Category Archives: Projects

Monday coffee morning – conquering the world!

Posted on August 5, 2013 | 3 comments

Well, not quite the world, but I did conquer Bruges!

I just had a girly weekend away which is something I haven’t done in god knows how long. Since before I moved to Holland, in any case. So that’s at least five years. We shopped, we ate, we walked, we laughed, we drank cocktails, it was fabulous. But the highlight by far was climbing the Belfry!

The famous Belfry in Bruges. A paltry 366 steps to the top. Easy peasy. ha!

What’s on this week? Well, I am almost finished the biggest amigurumi project of my life – a gorgeous brown bear that’s a special commission. Here he is without any legs, what do you think?

I finished the legs last night and now he only needs a tail. My daughter is in love and I’ll have to sneak him out the door I think.

Then it’s on to Minions. Who doesn’t love the minions, really. I made this one for a newborn, but there will be adult versions flying off my hook in the coming weeks.

Lots of other stuff on; the weather is gorgeous so we’re playing outside as much as possible on the slippery slide and in the pool and have a trip to Sprookjeswonderland planned for this Friday, can’t wait!

What do you have on this week? Join me at The Move to America for Monday Coffee Morning:

3 Comments

Posted in Monday, Projects, WIP

Tagged amigurumi, bruges, brugge, crochet, monday, monday coffee morning, sprookjeswonderland

Image

It’s a Minion!

I found this fabulous free pattern for Minion ats on Craftsy from Crochet by Jennifer a few days ago and couldn’t wait to make one. Isn’t it just the coolest hat ever?

Check out the pattern here.

And if you’d like me to make you one, drop me a line for pricing info and delivery as I’d love to make you one.

5 Comments

Posted on July 28, 2013 in Drops, Pattern, Projects

Tagged crochet, despicable me, fun, haken, minion

Monday Coffee Morning – Recovery

Posted on July 22, 2013 | 4 comments

Not in the health sense, but more in the B&S Ball sense (if you have never heard of a B&S Ball, you need to check these photos out for some feral goodness. Not that I’ve spent the weekend at a B&S Ball (I’m way too old for that!), but I have just travelled an epic distance, celebrated a fabulous wedding and then returned home to have about zero sleep thanks to my lovely daughter who decided play time was 2 am.

The wedding at the weekend was fabulous. That’s the only way to accurately describe it. The champagne (as in, real champagne) was free-flowing and the food was spectacular. I’m talking foie gras for starters followed by four or five courses during the evening. I think we finished with dessert (two stunning profiterole towers) after midnight. I went from being the anti-foodie to trying just about everything on the menu and loving it!

The cheese table. Forgive my fuzzy photo, it was about midnight when this rolled out!

The couple were gorgeous of course and I was so honoured to be invited. We zoomed down on Friday morning. Well, zoomed is a complete lie. We sat in massive traffic jams all day Friday and spent a lovely day visiting Langres before joining the celebrations in the late afternoon on Saturday.

After stuffing ourselves on food all night, doing the macarena, and being coaxed into reviving the Big Johnny Stag dance (you don’t want to know. Really), we fell into bed some where in the early hours of the morning, only to leap out a few hours later to zoom home again.

Now it really is a task to recover for the week. Thankfully I haven’t a lot scheduled. A trip to Heerenveen for work and going out for dinner with some lovely friends before celebrating one of my dearest friend’s birthday on Saturday.

Oh, crochet! Of course. I’m still working on more Yodas, and a lovely little unicorn headband for a four year old’s birthday. It will look something like this:

Unicorn Applique from One & Two Company

What do you have planned?

Join Molly from The Move to America’s Monday Coffee Morning and tell us all about your plans.

4 Comments

Posted in Projects, WIP

Yoda is now on Craftsy

Posted on July 22, 2013 | Leave a comment

I’m taking baby-steps into the pattern design world and along with adding my first pattern to Ravelry, I’ve added it to my favourite pattern site: Craftsy.

If you click on the photo, you’ll go straight to the pattern to be able to download it.

Source: Do, or Do Not – Yoda inspired hat via MissNeriss on Craftsy

Enjoy!

Monday Coffee Morning (well, late afternoon)

Posted on July 15, 2013 | 3 comments

Perhaps I should call it Monday Wine Time..?

