Trying to fill in the blanks...

Me and my OCD (Obsessive Crochet Disorder) have been working on an overview of my favourite brand of yarn: Phil Coton 3! In the link at the bottom of this you'll find the document with all the colours I know about so far. Of course I absolutely do not like the fact that the numbering of the colours currently available isn't consecutive and there are many gaps... Some of them I was able to fill, but many are still open. Possibly they were skipped and will be filled in the future (like 69 to 72 were recently), but likely there are also some colours that were taken out of production. I really, really would like to know about them!

So, my question to you: if you could fill in any of the blanks, please let me know. Me and my OCD would be very grateful!

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B9vA0mIPeQP5R3lNLUR6c291T1E/edit?usp=sharing

Saartje

Ok, I lied... I did make another dog after my last attempt and this one turned out to be a lot less... problematic.
This little lady does have a sister as well, but I am still working on her, so you'll have to wait a bit to see her as well!

The dog that may never leave the room

Some weeks ago, I started working on a dog. My cousin got married and they have the cutest dog. So my idea was, as a present, I'd make them another dog that resembles their actual dog. So I bought the book, I bought the supplies and started working. It took me several tries as I didn't like the way the dog turned out and I tried combining different patterns, but did not consider that they might not be the same size. So when I finally made the third head and I was happy about it, I also made a body.

But that turned out to be a problem. I did finish all the other body parts, but never assembled the animal. But friends knew I was making the dog, so they asked how it turned out. There is a reason that I did not assemble the animal. A very good reason, at least in my mind. And the reason is simple. I can never give the dog to his rightfully owners. I will show you why.

Please, as a precaution, please, please, please, get all your kiddies out of the room.

Get all other people out of the room as well.

Make sure nobody else can see the following picture as they may misunderstand what you are looking at.

Keep in mind this is the body of a dog. No other extremities are showed on the pictures.

And just to be clear, I won't be taking orders for just the body.

It may just be my dirty little mind, but to me this body looks a bit... penile.

The picture may not fully appreciate it, but trust me, it was in my hands... I showed it to others and they agreed (however, I do like to think my friends have just as much a dirty little mind as I do, so it may not be a real representation of the general opinion).

Yes, I understand that if the animal is assembled nobody may notice the penile body. But how can I give this as a present to newly-weds? In front of my grandparents. And all my other family members... And the religious family members of the bride...

I am quite certain the mother of the groom would laugh her ass off if she found out (and she probably will now). But I cannot give that as a present and keep my face straight while doing it. I could sent it by mail. Or make someone else give it. But I'm afraid for now it will be buried somewhere deep in a box, because even when it is assembled, I still just see a penile dog. I think I will stay away from crocheting dogs for now...

I did however get a great idea on how to hide a vibrator...

Dog pattern by Patricia Vargas

Baby presents

My mum has incredibly improved my baby-towels! She uses the baby-announcement-card to make her own patterns and transforms them into embroidery for on the towels. They are really too cute, but I am a bit terrified for when we have a baby ourselves... We better pick something we really like for on the card, because we will be seeing it at least until the baby is old enough to get him/herself a place of themselves... Just have the feeling my mum won't be anything close to subtle...

Baby-bag number 4!

Little Liv's Owl

Three little toys

Pattern Bird by Angeline (http://mijneigenplekkie.blogspot.nl/2012/10/mijn-laatste-pif-nr5-is-klaar.html), Fish by Lesley Stanfield.

Oystercard holder

Marjolijn's Painting Folder

Mini's giraffe

Combining the learning towel with a little animal.

 

Pattern of the giraffe by Maja Hansen. 

