Exciting news!

Hello, you lovely people, long time no see – I sincerely hope you’re all doing well!

I can’t believe it’s been three whole months since I last wrote a blog post; I’ve honestly missed blogging, and it sure feels great to be back here.
It must not have gone unnoticed that my summer break turned out to be a rather lengthy one. The funny thing is, it was all but a “break”: I honestly don’t think I’ve ever crocheted as much as I did in these past months.

You see…… I’ve been asked to write a crochet book, and that’s all that has been on my mind and desk this summer!
Late May I was contacted by a publisher whether I’d be interested to make a crochet book with them. Needing hardly any time to think about the fab opportunity they offered, soon enough I was on my way designing and crocheting to my heart’s content, all projects for my own book. A book that will have an isbn connected to my name: wow, how awesome is that?
The book will have a nice mix of projects for the home, as well as pretties to wear, and will be released internationally (in English) next Spring.
Almost all designs are ready: crocheted, their patterns written, charts drawn, and photos taken. Right now it’s all about testing, re-testing, crocheting projects in different colors and yarn, in short: adding the ever so important finishing touches.
Even though I’m close to the finish line, I still need to pinch myself regularly to realize, that, yes, it’s true: next Spring will see the publication of my very first crochet book!
All kinds of exciting, really!

This – of course – is the main reason why I’ve been extremely silent here and on other social media, and I’m delighted I can finally share my happy news with you.
Unfortunately I still can’t show a whole lot – a sneak peek here and there will be all, I’m afraid. But at least there’s an explanation for my absence (thank you, you sweet peeps for checking in to see whether I was okay), and the ongoing recycling of old work on my Instagram and Facebook.

Within the next couple of weeks I’ll start my “Treasury Tuesday”-posts again, and I’ll share the projects that I’ve made for CraftKitchen during the past couple of months (including the English translation of those patterns/diy’s), for instance the dream catcher you see in this post (↑), the cute knitted slippers (↓), and my latest, a felt Fall/Halloween-garland (↓

As I said, I’ve missed my blog (and YOU, my lovely readers) and I’m looking forward to spending time here again!
See you soon,

love,
Marianne xx

Follow-up Friday – Shawls

It’s Friday, I have finished projects to show you, and that’s all we need for a new “Follow-up Friday”-post, isn’t it?
Come to think of it: I have a couple of other things that I’d love to share with you too, so here goes!

My finished products are two shawls, that I’ve been working on over the past few weeks. I’ve only just noticed they have two things in common: they’re both patterns from talented Maaike, and they’ve both been made using – beautiful, as always – Lana Grossa yarns. Quite the coincidence!

The first one is the burgundy shawl, knitted after Maaike’s “Omslagdoek”-pattern from her latest book, “Hollands Welgaren”.
A very easy knit – very relaxing to do – that ended up as a wonderfully soft, warm and comfy shawl, thanks to the gorgeous Lana Grossa Lala Berlin, ánd my blogging friend & colleague Janneke (who graciously gifted me the yarn).
And isn’t that maRRose-leather label from “Mez11” the perfect finishing touch?

The second one is the “Zomersjaal” from Maaike’s first book, “Puurhaken”, crocheted with my beloved Lana Grossa 3Cento. Even though the colors of this particular 3Cento are very autumnal, and the pattern’s called “summer shawl”, I think they’re a pretty good match.
I absolutely love this design, and I’ve crocheted it many times already, as the photo collage below shows.

Other projects in queue are the “Rustic Lace Square”-blanket (only two squares added since my last update), a new cushion cover, and a new “thing” (bag? cushion cover? baby blanket?).

The new cushion cover is made of crochet diamonds, that have little hearts in a different color; they are the result of some doodling away with hook and yarn :)
I’m joining my diamonds with black, and I love how this makes the colors pop!
I’m assuming the cushion will be ready for its own “ta-dah” next week.

The new “thing” simply had to be started, when I came across these 5 patterns, that came as an extra with last year’s October/November-issue of the Dutch “Simply Haken” (also published in issue 33 of “Simply Crochet”).
I had already seen wonderful examples of this Susan Kennedy-design  – for instance on Dorien’s ig-account, here and here -, and could not resist the urge to give it a try myself.
I loved the black and white, but love the splash of bright pink mixed in even more …..
And then one with all bright colors, oh yum!
Last Friday I attended another fantastic crochet party – organised by Karin and Atty, in a wonderful, and a bit eclectic venue called “Blijburg”. This fun restaurant can be found right on the outskirts of a rather new residential area in Amsterdam, “IJburg”.

