Happy 4th Birthday, Crochet Between Worlds!

Hey everyone!

Happy birthday to us! Today is Crochet Between World's 4th Birthday, and we have come such a long way since our first introductory posts in October 2013. 

On the numbers, in the last 4 years we have achieved ...

271 Published Posts 

2505 Comments

2069 Facebook Likes

8752 Instagram Followers 

23 Free Patterns

7 Paid Patterns

7 Tutorials

3 Pattern Translations

... not too bad for two busy girls on opposite sides of the world! This year is also a bit special for us, as it is 15 years since we met for the first time!

Michelle & Anne in 2002

Anne & Michelle in 2017

There have also been some really exciting moments in the last year:

- We finally got to see each other again in February when Anne and Alex visited Australia! It was amazing to sit and crochet together, play with colour swatches and catch up on allll the talking that is hard to do over messenger, email or skype

- Being chosen to join the Stylecraft Blogstars team! This group of bloggers is so inspiring and we are still pinching ourselves a bit to be included!

- Selling 500 copies of one pattern, the Bargello Wave Baby Blanket! 


So, to thank you all for your support, comments, pattern purchases, projects, and general cheering, we have TWO gifts for you:

1. A SALE on all our paid patterns! Get 30% off to celebrate our 30 collective years of knowing each other on any pattern in our Ravelry Store with the code BIRTHDAY https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/sources/michelle-westlunds-ravelry-store 

2. A GIVEAWAY! The Winner will receive a Cross your Heart Teddy in Stylecraft Batik plus another ball of Batik to make your own! These little dudes are totally adorable and huggable, and just beg to be carried around by little ones. 

You can enter in lots of different ways, so maximise your chances!! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway
 
The give-away and the pattern sale end on the 12 October 2017, 11:59pm German time. 
 

Teddies for Refugees

Good morning everyone! And happy birthday to me! 

For my birthday this year, I want to give gifts rather than receive them. 

I am so lucky to have been born and live in this peaceful, prosperous country, to have a wonderfully supportive family, to have safe and open access to education for as long as I want to, to say pretty much what I like where I like, and to have many excellent friends of different ethnicities and backgrounds. 

There are lots of people in the world who have not been nearly as lucky as me - they were born and live in war-torn countries, or where they are not free to be themselves; who live in fear of their lives and the lives of those they love every day. Some muster the courage (and funds!) to escape, to seek refuge in countries like mine, to share and build peace and prosperity. 

Australia is built on our native peoples' lands, and the work and effort of all Australians, whether born here or overseas. We are a nation of immigrants, and it saddens me that our government is indulging in dog whistle politics, trying to scare us about new people arriving. We keep people, including children, in "immigration detention". We are learning to be selfish and judgmental.

This year I want to do something to help - to prove to the thousands of people seeking safety and opportunity in Australia that most Australians do care, do want them here, and do recognise the achievements and contributions of refugees past and future. But what could I do? I do not have much money to spend, nor do I have much energy for activism or physical assistance. But I can crochet :)

So, I have launched my "Teddies for Refugees" shop on Etsy today, for my birthday. For each teddy sold, $10 will be donated to the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, an organisation providing practical assistance and advocacy to those seeking a new life in Australia. I have chosen this organisation because of the great work it does, and their work fits well with my career in the legal profession, as well as my practical nature. If you want to learn more about what the ASRC does, visit their website at www.asrc.org.au 

https://www.etsy.com/au/shop/TeddiesforRefugees

My birthday wish is for my friends to share my shop link, so that we have the best chance of selling as many teddies as possible to help the ASRC.

At the moment it's only available to Australian customers because of ridiculous postage costs to anywhere else, but if you are not in Australia and want to help those fleeing terrible situations, I encourage you to contact a refugee organisation in your area and ask them what they need the most. 

As the Australian national anthem itself says:

"For those who've come across the seas, 

we've boundless plains to share;

With courage let us all combine

to Advance Australia Fair."

PATTERN: Tumbling Blocks Baby Afghan

What a great blog birthday week we have had so far!! 

The giveaway is still open for another 24 hours or so, so head over there to enter (don't forget, you can enter every day!) -  http://gvwy.io/tk8e0cz or http://crochetbetweentwoworlds.blogspot.com.au/2015/10/happy-2nd-birthday-crochet-between.html  

My special announcement for this week is my brand new pattern :D 

The Tumbling Blocks Baby Afghan is now available for purchase on Ravelry! It's an adaption of the well-known quilt pattern, Tumbling Blocks, but made with Diagonal Half Solid Granny Squares (only 4 ends per square!) and the Join-As-You-Go technique. So, no mountains of squares or diamonds to sew together at the end! This was definitely my favourite part.

The 3D effect comes from the colour placement. By putting the light shade of one colour on the left "face" of the block, and the dark shade on the right "face" of the block, it looks like the blocks (with white tops) are sitting on top of each other in a pyramid.  

For the next week, we have a special offer for blog readers - 

50% off with the code JAYGTUMBLE !!

You can also use this super fancy direct link: 

http://www.ravelry.com/redeem/wrapped-with-love-by-michelle?code=JAYGTUMBLE 

If the idea of a whole baby afghan is too much for you, it also makes a pretty excellent cushion cover :) Just do fewer squares to get the size that you want!

I have absolutely loved putting this pattern together, and I hope you enjoy making it. 

Thank you again for helping us celebrate our second blog birthday - and here's to many more years to come! 

Happy 2nd Birthday, Crochet Between Worlds!

Hello ladies and gents!

Our blog is two years old and thus we decided to have a bit of a celebration!

