Winter knitting and crochet

It is freezing in Joburg the last week. OK, freezing for us southern hemisphere inhabitants who are used to sunny days....The weather has inspired me to do some knitting and crocheting in front of a cosy fireplace.

I found these stunning patterns from Knit 1 on Ravelry. They are the Magnum Reversible Vest in knit and crochet and the Magnum Capelet. All made with Magnum yarn from Cascade Yarns, a super chunky 100% wool. Sadly not available in South Africa, so I had to use substitutes.

First I made the crochet Reversible Vest with Sirdar Indie shade # 0156, a lovely mix of brown, creme, green and purple. Using a size 12mm crochet hook it took me a few nights to finish it. This is such a simple pattern, although I did change the pattern quite a bit to make mine fit as I wanted it to.

The first picture on this post shows the finished vest, all in one piece. Next time I would make the armholes closer to the top to make a smaller collar, but I love the length.

My attempt at making the knitted version was not so successful. Actually the vest came out perfect, but as I followed the pattern exactly, it ended up way too small! The designer must be a very small lady. I am trying to work out a way to make it bigger...

Then I decided to make an even more easy vest. This is also in ONE piece . I knitted with size 12mm circular needles that are 80cm long as it was easier and lighter than using regular iknitting needles. The wool is Gedifra I found at Arthur Bales in Linden at a bargain price of R40 a skein, that is about $5 a skein! Sadly, this gorgeous wool is being discontinued. The story of my life...

I knitted the vest without any shaping for the arms and shoulders and looking at it on, I think it might be good to do that next time. Still lovely, cozy and warm....

Lastly, I started on the Magnum Capelet from Knit 1. This is where I am right now. Very difficult to try on as the needles just hold all the stitches. I am using Sirdar Indie in shade #0155, a beautiful mix of natural, blue and green. Cannot wait to use this warm capelet!

I also made 3 crocheted hats. This Winter's absolute must-have color - mustard-yellow -was a given, so I took 2 skeins from my most protected yarn stash ever - the last 8 skeins of the discontinued Elle Wool Boutique Merino Solids in Light Mustard. (I called EVERY wool shop in South Africa to find only 10 skeins!). I even lined the hat with mustard colored knit fabric. I also made a grey and dark pink hat, but will post pics as soon as they are also lined.

I have had enough of uploaded pictures disappearing for one day, thank you. I will post soon again. Hope you enjoy looking at all my projects.

Gorgeous Crochet Shrugs!

This post is a few days later than promised, but worth waiting for I can promise you! I was browsing on Ravelry a few weeks ago and happened upon the 9 -to-5 Shrug pattern. Wow! I love quick, simple, easy projects and this one fits the bill. Imagine making a little jersey in just a few hours, all in one piece - no seperate pattern pieces...


This is my first attempt at this cute and easy little Shrug, although it is based on another tutorial, whilst I was waiting for the 9-to-5 Shrug pattern to be published in Crochet World magazine.


And this is my first 9-to-5 Shrug. Gorgeous isn't it? I have no less than another 6 planned, of which 3 are already in progress. Yes, all at the same time. I get bored easily, so each day I can pick which one I want to continue with. I know, progress is slow, but I will get there!

This pattern is in the August 2011 issue of Crochet World magazine, which can be purchased in an e-book format from their website.

Right now, I am looking for the perfect tutorial to sew a Drape Cardigan. I think I have finally found it today. Will share soon!

Weekend sewing

The weather has been pretty gloomy here in Joburg this past weekend. Rain, rain and more rain. Perfect for reading (on my kindle) and sewing, of course. I decided to play around a bit more with sewing some shirred tops. I have been struggling to find the right tension on my sewing machine, but it seems I finally found it!

The pictures are not great because of the gloomy weather. This stretch knit fabric is a lovely bright yellow. I copied a pattern from one of my favorite store-bought tops. Really simple. I have been dying to try making a top with two different colour fabrics for a while, so here is my first attempt in yellow and black.

