PATTERN: Queen Bargello Wave Bedspread AND Bargello Blocks Throw!

Hi everyone! 

Obligatory acknowledgement here that I've been terrible at blogging consistently again, along with vague intention to do better in the future... 

This year has just been bananas for everyone! Hot tip: International Student Exchange and Regional Human Resources Consulting are NOT relaxing industries to work in during a global pandemic, 0/10 do not recommend. The jobs themselves are fascinating and interesting, but after the constant tsunamis of feelings coming at me for months on end, the idea of doing anything constructive other than staring at the wall has been too much to contemplate.

However, I have made progress on my goal of getting written/designed patterns actually up there and published this year, and today is one of those red letter days!

In August, I finally published (to no announcement and fanfare) my Impossible Hexagon Sweater and Cardigan patterns, which I'll blog about another day (but here are the links to the patterns if you want to have a look:

Impossible Hexagon Sweater

Impossible Hexagon Cardigan)

But, to today's news!

After the success of our Bargello Wave Baby Blanket, we decided to try and figure out how to make a bigger version that didn't lean even harder to the right, and by goodness we cracked it! Today I can share with you not one, but TWO larger bargello blanket patterns! Both of these test beauties were made by my partner in crochet crime Anne, and I'm sure you'll agree she's done an outstanding job.

BARGELLO BLOCKS THROW

Pattern Link: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/bargello-blocks-throw 

This design is worked corner to corner using a unique block method, along with the classic bargello style of maintaining the same block height whilst changing the width of each column of blocks. This is what creates the wave effect! Anne took her test blanket to the beach and my jaw literally dropped when the photos came in.

QUEEN BARGELLO WAVE BEDSPREAD

Pattern Link: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/queen-bargello-wave-bedspread

The bedspread is a massive 210cm square (unblocked) to fit your queen size bed, and is made with larger blocks and two strands of yarn held together. 

If you love both of these patterns, for the next two weeks 

(until Saturday 21 November), 

put both patterns in your Ravelry cart and use the code

UNDULATE

to get a discount! 

July's Corner to Corner Blanket

Hi there!

As life is incredible busy at the moment, I needed an easy going crochet project to calm my mind and keep my hands busy in the evenings. So - of course - I turned to the corner to corner blanket pattern. My favorite blanket pattern of all time and my "meditation pattern". And since a very dear friends of ours told us that they expect a little girl later this year, the idea of a corner to corner baby blanket was born!

I finished the blanket last week and since then I can't decide if I should add a border or not. A border gives the blanket a neater look and also it may last longer. So that would speak for a border but... the blanket is so colorful, I can't quite decide which color to use. Usually I would add a moss stitch border but for this colorful blanket, it would be too much. Hmm. 

So for the moment the blanket remains "un-bordered". What is your take on this? 

I choose the colors for this blanket from my yarn stash. At first I wasn't 100 % sure they would work together but now I am very happy with it! I didn't note down the color names but if anyone wants to know, I will look it up. Just drop me a line! Oh, the yarn is Stylecraft Special DK of course. My favorite yarn for baby blankets because a) there are so many colors to choose from and b) it washes very well. 

Life is calming down a bit at the moment and man, I need that. Fingers crossed I can regain some of my energies over the next couple of weeks. At the moment I am working on a new amigurumi design idea. There is a vague notion that it might work, but I won't know until I crochet it up. Cross your fingers! What is on your hooks at the moment?

Take care

Anne

This and That...

Hello from Germany!

 Thank you for all your kind comments! We love, love, love reading them!

Again, my week didn't involve much crochet but lots of yarn winding. I am making progress but not as fast as I was hoping for. Unfortunatly the quality of the yarnwinder isn't helping much. I usually have to hold it firm while winding which makes my neck ache.

Which brand of yarn winder do you use and how is it working out for you?!

I saw some beautiful wooden ones online but they are really, really expensive (like this one). Plus shipping to Germany would add almost half the price again.

As I mentioned before I was gifted the left over yarn of my granny's sock yarn collection (this granny is still alive). I decided to make tiny corner to corner squares with it but I am not yet sure what they will become. Perhaps a blanket? One of my ideas regarding the squares is to add whites ones inbetween, so the color of the striped ones pops out. What you you reckon?

