Dainty Delicious Darling Scarf

Hello!

One could easily fantasise about being a dainty lady, wearing this delicious darling scarf. I on the other hand, prefer to team something as delicate as this with raw grey linens and natural stone. The look is as strong as it is fragile and the result mesmerising.

However, neither of my two dresses in silvery grey (this one shows my knees - against the dress code in Qatar!) and charcoal linens, inspired me this morning and I promptly decided to hunt down tunic style dresses in faded Japanese linens in order to showcase my beautiful scarf. Wish me luck!

I have been shopping all my life and I have nothing to wear!!

Yarn:
Madeline Tosh Prairie in Calligraphy, a one ply, 100% superwash hand-dyed merino wool
Eden Cottage Theseus Lace, a merino and silk 2 ply lace weight yarn soft, somewhat shimmery and luxurious
Hook Size: 3mm

 

Photos of flowers, top and jewelry linked in Pinterest

Loop London!

Hello!  The Afrikaans word for walk is "loop". I literally did a Loop London two weeks ago when I not only walked and walked, exploring the city on foot, but I also shopped and shopped - at Loop yarn store! I arrived back home with no less than 23 hanks of yarn in Lace (Merino, Silk and Linen) and Worsted Merino by Madeline Tosh, Artisan Yarns, Eden Cottage and The Uncommon Thread.  

I visited the shop twice, the first time to buy the Worsted Merino (6 hanks in purple and green) and linen (oops also 6 hanks in purple and green). What was that all about? Oh wait, I also got married in lilac and mint, those colours must have stuck with me after all these years! At the same time I picked up a few hooks, a pin for a shawl and the glorious Sophie Digard scarf in the above photo.

Once a back at the swanky hotel in Knightsbridge next to Harrods I called home for a few nights, I realised that I shunned the opportunity to buy the most amazing lace-weight yarns.  I have long since admired the work of Alice on Instagram & on her blog.  Right there and then I decided to return to Loop for more shopping as I would like to try my hand at something more delicate in the spirit of Alice's work and needed those lace yarns.  

I then invested in the most beautiful mushroom, stone and greige colours, a yellow, pink and charcoal too and am plotting and planning the next project for these yarns and am already whipping up sample squares to see where it will take me. Of course as I was about to exit the door, I spotted the Sophie Digard necklaces and promptly bought two of those too, one for myself and one for Anisa from Hellohart who introduced me to Editor Dala Watts, leading to an article of my work in the South African Ideas magazine!  I wanted to say thank you in a special way and have been keeping my eyes peeled for that special item that turned out to be the Sophie necklace!

The great thing about the Loop yarn store is also the location (not reflected in the above photo!) They are located in Camden Passage Islington. Camden Passage is world famous for its vintage and contemporary shops, markets and arcades. Be sure to pop into the leather handbag shops near Loop. I dislike the majority of women's bags on sale and much rather buy from markets or independent shops where simplistic styles are crafted by hand. This shop delivered a glorious green leather bag with a huge flap that disguises Ipad and wallet alike.

Just pho you! Finally, just before you hit the Underground, walk across the road where you will find a delectable bowl of Pho in a cafe serving Vietnamese street food. I have had a need for hot, brothy, salty, soothing beef noodle soup ever since we left South East Asia! There are few things better than a tangle of slick rice noodles in a rich, crystal clear, intensely beefy broth; the warm aroma of cinnamon, cloves and star anise rising up in a cloud of steam, balanced by a squeeze of lime and a handful of fresh herbs and chilies. Ah hell, I entered heaven!

Have a great week!

Colours of Grace

I am highly interested in the lives and backgrounds of people creating art and craft as they all have a fascinating story to tell through the works they create. I am especially drawn to those who create as a form of therapy or emancipation as it adds an emotional connection to the sensory experience.

Melani, the force behind the sumptuous Colours of Grace  hand dyed aran weight cotton is no exception. Deeply religious, she turned to prayer when gripped in the fog of depression. The answer to her prayers was to turn her hand to a craft that has been around for thousands of years. Spinning. As a medical technologist by profession, Melani had no background in spinning. She located not only two spinning wheels within a week, but also found a master spinner to teach her. Soon she was transforming raw fiber into spun yarn, telling stories through colour (she hand dyes the cotton) and texture. 

Colours of Grace became Melani's living memory. Two days before the launch of the (then differently named) yarn, she changed the name to Colours of Grace after a revelation, honouring the biblical women Hannah (DK) and Magdalene (aran) who both received grace in answer to prayer. All of the yarn is produced by Melani, Elsabe (her mother in law) and Silent (an assistant originally from Zimbabwe).  

The yarn is locally (South Africa) available via the Colours of Grace Facebook page, as well as from independent distributors. I bought 34 x 50gr balls from another person with a big heart, Beatrix Snyman (Blog Btrix Dsigns and also available via her Facebook Page).  I forwarded Beatrix my mood boards and she put together the yarn choices for me.  Beatrix has an excellent understanding of colour and I love connecting with her since we share similar outlooks on life, having both lived global lives for extended periods. 

Below is the latest Colours of Grace colour chart - I bought a selection of colours from the current as well as previous colour range.  The yarn is a perfect match to my mood-boards and my own ideas of romantic Istanbul and Paris.  I absolutely love the slightly mottled effect and am struggling to keep my hands off the yarn (it is going into the container destined for Qatar!)

