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Exciting news!

Hello everybody!

How has your week been? Mine has been filled to the brim with deadlines. But that’s not really important. What is, is the news I’ve got to share with you guys! Ever since I started to crochet, my room and later on appartment would fill up with the crocheted items. Most of them I gave to friends, but some always stayed and moved from place to place with me. However, as you all know a lot of the items I love to make are not really usefull for me (let’s say, baby blankets). So those are stacking up and catching dust over here.

A friend of mine told me about a market that was organized in the near future. It would be a market filled with handmade, vintage items. At first I had my doubts about joining. But after a while I figured, why not? I’m sure to have a great day there surrounded by all other people crafty and vintage! Best of all, the market is in the neighbourhood so I’ve still got plenty of time to make some more items.

Some time ago the idea for a bunting popped into my head. I’ve been making some of these buntings over the past months and they could be spotted in some photo’s I uploaded in the last few posts. And now, not to keep you waiting any longer:

 

 

and that’s not all!

 

 

and the inevitable rainbow:

 

 

I’ve got a few more up my sleeve but those are to be revealed at the market! The pattern will be for sale in my soon-to-open shop (oh yes, I only need to make a few  pictures of the items and after the market, it’s on).

Ofcourse I’ll have some more items which will be on display in my booth.

For those of you who are interested, the market takes place on the 30th of June, from 11.00-18.00 at the Duinzigt estate in Oegstgeest. I hope to meet some of you guys there!

 

 

Love, Kirsten

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Blanket in progress...

Hey there! Just a quick message to show you guys what I’ve been working on for the past week!

 

My younger sister has moved into her own room last week, and she was asking me for a blanket to cover up her sofa/bed (this is not decided yet). And not just any blanket, but the same blanket I’ve made for my grandma last year . The blanket bore the name ‘colour of my dreams’, and since my sister might or might not be a little hot headed (she’s reading here so I have to be very carefull) I’ve decided to make the same blanket with the additon of some red tones.

And now the best part; the Drops delight yarn used for this blanket was on sale! The whole month of May there is a 35% sale on many varieties of the garnstudio yarns. So if you might use them, make a pitstop at your local retailer because in most countries they participate in this sale!

This is the yarn I’ve ordered. It’s Drops delight in various tones, which is made of 75%  superwash wool and 25% polyamid (a.k.a. acryl) and the colour changes are just beautiful!! Sorry for the crappy pictures, they were taken with my phone as my camera was back home at the time.

 

So far I’ve made about 33 squares, out of the 180-ish I have to make. The final blanket will approximately measure 90 cm x 200 cm, and with the squares being 10 cm x 10 cm this totals the 180…  If it’s really going to be this big I have to order about 4-5 skeins more. But we’ll see in the end if this is necessary!

All stacked together.. Just a playfull mixture of colours!

 

Well, I’m off to school and tonight Kevin and I are attending a wedding party of a colleague of his… It’s going to be fun!!

-update-

We’ve participated in several polonaises, Kevin boogied and I actually have pain in my muscles due to the dancing and laughing. All in all a great night out!

 

 

Love, Kirsten

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Pretty pins #3 Knitting goodness

 

Time for a new edition of pretty pins! This time it will be revolving around knitting! I’ve been trying to learn this for ages now (constantly inspired by the lovely pictures on Pinterest) but I never seem to get past gartner stitch. My aim would be to knit the rainbow-hearted hot watter bottle (by the way, wikipedia says a synonym for hot watter bottle is ‘Dutch wife’. WHY???)

 

Are you guys ready?

 

1. Hot water heartie 2. Urchins all around 3. Travel bags 4. Knitting bowl 5. Entrelac pillow

 

Aren’t they pretty? Each time I see one of these pics or something like it the urge to get back to learn how to knit is there. I guess I just have to make time for it but somehow the time never agrees with me on that one. Those bags are adorable!!! Just to have them around displaying your WIPs would be awesome!! And the entrelac pillow… Just gorgeous.

