Almost done

Varpaani ovat aina jäässä ja villasukkia käytän oikeastaan ihan aina. Yhdessä japanilaisessa virkkauskirjassa - tai itse asiassa samantyyppiset ole kahdessakin - oli ohje tällaisiin kotitossuihin. Näistä puuttuu vielä nahkapohjat ja lankojen päättely, niin ja toinen tossu on vielä kokoamattakin, mutta aika kivoilta näyttävät! Hieman vaikuttavat isoilta, toivottavasti eivät ole. Laitan tarkemmat tiedot, kunhan tossukat valmistuvat. Älkää pidätelkö hengitystä, nämä on aloitettu jo kesällä...

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My toes are always freezing, so they are usually covered with wool socks. I saw this idea of crocheted home shoes in one of my Japanese crochet books - or actually the same idea was in two books. These home shoes are still missing the leather soles and the finishing touches but I already like the look of them! Although they do seem to be a bit big. I hope I am wrong, though... I'll post information about the Japanese crochet books as soon as I get these finished.

Charmmy Kitty bag

Olen laiminlyönyt japanilaisten käsityökirjojen esittelyitä jo pitemmän aikaa, joten korkea aika esitellä yksi uudehko löytö. Blogiini eksytään useimmiten hakusanoilla "Japanese crochet books" tai "crochet Japanese" ja ylivoimaisesti suosituin sivu blogissani on kirjastoni, jota ei ole kyllä tullut päivitettyä turhan tiuhaan... Pitänee ryhdistäytyä!

Pahoittelut muuten kuvien jännästä sävystä. Kuvankäsittely ei ole vahvimpia osa-alueitani ja en yhtään ymmärrä miten sain kuvien valkoisesta taustasta lähes mintunvihreät!

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It's been a long time since I featured any of my Japanese craft books. I try to make this a regular feature now, since it seems that most visitors end up in my blog with such search words as "crochet Japanese" and "Japanese crochet books", and my sadly neglected book page is the most visited page by far in my blog.

By the way, sorry about the picture quality! Somehow the white background looks mint green, no idea how that happened...

Tämä kirja on itse asiassa käännös japaninkielisestä teoksesta joka on loppuunmyyty. Käännös on kiinaksi, mutta ei se haittaa, enpä minä japaniakaan osaa, joten ohjeet tulee ymmärrettyä ihan samalla tavalla jopa kiinaksi.

Kirja on täynnä ihania virkkausprojekteja, kaikissa joku Sanrion hahmo: Hello Kitty, Charmmy Kitty, My Melody, Usahana tai Cinnamoroll. Tässä muutama kuva kirjan aarteista, oikea pikkutyttöjen (ja minun...) aarreaitta! Kovasti huvittaisi tehdä nuo ihanaiset avaimenperät/laukkukoristeet...

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This book is originally Japanese but it is out of print. However, I managed to find the Chinese edition of it, and since I don't really understand Japanese either I thought it would not matter what language the book uses. I was right, just as simple as the Japanese original.

Book is full of lovely Sanrio character crafts, including Hello Kitty, Charmmy Kitty, My Melody, Usahana and Cinnamoroll. Here's a few pictures of the crochet projects. As you can see, this book is every little girl's dream, and mine also! I really love the key/bag charms, so cute!

Sitten itse laukkuun. Valitsin toteutettavaksi Charmmy Kitty -laukun, kun Hello Kittyjä on tullut tehtyä jo muutama. Valitettavasti virkattu Charmmy Kitty näyttää ihan Hello Kittyltä, erot on ainoastaan virkkausteknisiä, muoto hieman suipompi kuin Hello Kittyn. Helppo ja nopea kassi! Ai niin, tein vielä söpöstelytaskun sisäpuolelle.

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In this bag, Charmmy Kitty  looks a lot like Hello Kitty. You can only spot the different shape of the head from close up. This was a fast and easy project! I used soft pink flannel as the lining and added a pocket inside.

Purple bag

Käytin tähän samaa ohjetta kuin pinkkireunaiseen kassiin aiemmin. Jostain syystä tästä tuli pienempi, vaikka lankojen ainakin piti olla samaa tavaraa. Ei taida haitata, kassi on juuri sopivan kokoinen Emman petshopeille :)

Ohje löytyy tuttuun tapaan Pierrot Yarnsin sivuilta.

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This has been made with the same pattern as the bag with hot pink edging. Somehow this ended up being a bit smaller even though the yarn is the same in both, just different colours. Doesn't matter, this is a perfect bag for Emma's Littlest Pet Shop creatures.

Pattern from Pierrot Yarns.

Baby gifts

Näitä on tullut tehtyä ennenkin, ohjeet on Garnstudion. Toivottavasti vauva tykkää :)

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I made the same set once before. I like them a lot! Instructions from Garnstudio.

New batch of dish cloths

Pitkästä aikaa tiskirättejä. Ostin Hulluilta Päiviltä halpaa bambulankaa (Twilleys of Stamford - Freedom Gorgeous DK) ja täytyihän sitä testata. Pesuohje oli vähintäänkin kummallinen, lanka kestää vain käsinpesun, mutta koneeseen nuo menee, kestivät tai eivät. 

