Dream in progress... part 12

I took all the squares that needed to be sewn in to the fair last sunday in case I could do some work while people were looking around.
I also took a second needle in case my friend felt like helping me! Haha, and she did! We did get quite a lot done in between and it certainly was more fun to sew together then do the boring task by myself.I'm quite happy to be able to show you all the finished sewn in squares. Now I'll finish the last round of squares I need to crochet and then I can start putting my Babette blanket together. How exciting! :)
I created a Babette blanket set on Flickr so you can see the progress all together! :)

Dream in progress... part 11

Time to update you on the progress of my Babette blanket. I finished crocheting the remaining three 6-round squares. When I put them away in my box I saw all the thread ends screaming at me. So I decided to sew in all the ends before I would continue crocheting on the last 7 8-round squares. I'll be doing lots more sewing when putting the blanket together so I'm just spreading it a bit. If anyone is starting a blanket, I advise you to sew in all ends after every round! :) But I can't show you the done pile yet, as I have been too busy claying this week.
Hopefully finished piles next week! :)

I created a Babette blanket set on Flickr so you can see the progress all together! :)

Dream in progress... part 10

After all the encouragement from you all last week, I managed to crochet 12 squares. I already had 1 done so that makes 3 to go! I was on fire the past week!
My Babette blanket is slowly coming to the end stage of crocheting.
Only 7 more 8 round-squares - yay! Then I will need to weave in all threads and start putting it together. I hope that it will be done before it gets cold so I can snuggle underneath it... I'm so looking forward to that part! :)

Dream in progress... part 9

Last week picked up my weekly progress posts on my Babette blanket. Initially I thought it a good idea to share my progress via my blog 'cause that would make me actually have something to show. This week I feel embarrassed as I only managed to crochet one 6-round square and start another one. I need 16 squares in total and I really hope that I won't be showing one each week in my progress posts! I started another one this morning so hopefully I have a bit more to show next week! :)

Dream in progress... part 8

It's about 2 months ago since I posted my last picture about the Babette blanket. I have still not much more to show you but I wanted to let you know that I will pick up where I left it.
I got some more yarn & have missed crocheting a lot so I hope that this combination will make sure I can show my progress again... This is what I got so far...I also want to show you some goodies that I got at the Craftparking fair last week. Just because... How sweet! :) Thank you FleurFatale, DinaFragola & Viltalakim.And this is what was inside:
I jumped about half a meter high when I saw the beautiful cat brooch that FleurFatale gave me. I lost the first one that I got from her and she made me a new one - and I love it just as much! And if that was not enough yet, she also added another one - I love the colorcombo's that Fleur uses!
I think I will have to hide the 'kitsch it yourself'-kit from DinaFragola when my nieces visit 'cause they will love it!
And last but not least two beautiful felted soaps from Viltalakim. Too bad you can't smell 'em 'cause they smell divine!
Are you curious what was in my 'I read your blog'-goodybag? Have a look at Fleur's blog to see what was inside! :)

Colorful crochet hairpins

Since the babuschka key chains I planned to make for the fair are taking too much time to make (I'm a slow crocheter), I decided to crochet some nice little flowers to make hairpins from.
They are quick to make, fun to wear and add great color to your day! :)
And if you haven't seen my new postcards yet, hop over here and leave a comment, you might win some! ;)

Crochet inspiration

Since lack of time is keeping me from crocheting lately, I would love to share some crochet inspiration I found on Flickr & Etsy.

I have been intrigued by all forms of crochet that are related to coral reef and shapes.
The dream to crochet them myself and transform them into porcelain clay still plays around in my head so I would love you to meet these fantastic artists:

The work of Gooseflesh is the most amazing I've seen around, ever! It's so detailed and it's amazing and inspiring. Helle leaves me often in awe with her photostream & I think she is one of my favorite contacts on Flickr. My heart jumps when I see she has posted new work! :)
This corkscrew crochet is made by Quoin. If you haven't already added her to your Flickr contacts, I think you should! She has a very colorful photostream & does lovely work.
If you click on this picture below, it will bring you to a you tube video she made where she shows you how to crochet these corkscrews! I can't wait to try it! :)
When I found the work of Sophie Buckleberry a few months ago, I immediately added her to my contacts. Unfortunately she doesn't update her Flickr stream regularly but I still think that her crochet work is an inspiration.
OK, these amugurumi creatures are not exactly coral reef looking but I believe they do live in the deep blue sea. Melissa Sue makes the most amazing crochet creatures & I love 'em to pieces!
She has a wonderful shop on Etsy & her Amugurumi portfolio is great fun to look at.
Aren't these artists not just super?

