Happy Friday, Lovelies!

Winter has settled into the valley. Properly.

🌷 The mountains have been wearing their morning clouds; the fynbos is looking beautiful after the rain, and the dogs are enjoying the cooler weather far more than I am. Finally, their furry coats make sense!

Between walks, cups of coffee, and LOTS of time in the studio, I've managed to put together a little tutorial for the bowls that so many of you asked about after my last post. In comparison to making crochet tutorials, this was so easy peasy! As mentioned, YouTube has a gazillion tutorials covering air-dried clay projects. I'm a complete novice. As usual, I just jump into crafts and muddle my way through. Clearly I'm of the Learn From Mistakes club.

🌷 One of our Lovelies in the last comments section was asking about whether these Farls are baked in an oven or on the stovetop. The little video will explain it all. I think a cast-iron skillet, a heavy griddle or a heavy-bottomed pan works perfectly. You'll need a matching lid. The Farls "bake" best in a Dutch Oven situation...if that makes sense.😁

🌷 In other news, I am absolutely bursting with delight that I'm finally finding a happy work-life balance. These days I'm treating my studio as a proper "workspace". We (the doggies, kitties and I) open up each day, and lock up at 5pm. Weekends...are weekends. Time to rest, recharge (or catch up on laundry). I can't tell you how much this has helped bring a great deal of steadiness into the chaos that clouded the past few years. Also, I'm working on a brand new design! My forte...a cushion-sized block. Many of you Lovelies already know that it's my favourite size: 50 cm x 50 cm. If all goes according to plan, the pattern should be live in two weeks! I'm in love with my studio space and although it may look "messy" to others...I know where everything is! That's the most important thing, right? Below is one corner of the "divine" mess, but in the opposite corner there is a top-secret project in progress. But...I'm happy to share the colourway: Elle Yarn-Charity DK: Neptune, Ocean, Guava, Oxide, Wheat, Cider, Musk, Moss, also Beige and another colour with no name.😁

🌷 It's taken me a while to see clearly through the tangled mist of tears, loss, grief, relocation, fear and anxiety, but yesterday as I sat on the porch of my studio with the furries (my lunch break), I gazed at my tiny house through eyes of deep gratitude. I have a 53sqm, off-grid BLUE house! Oh my goodness! Mind you, it seemed impossibly tiny when I first moved in. But lately, it's revealed itself as just the right size for my little furry family and me. It's not fancy at all... but it suits us to a T!

🌷 I love that my BLUE house is set against the backdrop of the Kasteel Mountain, whose slopes have given us abundant natural healing through our long meandering walks. This mountain, this village and its people have made me feel more settled and enfolded into a place than I ever felt before. And that is no small thing.💙

🌷 And last but not least...thank you so very much for all your lovely comments on the last post. Honestly, it felt like a very welcoming homecoming! I've gifted the adorable Bee Motif Pattern to one of our Lovelies (you know who you are), but I've dived right back into the same designer's offerings because her motifs are so sweet! Fiona's gorgeous Floral Butterfly Motif will be winging its way to one of you Lovelies, so please don't forget to add your Ravelry name to the comment section.

Until next time, lovely Yarnarinas, take care of your precious selves. Protect your peace like you protect your yarn!😁

Keep those hooks warmed up!

💛 Jen xxx

 A little catch-up, so feet up, cuppa and a biscuit close by...it's been a while!😘

Lovely Yarnarinas,

After a long silence, I find myself here again.

Not because life neatly resolved itself while I was away...quite the opposite. The years since I last wrote have been full of loss, change, exhaustion, grief, healing, and small, unexpected moments of beauty stitched quietly in between. Somewhere along the way, I lost the rhythm of writing here, and perhaps even the sense of who I was when I first began this little corner of the internet.

But recently, I’ve felt the soft tug back toward making things with my hands. Back toward yarn, colour, stories, bread rising in the kitchen, winter light on mountains, muddy dogs returning from walks, mushrooms in the forest, and the comforting but challenging days of creating routine and ritual from almost nothing.

So this is not a grand relaunch.
It’s simply a return.

A small knock on the old wooden door.
A kettle on the stove.
A light switched back on.

And I’m very glad to be here again.

🌷 I don't know about you, Lovelies, but I've been shying away from social media platforms more than ever. And it's a funny thing, but I've noticed many other creatives are finding social media too performative these days as well. Gone are the days when it felt as if social media was a useful extension of one's creativity. A way to quietly, intentionally, share and connect with like-minded fellow creatives. This is the main reason why slipping back to Blogland feels like coming home and immediately sitting down to write an old-fashioned newsy letter to Friends far away. Old school, right?

