moving

Happy Sunday!

I am closing this blog and move on.

But don't worry :) I have a new blog:
To learn more about why I made the switch, be sure to read the introductory post here.

and I am sure you will like it over there. It's still a little work in progress, but I think it will be awesome. I plan to change a few things. For example I'm going to make all my patterns available for free, YES! all my patterns will be free. I will add them one after the other to the new site.
Add it to your favorite RSS reader and never miss a new post :)
This process will take a few weeks as I plan to make every doll once more, check the pattern, take new photos and finally upload them. As I said one after the other.

Hope to read you soon on CinnamonPurl

crochet hugs, Diana

Framed July 2014

Holy Moly! This month was fun!

so in June I challenged myself to only take pictures related to yarn or amigurumi in July. And for the most part I did it ^__^
sometimes it was a real challenge on other days it was a blast. And I got to get to know some of you a little bit better too! How awesome is this? I want to thank you all for joining and commenting and sending hearts, it was so cool in July with you all on my instagram feed !!

and August? well I plan to mix from now on, I do like the diary thing that this challenge comes with, how at the end of a month I can look back and see my life in pictures again, and I also liked the fun I had with you and my yarny pictures. So I think I will just mix both as good as I can. It's another challenge I guess ^__^ and I love to see you join!

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Oh du meine Güte, Juli war mir eine Freude!

Im Juni hab ich mich ja selbst vor die Herrausforderung gestellet diesen Monat nur Bilder mit Wolle oder Amigurumi zu machen und die meiste Zeit hab ich es tatsächlich geschafft ^__^
Manchmal war es tatsächlich eine Herrausforderungen an anderen Tagen ein einziger Spass. Was ich auch super fand, dass ich einige von euch endlich ein bisschen besser kennengelernt hab, ich hab mir eure Profile angeguckt, eine ganze Menge Herzchen verteilt und mit euch getextet, das war toll mit euch meinen Juli bei instagram zu verbringen!

Und im August? ich werde mischen! ganz einfach. Ich finds so schön am Monatsende zurückzublicken und so ein bisschen Tagebuch zu spielen :) Umd den Spass den ich mit euch hatte lass ich mir auch nicht wieder entgehen, also mal so mal so :) ganz einfach! So ist's wohl wieder eine neue Herrausforderung und ich freu mich riesig euch dabei zu haben!


1. red + white right in the middle of summer this maybe is a bit missplaced but it fit the clue ---- mitten im Sommer vielleicht ein wenig fehl am Platz, aber passte zum Hinweis

2. something beginning with k: Krebs, the german word for crab ---- Krebs

3. match: key and keychain, a few days earlier I made one for my boyfriend and it was the first in a series of keychains I plan to make ---- Schlüssel und Anhänger, ein perfektes Paar. Ein paar Tage zuvor hab ich den ersten für meinen Freund gemacht und jetzt will ich noch mehr machen, auch andere, eine Schlüsselanhänger Kollektion sozusagen

4. stars: my first attempt at coasters, both pattern are my own, although I like the front one a lot better (hence the position in the pic) :) ---- mein erster Versuch an Untersetzern, eigentlich ganz gut, beide spontan und nach eigener Anleitung, wobei der vordere gefällt mir deutlich besser, deswegen ist er auch vorn im Bild :)

5. on the table: yarn hook and camera ---- Wolle Nadel und Kamera

6. view: perfect view, maybe squirrels like more wood though ---- perfekte Aussicht, naja Eichhörnchen hätten vielleicht gern etwas mehr Wald

7. first: the first pattern I ever wrote was on my turtle sheldon, soon his mother followed ---- die erste Anleitung die ich je schrieb war die für Sheldon meine Schildkröte, seine Mutter folgte bald

8. i’ve never… finished a project without frogging it a couple of times, never! you can ask any of my friends, I rip stuff as fast as I make it ---- ich hab noch nie ein Projekt beendet ohne es mindestens einmal aufzuribbeln, noch nie! fragt meine Freunde, ich bin gefürchtet für meine Rippelhand

9. alive: no matter how often I kiss one of my frogs, they won't come alive ---- egal wie oft ich einen meiner Frösche auch küsse, sie wachen einfach nicht auf

10. sharp: I wonder which shears are sharper? ---- na? wessen Scheren sind wohl schärfer?