Little crochet break on Babette blanket

Since I've run out of yarn to crochet much more on my Babette blanket, I've decided to take a little break from making it. That gives me some time to work on some smaller crochet projects.
I'll be attending a craft fair in August and I also want to take some colorful things to the market.
I love happy colors so I also want to show that. I decided to make a bunch of Babuschka key chains to take. They'll brighten up the stand for sure. :)

Yarn looks better in balls...

The other day I read this blogpost from Ballee on how yarn looks better in balls.
I looked at my cotton yarn stash...
and I think Ballee is right...
What do you think? :)
I love all my cotton yarn wound up in balls. Haha, that's a little change from crocheting.
Haven't done any work on my Babette blanket this week so I thought that this would make a nice crochet post even though there is no stitch involved! :)

I also want to share this blog with you: the design alphabet. The Design Alphabet is a daily read dedicated to home and product design. focusing on one alphabet letter per day. The Design Alphabet features product reviews, stores, new designers and interesting bits and bobs from around the globe. They featured my work a while back under the letter 'A' and I only found out about it recently. :)

More crochet experiments

In 2002/2003 I did a lot of experiments with liquid porcelain clay. I had this project in mind and it needed a certain whiteness & transparancy. When the normal liquid porcelain clay turned out to be too solid & not white enough for my taste so I had to search for the right recipe.
It took me more then half a year & lots of sample making to find the recipe that was just right.
People declared me crazy for being so determined to keep on making samples & wait for firing results. I loved the process of it all, it made me learn a lot about the products I used.

In 2006 I started the academy of fine arts with the idea of experimenting of drenching crochet & knitwork in liquid porcelain clay. Due to circumstances I didn't finish the year & the idea was left aside. Now I have my own kiln, I'm superhappy to pick up the idea where I left it.
And I found the jar of porcelain clay that I made in 2002 with a little left over so I had to make a few more samples & drench them in there. I'm convinced that the kind of yarn you use to drench is very important. It needs to be a yarn that holds liquid very well. I used cotton, acrylic, wool, hemp. I also crocheted with a large hook & with a small hook to see if that makes difference.I hope to fire the kiln tonight so I don't have to keep you in suspence too long for the results... I'm quite curious myself! :)
I also added a little sponge in there - but I tried that before and the result is awesome!

Dream in progress... part 7

The progress on the Babette blanket is about halfway now. I finished all the four row squares.
It seems like it took me forever but hey, there are 49 of them and it covers a lot of space layed out like this:
And the most boring part is yet to come: sewing in the ends! Yikes! :)
I might need to take a break for a bit as I have run out of some colors of yarn & I tried to get them at our local yarnshop but they only had a few of the colors that I needed. So as soon as I go back to my big supply shop in Holland, I'll be crocheting away some more...
I did try to attach a few squares and I think with some trial and error I'll be able to make it a blanket.
This one I just sewed as I though I had to do it but the seams are supervisible.This one is crocheted together... I would love to crochet it together but again, the seams are very visible.
Pfft! I knew ther must be another way to do this, but which one?
Off to the Flickr group 'Babette Blanket' for some answers as I was sure I was not the only one with this question. Some people used the mattrass stitch. What's that? I'm a complete stitching illiterate so you tube was my saviour. But I could see seams still...The search goes on and I found a blog where the Kathy Merrick tells the secret how she does it.
A step by step tutorial, just what I needed! :)
But OMG, I didn't realise that here would be so much sewing involved, I think I would have thought twice about this... :)

Dream in progress... part 6

The progress on the Babette blanket is slow but that's OK as it's still a very fun & relaxing project to work on. This week I made the second 12 row square. I love the colors on this one - very vibrant and fun.
I can't wait to put it all together but it's still long from being finished so I just have to be patient.
And I drew the winner of the brooch I made via random.org!
Congrats Kerrin from Sigmosaics! I'll be sending off the brooch soon! :)

