Crocheted Flower Cap

I seem to be posting only crochet projects but trust me, I am also sewing a lot. My model is not co-operating, so you'll just have to wait a bit longer before I can show you what I made.

Anyway, this crocheted cap (or a hat? I am not sure which one is correct, or is it something completely different) is again from this book:

The original design is a bit different, it has braids in the sides. I was too lazy to make those and then I also wanted this cap to be practical and thought that it would be better without the braids. However, I am still contemplating whether I should add the braids, I like them a lot...

The original design did not have a lining either but since it is already quite cold in Finland, I decided to add it. I happened to have some old pants of mine that were the perfect pink knit and since they were stained with paint I happily sacrificed them to this project. Now I have a lot of pink jersey left and I am thinking of making something else with it. I did not use any pattern for the lining but I did measure my daughter's head to make sure that the lining fit her.

If you look closely, you will notice that the flowers on each sides are different. Originally the colour order was pink - pale pink - white - violet - green but I swapped the place of white and violet since it looked better in my mind. Anyway, I was too lazy to make a third flower and decided that it did not matter if the flowers were different on each sides. Emma loves her cap and hasn't even noticed that the flowers do not match!

A new bag

I am in love with all my Japanese crochet books! The instructions are so simple and the designs so girly and pretty. This time I made this bag for Emma. I chose the colours in a whim, which I started regretting the moment I noticed that I possibly did not have enough of the turquoise yarn. Luckily there was enough yarn anyway so this bag was finished quite quickly, even the tiresome picot edgings to all the seams.

The bag is from the book Pretty Color Crochet and Knit Goods, Part 2. I also have the first book of the series and if there are more to come, I will be buying all of them. I really love the patterns.  By the way, I need to update my bookshelf, since I have acquired quite a few books more than what is shown there. Just noticed that! 

I added white lining to the bag even though there was no lining in the original. My crochet is always so loose that I could not give this bag to Emma without a lining, all her precious princesses and hair pins and lip balms and whatnots could not have stayed in it without the lining  - although I do suspect that since the bag is very open, her stuff will anyway end up on the streets, since she keeps tossing and turning her bags when she walks (or rather runs...) around. Anyway, the lining is made from an old linen tablecloth which was too small for any table in our house. It is sturdy and crispy white and had a nice pattern, perfect for the bag. Too bad I did not take any pictures of the inside of the bag.

A closeup of the handles. They needed to be quite sturdy and I utilized the edge of the tablecloth to make them, just because I liked the stripey pattern of the edge.

 

Linking to Tea Rose Home, go and check it :)

Busy Busy Busy - lots of WIPs

My mind is full of lovely sewing and crochet projects but I have no time to make those ideas come to life. Work and real life in general seems to take all my time. Perhaps in a week or two things will calm down - Emma will have her autumn (and winter!) clothes sorted out and all the unfinished house renovation projects will be finished, I will have my own clothes closet reorganized and I have learnt to manage time better. I wish... Hah.

In the meantime, here are the projects that I have had time to start but not finish.

- a jeans skirt for Emma (almost finished, just a few finishing touches missing)
- a shirt dress for Emma in nice fall colours (fabric bought, pattern cut)
- crocheted bag for Emma (almost done, finishing touches missing)
- summer dress for me (oops, maybe for next summer?)
- black trousers for me (so boring - have been almost done since April, oops again)
- lining for the pink crocheted basket (did one version already but did not measure properly and it was too small)

I am also planning to make these projects, as soon as I have time.

- crocheted home shoes for me and Emma
- skirt for me
- woollen shorts for Emma (I think she will look so cute in shorts and tights)
- a crocheted brooch for a friend (yes, I am committed and am seeking for inspiration, Petriina ;))

...and probably many other projects that I just cannot remember right now. I even ordered some new bamboo yarns...

I will be back.

No more dishcloths! Bamboo yarn stash now gone...

I think I am boring everyone by continuing to show these crocheted dishcloths, but I don't think I am finished with them yet. I made these from leftover yarns, I think these are kind of fun.The multicolored yarn is not bamboo, it is actually 100% cotton, but I did not have enough bamboo yarn to make these and I wanted to add splashes of colour.