Kuvat on vähän huonoja, pahoittelut! Olikin näköjään vaihteeksi liian kirkas päivä kuvata...

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Dishcloths, once again. I bought cheap bamboo yarn (Twilleys of Stamford - Freedom Gorgeous DK) from a sale and just had to test it. The washing instructions were strange, this yarn should be washed by hand, in luke warm water, but I will put it in the washing machine like all the other dish cloths. We'll see what happens!

Sorry about the pictures, they are quite bad. It was such a bright day for a change...

Apple cozy

 

I saw pictures of apple cozies in Pinterest and just had to make a few. Actually, I made a dozen or so... What can I say, I was home alone, sick and bored. I didn't use any pattern, just made it up. I'll write it down, perhaps, if someone as bored as I was needs to make one :)

Hot pink

Just a quick snapshot of this crocheted bag I made. Never mind the surroundings, just needed to find a place where to hang the bag and this one had the most light. Love the hot pink edge even though it was not part of the original plan. I just ran out of the grey yarn... 

Pattern from Pierrot Yarns. There are a lot of lovely free crochet and knitting patterns in Pierrot Yarns website, and even more in the Japanese version of the site.

Crowns!

I have been thinking about making some crocheted crowns for a while now, ever since I saw some ideas in Pinterest. I've pinned a lot of crowns to my crochet board so I had to make my own version.

I used clear plastic headbands that were extras from Emma's birthday last year. They used to have cardboard princess crowns attached but I removed those. I knew it was worth while to save them! These are so simple to crochet, just pick any lace trim pattern you like and crochet around the headband. 

My model is a bit tired in these pictures, she has been quite ill with influenza. Now she is again full of energy, just in time for the weekend :)

More mushrooms

More random yarns and some basic mushrooms. Now I have moved on to something else :)

A slight obsession

I have tons of that red wool yarn and lots of different unindentifiable white wool blend or polyester yarns. I already made the Valentine's hearts with the red yarn and I might make avest of somesorts for Emma from it, but otherwise, I have no idea what to use it for. Hence, mushrooms. Lots of mushrooms. 

I think this will be my first own crochet pattern. We'll see, I am rubbish at instructing anything...

I am still making more of these. Cannot stop.

More hearts

I just could not stop making these hearts...

I think they will become tiny brooches, or pins, or perhaps some other kind of hair accessories.

It seems that I am not very skilled at making big heart shapes from tiny hearts :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

I thought it would be fun to try lots of different crocheted heart patterns for this Valentine's Day. I had time to try four different patterns and they were all very easy and cute.

The first one, pictured below, is from Pinterest. I would have linked o the original source but this pattern comes from a blog that is for invited readers only. Quite interesting that you can pin pictures from private blogs...

 

 Granny heart tutorial

Simple and cute crochet heart pattern

 Tiny crochet heart pattern 

I found a lot of free heart patterns, here are links to some of them.

How to crochet a heart

Sweet heart crochet pattern

Free crochet heart pattern

3D heart

Heart pattern

Do you have a favourite heart pattern? Please let me know, I'd like to try it!

A mushroom

A crocheted mushroom. No pattern, remnant yarns - yet, endless joy to my daughter. She even took this mushroom to preschool on Bring Your Own Toy Day. She also promised her friend that I will make another mushroom for the friend for her birthday. Go figure.

Cat bag

I made this bag already in June but I've had no time to blog about it before. I got the idea from a Korean website (I guess it is Korean, not sure), webshop to be exact. The original bag is not crocheted but I really wanted to make one and let Emma choose the yarn. Naturally her choice was purple! 

Source: http://www.goroke.co.kr/shop/shopdetail.html?branduid=32502&xcode=017&mcode=000&scode=&type=O&search=&sort=order

This bag is a bit smaller than the original and the handles are longer, just to make it more practical for Emma to carry. I lined it with the same flower fabric that I used for this ruffle skirt.

By the way, I have collected all kinds of inspiring crochet pictures and instructions to my Pinterest crochet board. I hope you'll like them!

Pretty pochette

I found a Japanese crochet pattern site and printed out a few instructions, this pouch or pochette or clutch (cannot decide!) was one of them. There were many really cute patterns, but I cannot find the site anymore -  so frustrating! Anyway, this is not my own crochet pattern but the idea is something that I am going to use with different doilies as well, might even take a few from my doily stash... This doily pattern brought starfish to my mind, I like it a lot.

Edit. Found the Japanese site, this pochette pattern is here.

Baskets

I used some leftover fabric strips that I got from my mother (her closets seem to be bottomless) to make a few baskets. We were at the summer cottage and I had lots of time during a thunder storm - crocheting kept my fears under control, LOL. I like the subtle sheen of the fabric strips, some polyester blend most likely.

Daisies and roses - finished

Yes, the squares were made to a bag - I am so predictable! No, actually I was a bit lazy and did not feel like crocheting more squares, so bag was the natural solution. I did not use any pattern, just crocheted the squares together, added straps and a lining and called it a bag. The patterns for the daisy and the rose square came from ET magazine (09/11), Finnish pensioners' magazine that I borrowed from my mom. 

I added a pocket inside the bag and used some ricrac to decorate it.

Emma has not seen it yet, I hope she likes it!

Oh, this weekend we are celebrating midsummer, have a nice weekend everyone!