“IJburg” is built following the Dutch policy of reclaiming land from the sea, and sits on the edge of the “IJsselmeer”.
Even though the weather was grey and gloomy, this morning amongst some 20 happy crocheters could not have been more colorful and bright: we all had a blast!
So much so, that I not only did not crochet one stitch, but had no time to take any pictures once the party got started either …..

Back home, I quickly prepared Saturday’s dessert, an old favorite. I promised on IG to share the recipe on the blog, so here it is (it’s in Dutch, but I’ve used Google Translate, and much to my surprise: I think this should work pretty well).
Saturday was spent with my parents – touring the area I grew up in, lunch in my hometown.
The day ended with a nice dinner date with friends at our place. Chapeau to my sweet husband for preparing a wonderful risotto&salmon meal.
Then Sunday morning I had brunch with one of my dearest friends – a belated birthday gift from her, and after so much excitement, crochet is all I could do for the rest of that Sunday – as you may well understand ;)

This weekend looks a bit less crowded, but just as fun (mother-in-law coming over for dinner tonight, attending a Jazz festival tomorrow), and I sure hope your weekend will be at least equally nice!

Love,
Marianne xx

Follow-up Friday

This past week I’ve been putting the finishing touches on what I think is my very last “Follow-up Friday”-project.
It’s hard to believe I’ve actually finished those 13 neglected, half or even less than half ready works in progress, even if it took me 6 months to do this.

While doing the “Follow-up Friday”-stuff, I even worked on a lot of other projects in these months as well (I’m still easily side-tracked…….). And they too – much to my surprise – have been finished!

It all started with this blog post in July …….
So, at the beginning of this new year, a “Follow-up Friday” overview seems to be in place, and since it’s looking to be a lengthy one – you might want to sit back, relax, grab yourself a tea or coffee – here we go!

1. Crochet Mood Blanket 2014
Started in January 2014, finished at the end of September 2015 …..2. Bétaille Blanket
First little squares were crocheted in May 2014, the blanket was finally finished late August 2015.
3. Blue Socks
These blue socks were my 4th pair ever – finished in July – and I couldn’t love them more.
4. Harlequin Blanket
Along the way, I decided not to continue with this project; I did not like the yarn with which I crocheted the little diamonds. Still loving a harlequin blanket, so I’m sure I’ll make one sometime.
5. Rustic Lace Square Blanket
Oops…… another one NOT finished …..
Since I’ve decided this is going to be a big blanket/bed spread, covering our 220×240 cm lits jumeaux (twin beds), it will be my “on going” project. I’ll need 110 squares and have 28 finished and joined ones, 3 finished yet not joined squares, plus 12 hearts.
My goal is to complete it during 2016!
6. The Simply Crochet Granny Squares
This is the wip I’m almost done with; first two rows of the border have been added, and I’m sure I’ll have it ready over the weekend. It was not that I didn’t want to wrap this one up – it’s just that I couldn’t come up with whát to do with the 29 squares that were issued in the app. And then they almost all had a different size ….. Thinking back to my “Homely Blanket”, I decided the only way to go was to make them all the same size, and take it from there. A baby/crib blanket is what it’s going to be.
After much deliberation (again…) I went for black as my joining color – a rather bold choice, but I really like how it’s turning out!
7. Triangle Cushion Cover
I’m sure you know how much I adore geometric crochet, and I loved crocheting my “Candy Cushion”!
8. Summer Shawl
The Summer Shawl ended up as my “Les Tourettes Shawl”, after the little French village where I crocheted the bigger part of it. It also led to two new cushion covers, ánd a new granny square design, my “Abby”.
9. Potholders for my mom
These were a reasonably quick and fun make. I love noticing how they’re really being used too!
10. The “No-Name-Yet”-shawl
It ended up as the “Rosebud Shawl”, after the little buds in the border. Designing this border definitely made up for the boring part of crocheting the body of the shawl. It’s soft and comfy, and I love wearing it!
11. Bridal Shawl no. 1
I so like seeing the new “mrs” for whom I crocheted this shawl wear it all the time – it’s wonderful when our work is being appreciated, isn’t it?
12. Bridal Shawl no. 2
The “Love&Kisses”-shawl is one of my absolute favorites – ever! I simply love everything about it: the pattern, the lacy border, the wonderful yarn, the color, and last but not least: the fact that it was a present for a friend who got married.
13. Special Shawl no. 3
This was a very special shawl indeed, the “Moya Star Shawl”! Asked by my sweet friend Heike, to test her lovely pattern (and translate it into Dutch), using some gorgeous Moya yarn – a very enjoyable project.
Now, this “Follow-up Friday”- journey was fun…… However, I think I’ll stay away from collecting too many wips in the future, even though I know how tough this will be!