11. gold: the border of ma dahlia blanket ---- im Rand meiner Dahlia Decke

14. old school: designing, with pen and paper and a test piece ---- alte Schule Designen mit Papier, Stift und Teststück

15. torn: I told you, I'm the ripper... ---- ich sag's ja, ich bin die Rippelkönigin

16. listening to… piano on my tablet, little mermaid Klara joined in too ---- Pianomusik auf dem Tablet hören, die kleine Meerjungfrau Klara war auch dabei

17. sunshine: early mornings in my windowsill ---- frühe Morgende in meinem Fenster

18. admire: I love how the waves on my blanket actually form waves too ---- ganz verliebt dreinschauen tue ich wenn ich die Wellen auf meiner neuen Decke sehe

19. curly: lion hair ---- Löwenmäne

20. moment: the only picture w/o yarn, but this moment was just tooooo cute, we made play doh cookies ---- das einzige Bild ohne Wolle, aber es war einfach zu schöööön, wir haben KnetKekse gemacht

21. basic: the two colors my baltic blanket is made of ---- the zwei Basisfarben meiner Ostseewellendecke

22. i wore this!: oh this one screamed for an outfit pic, but no! my fairies do have clothes too ---- oh hier hab ich echt mit mir gerungen, das Bild schrie einfach nach einem Outfitbild, aber nein meine Feen haben auch Klamotten an

23. macro: and they have beautiful eyes too! ---- und schöne Augen können sie auch machen

24. water: again my baltic blanket, it's been inspired by water, and looks like water ---- wieder meine Decke, wurde ja auch von Wasser inspiriert, sieht auch so aus

25. home: one of my couches, my favorite place to knit/crochet and with my warm dahlia granny blanket too ---- daheim, in meiner Sofaecke, da sitz ich am liebsten zum handarbeiten und meine Dahliadecke hält mich warm dabei

26. fun: with color and frog ---- Spass mit Frosch und Farbe

27. ten: a small collection of my hooks (i have so many, I don't know how I've accumulated so many ---- eine kleine Auswahl meiner Häkelnadeln, da haben sich ganz schön viele angesammelt

28. cool: what a stupid tag .. with a heatwave outside I just couldn't do this one ---- hab ich einfach nicht hinbekommen, es war einfach zu schwül und heiß

29. repeat: over and over I've made my seahorse Charly, and I still like it a lot ---- mein Seepferdchen, hab ich schon so oft gemacht, und trotzdem immer mal wieder gerne

30. lost: in time and space obviously ^__^ ---- in Raum und Zeit verloren, ganz klar ^__^

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that's it for July :) hope to see you in August too, have a wonderful weekend, hugs Diana

das war's für den Juli :) ich hoffe euch auch im August zu sehen, bis dahin ertmal ein schönes Wochenende, Diana

window #19

Are you driving from date to date as well in the time before Christmas? There is so much to do at this time of year. I always tend to forget that. At the moment I'm at the Christmas Celebration of my company, we drove to the Harz Mountains. It's quite nice here. Anyways, today I want to share the rest of Klara. She has arms now and hair and a nose already, but there's something missing right? a face, and maybe some bra?

So today we want to add these final touches. As I'm on the road and posting this with my phone there won't be a pattern update right now. I will simply write down some eye and bra pattern below. The good old way. I will post pictures tomorrow afternoon when I'm back home - the signal strength is very poor here, and uploading pictures is impossible. I'm glad I can write something, although I hope the WiFi will not break off. I don't quite believe there are still places in Germany without proper Wi-Fi connection..

eyes:
Make two of each,
first part in a dark pupil color, a dark brown or maybe even black
1 - make a double magic ring with sc6, close ring and BO with a slst

Now use an eye color for the next part, I used a very pale blue
1 - make a double magic ring with: ch1, hdc3, dc3, hdc3
Close ring and BO with a slst

bra:
1 - into a magic double ring work the following sts: sc1, hdc2, dc3, hdc2, sc1
pull ring tight and close with a slst, BO
That's it for the bra, make two of these little shapes.

