Thursday Thoughts

I know, I know, I've already posted this last year,

but this is just my favorite Christmas Cartoon:

Meet Rajeswari from "Diaper Mum"

It's the third Sunday in Advent and I'm happy to share with you another guest-post in my "Meet in K-town"-series. Today Rajeswari from Diaper Mum has come all the way from Hong Kong to chat a little about her beautiful blog...

"Thank you dear Barbara for inviting me as a guest in your very creative space @ Made-in-K-Town. It really is a special honor to be writing this for you and all your lovely readers!

My name is Rajeswari and besides being happily married and mom of 2 kids, I own my happy space at “Diapermum”. My home country is India but I live in Hong Kong right now. I used to be a run-off-the-mill IT consultant before I was blessed with my little angel and later on with my charming prince. Crocheting and crafting were my passions since childhood days and being a stay at home mom gave me the perfect oppurtunity to get back to my crafty adventures. Blogging has been my creative outlet and has connected me with so many amazing and talented people from all over the world.

In my little space I share my creations in crochet, paper craft, home decor and general ramblings of a crafty lady.

Through this blog I wish to share some of my own patterns and ideas, free of course. I have found inspiration in so many blogging sites and I try to spread this joy. For me creativity is not a hobby but a way of life! A day is not complete unless I make some mess! Being artistic or even appreciating art is the only thing that makes the human being a superior race and I want my kids to be sensitive to art.

 

Crocheting has always been my first love and a life saver many a days. Some days are not as good as others and those days crochet is the perfect comfort craft to ease away all the blues.

With little ones around and Hong Kong compact living spaces I do not get much time or space for persuing other crafts as much as I like. But I do ocassionally dabble in paper crafting, quilling and general DIYs for home improvement.

So if you are in a mood for some crochet therapy, color riot, paper crafting ideas, child management skills mistakes or just some laughs do stop over @ my blog –Diapermum – A Mum’s Crochet and Crafty space. 

Thank you dear Barbara for bringing us crocheters and crafters together. I had a blast writing this post for you and all your lovely readers! Hope to “meet” you over a good cuppa and some crochet of course and if I may add “We’ll always have YARN!”

Thank you Rajeswari for this sympathetic glimpse into your colorful, crafty world! And one more suggestion to you, dear readers: when you hop over to Diaper Mum, you just have to check out Rajeswari's Giant Granny Patch Blanket - such a beautiful blanket in stunning colors, captured in wonderful pictures!

I asume this was the last guest-post in 2013 - I'd like to thank all my guests this year for coming over and chatting with me, and all my readers for their interest and feedback. I hope that I can lure more guests over to k-town in 2014, and introduce you to some more exciting crochet and craft blogs!

Happy Sunday everyone, and don't forget: Only 9 more days until Christmas!! :) 

Thursday Thoughts

Source: Pinterest

Christmas-Countdown: Only 12 more days!

New Spiral Coasters

Hello, hello!

How are you all doing on this second Sunday in Advent?

Here's a little something I've made from one of my own patterns. Although the Little Spring Mandala seems to be my most popular pattern (and post), I personally like my Spiral Coasters better. They're so quick and easy to make, and so I've made two new sets last week:

It's a set of six coaster, made with different shades of blue, turquoise and green, and so I've called it the "Ocean Breeze" set.

And here's the "Rosegarden" set, made with different shades of red, pink and purple:

Maybe I should have made a yellow one, too (you know, like "The Yellow Rose of Texas"), but then again - not everyone's a fan of Country Music and yellow wouldn't really fit into the Rosegarden-palette. Great, and now I've got Lynn Anderson's "Rosegarden" in my head! I beg your pardon... :)

These Coaster Sets are now available in my Etsy-Shop, but if you'd rather like to make some coasters yourself, you can find the free pattern here. Oh, and if you're looking for more inspiration, I'd suggest you hop over to the Project Gallery on Ravelry and check out all the lovely Spiral Coasters that other users have shared.

Have a wonderful Sunday everyone,









Countdown: only 16 more days until Christmas-Eve! Yes, I love it!! :)

Dots'n'Dashes Baby Throw

Ta-Daaaaaah!

My Dots'n'Dashes Baby Throw is finished! Well, actually it's been finished for quite a while, but it took me forever to take and edit the pictures and to write this post.

I've blogged about the progress with this blanket in another post and had a lot of comments (and Pinterest visitors) for that. Thank you very much! :)

The blanket measures 95 x 100 cm (37"x39") and is made with Stylecraft Special DK, an acrylic yarn. I've used the following colors: Cream, Spring-Green, Shrimp and Saffron. The yarn is available in the UK, but so far I've tried two online-shops that ship overseas as well: Masons and Wool Warehouse.

The Pattern for this Dots'n'Dashes Crochet Throw by Darla Fanton is available as a free download on Red Heart.

The pattern is actually written for three colors, but I've worked with four. Someone asked me in the comments of my previous post, how this pattern works with four colors, so I'll explain here (maybe others are interested, too): The pattern says, you should carry the unused yarn along the edges - this way, when you get to the end of a row, there's always your next yarn already waiting for you, and the color-sequence forms all by itself: ABC-ABC-ABC and so on. When you work with four colors, you also have to carry the unused colors along the edges, and when you reach the end of the row, you sometimes have one color waiting - then take it :). Or you've got two colors waiting: then make a command decision, which color you want to go on with. Working this way, a color-sequence like ABCD-ABCD-ABCD is not possible! (Unless you cut the threads).

In my case, I wanted cream to be the dominating color - so everytime cream was "available" at the end of the row, I took it. This way, I've got cream in every third row, and the rest is just random. :)
For the edging I've used - once more - Lucy's Bobble-Shell Edging as seen on Attic24.

I'm sure this wasn't the last time that I've used this quick, easy and beautiful pattern! The only thing I would change is the first row of the edging: I've found that the whole blanket curls a bit, so next time I'll try with some decreases here and there. For now I just pretend that the ruffles are intended :)

This blanket is for sale in my Etsy-Shop now. It's beautiful for both little boys and girls :)

I hope there'll be a little sunshine tomorrow, so I can finally take picture of all my other finished items and show them here. Oh - and if you're looking for some last-minute Christmas inspiration, please check out the new linkparty at The Crochet Boulevard, with Christmas and Winter goodies all through the month of December!

Have a great Winter-Weekend everybody!

Thursday Thoughts

Source: Pinterest