Another crazy Freeform Crochet Coat!!

It's been ages since I last wrote a blog post! One of many good reasons is that my now 2 year old little Gwenda has killed my laptop!! :-) I just found an app for my mobile phone & so it might be possible I can actually get this post done while breastfeeding my 8 week old!! No excuses anymore!! I guess I finished this coat in October, obviously I was still highly pregnant!!

The special thing about this coat is that it contains uncountable projects I started & never finished over the last 10 years or so! :-) I really got fed up with all these WIPs (WIP means 'Works in progress' for those of you who don't understand crochet language) & so I decided to turn them into something wearable. You can never have enough coats & so that's what I added to my neon wardrobe!!

For those of you who are wondering how I get the yarny puzzle pieces in the right shape: I took an old jacket and used hundreds of safety pins to attach all the crochet pieces onto it. Then I simply crocheted the pieces together!!

As you can see there are still some yarn ends to hide but nothing is as boring as perfection so I guess it will just stay this way!! Hard to recognize the ends anyway in all this neon chaos!!

I might just make a little coat for this little miss as well, I've given up on crocheting things for little baby Gwenda as I could just watch her growing out of her crochet clothes. Now that she is a proper toddler she fits in her clothes a bit longer, finally!!

Another photo of the coat, just to show you it's dimensions and all these projects I never managed to finish!! So satisfying I actually 'completed' them!! :-)

And a last picture with my 8 week old little Zelda!! I'm so thankful that she is such a talented sleeper (Mami gets all in all 10 hours of sleep a night!!) & she enjoys sitting on me whilst I can crochet! Nothing better!!

Much love to all my princesses & princes,

DaDa, GwenDa & ZelDa

My works in progress!

All my unfinished objects!

My new crazy freeform hat!

One of the pleasures of being a Mami

is definitely having a wonderful childhood again!

I can't claim that I've ever grown up

but my little Gwenda is surely the best playfellow

I could imagine!

She just turned 5 months

& she is keeping me busy, haha!

I can get some crocheting done again

after she falls asleep in the evenings, 

so nice sitting next to her in bed

& working on my projects.

Precious time, so it's really getting hard

to publish my finished projects -

I just wanna spend every spare minute

with a hook in my hand 

instead of the laptop on my lap! ;-)

That's how I started my hat,

I had a lot of Noro yarns leftovers.

(I made quite a lot of Noro hats

for friends & family,

love working with this yarn,

it feels like painting

a picture in Monet style!)

I got me a styroform head for 2£,

pretty helpful or such a project.

(You can also pin your pieces

to a hat and crochet them together

but it's nicer to see it growing

on a head while pinning needles in it!)

I crocheted loads of funny tiny "hats"

& trumpets... 

They look like mushroom heads!

I love mushrooms!

I only used one pattern at the centre in this hat,

here you can see a Swirly Heart,

a fab pattern by Marina Hoffstrom (Snovej)!

I thought it could be good to identify

how to wear it!

Another pic of the pinned head...

Then I just crocheted the

puzzle pieces together...

In the end I added an extra round

all around the hat.

(Not only for aesthetic reasons -

my head is just a bit bigger than

the one of my mannequin!)

 Another close up of the Swirly Heart -

this time in the finished hat! ❤

...the back...

...one side...

...& the other side!

Now I'm dreaming of a Noro coat

with these yarns & this style

but this might take some time! ;-)

Back to the baby

& see you soon:

❤Your friend Dada❤

My African Flower Soccer Ball for Michelangelo!

Gwenda is 16 days old now & we were both pretty surprised 

how big this football has become!

We thought it would be average football size

but wow:

Almost as big as the little princess Gwenda!

I always wanted to make such a ball since 

I discovered the pattern by Crochetbug!

Just so pretty!

Click here to find the pattern!
It's so easy, after some hexagons & pentagons
you don't need the pattern anymore!
Just perfect for a fresh Mami like me
with a lack of sleep & a baby brain!
You still get some pieces done half asleep
in between two breastfeeds!

We were invited to Gwenda's first party today:
Our friend Michelangelo has celebrated his first birthday
& I think I really picked the perfect pattern
for his present.
The kids were throwing it,
squashing it,
used it as a pillow
or were just jumping around on it!
Mami & Daddy will have to make another one
for the first birthday of our little princess!

I used Stylecraft Special DK yarns for this ball.

The actual challenge of this project was to create

the pentagons & hexagons in a way

that the border colours are different

while attaching.

