distraction #1 or how I design #3

Okay I can't fokus on anything else at the moment so let me get this out of my head first. Maybe I can finally find some space in my head to concentrate on the last update of Klaras pattern then.

Mmh, where do I start, probably at the beginning. Over Christmas holidays I finally had some time to read through my blog roll. There was quite a bit piled up there because of the advent calendar. But what I found in my blog roll was all sorts of really beautiful crochet. Like this scarf here out this 'blanket' or this. And of course there was pinterest too! Oh dear there is so much gorgeous crochet already pinned there! So a little voice inside me started whispering .. Let's make a new blanket .. And I came across ripple blankets. And then I remembered a picture I had seen on instagram a while ago. It showed a ripple blanket with a slightly different pattern, kind of like this stone floor here

And so I couldn't help anymore, I NEEDED to make a blanket. A ripple blanket. A slightly off patterned ripple blanket. I had a plan.

Last weekend me and two friends went to Hamburg. I originally planned to only buy yarn for a new hat for my boyfriend and ended up buying yarn for my new blanket and the hat, and a little linen, a wonderful dark gray, just in case (one can never have enough yarn..)

And then I sat down on my sofa and started working on the design for my blanket. In the picture below you can see some of the progress. I first started to experiment a little with sc and dc to mimic the effect of the stone floor above. The instagram picture was still very present. But I didn't really like the outcome and couldn't see the pattern look awesome the size of a whole blanket. So I googled. And came across wave patterns. It hit me. This was how I wanted my blanket to look like. And picture 2 to 6 below show the progress. First it was a bit too edgy, so I made the curve softer. And a few trials later I had the basic pattern for my blanket.

I casted on, very roughly eyeballing. After three rows I could estimate the real width I'd end up with. Way too long (2.4m) .. I frogged

And now three seven days of sketching, researching, designing, crocheting and frogging later I can start started over again, test the pattern I've written down and make my Baltic Ripple Blanket .. I feel happy (you also can tell by the striked words, how much I really can't fokus on anything else...)

Diana

Giveaway winner and Happy New Year

first a Happy New Year!!!! and let me catch up here. I've been totally distracted by beads and new yarn throughout the last couple days, I've made a whole new bead crocheted necklace, but that's another post.

First things first the WINNER of the Giveaway!!!

Melissa, I've contacted you on your G+ profile, send me your address and you'll receive a sweet little package soon :)

so long, hugs, Diana

oh yeah

First of all, Christmas was wonderful. I got to spent a lot of time with my boyfriend, his family and my brother. We had full tummies all the time and the decoration did it's best to spread a jolly mood on everyone. I hope you got to spend a great time too.

And then holy moly! Pinterest! I just discovered this cool thing! It might be a old book for you but it's a whole new world for me!

I never really understood why one should use pinterest. All I saw were pinned pictures, no source, just the picture, so why should one save a picture? a single picture? my PC could just bookmark the page instead. Obviously I was wrong, completely wrong.
I just was never lucky enough to find something through google that lead me to pinterest that actually had a source linked to it. But what I know now is, MOST things on there are linked just fine. I just never knew how to use it. The last big dissapointment was this lovely brooch:

I've fell in love with it when searching for inspiration for my first granny blanket. This flower made me nervous. It's so marvelous but a pattern was nowhere to be found. Meanwhile I've tracked down this lovely brooch to the original creator (the picture should lead you back to her flickr page) and I made a blanket with a dahlia granny square, so no more trouble there. But sill this brooch wants to be made by me. I want to try to find out the pattern myself, it shouldn't be too hard, but it will take a few tries and a couple of errors. But that's just fine for me.

But the point of this post wasn't drooling about the flower brooch, it was pinterest is soooo cool. I've spent way too much time over christmas procrastinating over there. Started too many boards already and searched through too many boards of others
you might have noticed I've also added the 'pin it' button to my blog just before christmas as well, so it's easier now for you to pin my stuff directly from the blog if you want to

take care, I hope you're feeling well and your new years party won't be too strong for you ^__^ Diana

window #24

we're wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

window #23

Give-Away-Time!

Today you can win this beautiful hat hand-knit by me. It fits an adults head easily. It's made from a soft yet sturdy merino. No itchiness, just joy. I made one for myself as well and I'm giving one to you. (just in case you didn't knit one yourself already).

all you have to do is post a comment below. All comments before New Years will count. I'll pick a random winner by hand on first of January and announce the winner. Everyone can enter, from all around the globe, I'll ship internationally.
So, just leave a comment with your thoughts of joy and merriness and season greetings. I'd love this day to be full of fun.

hohohodiho hugs, Diana

window #22

Christmas time is one of my favorite times of year, it's full of love and peace and quiet and good food and family and friends.

Christmas time is also the time of giving.
in todays window I will be gifting you the joy of giving
as from today until the 26th of December 2013 (23.59 GMT) you can get all my patterns for 50 % off!
All you need to do is enter the code tistheseason while check out on ravelry. You can find an overview of all my patterns above in the top-tabs.
Below you can see an example picture of the shopping progress through my blog. I've made dots below the "enter coupon code" section. Just enter tistheseason there and you will get 50 % off.

Of course you can use this code on my ravelry store as well. I hope you enjoy my gift and you can make a few amigurumis for your loved one for the holidays. Last minute gifting is the best,
I'm going Christmas gift shopping now as well, hugs Diana

window #21

oh these cookies will make your hearts melt! I should have posted them a lot earlier!

They look like nothing, plain, simple, even boring. But the taste - oh the taste, if you like vanilla, these will be your liking!

_________

Vanilla Thaler

250 g butter
1-2 vanilla beans
300 g sugar
375 g all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 large egg

in a pan melt and slowly brown the butter. This will take about 15 minutes, so don't rush. Now pour butter through a sifter and let cool a little.
Cut the vanilla lengthwise and scrape the seeds into the cooling butter. When the butter is firm again add sugar and whisk for 5 minutes until it's white and creamy.
Mix flour and baking powder and add to the butter-mix. Also add the egg and mix well until a dough starts to form.
Put dough on plastic wrap, form rolls of about 3cm / 1.25 inches n diameter and let cool in fridge for 2 hours. (over night is fine too).
cut rolls and place cookies on a baking sheet. Bake in pre-heated oven for 14 minutes at 180°C.
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[in the picture below I used my 1 teaspoon scoop to form single portions, which I then rolled between my palms into balls and pressed down a little with my thumb. The rest went into the fridge and later onto the baking sheet]
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let cool on rack and enjoy!!

season greetings, Diana