Latest Forum Posts by: Bastelfan

Hey Josefa,
yeah, good question.
My ex-father-in-law (who, sadly, is no longer with us) was a scissors grinder. That’s why everything is still “sharp”—knives and scissors alike.

It’s been snowing nonstop since yesterday evening. It’s probably already 70 cm deep. I’ve already had to shovel the snow; otherwise, we wouldn’t be able to get out the door. My husband had to dig his car out early this morning. Now it’s really coming down.❄☃️
The snow is so wet that it’s really hard to shovel. Now I need a break.
Two days ago, we could sit outside, my laundry dried beautifully, and now this. I want spring 😕

“J” is next

Jüterborg

Wow, Monika, what a magnificent display of flowers in your garden! It really gives you that spring feeling right away—it makes you want to step outside for a walk.
Thank you so much for sharing; it really lifts my spirits.

Thank you—I wish the same for you.
Weather-wise, it looks like we’ll have one more chance to go for a walk here, because after that it’ll turn gloomy again with sleet. It’s still cold here. The sun isn’t strong enough yet to warm the ground.

Take some time to relax with gardening or crafts. Stay healthy

Warm regards from here

Oh, it smells so delicious in here again. Here are my apple cloudlets. Fresh out of the oven. We’ll have them with our afternoon coffee. Thanks for the quick and easy recipe.

Warm birthday wishes on your special day today. Let yourself be pampered a little, stay healthy, and continued success with your shop.

Warm regards from Norway

I bought the daffodils. Out here, of course, everything is still gray, with hard, cold ground. Nothing grows.
Unlike in Germany, where crocuses and snowdrops come up on their own, here you have to go looking for them.
That’s why I brought a little color home with me, and I’m enjoying this little burst of blooms. We don’t have a garden.

Wow, so much has happened here again, I can hardly stop being amazed.

ines Your policeman is awesome. I have a school friend who works for the criminal police; she would certainly be happy to have a policeman like that too. Will there be a pattern for it at some point? I really want to crochet him. I’d most like to snatch him away from you right now, he turned out that great.

sonja, your DF cover looks stunning. The motif and the color choice. I’m always amazed at how you all manage to do that. I like it.

Ina, your cardigan turned out so beautiful. Pleasant “warm” colors. I’d like that one too. It makes you want to cuddle right into it.
Your temperature blanket is slowly taking on color now; I’m excited to see what it looks like when it’s finished.

I only crocheted up leftover yarn with mosaic crochet. (Pictures in the Reste-Beste thread)

then I wish everyone a pleasant afternoon with your handcrafts

best wishes from cold Norway

I’ve got something to show again too. I’m still working through my leftover yarn. These mosaic grannies and mini c2c are perfect for that.



Asker (town in Norway)

I'm sending you a little spring greeting. They bloomed so quickly—in just two days. The buds were still completely closed.

We finally got some sunshine here, too, with a temperature of just +5 degrees. There’s still some snow here and there, and the Drammenfjord was covered in a thick layer of ice. There were even some ice fishermen out on the ice.
Here are a few spring-like winter photos.

Hi everyone,

Sunsets are always something special. This time was no exception. What was happening in the sky was truly spectacular.
I captured these impressions in photos to share them with you. See for yourselves (photo taken on March 1)








How do I actually arrange the pictures side by side?

Erfurt

Oops, it should be 2 WLm, not three.
Thanks, Monika.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Velpke

Thank you, Josefa—I wish the same for you all.

We still have some snow here and there, but temperatures are just barely above freezing, around 2 to 5 degrees above zero.
Luckily, the sun is coming out today, which gives us a little taste of spring.
So I’ll keep crocheting on my projects. Just a little bit at a time—the yarn is dwindling slowly, but I’d like to be able to buy some new yarn again at some point.
So I’ll have enough for a while yet.

Enjoy the sunshine or some gardening.
We’ll have to wait a bit longer before we can sit outside.

Good morning everyone,

I tried out a new stitch pattern again in between, which I found online. It’s so easy, and the effect is huge.

I hope I can explain it reasonably well.