Dream in progress... part 5

Uh oh, am I in trouble for not getting much to show this week?
I have had a very hectic week so only got one of the two 12 round squares done of The Babette blanket I'm making.
I hope to show the second square one next week. :)
Since I thought it was so little to show you, I decided yesterday evening to wip up something fast and fun. I'm subscribed to Lion Brand's newsletter. It arrives every friday and it has lots of fun links to patterns and projects. Last friday, this chrysanthemum flower was the crochet flower of the week. It looked like fun to make so I gave it a go.
I decided to use the sugar 'n cream yarn that my friend Stephanie sent me just because...
I'll make a brooch out of this and if you like to receive it, please leave a message. I'll pick one lucky person in my next saturday crochet post. :)

Dream in progress... part 4

OK, I have been cheating this week. When I realised I wasn't getting the 4 row squares done by today, I decided to make the 10 row squares ones. I only needed to make 2 of those so that was easy! :) They are quite big: 25 by 25cm or 10 by 10 inches. However, these still are not the biggest ones, I also need to make 2 pieces of 12 rows. I might do that this week as the bigger squares are quite fun to make.
Colorwise, I didn't keep to the pattern either so I'm curious to see how it will all look when it's finished.

Dream in progress... part 3

Because the four row-squares take a lot longer to make, I haven't finished all the squares yet. I know the pattern by heart now so I can actually crochet this blindfolded! :)
Who would have tought that a few months ago? I still remember all my attempts on the slippers. The Babette blanket calls for 18 colors of yarn but after the two row-squares where finished, I found that the red was a bit too vibrant in comparison to the other colors. Instead of making all the squares all over again, I decided to add more colors of yarn to the blanket. I added seven more colors. So, I don't actually keep track of the suggested colors of yarn all the time - sometimes I just throw in a combination that I like a lot. I hope by doing this, that I'm not going to ruin the whole blanket... Off to finish 26 more of these...

Dream in progress... part 2

I finished all the two row squares for my Babette blanket. It was fun & easy and I love the colors although I'm having doubts about the red because I kind of feels too 'hard' compared to the other colors. What are your thoughts?
I have a slightly pinkish red color cotton too so I might change to that.
The bigger square in the corner is the next set of squares containing 4 rows. I need 49 of those. I think these will take me a bit longer to make.
I didn't sew in the last thread yet 'cause I don't know if I need it to join the squares together. I have to find out about that.I'll keep you posted on the progress...
And I also want to share a nice feature Artsybeat did on me & my work.

Dream in progress... part 1

After buying the pattern of Babette's blanket, I had been pondering about what kind of yarn I would use and I got some really nice tips from Huismus and CabbagesandKingsArt.
However, I just LOVE cotton yarn. Don't know why, it feels nice and soft and I'm attracted to the happy colors I guess. So I'm making this blanket in cotton and if I ever make a second one, that will be in merino/acrylic yarn.The pattern calls for lots of repetitive work and I like to work in batches so I made the first 50 rounds of the two round squares. It's rather addictive I have to say.
The fact that I work in one batch makes that I can actually remember the pattern after a few so it's easy to do it in front of a good movie. I still have to sew in the ends - oh joy - but will do that after the second round is done. You can see the end result in the upper right corner of the picture. Now 48 more to go and the first batch is done...

Don't forget to enter the give away below! :)

Dream in progress...

Call me ambitious or crazy but I bought the pattern to this blanket yesterday.
I have been inspired by the brown owls who started to crochet a granny square each day to have a blanket in no time!
I do want to make a granny square blanket too one day but I so fell in love with this happy, colorful blanket that this just has be made first! Ha! :)
Now I need to decide on what yarn I'll use. The original blanket is made of merino wool yarn but I'm thinking of making it in cotton 'cause the colors are just so bright and happy.
As soon as I have decided I'll keep you updated on the progress!

Mitsy's crocheted babuschka

Another post about crocheting but this one is superspecial. A while ago, I asked Tara from Mamachee to design me a Babuschka crochet pattern so that I could crochet little, colorful feelings.
I love the pattern she made for me so I crocheted them in rainbow colors, took some fun pictures for her and now she listed the pattern in her Etsy shop. Yay! :)
Haha, she actually called the pattern 'Mitsy's crocheted babuschka'. We'll the ones in the pictures are mine but don't hesitate to make your own.
They are easy and fun to make and they are fun to play with. You can easily tweak the pattern yourself so that you can actually make 'em larger or smaller so that they would look like real nesting dolls. :)

Working on my stash...

... and colors make me happy! :)