🌷 The top newsy bit to share is that the final stitch for the FLORALAI Throw is off my hook. Done and dusted. Forever! Floralai was not just a crochet project. It became a companion object. A witness object. A continuity thread. I began it in one life...before the diagnosis of Mr FloralHook and finished it in another life entirely. Somewhere inside my body, the completion of it probably feels less like “I finished a blanket” and more like: That chapter is truly over. Not intellectually, but somatically, a real physical reaction of grief, relief, but also overwhelm, as the last stitch slipped off my hook. The hands that made the first stitches were living in a completely different world from the woman who made the last stitch yesterday. That space between bursting into tears or a celebratory dance...is awkward. I don't want to scare the dogs.

🌷 Living in an entirely new location, off-grid, amongst locals who don't speak my language in more ways than just, well, language, is the stuff of many more newsletters. But also trying to find my authentic inner voice again after great loss and change requires some honest excavation. I may as well start somewhere, and sharing FLORALAI, our dear sweet, patient Floralai, is probably as good a place to start as any. I'll spend the weekend typing out the pattern. But the videos are already done and dusted. So do keep your hooks warmed up! Any day now. Moving Floralai around the garden on a completely cloudy day to get a good image...not too successfully, I might add! I don't want to mow the grass until all the Clover blooms. For the Bees, you know.

 🌷 In between slogging through the last rounds of the Floralai border (why does it seem to be harder the closer one gets to the finish line!?) I've been creating a lot of what I call "pretty. useless. crafts"... making "pretty. useless. bowls", beads, bracelets, and doodly paintings. It's ridiculously comforting and nerve-soothing to make things with your hands, right? Especially for no reason at all but the sheer sweetness of a hot beverage close by, some paint, or self-drying clay, a lovely podcast on, or a BBC Radio Mystery, and the dogs softly snoring by the fireside (in our case, the gas heater). If you do this too, then you'll know that creativity flows regardless.

🌷 I've taken to making Irish Soda Farls. Mostly because it's almost impossible to get anything but commercial bread here. My experience with Irish Soda Bread is this: my dear, sweet departed Irish mother-in-law passing what closely resembled a dense and weighty brick over the wall, on the rare occasion she baked. It was impossible to slice. I'm sharing my recipe and honestly it's what I'd call "my daily bread" because it's absolutely delicious if you love "honest" bread.

🍀My Irish Soda Farls

Pre-heat a cast-iron pan or griddle (I keep mine on gas turned to low).

In a bowl, add:

2 cups whole grain, stoneground flour

1 level tsp Bicarbonate of Soda (baking soda)

1 level tsp salt (a no salt batch is just as delicious)

1 cup of buttermilk.

For a savoury version, add: 1tsp mixed herbs, 1 TBS parmesan cheese, and/or a pinch of chilli flakes, or 1 tsp garam masala, garlic powder or onion powder.

Mix all ingredients together, turn onto a lightly floured surface and quickly pat into a circle approximately an inch thick. Handle lightly. Cut into four "farls". Add farls to your preheated pan. Close the pan with a lid and allow to "bake" for about 6 minutes on each side. Enjoy warm with butter, cheese or onion marmalade. For a sweet version, add 1tsp sugar, 2 TBS raisins and 1 tsp ground cinnamon.

I should mention that even though this is a wheat-based bread, I have had no adverse reaction to this recipe. Which is really surprising, seeing as even sourdough bread doesn't sit well with me (or in me!). If you try it, please let me know how it went for you.

Okee Dokee, Lovelies! Here's wishing you all a soothing, creative and crafty weekend. Ooo...I almost forgot! As always, I've picked an absolutely adorable little pattern for ONE lucky Lovely who comments below. The pattern is by Fiona Wilkinson on Ravelry, and it's her adorable BEE motif! So, please don't forget to add your Ravelry name with your comment.

Big hugs, until next time!

💛 Jen xxx

Happy Thursday, Yarnarinas!

 

Good morning, lovely Yarnarinas!

🐬🌿🌸🌞🌳🍂🌳🌞🌸🌿🐬

🌸 I'm chained to my desk at the moment (help, come save me!😂🙈) completing the text pattern for CERES (our Panel 1 of the BLOMMEVELD VINTAGE THROW). THANK YOU SO MUCH for the ❤️ !!! I'm worried you guys are going to send me into another tax bracket!!😆 So saying, don't forget that this pattern is 50% discounted until 1 APRIL 2024.

