Marvellous May.

Hello Lovelies!!
Just wanted to touch base with you all!
I've been struggling to find time to work on the blog this week. I've missed you all dearly!
Balancing work with German language school is proving a little tricky.  It's really not leaving me very much crafty time :-(
When I have had a free moment,  my head has been somewhere else. I haven't been able to focus on any ideas or even attempt to make my crafty dreams a reality.
However, this evening, I've not had to work and have spent the evening getting organised.
The idea 'flood gates' have opened and I'm once again swamped with creative crochet ideas.

May should be an exciting month! I have a a couple of patterns I'm working on and will hopefully be heading your way very soon!
I also have this gorgeous  'Baby Alpaca' wool to play around with. It's going to be worked up into a glorious frenzy of gorgeousness.

Not as bright and bold as my usual colour choices. A little more classic! Isn't it delicious looking?

Before I get working with the Baby Alpaca, I must finish my current WIP. I'm working on another Granny Square project using the left over wool from my blanket! I'll be sharing this with you very soon!

So...lots planned and happening for the month of May!!!
I can't wait!
What creative craziness have you all got planned for the upcoming month? I'd love to know!
I say "BRING ON THE MARVELLOUS MONTH OF MAY!" It's going to be exciting!

Matt xxx

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A Walk In The Park.

Today I had the enormous pleasure of going for a nice long walk in the park!
Boy, was it a pleasure! The park was buzzing with the sound of Spring! Birds were singing and bees a buzzin'. Not to mention the park was glowing with so many gorgeous colours!

My walk was made that much more special, as I was joined by the cutest little dog I have ever met! Hayley! I was looking after her for a couple of hours, we sure had a lovely time together!
Isn't she adorable?!

We walked around the lake admiring the flowers and trees! We listened to each others thoughts and both seemed to agree that chasing the ducks seemed like a fun thing to do!

We took many many pictures together! Some of the beautiful flowers, trees and bright blue sky. It really was a stunning afternoon!

Isn't that blossom gorgeous!

Sky blue.....my favourite colour!

Bright red Tulips! LOVE THEM!!!

It was sooo nice to get some fresh air! To mull a few future project ideas over in my head and of course spend some time with this gorgeous ball of FLUFF!

Make it a SUNNY WEEK!!!
Matt xxx

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Crochet O'clock!

Hello gorgeous people!
WOW!!! I can't believe we have reached the 500 followers mark!!! That's really fantastic! I simply love how you all take the time to pop by and see what's happening. Isn't it amazing how we all connect through our hobbies and passions, people from all corners of the world!!!
A massive SQUEEZY HUG for the continuous support and for taking the time to come visit Dennis and I.

I've been a busy boy over the last couple of days, completely and utterly obsessed with my new project! A quick and cheery project that I hope will bring me lots of sunshine for months to come!
You may remember at the weekend I mentioned that I had bought a crafting clock from the craft store.

Its been really fun having this clock to play around with. Not making something from scratch, but building on an already existing product makes for a different perspective to crocheting.
I raided the yarn box and found our stash of 'creative cotton'. The colours are so bold and summery, I knew that they were exactly what I wanted for my clock.

My initial idea was to attempt to crochet one of the scenes from one of my 'Sunny Pictures'. 

After throwing that idea around in my head,  I soon realised that I would have to simplify the picture immensely. I decided rather than recreate one of the pictures, I would simply try and keep to the style of the pictures. I made a couple of quick sketches and decided upon something similar to this.

(Not a great drawing, but sketching out my ideas really helps me to visualise what I'm aiming for)

I got cracking with the design and started by crocheting a big circle out of two brilliant shades of blue cotton. This would act as the base colour to my clock face.

As I got further with the circle, I changed colours to add a rainbow to my blue circle.
Once the circle had the same circumference as the clock face, I added a little wavy border.
With the help of my trusty glue gun, I glued my crocheted circle to the clock:

At this stage, I was already loving the mix of rainbow colours against the blue sky background! I'm a sucker for a Rainbow!
I had reached the part that I was most excited about....decorating!!!
I had bought some inexpensive wooden numbers and painted them a shocking pink.

 

I searched the web for some crochet flower designs but settled on two designs I had previously used:

Attic 24's Teeny Tiny Flowers; They are sooooo cute, quick and easy to make.