I recommend crocheting them together as you go!

I've used the visible join method,

makes quite a nice contrast! ;-)

I hope you are all doing fine

& I'm sending much love to all

my princesses & princes!

Your friend Dada!

My sugar skull poncho!

Isn't it an amazingly pretty

sugar skull poncho?!

Even better:

The beautiful poncho this model is wearing

is crocheted & designed

by my friend Petra Perle!

I guess most of you can't read

german patterns

but if you are able to read charts

you can totally crochet this sugar skull poncho!

Here is the -> link <- to the free pattern 

on the website

of the german magazine "Burda style".

If you have further questions

feel free to ask me for help!

[The chart for the skull ends with round 12;

use the chart for the back afterwards.

Rounds 13-23 of the front

are worked as round 16-26 of the back chart.

Rounds 24-29 are made with

round 21-26 of the back chart.

Round 30 = Round 21 of the back chart.

Last round 31 = as round 24 but skipping

3 dc instead of 2 dc]

Nana Nelly Neon celebrates

the poncho as well!

...and actually:

Alex wears this poncho more often than me, haha!

Here you can see the back,

love this pattern!

A close up of the back to see some more details...

Sooo... Dada totally recommends

this pattern!

It never gets boring

because of all the colour changes

& I so loved crocheting the skull!

So, I'm heading back to my current project

& I hope some of you are inspired

to make such a poncho as well!

Petra Perle would love to see

your makings,

send a photo to her

Facebook page!

;-)

Sending love & hugs:

Your friend Dada

❤❤❤

 

My massive crochet Nana!

Last year I already posted a pic of my huge Nana doll

on my Facebook page

but I still have to show you some more pics

& have to add some details...

Just in case someone else needs such 

a lovely giant Nana!

8 kg of pure joy!

 

What you need is:

A 20 mm hook

Loads of yarn & stuffing

The free Nana pattern

by Nadelspiel by Elizzza!

This pretty Nana goddess is quite heavy:

8 kilogram of yarn & stuffing.

Depending on the thickness of the yarns I've used

I crocheted with 6-8 skeins at a time...

Whenever one of the yarns came to it's end 

I just knotted another yarn to it...

A fantastic way to get rid of scrap yarn

or colours you actually don't like.

(Yay, I don't have any brown yarn anymore!)

You don't need to go to the gym anymore

while working on such a massive sexy Lady:

I can tell you it makes strong muscles

because the Nana is getting so heavy

after a while!

My massive Nana is pretty proud of her curves,

my Nanas are always pretty confused

in general when I tell them that 

many human beings don't wanna have curves at all

& make strange things like strict diets.

When my Nanas see photos of thin supermodels

they are always getting pretty concerned

& they wanna feed these Ladies.

I find my Nanas are pretty clever! ;-)

You are really willing to
crochet such a beautiful Lady as well?!
PLEASE post a pic
to my Facebook page!

Sending massive Nana hugs:

Your friend Dada!
❤❤❤

My Freeform Crochet Coat!

I haven't posted anything for quite a while

as I've been pretty busy.

Online breaks are important to me

in times when so many things are

happening in the "real life".

The reason why you can see me

presenting my new coat on the beach

is that I've moved to Scotland

a couple of weeks ago!

Edinburgh is just such a beautiful

& open-minded place to live

& I already met many new crafty friends!

With this coat I got rid of loads of unfinished projects

& scrumbles I've made over the last years

- I still have more than 400 left which is pretty good

because I'm also working on a even bigger

secret project! ;-)

It never gets  boring as long as you are a crocheter!

I could only take one of my Nanas

with me to the ocean

but of course ALL of them have moved

to Scotland as well!

I always find new doggie friends here

in Edinburgh to play with

but I'm also pretty sad

that my best doggie friend has recently

left us - Samson.

He has been the best nephew for me

you can imagine & it's just heart-breaking

that he had to leave his loving

grandma Barbara.

My future dog has to be a rottweiler,

hopefully it will be such a great cuddler

as Sam was.

❤❤❤

Farewell Samson,

this world is missing you badly.

❤❤❤

Some more coat pics...

...and here you can see Alex

wearing my coat!

Looks pretty awesome on him!

While I was puzzling together this coat

Alex was so lovely to make some

scrumbles for this coat as well!

Here you can see 2 puzzle pieces he made

for my freeform coat!

Sooo, one last pic...

I will try to post more often again

& I wish you a wonderful day with

many beautiful stitches!

Your friend Dada

❤❤❤