With love, Marieke

15 October 2018

I just decided I should call this week 'the week of the finished projects'. Well, on a very small scale at least. This weekend I could give the shawl to my mother who, immediately, wrapped herself up in it. And this was the ultimate test because the yarn has some real wool in it and usually my mother can't wear wool...it itches the whole time. But this yarn...no itchy feelings at all! So that's an extra 'thank you' to 'Katia' for creating this wonderful 'Warmy'-click to order with discount now.
Then there was this sweet request to crochet something for a Golden Wedding. As mentioned before I couldn't really find a pattern to create the thing that I had in mind. After a long search I ended up on the website 'MyKrissieDolls'-click, who not only has beautiful patterns you can buy but also a few gorgeous patterns for free! And there I found 'Krissie de Tassenhanger'-click for the free pattern which I used as base for my Bride & Groom. At first I was a bit nervous about the Groom looking more like a Sweep but he turned out to be a cute and handsome dude who can easily spend another 50 years with the love of his life!
And then there is this annual event. It's a 5-day event in the 'Jaarbeurs' in Utrecht where I could easily live those 5 days. It's paradise for everyone who has Crafting DNA in his/her tissues. It's the KreaDoe. Every year I buy stuff at the stands with wool, yarn, patterns etc. but I also love to see what beautiful things other people make with paper, clay or even metal. In the previous century my mother and I made stuff from Fimo clay but my cold hands were a big problem. I could have tried making a ball out of a brick as well. We were very happy with my warm blooded dad who could spend an hour just warming the clay in his hand so we could do with it whatever we wanted. I also made cards from paper in the 3D technique but in the end yarn and a needle are my perfect match. Still...I am very looking forward to those days in paradise! But for now: the pictures of the Stola and the Golden Wedding Couple!

With love,
Marieke

13 October 2018

I was working on my Ocean Shawl while I was thinking about my project I mentioned before: the Bride & Groom for a friend. The Bride was not too hard to make: white cotton, beads, blushy cheeks, sparkles here and there, a cute veil and there you go: a true Bride. The Groom was a different story. I wanted a hat. A nice fancy black hat. It turned out really well but then another problem occurred. Because how do you avoid your man of the day looking like a Sweep? I tried and tried and in the end I managed to make my Groom look like a Groom. Just like I had in mind. So, now that problem was solved there was room in my head for new crochetstuff. And all of the sudden I was thinking about the upcoming holidays. And I got a vision about wineglasses mixed up and people drinking out of the wrong glass. So I put my Ocean Shawl aside (sorry Wendy!) and started searching between my cotton leftovers. I started just with some chains and after trying a few times my first Wineglasslace was a fact! And of course I want you to have a Merry Christmas with your own wine ;-) So here it is: my pattern for a real cool Wineglasslace! Cheers!

10 October 2018

Mariek, are your shawls finished? *Blush* Nope. Not yet. However, they keep growing although I am not sure if the colshawl will be large enough so I'm looking in my '1 ball leftover stash' to find a matching colour.
In the meanwhile some other really cool projects crossed my path. Because what would you do? When a dear friend asks you if you can crochet something for her parents' 50st Wedding Anniversary? Would you say no? Of course you wouldn't. So she sent me this one picture with the text: 'Can you make this?' Uhm...in theory, yes. But to be honest, the crocheted item I saw was not 50st Anniversary worthy. That needs more body and dedication. And of course, what I had in mind didn't really exist so I started to mix up a few patterns, added some Fransze Slag Magic, and now what I had in mind does exist ;-) Pictures will be shown when the gift is received.
Then I followed a true 'Crochet Battle' between two of my favourite YouTube Channels: 'Made by Siem' and 'Vonnes Creaties'. They made a lot of different potholders and a few I did make. But during my webshop period I also made a set of potholders of my own. Not following an existing pattern but just following what's in my head. And now it's on paper! Or on PDF-to be correct. It's in Dutch but I think you can follow the photo's so take a look between my 'Haakpatronen van De Fransze Slag' (click) and try it yourself: the one and only Spiralpotholder!