Last Sunday, we met my parents in Osnabrück which is a town halfway between our hometowns. The old town looked stunning in the sunlight! I really need to visit the town one day when the shops are open (I spotted a yarn shop). Oh and I even spotted some yarn bombing! Doesn't the spider look awesome?!

Hope you all have a wonderful week! 

Take care

Anne

Another Blanket and an Alien Bunny

Happy Saturday!

I hope all had a good week filled with beautiful moments! :-) My day always gets even better when i see a new comment. Thank you so much for taking the time!! It means a lot.

On Monday, my grand-mum for whom I am currently making a blanket fell and got a fracture of the femoral neck. As she is 94 years, this wasn't good news (not that such a fracture is good news ever). The doctors evaluated the options and decided that surgery would be the way to go. Unfortunatly my grand-mum was also in the middle of a gout flare. Thus during surgery they also had to remove parts of her fingers so the flare wouldn't interfere. Woah. No easy surgery and we weren't sure she would make it.

So we waited all Tuesday... and we got lucky. She got through the surgery and is doing better than expected. What a relief!! So much of a relief that I finished her blanket in extra speed!

I really hope she will like it! The green relates to the green in my late grand-dad's blanket. It is a lap blanket and thus not huge but a good size. I could have made a larger one but she asked for a lap sized one. Hopefully it will do her good during her recovery (and afterwards).

This week a girl from work bought a whole bunch of labels for handmade works from the internet. She was really kind and gifted me three of them to sew onto my blankets! :) I was so happy! It will look great on the blanket for my granny, don't you think?

After all the blanket work, I felt like it was time for something else... I like making Amigurmi but I was eyeing this Bunny Pattern from AllAboutAmi for month. 

Uh, when I placed the eyes, I placed them too low and too far apart. As those are safety eyes, I can't change it. Oh well, looks like my lil' bunny is becoming an alien bunny! We have to love all crochet creations after all, don't we? :D I am thinking about adding some green alien stuff and and an antenna... What do you reckon?

Wish you all a wonderful weekend!

Take care

Anne

An exciting week!

Hello!

I had a rather strange week with lots of good and bad excitement. Looking back I can't quite believe it happened in less than a week!

Last Saturday our car started to make very strange noises when starting. If it started that is. No good sign at all! The car isn't that old (5 years) and well maintained. I took it to the garage about three weeks ago to get it checked because it made some high pitched noises and the gear was weird too. They assured me that there was nothing wrong. At all. 

On Sunday we realized the car warranty guarantee would run out on Wednesday.

On Monday I called the garage and made an appointment on Tuesday at 7:40 am. At around 10 am I got a call from them telling me that  the starter broke, it would cost over 3500 € and they weren't sure the guarantee would cover it. Ouch! At 4 pm we got the call it would be covered but you can imagine the hours in between... Lots of worrying.

In order to get to work the next days I had to take public transport which involved three different types of transportation plus a lot of walking. On Thursday, a bomb was found near the station in Dortmund where I had to get off (a dud bomb from WW2), so I basically left work running to get home via public transport before the evacuation started... Why? Because I needed to get off at that station in order to not be stranded at work and I had other appointments in Dortmund later that day. Oh and did I mention I had to pick up my now fixed car from the garage which was pretty close to the evacuation side?!

What a week! It worked out fine in the end but there was a lot of stress and I am tired. Stress makes my fatigue flare which is really annoying (I get fatigue from my autoimmune sickness too but a different kind than Michelle).

On the other hand it was a week full of excitement too. I haven't been to Australia since Michelle's wedding in 2011 - a very long time Michelle and I haven't seen each other in person and I haven't been in my favourite town, Sydney (we talked about the times we saw each other in person here). Plus my boyfriend hasn't meet Michelle's family yet and hasn't seen Down Under. So we planned to go there sometime later this year or in 2016. It was all very hypothetical though.

