Planning New Stash Busting Projects

Hello everyone,

I just went through my yarn stash looking at different skeins to get a better idea of what projects I'd like to work on throughout the next couple of weeks and months. While doing so I picked out certain ones and sorted them into bags which I then labeled. 

What's important for me when thinking of new projects is to think about who could actually make a use out of it. I don't want to work on those projects just for the fun of it, I want most of it to become presents.

This is what I came up with within just a few minutes:

Four beanies, one headband and at least one pair of socks...

I tried to include a "To complete by" date on each label to make it easier for me to figure out which projects need to be finished first.

See you soon!

Friendship Bracelets with Friends

Hello everyone,

I'm back! Well, at least for a couple of blog posts. At this point I can't promise anything regarding regular blogging but we'll see how thing are going. But for now let's catch up on a few things that happened while I was MIA...

In early August I visited my friend Kristin as well as my wonderful god daughter in Gera. A couple of week prior to the trip we decided to make some friendship bracelets during our stay. So for the hostess gifts I took up the theme and created some small friendship bracelet key chains.

During our stay we crafted some heart-themed friendship bracelets. I made the purple one, Kristin went for yellow and orange.

It's amazing how fast you remember how to make those bracelets even when the last time you tried was more than 10 years ago :)

Yours
Uta

Turtle Cushion & Happy Mail

Hello everyone,

I figured it's been a while since I share a crochet project with you so here's one today :)

I hooked a fun little Turtle Cushion for my god daughter for her birthday at the beginning of the year and I must say I am more than happy with how it turned out :)

For the turtle shell I used an African flower pattern I found on Pinterest. Head, feet and tail are out of a book called Crochet - The complete step-by-step guide, Essential techniques, More than 80 patterns. I got it from TK Maxx a few years ago. The rest is freestyle more or less. I even had to sew the pillow which is inside the turtle's belly.

Apart from that I wanted to share with you some happy mail I sent not too long ago. I made the envelope myself and finally had the opportunity to use my new seal stamp.

What do you think :)

Yours
Uta

DIY Tassels made from Yarn Scraps [Tutorial]

Hello everyone,

as usual I did some crocheting over the Christmas holidays. And while I was fiddling around with plenty of yarn scraps I had the idea to use them for another crafting project instead of just throwing them away. For whatever reason the only thing I could think of was making tassels, something I wanted to try for quite a while now. And here's the result:

Those tassels are quite easy to make...

Start by choosing some yarn scraps that are not too short in length.

Bundle them with yet another piece of yarn and tie two knots.

Use some nice looking thread and start wrapping it around the tassel.

When you're happy with the result, close by tying two to three knots. Afterwards use a needle to draw the ends of the thread through the tassel as shown in the picture below.

Cut off the excess thread and shorten the tassel to the desired length - Done!

Now I have to figure out what to do with all those tassels ;)

Happy Craftin'!

Yours
Uta

Christmas Presents, an AliExpress Order & Tea Time

Hello everyone,

with Christmas 2017 being over for more than a month now I am finally able to share this Christmas present I hooked for my friend Kristin :)
I found this lovely Fox Head Scarf thingie over at pinterest. Unfortunately, the link to the pattern doesn't seem to work any longer. Luckily, I downloaded the patter before it was taken offline. So in case you're looking for the pattern but can't find it, let me know, I've got a copy stored somewhere on my hard drive and am willing to email it to you :)

This project was definitely fun to crochet. It took me quite a while but it was all worth it.
I used a 100% cotton yarn for it by the way. To be honest, I prefer using cotton yarns for all of my crochet projects lately.

Apart from self-made things I also love to give local products as presents. For example coffee from the two local roasters Seegert and Die Kaffeerösterin.
Lately, I also discovered wonderful products made from Kassel City honey like honey liqueur, honey vinegar or even mead. And an all-time favorite are the mug cakes from Tüpfelchen.

What things do you like to give as presents? Maybe also some products from your area?

