Ladies (and gentlemen), I present to thee; my mom! :)

I knew she was super creative (it’s all in the genes, right?) but I had no idea she was *that* good with a hook and some yarn. Since I started to crochet about two years ago, she picked up her long lost skills again. But unlike me, she didn’t need an adjustment period. She just went *BAM* and started making these amazing garments, from scratch, without a pattern or anything! True rockstar quality people.

Let me ease you into what she makes, starting with a simple shawl. She made this using very cool yarn with lots of colors, giving it a playful and light look.

Pretty groovy, right? :)

And ofcourse, she also made a poncho. We’ve all made that poncho, ammiright? ;) She used lots of different kinds of yarn for this one, using her favorite colors: blue and white.

I really like the tassels she made!

Okay, on to the more serious stuff. My mom used to make clothes for me and my siblings when we were little, so she has a lot of experience with making garments. And that shows in her crochet work!

This bolero was one of the first things she made when she started doing crochet again.

Simple yet stunning. I love this bolero :) (oh and by the way, my mom just got back from two weeks in the Caribbean, so she’s very tanned. It really shows when she’s wearing white!)

Next  up is a shirt, made using granny stripes combined with that cool yarn from the shawl in a different color (blue, ofcourse!). I think she made this with a 2 or 3mm needle.

It’s awesome, right? :)

And last but certainly not least, this vest. She used a different color from the white frilly yarn she used in the bolero, and a tan, slightly glittery cotton for the body.

I love the stitch she used on the body!

Well, there you have it. I have a creative mom! Because crochet is not all she does; she also happens to be an exceptional painter…

Creativity runs in my family; I have lots of creative aunts, uncles and cousins. I plan to write more posts about this topic, showing off their talents! ;)

Do you have amazingly creative family members?

xo,
wink

I love Pinterest. Just the other day, when I was browsing for inspiration (cause you know, my ‘always-there’ big project is now finished, so I have empty project baskets! eek!) I came across this beauty from Eclectic Gypsyland:

… and I am still swooning over it!!! It’s so awesome and gorgeous and bohemian looking; I think it’s the perfect fat bottom bag EVUR.

I can’t believe I never saw it before; from what I read on Eclectic Gypsyland it was quite the rage a while back, and looking at Ravelry I’m definitely not the first one to swoon over this bag! (I present to you Exhibit A)

So naturally, I wanted to make one ASAP. Luck be it that I just happened to have some random granny squares in my basket, and I just picked one and expanded it.

The pattern is the easiest of easy. You just make one big granny square, about 30 rounds, and then you add a couple of rows of sc’s and you’re done! :) For anyone interested, the pattern PDF is here.

I really like the colors in this one :) So I’m on row 30 now, and unfortunately I’ve run out of grey. So I’m going to make the last round in pink, and then the edge in sc’s also in pink, but a darker kind of pink.
I went to an arts & crafts fair Saturday, and picked up some awesome leather bag handles to go with it! :) All I need now is to find a perfect lining… Also, I want to make a couple of flowers for embellishment, and maybe add a row of lace. We’ll see how it turns out :) I expect this bag to be finished in the near future!

Oh, and a picture of what I also picked up at the fair yesterday…

My very first skeins of Noro Silk Garden! <3 Don’t know what I’ll use them for, but I saw a couple of extra skeins on eBay for half the price of what I paid for these two… I’m thinking about making a Noro-licious fat bottom bag… Don’t tell my bankaccount ;)

xo,
wink

ps I’ll be back later this week with an awesome feature on someone very special, who just happens to be a crochet rockstar! Stay tuned…

I started this blanket way back, exactly one year ago. I had just gotten my order of Stylecraft Special DK from the UK and I couldn’t wait to get started. However, I wasn’t the avid hooker I am today, so after 6 rows I quickly got bored and also overwhelmed! I just couldn’t believe there were actually women out there that crochet entire blankets!?!?!
So I hibernated the project for a long time, until last month, when I decided that it should be time to finish it! And this time, it was a breeze :) Row after row after row of delicious hooky, the stitches just flew off my hook and before I knew it I had the entire thing finished! Then it only took me another two hours to get the border on and it was officially DONE.

So ladies, without further ado, I present to you: the granny stripe blanket!

