Tag Archives: spring

New Design in the Making

Posted on May 6, 2017 | 5 comments

I’ve spent the last months only thinking about the latest issue of YARN, but now that it’s released and my designs are out there in the world, I can breathe again. Not that I was in anyway involved in putting the issue together, but I have been anxious and excited and on tenterhooks waiting!

But, time waits for no woman, and now it’s on to the next. I’m revisiting my old friend Scheepjes Catona for a spring project.

As I write this, the tulips in my garden are on the wane and the irises and peonies are about to explode. It’s my favourite time of year in the Netherlands; the glory of the bulbs, the green of the grass and the blue of the sky (except today!). It fills me with inspiration and hope for the summer.

So I have a lovely little project in the works, which will be great when we start living our lives outside in the garden again, I can’t wait to show you more!

Stay tuned for progress pics next week, I’m hoping the sun will shine until then!

5 Comments

Posted in Scheepjes

Tagged new project, spring

Spring has Sprung – and is Quilting a New Craft Obsession?

Posted on April 8, 2015 | 5 comments

Spring has sprung! My first tulip is out and flowering. And about time, too. Seriously, I’m still sending my daughter off to school in a winter coat and scarf and it’s April! This is not acceptable. Thank God I was able to spend a month in Australia because if I hadn’t, this extended cold would be the end of me.

Spring has Sprung in my garden.

I love the little bulbs that appear in my garden every year. I have the standard tulips and daffodils, plus a bunch of hyacinths forest bulbs and something new seems to appear every year. My peonies are coming and I hope I get more than one bloom this year. I made the mistake of splitting the plant and transplanting half of it, not knowing that it takes two years for a peonie to bloom again!

Spring has Sprung in my garden.

I made this table centrepiece at a workshop at my local flower boutique. I say boutique because this place is a-mazing. The flowers are just starting to pop out, and I’m enjoying watching it change each day.

Spring has also seen me start a LOT of new craft projects. I have another knitting project in the pipeline, plus the WIP that I showed you last week is just about ready to reveal (along with a pattern), and then there’s this! In between it all, I made a quilt!

It’s a Jelly Roll Race Quilt, one of the easiest and fastest quilts out there, but I wanted something simple to sink my teeth into in case I had bitten off way more than I could chew.

I made the top myself at home on my machine following this tutorial and then had a session with the Quilt Guru in my local craft group where she showed me how to sandwich it and then assemble it, all in a single evening!

I’m so impressed with the end result! The last bit of quilting I did for myself was when I was still at school – I designed and pieced together my own cushion top. Plus I’ve been an assistant to my Gran while she’s been making her own fabulous quilts all of my life, but that has all been by hand. I’ve never done any quilting on a sewing machine!

There are a few little imperfections here and there – we won’t examine my straight stitching skills too closely – but overall it’s beautiful. My daughter loves it, and I’m planning on putting it on her bed as a throw. It’s not quite large enough for a bedspread for her, but perhaps my next one will be.

But, wow. It’s an expensive hobby! I bought the 40 strip Jelly Roll while in Australia for about $55 AUD, then I had to buy the edging fabric and the backing fabric. Not to mention the wadding and thread. And then there are the tools you need – cutters, rulers, cutting board and the sewing machine itself. So, I’m not in a rush to become a quilter, that’s for sure!

The Jelly Roll I used is called Printemps 3 Sisters, and it’s by Moda Fabrics. You can find Jelly Rolls at fabric stores everywhere, or online. Or of course you could make your own (I won’t be)! Aren’t the colours divine?

Can you quilt? What are your favourite styles and where do you get your fabrics?

5 Comments

Posted in Projects, Quilting

Tagged bloemboetik, jelly roll, moda fabrics, quilt, Quilting, spring, tulip

Bucketful of Sunshine Hat – The Big Reveal!

Posted on May 13, 2014 | 6 comments

I’ve been teasing you here, and on Instagram and Facebook with shots of yarn and half-completed projects and today, finally I can show you what I’ve been working on!

This morning I managed to convince my almost two and a half year old to pose for some photos of my new hat design, and she rocked it! So, without further ado, I present to you The Bucketful of Sunshine!

The Bucketful of Sunshine is made using three shades of yellow Scheepjeswol Cotton 8 (508, 551, and 655) working from light to dark, creating a really cool ombre effect.

The sunburst on the side is actually inspired by a free pattern by Petals to Picots and doctored a little to minimise the cutting and joining (because we all know how much I avoid weaving in multiple ends wherever possible).

