Flower curtain

Spring has sprung, trees turning green outside.
Inside just one plant, no flowers. I did have some crocheted flowers on the wall, but I took them down this weekend.

So new plan: add some color somehow.


PIC crystals


I found some crystals which I hung in the window. That would give nice colors when the sun shines on them. I also used the two pink crystals I bought recently at the thrift store.
It was still a bit bare. And again I had been looking at garlands etc for some time. Wanted to make them but never did.
I designed a simple flower, made a few in several colors and added them to the crystal curtain.
It looks lovely. The flowers blowing in the wind, and the sun playing with the crystals.

PIC flower
PIC chart
PIC curtain

Used: |
Cotton yarn in various colors
2mm hook.

Stuffed animal: to post pics or not?

Am now doing a small knitting project.
It was supposed to be a naive small bunny or bear or what ever animal. A small stuffed toy. I planned to use it to as a sort of wedge under my smartphone to get the phone in a more comfortable angle for internet surfing in bed.

I made the faceless body and left it for a couple of days. I planned to knit a girlfriend for him later. I also planned to knit a sweater for it and give it a face. But what to do with the bottom half: trousers or long sweater to cover its non-existing private bits?
Then I decided to give him a complete set of private bits. Why not?

Yesterday I have attached them and it looks very funny and -if I may say so- very well executed. Me, the creator -not with capital c- made a design flaw though: the poor guy can't reach his bits because the arms are to short.

Anyway, do I post pictures and details or not? Do I blur the bits?
Thought about it and decided to post it anyway. How many people will see this blog anyway.

Since I am an absolute knitting novice I am now stuck: don't know how to finish the sweater.
The briefs are also not very haute couture.
Oh well, gotto start somewhere.

Hope I won't get blocked from Blogger by posting this. Let's call it 'art'.

Before:
Very boring. Clearly something is missing.

After:

Much better!

I won't post close-up pics. Am a bit of a woos.

The body was made with 16st in dpns. No idea how many rows. Arms and legs were all made with 4st i-cords. Arms were made separate and attached later. Ears were a 3st i-cord.

The girlfriend will get a set of boobies. Should not be too difficult to design.
And with a thin thread I will crochet a nice lingerie set.

All knitted with 2.5mm DPNs. Private bits: crochet hook 2mm.
Yarn used:
Body: Durable Glanskatoen nr 10, undied.
Briefs: Durable breikatoen, nr 12, white.
Sweater: Wibra coton.

Stylish flower

I am a big fan of the oriental crochet books. The designs are very nice. Very well blocked and then photographed in a no-nonsense way. The diagrams are very clear and I have not noticed any design flaws so far.

A while ago I found this book and the flower on the cover always stayed in my mind. So simple and so subtle.

A few days ago, on the 30th of April, our queen Beatrix abdicated and passed the crown over to her son Willem-Alexander. Despite living in Amsterdam I decided not to go into town but stay home and watch the ceremonies on TV. The broadcast started at around 8 am and finished around 9.30 pm. So many hours to crochet in front of the TV. So I finally started the flower.

I used Durable Glanskatoen nr 12 ecru and a 2 mm hook. I'm not sure what the brand of the pink thread is. This skein was a hand-me-down.
The chart and design was very simple. I soon noticed that my flower was going to be huge compared to the one in the picture. Way bigger than I expected. The finished flower is about 11 cm -just over 4 inch- in diameter. Next time I'll use much thinner thread. I made the stamen of single strands with a single knot at the end.

The chart:

The result:

I really like the wave.

Maybe for handy to know for future projects:

It was a fun and easy project. 

Just before bedtime

Haven't had a crochet hook in my hand all day. I did get a lot of ideas from Pinterest. So late at night I thought: damn... all day looking at pictures I could make but have not made a thing today. So around 11pm I decided to start a small project that I had on my to do list for a while: a crocheted leaf. It looked simple and and quick. But because I was getting more tired by the minute, I had problems keeping track of rows and stitches. So a simple and quick project eventually took almost 3 hours to finish.

The finished leaf has some small errors, but I think it is not noticeable, in fact, they add a nice curve to the leaf. The curve is more noticeable when it is hanging.
I have adjusted a few stitches at the instertion of the stem: I joined the two sides of the leaf over the stem, creating more 3D effect.
I am quite happy with the result. If I would block it it would become flat, so I'll leave it as it is.

I used a 2mm hook and cotton thread Durable Glanskatoen ecru nr12.