Introducing: "The Like List"

I like lists - not so much to-do-lists, but rather wishlists and lists of things I like, and so it seemed reasonable to call this new feature on my blog "The Like List".

As the name says, in this category I want to share things that I like: this can be products, books, pictures, ideas and/or  links - mostly related to crochet, crafts in general and other things that could be interesting to you as a crafter and blogger.

Of course this concept isn't new, and so I thought that in my first "Like List" I recommend some blogs that have similar kinds of recurring features:

Crochet Concupiscence

• Crochet Link Love on Crochet Concupiscence: this is my favorite category on Kathryn's blog. In her weekly round-up she shares links to the most interesting articles she's found in the crochet world this week. These up-to-date recommendations include crochet art, new free patterns, tutorials and how-to's, new books, interesting blog-posts and more. Keep it up, Kathryn!

moogly

• The Free Pattern Roundups on moogly: in this recurring feature, Tamara collects links to free crochet patterns on the internet, always having a specific topic. Some of her recent round-ups featured crocheted skulls, Halloween pet costumes, hexagons, legwarmers or crochet-for-a-cause patterns.

one sheepish girl

• The Blush List on One Sheepish Girl: this list is different from the ones mentioned above, because Meredith shares more personal favorites in different categories like crochet/knit/felt etc., Etsy, style, art, food and more. The Blush List usually has a theme like "Sweater Weather", "Patterns and Prints" or "Dots All Over". Fun to read and be inspired!

• The A List on The Yvestown Blog: Another personal list with categories like "a book to read", "a film to see", "a CD to listen to" and more. I really enjoy this unobtrusive glimpse into Yvonne's personal favorites.

• Our Friday Five on eighteen25. Now maybe I should say a few things about this website, because I'm pretty sure I've never mentioned it here before: this is not a crochet blog (I think I've never seen something crocheted on this blog), but the three sisters Jamie, Jodie and Jennifer offer all kinds of other crafty things, lots of tutorials, recipes, and more. I especially adore their free printables! So, now back to the Friday Five: Every Friday, one of the sisters shares her favorites of the week, this can be products, food, favorite songs, web-finds and more. Right now they have Spooctacular September on their blog with lots of Halloween ideas, but I haven't seen the Friday Five the whole month - hope they'll come back with this, because I've really enjoyed reading this series!

Dly's Hooks and Yarns

• Two on Tuesday on Dly's Hooks and Yarns: a completely different concept than the other series mentioned above. Debi's Two on Tuesday is not a list in the strict sense, just two little points that make you smile and remind you that there's always something to be grateful for, and so it's definitely on my personal Like List!

So, this was my first Like List, with only six points to start with. But that's okay, I don't want to conjure 10 links out of thin air just to have a Top10! I hope these links were interesting to you - if you know some more crochet/craft related lists that I should know about, please leave a comment and let me know!

Have a great day,

Maybe you'd like to know, that...

• This is not a ranking. I present the items on the list in an order that seems reasonable to me.
• I'm NOT paid for mentioning any of the websites or products.
• When I'm using pictures, I always try to let the owner know that I'm doing so (if it's possible to find out the owner of a picture). If I unknowingly violate some rights, please let me know and I'll remove the according picture at once.

Birthday Potholders 3.0

Hey girls,

it's that time of the year again: tomorrow's my Mom's Birthday! If you've been following my blog for a little longer, you know that I especially like crocheting things for my Mom, and in the past two years I've been giving her potholders for her birthday (as an extra to the main present, of course). So I thought, why not make it a tradition? And there was this potholder pattern I wanted to try anyway...  Here's what I've made:

These are so-called "Tried to look pretty potholders" by Karoline Lovald (there's a link to the free pattern on Ravelry). I like the name, and I like the style - and I think they do look pretty! :)

That's it for today, I wish you all a lovely week-end - oh: and if you like Granny Squares (making them, showing them, looking at them...) then please check out the new Theme-Party over at The Crochet Boulevard!