A close-up picture of the sleeve detail. I used a very fine zig-zag stitch, called an embroidery stitch on my machine, to finish the sleeve and neck edges. I decided to go for contrast detail and did it in yellow on the black fabric. Looks very nice. The original top had cropped sleeves that were shirred, but I made it longer and decided to rather go for a flair sleeve. I quite like it.

You might remember me making this bag a while back? All it needed was for me to sew in the lining. Shocking that I had cut and sewn the lining months ago, I just needed to sew it into the bag! Well, all done now. Love this bag!

My HTC cellphone decided to die on me just 3 months before my contract and free upgrade is due! I did not want to spend a fortune on a phone for just a few months and was delighted to find this cool Vodaphone for only R549! It has all the features I want and a camera too. Not that I ever use the camera on my cellphone...Best of all, it is simple to use and within hours I had my e-mail set-up on it, all my contacts in and my music saved on it.

I am officially on my summer holiday from today! 3 weeks of rest, I hope. So far, not much of a "summer" with all the rain, and not much "holiday" either as I have a few more deadlines to make this week. Lots of Xmas shopping to still do and of course, plenty of time for sewing and crocheting.

Fabulous new stash!

I think you all know that this week is my LYS , Arthur Bales's, big July sale. Big surprize, I have been there twice this week already! I was a bit stumped when I said to one of the ladies working there that I won't be back again this week and she replied that she is sure I will! Ok, not really so shocking...Anyway, before we move on to my exciting new yarn (and fabric) loot, first some exciting post this week from my lovely, talented friend in Staphorst, The Netherlands.

Inside this lovely fabric parcel wrapped with gorgeous ribbon was a selection of fabulous original Staphorst cotton fabric. In lovely shades of purple, lilac and blue. I love the fabric, Gina! I have been keeping it close, staring and touching and I fear I won't use it for a while...but since lilac and purple is my current colours, I might just make that fabric bag I have been dying to make. A lovely postcard of Staphorst and an adorable keyring with Dutch wooden shoes. This is so going onto my car keys soon! Love the homemade strawberry too. Thanks so much Gina! Visit Gina here http://gingini.web-log.nl/gingini to see her lovely creations.

On to the new loot. Here are some of my new yarn, and yes, I did buy one piece of fabric. You can see my piece of lovely pink and wine red corduroy fabric in the photo below. It was rather expensive fabric, imported from Japan. I have been drooling over this for a while...I am going through my patterns looking for the right dress. I want to make a country type dress with a flair sewn on the sleeves and hem and since I do not have such a pattern, I will modify one I have.

This time I decided I am going to stock up on the more expensive yarns I hesitate to spend on, instead of stocking up on the cheaper acrylic yarns. So, first on my list was super bulky wool. Of course, Rowan Big Wool was a given. Not sure of the name of this colour, the package and label does not say, but I think it is called "Smitten Kitten". I have a bag pattern from the Rowan Big Easy booklet in mind for this. On the left is Sirdar Denim Ultra Mega Chunky, a mix of cotton and wool and really nice for a natural coloured bag or scarf.

The ultimate spoil for me was this - Rowan Pure Cashmere DK. Horrendously expensive, it arrived very recently and was on about a 20% discount, so I jumped on the last three in this lovely pink. I am thinking a summer scarf or wrap. What do you think?

I also stocked up on the last of the discontinued Elle Merino Solids felting wool (not pictured). My stash is looking good except for the yellow and black which I cannot find anywhere. So, here is the last of my new stash. I could not resist the lovely blue Elle Toy Time acrylic yarn. Not sure what to make yet, so will go in the stash for later. The Vinnis Colours organic cotton is to add to my growing stash to make a lovely colourful bag I have in mind and maybe also some washcloths and tray cloths.

Then I thought I will share what I am busy with right now. I have been working on both these projects during the evenings this week when I have a chance. This is a neckwarmer in moss stitch from a pattern called "Envy" on Ravelry. I already have the buttons picked out, but knitting is so sloooow.

