Living the slow life

Hello!  I have been enjoying living The Slow Movement so much over the past few months that one could almost say that with regard to blogging it temporarily became The Stopped Movement! But fear not, I am baaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!  I have been around all the time actually, creating new projects and making draft postings, but never took that final step to add text, to publish; and in academia we all know the phrase "Publish or Perish"!

I already shared the final result of this gorgeous The Garden afghan on my @rawrustic Instagram account, but here are a few more photos that did not make it onto IG. A great number of IG Hookers, were indeed inspired by this vintage looking (and it might very well be an original vintage design) lacy square and you can trace all the beautiful projects under the #rusticlacesquare hashtag.

You might also want to head over to Marianne Dekker's awesome blog maRRose to read more about how this pattern took the IG community by storm. Marianne's version is to die for, her joining simply superb and I want to dig my head in the sand when I compare the clever, neat way she joined her squares with my wonky result.  Mind you, the slip stitches on the back of my afghan looks neat, it just does not translate to the front! The very first #rusticlacesquare project can be traced back to the wonderfully talented Cornel Strydom, one of a trio creative souls who are behind Hello Hart, the best crochet blog in the Southern Hemisphere and perhaps the Northern one too!

I blogged about this project on two separate occasions for those interested in yarn, hook size and pattern details - Flower Power and The Garden

Back to the topic of The Slow Movement in case you are wondering what this is all about! Slow is the opposite of “fast” - fast food, fast money, fast living - and all of the negative consequences “fast” has had for the environment and for the health of people and societies. “Slow” embodies cooperation, respect, sustainability, gratitude, grit and resilience. It is about leaning to savor and fully engage with life.

In another week we are departing for a month of Slow Travelling - destination Croatia. One of the defining elements of Slow Travel is the opportunity to become part of local life and to connect to a place and people. Slow travel is also about connection to culture. We will be connecting with local artists (in Dubrovnik we will spend a week living in a converted art studio) and will indulge with people belonging to slow food movements.  Ah bliss, from Zagreb to Istria to Dalmatia, we are looking forward to an incredible time in what looks like one of the most beautiful countries in the world!

Enjoy your weekend! 

The Garden

Hello, I am just popping in to wish you a Happy New Year! Please accept my apologies for not participating in Instagram and blogging initiatives at the moment. As mentioned in the last posting, I am snowed under with professional projects, research work and business travelling.  

The photo above is an update of The Garden throw, the most beautiful pattern I blogged about previously.  I have finished about forty 25x25cm squares to date.  It is gorgeous, I cannot wait to see it in all it's full glory once finished.

We made time to visit a great new souq/bazaar here in Qatar, located in a town with the name Al Wakra, just south from Doha.  The maize of buildings stretches for 3 kilometers along the Arabian Sea with an esplanade running down the open beach side. It is build to reflect the town's fishing village heritage and features aged walls and brightly painted wooden doors. The souq will eventually be home to hundreds of shops and eateries. Only a handful are open at the moment and judging by the beautiful cafe in which we enjoyed coffee and cakes, we can look forward to atmospheric and quint eateries. Magical, I love Arabia!

Have a great week.  Cheers!

Flower Power

See Floral for links to the origins of the non crochet floral images

Hello!  Over the years, I have seen this pretty pattern appear in my Pinterest feed many times and always thought it would make a gorgeous blanket.  I absolutely love making this square, it is fun to be working with so many different colours and to be mixing cotton and bamboo yarns to reach the desired effect. You definitely want to stroll over to Instagram and take a look at the gorgeous projects featuring this square by Cornel and Elsbeth and also read Cornel's posting on the HelloHart blog. 

Hook size: 4mm. These stunning squares are about 25cm x 25cm unblocked in size each! 

Yarn: A mixture of Vinnis Nikkim, Vinnis Serina, Vinnis Bambi, I Love Yarn Imagine and King Cole Bamboo Cotton.

Patten: The pattern was published in the magazine Para Ti - guia de puntos but I have no idea which edition. Please feel free to enlighten me!

It is a very busy time here in the Pigtails Palace and I am slightly overwhelmed by the volume of activities I am faced with on a daily basis (including working full time!) I will also be blogging about the progress in hunting down beautiful pieces for the Girl Teen's room soon, show some pictures of what the interesting Doha Downtown area looks like, finally blog about the African Inspired Blanket (hijacked by the Dude Teen) and so forth!

Have a great week, we are celebrating Qatar National day this week and from what I can see, it certainly is a massive event here every year. Until next time, cheers!

Problematic Painful Pedantic Patterns

"Melancholy". The gloomy state of mind here at the Pigtails Palace after I failed to decipher a pattern that is described as problematic on Ravelry.

Image created with the Intuos Pen and Touch and computer by The Teen who recently turned 15 years old. She reminds everybody that copyright belongs to her.

