See you in 2017!!!

Hi everyone,

I'm just quickly poppin' in to let you all know that Paper, Wool & Yarn will take a little holiday-related break. We will be back on the 4th of January 2017 :)

Until then...

Happy New Year!

Yours
Uta

Yummy Homemade Christmas Goodies

Hello everyone,

I hope you are enjoying a wonderful holiday season with your loved ones :)

Even though it's Christmas today is Sunday so it's time for another blog post.

You know, there's nothing I love more than giving self-made goodies for Christmas. Especially baked goods are the perfect Christmas gift in my opinion. This Christmas season I planned to do a lot of cookie baking. Unfortunately as I already told you I got sick and nothing I planned actually worked out. So I had to come up with some last-minute ideas...

Oh and by the way, Kristin contacted me in the meantime concerning the biscuits. She shared them with her lovely daughter and even Australian shepherd lady Hanneli took a bite. They all loved them, which makes me soooo happy :)

Thanks for watching and see you soon!

Yours
Uta

Merry Christmas!!

Hello everyone,

this will be my last blog post before the Christmas Holidays. Therefore it is about time to wish every single on of you wonderful Christmas Holidays and a great time with your family and loved ones :)

This year I decided to craft all the Christmas Cards myself instead of buying any. Here's a selection of the results. I decided to keep things simple this year.

I think they turned out quite nice, don't you think? I made most of the embellishments with my Sizzix BigShot. And you might recognize some of the paper from my Crafting Paper Mini Haul.

Furthermore, I want to share with you a short video in which I am showing you my 2016 Christmas Tree. Here we go...

Thanks for stopping by and see you soon!

Yours
Uta

Crafting Paper Mini Haul

Hello everyone,

sorry for not posting last Wednesday. I was still pretty sick and could not come up with some proper content in time. The video I'm sharing with you today has actually been recorded a little while ago. I found it on my hard drive just the other day. This way I can at least share something with you today :)

See you soon!

Yours
Uta

Tiny Christmas Stocking Cuff - A Tutorial

Hello everyone,

I've been ask quite a lot how the cuff of the tiny crochet stockings is made. Well, here's the tutorial :)

The original pattern for the Christmas Stockings can be found right HERE.

Please note that the original pattern is using UK terminology whereas I myself am using US terminology!

Happy Hookin' :)

Yours
Uta

A quick Hello + some videos

Hi everyone,

thanks for stopping by. I know, most of you where expecting a crafting post today. Unfortunately, I was pretty sick for a couple of days, too sick to craft or crochet. But I didn't want to leave you with nothing so here are two random videos I recorded just recently. If you follow me on YouTube you might have already watched them :)

This one I recorded just a couple of days ago. For about just 5 minutes we had the most magical Winter evening sky here in Kassel.

And the next one I recorded while I was on a short vacation in Leipzig with my mom. While there we went to the panometer where there's currently a 360° Great Barrier Reef Exhibition. In January 2017 I think they will set up a 360° Titanic Exhibition which sound pretty cool too. I am actually thinking about coming back just to see that one but let's see. Here's a short impression of the Great Barrier Reef Exhibition:

It was that Leipzig trip by the way after which I came home and got sick right on the same day. I then called my mom the same night to complain about how bad I felt and then realized my mom also got sick. Bad luck, I guess :) 

Thanks for stopping by and stay tuned for some crafty content this Sunday!

Yours
Uta

Happy Mail from the USA!

Hello everyone,

I recently reveived some wonderful Happy Mail from my friend Dena from the USA :) She put so many lovely things together, I feel so blessed!

Let me show you...

And don't forget to visit Dena's Blog as well as Dena's YouTube channel!

Yours
Uta

Cotton Scrubbies again

Hello everyone,

after months I finally had the opportunity to meet with my best friend Kristin and her lovely little family last week! Oh I can't tell you how happy it made me to finally see her and my little god-daughter again!

Of course as a guest I brought some gifts. I prefer to make at least part of those gifts myself and this time I went with a set of cotton spiral scrubbies :)

They turned out really well, I am definitely happy with the result:

The wool is Wolle Rödel Cotton Universal which is 100% cotton.

I used a pattern for these which I already tried out last year and did some modifications here and there. You can find the original pattern right HERE.

And here's how I modified it:

Round 1: Magical Ring, CH 1, 1 SC into ring, 1 HDC into Ring, 10 DC into ring [12]

Round 2: 2 DC into each stitch of round 1 [24]

Rouns 3: *2 DC into next stitch, 1 DC into next stitch* repeat until 2 stitches from the second round are left. 1 HDC into next stitch, 1 SC into next stitch, fasten off yarn and sew in end seamless.

