Two sided Christmas stocking

Yes finally! I finished my daughter's Christmas stocking.

Ok..... a little late but it's finished! It only took me a few days, but I had the idea of making a stocking ever since my daughter's first Christmas in 2012.
I still have my Christmas stocking which my mom made when I was a little girl and each Christmas I got to hang it by the fireplace. It brings back a lot of happy memories. Now we can hang our stockings together.........

When looking for some inspiration I came across a pattern for a distressed gingerbread man, which made me laugh. I thought it was cute but it did not fit my daughter's requirements; it has to be pink, pink, a little bling and oh yeah did I mention PINK!

So then I decided to make a stocking with two different sides to suit both our preferences.


Distressed Gingerbread man

 

Pink with a little bling



some details

Now all I have to do is make an advent calendar.  Hope I will be finished by Christmas next year!

All I want for Christmas.......art from ELIN

A few month ago I stumbled upon this wonderful artist Elin Thomas. If you are a lover of art and crochet you will love, love, love this.
ELINtm specialises in textile and crochet nature studies of lichen and mould to wear and admire. Elin Thomas is a professional artist with her work being exhibited in numerous galleries and published in textile books and magazines.

You could say I am an admirer of her work and have been wanting to purchase something from her Etsy shop. So I gave Santa a little hint and guess what I got for Christmas???

I was lucky enough to get not only one but two of her pieces. I guess Santa couldn't decide just like me......or I have been a really good girl this year.

Isn't it beautiful?

Be sure to check out some more of her work and she has a sale at the moment so now is a good time to purchase something.

 

......and thanks Santa ;-)

Tea towel with crochet edging - Quick Xmas gift

Looking for a last-minute gift for Christmas? Ok maybe it will take a little longer to make than 1 minute ;-) but if you have a few hours that's fine.

I bought a tea towel (for those of you who live in Holland or Belgium - it's from the HEMA) and pimped it up with a crochet edge. Nice and simple and it makes a great gift for Christmas or for the hostess if you have a dinner party.

What do you need?

• tea towel
• yarn (I used Phildar Coton 3)
• tapestry needle (or needle that is suitable for sewing through a towel)
• crochet needle size 3,5mm

This is how it's done.

First work a row of blanket stitch around the edges of your towel.
Here is a great video that show a slightly different way to make this stitch. Choose whichever way that suits you.

Tip; it's important to have even spaced stitches. Use a tape measure and make small pencil marks where to place each stitch. Or my method:
I cut out a piece of cardboard and made marks 1 cm apart from each other. Line it up with the edge of the towel and used this as a guide whilst stitching around.

Now it's time to start the crochet part. (US terms)
sc = single crochet
ch = chain
hdc = half double crochet
sl st = slip stitch

Start in any corner and work *5 sc stitches in the top part of the blanket stitches. (I worked 2 stitches in each space). Then ch 3, hdc in the first ch*, repeat all the way around. Try to end with a picot. You might have to fiddle around with the last stitches to make this happen. Then sl st into first sc, cut yarn and weave in ends.

It's as simple as that!

Celebrate with a .......

Yippie! I have my first registered followers. It's always nice to see that someone appreciates the projects you make and things you write about. So I thought it's time for a little celebration!

Last year (or maybe even the year before that), I bought this fabulous book "100 Snowflakes to Crochet" in the Dutch version "100 Sneeuwvlokken om te haken". As the title already hints, the book contains 100 different snowflake and ice crystal crochet patterns.








I finally sat down and made several different snowflakes. Using colors; ice blue, dark & light gray green, lilac, aubergine and purple.

They make a beautiful winter decoration if you hang them from a branch placed in a nice glass bottle. I still need to stiffen the snowflakes, but this picture gives you an idea of what the end result looks like.

Or you can hang them in your Christmas tree, use them to decorate your presents or Christmas cards.
The options are endless.....what would you do with them?

And this brings me to the giveaway part. I made two extra sets containing 6 snowflakes each.

I would like to give the first set to Gail Goodwin, because she was the first person to follow my blog. Congratulations and thanks Gail! Please send me an email with your address and I will send you your thank you gift.

If you want to win the second set all you have to do is follow my blog. I will randomly pick the winner in the beginning of January.

Good luck to you all and happy holidays!


Update:
Find out who won......

The perfect gift for any baby shower.....boots & security blankets

It's been a while since my last post. Sorry about that, but I had a good reason. I surprised my boyfriend with a trip to New York!

It was great and quite the surprise.  Unfortunately something went wrong when setting the alarm clock so that we could leave early in the morning. But luckily my boyfriend's bio clock still worked and he woke up at the time we were suppose to be in the car to the airport. Ahhhh panic..... I never knew I could get dressed that quick and luckily we made it with little time to spare.

We stayed in New York for 5 days and saw all the sights or at least we tried..... even got to see the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade. I have never been so exhausted. Up at 6 in the morning and back in bed around 10:30 p.m. But it was worth it!

And believe it or not I didn't bring any yarn or crochet hooks with me. But just before we left, a colleague of mine ask me to make some baby booties and security blankets for two baby showers she was going to. And this is what I came up with.

 

 

This cute bunny security blanket.

 

I feel in love with it when I saw it. If you follow the link you will find more animals to choose from.

The original pattern is in Swedish and she translated it into English (US terms). It's not the best translation, but I figured it out and it also helped that I found a Dutch translation as well. ;-)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Deze schattig konijnen knuffeldoekje.

 

Nederlandse vertaling van het patroon.

Als je de link volgt kun je ook andere dieren haken. 

Nog bedankt Marmarel voor de vertaling!

