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 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 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

❤❤❤

A yarnpainting - with buttons!

My flatmate & good friend 

has celebrated his birthday yesterday!

Actually I wanted to create a crochet-only-painting

as a present but time was working against me

(as always)!

Instead of crocheting

I used a less time consuming technique

to fill the missing parts with colours:

Buttons!

I have thousands of buttons,

a few hundreds less

don't make a real difference! ;-)

A pretty fast technique -

I just put some glue on the canvas

& pressed the buttons on it!

Completed it just in time, yay! :-)

I see the head of a psychedelic bird in this yarnpainting

by the way!

Funny how things just appear while creating dadaistic art!

Sending much love:

Dada

♥♥♥

YOUR Personal Freeform CAL - "Week" 26

You need such a visual diary blanket as well?
It's really never to late to start it!
I will always post your pictures
on my page Dada Neon Crochet & add it to our CAL photo album!
No time pressure at all!
If you wanna join this freeform adventure you can find the first project here!

♥♥♥

I'm so blocked when I think about crocheting

the very last puzzle piece!

I have a fabulous idea (given by Sandy)

but I just CAN'T realize it!

So I'm really happy that Saskia

has given me another idea

for a puzzle piece...

Great to have some more time before

going on with the last one! ;-)

Can't say goodbye to this project yet!

It means so much to me

& I'm so happy about

the friendships it has made!

Isn't this amazing:

Lisbeth has crocheted this gorgeous monkey

& has sent it from Denmark to the USA!

A present for her CAL friend MariaElena!

(MariaElena/Malena has also sent lovely gifts

to Lisbeth & me!) 

I bet MariaElena & Greg

have lots of fun with their growing kindergarten!

I received a dreamcatcher &

a crocheted granny heart from MariaElena! ;-)

AND a wonderful scrumble for my CAL

with a beautiful handmade card from Saskia (MalleSas)!

It's so special to have something in your hands

crocheted by lovely friends.

The world is becoming smaller

& it's just amazing to have found

such great playfellows!

And I have to show you some newborn Nanas! :-)

Both are created by our CAL friend Nora

& really special!

On the left a flaming heart Nana

(I might have to borrow your idea, Nora!)

& on the right side

a Nana wearing the colour of Nora's motorcycle!

Nana-Power, yay!

(The free pattern is to find here!)

I'm also in progress with a new Nana!

My Facebook page will have it's

first anniversary on 7 May 2015

& there will be another giveaway Nana! :-)

♥♥♥

My greetings go to:

 Roberta,
Jodie,
Ulrike,
Gwenda,
Sandy (Sandy's Sundries),
 Alicia (Marcalic Eve)
Marina (Freeform Crochet World, Freeform Crochet World Group,
Snovej, The Snovej Circle, Snovej Crafts & Kal's of Maine),

 Anouk (Een steekje verder), the highness MariaElena,
 Lin (Crochet in Colour)

Shawn (Dragonbird Creations) Lisbeth,
Jane,

Tracy (Eden Reborn),Jenny (Craft Cove),
 Donna (Walker's Whimsies & Freeform Crochet World Group)
 Anne,
Zelna (Zooty Owl)
 Monique (Yemanja)

   Princess Saskia ("MalleSas"),

 Cilly, 

Michi (Knittenfee),
Brenda,

Enna (Mishook aka Strikkeliese & Mishook), Nancy (Needleful Things),
 Judy,
 Nora,
 Jacqui (Hooky Delights.),
Denise (Wickedcrochet),
Alex,

Lisa (Knotty Girl Yarn Art),

 Lindy,Anne,

Marijke,

Katherine,
Cathy,
Kerry (Silver Owl Promidi),
Shelly (or Shell!)
& Anoinette (Moonbrush Wood Studios)
Kathy,
Ilene,
Bj

 ...and: A new member of the CAL Club!
Christine Leconte has found her way to us!
She is a really inspiring freeform artist from France
& I'm so happy & proud she has joined us!

 Here is her puzzle piece number 1,
unique & colourful as all her makings:

And her beautiful hand project:

Welcome to our CAL, Christine!
I wish you a wonderful adventure!