I used the V-Stitch, making it perfect for the summer months to come. Light, airy and full of sunshine. I’m working on a tutorial for the V-Stitch for lefties as it happens, so keep an eye out for that too!

I’ve just loved working with Scheepjes Cotton 8. It has become my favourite cotton yarn and will surely be my future go-to. I love the feel of it, I love the look of it and to get this project just right I frogged and frogged and frogged, and yet it holds up brilliantly. No splitting, catching, breaking or any other annoying yarn habits. What also makes it an enormously appealing yarn is that Scheepjeswol a Dutch company, and I’m all about supporting local businesses.

And possibly, what I’m most proud about this project is that it has given me the opportunity to produce a pattern! And a free one at that! Stay tuned next week and I’ll have a pattern in a toddler size at the very least, with plans for babies and adults in the works too…

What do you think? Don’t I have the cutest kid? She’s sunshine personified, and The Bucketful of Sunshine was wholly inspired by her.

6 Comments

Posted in Projects, Scheepjes, Scheepjeswol

Tagged bucketful of sunshine, cotton, cotton 8 cotton8, cotton yarn, crochet, scheepjes, scheepjeswol, spring, summer, sunshine, yarn, yellow

Working with Scheepjes – a Colour Riot

Posted on May 6, 2014 | 2 comments

I love Scheepjeswol Cotton 8. I knew I would, but I think it might be my new favourite cotton yarn. I love that it’s soft, and I love that it doesn’t have the mercerized look and I LOVE the colours!

For my latest design I’m using the beautiful shades of yellow, working on an ombre look. There’s quite a bit of experimentation going on with rows and colours to get the gradient just right. It’s difficult because my brain wants me to make sure all the rows are even, but the look is much better if it’s not.

Because I’m making a spring project, I’m wanting lots of space between stitches, I decided on the V-Stitch, which is absolutely perfect. I’m now working on the courage to come up with a video tutorial on how to do the stitch, especially for other lefties like me. But I need my own Dorothy and perhaps a trip to Oz for that. We shall see…

I love the way the V-Stitch looks, and for this project I’m using two strands together, which gives it a great textured look too.

But what will the project be? Well, that remains to be seen! Here are a few hints:

You’ll just have to wait until next week for the Big Reveal!

Have you tried Scheepjeswol Cotton 8? What do you think?

2 Comments

Posted in Scheepjes, Scheepjeswol

Tagged cotton 8, cotton8, crochet, MissNeriss, Obsessed with Crochet, scheepjes, scheepjeswol, spring, yarn, yellow

Spring Scarf – Pattern

Posted on March 20, 2014 | 19 comments

I’ve been working on this scarf for months. I found the yarn in my local store ‘t Spoeltje, here in Almere Haven (it’s Parrot, by Hjertegarn) and I love it because I’m such a magpie in that I LOVE bright colours and love variegated yarns. But it sat there for ages, not becoming anything. I do that. I buy yarn because it’s pretty, but have no project in mind. Eventually I decided to try making a triangle shawl. I stumbled across a pattern somewhere on the internet, but couldn’t follow it properly, so kind of just tried my best and made it up a bit as I went along. Then the pattern disappeared, and I have no idea where to find it again. Luckily it was very simple to figure out from what I’d already done.

It went on for a while. I’d work on a few rows, then put it back in the cupboard. For about six months. But this week I decided to finish it off. I was coming to the end of the ball of yarn, so decided to create a trim for it. Man. What a task. Because I had no pattern, I had no idea how it should be finished off. I had no stitch count, and I honestly couldn’t be bothered trying to figure out some fancy trim. And googling “crochet trim” is a disaster. There are way too many options, my head just exploded.

So in the end, I decided to just leave it. I quite liked the plain effect as the shawl is so colourful anyway I didn’t think it would be missed.

But then, I decided I didn’t like it that much. My husband didn’t like it either. So what was I going to do with it? Well, first I had to block it. I had never blocked anything before, because I tend to make amigurumis and normal scarves, nothing that needs the extra effort to block. But, I had some Eucalan Wrapture wool wash as a sample from a previous yarn order, so I washed it and pinned it out to dry.

Then I had to wait. And wait. For a day! I decided when I looked down at the blocked piece that I really liked it after all. The colours worked out beautifully, and it is perfect for Spring. Plus the yarn was going to be deliciously soft with the Angora blend.