'Mollie Makes' Crochet Flowers. These flowers are a little fiddly at first, but the step by step guide had some wonderfully clear pictures. The Mollie makes website is full of free tutorials and articles! Its really worth checking out for inspiration (if nothing else).

 

I bought this large ladybug and bee from the craft store. I thought they would go perfect with the ladybugs I already had lying around at home.

Finally I rummaged around for all of the bright buttons we had hiding aroung in our boxes. I thought they would fit this project :-)

How about I show you what I came up with?

I used shocking pink numbers as well as little ladybugs to symbolise the numbers.

 

The bigger Ladybug sat playfully on the hands of the clock. 

 

I made many gloriously bright flowers finished off with the bold buttons!

Here it is in its full glory!!!!

I'm so very very happy with it!!! Bright and cheery! Summery and simple!

Brings a touch of Spring/ Summer to the screen, don't ya think?!
Hope you're all having a FAB weekend!!!

Matt xxx

Crochet O'clock pattern available here!!!!

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Y.A.R.N Give Away Results!!

Today's the day we finally reveal the winner to our Y.A.R.N competition/give way!!!!!
Dennis and I have had soooo much fun reading all of your insanely creative responses to our 'give away" challenge!

We had no idea what kind of response we were going to get, but you have all exceeded any of our expectations!
So so many entries and every single one was individual, different and so very creative! They were all a million times better than the rubbish examples Dennis and I came up with! (What can I say...we're definitely not poets!)

Dennis and I have had a really hard time picking just two winners. I almost feel guilty that we can not give each and everyone of you a prize for your efforts!

Lets take a look at just some of the fabulous entries!

Penny's bright and creative entry:

An amazing and touching poem by Amylizzie:

Nothing like a spot of 'Scrabble" with the very creative Marlou:

 My colleagues at work even entered! :-)

 

As you can see so many diverse entries!!
It really is such a pleasure to look at and read all of the entries! I'm gradually adding each of your entries to the slideshow below so we can all admire the amazing talent. (Just bear with me as it's taking a tad longer than anticipated to upload your entries).

Now for the extremely tuff decision! I can't quite explain how hard this is. We really would love to share this scrummy yarn with each and everyone of you. 

Here goes: 

Our second place Y.A.R.N winner is ....................... KATHY GUBBELS!!!

Kathy wrote us an extremely cute email. Dennis and I thought she sounded so sweet and when you read her email you will see what I mean! I just love it! So very very fun, simple and thoughtful!

I hope Kathy doesn't mind me sharing the email and entry with you all, Here's what she wrote:

Dear Matt and Dennis,

A few weeks ago, I read your article about the sale at your yarn factory. That night, was the first night I dreamt about you two and the yarn! I dreamt we were together with some of my friends at your place, and we went out to buy tons of yarn at the factory. Wow!!  After that, we all started to work on our crochet projects, it was amazing and we had delicious drinks, food and great music! Unfortunately I woke up.. Haha!

So about a week or so after that, the article about the give-away/contest came up. And I really wanted to come up with something cool. I wanted to write a song, of course about y.a.r.n! Unfortunately, I can't write music.. So I stopped. But some lines kept on floating through my head and I wrote them down. Well, music with these words plays in my mind but I have no clue how to write it down for you so you can understand it.. And no, I'm not going to sing it in some movie, because I'm too shy, hahaha!  Ehm, I'm Dutch so my English is not good.. And my grammar will be horrifying (is that a real English word?). But I would love to try it anyway, because I have dreamt about this yarn several times haha! Oh, and I just love to mail you two, to get in contact! You seem so kind and sweet!

Good. Are you two ready for my entry? I know that the meaning of y.a.r.n. I'm using Isn't original because it was given before on your blog, but I just couldn't get it out of my head.. Like an annoying song that's stuck for several days in your mind... Except this isn't annoying, its lovely!!! oh Matt and Dennis, I wish you could hear the melody too! I'm rambling.. Sorry ;-) anyway, here we go..
..............................

..........

You two are Y.A.R.N! (= Y.ou A.re R.eally N.ice)

You Are Really Nice, that's the first thing I want to say,
You Are Really Nice, and two sweet men who like crochet!
So, are Y.A.R.N!

