sweater weather - part two

Sweater weather part two!
I like the autumn and winter wardrobe. And I am especially talking about handmade sweaters and cardigans.

We took some photos on the beach the other day. A real autumn day with sun, wind and rain, so don't pay attention to my hair.

Anyway, you can clearly see the diagonal pattern, in the 'arms wide' position and I am very satisfied about the fit and the sleeves.
It was fun to make this diagonal striped sweater and I've been wearing it a few times. Could be my new favorite sweater.

I am considering making another one with a completely different color scheme and smaller stripes.

In the meantime I already received many nice reactions and orders of the crochet pattern, in response to my previous post.

You can download the pattern from my ETSY SHOP.

It's a one-piece sweater in one size (S/ M) and it's easier to make than you might think. The nice thing about this design, is to crochet a unique handmade sweater yourself with your favorite colors.

So if you feel like making your own striped sweater? Jump to my Etsy shop and I look forward to seeing your original versions soon.

woodwoolwardrobe on vinted

Today i've declutterd my autumn-winter wardrobe.

You really have to be in the mood for this job, otherwise you only do it halfway and you might as well don't do it at all.
After storing the summer clothing few weeks ago, it was time to have a closer look at the AW wardrobe.

Some pieces in your wardrobe are simply timeless and you don't have to think about keeping them at all. I was going through the other pile of clothes, which I did not wear last year (or maybe only once) and probably won't wear it either this season.

Sometimes you just have to be honest with yourself. Some pieces I really love, but they are not me.

So today I've listed some dresses, cardigans, jackets, ankle boots and handbags on Vinted, a free marketplace for pre-loved fashion. The Don't-you-wear-it?-then-sell-it Vinted, you probably know.

I'm gonna give it a try and downloaded the Vinted app and took some pictures of clothes that I am going to offer.

You can find my tiny second hand shop under the name woodwoolwardrobe.

shukran caro

I recently posted about the beanies that Aisha made on Place des Epices. Because we unfortunately can't sponsor her during the workshops this year, I figured out a way to support her anyway and sold some of the beanies she made before.

Shortly after I found out Caroline (a lovely lady from the Netherlands, who I met at hotel Chambres d'Amis last year and once more at Villa Augustus afterwards) happened to be in Marrakech to prepare her future group trips to Morocco. I follow her on Instagram and found out by chance she was in Marrakech, because of her Instagram stories.

So I send her a message and asked her for a favor:
If she could an would be so kind to hand Aisha the money for her 'famous' handmade moroccan beanies. She immediately responded very enthusiastically and I knew she was the right person to do this, because she cares about the Moroccan people, especially now, just like me.

So Caroline went looking for Aisha, with the 2 photos I sent her. A photo of Aisha at Chambres d'Amis and a photo of Aisha and me, so she could explain to Aisha, what this was all about. Since Aisha is currently not working on Place des Epices, it was not that easy to find her. With the help of a guide and asking around many people in the medina, she found her eventually.

She sent me a picture of the Aisha and her together in the Medina; support mission accomplished! It made my day, I love it when things work out so well and Aisha was super happy! Caroline was also very pleased to be able to help with this mission.

Shukran dear Caro, thanks for your help and commitment and of course also a huge thanks to the ones who bought a beanie in my Etsy shop.

Let's hope we can meet and work with Aisha herself again next year.

spencer made its comeback

Thé trend of AW 2020 are spencers! Two years ago I designed an easy to follow knitting pattern for a checkered spencer. Remember the knitted checkered spencer? It's knitted in one piece, easy to make in no time.

It seemed a perfect piece in my winter wardrobe, so I made another one, a striped version. Well, actually you can let your imagination run wild with this basic spencer pattern.

I put on my striped spencer today (so funny that after the summer you suddenly discover all new outfits in your own closet)

The woolen spencer has been out of fashion for a long time, but it truly is a stylish item for colder months. You can simply mix it with anything. Wear it over a t-shirt with long sleeves or under a jacket or cardigan. It's perfect for the feminine look, with a blouse, pencil skirt and heels, but can also be combined with pants, even with Adidas track pants ;-)

Mix, don't match. Everything is possible.

