Follow-up Friday – “Rico Bobble Granny Square”-cushion

It’s a bit tumultuous in the Dekkers household at the moment (not all bad, but not all good either, a perfect reflection of that thing we call ‘life”), and once again I’m very happy to have a go-to-hobby that has proven to be such a great de-stresser.
Crochet (and my long daily walks in the forest with Mila) continue to keep me in shape and ‘grounded’, and I’m very thankful for that.
Craft-as-Therapy has come to the rescue so many times already; looking at the continuously fast growing CAT-crowd on Instagram, it’s nice knowing I’m not the only one.

In my book crochet is always a good plan, and an immense and fulfilling joy is creating my own designs – mind you, baby steps, baby steps – and a big fat cherry on that cake is when other people actually use and love these makings too.

I’ve seen the “Bobble Square Granny” quite a bit on social media, and it’s wonderful to notice that other crocheters love “the bobble” as much as I do.

Given that “bobble-fondness”, I could not resist making another “bobble square”-cushion, using all different Rico Creative Aran-colors this time around, and following the continuous-join-as-you-go method to put the top together: worked like a charm!
The zipper-savvy gal that I now am ;), I sewed another non-envelope style cover, using some cute flowery fabric I found a while ago at Flying Tiger, inserting a pink zipper!

I’m very happy with the way it turned out – a lovely sibling to the earlier made “Red Bobble Square-cushion”.
I’ve just listed both of them in my Etsy shop, you’ll find them here (the Rico one), and here (the red one).

If you’d like to make your own, these patterns/tutorials might be helpful:
* “Bobble Granny Square”;
* Continuous-join-as-you-go;
* How I sew in zippers in my cushion covers;

Have a fun and creative weekend!
Love,
Marianne xx

Follow-up Friday – “Rose Party Triangles”

A few weeks ago someone in the CraftKitchen-organization got married, and of course we – the CraftKitchen blogger team – wanted to give him and his lovely wife-to-be a present, preferable a personal/handmade one.

Being the crafty people that we are, we came up with the idea of making a festive wedding garland.
Since the 5 of us live in different parts of The Netherlands, the idea was that we would all crochet 4 motifs for the bunting – in the same color, off-white – and send them to Lidy, who would then make one pretty garland of the 20 little flags.

And, I’m telling you: it turned out so, so nice! We were all chuffed to pieces to see the photos Lidy and Miriam took in Miriam’s luscious garden when it was ready!
Plus: it was so much fun to make something this pretty, as a team! It goes to show that you can achieve a lot in a relatively short time when you work together: I absolutely love my CraftKitchen buddies!

Should you want to give this a go yourself, I’ve tried to track down as many details on the garland’s motifs as I could:
Liza created her own granny square heart pattern (link to chart here), Lidy crocheted her flags from a crochet snowflake book, Lisanne followed her own “wallhanger” design (pattern comes as a bonus when you buy her book), and Janneke adapted her own “Lente Granny Square” (free pattern for the squares here; it’s in Dutch, but has clear step-by-step photos, so you lovely non-Dutch should be ok with it as well, you need to click on “werkbeschrijving” for the tutorial).

I did exactly the same thing as Janneke: I modified my “Rose” granny square (pattern&tutorial here) to a “Rose” triangle. I love how it turned out – whether made in off-white, or happy colors.
Upon request, I’ve written up the pattern to share with you on the blog.
Simply click here, and make your own festive garland with these “Rose Party Triangles”!
Happy making, and a happy weekend!
Love,
Marianne xx

Follow-up Friday – The “Rustic Lace Square”-blanket

Follow-up Fridays that have a big “ta-dah” are great ones generally speaking, but today’s one might be the very best ever, because, you guys: the “Rustic Lace Square”-blanket is finished!!
I’m so incredibly excited, happy and proud of this blanket – I’ve loved making all my blankets, but the “Rustic Lace” is extra-extra special.What strikes me most is that up until the last square, I have loved crocheting it.
Usually I’m a little bored and “done” with a project this big when I’m nearing the finish line – most certainly not this time. All credit for that goes to the – unfortunately still unknown – maker of this extremely pretty square.
Whoever you are: thank you for such a gorgeous pattern (that you can find the link to here)!

