Saturday 24 December 2011

And the winner is...

Hello lovelies!

It's time to announce the winner of the giveaway! But first a little update haha.


All is well here and everybody is enjoying a deserved holiday. Both Puck and Mr. L. love the stripy blanket that never got finished. It still needs some extra inches but when I want to continue working on it both hubby and dog snuggle under it and make it impossible. Who can blame them right?


I made some heartfelted rings by Tiny Owl Knits! It's a free pattern with a video tutorial to go with it. It was a knit a long and it was so fun to get all the supplies not knowing what the project would be. They are very easy to make and wear, this is how mine turned out: 


The picture was taken in the little sun we got here in Rotterdam. I look very tanned, I can assure you, this is an illusion ;-). You can see both the ring and my "tan" up close in the next picture:


Ok I won't tease you any longer, time to announce the winner! I enjoyed reading all of you comments about the small things you enjoyed. I drew a random number and that number represents a comment. I still don't know how to get this random number thingy on my blog so I made a printscreen:



ttttttttttttttttttttttrrrrrrrrrrrrr..................





And that is........The Craft Giraffe! Congratulations! So get a cup of tea and some needles cause you won yourself the woodland hoodlet pattern! 


I wish you and your families all a very merry Christmas and I'll see you all soon. 



Friday 16 December 2011

Liebster blog award

What a nice surprise! This morning I checked in on my blog account and I found the sweetest thing, I've been nominated for a Liebster blog award! Isn't that something? 




Liebster is a German word meaning 'dear, sweet, kind, nice, good, beloved, lovely, kindly, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing and welcome'.


The sweetheart that nominated me is Shelley from the all4meggymoo blog. I know her through the One a day group and we check each others blog for progress we are making with our projects but also for support and to show each other some looooove. Thank you Shelley, I feel so lucky to get this award!


The idea of the Liebster blog is to give upcoming smaller blogs that you love and follow some credit. Isn't blogland a beautiful place? The blogs nominated cannot have more than 200 followers. 



The rules for the Liebster Award are:
1. Give a big virtual thank you hug to the person who nominated you. 
2.Share the love by revealing your top 5 picks and let them know!
3. Copy and paste the award on your blog post.


So, my top 5 in random order:

  1. Diemie over haar toeren: a Dutch blog by Diemie. She is a very kind and loving person and also my first follower. She has been around this blog from the beginning and she has become a very good friend. It has been a bit quite at her blog, but I am sure that when see has some more time she will put up some great posts again. Thanks for your support Diemie!
  2. Hilly town blue: Another member of the One a day group. She is a loving mum with two little ones which appear in her blog next to a lot of beautiful pictures and projects! She blogs very frequent and it is very relaxing to read her posts. 
  3. Crafts from the Cwtch: Look at her new layout! Her blog just got even more pretty! Her blog is on fire, she posts a lot! I envy her for all those posts full of inspiration. She also makes her own patterns and shares it for free. She definitely deserves an award. She is also a very caring and kind person that shows a lot of support and is always around for a nice comment. 
  4. Nicole and the Bee: Her blog is a very warm and lovely place to be around. She is a very talented person. She can knit, she can crochet, she can blog. Her posts often have a nice pinch of cynicism which always make me laugh! 
  5. Haak-en-Stekie: I found this blog (again) through the One a day group. It is written by a wonderful lady named Stel. She makes very pretty projects and I love that she shares a bit of her world. She lives in South-Africa which so intriguing. I also love that she writes in her own language (which is similar to Dutch!) and in English. Always around to say hi. 
Take a little peek in there worlds and I hope you enjoy them just as much as I do. 


xxx Suzanne

Tuesday 13 December 2011

16 hexipuffs and 50 followers

I think many of you feel the same way, having a blog changes how you look at things in live. For some reason you start to notice the small things that seemed insignificant before.


Treating yourself with some homemade cake and coffee, capturing the dog dreaming about running wild on the beach, the joys that come with the seasons like flowers and chestnuts.