The Details
Yarn: Stylecraft Special DK, I got the Lucy pack from Masons
Hook size: 5mm/H hook
Rows: 120 (or 60 color changes)
Pattern used: the well-known Granny Stripe from Lucy’s Attic24
Border: one row of grannies, two rows of dc’s, one row of sc’s and one picot-row
Happiness: 100%! I loved making this blanket despite some start-up hickups
Side-effects: the uncanny urge to start making more blankets & afghans!

Yes, I used the exact color scheme Lucy did when she first made her blanket. When I started this I just wanted the exact same thing, and I had the yarn so I just went for it. The only thing I changed was the border; I used different colors for it.
Today, I would never do that again, just copy someone else’s work. Having said that it was kind of blissful, working with a set color pattern :)

The blanket is getting a lot of use already; me and D can snuggle up under it together and it’s so nice and warm! Very welcome during these cold, cold days.

So I got two, nope, three! Versatile Blogger Awards the other day, courtesy of Hazel, Stocki and Helen!

The rules for the award are:
1. Add the award to your blog.
2. Thank the blogger who gave it to you.
3. Mention 7 random things about yourself.
4. List the rules.
5. Award to 15 bloggers.
6. Inform each of those 15 by leaving a comment on their blog.

So, 7 random facts about me… Let’s see.

1. I have a slight headphones addiction. I currently have about 20 pairs and counting!
2. I still sleep with stuffed animals.
3. I’m addicted to reading. Currently I am rereading the Millennium trilogy by Stieg Larsson. (maybe it’s re-rereading; it has to be the fifth time already!)
4. I also have a slight obsession with anything Woodstock related. Whenever I feel down, I just pop in the ’69 extended version DVD and voila; instant happy/hippieness! :)
5. I don’t subscribe to the magazines I read. (Flow and Mollie Makes are my regulars) I like the experience of going down to the bookstore and finding them on the shelf.
6. I’m an extremely slow starter in the morning. I need at least a couple of hours to get my thoughts in order before I can meet people ;)
7. I am a night owl.

Alright, on to some awesome bloggers who I think don’t get enough attention and deserve this award! :)

Now I realize some of you have gotten this award before and/or recently; please don’t feel obliged to anything! :)

Alright, I’m off to put something warm on my shoulder and neck. I felt the pain in my muscles luring all week, and after last night it finally happened; I have a stiff neck :(

xo,
wink

Okay enough with the pleasantries, we all know why we’re here. The giveaway has officially ended, and it is now time to draw the winners!

Assistant, please hand me the box with the names…

Thank you. And now, let’s shuffle those names one last time…

Everybody ready? Here we go!

Winner number one, who’ll be getting a heart headband of her choosing, is… *drumrolls*

Karrinne! Come on down, and congratulations! :) *yay* *clapclapclap* (and I am SO sorry for misspelling your name!)

Alright people, settle down please. Winner number two, who’ll be getting cherry blossom bobby pins, is… *more drumrolls*

Ilda! Congratulations! :) *hurray* *huzzah*

And last, but certainly not least, winner number three, who will receive a whopping 14% off the entire acreativebeing shop, is… *final drumrolls*

Heidi Hengel, come on down! Congratulations! :) *massive applause*

Ladies, please email me your addresses. And Karrinne, please let me know which headband you would like to receive! :)
You can reach me at winkieflash [at] gmail [dot] com.

I was supposed to do a little project-update today, and post the January mosaic, but I haven’t had the time to properly take care of those things. So that’s all scheduled for later this week!

In the meantime, can you believe that I, over the weekend, got not one, but TWO blogawards? :D I received the Versatile Blogger Award from both Stocki and Hazel’s Crochet! Thank you so much ladies! :) I will do a proper thank-you blogpost later this week to tell you a little something about myself and to give the award to 15 blogs I admire!

xo,
wink

Those lyrics were the anthem of the past few days while I was in Aruba :) I had such a blast! We went to Aruba to get out next scuba license, PADI Open Water, and I am happy to report that all six of us succeeded admirably :)

Me and D getting ready for our second boatdive

Unfortunately, we had to go home at some point, so we left this behind, beautiful Baby Beach:

And traded it in for this: (photo c/o my SIL’s mom)

Yes, that’s right, snow!

When we left Aruba we had temperatures of over 30°C (86°F), and when we got back to Holland it was -10°C (14°F)! Honestly, when we got off the plane we were all wondering why on earth we had left Aruba in the first place :’)

When I came home, there was a big pile of mail waiting for me, and in that pile were a couple of big, brown envelopes. I love those, because they almost always contain something awesome!
Right before I left, I won not one but two giveaways, can you believe it?