Pattern: The beautiful Barcelona Jacket. 

Bodice: King Cole Bamboo Cotton DK

Hook Size: 4mm

Problem: Pattern riddled with mistakes and perhaps also a project best suited to advanced crocheters rather than the intermediate level mentioned. Some Ravelry members either frogged or hibernated this project. Others commented that they heavily modified the pattern, found it frustrating or even undecipherable. I am thinking that the few who enjoyed the pattern are experienced hookers! To quote a member on Ravelry:

Nice yarn + completely undecipherable pattern instructions + approx. 4 months wasted on this bad boy = crappy, frustrating project ==> unhappy crocheter (me!) UGH!!!PS -- Dear Caron pattern editors: this is the second Caron crochet pattern that has driven me nuts and according to both designers it is because you apparently change/alter/edit their original instructions. PLEASE reconsider your editing strategy!!! Thank you.

Personally, I am stuck on row 3 of the sleeves and cannot proceed until I understand what needs to be done. My frustration levels hit red on the "frustratometer".  The Teen is most disappointed too. She needs something pretty to wear with a long sleeved velvet top that leaves her shoulders bare since the official dress code in Qatar demands shoulders be covered.

The pattern reads like an Escher staircase as I also mentioned on Instagram e.g. (not actual pattern) rows 118-129 (6 pattern repeats) repeat rows 58-69  (6 pattern repeats) and when I get to those rows, it says to repeat rows 8-19 (5 pattern repeats) except for row 10 (increase) and rows 8-19 is in fact a repeat of rows 2-5 which forms the base of the pattern . . .  

Last night I started hooking a pretty wrap instead and decided to use a sock yarn in silk, mohair and wool with hook size 5 to create a lacy effect. As soon as she saw it, The Teen demanded to know who that was for. I said whoever wants it. Turns out she wants it. The mood is a happy one once again!   

Have a great week and do let me know whether you have hibernated or frogged an item before due to poorly written patterns rather than personal preferences!

Vintage Throw Finished

Yarn: King Cole Bamboo Cotton in Glacier, 13 x 100gr

Hook Size: 4mm

Pattern from here and here

Images for mood boards below from my Raw Rustic Duck Egg Blue and For Me Pinterest boards

I hope you like my throw as much as I do!
It was such a great and rewarding pattern to hook that I am quite disappointed it came to an end.  I wanted to finish it though, so that I could still photograph it against the wallpapered wall here in the hotel where I also took the pictures for the previous posting.  We are at long last relocating to a villa tomorrow after 5 months of hotel apartment living. T's a busy time for me eeeeeek!
Have a nice week! 

Vintage Throw in Bamboo Cotton

LIGHTWEIGHT VINTAGE THROW IN PROGRESS

Don't you just love this?! Pattern from here and here - please do not hesitate to point me towards the origin of the pattern. I do not want to land in copyright prison where punishment is having to hook endless grannies with containers full of squeaky acrylics in garish colours . . .

THROW HOOKED IN SIZE 4

This is a set of high quality carbonised bamboo hooks I bought whilst we were living in Malaysia. I have realised that quality of bamboo hooks can differ tremendously between different manufacturers. I bought three bamboo hooks (in a very light colour)  from a well known manufacturer in South Africa and I disliked hooking with it intensely. It is not nearly as smooth as these in the photo and fights against the yarn in stead of having a close, very close, relationship with it.  It's gone straight to the bin. Ooops.

YARN

King Cole Bamboo Cotton DK in color Glacier. 

This is a very soft yarn in a slight sheen in 100% natural fibers.

THE YARN SHOP

Yarn in Doha is available from the one and only shop that sells a few skeins of yarn, the Singer Shop! Needless to say they sell and repair Singer sewing machines but also stock a limited selection of yarn, crochet hooks, knitting needles and embroidery thread. The Singer shop is located next to Badie Music Studio and Stores in Al Muthaf Rd for those using Google Maps. There is no organised system of street names and postal addresses in Qatar. We explain directions via landmarks and not street signs e.g.  . . . across the road from the Pink Mosque next to the Iranian Cafe with the big tree near TV roundabout  . . .  We are used to this, it was the same in Dubai and a quirk of Middle Eastern living!  

THANK YOU!

A big Thank You to Kathryn from Crochet Concupiscence for  including my Star Shaped pillow in her 20 Best 2014 Crochet Patterns for the Home!  It has not gone unnoticed and it is a great honor!

AFRICAN INSPIRED THROW

Curious to see a sneak peek of the finished African Inspired Throw?  Be sure to pop over to HelloHart!  I will do a blog posting about the blanket soon, but first I need to distance myself from it. Rows one and two were hooked together during a time when someone close to our family became critically ill and even though it remains the African Inspired Blanket, those two rows have been renamed Picking up the Pieces.

INSTAGRAM
You can now find me on Instagram!

Have a nice weekend!