The rest goes as described in the original pattern.

If you have questions, please let me know :)

Happy hookin' everyone!

Yours
Uta

Christmas Preparations in Downtown Kassel

Hi everyone,

today I have a short video for you that isn't really about crafting or crocheting. But what I want to share with you is extremely cute and therefore absolutely worth sharing :)

Check out the video below, it's self-explaining...

Christmassy Greetings from Kasse to all of you!!

Yours
Uta

Felt Animals for my Christmas Tree

Hello everyone,

just lately, I finished these cute little felt animals:

They are supposed to be hanging on my Christmas Tree this year :)

All in all, these little guys turned out to be a quite time-consuming project. The prototypes alone took me about 1.5 hours each. But I am really happy with the result!

How are your Christmas preparations coming along?

Yours
Uta

Plan with me: Monthly & Weekly Overview

Hello everyone,

as promised in my last blog post, here's a more closer look at my monthly and weekly overviews in my 2017 planner:

Thanks for watching :)

Yours
Uta

An Update on my Planner for 2017

Hello everyone,

even though I did not post any updates on my planner project, I of course kept working on it during the last couple of weeks.

Last time, I showed you the overviews for 2017 and 2018. In addition to these I also wanted to create a more elaborate overview for 2017 which spreads over four pages. This turned out as follows:

As you can see, I squeezed three months on each page. Dates marked with a tiny red circle are public holidays in my region. Furthermore, I added the full moon and new moon dates.

I also finished the spread for the birthdays:

I can't remember where exactly I found this spread. It must have been on pinterest or instagram I guess. You simply write down the name and then put the number of the day into the column of the correct month. You could also add an additional column for the year.

Alright, that's it so far. Stay tuned for the video scheduled for this Sunday - I'll show you my monthly and weekly overviews of my 2017 planner!

Yours
Uta

Autumn Leaves - Pressed & Dried

Hello everyone,

a couple of weeks ago I collected a few leaves with the intention to dry and press them. Here are the results :)

Have a wonderful Sunday afternoon!!

Yours
Uta

3D Landscape in a Picture Frame - Super Mario inspired

Hello everyone,

today's crafty creation wasn't planned, it just happened :)

While having a look into my W.I.P. basket a few days ago, I found an IKEA picture frame RIBBA. It must have been in there for almost two years. The project I originally bought it for never happend - obviously. Then I had this idea...

It took me about two days to put everything together. For the different blocks I used some printables I found online. Check them out right HERE.

So, who else loves Nintendo and/or Super Mario? :)

Yours
Uta

Little Stockings for my Christmas Tree

Hello everyone,

I finished another bunch of ornaments for my Christmas tree!

Just a view "words" before I show you the final result :)

Videos and blog posts mentioned in the video:
- Craft supply haul => VIDEO
- Christmas Stockings I made years ago => BLOG POST

And here they are - 12 tiny little Christmas Stockings:

How are your Christmas preparations coming along?

Yours
Uta

How I spent Samhain aka Halloween

Hello everyone,

today I'd like to share with you how I spent Samhain! No crafting involved here, just some pagan-inspired this-and-that...

I started with my Samhain preparations about a month ago by putting my brand-new pumpkin carving set to use which I was gifted by my parents on my birthday. For my first ever self-carved pumpkin I decided to go for the classical Jack O'Lantern:

Now on Samhain, I started the day doing a quick one-card reading using the Native Spirit oracle cards deck by Denise Linn I purchase not long ago. I thought Samhain would be a great occasion to use it for the first time.

After dinner, I watched Tim Burton's Nightmare before Christmas, which became some sort of a tradition for me :)

Throughout the whole day, I kept a little white candle burning. Most of you might be aware of the original meaning of Samhain. It is not only the last day of the Celtic year, but it is also said to be the time where the boundary between this world and the otherworld is at its weakest. I therefore used this little candle as a symbol to honour dead family members. I'll keep lighting that candle again and again throughout the next days until it finally burned down.

Alright, that's it. Now let me know:
How did you spend Samhain? Did you dress up?

Yours
Uta

PS: If you're interested how I spent this years Autumnal Equinox, have a look right HERE.

Folding Fröbel Stars

Hello everyone,

another Sunday, another video here at Paper, Wool & Yarn :)

Today, I am taking you along while I'm folding a Fröbel Star. Furthermore, you will get an update on my DIY Christmas tree ornaments for this year. Enjoy!

Blog post mentioned at the beginning of the video: Fröbelsterne made in Berlin

In my tea cup: Autumn Herbal Tea by TeeGeschwendner

And this is the final result - 5 big ones and 10 smaller ones :)

Thanks for watching & thanks for stopping by!

