Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you may look back and realize they were the BIG things...

Sunday, 8 June 2014

Mellow Yellow Skappel sweater

Just checking in to share with  you a bit of yellow happiness ❤️❤️

I just realized that I had completly forgotten to show you the finished result of the  "Mellow Yellow Skappel Sweater" I made for Little Missy during the Easter Holiday. 

It has been cherished and worn for weeks now -  she really  loves it!❤️

So soft and comfortable - and warm! The yarn is a mix of silk-mohair and merino wool. 



The pattern is a slightly altered version of the Skappel sweater (link to pattern in Norwegian and English at the end of this post) 

I used moss stich insted of garter stich, and adjusted the size to fit my daughter. Otherwise I pretty much followed the pattern. 


Below are some photos of Little Missy wearing her favourite sweater. She was a very willing model, I must say - posing like a pro! 




Strike a pose! 


Link to the original pattern in Norwegian

Link to an English translation of the pattern.



                                                              ❤️  Live - Love - Laugh ❤️




Sunday, 1 June 2014

Beachbag Ta-dah!

Summer is here!! We've spent a much needed long-weekend at our summerhouse, and the weather has been amazing! We're surrounded by clouds of Yellow Broom. The sight and scent are so wonderful ❤️
 I love this place!


A few woderful  days off work, and time to dig out the old sewing machine and start a new project...

I'm welcoming JUNE, the first wonderful summer-month by making myself a HUGE beachbag ❤️

A quite bold project for someone like me, actually...I'm just a wanna-be sewer, and the little I know about sewing is 100% selftaught and has more of a winging-it-as -I-go-along approach, than actually knowing what I'm doing...

My old sewing machine sounds like it is going to take-off and fly away when I step on the pedal, and it keeps stopping all the time, making all kinds of strange and unpleasant noises.......So frustrating! The needle breaks at least 3 times during a session (yes, I'm probably using the wrong size/type of needle, but what do I know?), the threads keep getting all tangled up on the backside, and the stiches are uneven and messy....
All in all, sewing is really a test to my patience, but I so want to be able to do it! There are so many beautiful things I could make if I just mastered this craft!

So, I take the Pippi Longstocking approach: " I have not tried this before, so I'm sure I can do it" ❤️
A great approach to all new challenges in life, I think.

We are going to California this summer (we're leaving in a little more than 2 weeks...eeek!), and for that purpose I think I really need a BIG beachbag, right?
So that is what I bravely and optimisticly set out to make....

I found a great bag in one of my wonderful Tilda books, which did not seem too difficult to make for a newbie


All in all a good plan, and I optimisticly started the quilting. It was so fun and satisfying to quilt these nice Tilda fabrics together. I love the feeling of quilted cotton fabric ❤️
It has such a "summery" feel to it, I think. It reminds me of carefree childhood summers with picnics and book-reading on big, lovely quilts....❤️


Loving the way the quilting turned out. And the seams are all neat and even!!! So far so good !!

Instead of a zipper, I found these great little turqoise hooks in my stash, and I also added these wonderful pom-poms to the edging. They have been waiting patiently in my stash (for years!) to be put into good use, and I think they gave the bag that little extra touch of playfulness that it needed. These were stiched on by hand with invisible stiches. 
It's all in the details, so I added some nice buttons to the handles, just for decorative purposes..
Just a little touch of pinkish red and a little bling...I love bling ❤️




Adding all these decorations were all fun an easy work. The problems occured when I was going to sew the whole thing together...The pattern in the book made no sense to me, and I finally had to give that up,  and figure it out by myself. I had to cut the fabric differently, leaving me with a lot of extra work and some bad language.....

The result is nothing like the one in the book: it is much bigger, no zipper, different bottom and different shape, but you know what: I LOVE  IT ❤️And I'm so proud of the fact that I actually made this on my own - and that I also ended up "designing" it....


Want to see how the bag ended up looking? 

Ta-dah!!! 




Vamos a la playa!!  I'm soooo ready for the sunny Californian  beaches!!


