ATM Doorways and Bikinis

Another regular item I want to introduce around these parts is an ATM. No not the hole in the wall you're thinking about, where you service all your cash needs but a "what I'm up to At The Moment" -or what I've been working on recently.

First up is a crochet garland to brighten up our apartments front door. I was inspired here through pinterest and from this lovely little lady's door.

I've been Cooking with Spargel! I actually made this mushroom and asparagus, polenta based tart from the Bojon Gourmet Blog. I made it a bit less gourmet by using button mushrooms instead of shitake and there was no truffle salt in sight, but it was still very yummy! It's the first time I've made polenta that didn't taste like meh -am I doing it wrong or is plain polenta just not nice?? (My spellcheck doesn't like polenta and wants me to change it to tadpole based tart, hmm doesn't sound as good).

The aforementioned crochet bikini. A little wonky but coming along ok! I had some problems to begin with which involved the bikini decreasing too quickly, and a lot of questions involving far too much laughter from my friends about how my itty bitty bikini was coming along! I sorted that problem out only to be stuck again at the moment, not sure if there is a mistake in the pattern or I just can't read it properly...
Would you wear a crochet bikini?
xx

Plait Ear Warmer / Headband DIY

Growing up I had a beanie or two, I used to wear them in winter sometimes. They were more a fashion statement than anything else though. It wasn't until I moved to Germany (ie a climate which has really COLD winters) that I actually "got" what the beanie was about. That is was actually a very functional accessory, necessary to keep you from getting brain freeze (which doesn't only occur from eating ice cream I have discovered!) and to stop your ears turning into lumps of ice.  Then I discovered ear warmers. The beanies little sister, when you want to avoid aforementioned ice ears but perhaps aren't feeling the commitment of a whole hat. So naturally I wanted one, but I had also just discovered crochet and wanted to make one myself. And so can you!

Step One -Choose your yarn, I went for two colours but you can do three or one...

Step 2 - Crochet three long strands using double or triple crochet -you want them longer than the circumference of  your head.

Step Four -Plait the strands. I used a peg to secure the ends while I did this.

Step Five - Sew the ends together so its one continuous plait.

Done!

Now enjoy your warmer forehead and ears!
xx

Cowl Neck

Here is my first attempt at a cowl scarf thingy....

It was simple to make just using granny stitches. I love how the stitches and colours came out but the size is all wrong -its too big to fit snuggly round your neck but too small to go around it twice.
You live, you learn!
xx

Further Crochet Adventures

I made this as a gift for an almost-3 year old daughter of a friend of mine. I remembered seeing somewhere a crocheted crown and thought that would make a great present. So I gathered some inspiration and then I attempted my first crown. I made it with some thick acrylic yarn I had, but I made it way too big -it fit my husband! And the thick yarn wasn't giving the look I wanted so I went hunting for some more suitable wool/yarn.  I wanted some yellow or gold however the selection locally isn't huge and I didn't have time to go further afield but I found this hot pink yarn with sparkly thread in it. I love the addition of the sparkle but the wavy-ness of the yarn made it more difficult to work with (a heads up if you're thinking of trying it!).

This youtube video helped me get started on the crown. Video is great for learning! Especially as I haven't quite got the hang of following actual patterns yet (and I'm still confused by the european vs US terminology). And then although I can't quite follow a pattern yet I still understood enough of this free pattern to help give the points on the crown some extra definition.

I used the tutorial on youtube here for the star. She crochets way faster then me so I had to pause the video like a million times. I crocheted two stars and then just whip stitched them together leaving enough of a gap to push the wand handle in and secure with glue. The handle is made from three wooden kebab sticks, glued together and covered in the yarn. I thought it all came out pretty well and and I have video evidence the little girl loved it too!
xx

Crochet bowl

Here is another result of my exploration into the world of crochet -a simple soft bowl.

I have been wanting something to put my jewelery and hair clips into for a little while now and when I saw some crochet baskets and bowls floating around on Pinterest, I knew I wanted to make one.

Some of my inspiration...

 Left from Les Tissus Colbert and Right from My Country Cottage Garden

The result...

I found this bowl easy to make as you only need to know how to make the single crochet stitch and increase. Bunny mummy has a good tutorial here to make similar bowls.  I don't like counting the rounds though, so mine is free style! I used a polyacrylic yarn (I fell in love with the colour and had to use it regardless of what it was made from!) so my bowl is quite soft, but it holds its shape well enough for my purpose. What do you think?

xx

Crochet Adventures

A friend recently taught me how to crochet (Thanks Audrey!). She started me off with the very basics -making a slip knot, chain and single crochet. The plan was to make a small amigurumi style bunny with the pattern from Bunny Mummy -Here (it includes quite a good tutorial for beginners).  Being my first ever crochet project the tension was not quite right and instead of a nice round bunny head I got something more elongated. Looking at it I decided it looked like a snakes head so instead of making the small bunny body I kept on crocheting and made a snake! I think it turned out really well for my first ever crochet project :-)

It's now on its the way to my little niece in Australia!
xx