Latest Forum Posts by: Bastelfan

Thank you, Marlies.
I’ve always kept especially pretty cards, too. Everyone in my family appreciates handmade items and keeps them. That really makes me happy.
I have fun crafting, and I bring joy to others. What more could you want?

lounging around

I’m so glad to hear others are in the same boat—the “yarn problem.”
I don’t have quite as much as some, but my stash still isn’t getting any smaller because there are still a lot of dark colors in there (lots of shades of green, beige, brown, and purple...) that don’t really match my projects.

But that blanket idea—it looks absolutely great. I’m going to use that as inspiration for my leftover yarn.

So if anyone has any light-colored cotton yarn left over (for size 2.5 needles), bring it on! I’d love to take it.

My yarn stash is spread out across 4 fabric boxes and 2 small tote bags. It’s still very organized,

though. Have fun with your yarn 😉🧶

Time to call it a day.
Thank you, dear Monika. Things were a bit more relaxed at work today (different department)

—a hearty “HELAU” to everyone out celebrating! 🎈💃🕺

Thank you! I wish everyone a relaxing weekend, too. Get out your knitting or crocheting supplies and make yourselves comfortable on the couch.
Most of you here are doing fine—you don’t have to go out in this lousy weather.

I’ll be working through Monday (early shift), then I’ll be able to relax, too.

Warm regards from
Andrea😉

Wow, Ina and Ruth, you really do have some true treasures there, and such amazing designs. I love roses.
If you didn’t know better, you’d think they were store-bought—they’re that pretty.
Cherish your rugs and hold on to those memories.

No, I didn’t do any rug knotting back then. But my grandpa did—just a small wall hanging—and I watched him do it once. It wasn’t for me.

Here you go.

Thanks, Mel. I’ve done some research in the meantime—I’ve also read about killing them in the microwave or in the oven.
I won’t use coffee grounds, though—you’re right, they can get moldy, and then even more flies/fungus gnats will show up.
I just picked up these yellow sticky traps at dm. We’ll see how it goes. Two of those little beasts are already stuck to them. (Within just one day so far.)

I’ll keep you posted.

Thanks again to all of you.
I thought the design was so perfect for my mom. It would also make a great Mother’s Day gift.
I happened to find the perfect frame at Woolworth. It’s a 3-D frame. I just took out the little pom-poms that were inside.
My mom was so happy.

My latest purchase is a set of diamond painting coasters (10 pieces).
I ordered them online. It said “cork” on the listing, but I think they’re actually round wooden discs with various mandala-style designs on them that you can apply the diamonds to. The design templates already look amazing. As soon as I finish them, I’ll post the pictures. I just love those little rhinestones.
These coasters are for my mom for her 80th birthday this year. Of course, I’ll be adding something else to the gift.
So I never get bored.

I once got a tip from someone to insert a dowel into the figure’s neck for stability, or I like to use old felt-tip pen caps—that works too.

For smaller figures, I use 3–4 cotton swabs.

Thanks, Josefa. I also wish everyone else a relaxing, peaceful weekend.
Rain is in the forecast here too—it hasn’t shown up yet, and it’s still calm, though yesterday was stormy.

I’m working the late shift again, but at least I got to sleep in.
On the bright side, I’ll be relaxing with some crochet yarn on Monday and Tuesday, since I have those days off. I’ll be using up my leftover cotton yarn.

Hugs, Andrea😉

To be honest, Veronika, I had so much fun looking at your LaCritza figures. It’s amazing what was all in there (your full photo).
All these figures look so cute, and they make me want to try making them myself.

Thank you so much for sharing. It was really fun.

Hugs, Andrea

No, I didn’t see the Christ Child—since my husband and I don’t exchange gifts, it didn’t show up.
The holidays are all well and good, but I’m still battling a bad case of the flu. On top of that, I had a fever of 39 and diarrhea. I spent most of my time sleeping.
So my husband cooked our Christmas dinner—he put so much effort into it—but I was full after just a few bites, even though it was so delicious (smoked pork loin with sauerkraut and mashed potatoes). I just had no appetite.
My fever has gone down a little, but I’m still dizzy and weak.

It’s no fun. I hope I’ll be back on my feet by New Year’s Eve. I’m on sick leave until January 6.

I’d like to wish everyone who’s sick a speedy recovery, and hope the new year will be a little calmer.

