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!

5 Comments

Posted in Drops, Pinterest, Projects

Tagged amigurumi, crochet, crochet pattern, drops, haken, pinterest

Minigurumi

Posted on June 4, 2013 | 7 comments

Increasingly, amigurumi is the crochet genre that I’m finding the most joy in.

Here are a couple of mini-projects I’ve undertaken of late:

I came across these awesome whales on Pinterest and when I clicked through to the original post, I was ecstatic to discover a free pattern!

I did make a couple of changes to the pattern, however. As I prefer to use as few joins as possible, instead of creating and attaching the fins and tail, I integrated them into the body of the whale.

Fins: Ch4 and join into the same stitch before continuing around.

Tail: Ch5, HDCin 2nd stitch from the hook, HDC, SC, slip stitch into the next stitch. Repeat, but SC into the same stitch, then fasten off and change colour.

This baby penguin was found on Craftsy, and is of course by A Morning Jup of Jo Creations . I keep meaning to make the larger penguins too, but as I say almost every day, time is not my friend!

Have you made mini amigurumis? Do you have any patterns you’d like to share?

7 Comments

Posted in Projects, Tutorials

Tagged amigurumi, animals, crochet, haken, handmade, minigurumi

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Meet Roary

Say hi to Roary, who ventured out on his own this morning, off to join his new family.

I started Roary 1.0 on Friday, but horror of all horrors, ran out of yarn with three legs and a tail to go! Most of my amigurumi projects are made using Drops Paris (or Cotton Light), and I couldn’t find another ball of yarn anywhere without ordering online. Poor Roary 1.0 was abandoned and I had to make Roary (2.0) from a different yarn that I picked up in Amsterdam last minute.

Here’s Roary 1.0, banished to the WIP box until my next Drops order…

The pattern for this wonderful little fellow can be found in Zoomigurumi, which for a really limited time can be ordered together with Zoomigurumi 2 via amigurumipatterns.net (my new favourite pattern site).

Roary is designed by, you guessed it, A Morning Cup of Jo Creations.

14 Comments

Posted on May 27, 2013 in Projects

Tagged amigurumi, crochet, haken, zoomigurumi

Pinspiration #4

Posted on May 22, 2013 | 3 comments

Neon. Right now I’m all about neon. Can’t get enough. I’m loving that I get to enjoy this trend for the second time in twenty years. I remember summer was all about neon zinc cream for a few years, even before Shane Warne made it iconic.

When I was in Rotterdam at the weekend celebrating a friend’s birthday (which you can read all about here) I couldn’t resist walking into a yarn store and jumping out at me was a big ball of neon pink yarn that was dying to be turned into a pair of leg warmers for my daughter (more about that coming up soon).

Here are some of the awesome neon crochet pieces that I’ve seen around Pinterest this week:

This one blows my mind. I’m so in love with the heart and arrow necklace it hurts. I need one of these.

Next on my project list: neon owls to accompany my ombre version

Perfection. That’s all.

Although not strictly crochet, this one certainly could be used in a beautiful scarf. Fingers crossed we’re still into neon when the weather cools down. Wait. It still hasn’t warmed up!

Aren’t these beautiful? And available in the sizes I use most… Thanks goodness it has sold out on Etsy.

How do you feel about neon? Are you as enthusiastic as I am? Stay tuned to see how the leg warmers turned out, my daughter could have been an extra on Fame!

3 Comments

Posted in Pinterest

Miss Amigurumi needs her own name…

Posted on May 13, 2013 | 11 comments

Meet…. Well, I’m not sure on her name actually. For that I need your help.

My mystery girl is made from a pattern I picked up from A Morning Cup of Jo Creations and have been desperately trying to find the time to make.

Time has not been my friend recently. With a few upheavals at work and some sort of developmental leap going on with my fifteen month old, crochet has been taking a back seat.

But finally I could finish this project, but she needs a name. What shall I call her?

Fancy one for yourself? Drop me a line here and I’ll be in touch!

I’ve added Miss Amigurumi to Hookin’ on Hump Day, head over and check out all the beautiful submissions.

11 Comments

Posted in Hookin On Hump Day, Projects

Tagged amigurumi, crochet, haken, handmade

Pinspiration #3

Posted on May 3, 2013 | 15 comments

I have an obsession with mug cozies at the moment. Odd, as we are finally heading towards some warmer weather. But, as my husband reminds me, this is a great idea as I never finish a cup of tea in one sitting. It’s nothing for me to microwave my forgotten tea three times before finally abandoning it.

What I would to do be able to sit and savour a cup of hot, milky sweet English breakfast tea….

This one rocks my world. I just love the sailor tattoo style. I’m part-way through making something similar, completely coincidentally!

