A Trip Down Memory Lane

Dear Readers,

how the diddly-heck are you?

I won't be going into detail what I've been up to over the last 12 months, but needless to say, I'm still alive and happily knitting and hooking away in my spare time.

During a recent clear-out, I came across my first ever top I knitted when I was 17. That was 1981...eek!

Those were the days:

we were all scared of a nuclear war.

I listened to Madness, the Specials, Abba, Queen, John Lennon and Spandau Ballet.

In the cinema I watched Indiana Jones - Raiders of the Lost Arc and James Bond - For Your Eyes Only.

Everyone was watching Dallas and Dynasty on TV.

Prince Charles and Lady Diana married in 1981, and Greece became a member of the EU (little did they know!)

And here is that first jumper I made; a blue, acrylic tank top with a seaside pattern. The palm trees and the "waves" were stitched on afterwards. The Gods only know how I managed to make it look this neat.

It was far too bulky at the time, and it's still too bulky for me today (thank the Gods!), but I remember that I wore it often in those days.

When I recently put this top on again after 30+ years of ignoring it, I remembered those days with fondness, and thought that I must revive this blog!

Watch out for more postings coming soon!

My First Tunic

Well hello fellow crafters,

it's been a while since my last post, and I thought I'd just let you all know that I'm still alive and knitting!

I've been very busy over the last couple of months; on the left you can see my first tunic, which took me over a year to complete on size 4mm needles....It was worth it though; the pattern is gorgeous even though it looks more complicated than it is.

I found the pattern in a German book with vampire inspired designs...

Another tunic in black with a different lace pattern is currently under construction, and I hope it will be completed within the next couple of weeks.

That's it for today. I will try my best to update my crafty blog more often than I have been.

Catch you later!

Christiane

PS: You can also favourite this design on Ravelry ;)

I ♥ Corsets

And because I love corsets, I have to make them somehow...my sewing skills aren't that great, so I crochet them. The one's in this post are my latest designs:


I think I've got enough corset tops for the time being (I made these earlier :)) It's woolly Christmas gifts on my to-do list right now...better pull my fingers out!

Toodles...

Some Inspiration

Goodbye summer, hello autumn! The perfect time to sit in the lounge on an evening in front of the fire and knit or crochet something...yes...something, anything...as long as I can wield a hook or some sticks and produce something useful and/or beautiful with those magic tools. I'm completely rubbish when it comes to following instructions for projects, especially when they're in English with lots of abbreviations, but I love knitting books with inspiring projects just like these:

1. The Spanish Rose Trellis Scarf

2. Fuji Feather Lace Wrap

3. Senorita's Floral Pullover

4. Winter Sun Capelet

Wouldn't the pattern for the capelet not make a lovely cushion cover? If you like these patterns and your knitting skills are advanced, then you might like other projects featured in the book:

Toodles..

More Granny Square Madness...

Granny squares - pain is so close to pleasure... 

It's fun to crochet them, but then my patience is severely tested when I have to darn in all those loose ends.

That's why I haven't yet managed to make a granny square blanket, and I'm not sure I ever will...

For this top I just made eight squares and added a wide border with picot edging at the bottom.

The cotton yarn was leftover from other projects, which was just enough for a sleeveless granny square top, which in materials cost me less than a tenner.

Bargain!

Crochet Boxes

I really enjoyed making this storage box as featured in the latest edition of Inside Crochet (Issue 19, June 2011). It's suitable for beginners and doesn't take long to complete. Best of all, you can let your imagination run wild and create boxes in all colours, patterns and sizes.

I have slightly changed the simple double crochet pattern replacing it with the cross-over double stitch and adding picot edging to the lid.

If you would like to make this box yourself, then click on the instruction image below and zoom in with your cursor:

And if you need more ideas, then check out this book I recently found in my local library; it contains lots of fabulous ideas for all sorts of crochet boxes, containers and pots:

Things to Do with Granny Squares: Arm Warmers

What to do with granny squares? Blankets, throws, table cloths, bags, scarves...whatever. When I recently tried out a new design, the size of it (13cm square) fitted perfectly around my arms, and a light bulb moment sparked off the granny square arm warmer.

Of course you can turn granny squares into gloves, mittens and gauntlets; it all depends on your imagination and skills. Granny square arm warmers are great stash busters, and the ones you can see here are all made of leftover yarn.

All you need to do is crochet two granny squares (any design that takes your fancy) to a size that fits around your arm. Then fold a granny square in half, sew together and add a crochet border to top and bottom in the desired length. And that's it - very easy!

If you love crocheting granny squares, then you will love making these. And once you've made your own granny square arm warmers, then please get in touch and post a link to your pics.

Red Alert - Freestyle Knitting

Strange things happen when I do freestyle knitting; first, I buy yarn I fall in love with, in this case it's Rico Creative Melange Chunky in red code 002.

I bought three balls and wondered what to turn it into, so I went to find inspiration from pattern books.

I eventually found a cable lace pattern and decided to knit a shrug. When I was about to cast on, I decided to use my 7mm/80cm long needle as I prefer the flexibility of circular needles.

Whilst casting on, I changed my mind about the shrug and decided to knit in rounds to create a cropped tank top instead.

Needless to say I ran out of yarn, but only needed little more to add sleeve borders.

And because I needed to buy more yarn anyway, I decided to add 3/4 length sleeves rather than keeping the top sleeveless, so I bought two more balls.

Well, I haven't yet mentioned the fact that the jumper is red; very red.

I don't want to go near a bull with it, not that this is the kind of thing I usually do.

Normally I don't wear red, but the mix of red hues in this yarn won me over when I saw it in the shop. The yarn itself is beautifully soft and warm. I love wearing this top, which just evolved as I went along.

Pink Medieval Style Corset Top

Gosh it's been a while since I last added a project to my blog, but here is my latest creation, another corset top, which I really enjoy wearing.

The yarn used is Sublime Soya Cotton dk, shade 088. Again, it has been crocheted in one piece with straps and borders added to finish it off.

The idea is based on the Medieval Corset Belt design, which can be found in Debbie Stoller's Happy Hooker crochet book - very easy to make.