The pattern of this ‘Mandala’ is a table cover.
I found it in an old crochet magazine that belonged to my mother in law.
The pattern was easy to follow, but when finished it was a hell of a job to attach it to the ring.
When finished I gave a sigh of relieve and decided to never crochet it again….however….it hangs very nice in front of the window, so it was worth making, but a second one…..I don’t think so.

Mandala

I wanted to knit a monkey for Thijmen.
It’s name now is ‘granny’ 🙂

Apie in boom

Always naughty!

Kleine aap in gordijn

Then I received different kind of tops from our Spinning group. What a nice present.

lontwol

I mixed the tops and started spinning..

IMG_7227…and now…time for knitting !
I added Wensleydale yarn and thus used two threads.

twee vrienden

I enjoyed monkey hanging in the curtain….
…there was enough yarn for two.

gordijn apen

They keep me smiling 🙂

I intended to make a Tyrannosaurus Rex …..Etsy was helpful again.
There was ample assortment and this one was a bit creepy and ‘flexible’.
Electric wire was needed and it was put in the head in the body in the legs and the tail.
Very, very ingenious how that was done.
It was a hell of a job, but taking my time it was good to accomplish.
The end result is very rewarding. I can put him in every position I want.

Our granddaughter was staying with us! We decided to do something new.
The box with tops was easy to find and all colors were inspected with great pleasure.
It was not difficult for Zara to choose. I knew it 🙂
Together we placed small tufts on the bubble wrap. Moisten the tufts with soapy water was great fun,

soapy water

but the most enjoyable was to rub with her hands over the wrap.
rubbingShe could go on for ever!
Very exciting was peeping at the result and then adding some more soapy water 🙂
IMG_5640

The end result:

the end result

It was up to me, to make something usable.

front

A braided cord on the upper edge.

back

inside

To make it complete it was lined too.
She was very delighted with it. Hurrah….

Yes, I know! Once I told, I was not a great fan of Amigurumi.
However my grandson said ‘Kaak’ every time he saw a picture of a frog….and then I got the idea of making one.
I searched on Etsy and there was a lot to choose.

IMG_6696

And to my surprise it was so nice to see him grow from a thin thread into a frog.
Fingers and toes were not easy to crochet, but the pattern was well written.
And there he sits…ready to move.

Aap Zara

It is so nice to knit this fellow.
This one is already in his new home with Zara Lynn who is 4 years old.

I discovered a very nice pattern to crochet a pouch!
Wearing one every day I like to choose one that looks nice to my daily outfit.
I selected two colour combinations.

rood heuptasje

paars heuptasje

They are both lined and I added an extra compartment, closed by a zipper.

…this is Japie our cat! My granddaughter Zara Lynn was and still is his greatest fan. She loves him. So I thought it would be nice to make her a sweater picturing Japie. Hurrah I found a knitting  pattern.

Japie close-upJapie

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finished, she was happy with her new sweater…but…after sometime (she was already 4 years of age) she said “Japie has no eyes”. Of course she was right. As an adult I like the silhouette, but a 4 year old…..
When she stayed with us, I asked her advice. I cut the eyes and Zara added some other ideas :-).
The problem was, I didn’t have yellow buttons and the shops were closed because of Covid-Lockdown.
In my stash I found mixed grey buttons and I used these. His nose is a piece of felt. His mouth and whiskers were embroidered.

Zara haar bijdragegrijze ogen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But it didn’t feel good those grey eyes, it wasn’t him. Think. think, think…and then I knew….and gave  it a try……
oog JapieNow the sweater is finished, it took some time, but owner and knitter are both happy with the result. 🙂
Japie trui klaar

Every year at the Annual Spinning Day we are being surprised with a small amount of tops. We always can buy some more. I show some photos below.
I spun singles! The single yarn was steamed to set the twist. I don’t know yet how to use it, but in the meantime I enjoy looking at the result.

singles

lontwol4

lontwol

 

 

 

 

 

omwikkeld

the yarn was wound around a container…

weckketel

steamed…

singles drogen

dried…

I have been busy with another ‘hip pouch’. A simple one. No real pattern was needed.
When it was finished, I thought it could have been a little bigger, but it will do!

grijze heuptasje

onderkant grijze heuptasje

By sewing the bottom this way, I tried to create more space!

When I am attending a workshop, I like to use my weaving.
Log Cabin…….