Newborn babies

We are really bad in sending cards... So everytime we should be sending a card, we realise that usually shortly after the deadline. Great thing about the internet, it is delivered as soon as it is send. However, sending an email just doesn't always cut it. So especially when a newborn baby arrives, we tend to forget, but feel kind of guilty about that. We also don't have a clue about when it is time for friends to visit babies, so we usually wait way too long before we actually contact the parents.
Now that we have moved to another country and visiting is largely out of the question, we were thinking about an alternative solution. Another reason why we don't send cards, is that we don't like most of them. They are all annoyingly alike and extremely mawkish. I do agree thay it is something to celebrate, but most of these cards are just a bit too much. There are some that we might like, but they are for special friends thay won't be offended by our kind of humour... So we needed something different. You can make your own card, but you'd still have the problem of people not getting your jokes. I did yet into trouble one day by saying that a fetus is a sexually transmitted parasite...
So we are trying to mail out these little towels. It might be a bit late and we probably will forget the next 10 birthdays, but we're hoping to make up for that by sending a handmade gift that the kids will hopefully use a lot and love. Cause that's the point, we might not pay a lot of attention to birthdays, cards or even the calender, but that doesn't mean we're not happy for them!

ManBearPig

Supersereal!

Faster than I expected...

But still... About 8 meters and 400 sequins... I might feel a bit of muscle ache in my arms and hands!

Baladi-dress

Work-in-progress... For a very long time I'm afraid... And it needs to be finished before Saturday 23rd!

Hopefully I'll get the fabrics tomorrow and I can start on the actual dress, so this won't be all I'm covered in! :-D

Organiser for my crochet hooks

Like I said, I make lots of things from that fabric. Too bad my Addi-swing crochet hooks don't fit in there!

Last weeks work

Since we moved to this tiny appartment in London, we were having a bit of a problem with our shoes. In Leiden we also didn't have a good spot to put them, but at least they didn't have to be exacly behind the door. And behind the door does indeed make it no longer possible to open it... So last week, when we were cleaning the house, I decided to do something about it. Permanently.

I wasn't able to bring every fabric I had to the UK, but fortunately I brought my big practise piece. I bougth it a few years ago for a very small price and have been making all kinds of stuff with it. Hats, bags, organisers. It's not a particularly beautiful fabric, but it is sturdy and works for many things, so I'm happy to use it! Especially if it should be useful and not necessarily pretty.

So this is wat I made out of it, our shoes have their own place and we can open our front door again!

Two more finished

And please don't think I finished them both today,  had them ready for a few days already, but I only had time to post it today!

Chantal

The 'my daddy may have a PhD'-shirts

Well, what do you think of that? Kids always look smarter than their parents! ;-)

Another little project!

Bougth some cheap small towels and attached one of them to the head of an ostrich...

Very happy about the result!

Ostrich pattern from Christel Krukkert.

Tying knots

To make my knots a bit stronger, I usually use the technique we use during surgery.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCk4IfLLHk8
You start with a normal knot, but before you pull the ends, you first pull one of the endings again through the loop. Tighten it and make another normal knot on top of it.

How to hide the end of your thread

Will be translated to English soon!

Een kort filmpje (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLiQAwimmc4) met hoe je de draadjes kunt wegwerken. Ik heb het witte uiteinde weggewerkt, maar je zou ook de andere kant kunnen wegwerken of zelfs allebei.
Het komt erop neer dat je de laatste steek niet afmaakt met je oude draad, maar hier de eerste lus van je nieuwe draad maakt. Dat doe je omdat je door het afmaken van de steek je de volgende v maakt. Als je dus de oude draad gebruikt, zul je altijd een klein streepje in de oude kleur zien.
Vervolgens leg je aan de achterkant een knoop met het uiteinde van de oude draad en het uiteinde van de nieuwe draad. Dan leg je de geknoopte uiteindes op de rij met v-tjes en haak je (zoals normaal) onder de v en boven de v. Zie de foto voor de achterkant.
Denk eraan dat de draad hierdoor wel onzichtbaar is, maar niet extra vast zit. Als je wilt zou je de draad eruit kunnen trekken. Meestal leg ik nog even een druppel textiellijm op de knoop om te voorkomen dat deze los laat.
In het filmpje heb ik stokjes gebruikt, maar het moet ook met vasten kunnen.

Project 3

Picture and movie of the third project! It's a walrus and I've attached a hooklet with a ribbon of 1 cmx5 cm to it, so they attach it to something else.

2 done, 1 to go!

Hair of the pegasus

I think I thought of an solution for the hair of the pegasus somewhere during the night (yes, I have all my best ideas when I'm supposed to be sleeping...). I couldn't get up at that moment to do it, since my bedmate would not really appreciate that, so I had to wait a bit to test it, but I think I quite like the result.