One thing I love about knitting is that the colour changes or motives can be much more subtle when compared to crocheting. Crochet is overall more bulky, more harsh in those things, and knitting more delicate ( ofcourse there are exceptions). And I think knitting is more suitable for creating clothing for the same reasons.

Do you guys have a knitting project you’ve always wanted to start on, but never found the time to do so?

Love, Kirsten

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Itty bitty pretty package

Every time I marvel at all the beautiful stuff that’s on display at Etsy. Unfortunately, my wallet is not happy with the addiction. Guess I’m not the only one.

When I was browsing through the weblogs I often read, I stumbled upon this blogpost of  Silly old suitcase. I saw the fabric and all my inner voice could scream was ‘WANT WANT WANT’. So off to Etsy I went and I ordered the start of my very own scrap fabric stash. Because hey, you never know when you might need them right?

 

A few days later, my dad called and said there was a package for me (again… *Dad was sighing*). Ofcourse I had to wait a few days as I only come home during the weekends. But oh, the prettiness inside was worth it!

 

 

Of course it first needed to be checked by the kitty control… I do suspect her very extensive control had something to do with the curly wool on top of the parcel.

Look at all the pretty scraps inside! I’m not quite sure what to make of it. Maybe a patchwork pillow. Or use them in my very first (but future) quilt. Or maybe just put them on display in my (future) crafting room, because you’re probably all familiar with the concept of  beautiful fabrics that are never used… EVER!

For now, they are safely tucked away in my fabric box, out of reach of kitties and craftsmen and all their dust and dirt. If you have time, be sure to check out her etsy shop filled with pretty things!

 

 

 

Love, Kirsten

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Back in action!

I confess… That was not a week… I’m very sorry! The busy times just haven’t slowed down I guess. I’m still typing away at finishing my internship report and the windowsills at my home are still not done. So I’m sitting here at my dad’s with Kevin and the cats for over 2 weeks now, and with the prospect of another two weeks since the guys from the windowsill company took wrong measurements… So they only progress with one sill a day. Keeping in mind that the building has about 30 sills and our appartment alone already has 6, it’s a no-brainer that this is going to take a while.

The cats are enjoying it. Isis is sleeping all day in the chair upstairs or looking out of the big windows facing the street. So much to see! Cocktail is a bit homesick though, judging from this picture. ”Get me home woman, I would like to take a dump in my own litterbox now.

 

But first things first: I do not have any pictures of my kitchen machine in action. However,  I do have some pictures of the box haha!

It’s a great machine. The utensils had to be adjusted a little bit to reach the bottom of the bowl but besides that it does what it’s supposed to do; Mix and whip everything up! As I said, No actionshots have been taken yet but when I get home I’ll tadah this beauty properly.

 

On the hooky front I’m not sitting still either! I’ve finally taken some pictures of blankets I’ve finished over the past 2 months.  Remember this picture?

 

Well they’re all finished right now!

This is the solid colour block. It’s made with deep red, orange, 3 different shades of yellow and a bit of pink and plum. The joining colours are cream, and the border is made up of puff stitches in the same cream colour. I started with a few of these blocks in red, pink, and 2 shades of yellow in december 2012, but I didn’t really like the colours at the time and just stashed them away again. When I found them again I decided to add the plum and the light shade of yellow and it suddenly looked a whole lot more like spring!

This one was only circles last time! I’ve decided to join them in a diagonal pattern with a mocha brown wool. I really like how ‘soft’ this blanket turned out. Not only in touch, but also for the eyes. I still have to border this one but my main stash is back home so I’ll wait a little bit. The colours are a little bit darker than in real life, but that’s due to the gloomy weather of today, in real life they are a bit lighter, more like this one!

 

And then there’s this hexagon blanket. This was the way it looked last time. You might remember that I had difficulties coming up with a border and how I would fill in the gaps.

