Advent Meditation Crochet Along - Week 3

Hi everyone!

2019 is disappearing quickly and somehow it's already time for Week 3 of the Crochet Between Worlds Advent Meditation Crochet Along! You can find an overview of all information about the CAL here. 

We hope that you enjoyed the first two patterns and would love to see your pictures! If you use instagram, can you use the hashtag #cbwadvent? That would be brilliant. :) 

To slow down the video, you can click on "Settings" and reduce the Playback Speed to 0.75. If you go much slower than that, Michelle sounds like she's been having wayyyyy too much Christmas cheer :P 

Pattern no 3 is a wee bit more complicated, but just pause as often as you need to!

 

Stitch Guide

sc2tog - single crochet 2 together - Photo, text and video tutorial by New Stitch a Day

sc3tog - single crochet 3 together - Photo tutorial by Knotions

fphdc - front post half double crochet - Photo Tutorial by Crochet Parfait

Advent Meditation Crochet Along - Week 2

Hi everyone!

It's already time for Week 2 of the Crochet Between Worlds Advent Meditation Crochet Along! You can find an overview of all information about the CAL here. 

We hope that you enjoyed the first pattern and would love to see your pictures! If you use instagram, can you use the hashtag #cbwadvent? That would be brilliant. :) 

To slow down the video, you can click on "Settings" and reduce the Playback Speed to 0.75. If you go much slower than that, Michelle sounds like she's been having wayyyyy too much Christmas cheer :P 

So without further ado, here comes pattern no 2!

Stitch Guide

Puff stitch - Tutorial from Annie's Catalog (but you can make your puff stitches as puffy as you want!) 

Advent Meditation Crochet Along - Week 1

Hi everyone!

It's time for Week 1 of the Crochet Between Worlds Advent Meditation Crochet Along. We hope you are as excited as we are!

You can find all information about the CAL here. If you have questions, you can post them here. We are also active in the Stylecraft Make-Along Facebook group. We will try to answer as soon as possible, but we are not online all the time (you know... life, work, sleep, and so on).

The meditation available on youtube at https://youtu.be/5w4fC-upjKM or you can view the file below. It's just audio, with a placeholder picture. 

This weeks pattern uses some "special" stitches next to the normal one. If you are unfamiliar with one of them (list below), we recommend that you read the linked tutorial before you start.

Special Stitch Guide for Week 1

Stacked standing double crochet - you can use this instead of 3ch or another kind of standing dc - Video Tutorial by Michelle

treble 5 together - Tutorial by LookAtWhatIMade but with an extra helper to make your tr5tog pointier: at the last step, don't pull through all 6 loops at the same! yo, pull through three, then yo, pull through the rest! 

sc in the third loop - Where is the Third Loop - Tutorial by Oombawaka Design


We can't wait to see your decorations! 

Love,
Michelle & Anne xx 

P.S. Please remember that we are offering this crochet meditation CAL for free in our spare time. We will not be able to answer your questions at any time of the day. Living in two different time zones (Australia and Europe) means that we cover a decent chunk of the days; however, we also have a life and will definitely not always be online or available even if we are awake. Furthermore, there is a chance that technical difficulties might occur (they did last time) or that there are errors in the pattern (we tried to do our best to make sure they are fine!). We ask you to notify us if there are technical issues or errors, but we also ask you to be patient with us. We will work on it as soon as humanely possible.

CBW Advent Meditation Crochet Along 2019 - Overview

Hi everyone,

Two years ago we ran an advent meditation crochet along through our blog. We got a lot of positive feedback, and several people asked us if we would do it again. 2018 was too busy for the two of us (Michelle welcomed her first child into the world, and Anne moved country); however, in 2019 we are game again.

We love Advent, the time before Christmas, but we do know that it can be a very hectic and stressful time. So why add something to do during this time, you might ask. Well, we had the idea that because life is so hectic during these days, it is all the more important to take some time to calm down and to focus. So, the idea of the Advent Meditation was born.

For us, crochet can be like a meditation, that is, a time where you live in the moment because you focus on the task at hand and don't let your mind wander. However, when one follows a written pattern, it is very easy to get distracted (hello phone, hello family, hello housework... you get the picture). It is also easy to skip ahead, to read ahead, and thus not focus on the task at hand (in this case, the row or round you are working on). While thinking about this dilemma, Michelle had the idea of a crochet meditation podcast, that is, a pattern that can only be heard but not read.

In the meditation podcast, each pattern is read out, and one has to crochet the rows/rounds as one listens to the instructions. No worries, it is not read at super speed but at a decent crochet time (we had it tested). 

