Making use of my IKEA finds

Hey all,

first things first: I didn't make that much progress working on my Crochet Backpack lately. Mostly because I was busy doing other things like cleaning my condo, spending the weekend at my parents' house and reading a nice book. So no update on this one today.

So today is more about my IKEA finds from last week. I finally made use of a few of them, let me show you...

IKEA currently offers those cute and simple metal tins called HEMSMAK. They are part of a limited edition and their are available either in silver or gold. I bought three of the silver 1l version and used them to declutter my tea rack. I sort of love tea (addiction?!) so I've got quite a lot of tea. And I prefer loose leafs over tea bags.

The label is self-made - printed on brown paper, glued on a simple white sheet of paper and a piece of clear wrapping tape on top. I choose to put it onto the tin using photo corners. This way, the labels can be change pretty easily.

And that's it already for today.

See you all again next week!!

Yours
Uta

Look what I bought & Update on the Crochet Backpack

Hey ladies and gentlemen,

let me start with a quick update on my Crochet Backpack.

You can find some basic information about this project right HERE.
And the first update where I showed you the bottom part can be found HERE.

It was quite hot here in Kassel the past few days so I didn't really feel like crocheting a lot. But I managed to add a couple of rounds to the side of the backpack-to-be so I'm now at row 15. Weight is now 73g, height is 14cm. I originally planned the side of the backpack to be 30 rows but with 14cm at 15 rows I think I will add a few more, let's see.

So here's how it looks at the moment:

And as the title of my blog post already implies, I did a bit of shopping lately. So here are a few crafty thingies I bought:

two books bought at tkmaxx

washi tape bought at my favorite drugstore DM
I'm extremely in love with the two thin ones :)

These IKEA finds might not look that crafty at first glance
but let me assure you, I had some crafty projects in mind
when buying these :)

Have a great week everyone!

Yours
Uta

First update on the Crochet Backpack project

Hello everyone,

here's my first update on the crochet backpack project I started a couple of days ago.

I finally started with the bottom part and as you can see I decided for DCs.

Once again, let's have a quick look at my notes. They may be written in German, nevertheless, the chart can be used language-independently.

So all in all I worked 12 rounds in DCs, increasing each by 12 DCs - see chart above, imagine this to be one of 12 pie wedges. At 12 rounds the circle was 24 cm in diameter.

6 rounds, 12cm  -  9 rounds, 18cm
12 rounds, 24 cm  -  13th round in back post DCs

I then added another round (counts as first round for the side part btw) hooking 144 back post DCs. This will lead to that tiny edge between bottom and side.

Please note the following: I begin each round with CH 3 which stand for the first DC basically.

Well, that's it so far. Up next is the side including the necessary modifications for the drawstring, maybe also the drawstring itself, we will see.

Oh and just in case anyone is wondering why I also added the weight to my notes. That helps me keeping track of how much yarn I used and how much I might still need to finish the project.

Happy Hump Day, guys!!


Yours
Uta

Starting a new project...

Hey all!

I am about to start a new project and I thought about sharing the different stages of it here on my blog. Today is just analysis....

So basically I (or maybe we?!) want to make a crochet backpack that looks similar to this bag right here:

If you follow the link of that pin you will see there's a pattern you can buy. Well, guess what, I'm not exactly willing to do that. Luckily the pictures are pretty well taken and there are even larger versions of them accessible. That makes it easier to figure out how the bag was hooked eventually.

So here are the notes I took while looking closer at the photos (German!).

Let me quickly summarize my assumptions in English for you:

• The bottom looks like SC.
• The side is definitely DC with one front post DC every 15 stitches. I would say there are 150 stitches per round (10 x 15 DC) and about 30 rounds in total.

I'm not 100% sure about the bottom. SCs will definitely lead to a totally different texture then DCs and I normally prefer the texture of DCs. I'll leave that decision for later but will look at possible stitch counts for both options:

• Bottom in SC => 18 rounds, increasing each one by 8 SC, 144 stitches in last row
• Bottom in DC => 12 rounds, increasing each one by 12 DC, 144 stitches in last row

So however I'm going to crochet the bottom, I will later have 144 stitches to work with for the side part. My idea is to divide these 144 stitches into 12 equal parts, which will lead to 12 x (11 DC + 1 front post DC).

Now concerning the materials... I've got this huge skein of blue acrylic yarn (400g) lying around. It's size 4 yarn I think and I didn't buy it for any special purpose so I'm going to use that one. I'm not sure whether I've got some brown yarn in my stash at the moment so I might need to buy some. If so, I'll probably go for Schachenmayr Bravo, that's almost the same size as the blue one and it's also acrylic.

And I still need to have a closer look at the following:

• Hooked or braided drawstring?
• Which round needs which kind of modification for the drawstring?
• How to hook straps and where to attach them to the backpack?
• How to go from bottom to side to achieve this small edge down there?
• That Jeans pocket on the front....

Alright, that's it so far. I'll post an update on this one soon, next Wednesday at the latest!

Yours
Uta

July Findings

Hello beloved blog readers!

how are you doing these days? Did everyone have a great Blue Moon yesterday (Blue Moon as in second Full Moon in one month)?

Someone brought to my attention that I used to address only female readers for a little while beginning my blog posts and videos with something like "Hi Ladies". Well, as a matter of fact, a male friend of mine, a true gentleman if I might add, pointed that out. So as I now can be assured that men and women alike are reading my written texts, I'll try to keep it neutral in the future :)

Well anyway, I'm just quickly poppin' in to share with you some of my July findings, so let's get started...

1) Okay, this one isn't exactly crafting-related but I have to share it with you - McVitie's Digestive biscuits are now available at my local grocery store, isn't that awesome! This might not be such a biggie for my beloved UK people out there but for me that's almost like Christmas ;)

2) I bought these two seaweed baskets at Xenos last week. Yes, they are made of seaweed, I also had to look twice at the tag. Their diameter is about 21 cm. So I thought I could maybe sew a nice fabric inlay for both and then use them as bread baskets, what do you think?

3) These chalkboard labels are from Xenos as well. They come with a piece of chalk but instead of using this one I will probably buy a chalk pen.

4) Well, with an IKEA not far away, maybe 5 minutes by car, it probably won't surprise anyone that I bought these lovely postcards at IKEA a couple of days ago. Aren't they cute? I'm actually thinking about framing these and hanging them somewhere in my kitchen.

Alright, that's it for today. Have a great weekend everyone!!!


Yours
Uta