When you meet Anneke from Crochet in Paternoster .....

.... well, it has happened (almost a couple of weeks ago, in Cape Town!) ...

... you can have a lovely afternoon of nice talking and laughing : for me was magical to meet her, after knowing each other for a while through Crochet in Paternoster and Ons Hekel (a crochet closed group, founded by Stel from Haak-en-stekie ).

As you can see from the above picture, Anneke and I exchanged some gifts (crochet related!!!), and in my beautiful basket (crocheted by Anneke!) I found the followings ....

It was like Christmas for me!!! I was so happy to receive some precious South African cottons (from Moya and Nurturing Fibres ) and 3 balls of t-shirt yarns + a 12mm wooden hook !!!!
When back in Maputo, I had to start something with the t-shirt yarn, as I never used it before : very very curious !!!

The first idea I came up with was : a bag!!!  So, I started to browse in various Japanese crochet books until I found the right pattern for my purpose and I started my new adventure ...

I like many things about t-shirt yarn :
- its elasticity
- its sheen
- because of its thickness, the project grows quickly

The only thing that left me down, I think because I'm a real beginner with this kind of fiber, it was that my fingers were "soring" after a while I was crocheting.... you have to see me how I was "stubbing" the stitches when inserting the hook .... I was laughing (and sweating!) a lot, believe me!!!!
The original pattern was calling for two spikes forming an upside-down "V", but I opted for a single spike, instead, because of the thickness of the yarn and I simply preferred the "brick effect" given ...

Even Margot liked to play with these yarns ....

Little by little, the bag was growing and my excitement was so high ...

.... and a couple of days ago, the bag came alive ....

So big, bold, chunky : madly in love with this gorgeous bag!!!!
It measures 46cm (base) x 37cm
I'm curious to know even the weight ..... !!!!!! ;oD


The last pictures ....

Thank you Anneke, I really appreciated the t-shirt yarn and the challenge to crochet something with that !!!
I still have some leftovers and some royal blue to try .... !!!!! ;oD

xxxx Alessandra

Something different : a water dispenser cover (or cosy?) !!!!

A friend of mine asked me to crochet her a cover for her terracotta water dispenser ....
I never did that before ....
I checked on Pinterest to find some inspiration ... almost nothing ...

I asked my friend to take some measures (circumference, diameter and height) and knowing that she loves the blue&green combo, I started to crochet a circle for the top ...

I've been using some turquoise yarn from my stash and a 4mm hook and my design involved some filet crochet !!!

As the subject was "water" (and because of the colour selection), I decided to consider some fish to crochet on the cover ...

The fish pattern was taken from Betty Barnden's FILET CROCHET and I adapted it (on a piece of paper with small squares) accordingly with my needs (number of stitches, groups and spaces) ...

... and after some rounds, I started to see the fish ...

The thing is that, because starting to crochet from the top to the bottom, you have to read the chart upside down !

To check properly the design, I put the cover on a lamp that I have on my computer desk, that is next an Egyptian panel with ... fish! ...

After the trio of fish was completed, I decided to add some waves (pattern taken from the same book as for the fish) ...

To break the sameness of the work, I began to decorate the top of the cover with some neon green and slip stitches ..

... and the waves were getting more and more ..

I like when you are approaching the end of your work and you realize "It makes sense!" ...

I added some extra designs to the cover (another kind of fish and some seaweed) and fringes to complete it

as you notice, at a certain point my turquoise yarn ended and I had to replace it with some other yarn... I was disappointed, but then I thought that the abyss are darker than the surface water, so .... it was not completely wrong and I patted my shoulder to cheer me up !!!

These are all the designs I used in the cover (the seaweed is mine!) ....

the cover in all its length .....

I gave the cover to my friend last Friday (she was so excited!) and later she sent a picture of her terracotta water dispenser all covered up for the occasion ...

.... and the picture arrived with a caption "Happy water filter" !!

She rolled it a bit (I think we had some problems with the conversion of the measures from inches to cm !!!!), but she loves it and she said the colours are fantastic!!!

I like to notice that in the back of the pic there is a cat bowl with fish on .... !!!!

I'm curious to know your opinion on it!!!!!

xxxx Alessandra

Make it ! A loopy necklace !!!

.... and here it is : my first post of the year!!!!
I'm happy to be back, after a long Christmas break in Italy and some fun on Instagram!!!! ;oD

As you remember (here), I made some handmade gifts for friends and family members and today I've decided to share one of the patterns with you : did you like the crocheted necklaces ???

They were both gifted : one to my mum (the bold turquoise one, because she has beautiful blue eyes) and one to her sister, aka my auntie (the delicate yellow one .... not because of her eyes!!!!).

I made one for me (4mm hook and yarn from Sirdar WASH'n"WEAR), too, while checking the pattern for you to follow ....

You will need to crochet your own

• 4mm crochet hook (yellow version)/ 8mm hook (turquoise version)
• yarn : there are no restrictions! My yellow yarn is from KATIA MERINO BLEND (colour 19), while the turquoise yarn is from SCHACHENMAYR original MERINO SUPER BIG MIX (colour 69)
• a pair of scissors
• a yarn needle
• buttons as closure (mine are tweed fabric covered, from my friend Alison here )
• some pins and a suitable surface for blocking!

Please note that I follow the US crochet terminology and the following pattern is the one to follow for a necklace crocheted with a 4mm hook!

LOOPY NECKLACE PATTERN

Pick up your 4mm hook, make a slip knot on it and crochet 204 chains.
Insert hook in 2nd chain from hook and make your first single crochet (=SC).
Crochet other 34 SCs along the foundation chain. (you'll have a total of 35 SCs).
Now : 1 SC in next chain, chain 5, 1 SC in next chain (first loop)
           1 SC in next chain, chain 10, 1 SC in next chain (second loop)
           1 SC in next chain, chain 15,  1 SC in next chain (third loop)
           1 SC in next chain, chain 10, 1 SC in next chain (fourth loop)

.... and this is what you will have on your hook .... the first 35 SCs and the four loops ...

You have to repeat the above pattern other 16 times !
You'll have a total of 17 groups of loops (68 loops!) when completed the repetition!!!

After the repetition, you have to crochet : 1 SC in next chain, chain 5, 1 SC in next chain
This is your last loop (#69!) !!!
After that, crochet 30 SCs, so that you reach the last chain of the foundation chain!
Make a loop for the button, chaining as many chains you need (it depends from the dimensions of your button) and then sip stitch in the first chain made for this loop.
Cut yarn, trim in ends and sew the botton on the other end of the necklace!

If you want to crochet a chunky version of this necklace, just change hook (8mm) and yarn and, obviously, something from the original pattern :

Chain 101 chains, instead of 204!
Crochet 15 SCs at the beginning of the necklace, while crochet 10 SCs at the end !
The loopy pattern develops differently :
you start and end with : 1 SC in next chain, chain 5, 1 SC in next chain
in the between, you are going to repeat the original 4 loops pattern only 8 times !

N.B. : the beginning and the end of the loopy pattern presents two close by "five chains" loops !!!

Another thing to consider, before wearing the necklace, is to block it ....

It's really curly when you finish to crochet it, but spraying some water on the necklace, pinned on a rubber board ... well it works!! Let it dry properly (you will just need one night to obtain that!) !!!

NOW you can proudly WEAR it!!!!!

some more details .....

xxxx Alessandra

Today links : Link your Stuff! and Craft Schooling Sunday