Everyone needs a spencer in their winter wardrobe! You can download the SPENCER PATTERN in my Etsy shop. Available in English and Dutch version.

Since the spencer has made a serious comeback in 2020, Pippa asked me to knit her a spencer with cables last week, so that will be my next project ;-)

diagonal striped sweater - crochet pattern

Autumn is here, no escape!

Not my most favorite season, but I do love the autumn and winter wardrobe. And I am especially talking about the warm sweaters and cardigans.

What I also love to do is, design something new again!

I've been working on a new design for the past few weeks, a handmade sweater with a new twist.

I'm fond to create and like to figure out how to design a new sweater. After a few knitted sweaters, I wanted to crochet a sweater. I drew some designs, with lots of color and soon I came up with the idea of a graphic design with diagonal stripes. After a few tries, I had it all sorted out. I took a few balls of tweed yarn from my wool cabinet and the color scheme came naturally.

To actually make the sweater was a lot of fun and I am delighted with the end result. I figured it might be a cool design for a new crochet pattern.

Well I can assure you that making this sweater with my crochet hook was quite a lot easier, than working out the pattern properly and making a graphical chart template with colors and rows. However, I also like this challenge and give myself plenty of time for it.

I made a crochet pattern in English and Dutch and you can download the DIAGONAL STRIPED ONE PIECE SWEATER from my ETSY SHOP.

This one-piece sweater is one size (S/ M) and it's easier to make than you might think. The nice thing about this design, is to crochet a unique handmade sweater yourself with your favorite colors.

I'm curious what you think of it. Cool? flashy? or way too colorful ;-)

Now that we are forced to stay inside more or less, it's wonderful to be able to focus on a new project. Right?

So if you feel like making it too? Jump to my Etsy shop and promise me to show me your version, once it's finished!

b l o e m

b l o e m

I love typography. In all kinds, old neon, any cool vintage signs or letters at all literally.

We have collected a lot of vintage letters over the years. The huge R - the R of restaurant - one of the first lucky finds I can remember very well. We spotted it during our summer holidays on Île de Ré. So for us the R stands for Ré.

And over the years many letters have been added to the 'alphabet', a huge green G and random letters from A to Z, some double, but in different fonts and sizes.

Vintage letters are grateful interior objects, you can keep playing and writing with them.

B A Z A R in my studio has been on the wool cabinet for a few years, for it just makes sense.

Henk surprised me last week with a photo of an amazingly beautiful neon sign!
The word b l o e m, dutch for flower! Whether I liked it? 'cause he had reserved it for me... Yes I love it! Moreover, I can't think of any word more appropriate.

It's perfect, the word itself, typography, color, size, couldn't be more alluring. The neon lights are broken, but who cares?

So we made an appointment to pick 'the colossus' up somewhere on the other side of the country. The word consists of two separate parts, which simplified transport.

We've already figured out the perfect spot for b l o e m, on the kitchen wall near the dining table above the houseplant bench. Where the R is now, so we have to find another place for that, haha...

Soon it will be expertly attached to the wall by my colleague Sjaak (because heavy and tricky).

Until then, the mega 'flower' is parked in my workspace. And just because I am so happy with it, I wanted to show it. Needless to say; as soon as the neon sign is on the wall, an update will follow!

two days in maastricht

Two days in Maastricht.

Wednesday 14th of October

15904 steps

Breakfast at home

Checking in at The Student Hotel in Maastricht, room with a view on the 7th floor of the Eiffel building, a nationally listed building, the icon of the Sphinxkwartier.

Coffee at Lumiere, Cinema Restaurant Café built in the old power station of the Sphinx Factories. A building with a high Wes Anderson content and my 'boss' Dorine de Vos did the interior decoration.

