Crocheting a mandala

I have the tendency to have this great idea for a project just a few days before I think could be perfect to have it finished...

And so my three balls of red T shirt yarn that just arrived through the post, last Saturday and my idea for a rug that my sister would love.... all coinsided 6 days before the ideal moment to give her this present...

I was very excited on the arrival of my first T shirt yarn via post - which turned out to be cheaper to order from a little west coast town (postage included!) than buying it from my favourite yarn shop around the corner...


So with a beautiful tutorial on hand I started the mandala rug. Even our little garden rabbit thought it had potential...


This time around (just like with my doily rug) I had color issues... only a little bit of dark red yarn - not enough to alternate the reds in whole circles. Then I got an idea which I encountered with an earlier project.
I chain stitched the darker red onto the rug and it enhanced the circles wonderfully.


So a few late evenings of frantic crocheting followed... although still I loved every moment of this growing mandala rug...


...and with a little bit of effort the rug was finished just in time to be presented to my sister on the day we planned a trip to her in Tulbagh.





Ps. the clogs on the rug was inspired by a wonderful crochet blog post :)

Be my Valentine

This week I had fun putting together a lovely flower heart. Thank you Lucy for the pattern in the newest issue of Simply Crochet :)

I needed 18 little flowers...



...and 12 leaves - which came to life late yesterday evening :)



My dear husband assembled everything and eventually my 'Attic24' heart was born...




The reason for making this cutie, was to bring some joy to my colleagues at work...



So now my spring flowers at work have some heart flower company :D

A lovely crochet filled morning...

On Saturday I met friends and other lovely ladies of the "Hekel innie Kaap" (crochet in the Cape) face book group at the Botanical gardens in Stellenbosch for a craft share.

The restaurant is nested between trees ... so although it is summer and we have very hot days... the venue was cool and we had a lovely morning crocheting... meeting new members... and always learning something new about some crochet stitch or method...

I saw a beautiful book that someone brought with...

We had lots of laughs...

Me and two friends that share my passion for crocheting (and addiction too!) had a great time ...

We were crocheting blocks towards a huge yarn bomb (we are talking "Guinness book of records" style!) that is going to happen in Pretoria later on in the year at a yarn indaba there...  and... I will be going there!!  That is going to be SO much fun experiencing the get together of all yarn lovers :)

What a lovely morning! :) :)

Creating a half doily rug...

When I first said... "I want to try out crocheting a half doily rug" ... I was told that this is not the easiest thing... there's going to be a few challenges... but I thought, hey... if I could find a pattern then what could be so difficult... I will just follow the pattern very closely!... 

So eventually I found Mona's pattern from "Love2Bloom" and happily I started crocheting exactly what was said in her pattern tutorial...  
I had a day off from work and my mum came to visit - we had a wonderful 'holiday' day next to the pool... she reading and I working on my half doily rug ...

A few rows into the pattern I realized that Mona used clothesline and I was trying out the same pattern with T shirt yarn and a 12mm hook... so I had to increase more than in her pattern... 
I also found that the straight edge at the bottom turns out not to be so straight after a few rows - thus I improvised a few straight rows at the bottom with single crochet and half treble crochet to try and make the edge more neat.  I ended the bottom edge with crab stitch which I think makes a lovely trimming.
Another challenge was that the rug turned out being a little to small for what I wanted to use it for and I added a few extra rows.

Eventually I was very satisfied with the end product and the fact that I did it all in one day - well actually this is not 100% true - I couldn't wait to start the rug - so I put in an hour or two the previous night :)  But if you have one day to dedicate to this rug - it will definitely be possible to finish.

I just read Mona's newest blog entry about her self taught Mindful stitch.  She says that this stitch creates a tight fabric ideal for cross stitching or embroidery - both of which I would love to try out!  
So here I go.... 

My first T yarn rug

I am so very excited - my first T shirt yarn rug is finished :)

Initially I ended up not having enough red yarn to finish him off.




I've been waiting a week or 2 for the yarn shop to receive a new batch T yarn, just to realise that there was no red yarn included. So I decided to end off with a scallop edge in a slightly darker red that I had. I am very satisfied with the end result!




My husband has just finished making his second pair of shoes and I took some pictures of it on my new rug...

Colorful winter crochet...

I read about a wonderful shawl by Sabrina from donnarossa.ch... named the 'Sweetness and light shawl'.

In her blog entry about this shawl she asks "What’s your favorite accessory in this season? Is it colorful? What do you prefer, more wintry or a bright color?"...

I immediately thought of my Japanese flower scarf that I'm crocheting.  I love this flower image that I found at mycraftylittlemoments.blogspot.

I found a multicolored Katia yarn named "Katia Darling" (pure merino wool color208) from my favourite yarn shop close by Thimbles.  

And so I started with my 2mm crochet hook...

This multicolored yarn makes for lots of fun... as each flower takes on its own unique color scheme...

... and so my Japanese flower scarf grew flower by flower... sometimes during a visit to a coffee shop...

... in between flowers I put some steam to them so that their petals would relax, as I was advised by more experienced crochet ladies from a facebook crochet group...

My Japanese flower crochet went with when we visited the Elgin open gardens .... :)

... and now this scarf is nearly a third way done... and thus my answer to Sabrina... I love these vibrant colors for a winter scarf!!
Holding thumbs that when winter comes to the southern hemisphere this year my scarf will be ready to cheer me up! 

Craft share at the Book Lounge

I had quite a busy day yesterday ... but luckily all had were creative fun! My favourite way to spend a day!  After a wonderful crochet workshop in the morning... I set off to the craft share at The Book Lounge in Roeland street in Cape Town... It is always so inspiring to sit and work on my crochet work along with other creatives...

It is always wise not to take with something new that asks for a lot of concentration... as conversations are ongoing in between all the knitting and crocheting and quilting...  I worked on my little pebbles from Blouberg beach...  Anneke inspired me when she on her overseas travelings collected small pebbles from a beach in Italy and crocheted them into necklaces for friends back home...
These are a few that I have already tried out... mine being from a well known beach in Cape Town and to be send to some of my friends staying overseas...

I was so excited to meet two wonderful ladies at the craft share...

Sabrina a lady from Switzerland who visits Cape Town regularly during this time of year to pursue her love for kite surfing and paragliding... but what made her even more interesting is her passion for knitting! Her website is so beautifully done!  It is so worth a visit!

June from 'Planet June' was also so friendly and as a British lady having lived in Canada for 7 years and now being in Cape Town for another 2 years... has a very interesting story of loving to crochet and establishing 'Planet June' where she shares her passion for crocheting little lovelies and creating and selling the prettiest patterns!

On my way home I could not resist a quick musing in between the books at the Book Lounge... and discovered these beauties... little Roger la Borde note books covered with the paper sculptures images of Su Blackwell...