Yours
Uta

Owls for my Christmas Tree [+ Tutorial]

Hello everyone,

I finally started working on the ornaments for this year's Christmas Tree! Last year I went all Harry Potter and I loved it :) This year, I don't really have a theme. Nevertheless, I want to make a few ornaments myself. And these are the first DIY ornaments - owls!

It all started over at Pinterest where a lot of DIYs actually start. I came across this pin right HERE.

I tried to copy those but truth to be told, the result was a huge fail. But I wasn't willing to give up the whole idea so I did some sort of an interpretation using wooden balls from IKEA instead of fir cones. Et voilà, it worked!

Let me give you a quick run-down...

Materials needed:

• VINTER 2016 decoration balls from IKEA (currently available HERE)
• Thin felt in grey, light blue, white and yellow
• Fabric glue & hot glue
• Brown chenille
• Eyes
• scissors and a pen

And you might also need those three shapes. The biggest one should have an overall height of 6cm.

How-To:

1. For each owl, cut out two large wings, two small wings and one shape for the head plus a tiny yellow triangle for the beak.
2. Afterwards, glue one small wing on a large wing making two two-layered wings per owl using fabric glue. Mix and match the colors of the felt you are using.
3. Glue a little yellow beak plus two eyes on the shape for the head using fabric glue.
4. Using plies and a wire cutter, put together two feet per owl using the brown chenille.
5. Glue two wings, one head shape and two feet onto one decoration ball using hot glue.

What will you hang on your Christmas tree this year? Self-made ornaments or store bought ones?

Happy crafting, everyone!

Yours
Uta

Inside my Journal: Flowers and other Plants

Hello everyone,

today I would like to share yet again something I put into my journal.

This year I set up my very first balcony garden. It contained about seven different plants which I thought would definitely be enough for a start. Of course I had to document my little undertaking in my journal.

And then there's this wonderful quote I found in one edition of my beloved Flow magazine. Of course I had to add it too!

"There are Flowers everywhere for those who want to see them" (Henry Matisse)

Have a wonderful morning/afternoon/evening/night, everyone!

Yours
Uta

PS: Have a look right HERE to see how I documented my little tea addiction in my journal as well :)

A new Planner in the Making

Hello everyone,

A couple of days ago I started to set up my planner for 2017. I decided to go with a self-made one for a couple of reasons this time so I bought a black dotted A5 Leuchtturm 1917 as a basis. It has 249 pages plus an index - quite a lot of space to squeeze lots of things in it.

Knowing I had 249 pages to use I did some brainstorming:
Which sections do I need and how much space should each occupy? 

At the beginning of the planner, I decided I would put the following pages:
- Overview of 2017 [1 page]
- Months of 2017 in columns [4 pages]
- Overview of 2018 [1 page]
- Goals for 2017 maybe... [1 page]
- Birthdays [2 pages]

The following part would be repeated at the beginning of each month:
- Overview of the month and a section for notes [2 pages]

And these pages would be added for each week:
- Overview of the week [2 pages]
- Notes [1 page]
- Expenses [1 page]

And at the end of the planner:
- Gift ideas [2 pages]
- Wish list [1 page]
- Important addresses [1 page]

As you can see I then started to put some post its into the Leuchtturm notebook to mark the first sections.
Of course I had to start the actual setup right away. So far I completed the overviews for 2017 and 2018. As you can see, I decided to go pretty clean and minimalist.

Have you decided on a planner for 2017 yet?

Yours
Uta

PS: Have a look right HERE to see how I set up my 2016 planner!

Planner & Bullet Journal Update

Hello everyone,

I just recently tried out new layouts in both my planner and my bullet journal and I thought it would be worth sharing. So here we go!

During the last couple of weeks I realized that having some kind of weekly overview in my planner would be great. Inspired by YouTube lady Ella The Bee I first tried this:

It's basically the result of squeezing Saturday and Sunday on one page and then recycling the Sunday page for a weekly overview of the following week.

Truth to be told, I tried this a couple of time throughout the month of September but didn't really feel comfortable with it. It reduced the space available for Saturday and Sunday plus I took me quite some time to draw out the spread.

During my second attempt to integrate a weekly overview, I simply used a Moleskine template which I printed on plain white paper, cut out and taped inside my planner.

Taped to the left page, dot grid on the back for taking notes

Integrated as a new page, dot grid on the back for taking notes

Depending on the page on which each week started, I either taped the weekly overview to the left page or integrated it as some kind of additional page. So far I like it. I'll do a test run throughout October and then decide how to proceed with November and December.

