A new favorite

I have a new favorite, the sunburst. I have always liked the way they look, but somehow I used to think they are difficult and tedious and totally impossible to make. Well they are not. It is actually nice and easy and also quite fast to make.  I like the funky chunky feeling of the pattern with the puff and cluster stitches.

Also great with cotton yarns.

I had a bit difficulties in finding the pattern so I have written the pattern / tutorial here. This is a combination of the patterns I found on the net:

START with the Magic Ring method (I use this) or ch4 and join with a slip stitch

ROUND 1: ch 4 (counts as 1 tr), 15 tr into the ring, join with slip stitch. Fasten off.

ROUND 2 (Puff stitches) change color and ch 1 into the space between the tr's. *yarn over hook, insert hook into stitch and pull up a loop*, repeat * -* twice more, yarn over hook and draw it through all seven loops. Ch 1. Repeat this 15 times (into all the tr's). Join with a slip stitch. Fasten off.

ROUND 3 (Cluster stitches): Change color and join in the space between two puff stitches. Ch 1, dc4tog. Repeat 15 more times, join with a slip stitch. Fasten off.

dc4tog: In the space between two puffs, *yarn over hook, insert hook in the space between puffs, pull up a loop, yarn over hook, draw a loop through only the two first two loops on the hook.* Repeat *-* three more times inserting hook into the same space, yarn over and draw a loop through all the loops (there should be 5 loops) on the hook.

ROUND 4 (Making the square) Change color and join into any space between clusters. Ch 4 (counts as 1 tr), 2 tr, ch2, 3 tr (first corner), *ch1, 3 dc into next space between clusters*, repeat *-* twice more. In the next space make another corner: 3 tr, ch2, 3 tr. Ch 1, 3 dc into spaces between clusters three times, make a corner and then repeat the ch1, 3 dc three times, make a corner and repeat ch1, 3 dc three times. join with a slip stitch. Fasten off.

And you have a beautiful sunburst square!

Matcha Muffins

I got an inspiration to bake something, or not just something but with Matcha. I searched the net and came upon this idea of Matcha Muffins. I modified a little bit an old muffin recipe and these turned out just great. I love the color of the Matcha powder, it is so Green.

Recipe
2 dl flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
50 g melted butter
2 eggs
2 dl sugar (brown sugar, like muscovado is great in this)
1 dl milk or soy milk
1 tablespoon matcha powder
1 tablespoon lime juice

Mix together the flour, baking powder and matcha powder. In another bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar. Fold in the flour mixture, melted butter, milk and lime juice. Divide the batter into muffin cups. Bake in 200 C, about 12-15 min.  (I hope my baking English is ok...)

Tuli leipomisfiilis ja halusin tehdä jotain missä olisi Matcha-jauhetta. Tutkailin netistä ideoita ja päädyin tekemään Matcha Muffinsseja. Resepti vanha muffinsiresepti pienillä muutoksilla. Hyvää tuli, mehevää ja maukasta. Ja vähän erilaista.

Resepti
2 dl vehnäjauhoja
2 tl leivinjauhetta
1 tl vaniljasokeria
50 g sulatettua rasvaa
2 kananmunaa
2 dl sokeria (mielellään sokerin voi korvata kokonaan tai osittain ruskealla sokerilla kuten muscovado- tai fariinisokerilla)
1 dl maitoa tai soijamaitoa (itse käytin soijamaitoa)
1 rkl matcha-jauhetta
1 rkl limettimehua
Sekoita vehnäjauhoihin leivinjauhe, vaniljasokeri, leivinjauhe ja matcha. Sulata rasva. Vatkaa munat ja sokeri vaahdoksi. Lisää munavaahtoon varovasti sulatettu rasva, jauhoseos, limettimehu ja maito. Nostele taikina paperisiin leivosvuokiin ja paista 200 C noin 12 min. 

Summer Flowers blanket colours

The Summer Feeling blanket ta-dah moment is approaching. In the meanwhile, a couple of words about the yarns and colours - of which there were many. I used 8 different colours of Drops Paris yarn and Rowan Handknit cotton 15 different ones. I first started with only colder tones but then decided the feeling was not what I wanted and so I added a couple of warmer orange/brown tones and some darker (aubergine and navy) as well. And that turned out just right. I like the bulky soft feeling of the Drops Paris. I used a 4,5mm hook with this blanket so this was also quite a fast one to make.

