Sophie’s Universe #4

And so I reach the end of the 4th part of this CAL. In this part we make the first flowers of Sofia’s garden!

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So many color changes and so many details make this blanket so addictive to make! I just want to get to the next round to see how it looks, and once there i just want to get to the next one and so on!

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I still have a lot of work ahead until I get to crochet the last stitch but I’m guessing I’ll be making another one after this one is made!

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And it’s turning out way better than I have imagined:

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And it’s time to start the 5th part!

Holland Designs Pattern Review

Summer has arrived and it’s time for my usual blog summer break. I’m not a big fan of blogging on the summer months.

Mostley because I’m not at home so much time and I do craft a lot less. Summer is all about going out and having fun and I know you’re not arround as much as you use to, too.

Anyway I might came here if I do have something worth sharing. So, if you’re a subscriber you’ll know right away the
minute I post a new thing.

I don’t want to take this break with unfinished things and I do have a blogpost that has been waiting to long. I made
this projects in the end of 2014.

Having a sort of a photo blog makes me search for perfection when it comes to my photos but It’s not always easy to take photos. It takes time and beeing mother of 3 kids and having a full time job doesn’t help a thing. And even when I do have the time my models not always cooperate!

So today I want to show you my crochet sweaters made from Holland Designs patterns. They are written in american terms do if you’re not american you’ll have to convert the stitchs, but other then this the patterns are so easy and they make such a good looking sweaters!

I only have two photos to show but I made 3 sweater. 2 of them were made with the CROCHETED PEASANT TOP pattern and my goal was to use only yarns I had on my stash.

I made Teresa sweater in vertical stripes using two shades of pink because I didn’t had enought of each color to make a sweater. I’m also a little bit insecure when it comes to sleeves because I love 3/4 sleeves but in this case they ended up looking like the sweater is one size down her size! The pattern doens’t come with sleeves but it’s easy to add the stitches for the sleeves.

crochet girl sweater

I don’t like long sleeves on kids because they end up getting to dirty. But I made Mafalda sweater (no photo) with long sleeves. I used a black yarn because I had plenty of black yarn on my stash and I really wanted to spend it. I also
finished the neck cord with two big crochet flowers to add some fun!

Then I made Sofia a cardigan using the SHAWL COLLARED CARDIGAN pattern. This pattern also calls for short sleeves and I made hers a little longer to finish my purple yarn.

girl crochet sweater

Making cloths for babies is quite tricky because they grow faster than my crochet speed! I started this cardigan after her 1st birthday and decided to go for size 18 months. She did wear it in October but after it was too cold and in the spring the cardigan was to short! I should have made size 2, it would have been big in October but she could have wear it in spring and maybe in cold summer nights. Live and learn!

Both are great patterns and I want to make them again. Maybe this time I will allow myself to buy a special yarn!

And Holland Designs also has patterns for boys! No excuses this time! Come on, grab your crochet hook and have fun!

If you need any help I’ll be arround!

Crochet baby blanket

Every baby needs a cuddle, whether it’s a quilt or a woolen blanket. And I’m always jumping from quilts to wool blankets.

And this time I choose to work in wool and made a crochet blanket in harlequin stitch. It’s really simple to make and not it doesn’t get boring. It works in all color scheems and even works in a blanket for grown-ups! While on the photo my stripes are vertical the blanket is crocheted in horizontal stripes.

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I kept the blue as main color as this blanket is for a baby boy, but since I made Sofia baby blanket I’m in love with the trilogy gray, yellow and white. In fact this color scheme is the same as the one I used on Sofia blanket but the 3 shades of purple and pink have been replaced by shades of blue!

I also made a simple border with only a shell line around using the darker blue and ended eith a slip stitch in yellow. The nice thing about this border is that merges beautifully with the blanket.

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This is a very soft baby blanket and it’s big enough to wrap a baby and small enough to be easily portable with the baby!

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I have a feeling that I will make this project again!

Don’t you think this is the perfect baby gift ever?

Do you want to try this stitch? Fell free to use my free tutorial!