Have a great weekend!
Love,
Marianne xx

Follow-up Friday

It’s been a busy old week, and as far as working on the wip-list it was a good week too!

Carter’s still in Canada with my in-laws – after a last medical check-up late yesterday, we’re finally allowed/able to bring him back home. My husband is flying out tomorrow to pick him up, and if everything goes according to schedule, they’ll both be back in Amsterdam next Wednesday. We cannot wait to have him home again and take-over the – beyond excellent – special care from our in-laws.

So apart from being busy with the things that were going on regarding Carter, I’ve mainly been “Crafting as Therapy”, and not just crocheting and knitting as a mad woman, trying to finish my old wips.
As I told you last week, I had the privilege to moderate the “Craft as Therapy” Instagram account this week and I have thoroughly enjoyed doing this!
Going through the “Craft as Therapy”-gallery (over 8000 posts!) has been nothing short of a tremendous pleasure – there’s an unbelievable amount of gorgeous projects living under this hashtag. The really hard part, of course, was that I was only able to choose a limited amount of projects for my daily posts.

I also enjoyed looking for quotes, and my first quote-post simply had to be this one: so true!
Due to my own “craft as therapy”, I’m able to tell you I’ve finished my blue socks! As you can see at the top of this post, I now have a short stack of self knitted happy socks and I’m pleased as punch! Who would have thought when I blogged about my first pair of knitted socks?
I also made great progress on the black shawl, the body of which is finished now too. I’m happy to move on to the real fun part of this particular wip: the border. I’ve picked my main colors and have made a small start.
In addition to this, I’m half way through a special project that’s a new design collaboration between Wollsinn and Made with Loops to be launched in September – very proud to be part of the tester team. There’s one big disadvantage …… I can’t show you the project involved…… well, maybe just a few teaser photos …..
What I am able to show you, is the gorgeous yarn I’m working with on this project: 100% organic Moya yarn.
You can find out more on this fabulous yarn and its origin here, and where to buy here.
Wishing you a wonderful, craft filled weekend!
Love,
Marianne xx

Works in Progress – introducing “Follow-up Friday”

A big decision has been made here at “maRRose – CCC-headquarters” ;) …….
The inspiration for it comes from one of my favorite crocheters/bloggers, the crochetastic and very lovely Janneke (her blog: JipbyJan).
Janneke is about to embark on a tremendous adventure – she’s following her heart and is going to write a book!
In order to clear her mind, so that she can fully concentrate on writing this book, she made a point of finishing all her crochet wip’s beforehand.
Smartly, she shared this on social media, to make us all her partners in crime and this worked really well – her list is pretty much done!

And I plan on doing the exact same thing, finish all my wip’s that is (and share the progress – or should I say process – on social media, scary)!
Not helping is the fact that I’ve been asked to crochet three shawls since I made the decision to do this ……. but let’s just count these in and add them to the wip-list.

Every Friday I’ll give you an update here on the blog – that should keep me out of trouble and focused, right? – keep an eye out for “Follow-up Friday”!
So …. to get to the bottom of this – these are my wip’s:

