Halfway YoP, how about that?

Hi lovelies! Hope everyone had as great a Christmas as we did? Ours was filled with yummy food & drinks and a lot(!) of downtime. We've seen a lot of movies, from 'The Sound of Music' to 'The Purge' to 'The Lone Ranger'  to 'Terms of Endearment'. And we started watching the 'Once Upon a Time - series'. Needles to say, I was able to do some crocheting and knitting, though I have to mention my pace was very relaxed....

I finished the Snuggle Wrap and decided it needed a crocheted border, and then the border needed an edging.. You can see some mistakes in my knitting, which I can accept since this blanket will also be donated to the animal shelter. I'm just happy I have a bit more knitting experience.

 

And as always I have made a few 'fast gratificiation'-projects, which this week were amigurumi-style catnip squids. 

 

 

I also started knitting this braided necklace, which consists of two strips which need to be put together afterwards.

... which would have been easier if Nala didn't decide she likes the necklace-strips too... (As for the squidoos? Not interested!)

 

But eventually I did manage to put it together and I'm loving it!

 

Next week there'll be a picture of me wearing it, promise! So that's that for what I did this week.

 

As for my half-year 'evaluation' of my YoP list, I'm surprised to say that most of my FO's came from my original list! I think I'm finally getting my impulsive spirit under control when it comes to starting new projects! How about that?! I'm still not sure whether I'll be able to complete my list, but I'm determined to give it a try!

 

For those who are interested, here's my updated list with FO pictures!

 



Hope, Love and Joy

Hello you. Are you ready for Christmas? We still have some groceries to do tomorrow, but other than that we're good! It's nasty outside, grey and dark with cold winds and rain, so I have no intention of going outside today. A lovely day for knitting and crochet!

I just finished my 'Boxing with Basketweave blanket'. It turned out to be a bit smaller than I expected, but I love the neon pink edging and I'm happy I learned a new crochet stitch. I'll donate the blanket to the animal shelter here in Amsterdam, since they're always asking for blankets.

The Snuggle Wrap is coming along slowly.. I still feel like a newbie at knitting and I alternate between knit and crochet projects so that ofcourse also slows down the project. But it's growing nevertheless!

And I was in the mood for a 'little, happy' project, so I made these little Knitties! I made the first kitty (right) according to the pattern, and the second kitty (left) with a 50% increase of all the numbers. I think the bow makes them look festive!

It's getting dark so I'm off lighting the candles, and snuggle up under a blanket where I'll review my YoP list to pick a new crochet project!

I wish you all an amazing Christmas, and don't forget: Enjoy!

 

Ready, Set, Deliver! // Klaar, af!

 

As you might know, we (friend+me) have been making wee little hats for Innocent from mid November (Original post here). The time has now come to deliver all the hats we've made so Innocent can put the hats on the bottles and distribute the bottled hats to stores all over the Netherlands! But how many did the two of us make?

 

(drumroll please)

 

161 hats!

ghosts, sleepy hats, striped beanies, witches hats, octopussies & kiwi's..

 

And ofcourse I'm showing some of my favourites..

 

 

Have you ever supported the Big Knit Campaign?

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Zoals jullie misschien weten, zijn wij (vriendin + en) vanaf mid November bezig geweest kleine mutsjes te maken voor de Goedgemutste Breicampagne (eerste post hier).

We hebben ze nu ingeleverd zodat Innocent de mutsjes op de flesjes kan zetten en door heel Nederland kan gaan leveren. Maar hoeveel hebben we er gemaakt?

 

(tromgeroffel ajb)

161 mutsjes!

 

En natuurlijk laat ik wat van mijn favorieten zien...

 

 

 

 

Hebben jullie weleeens meegedaan aan de Goedgemutste Breicampagne?



It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas

Fiance and me are getting more and more into the Christmas spirit! Just yesterday I made these potholders for our kitchen because I thought our potholders should be Christmassy too!

(free pattern here)

Even though I had already made these potholders earlier this week. I'm funny like that..

 

I also made Christmas signs using the "sticky letter paiting technique" (Sticky letters on blank canvas, paint with acrylics, peel off letters )

 

For fiance and me it's all about cocooning (staying inside) this Christmas. We had a big bash for lots of friends and family last year, but this year we'll lock the doors - nobody coming in, nobody going out! So we're in hoarding mode now.. "do we have enough candles, food, drink, toiletpaper etc.?" And next to that, we're deciding what we want to eat.. We are big fans of appetizers or "bites" and Pinterest is great inspiration! (If you want to friend/follow me on Pinterest, I'm here!) I'm loving the preparation of Christmas. Even though it's a bit chaotic, it's so much fun!

