Bollywood, bag and more

My cute new scissor 

Yay!  Our relocation to India is once more on the cards and this time if all goes well, we will be living in India by end November-beginning December. Let's hope that the process is not put on ice once again as we really miss living in Asia.  I have just bought new yarn and will be hooking a single bed throw titled "Bollywood" for the Tween for her 13th birthday. She selected her own colours in pinks, purples, aquas, greens and yellows. I will be posting pictures of the new yarn as well as the finished "Little Karoo" throw soon.

Squares for my "Little Karoo" throw 

We visited a wildlife sanctuary where Cheetahs, Lions, Tigers and more are hand-fed. 

Images of South Africa 

I hooked this little bag for an ill 4 year old girl who asked me whether I was hooking something for myself or for her when I made a similar bag for the Tween. The little one was ecstatic!

Cheers!  Have a great weekend. xxxxx

Viva Africa! Vinnis Nikkim and the Little Karoo

The inspiring Vinni Nielsen, a Danish woman living in Cape Town, established a yarn company producing cotton and bamboo yarns to die for. According to the label hugging the 100% Cotton Yarn, the yarn is hand dyed by women from an economically depressed rural area of South Africa.  I picked out 10 colours without having the foggiest idea of what on earth I was going to hook with the yarn. I took one look at a few succulents in the area where we are currently vacationing and decided to hook a throw that reminds me of the Little Karoo.

The Little Karoo is a fertile valley in the Western Cape Region of South Africa, bounded on the North by the Swartberg and on the South by the Langeberg and Outeniqua Mountains. I love the character and the charm of this area and cannot wait to see the end result of the the project. I've hooked 20 granny squares thus far, each consisting of 3 rounds of one colour and another 5 rounds of a different colour. The squares measure 170mm x 170mm each. I have just picked up another 10 skeins of yarn and hope to show you some more pictures soon!

Yarn Yarn Yarn

Hakuna Mutata from a BITTERLY cold South Africa!

Woo hoooo I am in yarn heaven and internet hell!  OMG the internet is a real slow and expensive pain in the behind here in South Africa to be honest. Luckily the yummy food and yarn choices balance the experience somewhat. My posting is short on words but I will confess that even though the physiotherapist said that I shouldn't attempt any hooking for at least another six weeks, I uhm started to hook again, focusing on small projects such as scarves for myself and the Tween and two small bags. 

The Tween took one look at the fabulous  Lutter Idyl and made a teeeeny tiny little bag that she hangs around her neck drawn from inspiration found on the blog. The bag/necklace was hooked with Elle Premier Natural Cotton. The Tween also learned to knit and is currently torn between the two crafts.   

It is freezing cold in South Africa, our first winter in 10 years and I didn't even think twice about whipping up scarves to supplement our skeleton winter wardrobes. I used the Willow Block - pattern available as a free download from CrochetMe - to create this scarf consisting of 12 squares. I did not hook the last two rows that form part of the pattern to create a square more suitable to a scarf. I hooked it with Spice Double Knitting from Kismet Yarns, made in Turkey.

I used a pattern from the Yvestown Blog to create a scarf for the Tween. It also consists of 12 flowers in three different colours, hooked from Spice Double Knitting and Vinnis Nikkim

Toucan - a family business with stores in a few locations in South Africa. The one nearby where we holiday at the moment is located in a huge warehouse.  When I asked them whether they offer classes or community crafting they said the premises were too small. Whaaaat! LOL they haven't seen the teeny shops that Asian merchants retail from.  No wonder then also that living costs in Asia is that much lower - nothing goes to waste in saving societies. South Africa is a consumer society. i certainly don't mind spending in this shop though ;-)