I’m stressed at work, so I don’t need that at home too. Nope
The kids are out of the house, my parents are on vacation—it’s just my husband and me. We’re making ourselves cozy on the sofa with Christmas music and a fairy-tale or Christmas movie, delicious food, and mulled wine—that’s all we need.
No tree, no presents.

Since I have to work this weekend anyway, we’ll make up for it all on the second day of Christmas.

So have a peaceful and reflective Christmas season, everyone, and stay healthy

Thanks, Monika, for this info. It’ll take a little while, though.
You know, I have to take it slow—my hand doesn’t want to do what I want it to.

I also still have three pretty, colorful cotton work smocks lying around that have become too tight for me.
I’d like to sew three nice fabric bags out of them someday.
I’ve already watched some videos on how to do it, and it doesn’t look too hard for me as a beginner sewer.

Everything that’s still in good condition gets put to use somehow.

Thank you, Petra.
I got some pills. Things are slowly getting better. I can move it gently, but I can’t overdo it.

It’s kind of funny. The yarn next to me is smiling at me—I’d have soooo much time, but oh well.
I’ll be fine.

I’m not really familiar with all that. It doesn’t mean anything to me right now.
I wear whatever I like and whatever makes me feel comfortable. I don’t have to follow every fashion trend.
Back then, I used to love wearing that poplin fabric. It was lightweight, but it also wrinkled easily. That meant ironing all the time.
How fashion sure does change

Thanks, Josefa—I didn’t forget. Getting to sleep an extra hour is very convenient for me, since I always have to get up around 4:00 a.m.

Of course, I’m taking full advantage of the lovely, sunny fall weather after work.
Yesterday we even had coffee on the balcony in the sunshine, and I did some crafting (diamond painting).

Today, Saturday, we were invited to my cousin’s birthday party, and
tomorrow, Sunday, I’ll probably go to afternoon dance class again.

Then things will settle down a bit—I need that too.

Stay healthy, everyone!

That’s exactly how I do it, just like Ruth.

Most patterns specify this, after all.

I don’t have any crocheted scarves—just some thin and slightly thicker fabric scarves. I wear them the same way Ina wears her scarves. I don’t like knots around my neck either; I feel the same way as Inge.

I own a lot of crocheted triangular scarves (without fringes), and I like to wear those, too.
I hold the triangular scarf by the long side in front of my neck, cross the ends at the back of my neck, and let the ends dangle down in front (not too long—the scarf sits loosely), without a knot, otherwise it gets too bulky.

So everyone has their own preferences.

It’s pretty cloudy here today—the temperature is pleasant, but it’s cardigan weather.
My wish list is doing well, too; it’s getting longer and longer. Lots of projects are still waiting to be crocheted.

When crocheting amigurumi or dolls, I prefer to crochet the arms and legs right into the body instead of sewing them on.
To do this, I crochet the arms and legs first, join them with stitches, and create the body by decreasing as I work upward. Then I crochet the arms into the body and continue crocheting the head right away. This saves you the hassle of sewing and makes the figure more sturdy.
By stuffing and shaping them evenly, you’ll end up with nice-looking arms and legs. Over time, you’ll get a feel for how much stuffing to use without making them bulge. Practice makes perfect.

Here’s another tip: try working on both legs or both arms at the same time and finish them in one day.
I once had the problem that if I crocheted one leg today and the other tomorrow, they ended up looking different. After all, not every day is the same.

Good morning,

Thank you all—things are slowly looking up.

It’s a pleasant 21 degrees here. It’s comfortable enough to spend time on the sunny balcony again. Of course, it cools down again in the evening, so you can breathe deeply and air out the place.

Relax and stay healthy

Hey, that embroidery of Germany is amazing. You actually finished it. Kudos.
I have something similar—an embroidery of all of Norway—that I’d been meaning to stitch to have a memento of the wonderful time I had there. Unfortunately, I don’t have the time for it right now.

In the meantime, I’m still working on a diamond painting for my mom, which I gave her as a birthday present (she can’t do it herself—it’s too fiddly). It still needs to be framed.

As I mentioned above, I print out important, beautiful patterns; I have some on my computer. I really should back them up to an external hard drive. Some of my old craft patterns are gone (my computer broke, and everything was lost).

