Technically this is not a “Follow-up Friday”-project, simply because it was an in-between-I-got-sidetracked-kind of project. It only started less than a week ago ……
The real beginning was this project in blue, off-white and red: a corner-to-corner piece of crochet, where I use a counted cross stitch pattern (found on the internet, here).
I’ve done pixelated crochet before, as I’ve used the c-2-c-technique, but never in the same piece of work. You might remember my “pixelated cushion”, made using a counted cross stitch pattern, by crocheting tiny, one round, granny squares, joining them as I went.
Having seen a lot of beautiful “corner-to-corner” crochet as of lately, I thought it would be fun to give it a go again, this time in combination with a cross stitch pattern.
If you want to try c-2-c crochet, you’ll find a great tutorial (video) here – even though it’s in Dutch, it’s so well explained visually, that I think anyone would be able to understand.
More tutorials can be found here, here and here.
I loved the aforementioned pattern. A google search request simply using the watermark on the pattern, “Hetti”, and the words “cross stitch patterns” luckily brought me to the designer’s website, and I’m so glad I landed there! What a talented maker she is, and a wonderful sharer too: there are a lot of lovely patterns for all of us to use for free.
I’m enjoying crocheting this “Dutch Delft Blue”-c-2-c, but it’s very time-consuming, and I can only work on it a couple of hours per sitting. However, I’m loving the simplicity of the stitch, liking the stitch definition, and while looking for a rather mindless crochet project to balance things out, a small light bulb went off. How about doing a second c-2-c project using my left over yarn? And so I did.
For a rather control-minded person, it was a bit of a challenge to stick to my own rule of not planning too-too much color wise this time around. Still, I could not resist a little color joke here and there, hence the red-white-and-blue of the Dutch flag, mixed with the royal orange…..:)
It was fun to crochet with a particular yarn, until the very end of it, and start with a new color, no matter whether this was in the middle of a row or not.
Seeing the many, many yarn ends was a bit daunting at first, but to tell you the truth: sewing them in proved to be a good exercise in the mindfullness-department ;), and it didn’t bother me at all.
Not having enough left-over yarn for a real big project, first I thought of turning this project into a cushion cover. But….. all of a sudden I remembered the leather bag handles that had been sitting in my craft room for too long! A bag it was!
I was so impatient to see whether it would look just as pretty as the picture I had in my head, that I kind of raced through the whole process. Which means this is another “ta-dah”-post, because the bag is all done, lining, pockets and all!
She’s a robust bag, more like a shopper actually, and I can’t help myself, but I’m totally in love……..
I can’t wait to take her with me on a special trip tomorrow!
Have a lovely weekend!
Love,
Marianne xx
I love corner to corner!! I’ve made a few afgan’s like that.. what weight yarn did you use for this one? It’s beautiful!!
Thank you! Great technique, isn’t it? I used 100% cotton and a 3,5 mm hook! Marianne xx
You are so clever. It’s always exciting to see what’s coming off your hook at any given time. Love it all…again!
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And you are so, so nice! Thank you for your sweet&wonderful comment, Carole – you’re making me blush (but also very happy)! Marianne xx
Love that cushion wow!
Thank you very much! Marianne xx
Love your colorful bag! And yes, I don’t mind putting ends in either, like you said: it’s almost meditating 😉
Your c2c-project has the same inspiration as my latest work; I also found a crossstich-pattern but I’m crocheting it in with the tapestry-technique.
Anyway, your cushion looks awesome.
Have a nice weekend,
Sigrid
Thank you so much, Sigrid! It really is very meditative, isn’t it? Oh, how nice – have fun working on your cross stitch pattern-inspired project! Marianne xx
Some great ideas in this post. And lovely outcomes. I am making some cushion covers. Must try your corner to corner some time.
Thanks so much, dear Jane! I love making cushion covers – always a nice quick, but not too quick project! I’m sure you’ll like c2c! Marianne xx
I’ve never heard of this corner to corner but I will definitely look this up! I feel my crochet needs a revamp and this looks perfect.
I love this whole post!
Thank you so much! So nice to read this post makes you want to pick up your crochet hooks again! Marianne xx
Oh WOW! I’m totally in love with that bag – it’s absolutely gorgeous, a real work of art and should probably be framed so you can just admire it every day. I bet you had loads of compliments when you took it out:)
Thank you so very much, Sheila – that’s a wonderful compliment, and I really, really appreciate it!The bag and I went on a trip meeting other crocheters, and it got lots of “ooohs” and “aaahs” (and was actually touched and stroked as well ;)). Marianne xx
Super mooi en kleurrijk!
Ah, dankjewel, Sofie! Marianne xx
Zo mooi!
Dankjewel, Liza – lief! Marianne xx
Fantastic bag! And what a great idea to do C2C to use up small amounts of leftover yarn.
Thank you so much!The leftover yarn thing worked really well! Marianne xx
Wat een toffe tas Marianne! Hij staat in de spotlight vandaag bij Link Your Stuff. Een fijn weekend gewenst! Groetjes, Annemarie
Dankjewel, Annemarie! Ik zag het en ben er superblij mee – dànkjewel!! Marianne xx
Wat heb ik genoten van je kleurrijke blog bericht Marianne! De tas en het kussen zien er fantastisch uit, veel succes en groetjes, Hetti
En wat word ik superblij van jouw geweldige comment, Hetti! Dànkjewel! Marianne xx