This is one of the things that make my blog a special place where I can look back at a lot of special moments and gives me the chance to see special moments of others! But what makes it a really special place, are the other residents that are part of this little town in blogland. They show love, support, interest and more love.
 I appreciate it so very much! We’re nearing the end of 2011 and I never would have imagined that my blog would become an important part of my life. So I want to celebrate that 50 lovely people are following my blog at the moment. I also want to say a BIG thanks to you all!

So I am organizing a giveway, hurray! Since I am obsessed lately by all the pretty patterns of Tiny Owl Knits and enchanted by the magic of hexipuffs, the prize of this giveway will be a pattern of your choice from Tiny Owl Knits! I emailed the creator of these wonderful patterns and she was thrilled about the idea so this giveaway is a gift from Miss Stephanie herself! She is just the sweetest person in the world….ok maybe the second sweetest person (my mom’s the sweetest ;-)). 


Look for example at these ones. Just a tiny selection of all the wonderful patterns she made, look here for all the patterns she offers. 

So, what do you have to do if you want to win a free pattern? 

Leave a comment stating which small thing you recently enjoyed. 

State which pattern you would like to receive. 

I'll be drawing a winner randomly from the comments, but it has to be a comment from a follower. This is a 50 followers celebration after all. No worries, new followers can also participate!


You can participate until Friday the 23rd of December. I will announce the winner the next day.  


I'll leave you with a photo of a sweet little hexipuf, I have 16 right now! It was stolen by my dog, look at his face! He just knows it's mine, hand it over now naughty dog!

Hop over to Gingerbread girl blog for more crafty talents! 


Friday 9 December 2011

Writer's block


A writer's block, that’s what they call it. 

I’ve been suffering from it lately and I’m fed up with it. I haven’t blogged for almost two weeks! Normally ideas for crochet projects pop into my head all the time, with no time to finish them all. Normally I have to fight my enthusiasm for all the things I want to craft, but right now I’m only fighting my laundry and dishes haha.

It might be due to the fact that all is grey and rainy here in Rotterdam:


I need some sunshine and warmth. Someone buy me a tropical island please! I look like an Eskimo when I walk the dog fighting harsh cold wind and even hail. It does give me an excuse to make some more knitted softness though,…..





….







Nope, even that doesn’t inspire me enough, *sigh*. But, there is one thing that offers some light to the end of this tunnel:


Hexipuff mania!

They are my salvation. No thinking how and what, just puffing away. Each one a small little project with its own colors, squishiness and flaws (look at the huge pink one, it needs to go on a diet haha). They are all unique and I love them. I take them with me all the time. I still have to make the perfect hexipuff bag, for now they are in a little felted pouch that I made.



I wanted to do dome felting after I saw this post on the Crochet with Raymond blog. I will defenitely make another felted bag for my needles! This one isn't perfect but it’s nice and soft, it's like the puffs are sitting in a cloud. 



When you are working on you puff you can turn the hem and the bag will turn in to a basket! 


I even took my hexi-kit with me to dinner with my little brother, eating my favorite dish: sushi! You should have seen the faces of the people sitting next to our table: “why is she making a picture of a little wooly…thingy?” Hilarious!


I have 14 hexipuffs right now, and they just continue growing in numbers. I wanted to make a pillow with them, but now I really want to make a quilt. I really keep it up it will be a reall big ol’quilt by the end of 2012. I’ll keep you posted on the hexi-mania.

Speaking of which, tune in again for my next post. My blog has 50 (!!) followers, my oh my, and that needs some celebration. I'll be organizing a giveaway and the price will be very special and it has something to do with the kindness of Miss Tiny Owl Knits.

See you soon and let’s hope this writer's block will disappear as well as the rain.  

Tuesday 29 November 2011

One a day: Hexipuffs!

Hello lovelies!

Well, the moment is here. I made my first hexipuffs. Still figuring out the best way to make them perfectly shaped, but I'll get there!

Pattern Beekeeper's Quilt from Tiny Owl Knits


I'm most happy with the bottom one. The yarn is so soft and is a bliss to work with. 

But, hexipuffs are not the only thing that is in progress:


Crochet Star garland! You can find the pattern here.

And more Christmas projects, one is already done; the star ornaments from Lucy. 

