Back to school

The routine is back again, summer holidays are over. When the alarm clock rings it is still a little dark outside, we already lighted a candle while having breakfast. I'm in a melancholic mood, I don't want the summer to leave so early. 

But today the weather was fine, sunny and quite warm. So I took some pictures of my bag I finished last week. I have already shown it almost finished in a previous post, but now it is completed. Hooray!

I used Sylecraft Special DK yarn for this bag in the colours Lipstick, Pomegranate, Fondant and Meadow. I lined the whole bag, even the handles because I like them firm and stable. I used the fabric called Rosalie from IKEA, it gives the bag a romantic touch. I do love it!

 

 This bag has not been the first bag I crocheted. My first bag has been a variation of Lucy's 'Jolly Chunky bag' you can find here Jolly Chunky Bag. I have used it a lot until now and I do love it very much, as well.

 

I lined this one with a pink fabric that matches the bags' colours. I added a shell edging to the handles because I wanted the bag to be really, really flowery-powery.  

Today I discovered a little hole in the fabric. I really don't know how it happened. I felt miserable about it but then I rifled through my sewing basket for something that would help me to fix the hole. And I was lucky! I found a small hearty patch that had exactly the right size and colour for my bag. What do you think?

I love my bags and there are so many patterns I want to try soon. My mother would like to have a white bag for next summer, something simple to wear with summer dresses. I will have a look on pinterest, maybe I can find a nice pattern there.

Have a nice evening, Viola

Hooray, hooray, hooray!

My shawl is finally finished!

Here is my big and warm and cosy shawl I wanted to finish a long time ago! Well done, Miss Inconsistency! Every time I finish a project that has been lying around for some time, I'm a little bit proud of myself. Unfortunately I always start new projects before finishing one, so there are many, many projects lying in baskets, on shelves or just in a bag next to the sofa. I have to admit that I lost the overview. But after our holiday I told myself to work more aim-oriented (can you say so?), to finish at least one thing before I start with an new one. Maybe I should write a list.... But back to the shawl:

I started crocheting this shawl during the Easter holidays. We went to the Netherlands to spend a week at the North Sea. I wanted to take my crochet bag with me, of course but space is always a scarce good when we go on holiday by car. So I decided to start a one-colour-project. I had this green sock yarn in my wool cabinet and a pattern for a shawl I always wanted to try. It's the  South Bay Shawlette from Lionbrand.

The pattern recommends a hook size 9 (I) and I used a 3,5. So I started really, really slowly. The original shawlette should have had 30 rows but when I finished row 30 it looked like a shawl for a toddler. So I decided to continue until it fitted my size. 

But honestly, after some time I lost my interest in it because it just took so long to finish one row and I didn't really see a progress. But then again... This shawl kept staying in my creative mind, it somehow wanted to be finished.

The last weeks I put myself together to accomplish this long-lasting project. I crocheted 64 rows until I decided that this shawl had the right size for me. But then it looked a little bit 'boring', 'expressionless'? 

It needed a border! To choose one took me some time but then I found a romantic border I really liked. It's called "Mayflower border" but I can't say anymore where I found it. I copied it from a magazine I was reading when I was sitting at the doctors a long time ago. I put it in my pattern folder and forgot about it. It's simple but it gives a nice little extra to the shawl.

The longest side has a simple shell edging.

I love, love, love my new shawl. It is great for the weather we have to endure here in the Northern part of Germany at the moment. Rain and storm with temperatures at 13 degrees. 

And it perfectly fits my beloved pair of Brako boots I could wear every day. 'You looks a little old-fashioned', my daughter said with a smile. I guess it was meant as a compliment, what do you think?

Have a nice weekend, Viola

Back home

Where has the summer gone?

It is our first weekend home again and it starts with raining. The sky is full of clouds and it hasn't stopped raining since I opened my eyes this morning. It would have been so nice taking the first cup of tea to the garden, sitting outside, feeling the sun in the face... But everything is wet, wet, wet.

So what to do? I went to the kitchen, checked my supplies and decided to bake plum muffins and an apple cake. Now the house is filled with the delicious smell of baked goods. All of a sudden the day feels much better.

While I write this post I will have a cup of tea with a warm and fluffy muffin. Who cares if it's raining?
The cup I just use is a souvenIr from Concarneau. I just love, love, love it.. It has the ideal size for my morning tea and sets a smile on my face every time I look at it.

For the queen of mothers!



First I wanted to write a little bit about all my crochet projects I started, finished or continued during my holidays but now I decided to write this post about mandalas.

Who can escape the mandala hype? It seems that everybody is in love with mandalas this summer and I have to confess that I have fallen in love with them, as well. Everywhere you go you come across the most gorgeous mandalas and meanwhile I have stored more patterns that I will ever be able to try. Yesterday evening when I was reading some blogs I like, I saw so many beautiful mandalas that I was itching to start a new mandala by myself. But I decided to finish one other project first.

The fist time I came across them was when I found the wonderful blog of Alice from Crochet with Raymond. Her mandalas are just fabulous, her combination of colours and her neat fine work just grabbed me. I had to try her pattern immediately and this is what I did first. A rainbow mandala that is still in use on our small cabinet. One day I will make a second one but in a different colour scheme.

And of course I just could not stick to one single mandala, instead I went a little overboard. I started using Lucy's pattern (Attic24) for small mandalas and experimented with them. I told myself that I was doing a real useful job producing all of these little addictive mandalas because I discovered how helpful they are as coasters. Every time I drink a cup of tea I use one of these little mandalas and even my kids love them. They lie on our kitchen table and are in daily use.

I'll stop now. My family wants to try the muffins and the cake, as well. And the cream of the crop is that my husband just came back from shopping and bought me some flowers. Actually the day's not that bad...

Hope your day will show some rays of sunshine, as well.
Viola

Bretagne

Sorry, sorry, sorry!

Me again, Miss Inconsistency! I started a new blog and I left it alone for more than one month! It is nothing I planned and nothing I really wanted but things turned out that busy before our summer holiday that I couldn't find the time to post even one sentence. But first about our holidays...

We spend 3 wonderful weeks in France, Brittany. My parents rented a house at the coast near Concarneau. The beach there was wonderful and the water of the Atlantic Ocean was cold but wonderfully clear. To get to this beach we just had to walk five minutes.

 

The coastline ist gorgeous, in parts very cliffy but then again you can find small coves with smooth sand and lovely shells to collect. My daughter loved to climb the rocks on the beach, she just couldn't get enough of it.

 

 

 

We found many, many shells and empty snail shells at the beach. My daughter loved to play with them and she constructed a tower that looks like a stalagmite, a very pretty one, I think!

There are wonderful old towns and villages, as well! For example Locronan, a completely medieval village, where no cars are allowed. 

 It's been a pleasure spending our holiday time there and in fact in my mind I am not back again. I would really, really love to live near the coast. Maybe one day...

Tommorrow I will post a little bit about my creative work during the holidays. I have done this and that, smalll things, big things, many projects going on at one time. The same procedure as every year....

Have a nice evening,
Viola