We will post the links and extra information for each meditation here on the blog, so make sure to come back by the 1st of December!

This post is not the start of the CAL; it is designed to answer frequently asked questions and to offer an overview of the overall setup.

Two small personal notes beforehand

(1)   Please note that we are offering this crochet meditation CAL for free in our spare time. We will not be able to answer your questions at any time of the day. Living in two different time zones (Australia and Europe) means that we cover a decent chunk of the days; however, we also have a life and will definitely not always be online or available even if we are awake. Furthermore, there is a chance that technical difficulties might occur (they did last time). We ask you to notify us if they do, but we also ask you to be patient with us. To be honest, people complaining in pretty mean words is not a big motivation to set these kinds of things up for free (and it has happened in the past).

(2)   We are Stylecraft Blogstars, which means that Stylecraft sent us the yarn we used for this CAL for free. We are under no obligation to say anything nice about their yarns or use their yarns. If we do so (and we do), it is because it is our own opinion. Furthermore, we will be active in the Stylecraft Make-Along Group on Facebook. Feel free to join, but it is not an obligation to do so if you want to participate in this CAL.

FAQ

What will we crochet?
We will crochet a set of 4 different Christmas tree decorations. So there is a nice side effect aside from taking some time for yourself to relax: you will crochet a Christmas tree decoration set which you could give away as a Christmas present!

Will there be a written pattern or a graph?
There will be no written pattern. There will be no graph. There will be nothing which you can see. Nada. You will have to listen to create the pattern. For anything other than the basic stitches (chain, slipstitch, single crochet, double crochet, treble crochet) we will have a stitch guide in the blog post too.

How do I participate?
Every week, we will post the YouTube link in a separate post on the CBW blog.

Once you get the link, you will have to find the time to listen and crochet as you listen to the meditation.

Where can I get the file?

We don’t own/rent file storage space for the file. Last time, we tried googledrive (which maxed out after too many downloads within the first 30 minutes) and a free file sharer (which had a lot of advertisement, not all of it on topics we were comfortable with “promoting”). So this time, we will upload the file to YouTube only.

We do know that YouTube is a mild inconvenience to some of you as you cannot download the file. However, you have to understand that we don’t have the funds to rent proper file storage space as we offer this CAL for free and in our spare time.

Do I have to pay something to participate?
No! However, you have probably read/heard about the devastating bushfires in Australia this year. If you have something to give, we ask you to donate for the bushfire victims of the bushfires east of Armidale in Australia (know as the Bees Nest Fires). The donations are managed by Rotary Australia World Community Service, an organisation we trust. Plus, if you're Australian, donations over $2 are tax deductible. 

What do I need?
About 50gr of DK/8 ply yarn.

We have crocheted the patterns with cotton yarn (using Stylecraft Classique Cotton DK) and acrylic yarn (Stylecraft Stardust). Both work, but the “end product” looks a bit different. Cotton results in a bit more texture, whereas acrylic was a bit prettier in regards to the colours.

If you are in a festive mood, you might want to choose Christmas-y colours. We used Stylecraft Classique Cotton DK in Poppy, Ivory and Leaf, and Stylecraft Stardust in Holly and Poppy. The Stardust yarn sparkles!

You will also need a 4.5mm crochet hook, scissors and a yarn needle. 

How many meditation podcasts will there be?
Four. One in each week of Advent.

How long is each podcast?
Each podcast is less than 30 minutes long - Michelle can make three or four of each decoration in that time, so we are confident you will be able to make one! 

When will the meditation podcasts be published?
Each Sunday of Advent: 1 December, 8 December, 15 December and 22 December

Will there be pictures of the decorations available beforehand?
No. We want you to focus on the process and not to think ahead what might come next. We fear that a picture might be a distraction. We will probably publish pictures one or two days after the podcast episode was released. 

Can I post pictures of my finished items?
Of course! In fact, please do - we looovvee to see what you made with our patterns. If you're on Instagram or Facebook, please use the hashtag #cbwadvent, so we can find your pictures easily.

Furthermore, we will be active in the Stylecraft Make-Along group. We do, however, ask you to post your pictures in the assigned post only (it will have SPOILER in the text), so that others are not “spoilered” by your pictures. 

Are the patterns hard to follow?
No, at least we don't think so. They are suitable for intermediate beginners, but not for total beginners. That is, you need to know how to crochet specific stitches and be able to crochet at a steady pace. Don't forget you can always pause the podcast to catch up, or rewind and listen again. We will also post a list of the stitches used beforehand and we will include links to tutorials, so you can check them out beforehand.

