Over on Instagram it's Granny Square Day today (15 Aug.)! The idea is to make a virtual community granny square blanket from a selection of the grannies posted. Hop on over to Susan's IG account @suregal27 for all the details and ideas on what to do with your virtual collage.

Use #grannysquareday2015 to see all the lovely squares everyone has been working on. You'll find a colourful wave of squares all over IG!



Here's a selection of my grannies for Granny Square Day.

I think it is only fitting that one of the first posts on my new crochet blog should be about the wonderfully compassionate project Mandalas for Marinke, in which crocheters from around the globe come together and make a mandala to raise awareness for depression.

As most of the international crochet community (on Instagram, Facebook and various blogs) will know by now, the very inspiring Marinke (Wink) from A Creative Being has passed away after having lost her battle with depression. I had only come across her work two months before this very sad news and was just starting to get to know her work. I had never made a large mandala before and it is really sad that the very first one I made (the pink and purple Home Mandala designed by Marinke herself) was for the Mandalas for Marinke project. Sad....but to be part of such a great project is also inspiring because in raising awareness for depression the very generous crochet community has once again come together. There is so much we can do to bring some love and light.

The organizer of the project is Kathryn from San Francisco. She has wonderful plans with all the mandalas sent from all over the world: an exhibition, a book and much more. All to raise awareness for depression. If you would like more details on this project, please visit http://www.crochetconcupiscence.com

Participating in this has really got me interested in doing charity crochet and participating in yarnbombs that raise awareness for important and often underexposed issues like homelessness, invisible diseases and poverty. One of my next posts will be about the various projects and organizations you and I can contribute to to support people on their difficult journeys through life.

Thank you so much for visiting my blog. I’m a crochet designer and I live in The Netherlands in my own lovely CurioCraftsRoom where I have surrounded myself with quite a bit of vintage home décor, (hand)made in the bygone flapper era. I just adore the faded colours and velvety feel of so many 1920s and 1930s materials. Since I’m in love with the feathery sumptuousness of peacocks and their art deco colours - they are just so of the roaring twenties ;-) - I decided to design my very own crochet peacock feathers. They are now all over my living room in different shapes, sizes and colour combinations.

I became a designer only last year (2014) but I had learned how to crochet when I was just a very little girl in awe of my maternal grandmother’s ability to crochet, knit and sew just about anything. She dressed my dolls in the most fabulous outfits and of course I wanted to learn how to make all those wonderful clothes too. My mother was also an avid crocheter so I was always surrounded by craftiness.

I picked up crochet again about 6 or 7 years ago and haven’t let go of a hook ever since. First I made lots of scarves and (baby)blankets using other designers’ patterns but after a while I had crocheted so many things I didn’t know what to do with them. This wasn’t what I wanted to do. I wanted to use my creativity in a different way. So inspired by my own vintage surroundings, I decided to try my hand at designing some peacock feathers in lovely shapes and ‘vintagy’ colours. First I sold some of these feather motifs in my Etsy shop but I received many requests for the patterns so I decided to sell these too.

This has really changed my life. After losing my job as a university teacher (which turned out I didn’t like so much after all) and falling ill, designing and selling (and you buying!) my patterns made me realize that I can design my own life, create it the way I want it to be.

So now I do the things I really love. Not only crochet design but also sourcing and selling the kind of beautiful antique and vintage items I have always surrounded myself with. The two things from childhood that I loved most - crafting and antiquing with my parents – have slowly resurfaced and given me the opportunity to lead a different kind of life.