But there are more progress pictures to present!

Bj has crocheted this amazing yarnpainting,
what a wonderful place to stay!

Some gorgeous puzzle pieces of Monique (Yemanja)

have arrived me, first her gorgeous childhood memory project:

Here is Monique's sunny days puzzle piece,

makes happy just to look at it!

...and: Her sensational CAL in progress! Just wow!

And our Antoinette (Moonbrush Wood Studios)!

It's such a pleasure to see your works!

Here you can see her wonderful heart project:

...her homage for Terry Pratchett,

what a piece of art!

And her favourite childhood toy:

Pencils, of course!

And what a tiny detail work for Antoinette's favourite movie:

Groundhog Day! Awesome!

...and just in time this beautiful foot has arrived me!

Thank you so much for presenting me your works,

means so much to me to see it grow!

 ♥♥♥

Our topic this week (haha!) is crocheting

our favourite symbol!

What a great idea of Saskia ("MalleSas")!

I'm attending a real interesting lecture about symbolism

in university at the moment

& actually I wasn't sure what my favourite symbol is

when Saskia gave me her inspiration!

I wanna start with her project

& her own words about it!

Saskia's favourite symbol in yarn:

And her words about this gorgeous crocheted symbol:

"My symbol is the pentagram, it is used by Pagans/witches. I own a lot of pagan books because I am interested in what pagans do. It is a nature religion, you can do what you want but don't harm anyone. I love this, everybody should live by that one rule, there would be peace on the world. :-) "

A beautiful work by a wonderful Lady!

Hugs to my good witch! ;-)

And now my symbol...

First I thought about the "ankh" symbol:

 It's an egyptian hieroglyphic character

& it has different meanings.

It can symbolize life, sun

& it has also inspired the sign for the goddess Venus.

But then I remembered another symbol

which is just perfect for a person like me...

And actually the "ankh" is integrated in it!

An anchor!

An anchor has also several meanings,

it stands for hope & home.

And it's one of the most

popular tattoo symbols ever...

Hope & home are wonderful meanings

but I love this symbol for another reason.

Because of a real special Lady!

She was born as a bavarian princess.

(Of course I'm also a bavarian princess

but she was officially royal!)

Some of you might have seen the Sissi trilogy movies

with Romy Schneider...

I honestly love this movies -

but I read lots of biographical books about the

Empress Elisabeth of Austria 

& her own poem book...

The movies don't show

all the fascinating shades of her personality.

She grew up as a wild nature child 

in the countryside

& married when she was 16.

To become a caged bird.

As a free mind she was suffering

because of the formal & structured life.

One of her daughters died early,

her other children were raised

very strict by her mother-in-law.

She escaped her golden cage

& has travelled the world -

she had problems with her lungs,

the best excuse for her journeys.

She was open-minded,

loved to learn languages

& meet other cultures.

And Sisi (she hated it when people called her "Sissi")

got a tattoo!!!

Her husband Franz Joseph I of Austria was shocked!

About the anchor on her shoulder!

Sisi didn't care.

For her the anchor represented

desire of freedom

& her love for the ocean 

& being on a ship.

The end of her life was so tragical.

An italian anarchist stabbed Sisi

 with a sharpened needle file.

He only knew she was royal.

I wonder if he would have done this to her

if he would have known what

a libertine, rebel & free soul she was. 

♥

What a pretty, strong lady!

There would be many more stories to tell

but...here is my anchor!

For my soulsister Sisi

in loving memory:

Haha, I love it!

For the background I tried something funny:

Granny freeforming,

I just played around with granny stitches,

so much fun!

Who says they should be squared?

  PLEASE give me some more ideas!

I don't want to complete this CAL 

but I'm running out of ideas! :-(

And MalleSas,

THANK YOU for your support again, my princess!

♥♥♥

Stay awesome my princesses & princes,

 your friend Dada (or Julia)!!!

♥♥♥

Let me see your art in Marina's & Donna's Freeform Crochet World Group, on Dada Neon Crochet or Ravelry!