Alright, change of subject. My AliExpress Order arrived last week! I love ordering planner and crafting supplies at AliExpress. You can get the cutest things and the prices are pretty low. And then it's always wonderful to finally receive your order which is always a surprise - because it takes quite a while to be shipped to you and in the meantime you normally forget what you've order ;)

Okay, here's what I got:

A transparent A5 planner for some memory keeping
A felt A5 planner for my spritual art project
A set of rings for filofax inserts archiving

Lots and loooooots of stickers :)

And in case you're interested in one of these goodies as well, here's a link to the AliExpress shop: JIANWU Shop

And last but not least, I had my friend Carina over for tea last weekend. Carina prefers drinking fruit tea so I brewed us a pot of my all-time favourite fruit infusion Roasted Almonds by TeeGschwendner. It's a seasonal tea that is only available around Christmas. Last year I bought an extra large package of it so that I can drink it all year around.

We had IKEA almond cake and Dongles donuts for tea :)

Well, that's it for today, see you soon :)

Yours
Uta

Autumn Fun & Crafts

Hello everyone,

now that was one stormy weekend over here in Germany!
I spent the weekend in Gera with my friends Kristin and Maxi. We had an absolutely wonderful time, cooking yummy food, watching Autumnal movies, crafting and visiting a local animal park. And as usual: Time flies when you're having fun!

The first movie we watched was Hocus Pocus. A Halloween classic I would say. I loved it when I was a child and I still enjoy watching it.
The second movie we chose was Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. When three Harry Potter fans meet in Autumn there is really no other choice than watching one of J.K. Rowing's master pieces ;)
For crafting ideas we turned to pinterest. Weeks before our girl's weekend, Kristin created a pinterest board and made us collect ideas of all sorts. We finally chose to hook these cuties:

These pumpkins are super easy to crochet and it's a great project to use up yarn from your stash.
Nevertheless, we made some tweaks to the original instructions. The stem as described in the pattern didn't really work for us. I therefore simply used one of my knooking needles and added a knitting-like stem which turned out pretty good I think.

Pinspired Crochet Pumpkin

Yesterday was a public holiday here in Germany, Reformation Day. It's usually not a holiday in the region where I live but as we are celebrating its 500th anniversary, whole Germany had the 31st of October off. I basically spent that day doing homework. Besides that I set up my planner for November and also printed out The Reset Girl's Happy Planner Club prompts for the upcoming month.

Happy Place Planner Club Prep

Well, and that's it for today. Until next week, my friends!

Yours
Uta

Final Notes on Camp Reset #TRGCampReset

Hi everyone,

as promised last week, here's my last blog post about Camp Reset!

Let's start with the rest of the Listers Gotta List cards:

The first challenge of week four was all about Memory Keeping. We were asked to print out some of the photos we took throughout the past weeks of Camp Reset and create a memory page in our journals. Here's how mine turned out:

The second challenge was to finish one of our WIPs. I chose to finish two projects. One I can show you today (a couple of different cotton pads), the second will be a present and therefore will be kept a secret for now :)

Alright, that's it!

See you all again next week!

Yours
Uta

A little Stop Motion fun with DIY Cotton Pads :)

Hello everyone,

I am currently working on a bunch of cotton pads and for whatever reason I felt like creating a short Stop Motion video along the way :)

Here we go...

As soon as I finished all the cotton pads I planned to crochet (which will take a little while, I am hooking just 3 to 4 per day) I'll share the final results!

Thanks for stopping!

Yours,
Uta

Join me for some Live Crocheting!

Hello everyone,

so I just scheduled my first live-crafting/crocheting session, the first Paper, Wool & Yarn crafting/crocheting live stream :)

Mark your calendars:
Today, 8th of March 2017 at 7PM CET // 1PM EST // 10AM PST

I know it's on a very short notice, sorry for that.
But anyways, I'll be hooking a little flowery something, nothing fancy. If you wanna join me, here's what you should prepare until we're going live:

• Bookmark & Subscribe to my YouTube channel to get notified
• Grab some colorful yarn - preferable in Spring or Summer colors plus a neutral one, you won't need a whole skein of each - plus a matching crochet hook
• Print out this Pattern
• Have some scissors as well as a needle handy 

See you later :)

Yours
Uta

Handmade gifts for a little person :)

Hello everyone,

today I'd like to share with you some goodies I made for my lovely little god-daughter not too long ago :)

Here's what I made for her for Christmas - a super cute shirt:

And this is was my present for her name consecration, a tunic dress:

Both gifts were hooked with a bamboo cotton blend by Schachenmayr.