I' m now completely hooked on sewing, so I'm already planning on making many more in different colours and sizes. One can never have too many bags, right?? Or shawls, or shoes, or cups or.......well you know how it goes...❤️

I guess I have to wish for a new sewing machine for my birthday....



                                               ❤️Live - Laugh - Love❤️









Saturday, 24 May 2014

The Nordic Shawl


Ta-dah!!


My Nordic Shawl from the wonderful My Rose Valley is finished, and I am completely in LOVE with it ❤️
This post will be an overload of photos - I got a little carried away there, for a moment....

Here we go, the big Nordic Shawl show-off....:


All ends weaved in, and ready for blocking:


Blocking.... 

It just goes on and on and on....❤️❤️

I'm so happy with my colourscheme ❤️ I tried loads of different alternatives, but finally decided to stick to a warm pallette, and only 4 colours in the border, instead of 6 which the pattern suggests. This gives a more muted and calmer look to it, I think...

(I loved making this so much, so I'm already planning to make another one with a totally different look, and more vibrant colours. A girl  can never have too many shawls, right? )

Ta- dah! My lovely  Nordic Shawl is complete and ready ❤️

Laid out in all it's glory ❤️

Such a lovely border! I really love this pattern ❤️

A perfect match with my favourite Odd Molly dress❤️

Snuggly, warm and luxurious in 100% alpaca 

LOVE ❤️❤️

Facts: 

Yarn: Sandnes Alpakka ( 100% alpaca)
Hook size: 4,5 mm ( a little too big for the yarn, buy I wanted to get a nice and drapy shawl, so the tension had to be a little loose). 3.5 mm on the border.
Pattern: The Nordic Shawl from My Rose Valley. You can buy it here



                                              ❤️ Live - Laugh - Love ❤️







Sunday, 18 May 2014

The Daisy Mandala pattern and tutorial


Finally! I have actually finished the pattern and tutorial for The Daisy Mandala!


This project turned out to be so much more timeconsuming than I imagined.
Even though I generally love plans and structure, when it comes to crochet, I'm more a work-it-out-as-you-go kind of girl...
I adjust things along the way, and have become a master of hiding my mistakes,  but when writing a pattern, you can't take the usual shortcuts.....
So, I actually had  to count the stiches, and make sure it all adds up in every round.....

I have counted, adjusted, counted and adjusted and counted again, and now I think (hope!!) I've got it right....

I have not had this pattern tested by anyone else but myself, so if you choose to have a go at it, please let me know if you find any mistakes, or something seems confusing or strange to you.
I apprecitate any feedback, good or bad, so please let me know what you think!

Oh, and if you do make this little Daisy mandala, I would LOVE to see the result!

So, here we go.....

The Daisy Mandala

Note: the pattern is written in US terminology. Below are the terms in both US and UK.

US terms

 

UK terms

sl st  slip stich sc single crochet
sc single crochet dc double crochet
hdc half doubel crochet htr half treble crochet
dc double crochet tr treble crochet
tr treble crochet dtr double treble crochet
dtr double treble crochet trip tr/trtr triple treble crochet
rev sc reverse single crochet rev dc reverse double crochet
yo  yarn over yoh yarn over hook


Abbreviations: 
ch: chain
hdc: half double crochet
sc: single crochet
sl st: slip stich
htr: half treble crochet
yo: yarn over
Repeat directions between * and * 

Yarnsuggestion: Drops Safran (or any yarn with approx. the same gauge)
Hook: 3,5mm   and 3mm
Number of colors: 7

The Daisy:

I use 2 threads of yarn and hook nr 3,5 to make the daisy in the middle. This makes it a bit “chunkier” and bigger, so it stands out more as a centrepoint of the mandala. If you use only 1 thread, you might have to adjust the a amount of stiches in each round from round 3 to make the mandala nice and neat.

Round 1:

With color 1 (2 threads), make a magic circle
Ch 2 (counts as a hdc). 11 hdc in the ring. Sl st in 3rd ch of beg. ch to join. Pull tailyarn had to close the ring.