My Bullet Journal that I use for work also got a little make-over. I also experimented with some different kinds of weekly overview layouts. So far this one seems to be the winner:

It integrates both the actual week as well as the following one, has a quick overview of the month (top right) as well as some space for miscellaneous notes (bottom right).

Alright, that's it for today.
How is your bullet journaling and planning coming along? Did you also make some layout changes recently?

Yours
Uta

PS: To read more about my planner as well as my bullet journal look right HERE ...

Outgoing Happy Mail

Hello everyone,

today is about snail mail. I sent out some cute letters just recently and I thought I could share the designs with you. Unfortunately, I forgot to take photos of some so today I'm just sharing a selection.

1) This one was sent to my friend Kristin back in August. The envelope is DIY, made from a Flow magazine cover. The writing paper is simple tea dyed paper.

2) The next one was sent to my friend Melanie. I used a plain blue envelope for it and glued some nice paper as well as some animal stickers on it. The writing paper are pages from a Flow magazine notebook.

3) Last but not least, this was a birthday card for a former neighbour of mine. Again a basic blue envelope enriched with some stickers plus a basic blue card on which I glued a Flow magazine post card as well as some stickers.

That's it for today!

Have a great week, everyone, and see you next week...

Yours
Uta

Happy Autumnal Equinox

Hello everyone,

as many of you might know, today the northern hemisphere celebrates the Autumnal Equinox!

Today, night and day are almost equal. As its name already implies, the Autumnal Equinox is the beginning of Autumn. By Pagan tradition it stands for the second harvest as well as thanksgiving. In Wiccan tradition the Autumnal Equinox is also called Mabon as a reference to Mabon ap Modron, a character from Welsh mythology. ¹

I decided to celebrate this special annual occasion quietly while engaging in some journaling.

Cookies (digestives with milk chocolate), tea (see picture below for details),
my journal and two of my favorite Lamy fountain pens

One of my favorite teas for Autumn and Winter:
Roasted Almond by TeaGeschwendner.
It just arrived in the mail today. This tea is also available in the US by the way. 

Autumnal Equinox journal decor - this is one of the leafs I pressed last year.

Are you celebrating the Autumnal Equinox this year? Do have special plans for Autumn in general? And what about Autumn inspired crafting projects? Let me know in the comments below :)

Thanks for stopping by.

Have a wonderful, warm, and cozy Autumnal Equinox!
Sending many blessings your way :)

Yours,
Uta

---------------------------------------
Sources:
¹ Wikipedia, The Wheel of the Year: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheel_of_the_Year .

Organizing Gift Ideas with Pinterest

Hello everyone,

I guess most of you are familiar with Pinterest and have an account themselfs. I set up my first boards a couple of years ago. Ever since, I get lost in pinning for hours every once in a while. What began with about five boards at the very beginning now expanded to about 20+ visible ones as well as a handful of invisible ones.

Just lately, I began organizing GIFT IDEAS with Pinterest. To do so I created the following boards, all of them invisible of course:
- General Gift Ideas
- Birthday Presents 2016
- Birthday Presents 2017
- Christmas Presents 2016
- Nikolaus Ideas 2016

I love gifting self-made goodies. So now I can quickly pin a crafting idea to the according event whenever I come across one. For better overview and organization I add the name of the recipient to the descriptions of the pins as well as "in progress" or "done" as soon as I started working on it or even finished the project.

What are you currently organizing with Pinterest?

Thanks for stopping by!

Yours
Uta

PS: Visit me at Pinterest!!

Inside my Journal: Tea anyone?

Hello everyone,

I just recently started to give my journal a more personal touch. This includes dedicating pages to topics that don't involve the average journal writing. As a tea lover it was clear for me that I somehow had to incorporate my little tea addiction as well. To do so, I took the labels of the different teas I love/tried/disliked, glued them into my journal and simply added a small description. So nothing fancy but for me quite a lot of fun to be honest.

Let me show you some examples:

Any fellow tea loving journalers/tea-lovers/journalers out there?

Yours
Uta

August FINDS

Hello everyone,

without further ado, here are my August Finds:

➽ CROCHET BASICS with HAPPYBERRY [link]
Happy Berry Crochet uploaded a couple of videos on the basics of crochet. This playlist is ideal for beginners!

➽ CROCHET BASICS with MOLLIE MAKES [link]
Mollie Makes also added a couple of how to videos on some crochet basics to their YouTube Channel.

Thanks for stopping by!