I guess how to sew together the eyes is sort of self explaining. So go ahead and start sewing them together and secure them to the head. The bra needs a little more embroidery and maybe a picture. I will post these as soon as I get home tomorrow.

So long have a blissful day, Diana

window #14

How are you all doing? the third advent weekend is right in front of us and I hope you're all having a joyful time.
I just got home from our weekly knitnight, had some lovely hungarian food and now try to enjoy my time with my boyfrind, candles are burning, light is dimmed. He's having some midnight snack and I type at the computer. All in all it's nice and cozy.

Today we will almost finish our little mermaid friend. Klara will finally get her well deserved arms. What's a mermaid to do without arms? She'll be pretty helpless..

so download the 5th part of the CAL and make some arms, to hug and embrace her.
Or check your ravelry library for the updated pattern.

and a little reminder for the group chat on ravelry, I'm quite alone over there at the moment *sad face* so come and join me *happy face*

then again, enjoy the weekend, maybe you already have snow where you live
hugs, Diana

window #11

Klara grows and grows and today she will grow hair too. Arms are still missing, but we'll get to that soon. I want her to have hair now ^__^ how about you?

so first my mermaid right now reminds me a lot, like in A L O T of Pumuckl, I don't know if you know him, he's a little gnome very well known here in Germany, and I know his tails are translated into many languages, so I guess you know him, so .. anyways, my Klara right now looks like Pumuckl and I defenitly will make a Pumuckl now that I look at her! But enough said about Pumuckl, the word already sounds weird in my head (Pumuckl, Pumuckl ^__^)

here is the new download link to the updated pattern. You will also find an updated version in your ravelry libraries.
download now

enjoy ^__^
Diana

window #8

Klara will grow a head today!

How did your little mermaid tails turn out? nice and curvy I hope :)

So today let's make her upper body and head and nose.
Yes her little snub nose is included right away. To make it I'm introducing a new stitch: a bobble stitch, I use a B3, which is a bobble stitch made from 3 double crochet stitches. If you don't know how to make a bobble stitch check out this video on youtube, BUT don't skip a stitch before you start the B3 like she did in the video. Just work the B3 right into the next stitch.

so again click the download button or check your ravelry library, an update will wait there for you :)

download now

dabbling hugs, Diana

bad bad Ursula

this sea witch, damn her, seams like she interfered on Klara's pattern. In Round 7 she hacked and conjured and made it all wonky.

But I found the error and corrected it.

Round 7 goes like this: hdc2, sc1, slst9, sc1, hdc2

btw. you can find erratas in the top tab section

window #5

we will continue with Klara today ^__^ I'm so overwhelmed, there are more than 190 unique downloads at this moment (which still is the evening of the 4th, because I want every window to open at half past midnight CET everyday and so I'm preparing them the evening before, I feel a little elfish, working in santa's workshop you know) .. more than 190 people are reading and probable even starting on Klaras tail already. It still is a bit weird to think that someone else is actually making one of my designs and now there are nearly 200 of you guys, whew.
On ravelry there are already 4 projects and I hope they will add pictures soon, I can't wait to see your creations. They will be adorable!

Meanwhile I hope everything in the pattern was useful and detailed enough so nobody ran into any issues, in case you did find something irritating, please comment here or in my rav group.

aaaaand last not least here comes the next part of the pattern to download. just click the download link and either save to your ravelry library or to your desktop.

download now

I hope you enjoy her tail, next time we will make her upper body and head .. with a snub nose ^__^

oh, last time we stopped at row 22 so now let's continue with row 23. hohoho Diana

WIP Wednesday 2

shame on me! I need to admit something. I found even more WIPs. Do you believe me when I say I wasn't aware these things even existed? Please do so, I hid them so well I couldn't remember they were there. But the minute I posted my last WIP Wednesday I saw them. Sleeping in one of my boxes. In a project bag. A project bag which you could call a WIP by it self - I never finished the seams:

And this bag I found:

the victim of sss - second sock syndrome. Green Fishnet stockings almost finished, but only almost. Pattern was from vogue knitting. I remember I liked the knit but didn't liked the non-ease of the resulting fabric. Maybe that's why I never finished my very first pair of socks. Started in August 2007. whoosh that's so much time that passed.

a summer top that never happened to be. Started in 2008. Left to be forgotten. Makes me sad. The pattern was lovely. I made some changes to this as I wanted real straps instead of the i-cord ones that the pattern came with. One important modification was knitting the pattern back and forth instead of in the round which was giving me severe headaches back in the days. I guess nowadays changing a simple stitch pattern such as this one would be so much easier for me. I've learned so much during the last years.

and then there is something I don't even remember what it was intended to be. I believe I wanted to make gaiters to wear during winter as I never could find proper boots but obviously these were never finished.

