Pastels do Lisboa

Not sure if this title is correct Portuguese... [Update: I'm informed it's not. ;-) It should have been Tons pastel de Lisboa. Thanks for pointing me to the correct wording!] I very recently came back (again!) from a stay in Lisbon and was (again!) totally inspired by the amazing light and the gorgeous colours everywhere. Pastels mainly!

I did my usual tour of retrosaria's (yarn & haberdashery shops). I bought this organic cotton yarn called For Nature (from the Portuguese brand Rosários4) and a piece of this most lovely flowered cotton (here in the background), in matching colours.

When I was there I crocheted this doily. The pattern is not mine but from a Japanese crochet book. (I'm sorry, I don't have the title.)

This is where I got my inspiration from colourwise... (I did not bring my camera, so here is a compilation of snapshots I took with my phone.)

I could certainly see this colours in my crochet. :-) What a lovely and inspiring city Lisbon is. Wonderful! I have another post lined up about it... (And I am planning to go back there for even more inspiration. Ha!)

♦♦♦ Many thanks for your kind visit... I wish you lovely, animal friendly, crafty and stress free days!♦♦♦

Crochet Cape

Well. Can you believe it? (I can't!) Last weekend I began and actually finished a project. Hooray! It seems ages ago I could last show a finished project, so I hereby proudly present you my new cape... (Apologies for the number of photos.)

The pattern is from a Japanese crochet book (I'll share the book details later in this post). I've been wanting to make this cape for over a year (it was the reason I bought the book), but somehow I never found the right yarn. Something woolly, I wanted, but I never use real wool. Enter: Stone Washed XL by the Dutch brand Scheepjeswol, a new yarn. Judging from what I see from fellow-bloggers it has quickly has become quite popular here in The Netherlands. It's made of cotton with a special acrylic coating. The offwhite ('moonstone') fitted the bill perfectly. (Mmm, I realise I sound like an ad here, but it's not.)

It was such a delight to whip up this pattern, which I followed except for the collar. The pattern called for a knitted collar, but I can't knit... And even if I could I wouldn't have understood the Japanese directions at that point. So, I came up with this simple alternative: A crocheted rectangular of single crochet rows, using back loops only, hence the ribs. I later single crocheted the collar to the cape. Piece of cake! And, if I may say so myself..., I quite like how it turned out, the ribs make it elastic and wearable. Okay, here's a close up. ;-)

All practicalities in short...

♦ Pattern: from Crochet & Cape (2008), more details below
♦ Collar: Rectangular made of single crochets, back loops only to create a rib
♦ Crochet hook: 5,5 mm
♦ Yarn: nine balls of Stone Washed XL (colour moonstone), by Scheepjeswol
♦ Light blocking (a night between wet towels with something heavy on top - not me)

Okay, let's do one more close up of the collar. ;-)

The pattern is from this fabulous Japanese crochet & knitting book from the Let's knit series. Published in 2008 by Nihon Vogue pubishers. This particular book is out of print, but I think there are still some copies available. I bought mine in the Etsy shop Pomadour24 which has loads of pattern books. 

So... I guess this really is all there is to tell about the making of one cape. The wearing of it is a whole new chapter of course. ;-) 

Many thanks for your lovely visit and chat!

Have lots of fun with all your creative adventures.

♦♦♦

It's Just Another Doily Monday...

... And it's Manic too. ;-)

A short post, just to say hi and to doilify the beginning of this week.

The pattern is - again - from a Japanese crochet book. Let me know if you'd like to know which one, and I will look it up for you. I've used the Thai version, which is called Crochet Lace, from the Mini Crochet Series and is published by Maeban Publishing Co. in 2012. Click here for their website. The original Japanese edition was published by Nihon Vogue Co. in 2010. The designers of the projects in the book are Hiromi Endo, Kazekobo and Yasuko Sebata. Hope this helps!