You Are Really Nice, and very, very  colourfull,
You Are Really Nice, and your creations are magical!
So, you are Y.A.R.N!

You Are Really Nice, to be so creative all the way
You Are Really Nice, to crochet, knit and paint every single day!
So, you are Y.A.R.N!

You Are Really Nice, and very talentfull,
You Are Reall Nice, and singing, dancing in a musical!
So, you are Y.A.R.N!

You Are Really Nice, and inspiring me in any way,
You Are Really Nice, and I would be happy to meet you two some day..
So, you are Y.A.R.N!

So one day I hope to be Y.A.R.N, just like the two of you,
But until then, I'll keep on getting  inspired by both of you :)

You two are Y.A.R.N!
........................................

Matt and Dennis, I wish you a lovely evening and thank you so much for your blog. It's very inspiring! And with all the pretty photographs, it's just georgeous ;-)

Big hugs,
Kathy

It's cute isn't it? :-)

Kathy wins this scrummy bundle of  Universal Cotton:

 WELL DONE KATHY!!!

1st place!!!!!..........Our first place winner receives these Merino wool cones: 

And....the...winner....is..... (drum roll please!!!!).......the very talented...... BEV EVANS!!! WOOOOOOP!!

Bev sent us this extremely fun poem, it captured our imaginations instantly!

Not only did Bev make this astonishingly good poem, she also sent through an illustration of Brian!

I'm completely and utterly in love with this Yeti!!!

Congratulations Bev!!! Can't wait to see what you will make with this lovely yarn!!

We do hope you have all had fun doing something a little playful and different.

Dennis and I sure have had a blast!!

Until next time.....

Matt and Dennis xxx

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Picture Perfect Sundays!

Good Morning lovely people! Once again just a quick one from me today!

It's been a tremendously busy week for me! I've had extra performances at work due to the schools being on a break for Easter.

Trying to find time to do all of my other bits and pieces (work on the blog, go to German school, singing lessons, gym and of course crafting) have proven difficult.

I've even been looking on Ebay, for a pocket watch that can stop time. I believe they're out there? I haven't found one yet! I really must keep looking! 

Even though it's been hard to fit everything in, being busy is how I like it! A BUSY Matt, is a VERY happy Matt :-)

So on this glorious Sunday Morning, I thought I'd give you a "Picture Perfect" post. A chance for me to share a couple of pics!

Now this picture, we've posted before. Its of a beautiful house that sits on the river close to our apartment. I just love it! Its a bright saffron colour and looks so perfect sat upon the glimmering water.

The reason I'm sharing this picture with you again, is because whilst searching through my laptop I came across another picture of the same house.
This picture was taken just a couple of weeks before the first. You can really see just how quick the seasons are changing!
I cant believe just a month ago we had such cold weathers that the river became an ice skaters dream! People were walking on the river as if it were a road!
I love the shapes of the paths that have been made in the snow and ice. Swirly and smooth!
BRRRRR! It makes me feel cold just looking at it!

After finishing my peg project, I feel like I had a little slump in creative energy and inspiration.
I NEED to have a project on the go, but for a brief moment I really didn't know what the next one should be. 
No ideas and no projects, make me feel a little lost. Thank God that feeling didn't last too long!!! I now have ideas and inspiration coming out of my ears!!!
Here's what I've started working with:

A crafting clock.

Some new colours of embroidery floss.

Some wooden bits and bobs.

I'm combining the wood with yummy yarn and some crochet creativeness. I cant wait to show you what I come up with! 

A spur of the moment bundle shot of mine and Dennis' blankets.
I feel such a sense of pride when I look at the things we have made!
I thought in the near future I would write a post that looks at each of the blankets individually. A chance to show them in a little more detail.

A postcard from our local Yarn shop/knit cafe! How fun is that!

How cute is the little sheep at the bottom just peering over edge of the card!

I couldn't resist taking a picture of this tree outside of the stage-door at work. It's in full blossom and looks so so pretty. The blossom looks delicate and light. I think it almost looks like a water colour painting.

I hope you are all having a 'Picture Perfect Sunday"!
I'm so very excited for tomorrow when Dennis and I pick the winners to the Y.A.R.N competition. You still have time to enter today (if you haven't already.) So many fantastic entries to choose from! I can't wait to share them with you!

Happy Sunday Funday!!!
Matt xxx

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