Istanbul Magic - Milla Magic

Milla Magic Crochet Square

Well Hello! In case you were thinking that I have disappeared from the face of earth, fear not. I am very much alive and kicking and for the most you can find me on Instagram where I post photos to my gallery under the handle RawRustic

Today I share with you a pattern that I designed in 2014 and that appeared in Issue 23 of Simply Crochet Magazine.  A few beautiful examples of  the blanket can be viewed on Ravelry and Instagram.

This square was inspired by my travels to glorious Istanbul. What a magnificent city, full of energy and colour - a potent mix of East and West, blended together over the course of the last 800 years!  It is this balance of contrasts that I think makes Istanbul so captivating for me a s a city and influenced the pattern and mood of the blanket.
I named the blanket after my beautiful daughter, Milla. 

Yarn: 

Timu hand-dyed 10 ply cotton (previous known as Magdalene)

Timu is a collaboration between two teams producing two different colour palettes and is available from Yarn in a Barn and MoYa

You will need 34 balls of 50g a ball. 4 of those should be the same colour and will be used for the edge and to crochet the squares together.  I designed the pattern specifically to showcase a thicker hand dyed cotton, it gives a sturdiness to the squares and "pops the bobbles".
The only alternative to Moya I can think of is Vinnis Tori.

Hook Size:

5mm to achieve 54 squares measuring 15cm x 15cm each.  The finished blanket measures 94cm x 140cm

Pattern US Terminology:

Ch5, ss to the first ch to form a ring.

Round 1: Ch1 (does not count as a stitch), 10sc into the ring, ss to the first sc to join (10sc). Fasten off.

Round 2: Join next colour yarn and ch4 (count as tr), tr in st at base of ch4, 2tr in each sc around, ss to the top of the beginning ch4 to join (20tr). Fasten off.

Round 3: Join new colour and ch1 (does not count as stitch), 2sc in the first stitch and each st around, ss to the first sc to join. (40sc) Fasten off.

Round 4: Turn work so that the wrong side is facing and join new colour in the first st, ch 1 (does not count as stitch), *sc in same st, tr in next sc and repeat from * around, ss to the first sc to join 

Round 5: Turn the work so that the right side is facing and join new colour in the first sc of previous round. Ch1 (does not count as stitch), sc in the first st, *ch3, skip the next tr, sc in the next sc; repeat from * around omitting the last sc, ss to the first sc to join. (20 ch3 spaces).

Round 6: carry on with colour joined in round 5. Ss to the first ch3 space, ch3 (counts as dc), 2 dc in same ch3 space *(3sc in the next ch3 sp) twice, 3dc in the next ch3 sp, (3tr ch2, 3tr) in the next ch3 sp; repeat from * 3 more times omitting the last 3dc, ss to the top of the beginning ch3 to join. Fasten off.

Assemble all the squares with sc seam.

Border - one sound of sc with 3sc in each corner, second round of sc with picot in every 7th sc and in corner.

Mallorca!

I love summer holidays in the Northern hemisphere which signifies the end of the school year and the start of extensive travelling trips. Whilst the summer holidays in the South are great too since it coincides with the Festive Season, I think summer holidays hold extra significance in the North when nature awakens from a long winter’s slumber, summer days are pristine and Europe shines on long summer evenings.

This year we travelled to the Netherlands (Amsterdam, Maastricht, Rotterdam, Groningen and Breda) and Spain (Mallorca and Barcelona). It was a fantastic holiday and I will be sharing more with you in the coming weeks. First about the relatively small island of Mallorca with beaches that dreams are made of. We lived in the historic quarter of Palma, rented a car and explored the island. 

Playa de Formentor

 We swam in the crystal clear azure sea of Cala Deia, Cala Mondrago and Playa de Formentor. I loved the intimate coves below dramatic cliffs, wild natural beaches which are accessible only on foot and huge swaths of soft golden sand backed by palm trees.

Cala Mondrago

Unusually for a Mediterranean island, Mallorca is fertile and green, with an amazing array of natural landscapes from soaring mountains in the west (the Tramuntana mountains), to beautiful vineyards in the fertile central plain. 

We indulged in the cuisine and spirit of the Mediterranean, the food something out of the ordinary. Where else can you find wild boar, osso buco, traditional seafood dishes or the best paella this side of the Atlantic? With new-wave chefs championing local cuisine and converted castles and convents in the countryside harbouring Michelin-starred restaurants, Mallorca is fast flourishing into one of Europe’s most exciting and authentic foodie destinations.  

 

Walking to Cala Deia

 

The above below photos were taken in and near Deia. This small town is well-known by many, but we followed the winding road down from in front of the gorgeous La Residencia hotel and we hit Cala Deia, a small and pebbled but very pretty beach. Two restaurants blend into the surrounding rocks and, though they look rather shack-like, serve gorgeous fresh local fish and cold San Miguel beer. We tucked into seafood platters at  Ca’s Patro March, the restaurant perched on the cliff overlooking the sea.

Dining at Ca Na Toneta, a small and charming family restaurant in Caimari, a quiet village located at the foot of the Tramuntana mountain range was a highlight. The six course tasting menu changes weekly, or more often, based on seasonal products organically grown in the home garden.

Ca na Toneta Restaurant

Crochet Ca na Toneta

Crochet Bowl Ca na Toneta Giftshop

Crochet rug, Ca na Toneta giftshop

We had a fabulous meal at La Despensa del Barón located at Posada Terra Santa, a new boutique hotel in Mallorca. I enjoyed a superb dish of 3 months aged Angus Fillet with foie gras and potato gratin. 

