Happy Apples & Colorful Ghosts

Happy FO Friday everyone! I'm still feeding my addiction on the little Innocent hats. Wanted to show you my happy apples, and my colorful ghosts! Oh and don't forget to enter my give away!

 

Fijne Vrijdag iedereen! Ik ben nog steeds verslaafd aan die kleine Innocent mutsjes. Wilde even de goedgemutste appeltjes, en kleurrijke spookjes laten zien! Oh en vergeet niet om mee te doen met mijn give away!

100 Ravelry Projects! Give Away!

I didn't even see it untill today! But I have 100 ravelry projects! 4 WIPs + 5 froggies + 7 hibernations + 84 FO's = 100 Ravelry projects! Yay!

Is that cause for a give away or what?! Since it's nearly December, I thought the give-away should be a little bit Christmassy, no? For a little bit of last-minute Christmas crafting? I like it to be a bit of a surprise, but here's a sneak-peek of a few items that will be in the give-away!

 

 

As I said, those are just a few items that are in the give away.. If you'd like to enter please leave your email in the comment! You don't have to be on Ravelry, and I don't mind where it's being posted to so don't worry about that!

Give-away closes on December 5th!

A new addiction?

Inspired by a friend that was talking about making a scrapbook for her boyfriend, I made my own first scrapbook! We had holiday pictures gathering dust in our house, and I remembered that I also saved al the memorabilia of that holiday.  Airplane tickets, actitivy vouchers, hotel invoices, dinner menu's and so on... So I bought a bit of fancy-paper at the eurostore and I started scrapping!
Here's a peak at my work-in-progress!

 

It's my first scrapbook, so be kind judging me please..

 

Do you scrapbook? I think it's fun! Especially when it's dark and rainy outside, and you're reminiscing about your super-tropical-jungle vacation in Asia!

 

 



This could be a new addiction! How dangerously exciting!

Hat-Mania! // Muts-Mania!!

These little Innocent hats....
1) they're fun to make
2) they're easy to make
3) you can use your imagination
4) they're quickly finished
5) they're fun to look at
6) they're for charity
7) they don't use much yarn

All in all, making these make me feel giddy and happy inside! My partner in crime and me already finished 60hats! Hat-maniaaaaa!!!

One charity at a time..

Happy Sunday all! How's life?

I sometimes have a problem of being overambitious... And this week that overambitiousness reared its head... I wanted to craft for three charity foundations all at the same time!

Typhoon Haiyan.
I had this idea and was really excited: selling handmade scarfs to friends and family and donating the profits to a charity foundation for the Philipines!

Knitten.
Knit or crochet a toy and donate them to the animal protection services. They'll sell them and use the profits to save, shelter and protect kittens.

De Goedgemutste Breicampagne.
Info here.

I had to be honest with myself. Although I'd love to, I just can't craft for all charities at once.. I'm already making blankets for the animal shelter, I already donated money to Unicef for the Philipines. So this week I had a blast with my friend making little hats for Innocent. Our work in progress:

 

These little hats are really addictive! We've made many more since then and we'll get together again next Tuesday to make some more hats! It's fun having a partner-in-crime!

 

Do you have a favourite charity?

Of course I also worked on my YoP list! I already posted on WIP Wednesday and an FO Friday so I'll try not to repeat myself and tell you what happened since then. Baby Koizumi and Mommy found their way to their new home! They'll be nestling in with a newborn babyboy who has a owl-themed room! They were received with much joy, tee hee! More on their story here!

I started on the Bowtie Necklace and it's finished! It was an cute small project and I had fun making it! Little Bow Peep :)

I really wanted to cast on a knitting project and since I'm a newknitter, I tend to opt for something small or easy. I started on my Bag-Away Blanket.

And since I had a friend who invited me to her baptism today, I decided to crochet her a cross bookmark.

That's all for today! Updated list can be found here! Have a lovely week!

 

FO Friday!

Bonjour mes amis! I just completed Baby Koizumi and Mommy and I am really excited to share!

 

 

Koizumi means "little spring" in Japanese.

 

 

Baby Koizumi and Mommy like to snuggle inside when the weather is cold. They like sitting on and reading old books. "It will make you wise" Mommy says.

 

 

When I first followed the original pattern (here!) I got the baby-sized owlet which I thought was amazingly cute, but I also wanted a bigger sized owl. So I improvised a bit and voilá! There was mommy! (she's about 20cm high) Have you ever 'supersized' a from pattern?

 

Happy Friday!

WIP Wednesday

Hello you! I have so many WIPs at the moment, I thought I'd write a WIP Wednesday post!

