gehäkelt Archive - Seite 10 von 19

Crochet for Kidney Research

Veröffentlicht am 21. Oktober 201310. Juli 2020 von Carina2 Kommentare

„So how is this supposed to work? Will all of us be working on the very same blanket?“ was one of the main questions when I started introducing German crocheters to the idea of a baby blanket CAL. Consequently, „who gets to have it in the end“ was among those questions too.

Now, as the CAL is up and going, everyone knows that they are working on their very own blankets but somehow the idea of several people working on the same blanket stuck with me. And all of a sudden I realized that this is exactly what Natasja over at crochettime has been asking for since early September. I have been following Natasja and her blog for quite some time and still I failed to notice several of her posts on Crochet for Kidney Research …. Skimming over the wordpress reader I took all those pretty squares she has been posting lately for parts of a blanket she is working on herself. Mistake!

Fortunately, there are about 20 days left and I’ll do my best to make up for it!

Here’s the story behind, copied from Natasja’s blog:

„Why Kidney Research UK: My husband, John, met someone who suffered from full kidney failure a year ago. Pieter had been on dialysis for 4 years and on the Organ Donor’s List. John was so moved by his suffering and story, that he decided he would donate one of his kidneys to him. Over the months of compatibility tests they became the best of friends, during which time we learnt that they were a very good match. The transplant operation was on 27. November 2012 and went extremely well. John’s donation also made history by being the first directed altruistic organ donation in the UK. It’s now 9 months later and they are both in very good health. Pieter wants to pay it forward and recently became a Board Member of the Kidney Research UK “Making EVERY Kidney Count“ appeal. Pieter has committed to raise £150,000 over three years. I want to help him in the only way I know how: crochet.“

Natasja wants to make blankets for dialysis patients and needs our help. Those blankets shall be made from squares that are supposed to look like this:

„Any design of square, as long as it’s close to 15cm squared and you stick to shades of purple and white (as these are the official colors of Kidney Research UK). Please do not use wool as it may shrink or felt when the recipients wash their blankets on a too warm wash. Acrylics and cottons are best.“ (See her ravelry group for even more information).

All had in my stash was two purple cotton balls that I would use to immediately start my first squares. So far it’s looking good and I think I’ll manage to make at least another three tonight.

Now, why don’t you join in too? Once you’re done you may want to register here to get Natasja’s address. There are so many crocheters out there – we should be able to provide Natasja with the squares for at least one blanket, don’t you think?

Have a great week!

A German CAL

Veröffentlicht am 19. Oktober 201310. Juli 2020 von Carina6 Kommentare

Hooray! I finished both blankets last night! The acrylic blanket measures 42″ x 42″; the sock yarn blanket is almost twice as big: 44″ x 70″ and I am perfectly happy with both of them. Looks like the smaller one will be for a baby in Washington (as planned), whereas the sock yarn blanket gets to stay with us. At least for now :). I have been crocheting those blankets since June 1 and – believe it or not – I am still excited, hooked, and determined to start over and make another.

This time it will be different though as I designed my own blanket together with Jessica (over at schoenstricken.de)! It is made of cotton yarn in rainbow colors and will have the size of a baby blanket (27″ x 35″) once it is done. And with Christmas approaching at an alarming rate (…) we decided to serialize the pattern as a German CAL.

The whole thing was triggered off in summer when I introduced the idea of a CAL to Jessica’s readers as a guest blogger. CALs are not very popular in Germany (yet!), but the feedback we received on that blog post was tremendous. Shortly after, we started to meet once the week. I would crochet while Jessica would take pictures and slowly but steadily a colorful „beginner blanket“ would emerge.

Neither Jessica nor I have any intentions to reinvent the wheel. That is to say, the patterns I use have been used before. Some of them I learned with Hannah. Others are taken from books or the net. However, the composition is totally ours and we love it.

Tonight we posted the first 10 rows. I have not been that excited since waiting for a test to be returned in school. Fortunately, all comments are positive throughout!! And I am very much looking forward to next Friday and the next 10 rows … 🙂

Crocheted Daisy

Veröffentlicht am 18. Oktober 201310. Juli 2020 von Carina5 Kommentare

Knitted Art presented Cherry Heart’s lovely crocheted Daisies and I had to make one on the spot. Lazy (and impatient …) as I can be, I used yarn and hook that were closest to me.

Well, this first little flower didn’t turn out as „bumpy“ and haptic as the ones Sandra made (plus, it looks like a fried egg) so I may have to give it some more thought. My guess would be that (1) the crochet hook I used is too thin or (2) cotton is not the best choice of yarn (too „stiff“). Still, it’s a pretty little flower. I will definitely make more and post better pictures within the next days.

