Swapety-Swap

I am participating in a swap on Ravelry and plan on mailing my package tomorrow.  

My swap partner is from England ... what jolly fun! 

This is not a full reveal of what I am sending but I couldn't help taking a few "teaser" pictures.  

 

Enjoy your weekend ... sunny and warm weather is predicted for tomorrow in my neck of the woods.  =)

Hurrah!

Erin

Summer Sewing

This is the summer that Abigail is going to learn how to sew.  =)

We are going to skip the hand sewing and jump right to the machine!!

 

What shall be her first project ...
dolly quilt?
pillowcase?
library bag?
sleep shorts?

I learned how to sew the summer I was 8 yo and I made a dropped waist jumper.  =)

What was your first sewing project?

Love,

Erin

Trinket Box Blanket

 My Grandma gave me this Trinket Box when I was a little girl.  It is so lovely and precious to me! 

As I was crocheting these Basic Granny Squares for this blanket they reminded me of it and so I named it Trinket Box Blanket.  =)

Can't you see the resemblance?!?!

All those jewel-like colors make me feel like Royalty.  =)  

It is the perfect size for our new loveseat.

Don't you want to have a seat and visit for a bit?

Thank you, Ikea, for having the perfect pillow covers!

Here are the Important Details:

BLOCK - Seven Round Granny Square.  Love, love, love, love Granny Squares!!!!  Can't get enough of you, Sweet Granny Square.  =)

SIZE - 6 blocks across and 8 blocks down.  48 blocks total.  Finished size is approximately  46" X 58"

YARN - Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Worsted Weight.  Grab a pencil and paper so you can jot down the colors ... 

Amber Heather

Amythest Heather

Arcitc Pool Heather

Black Cherry Heather

Blossom Heather

Calypso Heather

Firecracker Heather

Forest Heather

Green Tea Heather

Indigo Heather

Pampas Heather

Papaya Heather

Persimmon Heather

Sapphire Heather

Solstice Heather

Wonderland Heather

This yarn was WONDERFUL to crochet.  The heathered colors have such depth!!!  Each ball made three squares.    

Lions Fisherman's Wool ... oh how I love, thee ... let me count the ways! ... was the natural colored yarn used in this blanket.  It paired so beautifully with the Wool of the Andes.

HOOK - Wool of the Andes is not a true worsted weight, in my opinion, so I went down a hook size to a 4.5mm/7.  The density of the crocheted blocks is perfect! 

FINISHING - I am a Die Hard lover of the Join-As-Ya-Go method but I decided to try something different.  I laid out the blocks, slip stitched them into rows, and then slip stitched the rows together to form a blanket.  The ridge formed around each block looks very much like knitted I cord.  I like I cord so I'll probably use this method again.  =)

I like simple borders ... one row double crochet around the blanket followed by double crochet scallops.

Thanks for looking ... leave a comment if you have ANY questions ... Happy Hooking!

Love, 

Erin

Today is our 15th wedding anniversary! 

I spiffed up Mr. K's morning bowl of oatmeal.  =)

Do you think he knows I love him?

Meal Plan Monday

Mr. K unpacked the last of the boxes this weekend so we are official Moved In.  =)

I am going to celebrate the fact that we are no longer in the state of "Transition" by posting my meal plans.  There are some good eats in que for this week.  =)

Tonight I am making Homemade Pizza.  I've been playing around with a couple different dough recipes lately and finally have one that is a Winner!! I'm using this sauce recipe.  One pizza with sauteed onions and peppers for the adults.  One pizza with cheese for Abigail. 

Tuesday night is a Man Meal ... Meatloaf and Mashed Potatoes.  =)  I have a meatloaf in the freezer that I will pull out tonight to defrost in the refrigerator.  Check out Tammy's meatloaf baking method that is fool-proof ... no more pink centers and crumbly slices! 

I usually make Pizza on Wednesday but we already had that this week.  =)  So I will make another batch of pizza dough and make hot pocket-like sandwiches.  Pioneer Woman has a recipe for Cowboy Calzones that I'm a itchin' ta try!

It is supposed to rain, rain, rain, rain all week long.  That requires soup in my book, so I will make some sort of warm concoction on Thursday for supper.  Most likely Broccoli Cheese as I have a knock-off recipe in my Binder.  =)

Friday night will be Brinner.  That's Breakfast for Dinner.  =)  Scrambled Eggs and Cinnamon Raisin French Toast.

Saturday's meals will be eaten Out as we are going to a Sheep & Wool Festival to celebrate our Anniversary.

Sunday is always grilled cheese &/or leftover day.

So what are YOU cooking this week????

Love,

Erin

Friday?!

I wanted to blog everyday but this week FLEW BY without that happening.  There is a quilt, blanket, and bag to show you.  Good things are happening around here! 

 I am happy.  =)

I bought two bunches of flowers at Aldi this week and made up three bouquets to cheery up the house.  Tucked one in the bathroom ... tee hee.  =)   This is my favorite one ... the lily is BeAuTiFuL!!!

I hope your corner of the world is as beautiful as mine!

Love,

Erin

Wonderful Weekending

Friday Night ...

Hanging out with a BFF doing a bit of hand stitching on a quilt binding.
Home-made Chicken Enchiladas for supper.
Note to self -- must share recipe on DGD.  =)

 Saturday ...

Went out for bagels before we spent 4 1/2 hours at the Natural History Museum.  We didn't know that the Art Museum was in the same building so I got to see a bit of Monet.  =)

Stop at Home Depot for hanging baskets and a new flag.