Star decoration from Attic24

I'll keep it short, since there is much decoration needed before the end of the week! Good luck on your One a day and Christmas projects. If you're not busy with that or you have need for more gorgeous projects go here for more inspiration. 






Tuesday 22 November 2011

All I want for Christmas...

I know a lot of you are busy working on Christmas ornaments, presents or decorations. I had big plans, but unfortunately I am behind! So I decided to make a list of the things I want to make for Christmas and share it with you.

1. Little snowmen. These are knitted, I want to make a crochet version.

2. Winter hearts








Well, better get to it. Do you have any Christmas ornaments on the hook/needle? 


I want to leave you with a little youtube clip I spotted on the Easy makes me happy blog. If you like scarfs, this is a must see! 





One a day: changes

My last One a day post was in October, shame on me! I have been making a few pebble, put I didn't make one a day at all! I don't enjoy this project as much as I thought I would. And the fact that I just started a knitting journey doesn't help either. I love to learn new things and knitting is one of those. I never thought I could manage two needles instead of one hook. It looked so confusing and difficult, but fortunately we are blessed by Youtube! 


So, I have 21 pebbles right now and I have decided to leave them for a while. They are grey and sophisticated, but what I need is a bit of craziness and color. 


So, I will start a new One a day project....

Picture taken from Tiny Owl Knits on Ravelry

I tried, I tried so hard NOT to get infected by the virus going around the knitty world for a while now; the beekeeper's virus. But I just cannot resist anymore. They are too soft and squishy. 

I joined the Tiny Owl Knits Group on Ravelry since I am currently knitting Mr. Fox! And once I joined the Ravelry group I just got sucked right in the madness. It's such a crazy (in a good way) bunch of people over there, all very enthusiastic and helpful (although most of the people on Ravelry are haha). I love that the group is very active and lots of exiting things are going on. 

Picture taken from Tiny Owl Knits on Ravelry

I can see what you're thinking right now: if you can't keep the pebble rug going, how on earth will you continue working on a beekeeper's quilt? Well, I must admit that is exactly my concern. So I decided not to make a quilt, but one (or two) pillows. That should be a fine goal right? 

For those of you that don't know the beekeepers quilt, I want to direct you to a little video that the designer made. See  if you can resist making them after you watched ;-). 


Friday 18 November 2011

Mitten Mania


They are finished! My very first double pointed needle project. There are so many tiny errors made and they are far from perfect, but it’s a first step in a world of many more dpn projects. I loved this journey and I can really recommend the pattern that I used.  


The only thing I found confusing was the “turning round”. In the pattern you start off with some knitting rounds and a turning round. I was confused, starting with knitting? How about this little picot edge? Well, no worries. The picot edge is made by turning the hem, so you fold the edge to the inside of your mitten and sew it.


On the left you see my mitten with the hems not turned yet. On the right the hems are turned and sewn to the inside. 



I hope you understand what I mean haha. 

I really enjoy them although I might add one extra thing. I want to add a little ribbon waved through the lacy part at the bottom of the mitten. I am not sure about what color to use though….blue…or just plain white….Any suggestions? 

Good thing Puck also enjoys my soft mittens haha. 


Wednesday 16 November 2011

Polar tea cozy


Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, it is soooo cold right now in Holland. I have to hurry up and knit me some warm mittens and hat! Inspired by the freezy breezy outside world, a warm and cozy project was made with a hot cup of tea. 

My third tea cozy! One of them was a present for my mom and I never blogged about it and the other one was for my mother in law. This one however, is allll mine. It's not suffisticated, it's not classy or vintage, it's corny and cute and even a bit childish. But I don't care about that, I love it! Want to see it? 











here we go......














TADAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA:







Do you like it? On to the details:

I used the knitting pattern of Alice for the base of the cozy (THANK YOU Alice, for sharing this pattern! It has been a huuuuge help). I knitted with needles size 5.0 mm since my yarn was a bit more bulky. I used very cheap blue yarn from a dutch store called Zeeman and adjusted the amount of stitches to cast on (I only  casted on 60 stitches). I also think my tea pot is smaller.