While I was going through my blogroll this morning (one of my favourite Monday morning tasks), Molly from The Move to America popped up with a Monday Coffee Morning post; the beginning of a new series where she talks about her plans for the week and what she hopes to achieve.

I thought to myself, what a great idea! Then promptly went on and did something else (like work). But the idea kept coming back into my head. I absolutely love blogging; I find the relationships are so rewarding. I have made so many fabulous friends through my expat blog Adventures in Integration over the last three years and I hope that MissNeriss does the same for me over time.

So, here’s what I’m planning to do this week:

Work. Gah. Busy. New release coming up fast that needs to be tested. I still can’t quite believe I’m working as a software tester. In my past life I’ve been a shed hand, a tour guide, an events manager, a PA, but never in my wildest imagination did I think that I’d work in IT, let alone as a tester. My job will be changing in the coming months; something I’m very excited about. I’ll be moving into a writing and editing and consultation position within the company. I can’t wait!

Family. For the first time ever, My husband and I will be going away for the weekend without our daughter. I know I should be nervous and anxious and feel guilty for abandoning her, but I don’t! Instead I’m ridiculously excited. I get to pretend I’m not a mum for a couple of days, and the added bonuses are that we’re going to France, and we’re going to a wedding of one of my dearest friends.

Out and about. We’re going to Toomler in Amsterdam this week to catch some live Aussie comedy which is always great fun. One year at a gig I went to I managed to chat to Adam Hills as part of his show. Talk about star-struck!

Crochet. I’m so busy!! I can’t believe it. I’ve just finished a lovely bag and bolero for a friend of mine and I’m working through a stack of Yodas. Hopefully I’ll get through them all this week, then it’s on to a giant bear which I’m gagging to get my hook into.

What are you up to? I’d love to hear about your week. I’m sure Molly would love you to link up too.

Don’t forget, I’m all over Twitter and Instagram like a rash, come say hi.

3 Comments

Posted in Projects

Tagged agenda, crochet, The move to america, this week

Little Leprechaun

Posted on July 12, 2013 | 3 comments

When a friend of mine contacted me about making a hat for a colleague’s soon to be born baby, but it had to be Irish, I immediately thought of a leprechaun. I mean, who wouldn’t, right? This friend of mine loved the idea, so I went hunting for patterns.

And hunting… And hunting.

I found a few, but nothing was quite what I had envisaged. So, I decided: “Time to design my own!” And here is the result:

I’m part way through writing a pattern, then I have to test it (testing should be a cinch as that’s what I’m doing for a living at the moment – software testing), and finally publish it.

Off topic, I spend the majority of my time hanging out on my Facebook page, and on Instagram. There’s something about Instagram that I can’t get enough of. Except the photos of feet. I’m not a fan of all these photos of feet. But, better than the zexy selfies I guess…

Anyway, come join me. I’d love to get to know you better.

3 Comments

Posted in Projects

Tagged craft, crochet, design, haken, handmade, Ireland, Irish, Leprechaun, projects

Yoda – a free pattern

Posted on July 1, 2013 | 10 comments

Do, or do not. There is no Try.

Yoda inspired hat for babies.

Materials

Bulky yarn that will use a 6mm (or J if using US measurements) hook. I used Katia Alaska in moss green (17) for this project and the sizing is perfect. Any bulky weight yarn should do the trick, as long as it uses a 6mm hook.
Embroidery needle to attach ears
Scissors
Stitch marker
A love of Star Wars

Skill Level

Beginner

Stitches used

Magic Ring – Here is a tutorial on how to make a magic ring
Half Double Crochet (HDC)
Single Crochet (SC)
Increase (INC) For a video tutorial on how to increase using a half double crochet stitch, check this out
Decrease (DEC) For a video tutorial on how to decrease using a half double crochet stitch, check this out

Notes

For this pattern I use American terms. If you decide to use a different weigh yarn, no problem. You’ll just have to add or remove one or two increase rows and perhaps some length.

This pattern is written in the round. I’m not a fan of joining and chaining and a visible seam, but you can work that way if you prefer.

I’ve made three sizes; newborn, 6-12 months, and 12 months – 2 years. I do have an adult version too, but will add that separately, later.