[cryout-button-light url=”http://meiasmarias.com/documents/MeiasMarias%20Tutorial%20Arlequim%20Stitch.pdf”]Harlequin Stitch[/cryout-button-light]

Cloth Diaper #2

We are expecting the arrival of a new baby boy cousin. And of course, my hands are working hard crafting baby gifts.

I like cloth diapers. I like especially because I used many, as I always found them helpful and with the versatility needed to facilitate my mother routine with a newborn.

Cloth diapers also have a special meaning for me because they were the first things I sewed and embroidered without being in cross stitch. Cloth diapers taught me other embroidery stitches and made me want to learn other things, and it was a challenge to sew the first bias in this cloth diapers! They were a great school for me 🙂

So when there are new babies coming, as a rule, I like to offer cloth diapers.

However, this cloth diaper is larger than the usual, it looks almost like a small blanket so it called for something more elaborate than I normally do.

The car is one of my appliqque designs and it’s available in my store. I chose to sew it by hand, because my studio is still a work in progress and my sewing machines don’t have a place to stay yet!

I chose a heavy border to give it a blanket look rather than a normal cloth diaper. As this cloth diaper is bigger than normal it’s grat to use as a summer blanket: fresh and light but super cozy!

The crochet stitch I used was the pom-pom stitch and while it is very easy to make it’s time consuming. It also consumes a lot of wool! A whole 50gr ball of yarn. If I had 20cm left over it was too much! But it is very cute and gives a different and original finish to the project.

And it’s a good light blanket and it sure is unique! There’s nothing like a handmade gift!

Crochet Giraffe

Maria is a friendly and playful giraffe that was born of something that was supposed to be and then it was not!

I’ve never crocheted a toy before even though I’ve tryed once and completley failed! And although it didn’t turn out just like I wanted Mary is perfect and it was a great challenge and a great learning time for me.

What I really wanted was to make a doll from a great designer, for which I fell in love for real, but I had never made one and before and so decided to try this one first before embarking on another pattern shop adventure. And I think a good part of me is a doll maker.

It gives me so much joy the process of making the all the parts, see the doll take shape and then draw them facial expressions. Just like with my waldorf dolls.

And I love the enthusiasm with which my girls follow the process, especially Teresa that was so anxious to play with it and ended up naming the giraffe as Maria.

Maria has stripes, many stripes, which is why it didn’t turned out just as I wanted. The truth is that when I was choosing the yarn colors I said to myself, over and over and over agian, that I shoul use only red or only orange, but in the end I could not resist and I ended up using the two colors, and the effect I wanted would had better results without the orange and without the red.

But for Teresa it was perfect, with orange and red. Simply perfect!

And Maria even went on a bike ride!

Teresa was so pleased to be able to play with Maria that was a pleasure for me to watch her playing! Do you see this pretty face?

Now imagine the look on Teresa face when I told her that Maria was a gift for her!

And once again my work gets properly paid!

Crochet Hooded Cowl

Where we now live it’s cold. So cold that the caps and gloves were the first things to be operational after the moving. But Sofia had just one and we tend to be quite messy and leave things a little everywhere: at grandparents, on backpacks at school, things that stay in my car, things that stay in father’s car… and with the pretext of having more space my mother (and later my mother in law) decided to presented me with their wool remains.

So I decided to make a hooded cowl for Sofia. I searched a few patterns on the internet but I thought I could pull this one on my own!

The hair pins are complements. They were in her hair before!

I used a chunk wool with a 8mm hook and worked on single stiches.

This hooded cowl is really easy to make. You can change the crochet stitch but the more closed is the stitche the hottest the cowl will be! Start by making a rectangle where the larger side is the width around the shoulders and the small side is the height from the shoulders to the head.

When your piece has the right size, fold in half. The seamless part it’s the back part.

Now just sew one of the tops and sew a bit of the front for the neck. You can also make one or two careers around the face opening, to accentuate and fasten off.

And it is this simple!

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Granny Squares Baby Sweater

One of the good things that came with our move to the village was my train trips to work. I like trains, I don’t like being stopped in traffic jams, I like being able to make things while I am transported to where I have to go, I like being able to close my eyes, to read, to crochet… I like not having to pay attention, I like to not feel threatened by crazy people on 4 wheels.

