Double Busy Crocheting Bees

 Double Crochets' blog should be renamed to something like "Double Busy Crocheting Bees"!  We are actually on a creative fever! Today we wanted to show you, some photos from this morning's photo shoot and recite our latest news.

 We did the photo shoot to promote our new goodies:...earrings, hats, rings etc! As you'll find out, scrollin down, Panagiota was the photographer of today's photo shoot and I was posing, (ok I couldn't help and shot some, too). Everything worked pretty fine and I think Panagiota has a sharp eye for photography! Enjoy:

 This weekend, we are participating at the vintage bazaar of the rock 'n' roll 50's summer Cruise at Nafpaktos, Greece, that Rollin Foxes are organizing. If you are around Nafpaktos this Saturday, come visit us, the Summer vintage Hats, that we have prepared, are seeking new owners!!

Last weekend, we had another bazaar at the rock 'n' roll festival that we organized (avec Tasos and KitePark) the "Rockin in Style festival" at Chalkida, Greece. In the begging it was really windy and we felt a bit disappointed but later on, things turned out pretty swell and we had a lot of fun. There were live concerts and rock 'n' roll dance workshop, too. It's only rock 'n' roll baby! 

That's all folks!! I know we had promised you, the photos from Knitting/Crocheting in Public day, but ....I was overwhelmed from todays photos, that it had to wait. Does anyone else like them, or is it just me? What do you think of our new stuff?!!

big kiss
see you at Naupaktos
Marietta ♥ 

Photo Review: summer "Past Tense"

Γεια σας from Double Crochets! (which means "hallo" in greek)
how's life over there? Over here, in Greece, things are a little bit messy all over the country, because of the political and economical crisis, plus the elections. Things are too serious and everyone's talking about it. But you might have notice, that when something hard and complicated happens, life keeps going....
Our lives do continue and we try to live every moment with smile and optimism. Things ain't easy at all, but right now, this only seems as a chance to prove that we can do it. Wish for us that we won't get too disappointed in the end ......

...so as life continues

...we had the bazaar, two weeks ago, and we loved it ,once more. We did a lot of preparation with half the anxiety we had last time. Cause you might remember that this was our second time taking place at a bazaar, but surely not the last! Some other bazaars are already planned for this summer! Hooray!

our little corner

Aggeliki!

   We want to thank everyone who showed up, and everybody that supported us once again!! We also had a visitor that used our sale password. Thank you Vasiliki!

  It lasted two days, Saturday was marvelous, Sunday was ok. The weather was too hot, and I guess most of the people, chose to spend their weekend at a beach, rather than shopping! So here's a thought: why don't we move the bazaar by the beach!? (extra info coming on). 

  The best part of this bazaar were, definitely, its people, we enjoyed the company of the girls who participated at Past Tense, the ones who showed up to say "hi" and of course "Les Broderies Anglaises". Below there are photos from all the girls that participated and you can find a link to them on the photo caption.

Swell Dame

Grandamama's Reloved

Κούνια Μπέλλα

Adore Vintage by Le Lektra

Lazy Di

Renata Malavazou

Miss Cherry Pie + Swell Dame +  Bourbon Mademoiselle

Bourbon Mademoiselle

So that's for now, I'm going back on sketching and drawing for my examinations at school. But you should stay tuned, for a new post, because last Saturday we had the Kip meeting!! Knitting/Crocheting in Public is fun....so are the photos we shot! Another topic that is coming on, here at Double Crochets' blog is the "Rockin in Style festival" and the retro bazaar we organize over there!

big kiss and hold on Greece
Marietta

Once more: Past Tense bazaar!

   Are you looking for some cool summer gifts? or something to style up your summer outfit? Is your ideal summer plan, long stays at the beach, sketching and drawing? Then some of the stuff on our new collection will suite you right! You'll find us (with our creations) at Ginger Ale Café & Cocktail Lounge, (Themistokleous 74, Exarheia) on the 9th and the 10th of June 2012. Cause we are happy to participate once more, at the "Past Tense" vintage and crafts bazaar!
   We have made some extra cute, crocheted accessories (earrings, bracelets, bows, and more). We are also happy to introduce to you a contributor at Double Crochets shop!! Our beloved, aunt Maria (who visited us last time at Ginger Ale and loved our shop) is contributing us with some marvellous glasses cases, pencil cases, earrings and more! We make a great team!
   Summer edition "Past Tense" will be our second time taking place at a bazaar, and it's only a month after we debuted our shop! Les Broderies Anglaises will partner with Ginger Ale, to bring us, again, the best bazaar in town! There will also be a gig! "Yianni's Loukakos Gypsy Trio" will perform on Saturday evening at 21:00, we wouldn't miss that.


