June, where did you go?

Happy Friday, Yarnarinnas!

Hope all is well in your patch of Crochetland?

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I'm writing to you from a very brrrrrrrrrrrr Cape Town! It's raining, it's pouring the old man is snoring...do you remember that little rainy-day ditty we used to sing as children when we were bored to tears staying indoors and all we wanted to do was be allowed out to play with the rain? I had five little brothers and we'd sing that song at the top of our lungs until threatened with " wait until your Father gets home!". 😆 One of the fabbest things about being a grown-up is we get to do all the things we weren't allowed to do as children, except that now we WANT to stay indoors, snuggled up with the fur-kids, hot-choc close by, Netflix ( I'm binge watching Suits at the mo ) and a basket filled with rainbow Yarn!

This morning I was Yarn crushing ( again ) over on the Scheepjes website and seriously, does the Cahlista not have the yummiest names for their colours? I've always loved a pantry-kitchen so this image is on my kitchen-remodelling-mood board. Our kitchen was last remodelled by my late parents-in-law, probably in the 70's? Weirdly, because I know they are practical, I have always had an aversion to kitchen units or built-in kitchens as we call them here. I'm loving these Pantry Pastels! Again, there are several different colour combinations we could use here but I settled on these:

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Next! If you are making the Hibiscus Tea Floral Block and The Extension ( in three Parts ) then do check your Ravelry Library for Part 2 of the Extension which I've just made available. It's only 15 x Rounds but it's a fiddly 15 x Rounds so I've kept Part 2 short for that reason. Just take your time. The upside is there are a few repetitive rounds so you CAN watch your fav program on Netflix ( or crochet Podcast! ).

I'm using the same colours I used for The Block + Part 1 but I have added two new colours Mushroom and Buttermilk. So far I've used just over 2 x Graphite. I will update the Colour List in the NOTES section on the Ravelry Pattern Page ( the Extension ) so do keep checking back from time to time.

For more information and general all 'round help please join our Group ( if you haven't already! ).

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From what I can see, you are all loving the Sunday Folk Hexie! Thank you so much for all the kind and encouraging comments. It just makes me want to make more Hexies! I wasn't going to make a  throw but then this happened. Christie Bailey, one of our super-talented Members over on the Group went ahead and made this! Gollygoshgeewhizz is all I can say! I just LOVED IT! So now, of course, there is most definitely going to be a Sunday Folk Hexie Throw and/or a cushion-sized Block.  I have designed the 2 x half-hexies which you will need to fill your vertical and horizontal spaces to square off your Throw/Block. I'll be releasing those patterns plus the Layout and Sizing for the Throw and the Block next week "some time" ( in-between making the pattern for Part 3 of our Hibiscus Extension ). It's raining outside...what else can I do!? 😊

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Next up, please do check your Ravelry Library to see if you are one of our Lucky Friday Giveaway Winners of the Hotel of Bees Shawl by Christina Hadderingh!

Our Giveaway this Friday is actually a KNITTING pattern! I feel bad forgetting about all our wonderfully creative Knitters out there and it is my dream to be able to Knit beyond my Grade 1 level (I can knit a very basic plain-purl sweater). I stumbled upon a super talented Knitter who happens to live right here in South Africa! Her name in Noma Ndlovu and she's been knitting and designing since she was five years old. She has loads of really beautiful, contemporary Knits available on Ravelry. You can find her on IG HERE. I loved this simply beautiful scarf and it's up for grabs!

All you have to do to win a copy of this lovely pattern is comment in the comments section below. Don't forget to leave your Ravelry name. It's as easy as that!

Until next time, Lovelies!

Hope you have a peaceful and happy weekend.

💗Jen

Sunday Folk.

Happy Friday, Yarnarrinas! 

Hope you are all well in your patch of Crochetland?

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First of all, I want to say a 💗HUGE THANK YOU💗 for all the love for the Sunday Folk Hexie! I had no intention of making it because I know you are all waiting patiently for Part 2 of the Hibiscus Tea Block Extension which is due next Friday ( hahaha as I hear THAT deadline whooshing by ). But no, seriously, I am working full speed ahead to actually meet that deadline or else it will be Christmas before we finish it ( and there are still two more Throws to go! ).