2 October 2018

It really is Autumn now. It's windy, it's rainy and the central heating did more than just taking care of the hot water yesterday. That weather always makes me want to take a look in my yarn stock which is unfortunately not in a beautiful old wooden cabinet but in plastic bags, hidden all over the place behind boring white doors. It turned out I have a lot of '1 ball leftovers'. And that made me check my favourite Dutch YouTube channels for some inspiration. Which, of course, I found.
The first one was from the channel 'Made by Siem' who also happens to have a lot of cool tutorials in English! Unfortunatley the one my eye was set on is only in Dutch but this is the link: 'Siems favoriete Colsjaal'-click. She uses 200 grams of acrylic yarn to create a wonderful shawl. While I was working on this one I started checking my stash again and while doing so I bumped into one ball of 'Papatya Batik Silver'-click, a leftover from my own designed shirt. Now, with one ball you can't really do magical things but Papatya puts 360 mtr (393 yrd) on a ball which creates possibilities. This time I checked in on the channel from Wendy Rademaker. She has a tutorial for just one ball of Papatya which is the 'Wendy's Ocean Shawl'-click. Although the name is English, the tutorial is in Dutch. Now I was working on two shawls and I had at least 15 of those lonely single balls of yarn left. I don't need 15 shawls and I know the rest of my family doesn't either. A blanket could do the trick. Another one? Yes, another one. But not from a Granny or the C2C stitch. I wanted something special, a bit more lacey. So I ended up on the channel of 'Vonnes Creaties.' Tutorials from Vonne are like having a teaparty while crocheting all at once. And I know I'm not the only one who feels that way ;-) Vonne has a lot of beautiful blanket tutorials and I picked the one based on the Southbay Shawl. This is the same pattern but now as a square; blanketsize. She named the tutorial 'Southbay Babydeken'-click but of course you can give it any size you want. So these are my current projects and I hope to finish at least the two shawls within a few days. And the blanket will also help me to get rid of my stash (yeah right...). Anyway, the weather is not the only thing in Autumn mode...my crochet is as well!

7 September 2018

The first week at school is almost over and the girls enjoyed it a lot. They've had 6 beautiful weeks and had a lot of fun. I loved having them at home around me so it's been a bit of a quiet week. However, now I can listen to my own music again instead of whatever it is that comes out of all those phones and tablets. And today I'm in the mood for 'Clannad'. That's always the case when it rains; that is true 'Clannad', 'Enya' or 'Secret Garden' time. Perfect for the upcoming autumn. There are no new crochetprojects I can tell you about but there is something else I would like to share with you which I thought of this morning. It's something I see every day for many years. So many years that I almost can't even remember not having it. First it was in my 'almost in to puberty' room in Friesland, then it was in my 'professional teenager' room in Almere and after that it's been in every house I've lived in with Martin. My mother made it for me in 1989. Years ago, when she started to sell her homemade fashion for children she also made beautiful decorations, mostly made of fabric. She also made boxes from cardboard and fabric. It was thick cardboard and she cut every piece herself and I still remember that it wasn't an easy job. Still, she did it. Every little piece was decorated with beautiful fabric and matching decoration paper and when all the pieces were put together it felt like wood; pure quality. To me it always was like magic. I always thought that she, late at night when I was asleep, she was sitting in her room like a sweet creative witch where she waved with her broom and magic wand to make the sewing machine and other materials move. Mickey Mouse in Fantasia would have been jealous. I loved all those boxes and one day she made one for me. Not just a simple box but a box for the time to come when I would start using make-up. I was twelve at the time. First I used it for my pens and paper and little erasers in all kinds of shapes. Then I started to use fragrances and after a while it became the make-up box it was supposed to be. And it still is. It is a masterpiece which still is in use. Every day for the last thirty years. And nothing ever broke or was damaged so indeed it was pure quality. It is still very dear to me and I thought it was time to put it in the spotlights once. And my mother as well of course. Because it doesn't only take talent, time and the right equipment to make something like this. It also needs dedication and love. Perhaps it's because of that that I always sleep good for at least the last thirty years ;-) And the broom? She still has it!

31 August 2018

The many little birds in my garden are very happy with the new sunflower seeds I gave them and the sun shines through the leaves of the trees in a way you just know autumn is on the way. It's that you know that the weather forecast for the upcoming weekend is warm and sunny, otherwise I would have put on my 'maillot', my corduroy skirt and leather boots and of course a woollen triangle scarf and take a long walk in the forest. Ok, a jeans skirt is allowed too but you can blame Rosamunde Pilcher for the corduroy...I've read too many of her books ;-) Anyway, summer and autumn are dancing together and I love it!

