One a day 9: Hexipuffs around the world

Hexipuff count: 58

Pattern: the Beekeeper's quilt

Yarn: too many to mention

Tuesday is always a bit about hexipuffs here at Crea in the City, but today it was all about hexipuffs. 

I made 6 puffs this week.

Made from soft dyed merino yarn and I have some hand dyed mini skeins on the needles:

But what makes this Tuesday so special is the little package found in the mail this morning, all the way from Stamford! I didn't expect any mail, so it was quite the surprise. 

Then it hit me, the Tiny Owl Knit Hexipuff around the world swap!!!! I participate in a hexipuff swap on Ravelry. The idea is that a package with 5 hexipuffs travels around the world. When you receive the package you take a number of hexipuffs and replace these with hexipuffs from your own stash. And so I had to choose some puffs....mmmm, it was a hard decision but I picked three:

I really like them and look at the little ducky! There was also a little bag of lavender, I couldn't just let it be and it had to be mine. Mmmm, lavender. This is going to fill a hexipuff for sure. I did find out my hexipuffs are pretty big, I might need to make some with less stuffing. 

Well, I'm off to pick/make some puffs of my own to put in the package!

PS: I'm not sure if there will be a post today, but on the older post on the Gingerbread Girl blog you can find some more blogs that participate in the One a day group. 

FO friday: perfect beginner project

I have a little project that I made a while ago. When frost kicked in I had to make something to keep my ears warm, a quick project. I decided to make a headband and without further rambling let's get to the pictures: 

I loved the pattern, it was a really easy knit. I think the designer, Elisa McLaughlin, is very talented and I will definitely make more of here designs in the future. 

The pattern I used is this one and is a free one. It is knitted on straight needles using nothing but knit stitches *for some reason I a far better at knitting than purling*. You join at the end and wrap some yarn around it, it is sooooo simple. A perfect beginner project! 

I used some cheap acrylic yarn that I had in my stash in a dark purple color. I think this pattern deserves some nice cotton or wool though, that's what you get when you are on a yarn diet haha. 

Well, I pretty happy about this one. I think you should leave the smugness over here and look at other projects at Tami's Amis. There are some pretty awesome projects over there! 

Edit: if you want to make something like this and you're not a knitter, try this great crochet pattern from Stephanie Jessica Lau. 

Source: Stephanie Jessica Lau

Goodbye socks...

Remember this yarn?

I made a nice big skein from this hank, which was a bit of a hassle since I never did that. That is as far as I got, my needles haven't touched this lush yarn yet. 

I wanted to make socks, my very first socks. 

But then it hit me....

What if I mess up those socks? Shouldn't I be practicing a bit with less pretty yarn?

And if I don't mess up, this yarn will stay hidden in my shoes. What a waste! 

So, I'm very sorry to disappoint you all, I don't think I will be making socks with this yarn. I want to make something that can be seen. So back to Ravelry to search for a fitting pattern. 

It has to be wearable, since the yarn is so soft and warm.

It has to be something that can be made from 440 yards of sock yarn, I only have one skein. 

It has to be easy enough for a good knit on the sofa while watching a movie.

It has to be pretty.

I found just the thing, this scarf:

Source: Sunshinewalks

Soft merino yarn covering my neck sounds like a delight! Sure, winter is ending *hooray!*. However spring and summer can be pretty cold here in Holland. The pattern looks delicate and yet it is not complicated to knit.

I'm excited to be starting a new knitting project! Lately all I have been knitting are hexipuffs, which is great but a side project couldn't hurt.  So what do you think? Should I stick with the socks, or go with the scarf? 


Wish you all a happy Thursday!

One a day 8: Hexipuff addicted

Hexipuff count: 49

Pattern: the Beekeeper's quilt

Yarn: too many to mention

I made 6 hexipuffs this week and frogged one (it was white and therefore died/dyed *haha*), all made with yarn dyed in my kitchen. It is so much fun that I don't want to make any other hexipuffs! To come up with some color I get inspired by so many things and I thought it would be nice to share them.

Inspired by one of my favorite blogs, she uses a lot of wonderful blue and green and lives in a place with a lot of those colors nearby *jealous!*. 

Who doesn't l♥ve the food and the song by Jack Johnson

My favorite flower: tulips. Doesn't the color make you want to eat it?

Check out Gingerbread Girl for more One a day projects.

Sunday Bliss is...

....Staying in bed and allowing the dog to join, which only happens when I need to change the sheets.

Reading a 40 year old book from my Mom's collection, can you guess which book it is? 

 ♥ Dyeing yarn ♥

Making a mini skein *so soft, grin*

Knitting with the dyed yarn

♥♥♥ Wish you all a wonderful Sunday too! ♥♥♥

FO Friday, Bunting

Do you remember last weeks WIP Wednesday? I was working on some flower squares and this is what the end result is:

Some happy bunting! Not for this empty wall (I still have to figure out what to put here....), but for the balcony:

I wasn't able to make a proper picture, but I hope you get the idea. 