I got inspired by this design and made my own version....... Bzzzzzzzzz

A little bumble bee playing in a field of flowers. I think it turned out pretty good! What do you think?

If you also would like to make this cheerful bumble bee, you will find the pattern here (both in US and UK crochet terms).

And last but not least, I also made these baby boots to go with the security blankets.

Baby booties for a girl or boy

These boots are quick and easy to crochet. If you don't know if it's going to be a boy or a girl, this pattern can be used for both genders if you use neutral colors. And of course if you do know what it's going to be you can go all out!

Booties for a little girl

This is the pattern I used for both pair of boots. For the little girl version; instead of a button, I crocheted two little flowers and used them as buttons.

Klik hier voor het Nederlandstalige patroon. (ik heb zelf haaknaald 4 gebruikt)

DIY embroidery card.....It's a girl!

Yeah! My niece just had a little baby girl and I thought it would be nice to make my own card for them. I saw this great video and it inspired me for my own creation. It's lots of fun to make and quite easy to do as well.

What do you think?

Of course I used pink - because it's a girl - and then I automatically used green because I love that color combination as you might have already noticed..... or not?

 

I think I will be making more of these cards in the future.... for all sorts of occasions.  

Fantastic fox in the forest

We are so lucky to have some nice weather in the Netherlands. Lots of sunshine!

Just perfect for a walk in the forest.....and of course my daughter had to bring her Fantastic Fox along!

 

It makes me smile every time someone says she has such a cute scarf. And her response is always very proud

"My mommy made it!"

 

 

 

Isn't the fall a beautiful season? I just love how the leaves start to change color.

Great news for those of you who would enjoy making your own fox. I'm going to work out the pattern and it will be available soon. I will keep you posted on my blog so make sure you stay tuned. 

Update: The pattern for this scarf is available! Please see this post for more information.

 

As the evenings are getting longer..... which means I will be on the couch with my crochet hook in hand. It's time to think about my next project. Wonder what it's going to be ????

Branding handmade products..... buttons & labels

In my search on the world wide web for new ways on how to brand my handmade creations I came across these items and thought I would share them with you all.

Wooden buttons

I found these wooden buttons at Wolcafé and immediately got excited. This is exactly what I was looking for!

They come in different sizes and you can choose from a selection of several ready made phrases. To name a few;
Crochet is the new yoga.
Keep calm and be creative.
Handmade is happiness
......and lots more!

Soon you will be able to order buttons with your own logo or personal message. And that's what caught my eye!

 

After contacting the shop, I was lucky enough to order buttons with my shop name and a little crochet hook on them. Aren't they cute? Thanks Leonie, I love how they turned out!

Just perfect for that finishing touch! 

Glued to the leg of my mollie flower stool

Crocheted baby blanket

Stored in a nice glass jar I found at the thrift shop

Looking for labels?
Nominette has a great website where you can design your own labels.

 

 I chose a cream colored background and gold letters, which goes well with the fox scarfs I make.

Also like the text I put on the back of the labels ;-)

 THIS IS AN ORIGINAL

HANDMADE ITEM

MADE FOR YOUR

ENJOYMENT

SMILE WHEN U WEAR IT

 

If you don't have the budget or are just crazy about crafting, there are also some great ways to make your own labels.

 

Check out these great DIY tutorials and different methods....

 

1. Mippoos labels Using computer, printer, transfer paper and cotton ribbon.

2. Gras tussen je tenen kledinglabels. (in Dutch) Using computer, printer, transfer paper and fabric.

3. See Kate sew Order printed fabric from Spoonflower and sewing machine.

4. Kojo designs: fabric labels. Using logo template, fabric, fabric pen and sewing machine.

 

I will definitely try some of these methods for future projects. It's a nice way to have a matching label for your craft.

 

Happy crafting!

#MandalasforMarinke & sunshine

Mandala in the sun

Hello again, it's been awhile......I've been away on a short break, enjoying family and lots of sunshine on Cyprus. And of course I brought my crochet project with me!

As I told you earlier, I wanted to make a mandala in honor of Wink and to help raise awareness about depression. I too have been suffering from depression and stress the last couple of years and I finally took the first step and reached out for help. Being creative and making things with my hands helps and this blog will also be a way to express my thoughts and share my creative items.

Looking through Wink's many beautiful mandala patterns, I made my choice. This one caught my eye because it reminded me of the sun. Sunlight brightens your mood. Just about everyone, regardless of whether or not they suffer from depression, feels better when the sun comes out. Because I was on Cyprus at the time I let the sunshine guide me with my color choices.

It turned out to be a bright and cheerful mandala.

Here is a list of the yarns and colors I used (from left to right):

• Phil Coton 3 color 0049 Craie
• Phil Coton 3 color 0052 Azalee
• Phil Coton 3 color 0062 Poudre all by Phildar
• SMC Catania Fine color 1020 Jade by Schachenmayr

I hope it will bring a smile to someone's face.

For the finishing and personal touch I added a wooden button with my artist name, stitchES, on it. I will post more about where I purchased these buttons shortly.
 

As for now I wish you all lots of happiness & sunshine!
 



Fight depression through crochet!

 

I found this wonderful crochet project on Kathryn's blog Crochet Concupiscence. It's designed to honor Marinke's (aka Wink) life. She was an inspirational and creative person who struggled with depression. Unfortunately, I am sad to say she lost her battle.

I didn't know Wink personally, but her story touched me deaply. That's why I want to participate in this project. First I have to decide which mandala to make. There are some many beautiful patterns to choose from. Of course I'll share the result with you all soon.

If you also want to contribute to raise awareness about depression, Get the full details on the project and how to participate here.

Mandalas should be sent by October the 15th. So get your hook and yarn and start crocheting!