Anyhow, you know how it is...it's Sunday morning, the Sun is shining, the Cats are lolling about in the shade, it's early, the streets and households in your usually noisy neighbourhood are quiet. Birds and butterflies flit about the plumbago and honeysuckle. So you make a cup of coffee, and still in slippers and Pj's you plonk yourself down on the front steps of the porch. The next thing, there's yarn and a hook in your hands and BAM...a Hexie pops up! I know you all understand exactly how that happens.

And I was thinking, as I made the Hexie how Crochet is one of the few handicrafts left where you have a direct connection to the Maker. Knitting can be made with a machine. Same goes for wood carving, lacemaking, embroidery, cut-work, tapestry, weaving and any number of traditional handwork that has sadly seen ( and been a victim to ) the introduction of mechanisation. Perhaps in the not too distant future Crochet will become part of this list and when that happens we will lose all connection to the people who made the things we love to crochet. I almost cried at THAT thought, but it also made me more determined than ever to support all Makers, all those little handwork co-ops, Mom and Pop Stores, Indie musicians, garage handmade producers, front garden vegetable growers, street corner wire artists, because who makes our stuff means something more to me than feeling like a recipient of a completely soulless mechanisation process. I would love to hear your thoughts on this?

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So saying, some GREAT news for all our local ( Cape Town and Surrounds ) Yarnarinnas! Cape Town will be home to the first ever Cape Town Yarn Festival which is going to be absolutely amazing given all our local Indie Yarn Dyers and fabulously lovely brands like Nurturing Fibres, Colours of Amalfi, Vinnies, Hartlam and many more but MOST OF ALL my all-time local Yarn Crush. Miss La Motte Yarns is going to be there! I have bought several of her hand-dyed skeins and they are so lovely I'm actually too scared to use them!

Next, today's Colour Mood which I called Sunday.

 I found this image challenging and there are at least six different colourways we could pick out here but finally, I settled on this. You could definitely throw in some Copper, Teal, Green or Saffron! I've used Stylecraft Special DK but you could match the colours up with Scheepjes Colour Crafter, Catona or any yarn range that gives you loads of colour choices.

On the subject of colour. I am always amazed at how my patterns change depending on how you clever colourists place your colours! Rene van der Westhuizen did this with the Sunday Folk Hexie and seriously, I did not recognise my own design! I mean I did, but she's picked out her light and dark areas so cleverly that I only realised when I looked at it, that I'd made Arum lilies! 😊

If you'd like to see more interesting colourways you could scoot on over HERE. As more are completed I'll keep adding them to the photo section on the Ravelry pattern page.

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I'm enjoying our Friday Giveaways and love showcasing other Designers. I've randomly chosen three Winners from last weeks Giveaway which was the Fjell Cardigan by Lilla Bjorn Crochet, so to all who left a comment please do check your Ravelry Library!

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This week our Giveaway is the beautiful Hotel of Bees Shawl by Christina Hadderingh from a Spoonful of Yarn. I know this pattern has been floating around for a while now and is VERY popular but if you still don't have it then here's your chance! 

To enter today's Giveaway just leave a comment below and DO NOT FORGET to add your Ravelry name if you'd like to make this gorgeous shawl by one very talented Crochet Designer! 

May your weekend be amazing and your yarn basket always full.

💗 Jen

Cosmos Comfort

Hello, Lovelies, and Happy Friday!

Hope you are all well in your patch of Crochetland?

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Here, in Cape Town, the weather has finally cooled off. And I am loving it! Rain, wind, hail, a bit of snow on the Mountains...bring it all on! I don't know about you but those Summer months seem to be getting hotter and hotter each year and for the first time ever I am seriously considering installing a proper cooling system in the house! But enough about Summer, which I know many of you welcome, and enjoy in the northern climes. Don't mind me complaining. Afterall I do live in Africa so I should just sit down, or move. 😊

As many of you already know the past few weeks have been quite an emotional roller coaster for me. There was our darling Alfie passing over the rainbow bridge but then, what I didn't mention, there was Oscar too! You know how it is in the Animal Rescue World...so many desperate little lives need to be saved and found a fur-ever home...so we did the right thing and three days after Alfie leaving us we adopted Oscar. He got a few tear baths I can tell you, but we decided that through the heartache over Alfie, Oscar, at least, would have a safe home. Sadly, a few days later he started coughing. Just our luck...he had contracted kennel cough at the shelter! The poor boy had to be sent back to the clinic and then back to the shelter where he has to stay until ALL the dogs have passed through the contagious period. A few days after Oscar left, our old Harry presented with kennel cough which he'd picked up from Oscar!