Compared to crochet, that is, which is why I started another project this week. I just love these colours together! This is a wavy type pattern and i am using local yarns from Elle to make a unique bag. In fact, so unique, I do not even know myself yet what the end result will be! I saw a picture of a stunning bag online and sort of started making something similar, but as always, I digressed...

This Saturday I am shopping at the International Fashion Sale at the Coca-Cola Dome near my house. It's now hosted twice a year and an opportunity to buy expensive branded clothing, shoes, bags and perfume at up to 70% off. What woman can resist that?! My best friend, sister and niece will be joining me in a day of shopping and fun! Hope you are all having a fabulous week!

Positively Crochet - Patchwork Purse

I am an undying fan of Mary Jane Hall now! She says she is busy with another book and frankly, I cannot wait to see how she can improve on Positively Crochet and Crochet That Fits! I could not wait to share my Patchwork Purse. I finished the bag this past weekend, but still had to attach the lining, tassles and a few other odds and ends. So here it is!

Don't look too closely! My handsewing sucks! I used three of my favorite colors that reminds me of my visit to Mexico a few years ago. I incorporated all the colors into my handle and the tassles, but otherwise stayed very closely to the original pattern. A first for me! The little squares crochet up real fast. The most time is spent on assembling and finishes.

I used my favorite (discontinued - bah!) Elle Wool Boutique Merino Solids felting yarn. I am not planning to felt the bag, but this yarn is so nice to work with and the colors are simply awesome. I used plain black lining that is strengthened with stiff interfacing and also sewed lining to the long handle to avoid stretching. I can pack quite a bit into my bags every day, so it needs to be strong and big enough to hold all my stuff. Overall, once again, a fun easy bag to make!

On another note, all three our dogs have paid a visit to the VET in the last two weeks! This is our cheeky little man, Buksie. He was in on Monday to, hmm, have his manhood removed, poor thing. I cannot see any change in his aggressive attitude though!

And here is Jessie, our new baby. She is doing so well now and has grown three times her size when we got her a few weeks ago. She is such a lovely dog. Playful, sweet and yes, naughty too. She still pinches yarn! Here she is on her "bed" next to the heater.

Our old girl, Maxine, had her turn at the VET yesterday and was diagnozed with breast cancer. Fortunately it's in the early stages, so she will be operated the first week in August to remove the growths. I will post pics of her next week. She is such a lovable lady and caused great comotion at the VET. She loves people, especially kids and puppies, but she hates cats and the VET has two resident cats! The VET was extremely busy but the waiting room cleared very fast!

My next project? I am keen to make a very large, bulky crochet bag with my (very expensive) Rowan Little Big Wool yarn. I found a perfect pattern on Ravelry and hope to start on it tonight. Hope you are all having a good week!

Crochet That Fits - Completed Sweater Bag

I finished the Sweater Bag from my new book, Crochet That Fits. I crocheted this bag with Elle Toy Story yarn, a local brand, using two strands at the same time throughout the pattern, in Magenta. Not sure why the colors never show up right in my pics. Maybe I need to take pictures in daylight. Another super-easy and fun bag to make! I made this bag on our weekend away in ONE evening!

Because I crochet so lose, lining is essential for my bags. This bag presented a problem to line as the top opening was very narrow. After trying several ideas, I had a brainwave. I turned the bag inside out, attached the lining by hand just below the narrower top and turned it back right side out again. Worked like a charm!

This is a nice, roomy bag. It came out quite big, but I love it! The handles are made from my new leather fabric called "a touch of leather". I am not sure how fabric can have a touch of leather and not be leather, but this is great fabric. Soft to the touch, easy to handle and almost like real leather. It sews so much easier too. I attached O-rings to the handles and handsewed it onto the inside of the bag.

Despite all my plans to do some sewing this weekend, I never did. Instead I started on a new crochet bag from another new book, Positively Crochet, from Mary Jane Hall again. This is the Patchwork Purse and I selected three colors I think look awesome together - brown, orange and turqoise blue. I am almost finished with the bag and will share soon.

Hope you all had a great weekend and a fabulous week ahead.