Here is a pick of our collection:

We also, have a special offer for our readers! If you are a reader and you come by the bazaar ,this weekend, you'll have -20% discount! Leave us a comment here and use the password "double crochets you are the best" at the bazaar, so that we'll know ...No ok, I'm just kidding, just tell us that you read our blog!

see you there!
a huge kiss
marietta 

Color Combo Generator for granny squares

Have you notice a little star * up there on the right? Right, I'm talking about this program our dad has made for my granny square blanket.

So here is the story behind it: 

    I knew I wanted to make a colorful crocheted blanket, I knew granny squares were my style, I knew which colors to pick, but I had another type of problem. How should I combine the colors in order to have the same amount of each color across the blanket?

It could be solved in a practical way, by estimating approximately how many times I could start with the same color....but an accurate solution was needed for my case of perfectionism. I asked some friends (like my friend Vicky, who is good at maths) and everyone said that there should be a mathematical formula for that kind of problem. It had to be found! At the time I was thinking that there must be, other crocheters like me, around the globe, that had to deal with the same problem, that didn't wish to solve it in a practical "wait and see" method. But I couldn't find anything on the internet about it.

My dad had the solution, he would make a program for me!!!

    Sunburst granny square was the pattern I chose, it has 3 places for colors (and white yarn around it) and I bought 6 different shades of yarn colors. So he made it on my standards. I printed the results and carried the printed paper along with my yarns and hook around, crossing out every color combo that was done.

So far, I've made all the possible combinations and some more (the ones I liked most) but right now my project is in a hibernated mode. Weaving in ends and connecting the granny squares isn't as fun as crocheting them. But I've promised to my fiancé that I will finish it up before we move in together.
Wish me luck!

  

     You can use the program,

to generate the possible color combos, by choosing the number of  different colors you'll use (from 3 to +), for 3 places on your granny square. For now, there are only 6 colors available, the ones I've used: pink, yellow, green, blue, magenta and red, but in the future we promise to add several other color options (my job is to photograph some yarn texture). When the program is finished, we will put up a proper page name for it.
Till then it's just the star page.
     Feel free to use the Color Combo Generator if you'll need it in your project, and tell me what you think about it! Or if you have any cool stories, don't hesitate to share them! Thanks for reading

big kiss
marietta

A Crochet Gift

Today we are sharing the story of a personal request gift! Dimitris, a friend and colleague of mine at school didn't have the chance to be at our bazaar (at Past Tense), so he made a custom order, afterwards. He wanted a special gift for his girlfriend! And it was his request the gift to be a pair of red crocheted heart earrings. Double Crochets to the rescue! 

I made them with extra care and of course love, and here they are, a lovely pair for Eirini! 

Marietta was extra inventive with a special love packaging. We added small little paper hearts and letters spelling love! You could call it "late Valentine's", or "really early one"! What do you think? I always love a romantic gift idea, how are you when it comes to "the matters of the heart" crafts?

Wish you guys all the love in the world!
hug,
Panagiota

may day wreath: how to!

Hallo everyone! how are you!? Today we are going to show you, how we made our May Day wreath with wild flowers and lace! It's a super easy and fun project that you can do at any picnic or walk at the park.

we used a wooden wreath that my mum gave me as a birthday present (with two fabulous Laura Ashley cushions!!). But you can use any wreath base you like.

then we picked some wild flowers, leaves and little branches

and tied them up on the wreath with some white lace. I really love the way white lace looks.

be imaginative and arrange the flowers around the wreath in a cute way! You can fill it up, or you can leave some space that the wreath and the lace shows.

and tada! you have a very pretty spring wreath! 

we used about one and a half meter of lace, and the best way to tie, the flowers, up is to make little bouquets and tie them up gradually. Do you like it!? Tell us your opinion. What is your favourite wreath style?

kiss kiss

marietta