By all means, please feel free to sell items that you make from this pattern, but please do not sell this pattern or make changes and redistribute it claiming it as your own. I would be forever grateful if you credit Miss Neriss when using this pattern – it’s important to all support one another.

May the force be with you, and if you spot any mistakes, please let me know!

Newborn Hat

R1:      7 HDC into a magic ring, pull tight to close the hole.
R2:      INC into each stitch around (14)
R3:      INC, 1HDC x 7 (21)
R4:      INC, 2HDC x 7 (28)
R5:      INC, 3HDC x 7 (35)
R6:      It gets a bit weird here. A normal increase round makes the hat too big, yet leaving it at R5 makes it just too small (for a premie you could skip R6 and go straight to R7). Instead we have a reduced increase row: INC, 6HDC x 5 (40).
R7-13: HDC around (40)
R14:    SC around (40)
R15:    SC around (40), tie off and weave in ends.

Newborn Ears

Make 2.
R1:      MR4
R2:      HDC x 4 (4)
R3:      INC, HDC x 2 (6)
R4:      HDC x 6 (6)
R5:      INC, 2HDC x 2 (8)
R6:      HDC x 8 (8)
R7:      INC, 3HDC x 2 (10)
R8:      HDC x 10 (10)
R9:      INC, 4HDC x 2 (12)
R10:    HDC x12 (12)
R11:    DEC, 4HDC x 2 (10)
Sew open end shut then attach to the side of the hat.

6-12 Months Hat

R1:      7 HDC into a magic ring, pull tight to close the hole.
R2:      INC into each stitch around (14)
R3:      INC, 1HDC x 7 (21)
R4:      INC, 2HDC x 7 (28)
R5:      INC, 3HDC x 7 (35)
R6:      INC, 4HDC x7 (42)
R7-16: HDC around (42)
R17:    SC around (42)
R18:    SC around (42), tie off and weave in ends.

6-12 Months Ears

Make 2.
R1:      MR4
R2:      HDC x 4 (4)
R3:      INC, HDC x 2 (6)
R4:      HDC x 6 (6)
R5:      INC, 2HDC x 2 (8)
R6:      HDC x 8 (8)
R7:      INC, 3HDC x 2 (10)
R8:      HDC x 10 (10)
R9:      INC, 4HDC x 2 (12)
R10:    HDC x 12 (12)
R11:    INC, 5HDC x2 (14)
R12:    HDC X 14 (14)
R13:    INC, 6HDC x2 (16)
R14:    HDC x 6 (16)
R15:    DEC, 6HDC x 2 (14)
R16:    DEC, 5HDC x 2 (12)
Sew open end shut then attach to the side of the hat.

1-2 Years Hat

R1:      7 HDC into a magic ring, pull tight to close the hole.
R2:      INC into each stitch around (14)
R3:      INC, 1HDC x 7 (21)
R4:      INC, 2HDC x 7 (28)
R5:      INC, 3HDC x 7 (35)
R6:      INC, 4HDC x7 (42)
R7:      INC, 5HDC x7 (49)
R8-17: HDC around (49)
R18:    SC around (49)
R19:    SC around (49)
R20:    SC around (49)

1-2 Years Ears

Make 2.
R1:      MR4
R2:      HDC x 4 (4)
R3:      INC, HDC x 2 (6)
R4:      HDC x 6 (6)
R5:      INC, 2HDC x 2 (8)
R6:      HDC x 8 (8)
R7:      INC, 3HDC x 2 (10)
R8:      HDC x 10 (10)
R9:      INC, 4HDC x 2 (12)
Sew open end shut then attach to the side of the hat.

You can also find this pattern on my Ravelry store

10 Comments

Posted in Pattern, Projects, Tutorials

Tagged beanie, crochet, free, haken, pattern, Star Wars, Yoda

And we have branding!

Posted on June 25, 2013 | 4 comments

When my good friend Becky started to push me (and I mean really push!) to start this venture, I knew that I would need some outstanding images to accompany the work. But, I had no idea what I wanted or even how I saw myself. All I knew was that all the best crochet people have excellent branding and if I wanted to even contemplate joining their ranks, I would need some too.

Enter the Amsterdam Small Business Network an Joanne Lew-Vriethoff. Via the network I saw Joanne’s work and was immediately in love with what she does. I could feel in my bones that she was the designer for me.