What I did? I took a piece of ribbon and the pieces of yarn that I cut for the hair (about 10 cm) and used the sewing machine to stitch them together. No reason to be very tidy about this as it's inside the head anyway. And you probably want to cut the hair when it's finished anyway, so I didn't pay any attention to the ends either.

That seemed pretty pull-proof, however, as I said I want to make double sure, so I've put some glue on it anyway. Now I just need to wait till it's dry and then I can try and put it in the head.

I'll leave the rest of the ribbon in there, since I need to fill the head up anyway and I can be sure the ribbon doesn't start to fray where the yarn is stitched on it. I will however first pull through the hairs before I'll fill the rest of the head up, so I'll have a bit more space to see it comes out just the way I like it!

three little projects

I've been working on some new projects. But today is not a good day... It started probably with me waking up from our neighbour drilling, but hey, that can happen! I was able to finish the project I started yesterday and I quite like it!

But then I had to go and stand on top of my crochet-needle... So now it's broken. It's not into two pieces, since there is a rubber part that still connects is, but it is a lot less comfortable to work with. So I'll have to order a new one. Really not planned and really not in my budget, but it will have to do. And unfortunately it will take some time before the replacement is here, but it's worth it. I'm using Addi swing, cause all the other 'ergonomic' needles are just a bit too short for my hands. I love them, and thought they were pretty indestructable, but I guess even they cannot take my abuse. ;-)

So back to my projects, I'm making three at the moment, but I suppose more will follow. I have two unknown sexes and one girl with a mommy that has a fancy for pink. So pink it is! I was looking for a pattern that has some pink in it and in the end I picked the cow, since her mommy used to have a mug with a cow on it when we first met at work. I decided white would the best colour for the square thingy that is connected to it. Combined with pink of course. Unfortunately, I have used most of my white on the little snowmen I made for christmas. I usually prefer phildar coton, but since that is really not easly availbale in the UK, I decided to try Drops. I really really love their patterns, so my hopes were up high. But I am very disappointed about the quality of the yarn. I know I keep a tight graps on my yarn, but I'm pretty sure it should not split. Since I make most of my crochet for kids, I'd like them to be of good quality. And I don't want them to be falling apart when they play with it! That why I use safety-eyes and just to be safe additionally glue them as well. No mommy or daddy will have to rush to the hospital with an eye stuck in the kids nose if I can help it! No garantees though, I don't have a kid, so I can't test how destructive they are... Anyway, back to yarn, I am so not satisfied about Drops, I will just have to stock up with Phildar whenever I go to the lowerlands (or have people over :-D).

When R came home I asked him to give me some input on project 3. Asking what kind of animal is sexe-neutral. He decided on a walrus, but also decided that I was not making a cow, but a pink pegasus. Which is still pretty appropriate since mommy loves horses as well. It looks like a great idea, but I still have a problem here. The pegasus has hair... And how will I attach those without the kid pulling them out and eating it? I'm sure eating yarn is not very harmful and it won't be long enough to tie it around anything, but still... I don't like anything that can be detached... I thinking about glueing it, but that will dissolve if you wash it often enough. Any I suppose those little fingers can untie any knot quite quickly. At this moment I'm considering doing both, but if anyone has some input, I'd love that!

A picture of project 1 is attached (it's a turtle). Design of the animals by Maja Hansen, the square is just something I tried (and the square for the pegasus didn't really turn out to be a square). I'll post more pictures when I finish the others as well!

Little dragon for the great dragon!

Little dragon after a pattern by All about Ami (http://allaboutami.tumblr.com/post/16498866712/dragonpattern) with a few adjustments from me. As it is supposed to be for a little boy, some moving safety eyes, and I've tried to crochet as much as possible since I don't trust glued-on-items as much. I need his daddy to send me the address, but I hope it will be there in time for the little boy's 1st birthday!

Additions to Diaperbag Patricia, Sven and Olivia

Christmas presents!

If you're out of a job and don't have that much money to spend, what better Christmas presents can you give than those you've made yourselves, with a little bit of love in each one!  

 

After a pattern by Grietjekarwietje  (http://grietjekarwietje.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/haakpatroon-mini-sneeuwpop.html)