It brings me to my new WIP besides the beautiful red/pink/orange blanket I'm making. I love all the colours of the rainbow. My clothes are colourfull, my crochet projects are even more colourfull and I love the architecture of Hundertwasser and Gaudi. However, I don't like yellow. It makes me look pale, it doesn't look good on me and the only yellow I love is the yellow from daffodils and the sun. Period. But a person must be able to step out of her comfort zone so when I entered the Zeeman (click), which is a cool budget store, I fell in love. In love with Julia. I know Julia for a while now and I've worked with her when she was grey and white. But Julia has had an upgrade! And now Julia flirted with me...in yellow. It was more ocher yellow but still...yellow. I couldn't resist it and when the price tag said 'take 3, pay 2' I made my move! So now I'm working on a very cool soft sweater in a free pattern from Wolplein (click). The pattern is in Dutch but there is also a diagram ;-) It is a pattern for a scarf but if you just start with less chains and just follow the diagram it is perfect for a sweater.

Then, we love pasta for dinner. And the pasta sauce from GrandItalia. I know, a true foodie doesn't even think of sauce from a jar and makes it herself. Luckily I'm not a foodie... ;-) But as much as I love the sauce, I also love the jars so a few months ago I told my family not to throw them away anymore. Since this week they know why. Because they make beautiful vases!

So I'll end this blog with two nice pics of the recycled vases and my two projects of this moment. Summer with a tiny piece of autumn in it...

24 August 2018

And all of the sudden you're back in your own home in this funny, windy and above all flat country! We've had a wonderful time in beautiful Austria and you don't need to drive all the way down to the most southern point of Europe to get some sun. Really, you don't. One hour of rain in two weeks to keep the grass green and the flowers beautiful, that was all.

I love the summer, I truly do, but everybody who crochets or knits knows what the autumn means: you can wrap yourself in those warm and beautiful shawls, hats and blankets again. During the day it was too warm to crochet so I made it to page 395 from 1430 of my very cool special edition of 'The Lord of the Rings'. Frodo never bores me. But in the evenings I managed to finish a new shirt. It's my own pattern based on the V-stitch and made of 8 skeins of Victory from Lammy yarns (click). A few months ago my mother bought me a gift in a cool store. Any normal woman would be excited with a new perfume, delicious chocolate or beautiful flowers. But no woman knows a woman better than her own mother so my mother bought me yarn and buttons! Because we both love Austria as we have Austrian blood in our veins we couldn't resist these sweet wooden buttons with the white Edelweiss flower on it. They are perfect on the top of my new coral shirt. The yarn my mother bought me was the very cool and wonderful Tosca Light from Lang Yarns (click). I've never had yarn from Lang Yarns before and only because it was on sale I didn't feel too bad. I started a few projects with this yarn but they didn't work out so I pulled out (or 'frogged' in crochetlanguage ;-) ) those and started all over. Eventually I knew what to make. As I am always cold in autumn and winter and my husband is everything bút cold I'm going to crochet a beautiful single blanket, just for me, yeehaa! It's a nice granny square pattern in the join as you go technique which is really nice to do. Tosca light has 55% pure wool so that will keep me warm for sure.

Well, we have one week left before school begins again and then everything is back to normal again ;-)

16 July 2018

Well, here it is! My first blog in English! I really hope you enjoy reading it and if you notice any mistakes...please let me know! You can leave a comment below.

It's the last week before summer holiday and at my girls school they always celebrate the birthdays of all teachers together. As almost every year I try to give a nice crocheted gift. Last year, for example, I gave both teachers a nice big keyring which looked probably better on a bag instead of keys. This year my intention was to give a nice set of coasters in the teachers favourite colours. But as my first flowercoaster was finished I realised it was a bit too big. It was even big enough to fit in a metal ring. So there it was: a dreamcatcher. Not a big mistake after all. But then, I still didn't have coasters. I decided to crochet simple rings of double crochets and add a stunning edge. This edge was inspired by the Blije Raamhangers from Made by Siem (click). She also has a few nice tutorials in English! Then, one evening, I was just watching all kinds of youtube tutorials to see if there was anything new, at least new to me, to find. And of course there was! I found a very cool crochet channel with crochet patterns that make you cry from happiness...or something like that ;-) Anyway, they also have a pattern for the most beautiful feathers which are perfect for a...dreamcatcher! Tadaa! You can find this tutorial on the crochet channel of Esperanza y Ana Celia Rosas (click). The only Spanish words I know are Olé and Grazias so I'm happy to say that they have good English subtitles. However, I do have to warn you: they are very addictive to make! I made three of them and now the gift is just perfect. Because my daughters name is Jasmijn (Jasmine in English) we always add a few packages with Jasmine Tea. We did the same when my oldest daughter still went there with Rose Tea as her name is Rosalie.

Well, this was my first blog in English! I hope it was good enough and please let me know what you think of it!

With love,
Marieke