And already frogged as well. And a little magic happened while frogging, I found a needle I've been searching for for ages. Literally ages!

In another box I stored the front of a vest. Blossom. It was my first really big fair-isle knit and one that was making me practice weaving in the strands as I go, even when knitting on the wrong side. I don't like steeking and never ever ever will do so. Cutting knitting equals killing it for me, so I found a way to knit fair-isle both ways. I knew there was a way and I found one. I still like the pattern I created back then but the color combination and even more important the need for a vest just disappeared. I don't wear vests and guess I won't in the future.

All of the WIPs above will be frogged sooner or later so I guess they don't count as WIPs per se but I wanted to give a little credit to them anyways.

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now let's move on to the WIPs I wrote about last time.

Ginkgo grew quite a bit. I'm almost done with the first half and love the yarn/color/stitch combination so far. This will be a well loved shawl/cowl when done.

Also I made some progress on Klara. The mermaid got a new head. A smaller - better fitting/proportioned one. And a new nose too! The first one was reminding me of a witch and mermaids are too cute to have witch noses. Now I'm thinking about ears or no ears and the idea for her hair that I have in my mind is a little challenging.

hugs, Diana

oh, and even worse I have a hat in my head that wants to be knitted. Do I need a new hat? a rusty red one? with a cable and some seed stitch?

gettin finny with it

since finishing my granny blanket I had some new ami designs in my mind. so I started..

and things start to shape.. I will see how time and inspiration lead me further. So far I wish you all a lovely weekend! It's my birthday on Sunday and I will surely eat some donuts ^__^ ♥ Diana

Nemo

so Nemo got finished and packed and shipped just in time to arrive at its new home. He is being loved very much already, I received a call yesterday telling me Nemo is being soaked up in saliva by its 6-month-old daddy now. So cute.

I didn't have the time to take proper pictures unfortunately but I'll share the crappy mobile pics I have ^__^

In the end I enjoyed making him a lot, even though I still find working on order to be very very hard for me. I just can't find enough motivation finishing things.
Meanwhile I think about posting the pattern here, I hesitate because of copyright, which of course is not mine, even though I made the pattern from scratch the figure "Nemo" is owned by pixar. Well, a little more thinking on this side. In case any of you designers read my blog, do you have experience in such a case?

crochet hugs,
Diana

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lol, now that I read this again, saliva sounds very technical, so babys saliva isn't saliva right? I mean technical it is, but what do you say? spittle? drool?, just wondering

How I design - under pressure

well, this post is not really a part of the series that I plan, but it sort of belongs. To me a very important part of designing is inspiration and enough time. I can't work under time pressure. After school I wanted to become an artist, but I quickly realized it would mean to live from inspiration and the tricky part about inspiration .. it comes and goes. Only time will tell, so I studied biology.

Anyways sometimes you promise to create something and even though you had enough time in the very beginning, inspiration didn't sneak in. So it happened to Nemo. Now I am under time pressure to create something, but not only something, but a Nemo I can feel happy about too (being a little perfectionist sometimes is nerve wrecking)

So what do I do in such cases?

I try to find easy solutions.. like recreating something from a pattern I already made. With a fish like Nemo another fish pattern seems the next best thing. So I grabbed Chubby and started it in a Nemo-orange-yarn:

BUT it's snout was way too pointy. Meanwhile I did feel a bite by inspiration bug and started a completely new version:

But again I wasn't completely satisfied, I like the overall shape so far, actually quite a bit, but I don't like the texture: I added a few more stitches than just the classic single crochet and even though I think they might add a nice twist to the touch I fear they might allow stuffing to show through. And since Nemo will be given to a baby I don't want any risk.

While designing, I write down EVERY SINGLE STITCH I make:

What do I do now?, I try to combine both patterns..