I love the appliqué on this one:

I made one based slightly on this pattern. Quick and easy to work up and looks great when finished:

I just love the colour of this one, but it’s too high. The top is too close to the lip of the cup, so you’ll be sucking on yarn instead of tea:

And this one is just too cool. I love the tea bag attached:

What do you think of mug cozies? Would you use one? I know my dad would enjoy it, but I would have to make it to fit a beer can…

15 Comments

Posted in Pinterest

Tagged coffee, cozy, crochet, handmade, mug, pinspiration, pinterest, tea

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Proof that crochet is not just for old ladies

A friend of mine made a special request recently:

That’s right. Those are nipple pasties made to look like nipples! This friend is right onto burlesque and obviously has a fabulous sense of humour.

They took me ages to make though. I would make one and get distracted so wouldn’t be able to make the second. Then when I’d sit down and make it, my tension was different, or I would get the stitches wrong and they’d look completely different. So tonight I decided, right. Time to do this.

They look cool, don’t they?

5 Comments

Posted on May 1, 2013 in Projects

Tagged burlesque, crochet, nipple, pasties

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Amigurumi, keeping me busy!

Pattern can be found at Dol-Op-Wol, in Dutch

To say I’ve been busy would be the understatement of the century! I’ve been so busy working on projects for friends and customers that I haven’t had the time to scratch myself, let alone take photos and post here.

Here are some samples of what I have been up to, and these are only the projects that I remember to photograph before whipping them in the post and sending them off to their new homes.

Penguin and Spring Squishy

Rainbow Owl mobile phone charm

Rainbow Owl mobile phone charm in blue

Sheep Squishy

The owls, sheep and penguin are all patterns that I downloaded from Craftsy, and have been designed by A Morning Cup of Jo Creations, whom as you well know by now I LOVE!

In between all this crochet, my family and I took a week’s holiday to Ireland to celebrate a friend’s wedding and then see the amazing country.

Here are some photos of what we got up to:

My husband and daughter at Blarney Castle.

Yep, we kissed the Blarney Stone. You know, for some reason I always imagined that the Blarney Stone was just a rock on a hill in a paddock. I never realised that it is actually a brick in a castle! You have to lie on your back, hang over the edge, hold onto an iron bar and reach as far as you can to kiss the stone. We visited late in the afternoon and that stone was looking pretty slobbery. Plus it’s like a production line of people. Queue, lie down, kiss the stone, get your photo, get up and get out. Mass tourism at its best (worst?).

Actually, once you get away from the castle proper, the grounds at Blarney are stunning. There is a fern garden which is just how I imagined paradise to be, and the stately home is also lovely. Well worth the visit, and not just to kiss the stone.

We also visited the Cliffs of Moher. Wow.

Cliffs of Moher

You can see that in this view, the sky is grey and rainy. Then, from the same spot, in the other direction it was blue and gorgeous:

Cliffs of Moher

Here’s why:

Here comes the weather

The wind was blowing at 100km/h plus easily the day we visited the Cliffs of Moher. I even saw a person lose their balance and then get blown over and down some stairs. Spray from the ocean was even being blown up over the 200m high cliffs in places. But it was spectacular.

So, busy times. I also have to remember to squeeze my actual job in there somewhere. Fingers crossed I’ll be back to regular posting from now on.

8 Comments

Posted on April 29, 2013 in Holiday, Projects

Tagged amigurumi, bird, blarney, blarney stone, cliffs of moher, crochet, eire, haken, Ireland, kawaii

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Bring on the Summer!

I made this lovely sun hat for the mother of a friend of mine and when I gave it to my friend, she loved it so much she has decided to keep it for herself and now I’m commissioned to make a second for her mum.

I found the inspiration on Pinterest (of course!) and it comes from the Japanese site for Pierrot Yarns. The chart pattern left me scratching my head for a while, but I figured it out (mostly) in the end.

I only followed the pattern very loosely. I used a bulkier yarn than the pattern called for and then when I was almost finished I realised it was too floppy and I hated it. There was no way I could allow my friend to take it. By this stage it had become a bit of a monster project. Who knew so many single crochet stitches would take so long!

I kept pushing the project to the bottom of the pile to be looked at much, much later. When I couldn’t put it off any longer I decided to re-evaluate. My solution was to rip the entire brim out and start it again.

I’m so glad I did! The second time around I just seemed to get how to do it. and make the brim lovely and firm. I worked some leather chord into the last three or four rows to add just a little bit more strength, but I’m not sure if that really helped or not, but I like to think it will.

To finish off I added three flowers, which complement the hat perfectly. I found the pattern for those on The Party Artisan and added beaded embellishments to the centre of each one. It was pure luck that I had the same colour beads lying around. It must be because I’m so in love with pink…

Here’s the hat with the edges rolled up.

Now I want one for myself, it’s one of the projects I’m the most happy with so far and one that will only improve the more I do it.

Materials used

Hat: Drops Paris 26, 5mm hook for the hat and 4mm for the brim
Flowers: Drops Paris, 33, 59, 60, 5 mm hook
Leather chord from a craft store worked into the final three rounds for some added stiffness

Today I’m linking this post over at Hookin’ on Hump Day on Moogly and My Merry Messy Life, hosted by Tamara and Sara, go check out all the fabulous projects linked this week.