Oh my goodness....it's been a crazy few weeks! I am still surprised I finished PART 1 of the Hibiscus Tea Block Extension and ahead of schedule too!

Anyhow, enough about my furball woes, let's colour Friday! I need colour and crochet therapy now more than ever and when I came across this lovely image my heart just soared as it immediately made me think of my other life when I lived on the Highveld ( as opposed to THIS life where I live at sea level now ).

Every Autumn the veld would just burst into colour-fields of Cosmos flowers, especially along the roads and lanes where I lived out in the country. I would pick armfuls and fill old peanut butter jars, chipped teapots and metal buckets with these cheery wildflowers. Happy days, even though they wouldn't last long and created a mass of pollen dust and fallen petals. I didn't care, I loved them so!

Something else I wanted to share with you all. Maybe you're wondering why I'm chatting about Fur-babies, Cosmos and now, Moths...well it's all connected right, and also part of a very simple but universal equation. Nature + Heart = Endless Source of Inspiration. Which brings me to this: last week someone contacted me on Ravelry. Her complaint was that I chat too much on my Videos, which she found irritating. She wanted to crochet and get it done, not be sidetracked or slowed down by what appeared to be completely unrelated idle chatter. I felt so sad... not for myself, but for this person. We are all creative, in ways that are sometimes not registered. When we talk, we create pictures, we evoke memories, we connect to our common humanity through shared experiences and we do this via language. We create with words. It's sad to think that someone would consider me, or any other Crochet Designer or Designer/Creator of any kind simply a Retail Product. In our digitally driven technocracy I believe, now more than ever, that we should strive to share our common Human experiences. We are a Global Community and even though we may live in different parts of Crochetland and speak different languages, how we experience life, love, loss, sorrow, joy, pain or creating is a common theme that binds us all together. We can't separate Creativity from the Human Being. It's a package deal.

So, this is what I ACTUALLY wanted to share with you! Something I have never seen! A very rare sighting of an African Hummingbird Moth which I would have missed entirely if I hadn't been sitting on the front steps of my house, in a patch of Winter Sun, daydreaming up new patterns. Luckily I was able to quickly fetch my little point and shoot camera and record it ( a bit blurry, I was so excited! ).

Now, let's move on to our Friday GIVEAWAY! I am totally in love with Tatsiana's new creation The Fjell Cardigan ( find it HERE ). I think she is an amazing Designer and I hope I get a moment or 5000 to make this Cardie!

To stand a chance of being a Winner on this Giveaway just comment in the section below. Don't forget to add your Ravelry name!

Happy Friday and Happy Weekend, Yarnarinnas!

💗 Jen

May Madness!

Hello, Lovelies!

Hope you are all well in your corner of Crochetland?🌼

Everything is abundantly green and lush again, here in Cape Town...the rains have arrived! We harvest our Apples in Autumn so it seemed appropriate that today's colour mood would be Granny Smith Apples ( not MY favourite. I prefer Pink Ladies ).

As many of you already know our darling Alfie had to walk over the rainbow bridge last Wednesday and it was the hardest thing I have experienced in my entire life. On the outside, he was still this sweet. lovely, adorable healthy-looking boy, full of beans and as goofy as ever... but inside was another story altogether, and we had to say our goodbyes. It was just too soon. Many of you working through the pattern video tutorials heard him in the background, snorting, coughing or barking at Mr Noisy Neighbour and many of you also often asked about him and his ongoing battle with the super-bug MRSA. So, darling Alfie, from all of us who knew you ever so briefly, we raise a hook in your honour. Goodbye, sweet boy.🌹

I have been making an effort to get on with things. So, good news...I am already making some progress with the Extension for The Hibiscus Floral Block! Gosh, you clever Crocheters certainly bring my patterns to life with all your gorgeous colourways! They just inspire me to stop moping and get cracking so that I can see what you do next with your yarny cleverness! Just look at these Blocks so far!