Lunch on the terrace at Le Fernand.

Sightseeing and minimal shopping.

Dinner at De Brandweerkantine. The last evening all restaurants were open, due to new corona measures, a 4-week closure has been imposed.

Beer and ginger tea with a view on the rooftop bar on the 8th floor of TSH at Bold


Thursday 15th of October

13247 steps

Roomservice breakfast at The Student Hotel

Coffee to go at The Common restaurant.

Inspirtion and gift shopping at Loods 5 in the former Sphinx ceramics factory (huge and amazing buiding!)

Walk along the Maas

Coffee to go and take away lunch at Cafe Zondag

Sightseeing in the Wyck district.

Continue our walk along the other side of the Maas.

Museum visit at Bonnefanten.

On our way back we visited a small organic market in Wyck and had another coffee to go.

Maastricht, nicknamed the Paris of The Netherlands, we had a wonderful city break, from now on we will mainly be at home...

sweater weather

Hello October, hello autumn, hello sweater weather.

I've been raking the leaves from our walnut tree in the backyard for a few days in a row. Never before we had somy many walnuts and the walnut harvest is drying and ripening.

Today the weather is lovely and i like to 'work' in the garden.

Last weekend I swapped my summer clothes for the autumn & winter wardrobe and I found my handmade Julia sweater again.

The JULIA sweater knitting pattern I designed last year and used JULIA yarn by Zeeman, a Dutch textile super.
Julia yarn is available in 10 different colors; off-white, gray, green, lilac, yellow, red, pink, bordeaux, ocher, blue, baby blue and black. I chose lilac.

When you are a beginning knitter and you would like to knit something else than just a scarf, this is the perfect project for you!

I'm sure you are able to complete this easy-level project.
The sweater is reversible, knitted in one piece, so there are no seems on the shoulder. Both sides have a different look.

It's a great pattern for advanced knitters too, because the tricky part of putting your knitted sweater together, is a lot easier.

You can download the Julia sweater pattern in my ETSY SHOP.

odd objects

Do you recognize this? Being pleasantly surprised by an unexpected shop window.

We spotted a very cool collection of odd objects in a shop window in the Voorstraat of our hometown.

An enormous gathering of animal wall vases, not only the usual cigale, but also swallows, butterflies, dragonflies, beetles... and many other curious stuff and odd objects.

Pooh, it was difficult to choose between all those beautiful and cute wall vases and we allowed ourselves to choose 3 ceramic pieces.

Well we have found a nice spot on the wall for all three of them;

a brightly colored beautiful butterfly in the kitchen
a extraordinary swallow in the bedroom
and another ceramic cigale to join our collection in the living room

white beechwood chairs

The canteen table in our kitchen has been replaced by a round tulip table.

We are very happy with it. We have more space and Henk often works at home these days, so the table also serves as desk.

The canteen table found a new home at my colleague, who is very happy with it and fits perfectly in her beautiful home. We even had a cup of coffee at our old canteen table last weekend!

We also replaced the wooden chairs by 4 vintage chairs we already had in the house (and garden).

The white beechwood chairs are stored upstairs in my studio. The children both have kitchen chairs and do not need them. I don't use the chairs and they don't bother me either, but it would be nice if someone else could use them.

Therefore i have offered them for sale on MARKTPLAATS.
The 6 chairs white beachwood chairs are used (of course) but in good condition.

weekend in the villa

Last weekend we had a mini break at Villa Augustus. We stayed in one of the water tower rooms, on the first floor overlooking the vegetable garden.

A bright hotel room with high ceiling and a balcony, with a view of my favorite charming 'French terrace' under the mulberry trees and the Limonaia.

In the evening we dined in the pop-up restaurant in the Limonaia, where you imagine yourself in Italy.

On Monday morning, Minne & Pippa joined us for breakfast, which was super nice!
Breakfast with our family doesn't happen that often anymore, since the children both have their own home.

We really enjoyed every single minute of the annual weekend break 'at work'.