 Sunday ...

Roses for Mother's Day

Abigail & Michael bought me a Knit Picks gift card and I think something is coming from Yarn.com this week  =) 

In the evening, we went with some friends to an end-of-season orchestra performance.

The musicians were middle and high school students from all over the area.  

Two of their children were performing.

It was SPECTACULAR!!!!

What a Magical weekend.  =)

Love,

Erin

Layout - Yeah or Neh?

Ever so often I get the urge to change the  layout of Dutch Girl Diary.  

I'll spend a couple hours fussing around with it and then realize I really liked it the way it was.  =) =) =)

Does it look Okay from your viewpoint?  

No one has emailed me saying "Your site looks Wonky on my computer screen ... can you do something about it?!?!"

I'd much rather be creating lovely things that I can share with you in posts, but if all my Lovely Readers are BORED with same look, I'll be happy to change a few things.

Comments and Feedback are WELCOME!

Happy Mother's Day Weekend!

Erin

PS - The italic font is not going to happen regularly.  I just couldn't find a picture to put in the post to jazz it up.  =)

Another Addition

I'll blog more about it next week ... Enjoy the Sneak Peak!

 This little Trinket Box was the inspiration for the pattern.

The sun is shining and it is pushing 60 degrees ... I'm going for a walk!

Love,

Erin

Tutorial - Crocheted Treasure Bag

These darling bags were a HIT as Abigail's birthday party take-home favors.  So I thought I'd share the pattern with you. =)

I used Rico Creative Cotton (Lucy Pack) and a size 4.5mm Susan Bates crochet hook.

Round 1:  
Chain 5 and join together to form a circle with a slipstitch.
Chain 3 (equals a DC), 11 DC into circle.
Join round by slip stitching last DC to top of first DC (chain 3).
12 DC total.

Round 2:
Chain 3 (equals a DC).
DC into same stitch.
2 DC into each stitch all the way around.
Join round by slip stitching last DC to top of first DC (chain 3).
24 DC total.

Round 3:  
Chain 3 (equals a DC).
DC into same stitch.
** 1 DC into next stitch.  2 DC into next stitch.
Repeat from ** all the way around.
Join round by slip stitching last DC to top of first DC (chain 3).
36 DC total.

Round 4:  
Chain 3 (equals a DC).
DC into same stitch.
** 1 DC into next 2 stitches.  2 DC into next stitch.
Repeat from ** all the way around.
Join round by slip stitching last DC to top of first DC (chain 3).
48 DC total.
Cut yarn and pull through slip stitch to secure.

The base of the bag is done.  You will no longer increase in each row but work around evenly to form the sides of the bag.

Round 5: 
Attach new color by slip stitching into any stitch.
Chain 3 (equals 1 DC).
DC into each stitch all the way around.
Join round by slip stitching last DC to top of first DC (chain 3).
48 DC total

Round 6:
Chain 3 (equals 1 DC).
DC into each stitch all the way around.
Join round by slip stitching last DC to top of first DC (chain 3).
48 DC total
Cut yarn and pull through slip stitch to secure.

Repeat Round 5 & 6 three more times, changing colors at the beginning of Round 5 so that stripes are formed.

A picture is worth a thousand words.  =)

Round 13:
Attach new color by slip stitching into any stitch.
Chain 3 (equals 1 DC).
DC into each stitch all the way around.
Join round by slip stitching last DC to top of first DC (chain 3).
48 DC total

Border:
I'm very partial, as you know, to a scalloped border, so that's what I did as the last row.  You may do the same or change it to whatever border you fancy.  A picot or v-stitch border would look very nice!

Drawstring:
Crochet a string 60 chains long.  I tried all sorts of numbers -- 50 is too short and 75 is too long.  =)  Thread it over and under through the last row of DCs.  Knot ends together.  Add some beads if you have them handy.

They don't take much time to make -- perhaps an hour each.  =)  Fill the bag with little goodies and you have sweet and thoughtful present ... Mother's Day, Teacher Gifts, Shower Favor, or Just Because.

Happy Hooking!

Erin

Edited 8/9/11 - Correction made in Round 4!

Rainbow Granny Pillow

There were a few blocks leftover from the Rainbow Granny Blanket and they were too lovely to let languish in a closet.  So I made a pillow.  =)

I am not much of a Pillow Maker as the whole sewing process is terribly fussy.  

But a Crocheted Pillow ... it was a lot of fun!

Red and White is a classic color combination so I used them for the checkerboard border.  The back is exactly the same as the front except done all in natural wool.   

Both the front and the back have a Dark Lavender 3 round granny border.  I slip-stitched them wrong sides together around 3 sides, stuffed in the pillow form, and slip-stitched the last side.

It was a Smashing Success and I plan on making lots more pillows this way!  This beauty didn't sit on my chair too long ... it whisked it's way across to town to live at my friend Joanna's house.  =)

Cheers!

Erin

Seeing Squares

Miss A colored this for me last summer.

I tucked it away in my Studio knowing that one day it would become Something. 

That Something just might be my Summer Project.  =)

It is very inspiring!

Perhaps a pieced quilt with little 2 1/2" blocks out of Kona Cotton.

Maybe 2 round granny squares joined-as-I-go.

Should I use wool or cotton yarn?

How many colors do you see ... I count 18.  =)

Love always,

Erin