Having to take a Break

Hallo my Bloggy Friends!

You have probably been wondering where I have disappeared to.

Well as it goes sometimes, live throws you a curve

and than you have to deal with what comes.

First my work load has doubled for the time being.

Second I have to deal with a few health issues of my own,

which will require me to visit the doctor's offices more often.

Plus all the things that happen on a daily basis in all of our lives.

So for the next few month, my time to be here in Blog land

has been cut down and my crafty time as well.

For a while I will have to cancel my regular features,

but I promise as soon as I can it will be returning.

I have not totally quit working on some woolly things.

Below you will see that I am working on another shawl.

The pattern came from Zooty Owls Blog.

All there is left to finish is the strings and some embellishments.

Loved the way this one is working up.

If you have a chance, give it a try.

For today I bit you adiou

and will see you when I get a chance.

"Happy Hooking" everybody!

Link-Yourself Monday #29

Well my Friends, it is once again Monday and our next Link-up has arrived. Hope you can join us for this one with all the lovely things you have made of late. Every week I am astounded at all the wonderful crafts out there. But we are not limited to just crafts. You are welcome to post your link to anything you like.

This weeks top three most looked at posts:


1. Nata's Nest

2. Jannies Hobby Corner

3. Julie's Lifestyle

And now it's time for the Link-up.....

Go for it....

Erika's Crafts Corner Monday Link-Yourself Guidelines:

1. Add links for up to three of your blogposts using the Link-Yourself button below.

2. Please leave a comment on the blogs of the other participants. We all Love comments and know that         others appreciate what we make. Also please tell others you are linking up.

3. Please share this post through Google+, Pinterest or Facebook. That creates more exposure for everybody joining our link-up.

An InLinkz Link-up

Blog Love Friday #10

Good Morning my lovely Bloggy Friends! Hope this finds you all well. Are you all ready for the coming long weekend (here in the US)?? Personally I am ready for the weekend, but on Memorial Day I have to work, but I hope to catch some BBQ somewhere in between. Here is hoping yours will be fun and relaxing.

So here we are back on Blog-Love Friday. Are you ready to get to know some new blogs and share the LOVE? Well here we go. Enjoy them and as always, please leave them a nice comment to let them know you have visited.

1. Annie's Place

She has wonderful crocheted items. Love all the bright colors.

2. The Beehive Cottage

Want to get to see something different? Here you will see a variety of things. Lovely!

3. Heartmade

Are these not just wonderful and neat?

Until next time from my neck of the woods......

"Happy Weekend"!

Market Bag

Ladies, can you believe it? I actually made something else than a Mandela.

I found this pretty red and white striped cotton yarn

and knew right away what I wanted to make with it.

The design is my own

and I think it came out pretty good.

Here is my bag hanging next to my favorite bird.....

.....you know the one I mean, haha

Here you can see the whole bag in one piece

all nice and stretched out.

A little close up.

What do you think?

Did it come out ok?

Well till next time from my neck of the woods......

More Mandela's and the Give-away Winner

Here to show you three more Mandela's I made from the Attic24 pattern.

I used the same three colors, just in different order.

And now to the winner of my little Give-away.

And

the

winner

is:

Taadaa

Beca

from Summerhouse Cottage

Now if you please get in touch with me through email Beca

I would appreciate it.

For everyone else, I will have another give-away in a

couple of weeks and I hope you come back and

try again. thanks for participating.

Link Yourself Monday #28 and Mandela #10

Well my Friends, it is once again Monday and our next Link-up has arrived. Hope you can join us for this one with all the lovely things you have made of late. Every week I am astounded at all the wonderful crafts out there. But we are not limited to just crafts. You are welcome to post your link to anything you like.

This weeks top three most looked at posts:

1. Summerhouse Cottage

2. Lunamon Design

3. Jannies Hobbyhoek

As you can see my Mandelitiz problem has not ended. Here now to show of Mandela #10, designed by none other than our own Lucy at Attic24. Who can avoid trying something out that Lucy has made? Not me, that's for sure.

As you can see, I made 4, all in different colors.

This last one I decided to make in red, white and blue and is this one

that is on it's way to England and Attic24 .

For Yarndale!

Hope you enjoyed my newest Mandela's.

And now it's time for the Link-up.....

Go for it....

Erika's Crafts Corner Monday Link-Yourself Guidelines:

1. Add links for up to three of your blogposts using the Link-Yourself button below.

2. Please leave a comment on the blogs of the other participants. We all Love comments and know that         others appreciate what we make. Also please tell others you are linking up.

3. Please share this post through Google+, Pinterest or Facebook. That creates more exposure for everybody joining our link-up.

An InLinkz Link-up

Blog-Love Friday #9

Once again it is Blog-Love Friday. Hope you will enjoy these wonderful blogs that I have picked to be featured. Go check them out and enjoy all that crafty goodness. And please leave them a nice comment, that you have visited. They will love you for it.


1. Pitter and Glink

This is one very crafty Lady. From Jewelry making to other crafts for around the house.

2. Happy in Red

This blog is written in Dutch and English.

3. Arctic Strawberries

You need to go look at all those pretty pillows.

Wonderful collection.

And now I wish you all a wonderful weekend

and I hope to see you all again soon.

Until soon from my neck of the woods..........