 

Well, I’ve made a border and I simply didn’t fill up the gaps because I didn’t like the half hexagons, they just looked crappy. So I came up with this:

More rainbow! Look at all the rainbowness in this picture! Don’t you just get an insta-kick of happiness! I certainly do.

I like the way the gaps ended up, It wasn’t planned but they look like actual rainbows.

 

But wait, there’s more!

 

I’ve also finished another blanket. I’ve featured the birth of this blanket here. It’s already done for about a month or so but I didn’t have the time to take some decent pictures. So here is the big reveal!

isn’t this one big bunch of happiness? The joining looks like the circular blanket, however this is another colour, I believe it was walnut brown.

I like to keep my edges simple. Just a few rows of single crochet, mostly in ombre colouring or if that’s not possible, gradually colour changes. I think it finishes the whole piece! I’m gonna block it once I find an old mattress.

 

 

So as you can see, I’ve made quite a lot of blankets, or at least finished them. These are all blankets that will appear in my soon-to-open etsy shop! But besides these big items, I’ve also tried my hand on some smaller items. This small bunting is hanging above my bed for quite some time now:

I’ts a pattern I came up with myself, but I never took the time to write it down. I finally did it and now I’m creating a few more buntings to sell in my small shop! The pattern will be available as well for those who would like to make them theirselves.

 

Wow, that was a whole bunch of blankets and buntings and woolly stuf! I’ve catched up a little bit with you guys but as you might know I’ve always got something to chat about. Next time I’ll show you the gorgeous fabric I’ve bought from Silly old suitcase!!

Love, Kirsten

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ah, ah, ah, ah, stayin' alive!

Hello hello everyone! How are you all doing? Just a quick message here to let you guys know I’m still alive. I’m just sooo incredibly busy with everything not crafty related I don’t get anything done at the moment! At my internship a few deadlines were coming pretty close so I had to really put all my effort into not failing that haha! Well, the most intense parts are done, now all that is left is my report but that’s coming pretty together as welll. However, as I said on the crafty side not much has been happening…

 

BUT….

 

I will have a complete week for myself next week! Internship is finished and the next courses start thereafter, so I’m hoping to do a lot more then! However… The houseowner has decided that that week would be the week in which they were going to change the window frames in the entire building…. So I’m afraid Ill be 1. sitting in a noisy mess all week long and 2. have a very cold time since it’s about 2 degrees outside and our windows have to be taken out ofcourse. So I’m considering to pack up my sewing machine and wool, and the kitties and to go to my dad for the week. And ofcourse Kevin can come too. If he wants to… I might imagine him having a week off from me would be very nice and quiet (for him)!

So I’m sorry guys, but there won’t be anything crafty related going on at the moment here. I hope to pop back in in about a week or so and show some things I was able to make! Which reminds me, next week I’ll show the very itty bitty pretty kitchenmachine I treated myself to after my presentations went well. It’s actually not so itty bitty, but very pretty. It’s my new best friend! I’ve already tried brownies (the premade mix… Kevin digged them and ate about 7/8th of the whole thing) and I’m up to trying cheesecake this week as a treat for the people on my internship. Soooooo, see you guys in about a week!

 

 

 

Love, Kirsten

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Long time no see!

Hello party people! I’ve been pretty absent from this blog from the last 2 weeks (Shame on me)… Its just so busy everywhere! Work, internship, actually mostly those two but there’s just not that much time left for eating/sleeping, let alone crafting or blogging. I haven’t done anything crafty the last weeks!

Unfortunately… 2 more busy weeks are yet to come. I have to give a couple of presentations and write reports on my internship and so on. Soooo many deadlines… Soooo little time… I’m afraid that no crafty things are coming out of my hands soon.

That doesn’t keep me from dreaming though.