Made by Joanne Kinter

Made by Margaret Barendrecht

Made by Noelene Sampey

Made by Tineka Joldersma

Made by Sandra Salas

Made by Amy Gallant

I love how the whole feel of the pattern changes depending on how the colours are placed.

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This week my Crochet Crush has been Lena Fedotova who runs her website called Cup of Stitches  HERE. Find her HERE on Ravelry. So it stands to reason one of her outstanding patterns is up for the GIVEAWAY today! If you can't wait to make this pattern you can find HERE!                     

To stand a chance of winning this cute pattern all you need to do is tell me: if you were stranded on an island but luckily it was filled with your ONE favourite fruit ( tree, bush, creeper, vine etc )...which fruit would that be? Don't forget to leave your Ravelry name so that I can send you your free pattern.

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I have selected 6 x Winners today ( I missed last Friday ). 

So please do keep an eye on your Ravelry Library you Six Lucky Fishes!

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Wishing you all a wonderfully yarny weekend! I'm going to bury myself in a heap of yarn, cuddle up with my loved ones and watch a bumper binge of Suits ( I mean, how often will we EVER get to see the Dutchess of Sussex in underwear again now that she's married her Duke! 😄)

Until next Friday,

💗 Jen

And as we say goodbye to May ( #mentalhealthmonth ) let's continue to be kind to one another, and especially, most importantly, to yourself.

Take Five and Revive!

Hello again, Lovelies! Friday's Child here ( haha ),

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You're probably laughing at my cheezzzyyy blog title but seriously? How often do you remember to take five minutes ( or more ) just to catch your breath in our hyper-fast-paced World these days? I read somewhere that you can pretty much be mindful anywhere ( not just in a dedicated Meditation spot ). Mindfulness sloooows evvveeerrythiing doooown. It really does. Just try it. Next time you wash the dishes by hand, stop thinking about the shopping list, or the next household chore or the running commentary we have about other people or ourselves...just. wash. the. dishes. One by one, taking care, involving yourself in every cup, side plate and utensil. It will seem as if you have stood there for a week but when you look at the clock...it's been ten minutes. Magic. You have slowed down time. Interestingly, Crochet seems to make time speed by. What are your thoughts on slowing down time, or speeding time up? I am practising Mind Fullness and it is an interesting and therapeutic experience. Gotta try everything at least once, right?

The colourway today is definitely right up my alley. A quiet place to rest mind, body and spirit. We could call it The Revivalist Colour Mood?

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Many of you probably already know about Philippa Stanton? I've been a fan for many years and her Blog ( HERE ) is an absolute delight. 

She's the author behind this beautifully presented and enlightening book called Conscious Creativity ( which you can purchase HERE ). 

But she is also so much more than an accomplished author and blogger. She's a painter too! What is so unique about her work is that it's all created through her specific "lens" of Synaesthesia. If you're wondering about that you can read more HERE. I often turn to her colour boards for inspiration.

If you're stumped for Colourways...just drool at her Instagram HERE!

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My IG find last week ( clearly I have been living under a rock! ) is Zoya Matyushenko over at HERE and HERE.  If you're a big Grace Fearon fan then you'll also love Zoyas gorgeous doily designs. As soon as I laid my eyes on this beautiful, intricate design HERE I knew it was our Friday GIVEAWAY for three lucky Winners. 

All you need to do to enter is tell me which is your favourite colour and why. Don't forget to leave your Ravelry name in the comments so that I can send you your pattern! 

The Winners for last weeks Friday Pattern Giveaway will have received their patterns 

SO PLEASE DO CHECK YOUR RAVELRY LIBRARY or messages! 

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Before I close off I must say...THANK YOU ALL for the absolutely lovely colourways I am seeing for HIBISCUS TEA! If you haven't already, you can join all the fun HERE but mostly HERE.

Henny Fiserova came up with a gorgeously delicate colourway!

And Sandra Salas has dipped her magic hook into her bejewelled box of vibrant colours once again.

For more Hibiscus Tea eye-candy just head on over to the Ravelry pattern page or IG.

Part Two, where we extend our work to a Block measuring 50cm x 50 cm will be available Friday 24 May ( or sooner if no Gremlins entangle themselves in the works! ). 

Until then, happy weekend and I hope you find all the time you need to crochet

( mindfully, of course) and revive a little after your busy week.

💗Jen