DAS WOLLCAFÉ

Hello Lovelies!

Last post I gave you all a glimpse at the current project i'm working on, along side the yarn I recently bought. I told you how I've been finding it difficult to find a good variety of yarn here in Stuttgart. Well I hate to say it....... It looks like I spoke too soon!!! EEEEEEK!

On monday Dennis and I payed a visit to the yarn shop where Dennis had purchased the  gorgeous Noro yarn he is currently knitting with.  

Dennis had told me about this cute knit cafe.  I had yet to pay it a visit, as it is a bit of a journey from where we live. 

Monday was my day off from work and the weather was yucky, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to travel across the city and go see if this shop really was the treasure that Dennis claimed it was.

Das Wollecafe (The Woolcafe) was the name of the shop and it certainly was a gem!!!

A clean, bright shop that just oozed happiness!

This is what I'd been looking for in Stuttgart city centre, luxurious yarns in shades to die for!

Yarn that was the little bit "different" to make an extra special project.

Vibrant colours throughout the whole shop!

It makes me feel giddy just looking back at the pictures I took.

The shop also stocked a great range of accessories!

Felted hearts, balls and buttons to add those final touches to a project. 

A nice selection of craft books, filled with ideas and patterns

Of course there were also project about the shop. Made by the lovely owner Susanne, who also offered classes in knitting and crochet.
I could spot many shawls, felted shoes, a blooming flower cushion:

and some cheery crocheted ornaments hanging from the budding twigs near the entrance:

Of course this was no ordinary yarn store. It was a cafe as well!
.

Dennis and I were able to sit and drink coffee after we had worked up a thirst from all of the yarn browsing. 

We sat and worked on our projects chatting with Susanne and her very lovely customers. It was nice to meet people with the same enthusiasm that Dennis and I have towards all things yarny.

It was also good for me to practise some conversational German! :-)

A real treasure and definitely my go to place for yarn in Stuttgart. I'm so happy that we found this store. I was beginning to think that I would have to quit my job and move cities to be closer to a well stocked yarn shop! Thank God it didn't have to come to that!!!
Thank you DAS WOLLCAFÉ  for making Dennis and I feel so welcome. We will definitely be visiting again soon!!

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Springtime Hooky

Hello Happy People!
I've just popped by to share with you the vibrant yarn I bought last week. I'm very excited about what I'm going to be making with it and can't wait to share with you all.

I love buying new yarn! Not just love, but LOVE buying new yarn! 

I'm going to sound like a geek here, but there is something so special about going into a yarn store, looking at the vast amount of delicious colours and having a moment to yourself to dream. Picking out something that inspires you, then giving the skien a nice squeeze to feel its glorious texture.

I'm going to be very dramatic now:

Since moving to Stuttgart I haven't yet found my "go to" yarn store. GASP!!!

I was particularly spoiled living in Hamburg. I had a great choice of different yarn stores that stocked a fabulous selection of yarns. 

Since moving to Stuttgart I haven't yet found the good yarn stores, I've been looking, believe me I've been looking. I'm starting to think that Stuttgart doesn't have a great yarn store, but I will continue my quest to find it and hope that there is a hidden treasure of a yarn store out there somewhere.

Of course there is always the option of buying yarn online. But like I mentioned before, there is something rather magical about choosing the yarn for a project in the flesh. 

Last week, after months of browsing the yarn that was available in the city, I finally had to bite the bullet and go with the yarn that was on offer to me. 

I was looking for yummy alpaca or something equivalent in texture. But I also wanted a brand of yarn with a great choice of colour. 

My dilemma was: I could either find something lovely in texture that came in rather dark earthy tones, or something vibrant that was a little rougher to the touch. I decide to go with colour over texture and chose my yarn purely on the shades it was available in. You all know I'm a sucker for bright colour!

I went with some very jolly cotton from the brand Wölle Rödel. I bought a lovely array of rainbow colours and even though it wasn't what I was necessary looking for in texture, it definitely made up for in vibrancy!

Isn't a radient rainbow of yarn something special! :-)
I have a few projects in mind, but my ideas are on hold until I'm done with my current project.

What's my current project you ask? It's a super stripped project made using this yarn also from Wölle Rödel. It's a cotton/linen mix also available in a nice array of shades.

Here are the colours I picked out:

I have to say that I'm rather loving this yarn.  After giving it a try I'm actually rather happy with it. The yarn fills a little scratchy when it's balled up in skien form. Once I started to work with it though, the scratchy feeling seems to have disappeared and it's actually quit soft. 

Here's a little peak at what I'm working on:

I'm once again having a dabble at Tunisian crochet and I'm very excited at how the project is coming along! It turns out I was a little quick to judge this yarn as it's really exceeded my expectations. I'm extremely happy with it and it's working well with these Tunisian stripes.

I'll keep you posted on how this mass of stripes progresses.

Shortly after I purchased my yarn, Dennis found another yarn shop that was just on the outskirts of Stuttgart. He took a visit there and ended up returning home with a backfill of glorious Noro wool. I was a tiny bit jealous to say the least.

Doesn't it look absolutely yummy!

He's been hard at work turning this scrummy yarn into a beautiful blanket.

It's coming a long rather nicely!!
It's knitted using the pattern "Ten Stitch Blanket" and really showcases the colour gradient of the yarn.