I’ve written about the beginning of my infatuation with the “rustic lace” before (right here), around the time when I started this project, well over a year ago. In that post you can read about who started the “rustic lace square”-hype (lovely Cornel and Magda), and if – like me – you can’t get enough of this square, you definitely need to check out the #rusticlacesquare on Instagram! It will give you almost 2.000 posts to drool over ….

This was my very first square, and 121 more were to follow ……
Usually I had no problem picking out colors, but sometimes I went through the Design Seeds-feed for inspiration. I learned along the way, that being (obsessively) picky about the same colors sitting too close each other wasn’t necessary, nor effective. Since my blanket was one big color bomb anyway, it really didn’t matter.

I was a good girl this time around and sewed in all my yarn ends as soon as I had finished a square. Also, not looking forward to joining all my squares at the very end, I’m extremely happy with the “join-as-you-go” I came up with early on (tutorial here), that too worked like a charm.Halfway through mine, I started seeing “rustic lace square”-blankets that only had colorful hearts and neutral colors on the outside (like this one, or as seen here).
I truly liked these as well (maybe even more), but I was way past the turning point with mine.

Maybe *cough* a next “Rustic Lace Square”-blanket?

Once I had finalized crocheting all 122 squares, I put the blanket on its final destination: our bed. Such a happy sight! I always thought it would need a border – looooved Nerissa’s design – but seeing it spread out in all its glory, I wasn’t too sure anymore.
For a whole day I would walk in, stare at it, sometimes carrying a ball of cotton in a certain color, to see whether inspiration would strike, but no…. nothing.
I simply liked it – lacy and frilly as it was, and decided it did not need a border at all.
Besides, should I ever change my mind, all I have to do is pick up my hook again, and start crocheting.

Some stats:
* size: 242 x 242 cm (approx. 95 x 95 inches);
* weight: circa 2.5 kg (5.5 lbs);
* pattern: “Rustic Lace Square” – “joined-as-you-go”;
* yarn: all 100% cottons, “Katia Capri”, “ByClaire”, “Durable”, “DMC”, “Catania”, “Hema”, “Scheepjes”
* hook size: 3,5 mm (US: 4/E, UK: 9).

Wishing you all a happy weekend!
Love,
Marianne xx

PS: thank you, Quinn & Carter for being my patient photo shoot assistants :)

Follow-up Friday

No visits to the museum, no meetings with colleague-bloggers – this week was full of plain old crocheting, crafting and coming up with new design/patterns, and I could not have loved it more!

As happens every Thursday, a new CraftKitchen-project went live on the CK-site, and it was my turn again. Third project already, and I sure hope you’ll love it as much I do …..
This one is actually: projectS – plural, because in the “Bobble Square”-tutorial I not only give you a new granny square to crochet, I also tell you how to crochet a hook case with it, AND show you how to sew the zippered lining for this case.

As an added bonus you’ll find some tips at the end of the tutorial on crocheting the “Bobble Square Cushion”.
I’m sure you already know all CK-tutorials and patterns are in Dutch, and if you don’t want to call on Google Translate’s help, I’m afraid you’ll have to wait until Monday, when I’ll be able to share this multifold tutorial with you in English here on the blog.

It was fun to read a non-Dutch Instagram follower’s comment this morning, saying she already zoomed through the “Bobble Square”-pattern, and had no problems it being in Dutch, so if you don’t want to wait for Monday, this is where you want to go (and click on “werkbeschrijving” for all details)!

