My Mini Rings Of Change Jacket!

Today I've completed this jacket!

More details how I made it

in this blogpost

but first some other words...

This year is coming to an end

& I guess I won't have the time

to write another blogpost in 2015...

Tomorrow I'm travelling

to Bavaria to visit my parents

& a couple of days later

I'm already sitting on a plane to London!

I will spend Christmas & New Year's Eve

with my prince Alex

& his lovely family!

And I will meet a real special friend again:

Lin of Crochet in Colour!

Exciting!

It's been another productive year

and I had great fun with a lot of

Finished Objects -

& also with my works in progress

I've been playing around!

On the other hand there were

loads of less bright happenings

in world politics.

Times are changing

& this planet has become more insecure.

Europe can't close it's eyes anymore

because of the wars going on.

Millions of people had to leave their countries

to look for shelter

& to save their lives.

Terrorism has caused

lots of tears & sadness

in Europe & the USA.

I'm living in Germany at the moment

& it's becoming more radical.

The refugee crisis

has split this nation into

2 different positions

& it's causing more & more violence.

Refugee shelters were

set on fire hundreds of times this year,

protests are ending in riots.

I've spent the weekend in Berlin

visiting friends

& someone said to me:

"You are from Leipzig, aren't you?

Do you know what's going on

there at the moment?"

I watched what has happened in my city

straight next to the place I'm working:

It was the worst idea ever

to organize an anti-refugee-protest

walking through a left-wing district of Leipzig...

69 police officers & probably

a much higher number of people got hurt,

destruction all over.

There's nothing I'd wish more for 2016

that there could be a change to a more peaceful world.

Noa, a friend from Berlin, showed me this 

beautiful video last weekend,

so much truth & so much hope.

It's in french with english subtitles

& is presented

by the wonderful strong Lady Keny Arkana.

In the end we are all

brothers & sisters

on a weird planet,

let's stand together

& let's keep our humanity & our hearts

in all this chaos.

If everyone on this planet would

be a crocheter this world could be so much better!

People would have problems like:

"No!!! I'm running out of the yarn 

I need to finish this blanket!"

or

"Damn! I made a mistake 3 rows ago!"

Just a dream...

***

Sooo... But now something about my new jacket!

I always wanted to crochet

Frank O'Randle's

"Rings Of Change" blanket

but actually I have enough blankets!

His Mini Rings Of Change

is a free pattern

& you can make a glorious baby blanket 

- or a circle jacket!

I followed the pattern until round 27.

Round 27 was perfect for making the armholes:

Instead of just scs around

I started this way:

ch 25, skipped 25 stitches,

30 stitches

ch 25, skipped 25 stitches

scs all around

ended with a slipstitch in first chain

(This worked perfectly for my size

if your arms need more space

try it with 30 chains

& skipping 30 stitches...

Try it on!

Not enough?

Increase the chains & skipped stitches

& also the number of stitches

between the arms!)

Then I just worked the pattern till the end!

Sleeves:

a round of 50 stitches all around

*2 dc, 1 ch, skip 2 scs* around

complete first round with slipstitch

in top of first dc

slipstitch in next dc & the following chain

3 chain (= first dc)

dc & ch

work in all 1ch bridges:

2 dc, 1ch

after dcs/chs round number 9

I increased the stitches in round 10 -

in ONE of the 1ch bridges

I worked: 2 dc, 1ch, 2 dc, 1 ch

round 11-15 as usual

round 16: increase like in round 10

round 17-25 as usual 

I ended with a row of shell stitches,

*7dc in a stitch

skip 2 stitches

stitch

skip 2 stitches*

You don't need button holes -

they are already there!

I've put on 5 buttons

but do as you please!

Yay, that's it!

(If it's not big enough for you at this point

get yourself the actual Rings Of Change pattern

for some more rows

OR

just improvise & play around with stitches

for some more rounds!)

Some more pics

(Thank you to my flatmate Fabi

for taking the photos!)

Sooo...

I will pack my stuff for the next weeks now

(& all the christmas presents!)

& I wish you wonderful

christmas days

with your family!

:-)

So much love:

Your friend Dada

♥♥♥

My Mandala for Wink

Many of us are shocked about the loss of Wink (A creative being).

It's a huge tragedy for her family, friends & the whole crochet world.

We know her wonderful patterns

but she was sharing much more with her followers.

Wink also wrote about her life,

her Asperger syndrome

& her depression.

She also shared her personal story

in Kathryn Vercillo's book

"Crochet saved my life".

In her last post Wink wrote:

"I am in a very dark place right now, and I am looking 

for the light at the end of a very long and dark tunnel.

(...) As long as I’m crafting, I’m alive, and as long as I’m alive, 

I might be able to find my way out of the darkness."

It's heartbreaking she couldn't

find her way to the light.

Crochet was so important to her

& she was definitely

one of the fastest crocheters

on this planet:

 Because of Wink we can still learn to pronounce 

"Scheepjes" the right way:

Her death has touched me deeply.

I've been in the same place last year

& I can totally relate to the words

Wink has left us in her last post.

I know many crocheters suffering from depression.

And I've also worked in a mental hospital

- teaching patients how to crochet.

It can be such a great benefit to have this skill

& there are some things we all can do:

1. Show your skills to persons who suffer because of depression

2. Take care of each other

3. Be positive & kind to everyone, every smile improves this world

4. Raise awareness about depression

This is my Mandala for Wink.

It's made with Winks beautiful pattern Spoke Mandala

I will send it to Kathryn Vercillo

for her artwork for Wink.

You will find all inormation here.

If you want you can also light a virtual candle for Wink

on a Page her family has created for her.

R.I.P Wink.

You will be missed.

Create your own wall hanging Mandala!

Obviously crocheting Mandalas is quite popular nowadays - but what to do with all these wonderful creations? Today I'm presenting you a way to make a wall hanging Mandala. Easy to create but definetely an eyecatcher! 

For this wall hanging Mandala you need:

a 4,5mm hook

Double knitting wool like New Fashion DK by Woolcraft or Stylecraft DK

the Starflower Mandala pattern created by Zooty Owl

a 60 cm hula hoop (for small children)

white glue

While crocheting check the size of your Mandala before you start to crochet the last rows - in the end my mandala measured 57 cm. This wall hanging mandala should be 3-5 cm smaller in the end than the hula hoop... Your Mandala has reached the suitable size before you have completed the pattern? It will look fantastic even without the last low (...and I'm already quite sure it's not possible to crochet only one - too addictive!).

Now there is nothing left to do but making knots - be free to do it your way, I've made my first knot and made the second one on the other side of the hula hoop - all in all 16 knots.

I've used different neon colours - of course you can also use only one colour. Why don't you just take your favourite colour of the Starflower Mandala?

In the end I took white glue on the backside of the wall hanging...

I would be pleased to see pictures of YOUR versions!

Zooty Owl's Rainbow Vermicelli Mandala - as a jacket!

The Mandala feaver has catched me! Zooty Owl has offered the crocheting community an amazing free pattern - The Rainbow Vermicelli Mandala pattern... Actually my version of this mandala is caused by my newest addiction: Huge crocheting hooks ;-) Started this pattern with a 12 mm hook. It grew and grew... Finally I've decided to create a coat out of it.

To be honest: I'm feeling like a princess while wearing this Mandala coat ;-) I've used cheap acrylic double knitting wool - two of a colour at once to make the wool a little bit thicker.

I've created the arms with the double crochet stitch and the treble stitch.

I guess it won't be my last crocheted mandala coat... Already created in the future ;-) Why are there always so many projects on my mind?