Do you guys know the feeling, when you know you are gonna have a free weekend, you think ‘ I can make this!’, and 2 minutes later you think ‘and this!’, and 20 minutes later this repeats itself? You end up with 30 things you want to make and no time to make it all (no pressure there right, it’s a free weekend?!!). That’s what happened this last week. Just a short list of what I thought I create today and tomorrow:

 

 (Ok, I wanted to make a start on this one, not finish it all in one weekend)

 

I’m gonna have to postpone a lot of these projects! But the lamp… ahh…. That’s gonna be in my new craft room (once we get a new appartment… Kevin promised we were gonna start searching in may!!!

Last weekend, on a whim, we decided to go to a fabric market. One that travels the country. And ofcourse I wanted fabric right away. I couldn’t wait 2 months untill it was here! No, we had to go and drive for an hour to get there. It was freezing, we were both cold and we left in about an hour but I got some great bargains!

They’re all about 1×1.50 m and  cotton (except the yellow gingham, that one is undefinable polyester/nylon or someting, very very smooth and probably very clingy when burning). And all of this for about 25 euro’s! Last year when the market was here there was no sale at all… Everything was 8+ euro’s/meter. So I’m very content and it was worth the trip.

For the people who were wondering ‘Why Kirsten, ususally you have your bed all neat and pretty, what happened!!?’. These two sleepyheads were laying on Kevin’s side:

 

Who can resist those cute faces…

Well ofcourse right after this picture Cocktail (the left one) sensed my intentions and gave me her ‘Move me and I’ll kill you’ face:

So I guess I’ll be making the bed a little bit later then usual. Might be I’ll clean out the crafty corner also because it’s pretty messy right now. All ofcourse accompanied by the lovely tones of Queen’s  ’Don’t stop me now’ (the only kind of music that can make me continue cleaning… MOTIVATION! I’m having a good time!)

 

Have a lovely weekend y’all!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Love, Kirsten

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Oops...

Hi guys! Just a quick message to let you know that I have not forgotten about you or this blog! It’s just that I have been terribly busy this week with a few upcoming deadlines (and I’m not feeling confident about being ready then, eeeeek!!) In a few weeks, everything will be back to normal but for now, you gotta have to make due with the picture of the scrabble coasters I’ve made past weekend (and guess what I found while I was just quickly visiting a thrift shop on wednesday? Yes, another scrabble set!)

 

I’ll make you guys a tutorial soon (it’s really easy and most of you probably just figured it out the moment you saw the pictures)!

 

Love, Kirsten

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Sewing, or how little pieces of felt covered a laptop.

Hello everybody! How are y’all doing today? I’ve been cheating…. On my crochet hook. With my sewing machine. It was… GREAT! I’ve made someting I’m very proud of; my first finished piece of sewing!

It all started a while back (detour alert!!). When it was my birthday my family gifted me a sewing machine. I wanted one for quite some time but every time there was something that had another priority. Well, my birthday is in September and as you might know, I live in a modest (let’s stay positive right!) appartment together with Kevin. Since I’m using up all the space (yes… he only has his laptop and a part of our closet… Everything else is ‘my’ stuff) and I still don’t have enough space, we decided to go to Ikea (Hurray for Ikea!!!!) and get another desk  so I could put my new machine on that one. This desk would ‘form’ a cornered desk together with my old one. Unfortunately we live in a very old building and our walls are crooked as hell, which resulted in the table not being able to fit against the other desk completely and effectively taking up much more space than needed.

At first, that was ok. However, after a while Kevin started to play his games on that desk (my machine was put in the closet because I had no time to use it at that time). Unfortunately he needs a chair as well (he’s soooo demanding)… so the space became smaller and smaller. Eventually Kevin returned to his old desk in the living room and I kicked the table out so we could make more room for our bed. All in all, in the first 6 months I got the machine, it didn’t see as much action as I had anticipated. However, one small project had been started:

 

 

Ok I do not own an iPad but I do have a laptop. I’d found this tutorial once in the early days of my pintererst but it always lingered in the back of my head. Well, I own a sewing machine after all, so all excited I started cutting up pieces of felt (A few years back the universe a.k.a. 70% sale told me to buy scrap felt). Up untill then I only tried different stitches on a piece of cloth. But against all expectations all went very well and soon I had a nice piece of scrappy felt sewn together.