Round 2: 

Switch to color 2 (2 threads), and start with a sl st between any hdc. Ch 3 (counts as a tr), (2-trpuff st, ch 2, 3-tr puff st) in first space, ch 2, (3-tr puff st, ch 2, 3-tr puff st, ch 2) in each space around. This will give you 12 3-tr puff st (petals) in total. Sl st in the back of first puff to join. Fasten off.



Now you have a pretty little daisy, which will make the centrepoint of your mandala ❤️


Note: The rest of the mandala is made with hook size 3 mm and single thread.


Round 3

Switch to hook size 3 and color 3, start with a sl in any ch-2  space between the 3-tr puff st (petals). Ch 3 (counts as a dc).3 dc in same space. *ch 1. 4 dc in next ch-2 space* around.  Sl st in 3rd ch of beg ch to join. Fasten off.


Round 4: 

Switch to color 4, start with a sl st in any 1 ch space between the 4dc groups.  *ch 5, sc in next space* around. Sl st in the back of the first sc to join. Fasten off. 


Round 5: 

Switch to color 5, start with a sl st in any ch-5 loop, ch 3 (counts as a tr), 2-tr puff st in same loop, (ch 2, 3-tr puff st, ch2, 3-tr puff st) in every ch-5 loop around. Sl st in back of first puff st to join. Fasten off.


Round 6: 

Switch to color 4, start with sl st in any ch-2 space. *ch 3, sc in next ch-2 space* around. Sl st in back of first sc to join. Fasten off.


Round 7:

Switch to color 6, start with sl st in any ch-3 loop. Ch 2 (counts as a hdc), 2 hdc in same loop. *ch1, 3 hdc in next ch-3 loop* around. Sl st in 3rd ch of starting ch to join. Fasten off.


Round 8: 

Switch to color 4, start with sl st in any ch-1 space  *Ch 4, sc in next ch1-space* around. Sl st in back of first sc to join. Fasten off. 


 Round 9: 

Switch to color 7, start with sl st in any ch-4 loop, 1 sc in same loop.*9-dc shell in next ch-4 loop, 1 sc in next ch-4 loop* around. Sl st in back of first sc to join. Fasten off.


 Round 10:

Switch to color 4, in any 9-dc shell, sl st in the back loop of the 5th dc in shell (see photo), ch 4 *1 hdc on both sides of next sc (sc in the ch-4 loop of the prev row) (see photo), ch4, sl st in the back of the 5th dc in the next 9-dc shell, ch 4* around. Sl st in back of first sl st to join. Fasten off. 

Round 11: 

Switch to color 5, start with sl st in any ch-4 loop after a hdc-2 group. Ch 2 (counts as 1 hdc), 6 hdc in same loop, 7 hdc in the next ch-4 loop * 2 hdc in the top stich of the 2 hdc group, 7 hdc in next ch-4 loop, 7hdc in the next ch-4 loop * around. Sl st in the 3rd ch of the starting chain to join. Fasten off. 


Round 12:

Switch to color 4, start with sl st in any top stich of a 2hdc group (se photo below. The needle points to the starting stich) 1 sc in same st. *ch 3.  sc in 4th hdc* around. Sl st in back of first sc to join. Fasten off.

Round 13:

Switch to color 3, start with sl st in any ch-3 loop, ch 3 (counts as a tr), 4-tr puff st in same loop *ch 2, 5-tr puff st in next ch-3 loop) around. Sl st in back of first sc to join. Fasten off. 

Round 14:

Switch to color 4, start with sl st in any ch-1 space *ch 3, sc in next ch-1 space* around. Sl st in back of first sc to join. Fasten off. 


Round 15:

Switch to color 6, start with sl st in any ch-3 loop, *7-dc shell in next ch-3 loop, sc in next ch-3 loop* around. Sl st in back of first sc to join. Fasten off.

Ta-dah!!! 



                                  ❤️ Live - Love - Laugh ❤️



























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