Look what I got!

On Friday I opened my mailbox to find:

I won a give-away Nicole hosted on her blog. Sweet! In the envelop, starring her two sheep Piper and Mooney, I found a really pretty purple pencil case:

In the case she put a crochet hook with a foam piece to avoid cramps while hooking away, some cute pin buttons (love the crocheting queen one!!), a button flower,

a lovely note,

and a purse frame to make a snap coin purse. Nicole has made a lovely granny purse tutorial on her blog!

Thanks Nicole! I love my presents :-)
Love, Zjizjipke!

The making of a crochet bunting, part 1

For a big project I’m working on for months, I wanted to make a bunting too. The project will remain a secret for now (it’s not finished yet!), but I’ll show you how I made the bunting.



I used Drops Paris with a number 5 crochet hook. You just need to know two kinds of stitches for this. Chain and dc-double crochet in UK (or sc in US terms). For more information about the different kinds of stitches, I made a chart.



Start with chaining two stitches.

Row 1: Dc two into the second chain from the hook.

Row 2: Turn your work, chain 1 and dc two in each stitch (4st).

Row 3: Turn your work, chain 1, dc two in first stitch, dc one in the two next stitches, dc two in the last stitch (6st).

Row 4: Turn your work, chain 1, dc one in every stitch (6st).

Row 5: Turn your work, chain 1, dc two in first stitch, dc one in the following stitches (all but the last), dc two in the last stitch (8st).

Row 6,7,…: Keep repeating row 4 and 5 (so every other row the number of stitches increases with 2).

When my flag was wide enough for my liking, but not high enough, I did some rows without increasing stitches (the last three or four rows).


I worked in the ends and then blocked the triangles on a towel. Not mandatory, but it gives them a nicer finish :-)



Next time I’ll show you how I crocheted them together.



Love, Zjizjipke!

A jacket for my e-reader.

I’ve been wanting to make a pretty cover for my e-reader for ages. Searching the web and Pinterest for a good pattern, I came across some really nice designs! Looking at the difficulty level I settled on the cover from Madebymarzipan.






Being a beginning seamstress and having made the cover in just over an hour, I can agree this isn’t a difficult pattern :-) I did however use slightly thicker batting for extra protection, so it's a bit more bulky...
Now I can read in style! I love the little roses fabric!

What do you think about my little sewing project?

Love, Zjizjipke!

What I made for Chrismas: Hot Water Bottle Cover

I had this baby in mind for a few months now and figured it would make a really good present for Christmas. Off course me being me, I started making it last-minute :-) But it was finished just in time to be wrapped and then unwrapped by the more than happy receiver!

I would like to present you a tutorial with pictures and directions, but fact is it depends on the size of your HWB, the yarn and crochet hook you use… So I’m just going to give some hints as to how I made mine!

I used the leftover yarn from my blanket: Caron Simply Soft. With my crochet hook number 5, I made a chain just slightly longer than the round curved part of the HWB, that was my base.

Then I started crocheting away… Single crochets (US) to get a good tight cover, following the curves from the bottle by increasing stiches where needed. When the cover was long enough to reach the neck of the bottle I started decreasing and increasing along the end of the HWB.


Actually you make up your pattern as you go along. After finishing the grey (back) part of the cover I realised it could be a little on the small side…


You see that it would be a little too small if I didn’t make the front part wider… So the stripy (front) part got a few more stitches to it :-) It ended up about a cm bigger on both sides.





As both sides where done, I laid them out, good sides together and began to sew around the edges. Starting from the top of the cover going down, but leaving the bottom part open! When the sewing part is done, you turn the cover good way out and stuff in the HWB. I closed the bottom with slipstitches, but you could sew it shut if you like.

And ta dah!! Your own custom-made hot water bottle is finished!



Yes, since the finishing part took place at night, I forgot to take pictures :-) So this is one after the unwrapping took place on Christmas eve!

Love, Zjizjipke!

The colours I used are Caron Simply Soft Grey Heather, Blackberry, Soft Pink, Victorian Rose and Raspberry.

Merry Christmas from Rudolph!

We want wish you all a very, very merry Christmas! With lots of prezzies, good food and in the company of loving friends and family!

To welcome those who pass by my door I made a wreath this year. What did I use? A Styrofoam circle, wool, a fork, a crochet hook and my new glue gun (love it!)


I wrapped the grey wool around my Styrofoam, regularly securing the wool with some glue.

With the fork and some white yarn I made some cute mini-pompons, gluing them to the wreath:

Online I found a nice pattern for a sweet little crochet reindeer. Rudolph was born and glued to his new spot from where he can greet visitors.

Ta dah!

Love, Zjizjipke!

Granny stripe blankie ta dah!

In September I ordered some new yarn, yes, what a joyous day that was! Shopping for yarn and fabrics are two of my favourite things. (indeed I have a quite substantial collection of both, hence the rarity of those treasured shopping sprees…)

But since Blankie the second had been given another purpose in life, I just had to make another Blankie, right? Enter the need for new yarn, I already had the colours picked out! At Wooly.nl I came across a beautiful acrylic yarn: Simply Soft from Caron. It comes in a nice range of colours and has a little shine to it.



The pattern I had in mind was the famous Granny Stripe Pattern from Lucy (Attic24). I started with a crochet hook number four, but the first rows turned out too rigid, so I restarted with a number five hook, which was better. Seems I crochet my stitches really tight, so next time I’m going to try a number six, just to see the difference.

The yarn was a real joy to work with, the pattern was a breeze to crochet, so the blanket grew and grew quite quickly…

Ok, enough with the blabla, here comes the Ta dah!!


Isn’t she gorgeous?? I’m totally in love with the result!


I haven’t got the exact dimensions, but she’s big enough to keep one person nice and warm!


A row of grey between four other colours gives a really nice effect, doesn’t it?


As a border I just crocheted some rows of treble crochet (US: double crochet, Dutch: stokjes)





Yes, she inspected the new Blankie and claimed it as hers (again) :-) But this one’s mine!

Love, Zjizjipke!

Grannyswap, part two!

November 30 was the big-grannyswap-unwrapping-day!


And such gorgeous granny squares found their way to Belgium! But first I’ll show you the ones I sent to these lovely ladies:


As a little extra I made everyone a masking tape happy birthday card :-) That was my first card making try-out, so I hope they came out ok!

Now for the moment you’ve all been waiting for: the big tadaah-look-what-I-got!

Esther

Birgit

Isolde

Willeke

Tessa

Sandra

All the beautiful, brightly coloured granny squares!

Now to decide what to make with them… Thank you so much ladies for the fun swap! I loved it :-)
Love, Zjizjipke!