Then ofcourse my internship started and my social/crafty life was put on hold. The piece of scrappy felt was folded, and folded, and put away in storage… untill today!

I was home early and I don’t know why but I felt the urge to get my sewing machine out and finish the cover! Well, I started measuring and it became soon clear that my own laptop would be to big for the piece I had sewn together. However, Kevin’s laptop is smaller and would fit. Me, lazy, decided that it would be a great gift for him and I continued the tutorial.

Well then all hell broke loose. Seriously, I hope I never have to torn that much seams again! Every time I thought I figured the batting and lining out (since I didn’t understand the tutorial completely, newbie me) a wild flap of cloth appeared somewhere! After 5 hours (yes people, the whole afternoon) it was finally finished. I have to say that I’m very proud of it. Not because it’s perfect, it’s nowhere near perfect, but because I finally completed a project with my sewing machine! And I saw it through (though I wanted to quit about 300 times this afternoon).

Well enough talk, here’s the visual proof!

I’m glad it all turned out well with the lining. I had absolutely NO idea how it would look like in the end but it looks great! I’m sure my grandma will be proud (She’s great with sewing… I still have to go sit with here for an afternoon and just learn her tips and tricks)

 

I spent about 1.5 hours on the little strap… It’s quite hard to figure the whole automated button hole thing out! I think I’ve tried it about a dozen times before I finally understood how I had to twist and turn my fabric around.

The button I put on it is one I bought in Talinn, made of cedarwood and it’s still smelling like it. (By the way, crafty people, they’ve got so many craft shops! It’s awesome and I am probably going there again this summer).

Yes, I’m very pleased. Now lets cross fingers Kevin’s laptop fits… Yes people I made this thing with only his measurements… Not the actual laptop in sight. Well, if the laptop won’t fit, his tablet definitely will.

Well, I think that would be enough visual overload for one day.  I’ve finished up 2 more baby blankets which I will show you guys next time!

 

- update – IT FITS!

 

Love, Kirsten

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Pretty Pins #2 Pincushions

 

Hi everyone! how are you doing! It’s time for another edition of the pretty pins! It was not hard to come up with a new topic for this one. I’ve been looking for a cute pincusion like forever, but everytime I find one, 10 seconds later I spot a much cuter one… (story of our lives, right crafters?). But on the bright side, I do have quite a few pincushion pins!

 

1. Toadstool needle book 2. Hedgehog pincushion 3. Pinwheel 4. Itty bitty pretty pinwheel committee (sadly, no pattern available but we can figure this one out right!?) 5. Tiny apple pincushion 6. Spool pincushion

Lovely bunch isn’t it? I had #4 around for forever, but never actually looked at the source. However, I found it once while searching on pinterest at someone else’s boards, and that one stated that they were lavender sachets. Well, I think they would make fabulous pincushions! I am certainly gonna give it a try someday. Ooh and #5 is really too cute! would be a lovely gift for a starter sewer or just for friends! The same goes ofcourse for #1 and #2. At the moment I have something like #3, however I crocheted it and it’s more like a flower. It’s starting to get all dusty and nasty so that’s why it’s time for a new one. Which reminds me, I still got a pattern and fabric for a  patchwork pincushion I once bought at a fair… Maybe I should consider making that one first… Too many choices!!

 

On the crochet side, I’m still busy finishing the WIPs from last post. After the tip from Cassandra I started a rainbow edge around the hexagon blanket, which turns out to be a lot of work! I thought that would be fixed in a jiffy but nooooo, I’ve been working on 1 row for about 2x an episode of supernatural so that would make 1.5 hours! Didn’t anticipate that one but I don’t really mind, it’s sort of therapeutical. The blanket with the solid squares is now ready to have its loose ends tucked in, so that’s on the to-do list as well!

 

Love, Kirsten

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