Woven cloth

sjaalkraag

Shadow weave…..

shadow result

sjaal

Sorry, the title is Dutch! Maybe the best translation would be ‘Area in area’…but I am not certain. The pattern is a design made by  Ineke Elsinga

Several years ago I dyed some colour variations, in green and red!
I was lucky, I had a sample of the colours I wanted. Then I calculated the amount I needed and dyed the wool.

roodgeverfdgroengeverfd

 

 

 

 

 

     The result was what I hoped for. Perfect !

blok in blok

It is a Summer / Winter design. I used linnen for the tabby.

vlak in vlakDuring weaving I thought: ‘what will happen when I wash the finished cloth.
Wool in combination with linnen !!
But nothing happened.
It was nice and it stayed nice.

tuniekAt the left you can see how the shawl behaved while in use. I couldn’t stand that and looked for a new pattern. I found it on Ravelry.
It is designed by Rutast…… a Cowl named Armonika

I liked my re-knitted shawl!
There is only one thing I regretted at first, it is shorter.
But after wearing it a couple of times, it was good this way.
“all’s well that ends well”

IMG_1535

The next part of the ‘optical weaving’ workshop, was ‘Shadow Weave’.
I am not the sampling type, but to my surprise I did enjoy the weaving.
Log cabin and Shadow weave was done on the same warp, with the same threading. Hurrah…
I have my own preferences of the different patterns in combination with the colours.

shadow resultShadow weave 4

Shadow weave 3

Shadow weave 4

Shadow weave 1

The photo’s are not very good, sorry. They look rather dull!

Linda Wilson gave an ‘optical weaving’ workshop. I do like that effect and joined with pleasure.
The pattern does “jump out”, but that really is an illusion.
First I want to show you the colours I choose. It is 8/2 cotton.
It was important, they were contrasting ones. The photo was changed into black and white,
that was a great help!
From each photo the top cones were used for the warp. The weft was varied!

During weaving I experienced, ‘Summer’ and ‘Winter’ showed little difference. See for yourself.
A pity!

Winter (2)Squirrel and Fox+T en TSummer

Some details…..

Nummer 5
Nummer 4 Nummer 3 Winter
Nummer 2 Autumn Summer

Woven cloth

Made from old jeans.

heuptasje
My sewing machine was defective and by ‘Marktplaats’ (a sort of Dutch ebay) we found a secondhand Bernina.
When my husband went to fetch it, it was a machine with an embroidery module.
The flowery design makes it special.

Years ago (2009) I spun mechanised flax. It became a holiday project.  Exactly 10 years later I finished plying. Plying is not really necessary however I want to weave with it and I thought it too thin.  That’s why!

vlas

LouetNow it is linnen. Three skeins with a total weight  of  470 grams
and the  length is 2456 meter. It is not yet washed.
IMG_linnen

A long time ago a present was given for my birthday.  It was a colour design to weave my horoscope shawl.
The design was made bij Bonnie Tarses.
Being optimistic I intended to dye the yarn that was needed. However time went by and I thought;  if you want to weave it just dive into your stash, otherwise it will take another 5 years.

horoscoopsjaalMercerized cotton.
Winding the warp was a challenge. The thread colours changed frequently.

colordesign

warpingHowever the result is beautiful!
Bonnie’s advice was to weave tabby, but no colour advice for the weft was given.
I decided, after several try outs, to use the  warp colours!

voorachter

2 soorten franje400 threads became 100 fringes.
A glass bead was added and 4 fringes were braided and the result was 25 fringes!

horoscope-shawl

Once upon a time a workshop was given by Heather Adamson on the Online Guild.
It was in the year 2008.
I did like to participate. Always wanted to make a puppet like that.
I started optimistic, but couldn’t decide how to make it to my full content.
So I thought ‘let it simmer a while’ and that ‘while’ became alsmost 9 years!!!
When the Ufo (unfinished objects) workshop started last january, I thought it is now or never.
I took my time again, but I did it….
May I introduce…… Reppy Reptile.
Reptile (6)Reptile (7)
Reptile (1)

Reptile (8)
Reptile (3)Reptile (2)Reptile (5)Reptile (4)

A very nice workshop it was, given by Jane Robinson. Almost all participants made a sheep.
The flock was growing and growing. It was such fun.
Here are mine:
Coburger Fuchs and Wensleydale
voorkantCenWCoby and Wensley
CoburgerFuchs
CobyandWensley

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