Details: 

Pattern: The pattern is from Rose Hip and can be found here. I made the square a little bit bigger by adding an extra double crochet row. After all the squares were made I made a long chain. While I made this chain I connected all the squares by single crochet stitches. 

Yarn: I did this with acrylic yarn from my stash (mainly Annell Rapido Fine), since I want to get rid of it haha, in a crafty way. It's fancy yarn like cotton and wool for this spoiled lady. 

Now all I have to do is to wait for some real flowers *tulips, my favorite* to come out so they can say hi to you all. 

Thank you for all your get well wishes for Mr. L., he is all better! I think it helped ;-). 

Check out some more crafty Finished Objects @ Tami's Amis. 

Happy Valentine's Day!

I managed to make 2 hexipuffs (amazing huh? Yes, that is sarcasm). One of these is very special; it is made with my own dyed yarn!  It was an exciting experiment and although I didn’t expect anything fancy, it turned out very nice! Yes, I am pretty smug about this, sorry 'bout that. Want to see?

Eeeeeeeeek, I totally love love love it! It is even in Valentine colors, how convenient. I plan to make many many more hexipuffs with my own yarn. I’ll keep you posted if I made some more!  

Speaking of Valentine, only 15% of the Dutch participate in Valentine activities. I understand why many people are skeptical about this widely commercialized day. Pink and red are in every window, all the stores trying to seduce you with mostly ugly things. Is it really a day for your loved ones or for buying hideous pink bears with sparkles? 

Some people state that you should cherish your loved ones every day and not just on Valentine’s day. I couldn’t agree more. Since this weekend Mr. L. hasn’t been very well, flue has got a grip on him. 

So a homemade smoothie full of fruity goodness, some honey and yoghurt was presented for him in bed on Sunday.

No Valentine's day for me! It will be just like a normal day, except for those that need a little push to express their (secret) love. Did you ever sent a real Valentine's card to a secret love? I did as a teen, anonymous. Good thing I didn't state my name...the guy in question revealled a few weeks later that he fancies man. Bummer,  hahahaha.

Even though I don’t really agree with Valentine’s Day, it started to itch. Maybe it would be nice to do something...It wouldn’t hurt to give Mr. L. a little surprise right? A small thing, not really special. A card maybe? Or some flowers? 

In the end I even made some gifts...yep. Miss Valentine Boycott made gifts. 

I made some fresh peppermint scented bath salt (this was so fun to do, I will definitely make some more!) and heart shaped cake pops. Within 15 minutes Mr. L. ate almost all the cake pops and enjoyed a nice hot footbath which made the whole room smell fresh and minty. He was beaming with happiness with his feet in the water, in his hands a book and a hot cup of tea (he is still a bit sick, so tea will do!). It made me feel kind of good about myself, yes yes, that is smugness again. 

Ok....ok......maybe I do believe in Valentine's day, after all what's better than surprising the one you love? 

One a day 6/ Wip: slow progress and flower beds

Hexipuff count: 43

Pattern: the Beekeeper's quilt

Yarn: all kinds of scraps, but also new yarn! A lot of Lana Grossa. 

Well, last Tuesday's Tallies went by without a post on Crea in the City. Last week I did zero, this week a shameful 4 hexipuffs. 

It isn't very surprising that the counter got stuck last week. I haven't been feeling too well past week, some kind of flue I guess. 

I made one hexipuff with my new bought sockyarn, it is gorgeous! I have to resist making many more (I want to make the socks first!). 

There is another reason why the hexipuffs didn't grow that much, other projects have occupied my hands. I went back to the thing that comes most natural to me: crochet. So with this post I will also be joining the fun of WIP Wednesday.

Curious to see what the end result of this project will be? I will keep you posted! 

Next to all the knitting and crochet I have gotten awards this week! I was nominated by 4 people.

Thank you Niamh (The Craft Giraffe), Hazel (Hazel's Crochet), Melissa (Lazy Daisy Crochet) and Shelley (All4meggymoo)! 

I will nominate 15 blogs later this week and tell 7 random things about me. 

Check out Gingerbread girl for more One a day projects and check out Tami's Amis for other WIP Wednesday projects. 

I'll leave you with a view from our little apartment.

Oh deer!

Winter has kicked in.

No better sound than the crunching of snow while walking in the dunes. A white blanket has covered Holland, making everything pretty.

However, snow has also a very ugly side here in Holland.

Slippery roads with 800 km of traffic jam and trains that no longer able to bring people to their warm homes are an immediate effect of snow.

So I was very lucky to be able to enjoy the snow just walking about. A big advantage is that wildlife can be spotted easily in the white environment. Look what was hiding in the bushes? 

So what do you do after crunching in the snow and spotting deer? Time to knit with a hot cup of coco. It has been rather quite on the craft site in this house, but I did buy some lush, posh, yammy yarn today.

It’s 100% merino, fair trade and the color is A-MA-ZING.

Too bad the color looks a bit off here on the screen, it’s even more pretty in real life.

The plan is to knit socks, yes I did say socks. It is going to be a hassle, but I will get through. Of course this is also perfect for a few hexipuffs thihi.