As a former secretary, I, too, prefer the tried-and-true paper format. What you have in black and white…
I have 4–5 small A5 diaries full of handwritten patterns (crochet and beadwork) that I find online and like. I’ve also bookmarked them on my computer, but sometimes I can’t find them anymore. Then I look in my trusty notebooks, and… there they are.
I jot down patterns on scraps of paper while watching videos, then neatly copy everything in my notebooks in my best handwriting. I’ve always enjoyed writing by hand, even back in school. No problem with that. I even paste in little drawings, crochet charts, or crochet swatches.
That way, I can quickly grab a little notebook to take on vacation instead of my whole computer.

Exactly, Petra—or for a little amigurumi. We’ll see, or just as a decoration

Belated happy birthday, and best wishes for good luck and good health

Warm regards

Hi aivlis 1,

I have the crochet book "Childhood Heroes 3" by Alexandra Schwarz. It has something like Tom and Jerry in it. Take a look. You can find it at a....n. Maybe that will help you.

Best regards

Thank you so much for your compliments. And I had a lot of fun crafting again.
The birthday cards are all written too.
Now I’m going back to crocheting.

Thank you all. And here’s the version made from leftover yarn, and the back side

Thank you, Inge.

But of course, I can’t compete with the things you sew. For me, it’s more of a side project because I have so many other hobbies.

I still wonder today how I managed to make that blouse—even with a buttonhole—I have no idea. There are just so many talents in each of us.

Best regards

I’ve also seen in English tutorials that curves and body proportions are worked directly into the crochet (by increasing and decreasing in that row).

For the nose, too, you can work several stitches into the center stitch of the face and then join them together in the next row. This is how you create cheeks on the face, for example. The same applies to ears.

It’s hard to explain right now. It works the same way for the bottom and knees. Just increase over 1–2 rows at the desired spot, and in the next round, crochet those stitches together so you return to the original number of stitches per round.

This saves you the trouble of sewing on separate pieces.

Oh, Monika, she looks so adorable. Wonderful

Oh, Ina, what lovely felt slippers you’ve made again for your grandson Oskar.
That really makes you happy when Grandma grants a wish like that. Great color.
Anyone would love to be a child again at your house (felt slippers, lots of little dolls with accessories, etc.)…
Simply fantastic.

Mmm, that looks delicious, Marlies . It makes you want to take a bite right away.

Thanks, and I wish you all a wonderful weekend—or the rest of a lovely Sunday.
I have the late shift again tomorrow, but I’m off on Monday. Then I’ll sit out on the balcony in the sunshine, enjoy some spaghetti ice cream, and do some crocheting.

Warm regards from me

Well, I like to use these colorful plastic stitch markers. They come in different sizes, though. I prefer the larger ones because the end is thinner and longer—better for my crochet stitches.

I need them when I’m crocheting in spiral rounds, or when I take a break from crocheting—I place the stitch marker in the last stitch.

For example, when I’m crocheting a garment and want to check the fit, I use the stitch marker to pin the two crocheted pieces together, or if I want to create sections, they’re really helpful.

I even use them for my little amigurumi.

I didn't know that either. Thank you

Warmest birthday wishes. Stay healthy

Best regards, Andrea

Ina, it’s great that you’re giving us a peek into your beauty routine. I’d love to stop by sometime.
The before-and-after picture is really amazing. And so simple. Thanks for the tip.

When it comes to the hair on my crocheted figures, I handle it differently depending on the project.
Sometimes I first crochet a cap in the hair color and then knot in the strands.

Other times, I crochet a cap normally in rounds, but into the back loop only. Then I crochet chain-stitch strands into the back loops and slip stitch back (starting from the top and working spirally downward). For example, make a chain of chain stitches into one back loop, depending on the length, slip stitch back, single crochet into the next back loop, alternating, and so on.

For smaller figures, I take strands of yarn—depending on the hair length—and lay them across the head, then sew them in place at the center of the head with a needle and thread. Then I braid the strands on the left and right into plaits and secure the side plaits to the head with 2–3 stitches.

For a ponytail, I tie the strands only to the bottom edge of the hair cap, and then I gather everything upward into a ponytail with an elastic band.

You can also crochet the strands of hair directly into the rounds of the hair cap. If you crochet 2 or 3 stitches into one stitch, you’ll get curly locks.

You can also glue this store-bought angel hair to the head with fabric glue, but I’m still experimenting to see if it holds properly.