Two years - wow! So much happened since our first blog post! We got tons of lovely comments and likes, made new friends and even got to meet some of our blog readers in person! The world of crochet blogs is such  wonderful place and we are really lucky to be a part of it.

In the last two years both of us expanded our crochet skills a lot - many new stitches, many new patterns and oh my, so many new ideas. Man, the more one sees and makes, the more ideas come up. It would be awesome to have more hours a day for crochet. And other creative things of course.

Because we are so happy and thankful for each and everyone of our followers, we decided to have a little give away. It runs til this Friday and we ship world wide. So what can you win?

1st Place: A parcel which includes all the necessary items (yarn, safety eyes and stuffing) to make a teddy from Anne's newest pattern which will released this Wednesday

2nd Place: Choose three from our paid patterns

3rd Place: Choose two of our paid patterns

4th Place: Chose one of our paid patterns

If we get more than 100 entires, I (Anne) will also throw a surprise yarn package in!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The winners will be announced on the 11th of October 2015. The winners need to contact us via crochetbetweenworlds@gmail.com within four days after the announcement. If a prize isn't claimed we will  draw a runner up. 

Take care

Michelle & Anne

P.S. You can enter daily!

Catching up!

Hello everyone! 

I haven't blogged much about everyday things for so long - between patterns and Melbourne, it's been a bit busy! Here's a little update on what's going on for me :) 

First, since it has been so long, a Sophie's Universe CAL update in pictures! I love the butterflies and the little plum tulips :) It is also big enough now to keep my knees warm while I work on it - very useful now that the weather is starting to get chilly of an evening. Only 3 more weeks to go!! 

I've also started on a new Crochet Along - Jane Crowfoot's Lily Pond Blanket together with Stylecraft Yarns. I wasn't that excited about it after I saw the initial photos, it seemed very dark. But now that I've made my first set of pieces, it really does look like ripples in a pond! I chose mostly Stylecraft Special DK colours to sort of match the Stylecraft Life DK set colours, but I think my choices are a bit brighter than the Special DK alternates provided.

I broke my yarn fast (again) last weekend at Spotlight's 40% off yarn sale. It was just too good to resist! I discovered some colourways of Moda Vera Bouvardia that I actually like, such as Tokyo:

and Sunset Dive:

And I am definitely excited about getting more of these yarns as they make such lovely Road Trip Scarves for my stall in June :) Fortunately Bouvardia is on sale for VIPs until 10 May, so I just have to get back to Spotlight before then! 

I also found a new Moda Vera Marvel variation called Magic Stripe - it has longer variegations in colour, and I think it works well for these booties! What do you think? I'm about to get started on a blue/green/white pair as well. 

But, our big excitement this week were the huge storms, rain and wind around Sydney and the Central Coast/Newcastle. We were fine here in Meadowbank (although the hot water was off for about a day due to damage to the hot water tanks), but up at the Lake House, things were a little bit different. There were trees down all over the place, they still have no power after 4 days, and the lake overflowed just a little bit! The combination of a king tide and the storm surge meant that the lake couldn't do its usual tidal thing at Swansea, so it got a tad overfull...

See that bench out in the water behind a tree? It's usually about a metre from the edge of the lake... The ducks thought it was all marvellous though :)  

We were meant to be going up there for this weekend to celebrate my mother's and my sister's birthdays, but without power we couldn't have hot showers or even make tea! Kiah and I quickly cleaned out the fridges and freezers, which were already defrosting, and just came home instead. It made for a long day, especially after getting evacuated from Spotlight at Tuggerah on the way! 

Tomorrow there will be birthday lunch at my parents' house - slow roasted pork belly, roast vegies and, by special request, red velvet birthday cake with salted caramel and white chocolate cream cheese icing! Wish me luck with the cake, I've never made red velvet before! 

I hope you are all having a lovely weekend :) Don't forget, if you are interested in participating in the Crochet Between Worlds Christmas Market, send us a message on our Facebook page! We are going to start organising in earnest at the end of May when I get back from the Great Ocean Road Marathon! 

Mich's Year of 30th - Opening Weekend

Hello and welcome to all our new readers and hugs for old friends :) 

Last weekend was my birthday, and (shamelessly stealing the idea from my friend Pat) I decided it wasn't just my 29th birthday, it was also the start of my year of turning 30! It therefore needed to be a proper Opening Weekend for this very important celebration. 

We spent the weekend up at our new house at Lake Macquarie - cooking, eating, crocheting... it was wonderful :) Here are lots of photos, taken by my amazing friend Emily Sandrussi, who is a multi-award winning photographer! Her new exhibition opens tomorrow in Sydney, and you should at least go check out the website for the exhibition! 

http://artereal.com.au/home/emily-sandrussi

But onto the photos!

We had handsome men at work in the kitchen ...

... dragons and Captain Poprocks helping themselves to some home made meringues ...

... the food was pretty impressive, if I do say so myself - all home made (except the bread and corn chips) ...

French onion dip and tzatziki

Raspberry Citrus Gravlax with Lemon Cream Cheese

Lomo (L) and Bresaola

Slow roasted pork belly with crispy crackling ...

... and bacon-y cabbage, and spiced apple jelly ... 

... and roast potatoes and carrots, with steamed broccoli.

... the company was excellent ...

 

... someone else did the cleaning up ... 

... and then there was dessert.

Eton Mess Mouthfuls

Chocolate Fudge Cake

On Sunday, we lazed about the place, painting and crocheting and sewing and building websites and playing video games...

... and some of the boys even learned how to crochet! 

Overall it was a wonderful weekend, and a good test of the new house, which now has all its furniture! 

We're all ready for Christmas at the lake now :) 

Many thanks to everyone who came, ate, cooked, cleaned, laughed and enjoyed!