There is a heart in the middle of this one, I swear! I was inspired by a Canadian artist who crochets texts -  her blog, (sc), is so much fun to look at! I wanted to make something similar and experimented with adding a heart to the middle of the dishcloth. I kind of like it. Unfortunately I ran out of yarn and had to add lace trimming to only two sides to make the dishcloth look even and that was a bit of a mistake. iI looks a bit silly! I will use it, though.

I tried a new lace pattern for making the trimming to this dishcloth. Cute.

 I did not have enough yarn to make single colour dishloths from these yarns. So I added a multicoloured trim, once again.

This is the final dishcloth I made. I used up every bamboo yarn I had (except green, dark blue and black, since they did not fit this colour palette). There are two different yellows, two turquoises, two pinks - the rest is made with the multicoloured yarn.

A few more - but I am doing something else as well

I also made two dark blue ones and one black. Impossible to photograph, though.

I was quite productive during the weekend and made some fall clothes for Emma as well. As soon as I can get her to cooperate, I will post the pictures. Right now she is refusing to pose for mommy :)

More! I just cannot stop making these...

I am beginning to suspect that my subconscious goal is to use up all my bamboo yarns so that I can buy new shades... This time I made some in shades of blue and green.

The dark blue one was very difficult to photograph, but it is beautiful! At least in my screen the last picture conveys the colour best.

I am back - with dishcloths

Sorry for being absent for a few weeks. Life got in the way of blogging - it seems that going back to work after holidays is much harder when the summer has been as amazing as this year! I am now slowly getting back on track, so here are a few dishcloths I have made recently. 

I am loving the colours of these yarns! I used yarn called Katia bamboo I bought from Tallinn, Estonia and I think it is the perfect yarn for dishcloths.

Actually there are more but I have already given them away. These are very popular and I know why: they are ecological, anti-bacterial, re-usable and quite cheap to make, not to mention how pretty they are! I would much rather wipe the kitchen table with a bright and pretty dish cloth than with some basic store bought thingy.


Edit. I am not very good with HTML, but I participated in the Link party by Tea Rose Home and wanted to link back. I could not get her pretty button to work, but I hope you go check out her blog anyway. It is full of creative stuff!

Crocheted basket

This basket was very easy to make but very difficult to photograph! It looks crooked in every picture. Finally, I just had to cheat a bit and stuff the bottom of the basket to make it look more even. I think it looks better, when I stuff it with my yarns.

 See? It does help a bit, but not much. Sigh. Any thoughts? Help?

Door stop

I just had to make one. I have tried to find a door stop that would look nice in our home but so far I have been unsuccessful. I think people in Finland do not use door stops or something, the selection is so scarce! I only found iron stops in the shape of different farm animals and although I have nothing against cows or chickens, they just did not seem right for our home.

I decided to make a very simple door stop and made a fabric cube which is a bit narrower at the top. It also has a handle to make it easier to move around. I used again some Ikea fabrics: an old pillow cover I had made earlier and replaced since, and fabric scraps from the previous projects: wide black and white stripes and narrow yellow and white stripes. I really like the fabrics, since they match so nicely with the wallpaper behind our dining table (shown in the first picture). I put sand and wadding inside and since I wanted to make sure that the sand would not leak, I put it inside two plastic bags. The door stop really works even though it could have been a bit smaller. Well, the next one will be perfect!

Playtime!

I saw an adorable puppet theatre in Ariadne at Home Kinderen magazine (voorjaar 2010) and just had to make one for Emma.I found the instructions from the magazine's internet pages, but since they were in Dutch, I really could only guess how it was supposed to be made. Fortunately, it is very simple, I think the choice of fabrics make it so nice!

The main fabric I used, is again from Ikea, the curtains are made from the same fabric as Emma's top and Emma's cousins' dresses (and I still have a lot of it left...), the lace is from my stash. The ribbon for the frame came from Pip Studio's sheet packet, the bed sheets were wrapped in it and the curtain holders are Tilda ribbon.

Edit. Few closeups, as requested by Marianna :)

I chose not to put screws to the door frame, since I wanted the theatre to be easily movable to different door frames. Instead, I used an adjustable chin pull up bar, and although the theatre does not cover the whole door opening, it still works just fine. I guess now I should make a few more hand puppets for Emma...