You always crochet 1 round of hdc (half double crochet) and 1 round of sc (single crochet) inserted lower down.
You start with a round of hdc, next row 3 ch, insert into the top of the stitch from the previous round, pull up a loop and immediately insert 1 stitch lower into the stitch where the hdc was crocheted, pull up a loop and draw it out long, then pull the yarn through all 3 loops.
Always alternate rounds 1 and 2.
If you then crochet two squares like this and sew them together, you have a super-thick potholder or something similar.
You can also use the back as the front, and maybe thread cords or colorful ribbons through the stitches there.

This is what it looks like (sample piece)

Good morning, everyone!

Yes, I’m up early today. I just couldn’t sleep anymore because of the full moon.

I baked again yesterday. I tried adding the apples directly into the batter this time. It tastes delicious.
My cake turned out a little flatter because I pinched off some batter for that tiny little cake in the background.
It was my husband’s birthday yesterday, which is when I got the idea. I love doing things like this to surprise others, even if it was just the two of us celebrating.

We’ll have the rest today.

I’m still on reduced hours due to the pandemic, so I’m at home, and I’m here on the forum pretty often. It’s my only connection to the outside world.
I feel right at home here.

I’ve heard that spring-like temperatures are prevailing in Germany.

Unfortunately, we can’t enjoy any sunshine here in Norway. It’s thawing, everything’s wet, there’s leftover snow, and the weather is foggy and gloomy. That doesn’t exactly tempt me to go outside.
I want spring, and sunshine, and to sit outside. *looks sad*

I wish you all a wonderful afternoon

Every time, I’m excited to see what you’ve been working on.
Arni, your Olaf bag looks absolutely awesome. I love Olaf—he always looks so funny. You did a great job with it. That would be another great idea for one of my crochet projects.

Ines, wow, your bathroom turned out really great—you wouldn’t even want to leave it. Everything’s so beautifully decorated, with colors that go together perfectly. In my mind, I’m picturing a warm bubble bath—lying in the tub—and letting my gaze wander around the room—and enjoying everything you’ve created. All that effort and perseverance paid off. I’d love to have a bathroom this pretty, too. That idea with the box shelves is great. I think
the butterflies are pretty. Are they made of fabric or metal? Just looking at the pictures of your bathroom already makes me feel at ease.

Monika, your DF project is looking really pretty already, and that cute mouse motif—great.

I’m back to working on my mosaic crochet project. I’ll post pictures later when it’s finished. So far, I don’t know what it’s going to be yet.

Karsdorf (cement plant)

All the best on your special day today. Good luck, good health, and let yourself be pampered a little.

Warm regards

Hi everyone,

oh my, Marlies, that sounds pretty intense. I can believe that’s really taking a toll.
It’s pretty wild how some people behave when they’re shopping.

It’s a good thing we have this forum here—we can share our thoughts, get things off our chests, and motivate each other… that helps a bit.

But what I miss most of all is the personal closeness with my family—hugging, doing things together, going for walks, or this or that…
WhatsApp is only a small consolation.

I’m still on short-time work until further notice; it’s been extended through May. How on earth is all this supposed to go on? I have no idea.

Hey Alela,
your checkered scarf already looks great. The pattern is really easy to make out. It would even be a good pattern for me to get back into knitting. It’s knit and purl stitches plus a seed stitch pattern, right, if I’m seeing it correctly? I like that.
I’m curious to see what it looks like when it’s finished.

Best regards

Hey Josefa,

When the craft project is finished, you feel happy to have accomplished or completed something again. 
Since my hands can’t sit still, I start planning the next project right away. However, the selection is so huge that it’s hard to decide, which is why I sometimes work on several projects at once—depending on what kind of yarn I still have in stock, since I’m on a “yarn diet.” For now, that means only smaller projects are in the running.

We’ve had gloomy, foggy thawing weather these past few days. So I thought I’d bring a little bit of spring home.
So you can enjoy it too, I’m posting the bouquet right here in the middle of the forum. Here you go

Weimar

The way Sonja explained it, that’s how I’d read it too. I actually crochet a lot from English patterns.

“bs” could be a bobble stitch, i.e. a bobble stitch or popcorn stitch.

