Tag Archives: a creative being

10 of The Best: Knit and Crochet Projects with Scheepjes Stone Washed

Posted on September 9, 2016 | 1 comment

It’s no secret that Scheepjes Stone Washed is one of my favourite yarns to use. Ask any of my blogger tribe and they’ll say the same. It is amazing. The colours are vibrant, the yarn itself is unique in its construction, and the end results: fabulous.

In honour of this beauty, I have a round up for you with 10 of the best knit and crochet projects using Stone Washed. The patterns are all available by clicking on the images or headings.

Linen Stitch Manghan by Dedri Uys

This is a design that shows just how diverse the Stone Washed yarn is and how wonderfully the colours work together. You can get the yarn packs for this in Dedri’s shop*.

Hotel of Bees Shawl by Christina Hadderingh

This is a design that I fell in love with at first glance. I love everything about it, it just makes me feel happy. Isn’t Christina a talented designer? The yarn for this one is available here*.

Cosy Colour Block Shawl by Sarah Knight

Sarah’s Colourblock shawl is such a popular garter stitch design, and it’s easy to see why! Stone Washed makes the best warm shawls, cosy is most definitely the best adjective here! Pop over and get the yarn here*.

Peek-a-Boo Button Wrap by Nerissa Muijs

This one is by me, it’s my Peek-a-Boo Button Wrap, of which I’m enormously proud. It’s an incredibly simple and flattering design that is easily customisable for your own body. The yarn is available here*.

I Love Scraps Afghan by Mary Ann Frits

This is one of those designs that Pinterest loves to show me – almost every day it’s being saved by people that I follow, and when it’s not being saved, it’s being recommended by Pinterest. This heart stitch is one that I love, especially in this spectrum colourway from Marieke at The Breiboerderij. There are yarn packs available in her lovely webshop.

Top by Scheepjes

This one is to be found on the Scheepjes website directly. It’s a lovely knit design and one to add to your WIP list for sure. Click here* to get the yarn.

Green Agate Top by Annelies Baes

Here is proof that Stone Washed isn’t just for cosy blankets, shawls and wraps, it also makes beautiful delicate garments, as showcased here in Annelies’ gorgeous design. You’ll only need up to 7 balls to complete this one, grab the yarn here*.

Flower Square Kids Poncho by Maaike van Koert

This was one of the very first designs with Stone Washed when it was released a couple of years ago (how the time has flown by!) and it’s an enduring favourite. The instructions for the motif and the poncho construction are on the CreJJtion website and the yarn can be purchased here*

Stone Washed Beach Bag by Marinke Slump

Although Marinke was so well known for her mandalas, this third loop HDC stitch was like her signature in my mind, and this lovely beach bag that she designed for Deramores is no exception. You can get the yarn and pattern from Deramores directly.

Star Blanket by Atty van Norel

It’s just not possible to have a pattern round up for Scheepjes Stone Washed without sharing Atty’s Star Blanket. Atty’s motifs are all so original and creative, she’s a true innovator! The yarn is for sale here*.

*Affiliate links

1 Comment

Posted in Pattern, Scheepjes, Uncategorized

Tagged 10 of the best, a creative being, attys, crafts from the cwtch, crejjtion, linen stitch, listicle, look at what I made, peek-a-boo button wrap, scheepjes, star blanket, stone washed

Get Set, Go! – Last Dance on the Beach CAL packs on sale Today!

Posted on April 1, 2016 | 3 comments

Today’s the day! Today you can start getting your hands on the yarn packs for the upcoming Last Dance on the Beach CAL that I have the absolute honour of being a part of!

There are quite a few places you can get your hands on the packs still, but hurry. Seriously, they’ll be sold out faster than Adele concert tix.

If you’re in the Netherlands, head to Caro’s Atelier here in Almere or online to pick up the Colour Crafter pack for 43.40, or the Luxe pack for 159.90.

If you’re in the UK or international (like in Australia – I feel so bad for you guys, having no Scheepjes distributors yet), head to either Wool Warehouse or Deramores.

