Summer Crochet: Elise & I

It’s a fake. But I could not resist when getting off the train this morning.

shawl Elise haekelmonster.comNot the Bahamas, no vacation – Berlin Wannsee, journey to work. And I would only stay long enough for a few pictures (thank you gentle breeze, for your help).

Thereafter, I would stuff the (half way) finished lovely Elise shawl back into my backpack and hurry to work, trying to make up for the quick time-out at the lake.

Filing and bookkeeping are on my desk for today … (ugh!).

Unfortunately, swapping job with the duck was not an option 🙂

wannsee haekelmonster.comWhatever you’re up to: enjoy!

Pentecost

In Germany Pentecost is a holiday. There is Pentecost Sunday and Pentecost Monday. That makes it a three-day weekend and we were very much looking forward to it.

35°C outside (that is 95°F), enough ice cream in the freezer, and my parents visiting made up for J’s root canal treatment (…) on Friday.

It feels like I didn’t knit or crochet that much lately (not to mention my orphaned blog …). Progress is ever so slow … Obviously, when it comes to knitting 35°C is the upper limit (for me). However, I am a lizard – I love the warmth!

An A-shape tunic, made of cotton yarn, is (one of four projects) on my needles right now.

Crochet Bags

Surfing the net, I realized a few days ago that there are some very nice crochet bags out there: very colorful, very fashionable, very useful! And all of a sudden I knew that those little squares (Edie Eckman motiv #88) I have made, were not to become a blanket as intended.

Instead, M and I spent hours trying to arrange some of them according to Inga’s pattern in such a way that same colors do not adjoin … Well, if you look at the final outcome we did not succeed. Yes, it bugs me. No, I won’t undo it. There are enough little squares left to start over and make a second bag 🙂

Crochet Bag

Recently, Juliane too has discovered crochet bags. Here is the bag she made for a little girl. I really like her choice of colors! Pretty in pink 🙂

Crochet Bag Juliane

The swimmer

No! More! Winter! (Please…) I really can’t take it anymore. I am so tired of the cold, the ice, the snow. Especially after spring already showed up. We had sun, we had crocuses, we even had a bit of gardening going on. And now this again. Really?

Of course, from a knitting and crochet point of view, winter has its charms. Cozy projects, warm yarn, all of that. But still. I am seriously longing for daylight and warm weather. Aren’t you? So I decided to take matters into my own hands. If summer won’t come to me, I’ll just “crochet summer” instead.

And here is the result:

Any idea what this might be? It belongs to a gentleman in a blue bathing cap and matching speedo – a swimmer!

Over the years, some of the photos that used to be here got lost – thanks to a total blog crash, a stolen hard drive, and whatever else can possibly happen to images along the way. The same goes for the link to the pattern – it seems the instructions have disappeared from the web as well. If I happen to come across either of them again, I’ll be sure to add them back in. Thanks so much for your understanding.

He is very committed to his look. Very confident. Slightly round in the middle, and perhaps not blessed with the longest legs—but honestly, he owns it. I am quite pleased with how the swimmer turned out.

Especially after I finally managed the floating tire. That part nearly defeated me. I tried again and again. I almost gave up. And then—out of nowhere—it clicked. Like a bolt from the blue. Literally blue, because of the blue cap, of course 🙂

The trick was doing it from the outside toward the inside. Not in rounds like usual. More like an LP record playing, spiraling in toward the center. For anyone who never handled vinyl: yes, that kind of record. Once I figured that out, everything fell into place. The swimmer. The tire. The whole summer scene.

So here they are: the swimmer and his floating tire, fully ready for summer—even if summer is clearly not ready for us yet.

Looks like there are at least two of us now, patiently waiting for warmer days…

Flower Squares

I started these little flower squares back in 2010 – yes, 2010 – and maybe I needed a blog to finally admit it: this will NEVER become a proper blanket. NEVER. Each tiny flower square measures just an inch… so small, so delicate, yet there are so many of them.

But now I’m stuck. What am I actually going to do with them? Turn them into greeting cards? A mini scarf of flower squares? Perhaps a decorative border of some sort? Or maybe, just maybe, stretch them out into a baby blanket, letting the flowers scatter randomly across it? And then there’s the big question: what colors should I use, and how should I arrange them? I honestly have no idea.

So I’m turning to you—what would you do? Suggestions, ideas, or even wild, whimsical plans are all more than welcome!