Good luck

Best regards

Hanau

Thank you so much, Marlies. I really enjoy doing these kinds of word search puzzles every now and then, too.
I’ll print this out when I get a chance and take my time searching for the words.
Everyone could time themselves to see how long it took them and then compare results here.

Have fun!

I do try to avoid plastic from time to time, but it doesn’t always work out. It starts with grocery shopping. For example, when I buy apples here, they come in these cardboard containers, with another layer of plastic wrap around them. For a short while, they were sold without the plastic wrap, which I thought was more eco-friendly.
When we go shopping, we always bring our own washable bags so we don’t need plastic bags.
They even have trash bags here for organic waste that decompose—very practical.

Nuremberg

Have a lovely Saturday afternoon, everyone

Mmm, your apple cake looks delicious. Good idea to fold the apple straight into the batter or grate it. I’ll try that sometime. Thanks for the tip

Thank you for the impressive photos. I’m always interested in things like this—how things used to be.
That sewing machine at the very bottom of the three-photo set looks a lot like my mom’s “Pfaff.” I practiced on it once when I was a kid—it wasn’t that easy with that belt drive. But it was interesting.

Thanks, Petra. Warm regards back to the Bavarian Forest.

Although I wouldn’t mind some spring blooms either. It’s still a while until they bloom here.

I found the video. Thank you.

It smells delicious in here.

Thanks, Akela, for the recipe. Sounds good. I’ll give it a try soon.
But I’ll use this dry yeast. Can I use regular sunflower oil too?

Your marble cake looks absolutely delicious. I’d love to try baking that one too.
Afternoon coffee without cake just isn’t the same.

All these delicious treats are making me hungry.

Hey Akela,

your bread looks delicious. Three of them, no less.
Just today I also found a video about baking bread. Was it a Russian video, and did it require a lot of prep time?
It was more along the lines of white bread. It was pretty interesting. The guy in the video managed to bake two loaves.

Well, enjoy your meal!

Have a great weekend

Today we’re having muffins again, fresh from the oven

Thank you so much. I’m sure there will be even more flip-flops. *hihi*

Petra, your knitting project already looks great. I love that wavy edge. I can’t wait to see how it looks when it’s finished.

Dresden

I wish everyone here a lovely afternoon and a relaxing weekend.
We still have plenty of snow.

Monika, you wanted to know what’s different about the new crochet hooks.
For one thing, the handle is longer, so I think they fit better in your hand. My other ones are much thinner and shorter. I just couldn’t get the hang of the Addis.
The new ones in the case have a flatter handle—not round. I’m getting along just fine with them.
See the difference for yourselves

It looks so beautiful again today. When the snow glistens in the sun like that, it looks so amazing.
Have a great weekend, everyone!

Rostock

oh dear Wollbaerli, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you that it's a negative result and that you haven't caught anything despite the vaccination.
Here, it will still be a while before it's our turn to get vaccinated. This week it's the 80-year-olds' turn.
I'll be so relieved when we can return to normality again. Everything still has to be taken with caution. The only thing that helps is distraction with crafts.

Thank you very much for your feedback. Yes, crocheting little things in between is fun. You get quick results, but now I'm thinking about which granny square I'll crochet next, or maybe something completely different. We'll see.

Arni, Your chick parade looks great. It makes me look forward to Easter and spring, which are still a long way off here.
Ina, Your new balls of yarn look interesting. My favorite is the orange one. I haven't worked with virgin wool yet. What does it feel like? Can you crochet with it too? Virgin wool is hand wash only, right? How thin is it? I could imagine making a lace crochet scarf from the orange one, with lots of openwork pattern and still soft and cozy, I think.
Monika, Your summer sweater for Sternchen looks so sweet. I like that color gradient too. Summer can come now.

I wish you all a lovely evening

Hi everyone,
you’ve all been so hard at work again. My new book is finally here—in English, though—and I got started right away. I’ve been crocheting with Jaerbo and Catania yarns. I’ve also added a few slippers to the mix. I’ll keep those for now and use them as bag charms or on my keychain.
My new crochet hooks (including ergonomic ones) arrived yesterday—I couldn’t get the hang of the others either. These ones have longer handles.

Here’s what things look like at our place today. I only crocheted a few small things today since my muscles are sore from shoveling snow.

Drammen (the next major town near us)