La Despensa del Baron - chef 

Cool Teen awaiting her food

Taking a sneak peek at the restaurant when we made the booking

Parked at the entrance to the restaurant and hotel

For “Where to go in Mallorca” take a look at the blog posting by Swede Jacqueline Mikuta. Her Instagram is to die for.

Linen Love

An inherent quality of linen is the endless design stories it creates for living spaces and wardrobe alike. I am especially drawn to the fiber due to it's cool, fresh quality that is in stark contrast to the extreme hot weather climates I call home. This past summer stood out as one of the most brutal recorded in the Middle East, no doubt the driving force behind my continued obsession with natural fibers.  Linen is notoriously laborious to manufacture, but an affair with this ancient fiber, dating back thousands of years, is a lovestory for life! Linen is going through a revival stage with bloggers such as Beth from LocalMilk honouring the integrity, showcasing the beauty of the fiber in their daily narratives. 

The pincushion above and the broach below is by the uber talented Namolio. I was doing the happy dance when I opened my parcel to see that she has gifted me with no less than 3 skeins of 5 ply linen yarn in  3 colourways. What a wonderful gift, thank you so much! The fragrance of lavendar emanating from the pincushion transported me straight back to our summer vacation in Croatia. Ah bliss.

Find Namolio on Etsy for exquisite gifts, Flickr for incredible photography, and Instagram for daily snapshots into her life.

My fingers itched to give the linen yarn a whirl and the result is this textural piece hooked from a pattern by another very talented woman, Sandra, the driving force behind the Mobiusgirl label. She has just started her own blog on which you will find the pattern for this beautiful mandala. I have yet to decide what to do with my mandala, but see some of the options below! 

Have a great weekend, we are off to enjoy bistro style dining in a hip, relaxed atmosphere at Opal, a Gordon Ramsay restaurant where we will be celebrating my birthday that took place earlier this week. 

Norwegian Woods

The Project

~ a breathtakingly beautiful lacy blanket titled Norwegian Woods. 

The Pattern

~ tutorial on YouTube by Jachelle Stephanie. I am hoping to receive feedback from her soon confirming whether she was also the designer of the pattern. A chart is available on Jachelle's Instagram, but beware that the corners differ slightly to the YouTube tutorial I followed.

Tutorial Part 1

Tutorial Part 2

The Inspiration
~ the mood captured by @camillalboe from Norway and the beautiful black exterior houses of Scandinavia. Photo credits: Camilla 

The edge

~ improvised!

Fiber Meditations

~ I have been searching for the perfect black fiber for close to two years and was about to order black hemp string online, when my eye spotted a few sample balls produced by my friend Hester, the force behind MoYa Yarn. It was instant love and without a doubt the most suitable yarn for the project. MoYa is a high twist hand dyed organic cotton with the added benefit that it does not split, the ends do not fray and once woven in, also do not unravel. Perfect!

Black Tweed has the potential to become my signature yarn if I ever decide to take the leap and do what I really should and want to do, i.e. hook in stark non-colours. I am the bearer of bad news though, this yarn is not (yet) available for sale.    

Pretty Pieces and my dear Katja

Tinctory- I fell in Love with Eva's creations many years ago when it first started making an appearance in my Pinterest feed and finally got around to take the plunge and buy myself something from her Tinctory shop.  Czech born and British based designer, Eva, uses cues from geometry in nature and created several pleating studies over the years which she later translate into wearable jewellery. I love expats artists, you can see the depth of their lifestyle experiences in the works of art and craft they produce. Her pieces are etherial, intriguing, unique and if you page through her Flickr and Blog, you will also fall in love with her photography.  Eva hand dyes repurposed silk and then applies various techniques in her work, among others batik and shibori, knitting and smocking. She scanvenges natural organic materials from the forest floor and her colours represent the forest fodder and seasons. The jewelery exhudes space, stillness and calm. I am completely in love with the Feather I chose and love wearing it. Thank you Eva!

Swoon Lounge is a gorgeous new online shop by Susan Cropper, owner of bespoke yarn shop, Loop London in Islington, London. I had such a great time selecting yarns from the shop during a business trip to London earlier this year, that I knew Swoon Lounge would be a great choice to order a few linen dresses from.  I bought the Bud Dress and Fan dress by Manuelle Guibal  and it quickly became weekend wardrobe staples. Each piece is individually garment dyed and processed by hostoric mills in the French countryside and tailored in pure and simple shapes with sculptural volumes.

I took this picture in the Medieval Mediterranean garden of St Lawrence Monastery high up in the old town of Sibenik, Croatia during the summer holiday. These flowers remind me of delicate tutu wearing ballerinas.

Have a nice weekend, I will be posting more about my latest crochet project that I started making during a trip to Istanbul soon!  I am making a blanket titled "Sprinkles" in the gorgeous Moya, hand dyed organic cotton with a hight twist in a stunning palette of colours. I am in love!


Oh no, I just read the sad news of Katja's passing away on 13 October. RIP Katja, your Versponnenes blog has been a constant favourite of mine over the years and I will miss our bantering over "Visiting Sweden" (Ikea shopping) and me buying "Katja Colours" during one of my King Cole Cotton Bamboo shopping trips.  A recent blanket of mine has been inspired solely by one you made (photo below), I will most definitely be blogging about that next. I am so damn sorry, cancer is a bitch!