Yours
Uta

Autumn Bucket List for 2016

Hello everyone,

my favourite season is near! I assume most of you have already figured out that I love Autumn more than anything. Maybe because I was born in September? Well, who knows :)
Anyways, thanks to my lovely friend Kristin, I prepare a bucket list for Autumn almost every year. Up until now, I never managed to check off everything on the list and year after year I promise to come up with more realistic ideas to finally manage to do it all. So here's another (not so desperate) attempt :)

Ladies and Gentlemen, here's my Autumn Bucket List for 2016:

It's written on tea-dyed paper by the way :)

So what have you planned for Autumn this year?

Yours
Uta

SUMMER BREAK

Hello everyone,

I'm just poppin' in to let you know, that Paper, Wool & Yarn is currently on Summer vacation :) New content can be expected around August/September 2016.


Yours
Uta

Done - I finally finished the Crochet Backpack!

Hello everyone,

as promised, here's the last part of the Crochet Backpack instructions!

First of all, we need to attach two buttons to the backpack at the 14th row from the top.
To do so, thread the yarn through the holes of the button as shown here:

Then loop through the front post DC shown in the picture below and hook 15 tight CH.

Afterwards, slide the button over the 15 CH and slip stitch around the same front post DC.

Up next, the Front Pocket:

• 17 CH
• 3 CH (first DC), 1 DC into 4th CH from hook, 15 DC, 2 DC into last CH   [19]
• 3 CH (first DC), 18 DC  [19]
• 3 CH (first DC), 1 DC into same DC, 17 DC, 2 DC into last DC   [21]
• 3 CH (first DC), 20 DC   [21]
• 3 CH (first DC), 1 DC into same DC, 19 DC, 2 DC into last DC   [23]
• 3 CH (first DC), 22 DC   [23]
• 3 CH (first DC), 1 DC into same DC, 21 DC, 2 DC into last DC   [25]
• 3 CH (first DC), 24 DC   [25]
• 3 CH (first DC), 1 DC into same DC, 23 DC, 2 DC into last DC   [27]
• 3 CH (first DC), 26 DC   [27]

When finished, sew the pocket to the front of the backpack.
The result should look like this:

And last but not least, the Drawstring.
I decided to go for tight CH instead of braiding it. My drawstring measures about 120 cm, about three times the diameter of the backpack, which is about 37 cm.

Now thread the drawstring through the top section of the backpack as shown below. For easier threading, I recommend adding a saftey pin to one end for less fiddling.

Back of the backpack

Front left side of the backpack
(think back-to-front for the front right side)

And that's it, we're DONE :)

And to sum it up, here are the links to all of the different pattern parts so far:

• August 5, 2015 - Starting a new project... => First ideas and draft
• August 12, 2015 - First update on the crochet backpack project => Bottom
• August 19, 2015 - Look what I bought & Update on the Crochet Backpack => Side
• May 18, 2016 - W.I.P.: The Crochet Backpack => Flap
• May 25, 2016 - W.I.P. & we're almost there: The Crochet Backpack => Grap Handle & Shoulder Straps

Happy Hookin' :)

Yours

Uta

May FINDS

Hello everyone,

I've got a couple of things to share with you again so it's time for another FINDS posting :)

➽ CROCHETING IN THE ROUND with HAPPYBERRY [link]
The titel of the YouTube video tells it all: Keeping it round when crocheting in the round. Very helpful!

➽ LISTERS GOTTA LIST by THE RESET GIRL [link]
Okay, this one is probably well know already. Nevertheless, I think it's worth mentioning because the lists of topics Cori aka The Reset Girl shares every month aren't just great for making lists. No, they also make great journaling prompts!

Yours
Uta

W.I.P. & we're almost there: The Crochet Backpack

Hello everyone,

here's yet another update on the The Crochet Backpack :)

Alright, the instructions:

Grap Handle:

• Begin with 4 CH, then start hooking Basic Afghan stitch, 20 rows in total
• Attach to flap as shown in the picture below 

Shoulder Straps:

• Begin by looping through the six DC shown in the pictures below (click to enlarge)

 

• Add about 100 rows in Basic Afghan stitch (my shoulder straps meassure about 60cm each)
• Sew the end to the flap as shown in the picture

And here are the links to all of the different pattern parts so far:

• August 5, 2015 - Starting a new project... => First ideas and draft
• August 12, 2015 - First update on the crochet backpack project => Bottom
• August 19, 2015 - Look what I bought & Update on the Crochet Backpack => Side
• May 18, 2016 - W.I.P.: The Crochet Backpack => Flap

I'm sort of determined to finish that thing soon so expect another and probably the last update on that project next week!

Happy hookin' :)

Yours
Uta