Well, on Tuesday I looked up flights just for the fun of it and saw a brilliant offer from Singapore Airline. And what shall I say... We booked! So we will be in Australia for four weeks this winter. Michelle thought I was kidding for about half a day when I told her btw... :P I am soo excited even though it's still over ten months away. The little giraffe Michelle gave me for my birthday in 2013 is very anxious to see her relatives in Australia again too and begs me to take her with me. I think I will. :D

Oh and I also managed to sneak in some crochet this week. Not as I hoped I would but some... I finally finished the blanket for my dad and will post it soon. Also I made another Granny Star Blanket, this time in reverse colours. And I worked a bit on the blanket for my Granny. Hm, I just realized I actually got more done than I thought!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Take care

Anne

Sneak Peek: New Corner to Corner Blanket

Hello and happy Sunday!

How is your Sunday so far? Mine has been pretty relaxing and (of course) involved crochet. Some posts ago I mentioned that I am working on a new blanket for my grandmother (christmas presents). I am getting along well and am only 14 rows away from decreasing. 

Some of you asked to have a sneak peek, so here it is! 

Pattern is the corner to corner throw from Red Heart. Not sure how big it will turn out in the end... But pretty big that's for sure. Enough to be used as a blanket when my granny falls asleep on her couch chair!

Yarn is Stylecraft Special DK in pomegranate and cream. Oh, how much I love the pomegranate! Makes me drool with happiness...

I hope I can finish the blanket within the next two weeks... What are you working on at the moment?

I lovve Baby Blankets!

Hello all!

I love to crochet baby blankets. Why? Well, there are several reasons:

1. They are quicker to finish than a full adult sized blanket.

2. There are so many different patterns to use. Baby blankets are perfect for trying out new stitches.

 3. I adore giving these blankets to newborn babies. So much more personal than bought gifts!

4. They are small enough to take with you when you are traveling/on the road.

5. Did I mention they are a lot of fun to make?!

Over the last years I made several blankets and gave them to newborns. One blanket even went to the son of my friend Afifa in Australia. Glad it got through customs without problems. :-)

The last 12 months have been full of new babies! I didn't take pictures of all the blankets (oh no!) but the following two will go to new homes soon. One to a little girl and one to a little boy. Hope they like it! They both took a long time (so 1. doesn't really apply here) because the yarn was very thin. It is baby yarn and so cuddly! Unfortunately, thin yarn seems to hurt my elbow, so I wasn't as quick with these blankets as I intended to be. I wonder if I hold the yarn differently or if I use a different tension, because I don't seem to have problems with thicker yarn.

Both of the blankets use the corner to corner pattern. Both are very light and therefore good for a snuggle underneath. The peppermint coloured one has a white stripe too by the way.

Sometime late last year, I was really fond of this pattern from Modern Grace Design. I made some blankets with it but most went to new homes already. 

I also made some with a rather easy but fancy looking stitch pattern. Unfortunately I can't remember where I found it. If you recognize the pattern, please comment, so that I can add the name of the designer!

Right now, I am done with baby blankets... I am now working on a large one as a Christmas present for my granny. 

What are you working on at the moment?

Take care

Anne

Tah-Dah: Canada Blanket

Hello all!

Sorry I have been too quiet during the last two weeks! There are lots of things I wanted to write about but life got into the way. We had a wedding to go to (and handicraft the present beforehand), a lovely girl from Australia stayed with us for about 10 days and there was a lot of paperwork to be done. The latter is not finished yet but I'll get there. Paperwork can be so annoying, can't it? I changed our electricity contract for example. We now have "green power" which means all our electricity from from renewable energy sources. I feel good that I finally got the change done but of course there are lots of letters to write and tonight I will have to wander downstairs and note down the current meter reading. 

Still, I found some time to crochet and finally finish my "Canada Blanket". Half of the blanket was crafted during our stay in Canada, the other half here in Germany after our return. It took about five weeks which is great for a blanket this size!

So let me tell you the story of the blanket...

I have heard a lot about Red Heart Super Saver Yarn, so I wanted to try it. However you can't get it here in Germany and ordering it from the US is expensive. So when we stayed in Vancouver I went to a Michael's Craft Store and sure they had the yarn (Great store btw! So many craftsy ideas!). I bought two skeins only at first but quickly went back and got more.