In other news:• (only) three more squares were made for the “Rustic Lace Square”-blanket;

• I adjusted my “Rose Granny Square”-pattern, and we now have a “Rose Granny Triangle”, perfect to use in a bunting (pattern will follow soon, I promise);

• I made these two wall decorations, using the wonderful DMC Natura XL; pattern/design by Lisanne/Draad en Praat;
• I’m working on my CK project for June, and that’s a fun one again: recycling and pimping an old pair of jeans into a summery beach bag;

• ideas for my August project – tunisian crochet à la Pip Studio – are already flowing ……

So ….. I’d better get cracking on the “Bobble Square”-tutorial, and have it ready for all you lovely English-speaking people right after the weekend!

Wishing you a great one,
love,
Marianne xx

Follow-up Friday …… on a Saturday

It has happened before: a “Follow-up Friday” on a Saturday :)
One can try to meticulously plan things, but it just doesn’t always work out that way – which is fine too, and I’m sure it happens to all of us every now and then!

Other than rather full, my week was a good one. Monday was a bank holiday, and we all enjoyed this extra day off. Tuesday my parents and I visited the Amsterdam “Rijksmuseum”. My mom and I specifically wanted to see “Catwalk”, an exhibition dedicated to fashion in The Netherlands from 1625 to 1960. The exhibit is designed by world-renowned Dutch photographer Erwin Olaf, whose work I greatly admire, so a win-win.
My dad happily tagged along ….

The exhibit itself was as good as we had hoped it would be, too bad it’s only running until May 22.
Aren’t these light fixtures at the start of the expo wonderful?

I absolutely loved the last room, that – naturally – had the “piece de résistance”: the glorious “dress with train”, that Helena Slicher wore on her wedding day in 1759. Mind you, the skirt is two metres wide! The embroidered flowers on this dress are copied onto the wallpaper that the room is decorated with: simply amazing!
Wednesday was another exciting day. The CraftKitchen blogger-team had a meeting at CraftKitchen-headquarters, the premises of G. Brouwer&Zn. We all brought the things we’ve created for CK so far: one big, fun show&tell.New and exciting plans were made, after which we were treated to a tour of the warehouse (wow! a true paradise for any creative person).

The CK-marketing&communications manager is pregnant, and all 5 of us surprised her with (handmade, of course) baby gifts.
I made this baby mobile, and I’m quite pleased with how it turned out. Knowing it’s going to be a boy, I had to restrain myself to not add too many girly things, like hearts and flowers. Loving the quote “shoot for the moon – even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars”, I made a string with lots-and-lots of tiny stars…….
The lovely pattern I used for the bunnies, is a free Ravelry-download, and can be found here; the cat, dog and bear were freestyled.

And then last Thursday, Mila the Wonderdog had an appointment at the vet’s. Not foreseeing any puppies in her future, we decided to have her spayed, and this seemed the right time. I’m relieved to report she’s doing a bit better today, but she was quite the sick puppy …… Feeling the need to keep an eye on Mila, I was able to crochet a lot of “Rustic Lace Squares”: I’m up to 110 squares right now, and I think only one more row of 11 is needed. I can’t believe I’m actually almost there! Time to start thinking about a border….. woohoo! I hope your weekend is good so far, and will continue to be a great one. I’m off to work on yet another little gift (more on that later next week), and the last of my “Rustic Lace Squares”!

Love,
Marianne xx

Follow-up Friday – The Mandala Cushion

It wasn’t until this very morning – when I started organizing last week’s photos – that I realized how full, but fun a week this was.

Filled with nature – lovely, but also very wet walks with Mila, filled with lots of crafting – always a good thing in my book, and filled with moderating the “Craft as Therapy”-account over on Instagram – at least as good as hands-on crafting.And how nice to be having a midweek extra day off – thank you King Willem Alexander for celebrating your birthday with all of us Dutch ;)!

Apart from all this, I did finish a project, and I’m happy being able to share my latest cushion, the “Mandala Cushion Cover”.

