Fast and easy gifts sort of in the last minute and shameless self promotion

I don't really have anything new and exiting to show, because most of the things I am working on at the moment are Christmas presents, even though we have bought loads there are still plenty to make... And making takes time, even something as simple as a knitted hat.



But I do have another finish here are the headbands I finished for two small boys (well, eleven and nine years old so rather big small boys). I made them simple since I didn't have much time and the boys really don't care that much for soft things. Both are the made the same way, except the darker one is a bit bigger.

Well, anyway, both boys get some money, a star wars rub-on tattoo and a reflective headband. 

When the pattern is simple I think it is important to use some yarn with a flair, and things that glow when the cars drive by so they see you is kind of nifty I think. And maybe the boys think it is kind of cool? I don't know, I have never been a ten-ish year old boy so I have no idea what they think is cool.


I also want to talk about packaging a bit. You know those leftover threads that are too small to really do anything with? I use them to wrap gifts in... And suddenly the two gifts are different.

I do sometimes buy real wrapping thread, but I do think it is somewhat wasteful so I try to buy the paper or twine ones rather than the plastic ones. But I think using up leftovers is nice.

*

How I made these super simple headbands? I can tell you, however remember that I am no knitting expert so these are super easy and don't really need a pattern, but hey, at least then I will know what I did if I have trouble remembering.
These are also so easy that a child can make their own ear warmers, but these boys are even less interested in crafting than wearing something handmade so it is better to make things for them.

I finished one during a movie this weekend so they are easy, fast and fun to do, if you ever need a quick present.

I used a 6mm needle and cast on 10 stitches for the small one and 13 stitches for the slightly bigger one, then I knitted ribbing back and forth for about 30 cm (or as big as the head that will receive the ear warmers) and cast off and sewed the ends together. (If you leave your ends a bit longer than needed you can use them to sew your headband together.) And Voila, a finish or two, in time for autumn and darker days.

Also, don't forget the competition over at gachastitches, you can win both the pattern and a pair of lovely crochet wrist warmers V for finurlig. And there is a free rabbit crochet square pattern up too.






Multe the rabbit is a free pattern, but we at gachastitches are in the process of making a baby blanket using several other bunnies. If you do want to make a bunny blanket using only Multe you can, but here we made a potholder using the pattern...

Multe is Norwegian for cloudberry.

The Wedding Blanket Revealed

The Wedding Blanket

Here it is, finished in our hotel room just waiting to be ironed. It weighed more than 3,3 kilos and was made mostly with Søstrene Grene Cotton with the grey border in Nille yarn.

I made 53 squares in total and in the coming weeks I will give you close ups of each one.

Since this was a wedding blanket we added lots of hearts. We didn't do all the squares in the Block a week CAL 2014 from Dedri but we did do all the heart ones.

Can you see the heart? My friend *kio made her hearts in one colour so it is easier to see.

This square is called Never ending love, which I hope the newly weds will have ^^

But in Peppermint Mocha Frappe the hearts are super clear, and in this one I learnt and made mine in the same colour, this is also the heart we used on the border.

We did three rows of border, all in DC, the first row in grey, the second in red and the last also in grey, we added the heart between row two and three. We did contemplate to make another row in grey in fans around but decided there was enough happening so the blanket would look best with a clean border.

Then there is the clearest heart of all, the Grandma's heart square.

This square has the most hidden heart of all, can you see it? This block is called the Mystery Anticipation Square, and it has two rows of hearts.

Each square got some extra rows so they measured about 21 cm, *Kio and mine tension varied a little both between us and between each square so we blocked our squares a lot.

We used about four hours on each square and each squared weighed around 30 grams so we used a lot of yarn! 

But we still have some left since we bought lots the second time we went out to buy more yarn because we realised we had too little the first time around.

It looks good folded up too, and as you can see some of the blocks pop up from the rest. Each square is interesting and exiting and sometimes *Kio and mine look completely different due to different colours but sometimes we actually interpreted the patterns differently, like the green one with the flower seen here.

We added a few heart squares in filet crochet to calm our afghan a bit and to make more hearts and I really like the effect. I used these patterns (heart square and stacked hearts) while *Kio I think designed her own hearts and made some stacked hearts. You can tell what squares they are because they are the only solid coloured ones with white and then grey borders.

All squares got at least two rows of colour, one in colour and the last in grey so that it would be easy to crochet them together. We crochet them together downwards first which was a lot of fastening off threads and then we crocheted the finished panels together with Single Crochet the other way.

There are 99 squares in 9x11 format and the whole blanket is 170x250 cm and as I said weighs about 3,3 kilos.

The afghan is here seated on two big single beds so it looks a bit small.