♦♦♦ Wishing you a good week! ♦♦♦

New Mittens and A Lovely Short Film

Every now and then I actually manage to finish a project. Here's a small one. My mittens, from a pattern of one of my new Japanese crochet books. Even though it's spring - and we've got really nice weather! - I had to make them right after I got back.

I bought the pattern book mainly because of these mittens: I saw the picture and I was sold. In case you're interested: it's this book (Thai version):

Oh, and before I forget. There's something I've been wanting to share with you for ages. Are you in for an ultimate feel good moment? Watch this short film in which the knitting of one Dutch lady, Loes Veenstra, brings together a whole neighbourhood. Since 1955 she knitted over 550 sweaters and stored them (unused) in her house. The film was made in 2012, so some of you might have seen it already, but personally: I can watch it over again and again... So go on, treat yourself on these 3:19 minutes of loveliness!

I hope you like it too. If you have become intrigued by it, click here for more information.

Thanks for your visit, take care!
♦♦♦

Doilified Rug

Today I'd like to share with you these pictures of a doily rug I made a while ago. Somehow I it took me a couple of months to make pictures of it.

I used a doily pattern from a Japanese crochet book, but you can basically use any doily pattern you like to make a similar rug. I added one row to make the result a bit bigger.

I used super bulky acrylic yarn (from the Dutch shop Hema) and a 10 mm crochet hook. Of course you could use bulky cotton, but I do like the woolly texture of this yarn. It feels very soft.

Meanwhile I have another, much bigger and quite different, rug on my hook. (Oh dear, so many works-in-progress right now - I've lost count... And new ideas keep popping up...) I'm not sure yet how that one will work out, but hopefully I can show the result here soon.

♦♦♦ As always: I appreciate your visit a lot, have a lovely day & till soon! ♦♦♦

Travel Chitchat

Hello there, I hope you had a lovely (long) weekend. Although I'm back home again - picking up my daily routines and work - I still owe you some last yarny travel stories.

Let me start with my travel doilies, I made these with cotton I couldn't use for my Travel Blanket. (Picture made with my phone.)

I especially like to the pink one. Both patterns are taken from Japanese crochet books. Ah... those Japanese crochet books... That must have been one of the best surprises of Thailand - only yarnwise speaking of course! - the incredible choice of Japanese crochet books on sale. Most of them translated in Thai - which is fine because I speak neither Thai nor Japanese so I'm using the charts anyway. However, there are several Japanese bookstores which a huge selection of craftbooks. So I also bought a couple of them in the Japanese language. Have a look at my choice... Patterns for hats, bags, doilies, wraps, scarfs, blankets and lots of trims and edges - you name it!






















Pretty good, don't you think? ;-) I made a lovely pair of mittens from a pattern taken from one of these books, I'll show them here soon.

Also, while still travelling I started playing with my hemp yarn. It soon became clear that whatever I'm going to make with it, it will be very delicate. The yarn is at some points so thin it breaks just by looking at it. But the texture is rather nice I think. I'm using my 2.7 mm crochet hook - another of my travel souvenirs.

I especially liked the circles. However, after two circles a major drawback occurred: my fingers were indigo blue... And not a little bit either... So I guess that before continuing I have to do something about this, or the white soon will not be white anymore. Maybe rinsing the blue circles in cold water with vinegar? Mmm, not sure if I'll bother to do that any time soon...

Oh, and before I forget, there's one really good travel tip I'd like to share with all you fellow-crocheters. Take dental floss with you! For example on the plane where you're not allowed having scissors with you. It's ideal for cutting yarn. I used it for cutting cotton and acrylic - maybe it worked even better than my special craft scissors... Anyways, I can't recall where I read that tip for the first time (it wasn't my own idea), but I did make a small visual reminder. ;-)

Okay, I guess that's it for now. I'll have another post lined up already (how organised for once...), so I will be back soon! Thanks for visiting.
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