In the US, head to Paradise Fibers, and in South Africa, Be Inspired has you covered.

Just to remind you, here’s what’s in the kits.

I don’t know about you, but I want that tote!!

I might have to jump on my bike later and head over to Caro’s Atelier to have a feel…

And if you can’t decide which fibre is right for you, check out this wonderful comparison by Sarah from Crafts from the Cwtch. It’ll really help you make up your mind.

What are you still doing here? Why haven’t you left to order your pack yet?

Oh, and if you want to assemble your own colour packs using Scheepjes yarns, you totally can. The info on how many balls you’ll need has been released in the Facebook groups just now. Dutchies head here, and internationals, this one is for you.

Go on, go!

Just a little note: this post does contain a couple of affiliate links. So if you choose to purchase from Wool Warehouse or Deramores using my links, you’ll be helping me fund my yarn addiction. Thanks very much for that! X

3 Comments

Posted in CAL

Tagged a creative being, CAL, crochet, dance in the rain, dance in the sea, dance on the beach CAL, dance under the stars, haken, scheepjes yarn kit, ScheepjesCAL2016

Wearing Flowers in My Hair

Posted on July 2, 2015 | 17 comments

Today I had another post scheduled. I was going to share the tutorial for the Colour Block Baby Blanket I knitted, but today is not the day for that. Today instead I’ll be wearing flowers in my hair for Wink.

Today a family is laying their beautiful daughter to rest. Their daughter who inspired thousands, no – hundreds of thousands of people all over the world. Their daughter who loved colour and lived music.

Wink was one of the first crochet bloggers that I found when I first started out, and I was even more excited to discover that she lived close by (well, kind of). I felt connected. Like we were bound to be besties. Just because we both crocheted, and lived within 100km of one another (I know, lunacy right?).

I was terribly nervous when I met her for the first time, expecting her to be aloof, too cool for me. Instead I discovered a girl who was warm, who’s smile and presence made a space come alive. I expected to not know what to say to her as I was so dazzled, but I needn’t have worried. Being with Wink was easy. I felt we had known each other forever. That we really could have become besties. I think anyone who met Wink would have felt like that.

But then she slipped away. I was busy up to my armpits in my own life dramas and hadn’t realised she wasn’t really present any more. Then when she couldn’t make our recent blogger weekend I knew something was seriously wrong. But still life got in my way. Everyday I thought: I must reach out. I must remind her how amazing she is. But I didn’t.

And suddenly she was gone.

Today a family lays their beautiful daughter to rest. I’ll be wearing flowers in my hair for Wink.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by wink (@acreativebeing)

A fun selfie taken at an event last year. That pic won Wink a rubbish bin, isn’t that hilarious? I can still see her bemused face on stage receiving her “award”, wondering how to get it home on the train…

If you want to wear flowers in your hair for Wink today, here is a tutorial she created recently: http://crafts.tutsplus.com/tutorials/how-to-make-a-crochet-flower–cms-20976

Wink’s family have set up a beautiful memorial site where you can leave messages, post photos, share your love. There are other social media events ongoing as well, via #mandalasforwink, #mandalasformarinke and #wearingflowersinmyhairforwink.

17 Comments

Posted in Life

Tagged a creative being, mandalaforwink, mandalasformarinke, wearingflowersinmyhairforwink, wink

Pinspiration – Local Love

Posted on August 29, 2014 | 2 comments

You know how much I love social media. Facebook was my first love (well, I did have brief fling with Myspace back in the day), and now we’ve evolved into an old married couple, comfortable and predictable. Twitter and I had a brief but intense relationship until one day I realised it just wasn’t for me and walked away. These days I’m in love with Instagram. I love the photos by people I’ve never met and I love the way it has brought some wonderful talented photographers into my life. And the yarn porn! OMG, it’s an addiction.

But through it all is Pinterest. Pinterest is my Great Love. And Pinterest loves me too. Over the last year, it has driven more traffic to my website than all other social media combined. Isn’t that mad? And now the analytics have improved, it’s incredible to see how far the reach actually goes.