Correction - I sneaked the yarn into my son's suitcase and when Simply Crochet magazine approached me for a design/article to be published in Issue 23, my fingers naturally reached for this amazing yarn and I had the time of my life making the Milla Magic throw.

PS For international orders: Hilda Steyn via Yarn in a Barn  

 

I will be back soon to tell you about my 6 balls of cowgirlsblues merino wool, 5 balls of Pierrot French linen, 21 balls of a newly launched Imagine hand dyed bamboo/cotton mix, 27 balls of Vinnis Bambi and 6 balls of African Expressions Soul purchases.
Fiber artists in South Africa are at long last spoilt for choice!

Current Colour Inspirations:

- Travels to romantic Paris and Istanbul
-  The fabulous tones featured on the delicious Désaccord blog
- The "For Me" section on my Raw Rustic Pinterest boards

I created these mood boards and then went shopping for interesting yarn

Photos of my "to die for" yarn purchases to follow later

xxx

Pinterest Raw Rustic

Pinterest: Raw Rustic

Pinterest: Raw Rustic

A different yarn!

Hello, Bonjour, Hej, Asalaama Alaikum, Namaste, Dumela! Well, will you believe it but this is a glimpse of a project in planning to be hooked in something other than my beloved Vinnis yarn.  This is a yarn made up of 32% cotton, 11% tweed, 10% wool, 44% acrylic and 3% nylon. A test run told me that it is easy to fall out of love with this yarn if one chooses a metal hook and finicky pattern. My bamboo hook is doing a great job though and because I chose the simplest of simple patterns for the project, I am doing just fine with the yarn...  

  

Even though the two pictures of the shed below is in black and white - the rest were shot in full colour.  The yarn is black and white with a small spot here and there in a rusty colour. 

Meanwhile I am trying my best to rid the shed my work space of odours stemming from the previous home owners storing plant fertilisers and all sort of chemicals in it for many years. It was easy to simply occupy the space - neither the husband nor the Tween or Teen took up on my offer to turn it into a craft room or artists den for any of them.  I moved my belongings in early one morning as soon as the husband left for work and the kids were still asleep without telling a soul.  It is located underneath a huge avocado tree and I can either cosy up inside or grab a chair and camp out under the tree with my supplies an arm length away.

We have a huge garden with various fruit and nut trees, a veggie patch, hordes of birds (we border a bird sanctuary) and other outbuildings. I am off plant shopping now. I am an avid collector of succulents and cacti and need to build up a collection again (as this is what one does every time one moves country). Cheers, have a great week!

Do you know about the Crafty Bloggers Link-Up, a directory for Craft bloggers?

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 ;-)

 

Easter Bunny a.k.a. Cabbage Rabbit

Aha, aha the postman has finally arrived with new bamboo hooks for The Tween and I, and a ball of "Thickish" (as described on the website she ordered it from) yarn for The Tween. She is in hooky heaven and set out straight away with her planned Easter Bunny named "Cabbage Rabbit". Oh boy, we have forgotten what thick yarn really looks and feels like since we have been hooking with "thinnish", errr very thinnish yarn until now, meaning we hook and hook and hook . . . forever to complete something of a decent size. Nearly 10 years of living first in the desert and now in the tropics also mean that we don't really touch woolly things either so are not on the ball so to say with regards to balls of yarn. The Tween designed her own pattern and if I keep on asking her, I have a sneaky suspicion she will write and illustrate the pattern for sharing. I will give you a sneak peek so long:

In true Easter weekend style we also popped over to a nearby cafe for some afternoon tea, or rather afternoon coffee for the parents and chocolate melting pots for The Tweens. It was strangely rather empty, we are used to elbowing the crowds for a table at this wonderful cafe. We tucked into nibbles and was well sated by the time we were finished with the last crumb of cake. Will you believe it, as soon as we got back home the Dude Tween asked me to prepare Tom Kha Gai, one of his favourite Thai dishes. I didn't think he had space in his small tummy for any more food after the cake feast but alas the two of us then prepared this fantastic Thai "soup" made of chicken in coconut milk infused with galangal, lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves and served it on a fragrant steamed rice. See SheSimmers for a great and easy recipe. 

The Yarn Shop

Here in Penang there are quirky shops and dirty shops, funky shops and monkey shops, shops in modern malls and shops in old Chinese shophouses. Then there is the yarn shop. I will leave the description of this shop up to you, but what I can tell you is that I co-incidentally stumbled upon this shop one day after searching for a haberdashery on the island.  I actually gave up any hope of finding either yarn or a crochet hook anywhere in Penang and decided to order via Amazon. Only to have Amazon declining delivery of crochet hooks to the island . . .

I still think it utterly unbelievable and co-incidental that I walked past this shop and discovered the yarn tucked away on shelves at the back of the shop, exactly one day after trying to order via Amazon.  The choice lies only with the colours, not the yarn.  It is 100% acrylic, manufactured in Japan and is sold in bundles of 5x40gram. The quality is OK, at least the yarn is soft. I have since read about another shop selling yarn and will investigate and report soon. Oh the fun of living this life, one simply has to have an outstanding sense of humour.

The front of the shop and the backstreet where I park - note the storm ahead, it is wet season.

The "Shop"