Of course I spent a lot of time in the yarn section trying to decide on two colours. I ended up with "Aran" and a brownish one. Can't remember the name of the later one - sorry! Does any of you have an idea what the darker colour is called? I tossed the paper with the name on it unfortunately. 

 

The colours go together really well and it looks a bit like a cappuccino, doesn't it? The pattern is the lovely Corner to Corner Throw one which I have used many time. I reckon I might be slightly addicted to the pattern. 

The yarn suggests a 5,0 mm hook but I used a 4 mm one instead. I brought some hooks with me to Canada but my 4 mm one wasn't good. So I got myself a maple wood one in Nanaimo from Mad about Eve which is a great store hidden in a small arcade. That hooked perfectly and I treasure it quite a bit!

I started on the blanket when I was still in Vancouver. As I mentioned before the boyfriend had a conference, so I had time on my own. In the mornings I liked to sit in coffee shops, have a good coffee and crochet. Oh and talk to people. One meets so many interesting people sitting in a coffee shop!

After that I crocheted in the evenings in the hostels. A good converstation starter really! Some people thought I was making a scarf and quite a few called it knitting... It was rather large already by the time we arrived in Tofino and couldn't be carried around in my handbag anymore! :-) I planned to get some crochet done on the plane but I fell asleep instead :P 

Oh, I really love this blanket! Reminds me of the good times in Canada and all the wonderful places I crocheted it at! The beach in Vancouver during the sunset for example... So, yeah, I think I will keep the blanket. I was going to give it away, since I have the Rainbow Blanket and my Australia Blanket already but I need to keep this one too. For the memories...

Do you ever feel like that you just can't give something away?!

Details: Canada Blanket

Seize: 130cmx160cm

Rows: 180 (Clusters of 10 rows)

Yarn: Red Heart Super Saver

Crochet Time: July-August 2014

Take care

Anne

P.S. Sorry for the dark pictures! The weather here in Dortmund is rainy and stormy. Not a good time to take pictures really but it looks like the weather will stay like this for some more time!

Sunday Snippets

Hello all!

There will be more Canada posts (or posts that are somehow related to our experiences there) but for now just a short Sunday evening blog post. 

Did you have / Are you having a good Sunday? Mine has been pretty awesome so far even though the weather is just blah. Rain, grey skies and a storm. There went our planned bike tour... Still, a good, relaxed day!

Baking

Bagels! Oh, is there anything better then oven fresh bagels? I love, love, love good (!) bagels. Not entirely sure when I fell in love but I think it was during my studies in Sydney. There was a bagel shop at Macquarie Shopping Centre (which was opposite my uni) and every now and then I had a bagel there with friends. It's really tough to get good bagels in Germany. In fact, I only found good, fresh ones in a bakery once. And this was discontinued soon afterwards. 

Well, that left me with one thing to do really: Make them myself! My first ones weren't much to talk about but I think I got them hang of them now... I use this recipe from Smitten Kitchen. The bagels are kept in the fridge overnight to rise which gives them an amazing texture. True, it is a lot of work but it's totally worth it!

Making

I am happy crocheting away the day working on my Canada Travel Blanket. I will tell you about it soon! It is pretty big already and I am kind of relieved that I am finally decreasing. As you might guess, the pattern is the Corner to Corner (again!)!

Listening to

Picture from Audible.de

Little Beach Street Bakery from Jennifer Colgan (read by Anne-Marie Piazza). It's a nice, light novel so far! Jennifer Colgan's novels have been made into really lovely audiobooks! I already listened to several of them while at the gym - I highly recommend them! 

Enjoying

Fresh Belgian waffles while snuggling under my Rainbow Blanket.

Thinking about

Making another Corner to Corner Blanket with Stylecraft Special DK. I am not sure about the colour yet. Perhaps another rainbow one (larger this time though) or a pomegranate-white one. What do you think?

Hope you enjoy your day!

Take care

Anne

Ta-dah! Corner to Corner Rainbow Throw!

Hello all!

I finally (!!) finished my corner to corner rainbow throw. I showed you some snippets of it here and actually finished the first version around the same time. Unfortunatly, I made a HUGE mistake...

Somewhere in the middle I decreased too much which resulted in an ugly bend on one side. I was so upset I didn't even take pictures of it... Some people said, one wouldn't notice but trust me: I would!