Ravelry coupon code: BLOM18

🌸 Because I'm quite high on the ADHD spectrum sitting still for longer than 10 minutes is torture! On days like this, I want to bin my hooks and yarn and escape into nature with the dogs. Like, forever. HOWEVER...then something drop-dead gorgeous pops up on our amazing Group and I'm reminded that living in the mountains with the dogs might sound like fun, but the real joy in my life is seeing all of you do your thing with my little patterns. I am humbled, and I mean that sincerely, Thank YOU!! 🙏💖 You all make me WANT to create patterns (even as I suffer for my art😂).

🌸 LOOK at this vibrant SPRINGY colourway for the CHRYSALIS THROW, made by Taina Kauppinen! 💙❤️🧡💚 As always, I'll 🐸 50% off for 24hrs. I do this because, like anyone else I hate it when something beautiful is dangled in front of my face but costs all the pennies in my biscuit tin. This is a Throw sized pattern but you can stop at any point. The corners are also optional. And yes, there are round-for-round videos so you can crochet along with me (and snoring Tweeny🐾). I've included two pics of the full throw so that you can see the optional corners made by Lyndsay Wright and Maria Simonetta)❤️

RAVELRY COUPON CODE: CHRYSALIS21

👇

https://www.ravelry.com/redeem/the-floral-hook

Hope your day is filled with all the sweetness of life!

💛 Jen

Hello again dear Yarnarinas!

 Good morning and Happy New Week from my little studio in Cape Town, South Africa!

Lovelies...it's been a while since I last visited this space. Many of you Lovelies have been keeping in touch on the 'socials' so you know then that 2023, rather than starting with a bushy-tailed bang, began with tears, shock and fear. In short DRAMA! You'll know then too that Mr Floral Hook after visiting our local GP received a diagnosis not of a simple viral infection but Stage 4 Small Cell Lung Cancer. It's been quite the journey since then, as you can imagine. I won't go into details but suffice it to say, he's still alive and kicking. These Sagitarian men!! NOTHING keeps them down for long. 

Anyhoo...allow me to fast forward through 2023 Autumn, Winter, Spring, Summer, to Autumn 2024 and tadaaa...the release of  'our' 2024 Mystery Slow Crochet Along! I had every intention of NOT tackling a huge project this year, everything going on considered but that darn hook of mine. I'm sure I could hear it rattling in my hook jug, agitated to make happy twirling loops with colourful balls of squishy yarn again. It is like that, you know. I don't really have a choice.

I can hardly believe I'm embarking on another mystery make- along with all of you, again! So without further bla bla...meet the BLOMMEVELD VINTAGE THROW. As with the KAROO VINTAGE THROW, I'll be meandering through several adorable villages and hamlets nestled between the mountains and rivers of my beloved Cape Province. We'll be visiting Ceres, Citrusdal, Prince Albert and Tulbagh this time. And I can't wait for the journey to begin!

CERES is the first panel of four. The pattern includes two smaller stand-alone squares as well as a border option. It sounds very simple here when I write it out but there is A LOT going on that I explain in all the videos for Ceres (and also in the PRELUDE). The Prelude is about as much information as I have at the moment but I will make sure to add more as we go along. There are so many 'joining' options for these Panels thus each Throw will look very different depending on how you arrange your panels + squares at the end. That's the FUN part!

I've chosen my own colourway which you are welcome to copy. I'll be using the same nine colours for the next three Panels, in different order. These yarn amounts are my starting amounts but I have ordered two of each colour (18). The first seven colours are Stylecrafts Special DK.

 

1 x BUTTERMILK 1835

1 x GOLD 1709

1 x COPPER 1029

1 x LINCOLN 1834

1 x MEADOW 1065

1 x SAGE 1725

1 X PARCHMENT 1218

1 x DENIM (CHARITY ELLE YARNS)

1 x CHARCOAL (CHARITY ELLE YARNS)

 

As you can see, you are going to have an absolutely glorious time choosing your own colourway. My advice is to choose your colours and stick to them. Use them in a different order (or not) for each Panel. That way, in the end, you will have a beautiful colour-coordinated Throw.

(Image Credit: https://www.ceres-info.co.za/town/info )

Lovelies, as always, please connect with us over at The Floral Hook Workshop Group. We are always so excited to see your colourway choices and work in progress. Should you have ANY questions or concerns we are there to help you sort it out. 

See you there!

Love,

Jen xx

 Happy Friday and happy Weekend, Lovelies, how are you all? 

All very well in your patch of Crochetland I hope, in spite of January feeling as if it's six months long? Hopefully, it's not been a Januworry for you? 

