Month: June 2016

It’s official: I’m a Scheepjes Blogger!

Yep, that’s right! After putting a LOT of thought into it, I made the commitment to partner up with Scheepjes – makers of *stunning* yarns – and I’m just so excited to see what comes of our budding relationship! What does that mean for you guys and gals? It means more variety on CypressTextiles.net – you’ll see I now have an entire section of my site dedicated to blogging my crafty Scheepjes endeavors.. And it also means I’ll be writing more patterns for pretty things along the way. 🙂 For now I think I’ll post a little yarny eye candy…  Just loooooook at some saturated rainbow-like gorgeousness: Linen Soft, Merino Soft, and Colour Crafter  And wowzers this pastelly heathery goodness – I’m swooning!! Softfun Aquarel, Stone Washed, and Catona (25gr) – peep how teensy these li’l candies are! 2 are the length of one Colour Crafter!! 😍😍😍 Colorwork will be so fun and granny squares – oh I can’t wait until I have a spare minute! I’ll be spending some time on www.scheepjeswol.com – brb …

Instagram user @VanillaLemonCake

Instagram <- visit Jessica’s instagram!! For MAJOR Flat-lay, flowers, natural COLOR inspiration. Feast your eyes… Jessica has a way of finding beauty in nature and perfectly photographing it to share with the rest of us. Browse through beautifully curated hashtags like one of my favorites, her series called #VLCflowersonnapkins And another hashtag that she contributes lovely flat lays to: #natureflatlays – just look at these feathers 😍😍 Plus, she’s been doing this thing lately with pink and yellow that’s REALLY got me inspired… I’ve got sketches of blankets on those sugar-sweet photos already, believe me. Jessica’s IG feed will have you scrolling for hours. Come for the flowers, stay for Sir Teddy the hamster. Lol! I just love that li’l guy 🙂 All of the lovely photos in this Nature inspiration post were selected from Jessica’s IG feed.

Papatya Batik

This gorgeous quality yarn is available at Hobfy.com Papatya Batik page I used Papatya Batik and absolutely loved it! It’s so incredibly squishy and soft – I felt in love instantly. And if you think there’s nothing you can do with long color-change yarn like Papatya Batik, you may just need to do some web surfing for inspiration! Check out all the Ravelry projects to get you started! I’m making a top secret project with it 🙂 You’ll find out soon enough! ❤️❤️❤️ I recommend this yarn. Free shipping worldwide, and very good value/pricing. So pretty too! Look at the beautiful collection of colors I got! It only made sense to make a rainbow heart pic 🙂

Crochet Motif – Amanda Square

Welcome to the Amanda Square! VVCAL Pages Pin Me! – Amanda and Crystal Squares Link to Crystal Square These squares were originally published for the Vibrant Vintage Crochet-along (VVCAL) in 2016. Related Links Amanda Square Charted instruction: Written instruction US Terms: For UK Terms and Video Instruction, scroll down. Rnd 1 MR, (1sc, ch8) 4 times, ss in first sc. [4 sc, 4 sp]   Rnd 2 Ss in first ch, (2sc, 2hdc, 2dc, ch3, 2dc, 2hdc, 2sc) in 4 sps, ss in first sc. [16 dc, 16 hdc, 16 sc, 4 sp] Rnd 3 Ss in next 2 sts, beg dc in next st, * ch1, sk1, dc, (3dc, ch2, 3dc) in sp, dc, ch1, sk1, dc, ch5, sk6, dc, rep from * 3 times omt final dc, ss in beg dc. [40 dc, 16 sp] Rnd 4 Beg dc in sp, * 4dc, (3dc, ch2, 3dc) in sp, 5dc, ch1, sc in sp, ch1, sk1, dc in sp, rep from * 3 times omt final dc, ss in beg dc. [64 dc, 4 …