I approached Joanne and she came back with an excellent quote package to create a banner for my Facebook page and for this site, so I jumped at the chance.

I supplied a few images of myself and of my daughter, along with a vague, high level idea of what I had in mind. I had seen this image of my friend Tammy and thought to myself: that image sums me up too! I have so many things on the go at once, I should illustrate that.

What Joanne created for me absolutely blew my mind. I’ll be perfectly honest; from my description (or lack thereof), I wasn’t sure she had enough to go on to make something that I could connect with, but it was like she crawled inside my head and pulled all the best bits out and put them on paper!

Once the banner was created I was so happy that I knew I couldn’t stop there. Next was a postcard and then, business cards! I’m so over the moon with the results, now I have to just sit down and get them all printed. Can’t wait to have them in my hot little hands! I’m now also thinking about going down the Etsy route, so there will be even more work to do in that case.

Thanks again to Joanne, and to Sharon and Marjolijn from The Amsterdam Small Business Network for hooking us up. Now I just hope that I can pay it forward…

4 Comments

Posted in Branding, Projects

Tagged branding, crochet, cute, illustration, Joanne Lew-Vreithoff, logo, marketing, MissNeriss

Rainbow Cozy

Posted on June 17, 2013 | 6 comments

Here’s something I whipped up the other evening on the couch. I’ve been so in love with this rainbow yarn from Hjertegarn since I stumbled across it in my local yarn store last year. But it was one of those yarns that looked beautiful as a ball, but terrible when made into anything. In the end I managed to make a woolly hat for myself, and some gorgeous ombre owls, and finally the yarn has found it’s place in my heart as this beautiful mug cozy.

The colours work wonderfully together, and it was just the right length that I could miss out the mustard section of the yarn.

If you’d like to make this one for yourself, you can find all the instructions (for free!) here.

6 Comments

Posted in Projects, Tutorials

Tagged alpaca, coffee, cosy, cozy, crochet, haken, handmade, mug, ombre, yarn

Pinspiration #5

Posted on June 5, 2013 | 5 comments

The last few weeks have been flat out. Ridiculous. I lost a weekend making Roary 1.0, running out of yarn and having to start from scratch on Roary 2.0 in time for Monday (the yarn to finish Roary 1.0 is coming home today!), I’ve been busy making multiple Yoda and Rupsje hats (info and patterns to come on those soon) to send to Australia, plus the neon bug has bitten hard. I’ve been churning out owls and whales like nobody’s business!

Here are the whales that I posted on Pinterest yesterday:

Aren’t they adorable?

So what have I been doing on Pinterest this week? Well, to be honest, not a whole lot. You see, about a month ago my daughter somehow managed to crack my iPad screen (also known as my extra limb). It was still usable, until my lovely husband stepped on it early one morning after my daughter had been playing with it on the floor beside our bed. In his defence, early one morning actually equals the middle of the night (that’s how early she gets us up) and it was still quite dark. He couldn’t possibly have seen it.

So, off to the insurance it has gone to have the screen replaced. My iPad is my main connection to the world outside my home, so I’m feeling a bit lost without it. What a shock to my system to actually browse the Internet using a PC!

However. The yarn that I have grown to love over time and have found a use for almost every variety is from Drops. I use Paris and Cotton Light religiously for amigurumi projects, and the Big Merino is fast becoming my favourite for lovely warm hats. I’ve also found a fabulous supplier here in the Netherlands: Hobbydoos.nl. Well, to be honest, there are loads of great suppliers here (remind me to write about on my faves soon), but this one is fabulously reliable and most importantly: fast.

Here are some of the Drops patterns I’ve been inspired to make lately.

This one is actually for a project I’m starting very soon, I can’t wait to get started.

I’ve been looking at this bag for quite a long time actually. I love the colours.

Blankets are historically not my most favourite project, but this one looks great to have in the car or over my lap on cold evenings…

How cute are these piggy slippers. I love all things piggy. In fact Peppa Pig is our family favourite.

Pot-holders don’t usually light my fire, but these could convert me…

What I also love about Drops is that the site is international and multilingual and has about a gazillion free patterns for knitters and crocheters. They’re all well written and easy to follow.

What’s your favourite yarn? I’m becoming a yarn hoarder, so the more tips the better!