The first one was from Pixie from The Crafte Nook, who gave me a very cool ‘small felted knitted ring thingy’ (yes, that’s actually what it’s called):

And the second one was from Kate from Signed With an Owl, who made me this awesome mug rug!

Both ladies also included cute cards & kind words; I just love getting those! :D

Thank you so much ladies, for brightening and warming up my very cold first day after the holiday :)

So the giveaway is still open for all of you who haven’t entered yet! You have till tomorrow to comment for your chance to win one of three awesome Valentine’s Day items! :) Just click on the banner below to go the the giveaway.

I’ll be back tomorrow with a belated January mosaic, the 2-a-month-project update and ofcourse, the giveaway-winners! :)

xo,
wink

ps There were over 800 unread RSS items in my reader when I turned on my computer. I read all of them, but because of the volume I was unable to leave comments everywhere, I’m sure you’ll understand. But, I am now back up to speed and will start leaving comments again. Thanks for understanding :)

Last post I mentioned something about speed crocheting a gift for our friend’s newborn – well, it’s finished! :)

Everyone, meet Heather the pony. Heather, meet everyone!

I made Heather using a 3,5mm hook (E/4), white and pink acrylic yarn that I had lying around and Stylecraft Special DK for the curls and the blue in her eyes. I stuffed her using fiberfill.

I have never met such a wonderfully uplifting spirit in my life! I’m going to miss Heather when she goes to her new family, but I’m sure she’ll love it there.

I made Heather using this pattern, bought on Etsy via DeliciousCrochet. I have to be honest, I LOVE this pattern! It’s well-written, loaded with pictures and it’s just a joy to follow.

I also bought another pattern from DeliciousCrochet, to make as a present for another lady who’ll be having a birthday while I’m in Aruba! Stay tuned for pictures of that adorable creature ;)

Well, this is the last post before I leave for the airport. I’ll be back around the 6th of February to announce the winner of the giveaway! If you haven’t entered yet, click the button below and comment on the post. This special Valentine-themed giveaway is open to everyone across the globe!

xo,
wink

Thank you so much for your lovely comments on my IKEA footstool cover! I really appreciate it :) I am now thinking of making a cover for my Ektorp sofa, and am thinking of using this pattern for it: (image c/o Debbie Stoller)

Whaddaya think? I like this pattern a lot, because despite it officially being a ‘granny’ pattern, the fabric it creates is dense enough for use on e.g. a sofa!
But this time I think I’ll stay away from the bright white yarns, and go for something more subtle (and easier to clean) instead ;) I’ll keep you posted!

So next month, it’s Valentines day. Since my Etsy shop is filled with a lot of heart-related products, I thought: let’s give some of it away! :) Everybody loves a good giveaway, right? Right!
Since you all have been so kind to me the past few months, I decided to give away not one, not two, but three awesome things, to three awesome readers!

Number one: a heart headband of your choosing, perfect for Valentine!

Number two: super cute cherry blossom bobby pins!

Number three: a 14% discount to anything in my shop!

To win all you have to do is leave a comment on this post. For extra entries, either grab the button below and put in on your blog; tweet about it; or put it on Facebook. Please leave a comment for everything you do.

<a href=”http://winkieflash.nl/2012/01/19/be-my-valentine/”><img border=”0″ alt=”a creative being giveaway!” src=”http://winkieflash.nl/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/giveaway-banner.jpg” /></a> 

Note to international shoppers: my shop will be closed between January 24th – February 4th. To make sure your Valentine products get to you in time, please order before my shop closes. For everybody in the EU; you can still order after that; your products will arrive before February 14th.

Goodluck everyone! :) I’ll draw a winner in the week of February 6th.

Alright, I’m off to do some speed crochet – our friends just had a little baby girl, but because she was born two weeks early I hadn’t finished her prezzie yet…

xo,
wink

PS Wondering why the shop’s closed next week? This is why… We’re going to Aruba!

