Linnea 'Ea' quilts...

Craft Project Wednesday is a 2012 recurring blog post where I present a craft project I'm currently working on. Since I haven't posted anything about crocheting for a while, I thought I'd remedy that. Already some time ago - I think it was last autumn - I held an arts & crafts party here at our place. Amng other things, Anne left me a box with things (some fabrics, ricrac and yarn) she said she didn't have any use for. Among the yarns there was 5 skeins of "baby pastel" colored ones that I completely understand why she hadn't found any use for them. Neither of us are 'pastel' color users, but one thing that soft pastel colors are routinely used for is... baby stuff. And even though neither of us are expecting, or have friends who are, I just thought " why the heck not? " and started on a baby blanket. The pattern is one I found in the very lovely book The Complete Photo Guide to Crochet by Margaret Hubert . The p...

Craft Project Wednesday is a 2012 recurring blog post  where I present a craft project I'm currently working on. Okay, you know how some people collect things for no apparent reason? Well, I happen to "collect" the links of web pages of people who have either a biomedical/biochemical degree, but then either works in some field totally opposite or in it in some odd setting or another. Or just happen to blog about something other than biosciences. Thus I present to you: Margaret Oomen. She blogs over at  Resurrectionfern . She takes amazing photos, and some of the things she blogs about is crocheting and embroidery. I found out about her when the people at the Purl Bee (a store in SoHo, New York) had her over for a presentation of one of her patterns . If you google her name, you're overrun with photos of smooth stones covered with crocheted lace patterns . But even better, check out her Flickr-stream! It's different types of crocheted ston...

Finally - it is ready! My Eorme blanket. Since I am like everybody else that crochets and just hate to join done crochet squares, it felt like it took friggin forever  to make. Hello, my name is Eorme. She made me wear fringes, even though she hates fringes. In retrospect, the most funny thing about this project is that it actually started out as a tunic. Yes, a tunic. But about halfway through (or up, as you were suppose to knit it from down to up) I just got fed up with the project, frogged the whole thing and put the yarn aside. This was during the winter of 2010. Then, I read the book “200 crochet blocks” by author Jan Eaton , and thought that it had been some time ago since my last crochet block blanket. Thank you Linda for recommending it ! The pattern I wanted to use is called " Fudge ". So, off I went to buy more yarn, and typically enough the Novita yarn company didn’t produce Novita Luxus Cotton anymore. It's like my Mom has always told me:...

I've just realized that there's no way at all all for me to participate with the fourth MaMa-challenge. Since this is the last day for that particular challenge, and bit too late for me to finally "find" something to contribute with, I must simply throw in the metaphorical towel and fold. You see, this time I 'failed' because of 3 things: I didn't get my sewing machine back until today. I could have gotten it back last week, but I got the flu last Tuesday. And I just couldn't ask Micke to go and fetch it for me, no no no, that would have been too degrading. I can actually picture such a scenario: " Honey, could you get my sewing machine from the shop 8 blocks form our house? It weighs a ton. And btw you're not allowed to put it down on the ground while you walk home, because I don't want it to get dirty. Oh, and it will cost you 95 euros. "  If only I had cleaned up my stash of fabrics before today. That way, I would have found th...

Purses, purses, purses today... Closeup on it. Teresa at Art of Crochet  shows how to make the crocodile stitch, and I learned it from her.  I must say, however, that I modified the endings of row 3 and beyond, because I thought her method wasn't that consistent. And anyway, once you "get" a certain technique, it's up to you to use it in your own projects anyway.

The real Queen of the Tea Cosies would be proud, I'm sure, of me being a loyal subject inspired by her. Although my tea cosies are nowhere near her lovely designs. My (new) white teapot needed a cozy, and I had (finally!) this weekend gotten the yarn I wanted to use. Only thing left was some crocheting Two for tea, tea for two. Tea for two by the TV. TV-tea :) Actually, it's Darjeeling. Say hello to Miss White. Oh! She even wants to show her other side. Pattern : The pattern I used is found on Ravelry, and the design is by Ella Jensen , and it's called "Short and Stout" .   I had to modify the stitch count slightly, because otherwise it wouldn't have been a tight fit. The button is one I bought in a pack at a flea market. Yarn 1,5 skein of Garnstudio's Drops Paris (white, 16), cost 2,25€/skein. Crochet hook 5 mm

I've looked through my stash of yarns. I've even organized it a bit, mainly to know what's actually just lint and what's "real" usable yarn. It took an entire afternoon, even though I didn't put up any of it on my "stash" page on Ravelry . I realize I have yarn and crochet thread that I have no idea what they're made of, if they're washable above 40 degrees C, etc. Yarn being organized... on the sofa in Micke's work-room. There was -honestly!- no other room to do it in. I needed the extra light...   Cute, but not really my colors. Exept maybe the browns. Summa summarum: There's a lot of really funny looking crochet and cotton yarn (inherited from aunt and grannies) that I should try to  come up with projects for. Most of these have colors that ... aren't colors I would have chosen myself. Ideas are needed, must get creative..... how else to "get rid" of them? Can't throw them away after all, that ...