Crochet Bracelets

Veröffentlicht am 3. Oktober 201310. Juli 2020 von Carina

Today, I was in no mood to work on my WIPs. It feels like I have been crocheting blankets f-o-r-e-v-e-r and even though it’s getting pretty cold over here (at least for me) I really wanted to do something else. Something easy. Something fast.

So to get around the blankets I started making crochet bracelets instead, while using the blankets patterns (what a tricky thing to do – don’t you think? :)). The only suitable yarn I had was RedHeart Cotton Yarn („Miami„) in weird colors and it turned out to be perfect. As always, J would model for me.

Here the bracelets come:

The star stitch (pale yellow), the popcorn stitch (blue), popcorn stitch with beads (pale yellow), and bobbles (pink). Later, I would make another bracelet with the star stitch, as I didn’t like the first one all that much (but J did, so I wasn’t supposed to unravel it …)

I would make a purple one, that goes twice around the wrist, with only chain stitches (and slip stitches in the 2nd row). In fact, I might try this in green with little leaves and a crochet flower instead of a button.

However, my favorite is the popcorn stitch bracelet without the beads.

Any other suggestions anyone?

The YarnCamp 2013

Veröffentlicht am 18. September 201310. Juli 2020 von Carina10 Kommentare

Last weekend I almost ended up not participating in the YarnCamp 2013. Work had been lunatic. I was tired, stressed, and in no travelling mood (to say the least). But isn’t it true that the less you feel about doing something the better it usually turns out to be? Already the 5-hour-train ride to Frankfurt was fabulous. I sat next to the window and spent my time day dreaming or knitting or both. So when getting into Frankfurt I was perfectly relaxed and ready for the adventure awaiting me.

And – against all odds – the YarnCamp was wonderful!

Do you ever knit or crochet in public?To be honest: I don’t. Somehow it seems to embarrass me. Now try to imagine how I felt to be in a room with about 80 people – female (90%) and male (10%) – with almost everyone click-clacking away with their knitting needles (I love that sound :)) or crocheting along, while listening, discussing, or chatting with one another. Some would change rooms while knitting, others would display their beautiful work carried along in suitcases. Trust me, it took me a while to become an active part of the greater whole – but I finally managed to work on a pair of wrist warmers while there.

Do you have a smartphone? Well, I don’t (I am a dinosaur – I know …) and I guess that made me the only one among all YarnCamp participants. The use of smartphones was almost as excessive as everyone’s handling with yarn. They would twitter and take pictures, check ravelry or network with one another, comment on facebook or read each other’s blog posts. Those who weren’t knitting were online and vice versa.

Right from the start, we were encouraged to present a session or otherwise contribute to the event. And when in no time 18 sessions were defined and written down to structure the day, I was deeply impressed by the responsibility and passion of participants turned into lecturers. After all, most of us had never taken part in a BarCamp before and were (more or less) used to passive ex-cathedra teaching rather than active discussions.

In the course of the day, I would learn about Kaffe Fassett’s knitting (blog post to come), and about how to become an author (eventually). I would finally understand how to use twitter and got the chance to participate in a lively debate on how to write the perfect pattern.

In between sessions we would not only admire each other’s work but exchange patterns and pieces of advice. I very much enjoyed getting to know Mienchen, Claudia, and Pia (watch out for her homepage Akizu that is soon to be out :)), just to mention a few. Seeing Frau Elise in person after reading her blog for quite a while was a pleasant surprise and participating in David’s session made me want to write a blog post about him and his work (see above). The ladies at dye for yarn do an incredible job not only in dying yarn but turning it into the most beautiful lace shawls and the ocean colored patchwork blanket I saw will hopefully inspire me to actually work with my stash.

Generous sponsors, showering us with yarn, knitting needles, magazines, and even books spoiled us endlessly. A splendid buffet, excellent coffee, and delicious smoothies added to our comfort. Like I mentioned before: the YarnCamp was AMAZING and beyond all (my) expectations.

Last but not least, the yarn camp organizers, Rebekka, Sara, Romy and Lutz, did a tremendous job in taking care of everything, from concept to event, before, during, and after the YarnCamp. Thanks a MILLION! I sure hope to see you again in 2014!

not mine - I took the train — not mine – I took the train

the wrist warmers I made while there, blue & silver (doesn't show) — the wrist warmers I made while there, blue & silver (doesn’t show)