See you all soon,

Thursday Thoughts

Source: Pinterest

The Crochet Comeback

Hey there!

I'm finally back with the one thing that this blog was supposed to be about: Crochet! And today I'm going to show you not one, not two, no - I'm going to show you three new WIPs I've got on my hooks!!

Let's start with something that I have already posted on Facebook last week:

I had a whole lot of "likes" for this projects, and I'm glad you all seem to like this pattern as much as I do. It's called "Dots and Dashes Crochet Throw" and it's available as a free download on Red Heart!

The original pattern is for three colors, but I'm using four colors of the fabulous Stylecraft Special DK: Cream, Saffron, Spring Green and Shrimp. Since I'm not planning to make a full-size throw but only a baby blanket, it should be finished pretty soon.

I had started this project with yarn that I already had in my stash, and of course it wasn't enough, so I had to re-order. While waiting, I already started the next blanket with my all-time favorite double-ended crochet pattern that I had already used for my own Magic Blanket and my Mom's Christmas Blanket:

The yarn is Stylecraft Special DK, too, and the colors are Candy Floss and Bright Pink. The reversible effect looks good with these colors, don't you think? I've got the pattern in my "Crochet Master Class" book, but as I had already mentioned the last time I used this pattern, there is a free version on Woman's Day. (But keep in mind, that you need a double-ended crochet hook for this technique!)

And since all good things come in threes, here's my third BIP (Blanket in Progress):

This is a pattern I've been dying to try for a long time! It's a vintage ripple pattern by Churchmouse Yarn and Teas and available for sale on Ravelry. Although I like the pattern a lot, I'm not completely satisfied with my color-choice here: the contrast between Cream and Pomegranate (also Stylecraft DK) looks great, but then I switched to lighter colors (Candy Floss and Sherbet), and I'm not happy with the contrast here at all! I might start this one all over again with different colors, we'll see!

So, now maybe you wonder, why I'm working on three blankets at the same time, but the answer is quite simple: I've finally decided to open my own Etsy-Shop sometime soon, and I need some highlights for the grand opening. Right now I can't tell when I'm going to open the shop, but first I need some more things to fill the shelves, right?

By the way: have you noticed the new design on my blog and Facebook-page? I feel like I needed a new start after several months of crochet abstinence, and a new look is always a good idea. So in case you might have worried that this blog is dead - it's definitely very much alive, and I hope you'll check back soon, to see what else I've got on my hooks... you didn't really think I'm only working on blankets, did you? ;)

Thursday Thoughts

Source: Pinterest

The Thursday Thoughts are back on my blog!

Before I took a longer blog break, this was a regular feature here, usually brought to you by Pinterest. Now imagine my shock when I recently discovered that all my pins that I had embedded here were gone! All-of-them!! And I'm talking about 64 "Thursday Thoughts" posts, plus the wedding preparation posts with pins and several other posts. Everything gone! Obviously Pinterest has changed the way you can embed pins, so yesterday night I've spend several hours to retrieve my lost pins and bring them back to the according post, but I'm not finished by far! But bygones - the Thursday Thoughts are back on the the schedule and in a little while I'll be back with some new crochet, too, so - keep smiling, keep shining! :)

Oh, and before I forget: Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, gracias and merci for all the good wishes to our wedding, both here in the comments and via e-mail. It really warms my heart to see how you all care!! :) <3 <3 <3

Our Wedding Day in Pictures

Today I can finally share the pictures of our Wedding Day. Warning - I couldn't decide which ones to take, so I picked a few more than I had planned! :) So you better make yourself comfortable and get a cup of tea or coffee, I'll be waiting here for you...

(All pictures - if not otherwise declared - are taken by our professional photographer Daniel Kotzsch. The black and white pictures with colored highlights are edited by myself.)

And now back to the 29th of June, 2013...