I did a little simple single crochet edge so it didn't curl anymore and a small button for the closing it at the handle.

I randomly made some crochet circles for the floes (I am not sure what I did so I don't have a pattern, I am very sorry!). And then, I made these little super cute (excuse me for sounding arrogant :p) baby penguins and a little baby seal! I made the patterns myself and I wrote the penguin pattern down so you can all make some very cute baby penguins for your own cozy, in the Christmas tree or on a key chain. I am so pleased I can finally present you with something finished, it has been too long haha. I'll leave you with the pattern for the baby penguin.


Baby penguin

This pattern is using the "crochet in the continual round" technique, used for a lot of amigurumi projects. 

sc = Single crochet (this would be double crochet in the UK)
dec = decrease, single crochet two stitches together

Magic Ring: check here for a clip on how to use the magic ring. You can also chain 4 and join to form a ring, but this will leave a small hole. 

Head
With black cotton and a crochet hook size 3.0 mm (US size 2.5 I believe):

1.
Make a magic ring
Stitches:
2.
6 sc in the ring, pull ring tight
6
3.
2 sc in each stitch
12
4.
*1 sc, 2 sc in next stitch* repeat until end of the round
18
5. – 8.
Sc. around
18
9.
*sc 7, dec 1* repeat until end of the round
16

Fasten off.




Body
With grey yarn with a bit of mohair and hook size 3.0 mm:

1.
Make a magic ring
Stitches:
2.
6 sc in the ring, pull ring tight
6
3.
2 sc in each stitch
12
4.
*1 sc, 2 sc in next stitch* repeat until end of the round
18
5.
*sc8, 2 sc in next stitch* repeat until end of the round
20
6.
*sc 8, dec 1* repeat until end of the round
18
7.
*sc 7, dec 1* repeat until end of the round
16
8. - 10.
Sc. Around
16

Fasten off leaving long tail for sewing



Arm (make 2)
With same hook and yarn as used for body:

1.
Make a magic ring
Stitches:
2.
4 sc in the ring, pull ring tight
4
3. – 4.
Sc around
4

Fasten off leaving long tail for sewing



Tail
With same hook and yarn as used for body:

Chain 5 and connect to the first chain to form a ring. Fasten off leaving a long tail to sew


Cut out a face from white or cream colored velt and a beak from grey colored velt. Glue the white and grey velt pieces to the head. Stick two small black eyes through the velt in the head.

Stuff the head and the body firmly and sew them together.

Sew the tail and the arms to the body.


Hugs and kisses from me and sleepy Puck! 


P.S: If you have any questions, please email me :-)

Friday 11 November 2011

little update

Just wanted to say hi to you all! I am alive haha. I want to share a special trip with you, we went to Germany. We drove for three hours and we arrived at our destination: Piesberg near Osnabrugge. That's the beauty of living in Holland. Just drive a few hours and you are in another country with another language and different habits. I totally love it. 

But why would we go there? Well, we went on a mission. 





We went on fossil hunting in a quarry. Another hobby of me and my family we are doing once in a while. We have collected quite some nice pieces already, including some tiny fish! This time the hunt was for plants and insects and also crystals. They have being lying around here for over 300 million years, time for them to be found! 

Of course you need some protection when going to a quarry. Don't we look a cute with our little helmets and all the smudges on our cheeks? Do you see how tall my baby brother is? He is a giant! And Mr. L. who also joined the trip is so tiny like me, I think our kids will be midgets. 



Splitting and checking every stone for treasure.


You feel pretty small when sitting in such a massive pit, surrounded by an ancient world. What a teeny weeny lifespan humans have if you look at the time scale of our lovely planet. I find it hard to imagen and it makes me so curious!

Here is an example of some treasure we brought home: 



I won't go on rambling about fossils and stones, this is a yarny blog after all. And yarn is getting higher on the agenda right now, since it is WEEKEND. Weeehooooee. Let's check some of the boxes on my waaaaaaaaaay to long to-make list. Many of them involve Christmas projects and it is going so fast! I also have some more soft stones to make (it seems I am still rambling on about stones haha :p) for my rug and I am working on a very cute tea cozy if I can say so myself. Can't wait to share!