1. Crochet Mood Blanket 2014
Started on January 1, 2014, diary kept until October 2, 2014, squares crocheted until June 12, 2014 – lastly joined in February, 2014. I’ve counted: there’s 104 rectangular squares that still need to be joined….. 2. Bétaille Blanket
Started during last year’s Yoga Retreat in Les Tourettes, worked on during the 2014 Summer – these tiny squares (pattern: “Springtime Throw” by Nicki Trench) have been sitting in this box for months ….. 3. Blue Socks
Instagram tells me I worked on them for the last time 15 weeks ago – since they’re my third pair ever, I’m anxious to see if I still know how to knit them ……. 4. Harlequin Blanket
I started crocheting these colorful diamonds when I began my “Tulip Blanket” – the latter has been finished for quite some time now – the colorful diamonds must feel a bit neglected. Since there’s only 16 of them, I doubt they can be considered a serious wip….. 5. Rustic Lace Blanket
This is actually the second wip, that’s not really part of this list and I’m not kidding.
Right at the start of this project, I decided that this would my on-the-side-long-term-blanket – just saying, haha….. I’ve recently done the math and at this stage I’ve made 24 squares and “only” need another 86 for this blanket to be big enough to live on our kingsize bed.
A tutorial on how to join these squares as you go can be found here, btw. 6. The Simply Crochet Granny Squares
Started at the end of May, 2014 when the Simply Crochet Granny Square App was issued, I diligently made one square a week. “Bessie” and “Myrtle” were the last ones I made. Four more squares were issued under the app and apparently that was it as far as Simply Crochet Magazine was concerned. No updates in the app since November, 2014 – too bad.
Anyway, I have 29 squares so far and have to decide what to do with them. Any ideas? Cushion cover? Baby blanket? 7. Triangle Cushion Cover
I love making these cushion covers (as you can see here) and right after I had finished my third (fourth?) one, I had an idea to simplify joining the triangles and loved these colors so much, that I started a next one. Now this one is a long way off the finish line ….. 8. Summer shawl
This summer shawl has been finished for quite some time now and I’ve actually worn it a few times already (and love it). I just need to write down the pattern of the square I came up with, take some pretty pictures and blog about it …… 9. Potholders for my mom
One of the presents I got my mother for her birthday was a gift certificate, saying I would crochet her some potholders and she were to pick out the design and colors. Now her birthday was April 19th, so it’s about time I get these done! 10. The No-Name-Yet Shawl
When I last visited “Wolplein”, I picked out this lovely “Lanagrossa – 365 Cotone”. I’m crocheting a shawl in a pretty basic stitch and have some exciting plans to spruce it up, once the body of the shawl is done. 11. Bridal Shawl no. 1
One of my very dear friends is getting married in August and she has asked me to crochet her not one, but two shawls to go with the two dresses she’ll be wearing during this special and festive day. I feel very honored and happy to have been given this unique assignment, and I’ll make sure to stich a whole lot of love into these shawls!
One of the dresses is an off-white / beige, the fabric looking like it’s a very fine knit – a thin golden thread woven into it.

We quickly agreed that this King Kole Shiny DK Earthy was the perfect yarn for this dress and my friend loved the “Summer Shawl”-pattern from the “Puur Haken”-book by Maaike van Koert. She asked me to adjust the triangle shape of the design and liked the “Two Tone”-shawl‘s shape, a wonderful design by Saskia Laan / “Haken bij Saar en Mien”. I’m one skein into this one and (after trying 3 different hook sizes) am finally happy with the way it looks – waiting for more yarn to arrive!

12. Bridal Shawl no. 2
The second shawl will be the one to go with the beautiful bright red dress my friend will be wearing during the big party in the evening. It has a few vaguely shaped flowers on the front in two more bordeaux-red colors.
Last week we went to “Echtstudio” to pick out exactly these colors and to have them make a “Colortwist” for us. Visiting “Echtstudio” is always a real treat, this time no exception!                    

Thanks to Kim and Christa for helping us in the excellent way they did (Kim even gave my friend a quick “learn-to-crochet” workshop!).
The pattern that Natja picked out is this one – a free Redheart-pattern, link here – and I’m happy with the test swatch I made (cotton, unblocked). I can’t wait to start this one! 13. Special Shawl no. 3
I’ve been asked by another dear friend and crochet-buddy to crochet a shawl in a pattern that she recently designed for a particular kind of yarn. Both pattern and yarn are to die for! Will definitely share as soon as I can!

I’m trying very hard to not feel totally overwhelmed and disheartened at the end of this post – it’s a long list, isn’t it?
Well, I’m just going to work my way through it, one step (or should I say stitch) at a time, hoping for some cheering on from you lovely people …..

Love,
Marianne xx

Treasury Tuesday

Of course I’ve seen fellow crocheters/knitters using yarn bowls, but I do not own one myself …… yet. I do see how practical they can be, although I have to admit that my trusty yarn winder does the practical trick pretty well too.
However, some of them are simply so beautiful, that this could easily be the sole reason to buy such a bowl.