Warm oranges, yellows and reds...

 Some blue, turquoise, aqua...

 Greens, pistachhio, olives...

 And some pink and rose...

The navy one is not in the pictures so all together 23 different colours. And I used to think I am not a color person.

Inspiration

Frozen berries

I was wandering around in the net and, once again, found some great inspiration. Some new blogs I have never visited that were full of gorgeous crocheting and bright ideas.

A few inspiring examples here:

This beautifully colored blanket from Cozy made things with the red edging and the last granny round in pale blue was just stunning. Immediately started to think about something similar...

Then there was this amazing bag "Almond blossom bag" from Colour in a simple life. Isn't it just great. I love the "puffiness" of the lily pad hexagons. There is also a great tutorial here. These I have to try!

Apples and Pears

This was also one reason why I started this blog, not only writing and documenting about what I am doing but also to have a place to store all the great ideas and places that I find in the net. Yes there is Pinterest but still this blog seems like a better way.

For my own yarn inspiration, the pictures are Drops Muscat which I used in my Hexagon blanket (that will most likely get an own blog post one day)

Löysin taas uusia inspiroivia blogeja ja ohjeita. Näitä tekisi mieli kokeilla. Lankakuvat Drops Muscatin jäämiä Hexagon peittoprojektista (josta mitä luultavimmin lisää jonain toisena kertana).

Official Opening of the Gardening Season

Spring has been terribly late this year up here in North. But finally it is arriving and this weekend has definitely been the official opening of the gardening stuff. There is not so much green yet and in fact there are still some patches of snow in the garden. But the first brave soldiers are already here and giving the promise of new summer behind the corner. First flowers, some green sprouts here and there, so things are getting better...!

So I started to get the garden into some shape after the winter. The ground is still too wet for any serious work, but I cut down some big shrubs and then cut all the branches into small pieces. Not a small task.

Kevät on edennyt piinallisen hitaasti tänä vuonna. Viimein kuitenkin näyttää siltä, että tänäkin vuonna kevät tulee ja tänä viikonloppuna oli sitten aika aloittaa puutarhahommat. Vielä näyttää aika ruskealta ja paljaalta, muutama lumikasakin löytyy pihalta. Mutta ensimmäiset urhoolliset kevään tuojat ovat jo saapuneet ja kukkivat ja puskevat uutta vihreää versoa. Kyllä se tästä.

First signs of Peonies

Aloitin puutarhatyöt leikkaamalla muutaman ison pensaan matalaksi, maa on vielä liian märkää mihinkään varsinaiseen haravoimiseen mutta eiköhän senkin aika pian koita.

An early Clematis

Crocheting Summer feelings

This blanket is almost finished now but first a couple of pictures from earlier stages of this project. The colors give me a summer feeling...flowers...bright sun...clear sky...green grass...

The pattern is otherwise the same as in the Green moss blanket, but I did a fourth color round with clusters of 3 dc's. Then just one round with white making the circle into a square with hd's and dc's in the corners.

The Green Moss blanket

I've been working on this blanket for some time now. It started with some green left over yarns from previous projects and then the whole thing just grew into a blanket project. Somehow the different greens and the grey-brown edging remind me of moss on a grey rock.

The pattern is slightly modified from Solstrikke and Crochet with Raymond, except I am making two rounds with the joining color. Yarns are Karisma from Drops and Smart from Sandnäs, with some additional skeins of other yarns.

I have made 110 circles (yes!), the last round is made with the join-as-you go. Still some more rows to go... But I like the way this is turning out.



Sammalmättäällä... Tai ainakin sammaleen ja kallion värit tulevat minulle tästä mieleen. Tämä alkoi pienenä sormiharjoituksena muista projekteista jääneiden vihreiden lankojen kanssa, mutta jotenkin huomaamatta peittoprojektiksihan tämä sitten kasvoi. Muutama lappurivi vielä liittämättä, mutta hyvä tästä on tulossa.