Even though in the end I'm very happy with my yarn choices I made, I'll definitely be paying the yarn shop that Dennis discovered a visit real soon. Maybe I'll also pick myself up some of that lovely Noro yarn and give the crocheted version of the 'Ten Stitch Blanket' a whirl! :-)

Have a super weekend lovelies!

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Loved Ones

Good morning lovelies!
I hope you are all doing well? Sorry I haven't popped by for a chat in over a week, time has been flying by.
I've had a busy week or so; Working, rehearsing, crafting and enjoying time with my parents who were visiting for the weekend from England.
It was an amazing weekend spent in the most glorious sunshine I've seen in months!
What made my weekend extra special was the fact that Dennis was also able to spend it with us. He had to leave the cruise ship he works on for a short while due to a nasty bout of kidney stones. He was in a lot of pain and the ship was unable to look after him so he's back on land for a few weeks until he's all better. It's obviously bad that he's been ill, but so nice that he's home :-)

So time spent with Dennis and my parents made for a rather splendid week!
It had been 6 months since I last saw Mum and Dad and no matter how much I told Mum that I didn't need her to bring any gifts, I knew that she would arrive with a suitcase full of goodies. She didn't disappoint!
I now have a rather large stash of Cadbury's chocolate lurking in the kitchen cupboard. Yummy!

Along with a much appreciated collection of English treats, Mum and Dad were also delivering a lovely gift from my Nan. A gift for Dennis' and my apartment, some lovely tea towels in gorgeous vibrant colours.

I love how jolly they are! Great colour combinations, swirly patterns making these vivid owls and butterflies swoop across the fabric with style. These owls are pretty cute huh? Thank you Nan!!!!

Whilst Mum and Dad were here, I showed them all of the local places Dennis and I like to visit. We ate delicious food together and had a jolly good time catching up.  Of course we also did some shopping. Mum could be described as a Shopaholic and as it turns out, I take after her!!! 

I picked up these fun wind mill on my shopping trip:

I added them to my pot plants! I know I'm overdoing the whole balcony thing, but I just can't get enough of how jolly it's looking. I look forward to when It's warm enough to wake up every morning and eat breakfast outside amongst the wind mills and pot plants.

It's my favourite part of the apartment. Mum and Dad loved it also!

I also picked up some lovely new yarn in the city! Oooooh la la!!
I'll be sharing more about this very soon, but until then I'll leave you with this little preview of the gloriously bright splashes of colour, that I hope to turn into something fabulously fun! Nothing more exciting than new yarn!!!!

I'll be back in a day or two and tell you all about my new yarn, I've already started working on a little something and am rather enjoying it!
I hope you've had as lovely a week as I have spent with my loved ones!!! Thanks Mum and Dad for such a special time!

Speak soon.


P.S Dennis says a BIG hello to you all :-)

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Pots of Happiness

Happy Thursday my lovelies!!! How have you all been doing? 

I'm doing just fine! I have my parents coming to visit at the weekend and I am very much looking forward to that! I can't wait to see them!!

With the anticipation of Mum and Dad coming over for a visit I've been sorting out the apartment, so that it's nice and tidy for their arrival.
I couldn't let the week turn into one of only household chores, so I gave myself a fun little project to work on, alongside my cleaning duties.

I've been using my stash of acrylic paints and have been having a rather splendid and colourful time!

I don't know if you remember last month I spoke about adding flowers to the planting boxes and plants to the pots on my balcony? (Here's the post if you fancy a recap)

Well I've been having a crafty time of it, and have been getting all vibrant on those pots that stand out on the balcony.

Would you like to see what I've been doing? it's an extremely easy project that is surely going to bring me a lot of visual joy for months/years to come!

A pot makeover!!! 

It was soooooo simple:

I painted the rim to each of my pots, in a very rough way. I didn't worry about what the inside of the pot looked like, as this will not be seen once they are filled.

I went through my collection of paints and chose a second colour for the main part of the pot. A colour that would contrast the rim of the pot that I had just painted.

I chose a nice bold pink to contrast the baby blue rim of the pot.
I got to work painting the main body of the pot. I really left the point where the two colours meet very messy. I did this out of convenience when painting, as I don't always have the steadiest hand with a paint brush.

Once I had finished painting the pot I raided my stash of "crafty bits'n bobs" and remembered that I had a rather rustic canvas tape lurking amongst the chaos.
This tape is the sort that you can buy in a craft shop for scrapbooking. It has a sticky side to it and is perfect for this kind of project!

I wrapped the tape along the rim of the pot covering that messy join where the contrasting colours met.

I then added some rather lovely felted fabric shapes to my pots.

I love this time of year as the shops start to sell or sorts of wonderful crafty things. Bright, jolly products that are geared towards Spring time, but have a wonderful sense of "homemade".

Alternatively you could also make your own little fabric accent for this kind of project. It would be simple enough :-)
I added a blob or two of glue so that the fabric shapes would stick to the pots.

Finally I coated the whole pot in some varnish that I picked up at the craft store. It was important to add a lick of varnish; not only make sure the paint doesn't come of with bad weather, but to extra secure the tape and the fabric shapes to the pots.

All done!!! I left my pots to dry :-)

Finally I added (of course) the plants to the pots and my makeover was complete!

A bright feast for the eyes!!

Happiness in plant pots!! Who'd have thought!!!

Add these beauties to the bunting I made last week and my balcony is looking rather perfect if you ask me! 

Hope you are all having a vibrant week!!

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