In the past it was more boots (like in Pretty Woman), with little skirts; these days, though, it’s ankle boots and pants.
Even in Norway I hardly wore boots. I had my hiking shoes or ankle-high shoes with fur inside. Since they had dry, cold winters there, those ankle boots were definitely enough.
I like leather ankle boots. The ones made of suede don’t do well at all in thawing weather. I had those too. Never again.
Above all, they need to have a nice thick, non-slip, ridged sole, although those little pebbles always got stuck in it.
In any case, I always picked out shoes that would go with skirts as well as with pants.

I used to love going to Carnival events and dressing up. But in recent years, that’s faded a bit.
Most of the time I had to work the next day, so you can’t really party that hard.
In Norway, it wasn’t such a big deal, so I didn’t do much of it.

But when I had to work on November 11th, I heard there was a small Carnival parade going through town, and they passed by our nursing home, where we could watch from the balcony. We brought some of the residents down to watch.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have my cell phone handy. Too bad.

I used to love dressing up my kids when they had carnival celebrations at preschool. I improvised a lot myself and decorated their costumes with sequins.

Thank you so much. It’s great to be able to share joy with others.
I’ve always wanted a glass display case—more for my beaded figurines, actually—but the crocheted ones look great in there, too.

Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend

That’s kind of you, Monika. :-)

Christina, it was exactly 9 years. How quickly time flies. I still can’t believe I put up with it there for so long. It was still a nice time, though.

Okay, now off to bed—I have to get up early tomorrow. You want to be on time, after all.

Thank you so much for sharing this, Marlies.
It’s always amazing what people create with pumpkins, and the variety of colors and shapes. My favorites are the orange ones, too—especially the ones with the funny faces.
My mom always makes pumpkin soup. I’ll eat it with her sometimes, but pumpkins like that aren’t really my thing (only as decoration, not for eating). Back when I was at my grandma’s, she always served pumpkin compote—I never liked that.

You have some very beautiful orchids.

My son gave me this one as a belated birthday present. It’s just beautiful.

Wow, Inge, you sew so many things! He looks pretty big but very cuddly.
Everyone loves teddy bears—me too.

During my time in the ABM program, I got to work at “Bad Kösener Plüschtiere.” I really enjoyed it, but I didn’t like sewing plush fabric because it slips so much when you sew right sides together.
I’m more of a hobby sewist—I sew when I feel like it, just for myself.

Have a nice evening

Petra, Monika, Christina, thank you so much to all of you too for the birthday wishes.

It’s definitely a wonderful feeling to celebrate with my family, especially since they live right around the corner. It really warms my heart.
The kids don’t have far to go either, and they’re coming to visit this weekend.

Today we drove to Magdeburg in my parents’ car to go to IK...A and pick up the rest of the small furniture. We didn’t want to take any more risks, so we went to get the stuff ourselves. Some of it is already set up. Tomorrow we’ll do the rest.
Slowly but surely, the boxes are disappearing, and it’s starting to feel more like home. Finally.

P.S. Something else I wanted to tell you: there’s snow in Norway.
We checked the webcam just for fun. We’re so glad to be here, and today was such a lovely fall day with all the colorful trees—it looked amazing.

Have a lovely evening, everyone
Warm regards, Andrea

I hope you all have a lovely, autumnal rest of your Sunday.

We’re so happy we moved from cold Norway to Germany, because here at this time of year you can still sit out on the balcony in short sleeves, soaking up the sun, sipping coffee, letting your hair dry… it’s just great today.

I’m so overwhelmed by your welcome messages, thank you all so much. I was absolutely delighted.
I still can’t quite believe that I’m finally here. But we’re here.

Of course, it will take some time until it feels reasonably homey, and Mom and Dad are taking good care of us. My youngest son is also visiting until Sunday and has been a great help carrying the sofa up to the 3rd floor, as well as driving to the furniture stores and DIY stores.

Our moving goods are supposed to arrive on Wednesday. That already sounds good.
The kitchen and cabinets will still take a while before they arrive.

Have a lovely Sunday, everyone

yes Ina, that’s right. But due to time constraints, this dollhouse has been put “on ice” for now. I do hope I’ll be able to finish it in Germany.

Your dollhouses are wonderful. That really makes a doll mom’s heart beat faster.