And since I moved I have been crocheting like crazy. 40 minutes a day is just the right amount of time to release stress and to light up my mood! And in my will to crochet I started a demand… for patterns that are original and modern, not my grandmother crochet! No doilies nor bedcovers!

One of the first projects on my to do list was this sweater, which quietly awaited the arrival of Santa Claus (that’s why it didn’t come to the blog before!)

The patterns is from Nichi Trench. I followed the patterns on a Portuguese version of one of her books, whose translation is not brilliant but you can get there with a little logic.

I can’t fell out of love with Granny Squares but all the little wool endings made me mad at some point so I end up with no desire of Granny Squares for a while.

Sofia is a sturdy baby so I could have done a the sweater a little bigger, especially on the sleeves. The wool I used is another one of my ebay’s findings: 60% silk, 35% Australian wool and 5% cashmire, it is super soft, works beautifully and produces a flexible and comfortable to use end result.

The sweater looks really great on her and the Father loved it on her too (which entitles me to extra points!)

And she gave me this awsome smile! so my work is paid!

You can seem more on Nicki’s patterns on her Raverly.

Modern Crochet

Crochet was one of the few things that my grandmother had patience to teach me and I’ve always liked the way I always figure out what I had to make to get a certain result.

I’ve always find it versatile and easily adjustable to every need, besides being very quick and can be done either in wool or in cotton thread and even with other materials such as fabric strips and plastic.

But for many years, for me, crochet was all about wool blankets, afghans and doilies for every room of the house, from the kitchen to the bedroom, going through all furniture, desks and tables that stay along the way. In my parents’ house the doilies were changed religiously every fridays, as the bed sheets were!

And my grandmother always had a crochet project in her bag, which she worked on her leisure hours when she sat in front of the television. Because of her I have a bag full of doilies, carefully studied for each division that I never use but I am totally unable to get rid of them.

But nowadays the crochet is more than doilies, and it is in this discovery that I have been entertained since the beginning of the year.

These photos were taken in a place called Constância in May this year and left me surrendered to the charm of the color. The initiative is part of a social project to combat loneliness and the work was done by those who wanted to join the initiative.

And you know what? I would love to have a boat “dress” this way! And I’m totally surrendered to the colors and this new crochet. After all crochet isn’t all about doilies!

Singer Knitting Machine

I have it for five years now. I bought it in one of those times when all my stars were aligned and the universe seems to be on my side. I found someone who wanted to sell me exactly what I wanted to buy: a knitting machine!

At the time Mafalda was almost a year old and I was hungry to learn everything I could create with my mind and make with my hands, and full of determination to try new things .

It was a bit like buying a car without knowing how to drive, and still feels like that! But I have to be honest and say that knitting is sometimes a bit boring to me, as I find it takes a lot of time until something gets done, and always requires so much attention! So I ended up getting obcessed with the idea of the knitting machine!

Especially because one of my childhood memories is precisely to see a cousin of my mother using a knitting machine and dis she knit fast! But this was back in the golden days of Singer, when buying a machine was also buying the classes to learn how to use it. Now Singer is dead in Europe and so those days are over .

5 years ago I tried to work on the machine , and even I have read all the instructions, and followed every step as stated, I never got more than a big tangle of wool on the needles. Of course having a small child did not help the process! And then there was almost no information on the internet to help me work with the machine. It was in 2008 and it is fantastic how much things have changed. Today there are hundreds of videos on youtube!

Moral of the story: the machine ended up back inside the boxes and set aside until a future filled with more free time.

But then THIS happened and I just knew that it was time to bring my machine back to the light! And I was lucky because Filipa is a sweetheart and offered to help me understand the mechanics of it and give me some tips to get started.

So by now i already now how to start and stop my “car” but I still have a lot more to learn! Especially because the machine has lots of supplements and accessories for special stitches that will make beautiful things!

Now that my knitting machine is finally operational do not be surprised if you get a scarf in Christmas!