And now the next order of business. I can’t believe it, but I actually finished the IKEA footstool cover last weekend! So I guess a proper ‘ta-dah!’ is in order here! :)

The Stats
Yarn used: Stylecraft Special DK (green), Red Heart (dark and light pink), cheap acrylic yarn from LYS (white)
Pattern used: I used a square pattern from this book (out in May in English, been out a while in Dutch and is original in German).
Method of joining: I used single crochet to stitch the squares together on the back. I really like the slightly raised edge that gives, I wish I joined them right side up.
Border: Improvised! I made 3 rounds of granny clusters in white and then just freestyled the rest in contrasting colors, using either grannies or dc’s all the way around.
Time spent: I started this late October, and made 10 squares in 1 day. Then the project hibernated for a while, and I picked it up again last week. So all in all I think it took me between 4 and 7 days, including the joining and border making.
Happiness: I really love it. Every time I look at it I go: ‘Did I really make this, like, for real?’ ;) I thought it was going to take me forever but the squares went a lot faster than I thought, and after they were all joined, the border only took me another day to finish.

Alright, picture time! :)




I love how the birds on my hooky tray match the colors on the footstool :) Totally unintended, happy accident.
Always on my tray are my thrifted deer cup with my most used hooks; a little cup with scissors and such; two bowls that I really just got because they color coordinate so well, and I keep my scraps in when working on a project; my gifted wooden box which holds my needles and stitch markers; and some other random stuff, like a little notebook and a crochet covered stone that I won in a giveaway, which I love to have around because it inspires me always :)

I’ll be back next week with (hopefully) the updated teacup-ring pattern! I’ve received a lot of questions regarding it because I pulled the pattern from my site to be updated. I am working on it, as well as kick-ass photography, and I’m planning to show you the results next week! :)

xo,
wink

Back in ’84, I was born. (yes, that’s right) And my mom, with a ginormous pregnant belly, embroidered an entire alphabet for me, lil’ baby winkie! I remember it hanging in my room when I was little, and in the hallway when I was older. And then sitting in the attic when I was a lot older… And then ending up in a moving box somewhere, years later. Anyway, long story short, my mom gave it to me last weekend, when we were there to celebrate the first day of the year. I’m so happy to have gotten it! :)

I can only imagine the time it must have taken her, because upon closer examination, the details are just amazing. Check this out!

I remember I loved the letter ‘M’ best when I was little. Probably because my name starts with an M ;) I tried to convince my mom to give me a black cat because of it, but that didn’t fly ;)

Nowadays, these two are my favorites. The one with the flute because, well, I play the flute and I just love that little guy! And the second one because I love those teeny tiny drops of water :)

Can you believe the work that must have gone into this? :O I sure can’t! But my mom’s really a trooper. She has recently picked up crochet too! And I gotta say, she is *really* good at it. Like, REALLY good. She makes clothes for herself, by using crochet. I mean, how awesome is that! :) I’ll be sure to snap a few pictures of what she makes next time I’m over there. You’re going to love seeing it!

Anyway, I’m off. I’m making serious progress on my IKEA footstool, and I hope to finish it this weekend! Here are some instagrams of the progress so far. Enjoy! :)

xo,
wink

So last year I was in the market for a yarn basket. You know, a proper one; nice size, not too small or too big, with a big handle so I could easily transport it from each crochet location (couch, office space, bed). I looked everywhere and I couldn’t find it! So instead of waiting for it to turn up somewhere, I decided to compromise and go for a different, slightly less perfect basket type.

It’s lined with linen so the yarn doesn’t snag on it, which I love. And it does have handles of some sort, which is why I chose to get this basket.

But the other day, my grandmother gave my sister a gift; a basket. My sister thought it was a picknick basket, you know, the kind you can close off, but it wasn’t; it was my perfect yarn basket! And lucky for me, my sister was so kind as to give it to me :)

It’s perfect right? I think I might sew a lining for it at some point, just to keep my yarn from fraying. But for now, it’s my new favorite basket :)

So the two projects in the basket are my January Projects. I started these some months ago, the granny stripe even a year ago… So I’m determined to finish these *before* I start any other projects. Ambitious, yes. Possible, totally! :)
The project in the above basket is my IKEA footstool cover (remember?). I finished half the squares, which you can see in the basket, and I started on the centers for the other half, which are in the ceramic little bowl. So this one shouldn’t really take too long to finish.
And the other project is ofcourse the granny stripe. I’m almost half way and I really enjoy making it again! I manage a couple of stripes each day, so I think I can finish this before the end of January.

Some granny stripe progress pics, because we all love to look at those enticing, magical stripes… ;)

I’ll be back later this week with pictures of an embroidery frame my mom gave me; she made it when she was pregnant with me in ’84 :) It’s adorable.

xo,
wink