Crochet That Fits - Lining my felted Houndstooth-check purse

As I mentioned in my previous post, this is a fantastic book with extremely easy, classy items to crochet inside. There are hats, scarves, belts, dresses, skirts, tops and my favorite, handbags, inside. I have made two bags from this book and last night worked like a crazy woman to finish the first - The Houndstooth-check felted bag.

Lining a felted bag is a bit easier than lining a plain crocheted or knitted bag. Mainly because the non-felted bag still has a lot of stretch in it, so you have to be careful to ensure the lining is big enough. I normally cut my fabric way bigger than the actual bag as you can see in this photo. I then start sewing the side only until I am happy with the fit. Then I sew the bottom and make a flat botton last. I leave a long extra piece at the top, which I fold over (on the inside) and then sew to the bag. With felted bags, sewing with the machine works well, but with plain crocheted or knitted bags, I find that machine sewing stretches the bag out of proportion and takes the elasticity away, so I handsew. Not my favorite, but it looks better.

Now I have finished sewing the fabric lining, complete with 4 pockets that I require to keep my necessities neat and handy in my purse. You will see above that I have already folded the long top piece of fabric back, but have not sewn the lining on yet. If you are putting a magnetic snap in the lining, this is the time to do it.

This picture gives you a better view of the lovely look of this crochet pattern. It is the best, and easiest, houndstooth pattern I have ever seen. Next comes the handles and magnetic snap. As you know, I make my own leather handles and I found these dark grey handles in my stash, all made up already. I have opted to attach the handles to the lining instead of sewing it onto the outside of the bag as per the pattern.

The lining and handles are all nicely sewn in now. I decided to make a firm bottom for the bag and quickly cut a piece of my plastic I use for this. I sewed a fabric cover for it and inserted it lose in the bag. I decided to put the magnetic snap in the flap as the pattern did, but had to search for an extra piece of felted yarn I could handsew the snap to. This is just extra re-inforcement because the felted yarn will eventually get damaged with frequent use.

I will upload this project to Ravelry today as well and will list the yarn details there if you are interested.

All done! I am already using my bag today! Love, love, love it! Can you believe that I often, like today with a new bag, chose what I will wear that day according to the bag I want to use? Is that crazy? Maybe you girls won't think so, but my non-crafty friends think I am!

Tonight I hope to finish the lining of the black and orange crocheted bag I showed you recently as well as make the leather handles and lining for the other project I made from this book, the Sweater Bag. Have a great day!

Crochet That Fits - projects and review

Not a very productive weekend, but I do have an excuse! (Apart from the FIFA soccer finals) I spent last Saturday in Pretoria with my sister, her kids, my cousin and my kids, a belated celebration of her birthday, on 4th of July. It was a fab day with lots of laughs and great food.

Then a cold front moved in this week and it is freezing! (I know, I know, not freezing like the snow in the Northern Hemisphere at all! But we are used to sunny, mild conditions here!) I have been looking for earmuffs for several years now and last week found a pair locally! Since my second annual visit to Chicago, I have developed problems with my ears in windy weather, so these are fantastic. I have been wearing them inside and outside for three days now!

I found the most fantastic book - Crochet That Fits by Mary Jane Hall. At first glance, I would never buy this book as it appears to be garment patterns. But inside are the most gorgeous patterns for scarves, gloves, bags, and yes, garments too. They all have one thing in common - extremely easy! I have already made TWO bags from this book! The first is the above pattern, the Houndstooth-check felted purse. Such a very simple pattern, yet stunning.

This was my first attempt at felting in my new washing machine. The first try was unsuccessful because I could not figure the machine settings out, but the second was right on the dot! And how lovely does this machine felt! The machine has a gentle spinning cycle and no more badly creased felted bags for me!

I will share more about the actual pattern and yarn I used when I post the finished, lined bag soon. I just love the lilac and grey together.

The second bag I made is the Sweater bag. I made the bag in magenta. Looks so classy. Another super easy pattern with a stunning result. I just need to add lining and handles to both bags and they are done!