Evi helped us to iron and arranged the squares before we crocheted them together which was super helpful. Mimle and Valmin however did not help and kept throwing the squares around and making a mess, they chinned most squares and left tons of fur and some hay in-between.

We cross stitched the married couple's initials and date of marriage around a heart square. We knew the bride loved blue and later learned that the groom loved red so we incorporated that too, and I must say I love the colours together, even though there are lots of different colours they sort of stay in the same cool colour family with a few exceptions so the blanket looks soothing from afar.

 *Kio cross stitched the numbers and I did the letters.

Started 18th of June 2015 and finished 24th of February 2016
Squares: 99
Size: 170x250
Weight: 3269 grams, according to my kitchen weight
Skeins: Around 66

Ornament Onsdag

The first proper finish of the year! I made an ornament, and now that Christmas is over and packed I am going to stop making seasonal Christmas things and start on the things that have been on hold. 

I might try to continue making presents a little in between. But we will see how good I will be about that. Hehe. New projects are always more fun.

Syttende Desember

M made my this mug. I love it!

The Final Frontea-er

Black tea with licorice, cinnamon, cloves, honey and melon in my ST-ish mug. And yes, M is the king of bad puns, it is too bad that I hate the design of the actual mug, it is hard to hold and gets very hot because I would truly love to use this cup more because the paintings are awesome.

I have another finish, I started this last year I think, but there was a mistake somewhere and then it was put aside in a fury and forgotten like usual. But now that I have properly cooled down I was at the point where I would just work with what I had done and made a proper finish.

And yes, another present done, but then my other friend and I agreed to give each other presents. We will see if I find anything perfect or if I make anything perfect;)

Still doing the wrist warmer thing, and the prospect of giving each person one half of a wrist warmer and an IOU seems more and more likely.... I did spend most of the day fiddling with even more little trees you see.

And then I had company over, and we started baking, so we now have three kinds of Christmas Cookies. 

We drank tea and watched some Tudors in the mix.

Tomorrow I hope I manage at least another of the seven kinds of Christmas cookies!

I am busting my knee with all this stash busting

Remember the yarn we found amongst my mothers stash that moved into my stash?

Well I didn't dally long and I made a small scarf/cowl/thing. I used this pattern, but since I only had about 50 g of yarn mine didn't turn out quite long enough to fold around the neck. So I added a button from my stash and now it is usable.

The colour is somewhat more like the first picture than the others but I just wanted to show you how sunny and spring-y things look around here these days. The colour is something usually referred to as "gammel rosa" in Norwegian which would translate into old pink I think.

The scarf is made of a long since discontinued yarn from Chanterleine called Sissi and is made of a mohair acrylic blend, so it fits nicely in spring., as it is not too warm. Or maybe in autumn as the pink seems more like an autumn pink than a spring pink to me....  I think maybe mum bought it when visiting my aunt since there was a store called Domus there and that is where this yarn was bought... But it does come all the way from Paris.

Anyway, I quite like it and I finished it in a day, or rather a night, I got so engrossed in wanting to see how long it would turn out with only 50 g of yarn. Which was 60 cm I might add and 55 rows.

I liked the pattern and am now going to make another in the Sandnes Kitten Mohair yarn I bought at mums last week, and since I have 100 g I think this one will actually turn into a proper scarf. Although that means I have to buy more Mohair yarn to make the "englemaske" shawl I wanted to make, but that is ok, if I use two or more yarns I can buy one new and at this rate that might happen sooner than you'd think. Also I think these scarfs would make excellent gifts and they are easy enough to make while watching TV but decorative enough that people will actually wear them;) I hope. And buying yarn for presents is always  allowed no matter how big your stash is.

I have to go, I have a bunny nipping at my ankle to get my attention. It is cuddletime.

My Crochet Hook Case is Finished

Halfway through, and yes it is too small….

The chart:

I mucked up abit, though, more than just the gauge, but I merrily trotted on, I did not let any small mistakes deter me from making a finished object. No Sir. So I winged it after I got stuck. Luckily for me, I got stuck right about halfway through the back, so all I had to do was just pretend everything was alright and do the same as I did on the first side of the back. Turned out ok.

And I added four rows at the top. I think it is just the right size, barely of the hooks.

So now, the case is blocking by itself.

I hope it will turn out to be a success, if so, I am posting the front and better pictures tomorrow. :)

Also, I think I will go through my stash, since this used just one ball of yarn, maybe I have some slightly bigger yarn I can use to make another. That or just use double the white I have used on this one.

Btw, my blanket is chugging along. I am doing it like a pro and sticking to my plan, one square a day. And by the end of the Ravellenics I will have a finished lap-blanket thing. 

Also, I found some more of the yarn I am using to make that blanket too. Yay.