And soooo... I undid 48 rows of 16 different colours... I could have cried!

After that, the blanket stayed in a box for some weeks until I go back to it about 3 weeks ago. Now that it's finished (and man, there were tons of little end to be sewn in), I am really happy I undid part of the first version.

What do you think?

It's so cuddly and lives permanently on our couch.

Blanket Date:

Pattern: Corner to Corner Throw

Yarn: Stylecraft Special DK

Colours used: 17 (Lucy Pack). 3 Rows of each colour 4 times!

I used the colors in the following order:

Meadow
Aspen 
Spring Green
Sherbert
Cloud Blue
Turqouise
Aster
Lavendle
Wisteria
Clematis
Fondant
Magneta
Plum
Pomgrantw
Lipstick
Shrimp
Saffron

Take care

Anne

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A beautiful Sunday and a yarn disaster

Hello all!

Summer is here! It's still called spring but since I have sunburn it must be summer already... :-) Let us hope the beautiful weather stays and it won't get cold again this summer (and let us hope I buy sunscreen soon).

Today started with voting. As most of your probably know, the elections for the European Parliament are going on until this evening. Some countries already voted and today it's Germanys turn. I hope a lot of people vote but I have a bad feeling. So many people don't get the significance of elections - makes me cry! I never missed an election in all my life and I will try never to do so. 

After the whole voting thing we took a walk and had coffee at a nearby farmer's café. So good! The bees and bumblebees certainly liked the weather (and flowers too). It was hard to get them onto a photo because they just jump from flower to flower in a split second! I reckon they were a bit high on pollen.

My capsicum is growing! I am so excited!! :-) I wonder if it will become a red or a green one...

 

Rest of the day was spent blissfully on the balcony with  fresh bread and eggplant dip (see this post for the recipes). Oh and yarn of course. Lots of yarn. I am working on a corner to corner blanket for a friend who will have a baby this fall. 

Disaster struck very close to the end of the blanket. Only two rows to finish and... no more yarn! Oh no! This is some yarn I ordered online some month ago and one can buy it in 500 gram packs only. Well, I don't need 500 grams! I need about 10 grams. Sigh! I contacted the seller to see if they could sell me one 100 gram ball. Fingers crossed. 

How did you spend your sunday?

Take care

Anne

Villigster Decken

Hello all!

My granny-patches fever is back! Well, that doesn't mean I don't have like 10 other projects going on as well, but these are so much fun! Also, it's a lovely way to get rid of left over yarn.

These patches you see have a history. As I mentioned before I work for the scholarship organization of the protestant church (also was a scholarship pupil there myself). The scholarship system in Germany is rather different from most other countries: It's not the unis which give away scholarships but 13 organizations which operate nationwide. They receive money from the government to hand out said money (plus money from their background organizations, donations and so on). There are four confessional organizations, several political ones and some others.

 

Anyway, the scholarship people of Villigst have a "solidarity fund". One of the scholarship holders is responsible for the fund and almost every one pays a monthly fee into the fund. Also it lives off donations. If some scholarship holder is in dire monetary need, he/she can ask for money out of the fund. No one will ever know he/she got money (except for the person responsible for the pay out). This fund has existed for many years and in my opinion it is a great, great thing. I was lucky enough that I never had to ask for money out of the fund, but I know some people who have.

As I said the fund also "lives" off donations. This week, Wibke and I had the idea to fund a projects which shall rise money for the fund: Villigster Decken (Blankets of Villigst). There are a lot of current and former scholarship people who love to crochet or knit. Thus we asked them to crochet/knit little patches (10 cm x10 cm) and post them to me. I will sew them together and we will auction the finished blankets of. The first one shall be finished for the annual pentecost meeting (there will be a lot of current/former scholarship people and we hope the blanket with rise good money).

I have tons of left over yarn, so this will go into little patches. I had forgotten how much fun granny squares are! So easy and such a quick reward! As you can see, I also did a basket weave and a corner to corner patch.

Oh how I wish the day had more hours! So many crochet projects I want to start!

Have you donated crocheted/knitted goods for charity before?

Take care,

Anne