I admit I am so bad at taking on bigger projects (like sweaters and coats), so I might just look at the gorgeous clothing patterns in this book, like the cap-sleeve top above. Another extremely easy pattern.

And isn't this sweater gorgeous? There are many more stunning, extremely easy patterns in this book. Worth buying!

I am also still busy with my T-shirt yarn bag. I ran out of yarn for a second time and need to cut more fabric before I can finish it. Last night I started on a yellow drawstring felted bag, this one knitted with circular needles using some of my precious stash from the USA. I am also very keen to make some fabric bags. Gina's reversible bag is on top of my list! See hers here http://gingini.web-log.nl/gingini/2010/07/11-juli.html. Then of course, I have a pile of stretch knit tops I want to make. Let's see what time permits. Hope you all have a great week!

Knit jersey tops

My apologies for being absent for so long again! I have no excuse except that things have been so hectic at work and home the last few weeks. Not that it has slowed down a lot, but I missed my blog friends, so here I am! Creativity has also suffered greatly the last month. I seem to have plenty of WIP's, even more than before! And I keep starting new projects and not finishing them. Urgh. I think this is a sure sign that I am not feeling very creative at all.

I did finish this gorgeous orange and black bag above. Love, love, love it! Just wish I can now sew the lining so I can use it! I just adore this bag. It was a pain to change colours the whole time and I tried several methods, but ended up with the old fashioned method of cutting the yarn and starting with a new color. This left me with hours of finishing work, but well worth it. The little belt and buckle is so cute. I plan to make leather handles but I am debating a new way of using them. I will share the finished bag once I get to it!

I did make a few knit jersey tops in the last few weeks and am already wearing them. This top I made with lovely black and white knit fabric I bought at Hobby Lobby this year in Chicago. This is from a new pattern I bought online.

This top I made from a very easy pattern and it only has two pattern parts. Quick to make!

This is my first attempt at sewing ruffles to my tops. Real easy and such fun to make. I really like the end result. Apologies for the shiny photo!

I have had this fabric for quite a while and cannot understand why I have not used it before. It is a lovely quality knit fabric. I just love the colors! This is another top from my favorite Bernina Inspiration magazine pattern.

I am experimenting with combining colors in my tops and this is the first one I made. Love the bright orange and black together. Not sure if this is what I really wanted, but I have worn it a few times already.

Apart from these, I have a zillion new projects such as bags, scarfes, hats, tops, etc. that are halfway. Too embarrasing to share all of them! I hope to have some completed projects to share as soon as I can get myself inspired to finish something. Hope you all have a great week!

Crochet Bags

The crochet bag "factory" is certainly still open here with production going full steam ahead! I finished my Multi-colored spike bag and started a new crochet bag last night! (We will forget about the 10 or 20 WIP's all over the room for now!)

Just need to cut out the lining, iron on the interfacing and sew it. Love how this bag came out. I changed my mind about the handles at the last moment and I am really pleased how this looks. A nice, sturdy bag with lots of room allowing for lots of pockets in the lining.

On Monday I popped into Arthur Bales, my favorite fabric and yarn store, to replace my crochet hook. I snapped it in half whilst crocheting the Multi-colored Spike bag above! They sell these sets of 3 plastic crochet hooks in 4mm, 5mm and 6mm sizes in one pack. Just love these hooks. I left with enough cotton yarn to make a pink top and the fleece fabric above. They were busy unpacking a new shipment as I walked past...Bad...All these gorgeous colors and soft, warm fabric for Winter, which has officially arrived in South Africa this past weekend.

My Burda Style magazine just arrived in the shops a few days ago and this flared coat caught my eye immediately. When I saw the cerise pink houndstooth fleece fabric, I knew I must make this coat! The matching plain pink fleece was in my stash from last Winter and a perfect match too! I see BIG buttons and a large collar. Now I just need to put my crochet bags down a bit so I can trace and cut the pattern from the magazine and start sewing!

Here is a sneek peek at the bag I am working on now. Started last night...