Have a nice and hopefully yarny weekend. 

xxx Suzanne

Thursday 3 November 2011

mitten madness

It's been awefully quiet here at Crea in the City. I have been away some time from blogland and I missed it very  much! Life has been passing by so fast. But, I have decided to make some time for a little post on my mittens.

I am not really a knitter, I find it complicated and I always manage to let my stitches slip of the needles. But I have practiced a lot and seen a lot of youtube clips and know I do see the beauty and the fun in knitting. I have tackled my fear for double pointed needles and my first mitten is done! 


I love the lace effect it has on the bottom and the top.


There are a lot of mistakes in this project, I tend to make the second one much neater. But overall I am pretty pleased with it. I never thought I could work on DPN's or make a thump gusset! I didn't know some things that were written in the pattern. 

How to get the circle started for example? I found the answer here in this clear video. Don't forget to put a stitch marker on your first knitted stitch to keep track of the rounds. 

With the thump gusset I got a little scared, make 1? What is make 1? Placing the stitches on waste yarn? I found a lot of help in this clip. It's a clip about making mittens and this part is all about making a thump gusset. I found it very useful. 

The pattern is really well written and if you just follow it, you should be fine. There was some confusion at the beginning though about how to get the edge of the mitten with a sort of picot edge. I just start following the pattern. You turn the hem at the end of the project at the top and bottom of the project. So you "fold" the first and last part of your project to the inside and attached by sewing. So you make 4 of the lace rounds with the little holes, but you will see only 2. I should have made some pictures to make it more clear, I will try to do so with the second mitten. 

I plan to make some more mittens, because once you get the idea it is really easy. So let's get busy with my second mitten! 



Tuesday 25 October 2011

Tuesday's Tallies: a knitty distraction


It’s Tuesday already! The pebble has increased in numbers to 17 pebbles. Yep, I only did 4 this week Shame on me! But I have a very good reason.


A lot of distraction this past week, we had a holiday here in Holland! What better way to celebrate autumn than with having some free days. Free days is great, but it didn’t provide us with a lot of ‘free’ time. I had a little mom and me time (which was very necessary, I see her so little since I starting living together with my B-friend). We had a little baby-sitting day with my cute nephew (he is now 10 months) and it went well! *Mr. L. and I are not really baby persons yet*. Next to these nice events we had one very special day, we went to the forest with my parents, brother, uncle, aunt and kin. We went to Putten, a cute little town with a lot of nature surrounding it. We go there every year. 

The wooden cottage looks like it comes straight from a fairytale.


We made some pumpkin soup on the fire.



We walked through the trees and stopped sometimes to spot any hiding wild life and to make some pictures. Strike a pose little bro! *yep, the giant is my little brother*


Do you see the Viking hat? I made that one with a combination of patterns. I will try to find some time to put it on paper.  In the second picture I sort of attacked my bro with the intension of knocking him over...I failed....miserable haha. I look a little like a horse, but I thought it was a good picture to show the spirit of the day! We had great fun. 



So a lot of activities going on, but there was still time to snuggle on my sofa with a little project. But it wasn’t crochet I was most busy with, I started knitting again! I went browsing on Ravelry and I knew I wanted to make something with cables. They have such a sophisticated feel to them. So I started to make a pillow cover based on this pattern. I only make a front with yarn and use fabric for the back. I haven’t found the right fabricyet, so not really a tada. But it won’t be long!

Since this went pretty well (I never worked with cabels before, so I was a bit proud), I tackled another ‘scary’ knitting project….Double pointed needles! Aaaaaah, they are so scary! Working with two needles is already double the amount I used to work with and now working with FOUR?! But I really, really, really have wanties for warm mittens like these…and they can only be made with circular or dpn’s.



I'm not sure if this will work out, but I’ll keep you posted on the progress of this project. 

Sigh, I think I will continue my stripy granny blanket tonight. So easy, so fast! 

Thank you for all your lovely comments and support! Check here for more inspiring One a day projects. 


xxx Suzanne