The mandala itself was crocheted following a pattern in Haafner’s “Mandalas to Crochet” book (more on that here).
I made it bigger to fit my 45 cm circular insert, just playing with stitches, and ending up crocheting 6 rounds with black, and a last one in blue.I then sewed the blue cover, added a zipper (!), and hand stitched the crochet part onto the blue cushion cover.
I love how it turned out ….. It’s for sale and I’ve listed it in my Etsy shop, link here.

By moderating the Craft as Therapy-account, you not only pick and post people’s gorgeous work (that they share under #craftastherapy), but you get to choose a theme for that very week also. Looking at my rather gigantuas pile of test-squares, left over flowers and the like, I picked “craftastherapy_bitsandbobs” as the theme for “my” week, asking people to share their creative orphans with us. And, gosh, this turned into such a lovely gallery!

I added a little extra challenge to this whole “bits & bobs”-business, by seeing whether I could turn some of my unused crochet pieces into something new. I think my plan is going to work, but I’m still in the process of finishing……Other than that I have added three more squares to the “Rustic Lace Square”-blanket, and have a small army of squares (9) lined up to be joined as well. All that’s left is color positioning and the last joining round on these, after which row 7/12 will be ready too, and I’ll be up to 77/132 squares, woohoo!

I wish you all a lovely weekend – I’m off crafting …….:)
Love,
Marianne xx

Follow-up Friday

Happy Friday to all of you! The past week was a mixed bag of ups and downs (just like life in general, wouldn’t you say?), but luckily the “ups” outweighed the “downs”, so all’s good.

A big, rather personal, “up” was my mother turning 85 years old on Tuesday. She invited our small family for a celebratory “rijsttafel”-dinner in our favorite Indonesian restaurant, “Djago”. We just had a delightful time, enjoying each other’s company, as well as the excellent food.
Another “up” was the sunny spring weather that mother nature finally sent us – first outdoor crocheting of the season was a fact, hurray!You know how much I love my daily walks with Mila the Wonderdog, but seeing nature wake up at this time of year, is definitely a bonus. Oh, and speaking of our beloved Mila: she turned 1 on April 12th.

As I told you last Tuesday, I’ve picked up my “Rustic Lace Square”-blanket again; very happy to report I’ve made great progress. Twelve more squares were added to the 54 that I was up to this past Sunday.
At that time I thought I needed a total of 143 squares, but after doing some proper measuring&calculating this morning, I think 132 squares will be enough, which means: I’m half way through – yay!!
I “just” need to keep the momentum going …….

You might remember this little thing in black and white? I’ve worked on that on and off over the last few weeks, having enough pieces to assembly them in either a cushion cover, or maybe a bag? What do you think?
In a little “Rustic Lace Square”-lull, I played around a bit, which resulted in this colorful surface crochet – fun to do!

And lastly there’s Haafner’s test-mandala, that I’ve been meaning to turn into a cushion cover. How about finding this perfect matching blue in my stash? I’m looking forward to finishing it. While going through my stuff/stash, I also found this long lost Instagram pouch – made almost 3 years ago, following this free pattern by “Haak & Smaak”.

In between all this, I’ve been working hard on my May-project for CraftKitchen, while my second one – a diy to make cute little treasury boxes – went live on the CK-site yesterday – busy, but exciting times!
The tutorial (in Dutch ànd English) will be available here on Monday.
Wishing you a wonderful weekend,
love,
Marianne xx

Treasury Tuesday

I can’t believe a full 7 days have gone by since my last blog post! This past week didn’t even have a proper “Follow-up Friday”, and it was most certainly not because of a lack of crochet to follow-up on……
Some projects can’t be shown yet, like some of the beautiful patterns that will be in Janneke‘s book (and that I had the privilege of testing), other projects were made in preparation of my CraftKitchen work. One of them will be published on the CraftKitchen-site (in Dutch) coming Thursday – both tutorials (in Dutch ànd English) will be available here on “maRRose” as of next Monday.