52 Week Crochet Challenge Week #11

What kind of crocheter are you? Do you like to follow a pattern exactly as it is written? Do you like to "wing it" and make things up as you go? Are you a little of both?

Interesting Question and until now I have never thought about it much. To answer this, I got to say, it depends. There are patterns where it is best to follow them to the "T" or the whole things comes out wrong. And then there are patterns I do make changes to as I go along. So I guess my answer would have to be "a little of both". I must also say, that sometimes when you make changes, the project or craft becomes your own.



And now on to other things. I actually crocheted something other than "Mandela's". Can you believe it? The addict is taking a break and moved on to something else. But I don't think it will be for good, because I still have Mandelitis in my blood. I also want to make a Mandela to add to Lucy's (Attic 24) Yarndale project. Have you seen hers yet? If not, you need to go and take a look.

This first project I made, is a child's summer hat. It's crocheted in cotton yarn, color pink, with white trim. I haven't crocheted anything for a child in a long time and when I saw this little hat, I knew I just had to make one. I think it is so stinking cute. What you all think? The pattern I found here

Wish I could have been able to show it off on a child's pretty locks,

but there wasn't one around.

The second thing I made is a scrubby for the shower. It is also made out of cotton that I had left from another project. It took me quite some time to make it. It started out simple enough, but by the last row my fingers were hurting as the piece started winding pretty tide together. Can you believe it took a whole skein to make this? Wow is what I thought. But I do like it and I think it will be very durable.

Last I would like to show of this beautiful Amarillo that is brightening up my house.

It isn't fully open, but will be soon. Just love it's red color.

So this is it from my neck of the woods for today.

Here is hoping your day is bright and full of sunshine.

Blog Love Friday # 8

Are you ready? Ready for another Blog Love Friday that is? I hope you will enjoy this weeks selection.

1. Solstrikke

She is a blogger from Norway, but no worries, her blog translates easily.

2. Go Bunt

This one is in German, but you will really enjoy her. She is also a big supporter of Breast Cancer awareness.

3. Fly the Coop Crafts

As always I hope you go visit these lovely blogs and give them a shout out that you have visited. They will be happy to hear from you.

Come back for more next Friday and see who will be featured next.........

52 Week Crochet Challenge Week #10

What was your first completed project that you made?

Well that is really kind of easy to answer. They were pot holders made out of cotton yarn. They were also not very pretty, with a bunch of holes in it and the rows very uneven. But you know, I was only around 6 years old and those little fingers just didn't work that well yet. With time came experience. I still remember giving them to my grandma for Christmas and she was all smiles and full of praise. What more could a little girl ask for?


Yesterday I made one more Mandela like coaster. This time in brown, but it looks black in the picture.

And I also made another one of the little coasters.

This time in cotton yarn to see how they would work up.

Personally I preferred crocheting them in acrylic.

So this was my little short post for today. More next time.......

Playing around

As I mentioned yesterday, I have been playing around with a little bit of crochet this past week. Mostly little things. I am trying to decide on what my goal is for this month. On June 7th I will participate in a Crafts Show in a nearby town. Two of my crafty friends and I will share a big booth and we will certainly have many different items for sale, from weaving, knitting and crochet.

So now preparations have to be made, from having a pop-up tent, to chairs, table coverings, displays, baskets and much more. Everything has to be neatly washed and priced.

At this point I would really like to ask all of you for your opinions. From your own experiences, what kind of things sell the best at crafts shows? I have some basic standby's like Dishcloth, Potholders, and such, but otherwise I am just not sure what kind of things I should still be making up this month. Any advise would be appreciated. Thanks!

Here are a few of the things I have been playing around with:

 Some Dishcloth

And some key holders,

but I think they are a bit to large.

And than I made some more coasters

I think they are nice, bright and pretty.

For this I found the pattern here

At the moment I am roaming around on Pinterest to find some more things I might like to make. Hope I can find some quick things.

Looking forward to hearing your opinions.......Till next time

Link-Yourself Monday #26 & Mandela #9

Hello my lovely Friends!

Once again Monday has arrived and with it our next Link-Yourself Monday. Are you all ready to join the fun and show of your latest creations. As always I am looking forward to seeing what you all have been up to in the past week. So let's get this Party started.

Here are this weeks most viewed Link-ups:

1. Crochet Kari

It's a very pretty Mandela and is on my list to make.

2. Mascha's colorful freubels

This is just cowlious, don't you think?

3. The Lazy Hobbyhopper

Such pretty colors and the pompoms are a wonderful touch.

This last week has been a busy one for me. Had several Birthday Parties to attend, than work of course and the daily things don't want to wait either. But I did manage to squeeze in a few crafty minutes here and there. I crocheted one more Mandela. The pattern once again came from Zooty Owl . This Mandela is absolutely huge. As you can see I am still a little behind on sewing in all those strings, but I will get there.

I am going to call this one my pink Rose Garden.

I am working on writing out the Pattern for Mandela #8

and should be able to post it in the next few days.

Erika's Crafts Corner Monday Link-Yourself Guidelines:

1. Add links for up to three of your blogposts using the Link-Yourself button below.

2. Please leave a comment on the blogs of the other participants. We all Love comments and know that         others appreciate what we make. Also please tell others you are linking up.

3. Please share this post through Google+, Pinterest or Facebook. That creates more exposure for everybody joining our link-up.

An InLinkz Link-up