The -huge- Strömsö-dream catcher. During one summer while visiting Micke's family up in Ostrobothnia, I managed to scavenge a part of a spruce tree root on the Fäboda beach. The (original) plan was for it to become the skeleton of a dream catcher. Like the huge one they did in the Strömsö TV-program , which looked like this (picture on the right). However, I didn't get any inspiration to create it that summer, and so the whole project kinda went on hiatus... until now. We don't have many Christmas decos, mainly because when we moved in together Micke didn't have any, and the ones I had were hand-me-downs from my Mom and Dad. Only thing we've actually bought ourselves, which was last year, was an electrical advent candelabra (swe. adventsljusstake). One that was on sale after New Year came and went. Yeah, we're cheapos. But hey, we're students, so I guess it's okay. Anyhow, one thing I really would have liked us to have last Christmas, was a wrea...

   And I got both WIPs done :)

"The net is truly vast and infinite." While I was searching for patterns for both knitting and crocheting, I stumbled upon Ravelry.com . It's a site intended for those around the globe who want to both be a part of, and contribute to, the (apparently) growing interest in knitting/crocheting. Since I'm all for (smart!) social online platforms, I really like the site. Since the -reason- behind any such platform is to bring people together and allow them to interact via common interests, I must say that during this past month I've learned a lot. This is thanks to all the persons (mostly women) who I've met during a few knit-alongs here in Turku. Most of you know I speak swedish, but since finnish is the language of the majority, I suddenly realized that I really need to practice speaking it. And during the first of these knit-alongs I found out how terribly degraded my knowledge of finnish has become. But no more! About three times a month now, I'll be att...

My dear friend Kaisa, together with her Jussi, threw a home-warming party last Saturday. This time, we actually had time to attend. It's annoying when you have friends you want to stay close to, but can't because of logistics. traveling by train is NOT cheap, no matter how ecological it's supposed to be. Anyway, for a house-warming present, we gave then the traditional bread & salt. This was accompanied by a small present for Kaisa (a shawl + matching brooch), and one for Jussi (8 wine glass tokens). The shawl, made from a real simple pattern (scroll down to the bottom!). This is the actual color of the yarn, I don't know why the next picture got so lilac. The trim, one I came up with myself (scroll down for the pattern). Jussi's wine glass tokens are on the right. The crocheted flower is the brooch. Like always when leaving for a trip in the last minute *cough* I had ample time to wrap the presents.... that is, I had to bring paper+tape+scissors+gift bo...

Okay, so I had been thinking about re-doing the first granny square blanket I ever made. I did the blanket way before I even met Micke, so it's more than 5 years old! The squares are all in white and brown; some of the white was from an H&M woolen sweater that had shrunk in the washer by accident. The rest if the yarn were left-overs I got from Mom. Back when I made it, I put the squares together using needle and thread, but I was NEVER happy with the result. Since I wasn't that good at crocheting then, no two squares were alike in texture or size. The blanket was clearly a mess, and you can see it on the first pic! For lack of better words: it needed makeover. Taking apart the blanket, square by square. First, I had to remove the old seam without harming the squares. After that, I had to re-crochet a MAJOR part of the squares (all except maybe 5...). This because I needed the majority of them to have the same gauge and thickness, otherwise the new blanket would be as wi...

Using the weft I had bought from Mom's favorite craft-store in Sökö , I made my first rag-rug. The crochet-pattern I used is a "granny triangle", which is just the normal granny square pattern in a triangle. This little rug didn't take much time to make at all, so it's great evening craft-project. And you can use any pattern you want. 1.   Start off crocheting as you would normally. Be optimistic: try to keep the weft in the bag it came in ( :P ) 2.   Get crazy at the weft, then roll it into a ball. Cont. with crocheting. 3.   Fasten off the weft and say "Ta-daa!", because you're done :)

I've been  making granny square patches since last November (2009) and today (30th of March) I finally crocheted a thin border around the whole blanket, and cut off all the tiny threads that I hadn't managed to "hide away" inside the crocheted squares themselves. Oh boy, did it take time to make the whole blanket! One square in itself doesn't take that much time, but when you have to make 19 x 13 = 247 squares , then suddenly it becomes a PROJECT (notice the capital letters!). This blanket took a loooooot of time watching CSI, Lie To Me, House and other TV-series with Micke to get done. I think I've gotten the hang of "mom-multitasking": watching TV with one eye, keeping my hands busy with the PROJECT at hand, and talking with Micke during the commercials while crocheting. What you need to make a blanket like this: Patience (well, duh!). I planned the layout of the pattern I wanted to make on a paper before I started crocheting. It helped, bec...