For those of you who participated in 2017, please note that the patterns are a bit more difficult than last time.

If you want to want to work on slightly easier patterns, you can also check out the 2017 meditation as well.

Which crochet terms will you use?
U.S. crochet terms. 

What if I find a mistake in the pattern?
Please contact us right away, so we can start an errata list. We try very, very hard not to have any mistakes in the pattern, but oh well, it might happen – we are only humans after all. 

Crochet Advent Meditation Part IV

Hello hello!

Christmas is almost here! Didn't time fly by? It certainly did for us.

We wish you a very merry Christmas with lot of wonderful hours with your loved ones (and yarn). :)

The Christmas Advent Meditation ends with today's post. We hope you enjoyed it and we would love to get your feedback and see your pictures as a christmas present. It makes our day whenever we find a new picture!!

Just like last week, there are three different ways to access the meditation:

1) Youtube: Crochet Advent Meditation IV

Take care 

Michelle & Anne

Advent Crochet Meditation III

Hello!

Glad you are here for the third Crochet Advent Meditation! We hope you enjoyed last week's episode and are looking forward to see your pictures! There now is a Ravelry page for the coaster, so hop over there if you haven't already. 

Some people were wondering who  was reading the meditation - well that mystery is easy to solve! It is Michelle, the Australian part of Crochet Between Worlds. 

We are now little over a week away from Christmas. Time flies, doesn't it? We hope with meditation helps you to relax during this busy days and gets you in spirit for Christmas!

Like last week, there are several different ways available to access the podcast. Note that Googledrive will most likely be out of bandwidth at some point, so if that happens, use one of the other options. 

Youtube: Crochet Meditation III

We hope you enjoy this weeks meditation! If you have any questions, post them here or on Facebook. Please note that Anne - the German part of Crochet Between Worlds - is on holidays til Thursday, so there might be some delays. 

We tried very hard to eliminate any mistakes in the pattern but as you know, we are only human... if you find a mistake, tell us about it and we will start an errata list.

Take care, 
Michelle & Anne

Advent Meditation Part II

Hello lovelies!

We hope you have enjoyed making your first coaster and are ready for the second Advent Meditation!    We would absolutely love to see your makes from last week (well and the ones of these week as well), so post them on Facebook, Instagram or wherever we can see them (we might need the link...). 

Tomorrow is the second of Advent and we hope this meditation helps you to take some time out of your normal busy day and reflect.

This weeks download can be found in different place. As you might recall, we had some problem with the bandwidth of our google drive last week (a lot more of you wanted to download the meditation which made us very happy!) and this might happen again this week. Therefore we have prepared alternative listing/download ways for you ahead which can we found below! If one doesn't work, please try another one.

Youtube: Crochet Advent Meditation II

Enjoy this week meditation! If you need help, you can find us on Facebook. Just a quick reminder: We are doing this for free in our free time. We tried very hard to avoid mistakes but hey, we are only humans, so there might be some. If you find one, write us and we will start a errata list. 

Take care

Michelle & Anne

Advent Meditation Part I

Hello Hello!

The first part of the Advent Meditation is here! We are sooo excited about it and can't wait to hear how you like it! General information about the idea can be found here. 

For the first pattern, you need about 20 grams of DK yarn (we use Stylecraft Classique Cotton), a 4mm crochet hook, scissors and a yarn needle.

It is a very easy pattern, however you need to know how to crochet sc, dc and ch stitches. The pattern begins with a magic circle. We simply adore that technique but if you can't do a magic circle (yet), you can also crochet 4ch and close them to a circle. When you finished the pattern, remember to sew in all the ends securely! 

Remember to take your time, don't be afraid to pause or rewind if you need to, and above all don't get stressed about it - this is meant to be a relaxing, mindful, creative activity.


You can listen to the podcast via Youtube. The video can be found here. 

Please post pictures of your finished coasters on our Facebook page or on instagram (hashtag #cbwadvent)! We can't wait to see them. :) We do ask you however to wait for 1-2 days til you post pictures, so others will have the moment of surprise too! Thank you :)

Feel free to ask us questions, we will try to reply as soon as possible. Please note that we are doing this for free in our spare time for you to enjoy, that is please be kind and give us the time needed.

Should you find a mistake (we hope there are none, but we are only human after all), please message them to us directly. If needed, we will have an errata list here. 

Enjoy and happy first Advent Sunday!!

Take care

Michelle & Anne