WIP Wednesday - again!

Wow, looks like I finished a lot of projects and gifts! The first one was a cute shirt for my daughter with matching bracelet and scrunchy:

Next up was a little package for a cute new baby boy:

And I had cool new idea (everybody probably does this, but for me it was an epiphany): Instead of writing some washing instructions on a tag, as I used to, I just put part of the yarn label on it! Love this idea, looks so much more professional.

The next package was for my Papa, whose birthday we forgot...

and, of course, the whole ordeal with Zoe's slipper... read about that in the slipper post!

And yesterday I finally got started on a bigger project again: my winter skirt! It is crocheted from side to side, but I want a horizontal color blending effect... so I planned the color changes very carefully:

I'm using four different shades of blue and they kind of create an ombre effect, what I was going for. I recently found a better method for that, but now that I have the yarn...

So, this is how far I've gotten. Sooooo many strands of yarn everywhere... it's a hassle and I'm still undecided, if I'll just switch to vertical stripes.

Okay, and now head on over, see what everyone else is working on!

Free Pattern: Granny Sleeves

I made this beautiful wrap for my Mother's birthday

and the yarn was just soooooo yielding I figured I could make something for myself! And because I just love the look of the cluster stitches on the wrap I went for something with granny squares. I was going to come up with my own pattern but then I realized that I was combining two patterns: Nina Leon's Ribbed Sleevo Scarf and Suzetta Williams' Granny Scarf.

But I'll still give you a pattern for what I did, I call them my Granny Sleeves!

And you can also wear them as a scarf if it's too hot for long sleeves! So, here's the pattern:


Yarn: dk weight (I used just under 400 yards, but I'm tiny...)
Hook: 4mm (G)


Gauge is not important, you'll be working with the actual measurements


Colors: A = beige, B=pink, C=green (Just letting you know what I used, pick whatever you like!)


(1) 
In color A chain multiples of 4 for the length of you scarf. Keep in mind to subtract quite a bit since you'll keep adding to the length with each round. My foundation chain hung a little lower than my elbows and produced a full length sleeve. Guesswork, no formula, sorry...
Add 2ch and then 3ch for turning chain


(2)
dc into 4th chain from hook
dc in next 3ch
[ch1, skip 1ch, dc in next 3dc] repeat along scarf
dc into last 4ch
fasten off color A


(3)
attach color B in space between last two dc
ch3, 2dc,ch1
[3dc, ch1] 3 times into same space you attached B
[3dc in ch-space, ch1] repeat along scarf
[3dc, ch1] 4 times into space between last two dc
[3dc in ch-space, ch1] repeat along other side of scarf
join with sl into top of ch3
fasten off color B


(4)
attach color C in next ch-space
ch3, 2dc, ch1, 3dc, ch1 into same space
3dc, ch1 into next ch-space
[3dc, ch1, 3dc, ch1] into corner space
[3dc in ch-space, ch1] along the side of your scarf
work corners as described
join with sl into top of ch3
fasten off color C


(5)
Continue to add rounds as in (4) until the scarf is wide enough to wrap around the very top of your arm. If your yarn stretches take that into account, you'll want the sleeves to be pretty tight fitting at the top of your arms so you won't loose them!
Leave a long tail to sew first arm.


(6)
Fold scarf lengthwise and sew arms closed from the ends to the middle. Mine are 17" long, but again, I'm tiny...


(7)
Weave in all ends. Wear it!


Btw, I'd love to hear your opinion on how you like your patterns written. This is only the first one I'm actually writing down. Do you prefer brackets over asterisks? Do you like more line breaks and paragraphs? How easily can you follow the instruction?... Things like that...

Thank you so much for reading and your feedback!

WIP Wednesday

And it's Wednesday again!
I'm kinda between projects and I need my husband to take some pictures for me...


I have been working on a shrug that is mostly just sleeves and can also be worn as a scarf. Here's a brief glimpse:

Did you recognize the yarn? Yes, those are the leftovers from the wrap I made for my Mom's birthday! I loved the way the yarn looked in the cluster stitches, so I decided to make something with granny squares. This not entirely my own pattern, though; but I typed it up anyway. I'll be uploading it as a free pattern soon. (At least I hope it's going to be soon...)


And guess what? There's still some yarn left over! I'll try to make a matching hat for this little thingy...


Alright, now head in over to Kristine's and see what everyone else is doing:

Father's Day 2012!

It's Father's Day! In the United States at least...


However, I'm German and me husband, my beautiful daughter and I live in Germany. Here, Father's Day has been attached to ascension day and was a couple of weeks after Mother's Day. (Yes, that's actually on the same day here!)
Also, Father's Day is celebrated... differently here: men usually take bike trips in large groups, none of them fathers, of course, with a couple of crates of beer in tow and get wasted. I know, it sounds really stupid and doesn't honor fatherhood in the least. But that's what I was used to.


I didn't realize that in the States Father's Day is the true equivalent to Mother's Day until last year. It was our second year as parents (no, I don't remember how the first time went...) and I got all cranky, because I didn't get anything for Mother's Day. My husband asked: "Oh, and do you have any plans for Father's Day?" I was confused. In my experience that was just an excuse to get drunk. 


So, after I got an awesome card, breakfast and cute little gift for Mother's Day this time around, I had to make it up to my husband! And I made sure we had a great Father's Day together! The first of many to come!


I'm not the cook in this family, so no cool breakfast for him, hah! Oh well, he got his card and cute, very personal gift after our regular breakfast:

The printable for the card can be found all over the internet, I found it on the Holiday Snob blog and had Zoë color on it. Yeah, I guess she wasn't really in the mood. :-)
I glued it to a piece of scrapbook paper to improvise a card and Zoë and discussed what we were going to write to Daddy. Finally I had her trace her name and she did an awesome job!


And this was our gift:

Very cute, but also not my original idea. I stole it from Shannon... and since I only have one child I had to get myself in the picture...
Zoë and I had so much fun doing that! And she was great. The perfect model. Lay still on the bed for almost half an hour!


And then we went out for some fun on the playground:

I know, it's still pretty cold for June. Yikes, I'm sooooo ready for summer to finally make it to Hamburg!


Finally, I also made these awesome Cookies and Cream Cupcakes for dessert! Super yummy! Too sweet for most German taste buds, I might add...

My frosting wasn't quite as fluffy as I wanted it, but the cream cheese kind never turns out the way I want it. Anyway, they're still veeeeery tasty.

So, this was our first successful Father's Day and we all enjoyed it a great deal. There will repeat performances over the years to come!