One of my 2023 resolutions was that I'd blog on a regular basis...but LIFE keeps coming at me! Ok, it's actually DOGS and CATS coming at me (coff, coff). Our little foster senior, Miss Betty, passed over the rainbow bridge just before Christmas. Poor little thing was on her last leggies when she came to us and even though she'd forgotten by then how to 'go toilet' outside, we didn't mind the mess and made her last days as loving and comfortable as possible. Caring for a senior anything (inanimate or living) takes hours out of a day. Of course, we had to fill the gap left by Miss Betty, so we sprang Madame Carla-Walla-Bing-Bong from the SPCA  just before Christmas. She's nine ( so sixty-three in human years ) quite deaf, half-blind, possibly has a hare-lip, and is missing most of her teeth but she has a massive personality to compensate for her, erm, shortcomings (she's even tinier than George Tweeny)...in a nutshell... ADOooRABLE! As always, there is a period of adjustment...and that too, takes hours out of a day, right? Four active Dogs and two fussy Cats are the equivalents of six three-year-old humans...except they never grow up (the fur babies that is). My hands are full (of dog hair and such).

However, in between the business of being a Dog and Cat Mom, I've been keeping a little secret under my belly (nooo, I'm NOT pregnant, sheesh! lol!) but it is a baby of sorts. Tadaaaaa, it's a brand new throw pattern! I've called this 'baby' The Marigold Desert Throw. And much like falling pregnant when you least expect it, the inspiration literally flashed into my brain completely by surprise and unannounced. Inadvertently, the throw inspiration had something to do with my DNA profile, which is ...that I share 0.75% of it with the Khoisan. Anyway, one thing led to another; googled Khoisan ( read more about the first humans, the Khoisan HERE and HERE  ) which led me to Namibia and Botswana, both countries that are largely made up of the Kalahari Desert. Have you ever seen images of this vast space? It is an otherworldly beauty. Within these coppery desert sands, I saw (with my mind's eye, of course) a multitude of Marigolds in all their goldy, sunny, brassy, honey, lemony hues. With this vision of sorts, floated images in my head of succulents and other greeny things that survive in this arid terrain. Thus, with all of this rich imagery swirling about in my brain, it was no effort to pick the colourway and immediately put hook to yarn. I would love to visit the Kalahari Desert, but for three minor inconveniences; it's hot as Hell up there; I live faaar away on a tiny south-western peninsula that looks like a willy dangling over the Atlantic ocean; my furry tribe will insist on coming along. Which sounds exhausting. I'll stay home and crochet instead. Which in itself is an adventurous journey, right?

The Prelude, released today on Ravelry (HERE) includes some useful information to help get you started. You'll have three weeks to decide on your own colourway (or you can follow mine) and gather, or order your yarn. The Marigold Desert Throw is not Hook or Yarn specific. You can make it bigger or smaller by changing your hook size and yarn weight. Pictured is the Marigold Desert Block. As this is an informal MAL (Meander-Along) as before, with some of my Throws, the Extension will follow later. Take note that the Prelude is on a 50% less special at the moment. This once-off purchase of the Prelude INCLUDES the entire upcoming pattern for the Throw. As always, we'll be hosting this MAL at our wonderful, friendly, fun, and helpful Pattern Workshop Group on FB

                                                           (image credit: Thomas Noitz)

If you're wondering what that strange nesty thingy is to the left, it's a Socialable Weaver's Nest. These tough little birds build a community nest for optimal survival in a harsh landscape. You can read more about these clever cuties HERE

                                                                (image credit: Wikipedia)

Rifling about in Marigold Land I discovered that, yes indeed...there is an African Marigold (find out how to grow this beauty HERE). Suffice it to say I've always loved these firey-coloured little flowers (aka Calendula) and have a great appreciation for their usefulness in ancient traditions, gardening culture, and for their medicinal value (HERE is a handy list of the many ways Marigolds are beneficial in healing, and in the kitchen). And did you know (I didn't) that the name Marigold is derived from Mary's Gold, an association with the Virgin Mary? I'm not religious, at all, but I am somewhat of a Magpie when it comes to collecting religious imagery. Specifically, Mary, whose image I always find comforting in a motherly sort of way. These beautifully rendered 'Mary's Gold' cards do make my heart beat a little faster. Pinterest, oh lawdy, the Marigold embroidery! Don't even get me started.

                                              (image credit: ALYSAgraphique on Etsy )

                                                          (image credit: Tina Horn/Pinterest)

To THANK YOU for popping by, I'm giving away copies of the new design to 10 random Lovelies from the comments section. Don't forget to add your Ravelry name!

                                                    (African Marigold - tagetes erecta)

Take care, lovely Yarnarinas. It's crazy out there these days, oh my goodness.

See you soon on another Floral Hook adventure!

Hugs and much love as always,

Jen

PS: click HERE for a free Marigold embroidery pattern.