What I also love is that with Pinterest you can engage easily with beautiful images and projects from people all over the world; the concept of Six Degrees of Separation is alive and well on Pinterest. Last week a friend told me about a project of mine that appeared on her Facebook feed via a friend that had pinned one of my images, all the way across the world in Melbourne!

But today, I want to share some Local Love. Some designers that I’ve come across via the Internet, and since had the enormous pleasure of meeting in person.

Flower Stole by creJJtion

I love everything that Maaike makes. I love her style and I love her colour choices. I love her ethos and how her projects make me want to be a more conscious crocheter.

Win a Furls Yarn bowl on acreativebeing.com

Wink is a blogger I discovered about a year ago via the tuts+ website. I was looking to make a rug (which never eventuated), and she created a tutorial for one on the site. I spent the rest of the day devouring her website.

Happy in Red’s love affair with Istanbul’s yarn district

Even though Esther is a crochet blogger, it wasn’t via crochet that I first came across her work – it was thanks to this bag that she designed. I love it!

Haak Maar Raak’s Vintage Ripple Blanket

I can’t get enough of this vintage ripple blanket. Kirsten is a blogger that I only recently discovered while I was expanding my blog horizon into Dutch language blogs. Both Kirsten and Esther write in Dutch and English, a feat I’m yet to attempt!

Canadutch’s Lopi cardi

You already know how much I love Tammy. She knits as well as she crochets, and she’s just generally awesome.

2 Comments

Posted in Pinterest, Uncategorized

Tagged a creative being, canadutch, crejjtion, crochet, dutch bloggers, haakmaarraak, haken, happy in red, MissNeriss, nederlandse haak blog

Wink’s Summer Hearts Mandala

Posted on April 18, 2014 | 6 comments

If you only follow one new blog this year, you must make sure it is A Creative Being. Everything about Wink’s blog is beautiful. The projects, the colours, the photography, everything. It’s just one amazing package of crochet goodness. I have a few of her patterns, including the Design Wars shortlisted entry Dancing Hearts Wrap and most recently, the Summer Hearts Mandala which is gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous! I wanted to create the mandala in line with the Crochet Collective’s Mandala Crochet Along, but I’m just useless at sticking with timelines, my life is just too busy, plus I really wanted to make this mandala as my first, and it wasn’t on their schedule (but there are some extraordinary ones, so check it out). So, I decided to sit down one night and smash it out. And smash it out I did. It’s a seriously fast pattern to work up, and it looks amazing. I had the yarn and colours that Wink used (or close enough to) on hand and I couldn’t imagine using anything else. But I had a problem. It’s difficult to see above, but instead of lying flat, the mandala has curled edges. See what I mean? So I decided to leave it for the night as it was late and I was tired, and I wanted to fix it in the morning when I was feeling fresh again. The problem I have is that although I was using the exact same yarn, and the exact same hook as the pattern, my tension is far tighter than Winks, so the edges curled up on me. This is a result of all the amigurumi projects I’ve been focusing on – you have to crochet tight so as to keep the stitches close together (I usually use at least one hook size down than what the yarn calls for). Here’s how I hold my yarn, how do you hold yours? See how tightly wrapped around my little finger it is? But instead of frogging the entire project, I decided to just rip out the last couple of rows, to where it started to curl. This is the row that was causing the problem, before that I was progressing beautifully. I decided that because it’s difficult for me to loosen my tension (old habits die hard, right?), I would go up half a hook size and try my best. I love my Clover hooks, they are the single best crochet related purchase I’ve made so far. And here we go! The finished mandala! See how beautifully flat it lies now? It has a slight curve, a bit like a saucer, but I think that’s the intention, and I love it. The Summer Hearts Mandala was a beautiful project to make, I’m definitely going to be making more, and will experiment with different colours. Would you like me to make you one? By all means feel free to get in contact, I’d be honoured. Have you made any mandalas? Which pattern is your favourite? There are so many to choose from and they’re all beautiful.