Stupid, I know.
I really like what this show is all about. Not that we are planning to go selfsufficient (well, I did look in to it and it's just not possible) but it's still an example of how you could turn your life around. And of course I love Barbara's very positive look on life. Inspiring...

Little things

Little things can make or break my days. Lots of breaking going on lately.
Like just now. Going to the kitchen to get myself a nice lunch and discovering the pastasauce I was preparing for tonight (my parents are coming over for diner), had been bubbling over the pan. Half the stove and the white tiles behind it are now a colourful orange dotted pattern. And I had just finished cleaning the house...
Well, going to do some damage control now, before I finish hemming the curtains...

A splash of color

We decided that we want a bit more color in the livingroom. Everything matches, but the wood (panels on 1 wall and the ceiling, stairs and wainscoting), brown, red and beige. We like the wood, so we are not painting that white (like most people we know say we should do).
We are trying a different approach. DH is changing the purple panels of our big cupboard and I am doing the fabric stuff (pillows, upholstery and curtains). I started with the curtains because I found this wonderful fabric at the market. Black with bright blue (much brighter than in the picture).


It will be a while before I can show you the endresult though: I'm too stubborn to use heading tape, so I'm sewing in every pleat myself. All 50 of them!

Hogwarts Robe

I made a Harry Potter robe for DD E., who is going to a Harry Potter camp this monday. E. is Ravenclaw, not Gryffindor, that's why the lining is blue and the tie is grey/blue.
The blouse, the shoes and the tie we bought at a thriftstore. The skirt is also from the thriftstore, but I made it shorter and thighter.
For the robe I had no pattern, but I usedthis pictures as inspiration and I think it looks rather similar.

Bag making binge

I'm back... And I have been on a bag making binge. Saturday I took nine bags with me when we went visiting my parents for my mothers birthday. Three of them I made a few weeks ago, six of them I made last week.
My mother and sister each took two, my three daughters each choose one. I use one for my knitting, so I've got only one left. But not for long, because I have lots of plans. I have a stash of fabric I don't really like, but I want to use what I have first for exercise and trials.

Here they are:
Remember this one? I took it apart. The lining went into this bag:

And the outside got a different, brighter lining and a different closure.

(I'm using the brown one for my knitting, the other one is waiting for someone who does like the fabric (it's a bit dull)..)

From fabric I had left over after sewing a bag for my camera I made this simple but sturdy tote.

(My sister loved this one and was happy to take it with her)

These are libary/grocery bags. Both have pockets, the brown one a front and an inside pocket, the greenstriped one an inside pocket. They are not very big, but big enough to roomly fit about sixteen magazines (the "leesmap").

(My sister took the brown, my mother the greenstriped. I hope they are as sturdy as I hoped they would be.)

Another, bigger, tote:

(My mother choose this one, because it's so roomy.)

Experimenting with pleads:

(DD E. liked the fabric I used for the lining a lot.)

And a different model, using tutorial .

(DD D. loved it as soon as she saw me making it!)

My first messengerbag with flap. The boring fabric again, but the model worked out okay. A big pocket inside.

(DD M. choose this one, but I think I will make here another bag with what is left from the blue bags her sisters chose. I sensed a bit of that-one-is-not-too-bad going on when she found out her sisters already kind of claimed the blue ones.)

So off to make more bags. And finish a dress, some pillows and a turtle. But first I have to make DD E. a Harry Potter robe for a HP-camp she will go to next week.