Searching Etsy for handsome yarn bowls, I decided that this maker was going to be one of my two weekly favorites, even before I had finished making the list.
I simply love all her work – and how smart is that handle?
As is the case every week – I know, it’s a tough job, but someone’s gotta do it ;) – it was not easy to narrow things down to just two favorites, but the simplicity of my second favorite made me decide for the “wool”-bowl.

Do you use a yarn bowl? And what’s your favorite?

Have a happy week – filled with lots of yarn time!

Love,
Marianne xx

A Sentimental Sock Story

As the lovely people who follow me on Instagram en Facebook have already seen: I’ve been knitting my first pair of socks and I’ve been ridiculously excited about it.

It started when I saw a sock knitting workshop being announced on Echtstudio’s Facebook page, and I signed up for it immediately.
This particular workshop was divided up in two sessions, in between which you were asked to do some considerable knitting at home.

Right during the first lesson – taught by very lovely and fabulous teacher Ina – I realised why I like(d) crochet (much ….) better than knitting.
First of all, and this is a bit of a catch 22, I’m a much more experienced crocheter than I’m a knitter. And secondly, dropping stitches like you can (and will) while knitting just scares the bejeezus out of me ……
I feel (or felt, I should say at this stage) extremely more in charge when I’m using my hook, as opposed to using two to five (!) knitting needles.
The whole key to this is – of course – experience.

Well, thanks to all the knitting during, in between and after my lessons, experience is exactly what I have gotten and yes, some experience indeed makes all the difference!
By doing, making mistakes, learning from these and – finally – getting it right is the only way to go. Let’s face it: it was the way I went learning how to crochet too.
The start of the sock(s) and turning the heel (so intimidating) was all done during the workshop sessions. All I needed to do at home was finishing my socks off by knitting the toes.
Yes, well ….. that took me three tries …..on just my first sock …..
Apparently I’m the kind of person who can’t/won’t stop doing what she already suspects is totally wrong, because when trying to figure out how to knit the toe, the thought “oh, this sock looks a bit too small” really did cross my mind.

I was so focused though on getting all the decreases right in the right places – fiddly stuff working with 5 needles – that I simply continued. I ended up having a first sock – that did not look all too bad – but that did not fit my foot….. argh.

Googling brought me to the “life line” trick and this is what I did while un-knitting the toe part. By that time I searched some more and found helpful video’s (here and here). My second attempt failed alltogether, but as we all know “third time’s a charm” and with a sigh of relief I tried my first knitted sock ever on: perfect fit! Proud moment, I can assure you!

I could not wait to finish the second one – just for fear I would mess this one up too, but no, this time I zoomed right through all tricky areas, including the toe knitting part and finally had a pair of home knitted socks, yay!
During this whole process I kept asking myself why I wanted to learn to knit socks as much as I did/do? I honestly think it has to do with my mom’s mother, my grandmother Marie, who – for as long as I can remember – was always knitting socks. No fancy socks, nor just for fun or because she liked doing this so much – no she (born in 1900) knitted them out of necessity.

However she never stopped doing so – not even when there was no necessity to knit them anymore.
Even in her late 70’s she would ask us, her grandchildren, if we wanted some of her knitted “geitenwollen sokken” (woolly socks in English) – one of my cousins and I were her best customers!

This, and having seen my own mother Lien – now 83 years old – knit, sew, cross stitch, embroider, crochet and patchwork all my life has definitely instilled the desire to create in me – something I’m so very grateful for.

She too – growing up as a teenager during The Second World War, hád to knit socks; the craft having been passed on to her by her mother, my sock knitting grandmother Marie.
This photo shows both of them: my mom Lien holding a picture of my oma Marie.

I do have some recollection of me learning to knit using 4 needles in primary school, and my mom helping me coming to grips with sock knitting, but that never resulted in anything useful.

It’s a bit sentimental, but I feel I’ve come full circle in that I’m now able to do what I’ve always admired my oma and mom doing. Also I think it’s nice and important to preserve and pass on crafty things, even if they’re old-fashioned like knitting your own socks. And last but not least: it is plain fun to do – just browsing sock yarn (here, here and here) makes me all giddy.

It’s too early to state I have developed a new addiction, but I have started my second pair of socks ……

Love,
Marianne