Shiny Happy Cotton and Billie Jean Yarns

Made by Wool and the Gang, Shiny Happy Cotton is a fabulous yarn! It is a worsted-aran weight, somewhere in between I’d say. It calls for a smaller hook, but it hurt my wrist to work at that tension with cotton. While I’d normally use a J for worsted or aran, I chose to try out an I size because cotton has a tendency to “bloom” and grow slack with use.  I read some reviews online that said SHC is splitty.. So I’ll say that if you hack away at it with the hook, you can split it, but if you keep even tension and control your movement, you’ll be just fine. The matte color look (despite the name!) is what drew me to this yarn, since most cottons have a heavy sheen. The smoothness,  matte finish, saturated color, and beautiful stitch definition are worth the occasional split of the yarn. And the color range is lovely! While there are currently a limited amount of shades, they are very trendy and off-beat colors like mustard …

BQueen Dye Box

Today I dyed yarn for the first time! I couldn’t have fathomed beginning a new hobby like yarn dyeing, but I certainly wanted to at least try it without committing to an expensive slew of new gear. Enter BQueen Collection!  At bqueencollection.com you can buy this beautiful kit which includes a hank of yarn and a precious little corked vial of natural dye material. Here’s a good look at all the items in the Dye Kit. Those are gloves in the paper cup. Safety is important! You have to use a pot that you’ll dedicate solely to your dyeing adventures, and I had just the one. My Emeril Lagasse pot set is absolutely gorgeous, but alas, the quartage is just not enough for my hungry family of six. So this wee one will be my dye pot! Before its new job, it was an adornment anyway – on the pot hanger that my husband made for me 🙂 (Idea from andthismarinewife.com) When I used the dye kit, I followed the detailed instructions to the T since …

Crochet Motif – Carolyn Square

Welcome to the Carolyn Square! VVCAL Pages Pin Me! – These squares were originally published for the Vibrant Vintage Crochet-along (VVCAL) in 2016. Related Links Teresa and Carolyn Squares Link to Teresa Square Carolyn Square Charted instruction: Written instruction US Terms: For UK Terms and Video Instruction, scroll down. Special sts Beg 2dccl (Beg dc, dc) in same st – counts as 1 2dccl Instructions US Terms Rnd 1 MR, 8sc, ss in first sc. [8 sc] Rnd 2 Beg 2dccl, (ch3, 2dccl) 7 times, ch3, ss in beg 2dccl. [8 2dccl, 8 sp] Rnd 3 Ss in first ch, sc in same sp, (ch5, sc in next sp) 7 times, ch5, ss in first sc. [8 sc, 8 sp] Rnd 4 Ss in first 2 chs, (sc in sp, ch2, 2dccl in sc, ch2) 8 times, ss in first sc. [8 2dccl, 8 sc, 16 sp] Rnd 5 (Sc in sc, ch3, sc in 2dccl, ch3) 8 times, ss in first sc. [16 sc, 16 sp] Rnd 6 Beg 2dccl in joining st, * …

Sarah Square

Sarah Square VVCAL Pages Pin Me! – Related Links These squares were originally published for the Vibrant Vintage Crochet-along (VVCAL) in 2016. Sarah Square Charted Instruction: Written instruction US Terms: For UK Terms and Video Instruction, scroll down. Rnd 1 MR, beg dc, (ch3, 3dc) 3 times, ch3, 2dc, ss in beg dc. [12 dc, 4 sp] Rnd 2 Ss in first ch, beg dc in sp, * ch3, dc in same sp, ch1, sk1, dc, ch1, dc in corner sp, rep from * 3 times omt final st, ss in beg dc. [12 dc, 12 sp] Rnd 3 Ss in first ch, beg dc in sp, * ch3, dc in same sp, ch1, dc in next sp, 2dc in next st, dc in next sp, ch1, dc in next st, rep from * 3 times omt final st, ss in beg dc. [24 dc, 12 sp] Rnd 4 Ss in first ch, beg dc in sp, * ch3, dc in same sp, ch1, 3dc in next sp, 4dc, 3dc in next sp, ch1, dc …