With the Big Knit Campaign now over (we made 161 little hats! more on that tomorrow) I expect to get more progress on my YoP items than the last couple of weeks. But now I'm off testing and tasting recipes! Bon apetito!

Updated YoP list here!

DIY Christmas Card Inspiration

A few ideas to inspire you to make your own Christmas cards (pictures only)
 

 

  

Do you make your own Christmas cards or are the holidays already hectic enough for you? ;-)

Bits and Bobs

Hello there! How are you today?

I'm a bit tired, but happy. We put our tree up yesterday. It's a big tree.. a BIG tree.. We decorated with white, glass (I mean see-through glass) and silver Christmas balls and ornaments so it's a very traditional tree.. We also have colored ornaments but I use those around the house. I still have some decorating to do, but our house already feels very Christmassy.. I just wanna stay in and enjoy it!

 

Last week I won Faith's give away and I received her package this weekend. Yay! Here's a picture of all the goodies, isn't it festive? I like it all, but I especially love the green Christmas fabric and the ribbons. And I love that Faith calls them 'Bits and Bobs'. Now to decide what to do with all the loveliness...

 

I completed It's a Wrap this week but I don't have any pictures of it yet.. The Boxing with Basketweave blanket is growing slowly, I just didn't have a lot of time to work on it this week. I'm still liking the idea of a neon edging, and have decided it'll be neon pink.

 

And!

I got me some yarn! These 100% cotton 'babies' were very cheap at 0.90 eurocent a skein so I couldn't really not buy it, could I? Plus I love love love the colors, they make me think of spring and summer.

 

Have you already put your tree up? What kind of colors is your tree? And have you ever made your own knitting/crocheted ornaments?

Crochet Christmas Trees, free patterns!

Tell me, which one of these is your favourite?
 

Christmas 'Popsicle' Ornaments by Annemarie

 

 

A trio of Christmas tree cones... by Petals to Picots

Amigurumi Christmas tree  by Lilleliis

 

Grandma Tree Tutorial at the Royal Sisters (picture by Melimelum)

 

Amigurum-tree Ornament by Vickie Howel

 

Crochet Christmas Tree Decoration by Amjaylou 

Christmas Rounds Tree Decorations by Homemade@myplace

Soft Christmas Trees at Craft.net

And the winner is...

And the winner of my give away is... Susan Dougill aka Crochet Addict UK! Yay!

I will be emailing you soon so I can send you your package asap!

Congratulations!

Putting it away!

I've always wanted to be a bit more organized than... I am. For example with jewelry. I have never ever in my life been able to put all my jewelry in one place, looking orderly.. It's Always in a big pile looking very chaotic. Or - and I don't really like to admit this - I'd just put it 'anywhere' since there wasn't really a designated place to put my jewelry to begin with. Well no more I said! So (with a little inspiration of Pinterest) I created:

1) An Earring organizer (inside right closet door)
using a large picture (collage) frame from the eurostore, 2 hooks and a bit of lace

2) Necklace hooks (inside of left closet door)
using 5 hooks, faux pearls and a bit of glue

I'm very happy with how it turned out, and kinda proud! I finally have a place to put all my jewelry! It's not in plain sight and doesn't get dusty, and the best part is that I like returning my jewelry in the right place!

Ps. Today is the last day of my Give Away!! Enter while you still can!

Hear that? That's my YoP list growing...

I will not add to my list. I will not add to my list I will not.. Okay, I give up.

Maybe it's the cold weather that sparks my enthusiasm to crochet and knit, maybe it's something else but I added ten items to my YoP list! Ten!

It all started with the mits.. Christine from itsaknittingthing made these amazing mits from this iGor Mittens pattern and I just have to make them for fiance! So onto the list they went! But once the ball got rolling I figured, if I'm naughty I might as well be really naughty! ..I really have no idea whether I'm going to be able to complete my list, but let's see what happens!

Not much progress on my WIPs actually, the Bag-Away Blanket is coming along slowly..
 

 

Same for Boxing with Basketweave. I'm into the second skein of yarn, and have decided I'll add a neon edging once the blanket is big enough. It'll either be neon green or neon pink (the pink is a bit off in this picture...)

And the reason why I'm moving along so slowly is because I'm still occupied with the Innocent campaign.. I put all little hats in a big vase because there were too many to store them in boxes, but now, I need to make more because I want to fill up the vase!! Hah! Didn't see that coming!

In the meantime I'm really enjoying this Sunday. It's dark and cold outside, but inside fiance and me have lit candles, Frank Sinatra is singing  in the background, and furry baby Nala is snuggling on my lap while I'm writing this post.. Things could be worse..

Don't forget to check out my give-away!