As I mentioned before, it was raining the morning of our wedding day, so my Dad accompanied me with an umbrella and brought me to John, who was already waiting in the little square in front of the town hall, where we got married. My Dad's words to John were something like "John, may I give you my youngest daughter? Take good care of her!" - I swear that John had tears in his eyes when we met, but he insists it must have been the rain... ;)

In the registry office we said "I do" and sealed our vows with a kiss. It was only the two of us and the close family: my parents, my brother with his wife and sons, and my sister with her boyfriend and her daughter.

Afterwards we walked (still in the rain) to the church, where the rest of the family and all our friends were already waiting, and had our blessing ceremony.

My brother did the reading, we exchanged our rings, a good friend of ours sang two beautiful songs, and we all had a good laugh, when the priest said his wish for me is, that John can dance the Polka as good as himself (referring to a field trip in the 7th grade when he was my teacher in religious education and we danced Polka together). Everyone agreed, that it's been a beautiful ceremony and it didn't matter to anyone, that it wasn't a traditional catholic wedding.

Before we leave the church, let's start with the DIY-part of the wedding, shall we? Here you can see the church programs that we've made ourselves. We even included a little pocket with a tissue on the last page :)

 Here's the candle that my sister-in-law designed and made for us, isn't it gorgeous??

She also painted and decorated the "just married"-sign that embellished the black Cadillac, that John had organized for the wedding. Actually I wasn't supposed to know, but unfortunately John let it slip a few days before the wedding.

(private picture)

Now let's go inside the mill where we had the reception and party, and look at the table decoration. The vases for the simple flowers were jars that we've embellished with yellow ribbons and daisy-shaped buttons.

For the name tags, we've made paper rosettes and glued them to clothespins. Although we hadn't planned it this way, many of the guests were wearing their signs on their dresses and jackets that day. As favors for the guests we had little bags of jelly-beans in different white and yellow flavors, and the closure of the bags were little scalloped circles, stamped with "oh happy day" and embellished with little gems. The menu was printed on wax-paper and wrapped around a glass cylinder with a tea light inside.

We've made some more paper rosettes to tag all the delicious cakes we had, all of which were made by family and friends. My sister-in-law's mother made our wedding cake, isn't it cute? Since John loves to fish, we've picked this original cake topper, with the bride grabbing for the wedding ring on the hook.

Other than the jelly-beans, we also made a CD for our guests, "Mr. & Mrs. Smith - The Soundtrack". Unfortunately you can't see the inside, because the CD is vinyl-style and looks like a record!

A few days before the wedding I've also made some last-minute signs that we put next to the CDs, the guestbook-box (a box with papers, cards, markers, stickers and more) and the bar (for the Cocktail Specials).

We've even placed signs in the bathroom, next to the mirror. The one in the ladies' bathroom, which you see below, says "YOU are the Fairest of them all! And now go back upstairs and have fun!"

(private picture)

Now back to the afternoon coffee. In our region, we don't cut the wedding cake at midnight, but in the afternoon to serve the cake with the coffee.

 

After coffee, the rain had stopped, so we could finally take down the hood of the Caddy and go for a ride to take some amazing pictures:

 Back at the mill we took some more pictures in front of a barn:

 Before dinner was served, John held a touching speech that brought tears to many eyes in the room...

After dinner we danced... we started with a slow waltz to Anne Murray's "Could I have this dance" which cross-faded after the first chorus to Barry Whites "The first, the last, my everything".

Before our photographer called it a day, he took us out to take some more pictures in front of the cloudy evening-sky:

After that, the party went on until four o'clock in the morning. I threw my bouquet, we burned "flying wishpapers", danced some more, had more drinks, played some fun games, and had a great night.

It's been a very special day for us, and we know that it wouldn't have been possible this way without the help of our family, who did everything for us and with us: organizing, shopping, crafting, decorating, printing, baking, shaping the blessing ceremony, and many more favors that I can't think of right now. Although the weather really sucked, the saying is true: "When, at the end of the day, you're married to the love of your life, it's been the perfect wedding!"