Super-crochet-talent Sandra asked me last week to test one of the mandala designs she’s contributing to a book; such a delightful task. In this case I was allowed to share the project via social media, don’t you agree that this is a wonderful pattern? I love it – another book that I can’t wait to be published for!

Over the weekend I decided it was about time to pick up my “Rustic Lace Square”-blanket again. I added 6 squares, and I’am up to a total of 54 squares. Not even half way ……  I simply had to make a “rustic lace square” in “Sophie”-colors …….

I’m still madly in love with this blanket-to-be, and I’m resisting following-up on all kinds of new crochet stuff that keeps popping up in my head – dedicated to keep working on the “Rustic”, and finish it in the not too far future.For no reason at all, “pastel” was the crochet I was looking for to fill this week’s “Treasury Tuesday” – don’t they all look fresh and spring-like?

This blanket is my ab-so-lu-te favorite this week:

as are these pretty bracelets:

Wishing you a happy new week,
love,
Marianne xx

Follow-up Friday – Granny Square Sophie

Hot off the needle, here she is, my latest granny square “Sophie”!
I’m so pleased how she turned out!

Apparently a (creative) brain works in mysterious ways, at least mine does.
You see, a couple of weeks ago, I woke up one morning remembering I had an idea for a fun crochet square that night.
The thing was: that was all I remembered! How ever hard I tried, I could not track down the specifics – very, very frustrating.
And then, two days later, the same thing happened: I woke up in the middle of the night, having this crochet idea – happily and strangely enough, it was the same idea! I was too sleepy and tired to get up and jot it down, but I was not too sleepy and tired to tell myself, I really-really had to try to remember things this time. And that’s what happened, hurray! When I woke up that morning, the first thing that came to mind, was the notion for this flowery granny square: Sophie!

As things go when you try to transform an idea into crochet reality, it took quite some tries before I was finally happy with “Sophie”, but yes, that’s what I am now, and I’m so pleased to share her with you today!

It turns out, she’s pretty versatile too; without her frame, I think she would be quite adorable as a shawl, and I’m eager to work some more on my first attempt.
Right now I’m chuffed to pieces with the framed “Sophie” in my latest cushion cover, that I’ve just listed in my Etsy shop (link here).

The fabric comes from my stash, and turns out to be a pretty perfect match, and yep, I’ve been zipper-sewing once more – chuffed about that too…..

You can find the pattern here (Granny Square Sophie-pdf), or in the blog tutorial section (here), and I sure hope making her will bring you as much joy as it brought me.
Oh, and do share your “Sophies”, using the “maRRosegrannysquareSophie” hashtag: I’d love to see them!
Wishing you all a wonderful weekend,
love,
Marianne xx

Follow-up Friday – The “Julia” Shawl

Another shawl has been welcomed into the “maRRose”-crochet family!
Let me present to you “Julia”, fabulously soft and squishy, in a pretty pastel color (mint), and very easy to crochet.
My “Julia” inspiration came from several sources on Instagram; in fact, I shamelessly copied the shawl my sweet friend Miriam made – I soooo loved hers!
I even used the same yarn ……
A lovely free pattern, and more color inspiration can be found on the ByClaire-site.
The stitch used is very simple, but goes by a lot of different names: granite stitch, moss stitch, seed stitch, linen stitch, or woven stitch.

Since I did not want a triangle-shaped shawl, I started mine with a chain of 96, increased one stitch on both sides for 56 rows, and crocheted another 20 rows without increases. Using a 9 mm hook, and a pattern/stitch that did not need a whole lot of concentration, this shawl was done in a jiffy. The fun fringes put just the right finishing touch on this shawl: I love how it turned out, and have already used it several times!
Wishing you a wonderful weekend!
Love,
Marianne xx