 

Since my last YoP post on Sunday, I've been working on the basketweave stitch - crochet and knit version.. I wanted to learn the basketweave stitch and see the difference between the knit and crochet version.. Crochet works up bigger and quicker than knit, but the crochet.version was also a lot more defined then the knit-version. I´m not sure whether it was the yarn or just my not-so-great knitting skills, but I kept frogging and casting on again! In the end I decided I wasn´t going to do this to myself another time so I´ve decided I´m trying again - at a later time - with bigger needles and thicker yarn. Meanwhile hears a pic of the crochet-version! It´s called ´Boxing with Basketweave´ (which I thought was funny. lol!)

I think I have the hang of it now, and I´ll make this project into a snuggle-blanket and donate it to the animal shelter.
I´ve also started working on Baby Koizumi and Mommy, little amigurumi owlets. So far, I just adore Baby Koizumi, but his mommy is still a WIP. Here´s a picture!

 

And I´ve made progress on my `It´s a Wrap´ infinity scarf. It´s funny how there are no written instructions, but a video on how to make this scarf. Plot twist!

Now for my older WIPS... My Retro Lulu headband is kind of... misplaced? I have one more place to check before I just start on another one. I wanted to make a different color anyway..

My Autumn Everyday Scarf is really calling my name lately.. But I´m also really tempted to frog it completely and use the yarn to make another scarf. I do love the color combination, but I don´t love that I didn´t use a pattern. Dilemma, dilemma..

As for my Tinkerbunny and my Funky Fingerless Mits, I don´t think they´ll be getting much attention this week. Maybe next week! Untill soon!

Helping the Philipines

Quote from Knit York City blog: "It’s hard to help every time disaster strikes around the world but hearing about the enormity of the damage done in the Philippines is really shocking.  The knitting community is always one of the first to jump in and make a difference. Often times it means monetary donations but we love making things for those in need. That’s something that I really love – we’re givers."

Couldn't have said it better myself! However, we need to make sure we are doing what is best for the disaster area. The people in the Philippines need water and relief workers, and right now, the best way to get that help to them is to donate money to a relief organization. Crafters are an amazingly caring group of people. Please continue the tradition of caring by doing what’s best for the disaster-struck region. Here's a list of knit-inspired fundraising:

Mason-Dixon knitting will give you 3 of their blanket patterns for free if you donate $20.00 or more to Mercy Corps (until November 24)

Ricefield collective decided to donate 10% of all theirr sales to local relief organizations in the region.

P/Hop has several crochet and knitting patterns to download, and you can donate an amount (of your choice) which will be used by Doctors Without Borders.

If you know any other fundraisers that should be added to this list, please comment!

De Goedgemutste Breicampagne // The Innocent Smoothie "Big Knit"

For every knitter / crocheter who lives in the Netherlands and doesn't know yet! Innocent smoothies invites us to make little hats for their bottles!


As many as 24,000 older people die needlessly because of the cold every winter. Many others spend the time lonely and isolated, unable to heat their homes and struggling to get out and about.
So ten years ago we had an idea. We asked some older people, and some younger people, to knit little woolly hats. We put those hats on our smoothies, and for each one sold we made a donation to het Nationaal Ouderenfonds.
For each behatted smoothie bottle we sell, we give 20eurocent to het Nationaal Ouderenfonds to spend on things like hot water bottles, blankets, hot meals and social gatherings.

For more information, click here!

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Aan iedereen die haakt en/of breit en het nog niet weet: Innocent Smoothies nodigt ons uit om mutsjes te maken voor op hun flesjes!


In januari dragen al onze kleine flesjes zelfgebreide wollen mutsjes. Voor elke verkochte goedgemutste smoothie gaat er 20 cent naar het Nationaal Ouderenfonds, die er gezellige dingen voor eenzame ouderen van organiseert.
Doordat veel ouderen wat slechter ter been raken, komen ze minder buiten de deur en daarom is er de BoodschappenPlusBus. Die komt regelmatig voorrijden om met elkaar (en de NOF vrijwilligers) iets gezelligs te doen. Zo kom je nog eens iemand tegen en ben je lekker buiten de deur. Het Nationaal Ouderenfonds heeft een aantal bussen in Nederland en die zijn allemaal een reuze groot succes.  De rekensom is simpel. Hoe meer mutsen, hoe meer we het Nationaal Ouderenfonds kunnen steunen. Nu kunnen we zelf geen 125.000 mutsen breien, dus we hopen dat jullie ons een handje willen helpen. Brei één muts, of honderd (of iets daar tussenin) en we maken er samen een succes van.

Klik hier voor meer informatie!

Feel Good Movie of Nala

Hi all!

I just wanted to share this movie of little Nala playing in her nest.. Sound on!

 

 

She seems happy, doesn´t she?

