After a good 6 months I figured it is about time for an update on what’s going on here in creJJtion land. Fall 2017 is here already.

Regarding my publications; the baby crochet book ‘9 Months to Crochet‘ got translated to Dutch, Danish and French. I am so happy to be able to share the baby project love in multiple languages now! The past 4 months I have been working on my new book Natuurlijk Haken; Nordic Style. It is the follow up on my first book Puur Haken, which got an official reprint in May too. I am excited to share this new book with you; it is all about crochet, though quite a bit different in lay out and style from the books I’ve done before. Actually I can’t wait to hear, read and see your reactions to it, and hope you will share what you are making. Natuurlijk Haken is available for pre-order in Dutch now, should be on the shelves by the end of October. From now on I will show some sneak peeks of it’s contents.

Other publication news, today the new issue of the Dutch Terdege magazine comes out, with my large throw pattern in it. This is the beginning of a new collaboration and pattern series I am doing with them, very exciting! You can follow them on Facebook for a regular update.

Now that my book is done and my belly is starting to grow – I am almost 7 months pregnant with a baby boy, we are so thankful and excited to welcome Annabel’s brother in November! – it is time for me to step back from work and cocoon with baby knits and crochet projects. I did a large clean up of my yarn stash, there’s the annual donation boxes already packed again, and I am getting to finish some long-term projects to clean up a bit more. There’s baby room prep including some paint work, and we are enjoying the beautiful Fall weather through Annabel’s eyes including endless acorn searches, puddle jumping and pumpkin soup.

I am happy to report life is good here in my corner of the world; if you like to see more snippets please follow me on Instagram, where I will share my crochet and knitting projects in the coming months again. Yesterday for example, I started and finished a shawl from this new book I am very excited about. A large blanket is in the making, and a cardigan. What’s on your hook and needles, how is the season treating you? I am curious to hear from you.

Talk soon, xo Maaike

After a couple weeks of rain, cold, myself and my girl being sick with all kinds of bugs, finally, FINALLY, the sun came out last weekend. Oh what joy! Only now we realize how much we needed some vitamin D to lift the spirits and get some positive energy flowing. We have spent lots of hours outdoors with family and friends, soaking in the sun and fresh air. Crisp mornings, warm afternoons, good company; is there anything better?

Some random pictures of last week(end) including a beautiful bunch of flowers I got from a dear friend; the cake I baked and am still altering into a more healthy version – not that chocolate cake will ever get healthy – but it’s getting better, haha; blue skies; a lovely lunch with fellow authors of Kosmos publishers; the afternoon sun rolling down our stairs; and yarn.

The yarn, let’s talk about that. It is beautiful merino from Lang Yarns and has beautiful colours. I have granny stripes on my mind, making A Good Vintage Cardigan published in Simply Crochet issue 54. The yarn is slightly larger then the pattern prescribes, so I went down 2 sizes in my measurements. However it is still waaaay too large. So I have to frog it and start over in an even smaller size. I am not a fan of making garments, for they have to fit. And this frogging is not my thing, you know. Ugh, how I hate it and how I know once again why I don’t make garments for myself. For kids it’s fine; they’ll grow into it eventually. But I sincerely hope I will not grow into this cardigan; if you know what I mean…

So, this week I will find new energy to start over with the cardigan, work on a fun Mother’s Day project I’ll reveal soon, and enjoy the SUN! Have a great week,

xo Maaike