Alright, that's it for today - thanks for stopping by!

Yours
Uta

Small & Simple Crochet Flower [Pattern - DE & EN]

Hello everyone,

today I've got a simple pattern to share with you for a small and simple crochet flower :)

Here's the German version to start with. The English version is right beneath it...


GERMAN 

R1:  12 fM in einen magischen Ring, mit 1 Km schließen
R2:  3 Lm (1. Stb), 1 Stb in nächste Masche, 2 Lm, * 2 Stb, 2 Lm * wiederholen bis zum Ende der Runde, mit 1 Km schließen [12 Stb]
R3:  1 Km zwischen 3 Lm und 1. Stb der vorherigen Runde, 1 Lm, 1 fM ebenfalls dazwischen, 3 Stb um 2 Lm der vorherigen Runde, 1 Lm, erneut 3 Stb um die 2 Lm der vorherigen Runde, *1 fM zwischen die nächsten beiden Stb der vorherigen Runde, 3 Stb um 2 Lm der vorherigen Runde, 1 Lm, erneut 3 Stb um die 2 Lm der vorherigen Runde * wiederholen bis zum Ende der Runde, mit 1 Km schließen, Fäden vernähen


ENGLISH (US terminology)

R1:  12 sc into magical ring, close with a ss
R2:  3 ch (1st dc), 1 dc into next sc, 2 ch, * 2 dc, 2 ch * repeat until end of row, close with a ss [12 dc]
R3:  1 ss between first two dc, 1 ch, 1 sc between same two dc, 3 dc around 2 ch of the round before, 1 ch, 3 dc around same 2 ch, * 1 sc between next 2 dc of round before, 3 dc around 2 ch of the round before, 1 ch, 3 dc around same 2 ch * repeat until end of row, close with ss and sew in ends


And this is how that little cute flower looks like when finished:

Let me know what you think!!

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

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

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

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

W.I.P.: The Crochet Backpack

Hey everyone,

do you remember that Crochet Backpack I started working on last year in August? Well, I finally decided to resume it :)

With what I now have in mind it will not turn out like originally planned.
I added a couple of more rounds to the body, which has now 32 rounds in total. After joining the last round with a slip stitch I started to hook a flap:

Row 1: 3 ch, 10 dc, 1 front post dc, 11 dc, 1 front post dc, 11 dc, turn
Row 2: 3 ch, 34 front post dc, turn
Row 3-11: 3 ch, 10 dc, 1 front (uneven rows) / back (even rows) post dc, 11 dc, 1 front (uneven rows) / back (even rows) post dc, 11 dc, turn
Row 12: 1x decrease, 9 dc, 1 back post dc, 11 dc, 1 back post dc, 9 dc, 1 decrease, turn
Row 13: 1x decrease, 8 dc, 1 front post dc, 11 dc, 1 front post dc, 8 dc, 1 decrease, turn
Row 14: 1x decrease, 7 dc, 1 back post dc, 11 dc, 1 back post dc, 7 dc, 1 decrease, turn
Row 15: 1x decrease, 6 dc, 1 front post dc, 11 dc, 1 front post dc, 6 dc, 1 decrease, turn
Row 16: 1x decrease, 5 dc, 4 (tight) ch, skip one dc, 11 dc, 4 (tight) ch, skip one dc, 5 dc, 1 decrease, cut yarn, sew in the ends

And for better reference, here are the links to the blog posts about the Crochet Backpack from August 2015:

• August 5, 2015 - Starting a new project...
• August 12, 2015 - First update on the crochet backpack project
• August 19, 2015 - Look what I bought & Update on the Crochet Backpack

Alright, that's it for today - Thanks for stopping by :)

Yours
Uta