Projects Galore

This week has been crazy busy. Next to wedding-planning with fiance, I had tons of 'dates' with friends to catch up because we didn't see eachother for a long time, and one dinner with my niece who I hadn't seen for 6years! We both already felt bad for not seeing eachother for so long, but to make matters worse she'd moved to Amsterdam 2years ago and we're living about 6blocks from eachother! Luckily we both made it to dinner this week and we had a great time, like we'd never been apart for so long! And we've already made plans for our next get-together, so no more 6year-break!

Now, on to YoP 'cause I've been busy crafting too! There's been an abundance of projects! First off, I finally finished my Christmas Present Beanies for my nephews and nieces! Yay!

And I finished the final Christmas Present to send to Canada > these hotpads for my Aunt. And off to the postoffice it went! (the box with presents, that is)

 

 

Most exciting (for me at least) was that a friend had asked me to make something she could gift! She doesn't crochet or knit but she'd seen some stuff I made and wants to pay me for 'my services'! Isn't that a kick? And I'm lucky that I found a pattern that says: 'you're welcome to sell from my pattern'

 

Then I decided to make a little something for me, and I made these easy boot cuffs and put the pattern - if that's what you can call it - on ravelry! Here´s a little pic!

 

 

And, since I decided last week that I wanted to learn more different stitches, I've begun on the bastketweave stitch. There's a crochet version and a knit version and I'm doing both at the same time, with a 4mm crochet hook and 4mm knitting needles so I can see the differences between both! Needless to say the crochet version works up much more quickly. 

 

My last WIP started this week is an crochet infinity scarf (no pictures yet). I feel like I´ve gone a bit overboard in my enthusiasm.. I hope I´ll be working away some of my WIPs next week, instead of starting more projects and adding to my WIPs! Happy week everyone!

 

 

My updated YoP list here!

 

Ps! I've just uploaded a movie of my kitten Nala in her crocheted catnest! It's here!

Crochet Converse Slippers ~ Anybody know Finnish?

Lovely Converse Slippers, and it's a free crochet pattern! Translated by electronic translator and it needs improvment. Know finnish? Hop over to Handimania.

Crocheted Cat Nest

It's so amazing to have a cat! This little Kitty really brightens up my day, everyday! She loves hiding out in little nooks so I thought I'd make her a nest where she can play and sleep in! Get ready for some pictures of her and her kittybed! (Free crochet pattern here)

Easiest boot cuffs!

The easiest boot cuffs ever!

5mm knitting needles
Cast on 42 stitches
K3 (P2, K2) to the last 3 stitches, P3
When you've made 4rows, you can see your ribbing, work in ribbing untill you have your desired length
Bind off loosely
Cut off yarn making sure you have enough left to sew 2sides together
Sew sides together
Enjoy!

It's a Happy Sunday!

Happy Sunday Everybody! I just have to say I'm really happy I decided to join YoP again, even if I entered late. It's nice to keep up with everybody, and it really keeps me motivated to start (and finish, even more important!) projects! So thanks guys for stopping by and sending encouraging messages!

Speaking of finishing projects, I finally finished my Sweet and Sunny Cowl! I took a picture but it's kind of dark and blurry.. I'll take a new picture soon.

I finished Nala's blankets (more kitty stuff? Enough with the crazy catlady already!). One with a pink edging that matched her pillow, and one with purple edging. I couldn't resist adding a miniture pillow to that one too!

 

 

Last but not least of the FO's this week: I finished the bookmarks to give to my aunts as Christmas presents!

I've almost finished the fifth Christmas beanie which should mean I was finishing up the last one, untill I decided I had to make one more for my youngest nephew.. I've made one for all the kiddo's (my nieces and nephews) in Canada, except for the baby! I figure I must try and make a toddler-sized beanie..

Speaking of adding to my to-do's.. I had so much fun practicing the star stitch  that I now want to explore other pattern stitches! So I'm adding to my list (full update here):

Crochet:
Jasmine Stitch // Waffle Crochet // Basic Tunisian Crochet Stitch // Pineapple Stitch // Brick Stitch // Cibele's Stitch // Crochet Moss Stitch // Basketweave Stitch

Knitting:
Lotus Flower Stitch // Checkmark Ribs // Basketweave Stitch // Diamond Grid // Ribboned Stockinette // Winding Columns // Eyelet Moss Stitch

Enthousiastic much? Definitely! Hope you all have a lovely week!

DIY Gift Bags

Hi All!

Since I've been putting together a Christmas package to send to my family overseas, I've been looking for creative and cute ideas to incorporate into the package! I wanted to make some goodie bags and found this awesome tutorial!

Using my own paper, I could easily add "Dutch" details to the Christmas package! Here are my goodie bags!

Remember, you can use any paper you want, so it's really easy to adjust to your own theme!

The Christmas package is almost ready to ship! Exciting!

Mah Sweetie Pie!

Just some pictures to show you my sweetie pie! She's just so cute and sweet to me!

 

 

She's got such a funny face sometimes! Hahaha!