1st Double Crochets meeting of the year!

1st double crochet meeting for this year!!

Hello, hello!
Autumn is here and what is more delightful than gather,
have some beverage and start our projects in most unexpected places?
This sounds like double crochets' meeting!
you can crochet or knit, either is welcome!
so choose a project, tiny or large and join us!!
today,first Friday of October will be our officially first!

So double crochets' meetings will be held every week around 21.15 somewhere at Exarcheia district.Every week right before our meeting, I'll try to post a loved free pattern (for crochet or knitting) that will be mostly borrowed from another free source and some times might be ours (crosses fingers).

Free Pattern of week 1
Category: Crochet
Level: Beginner
Type: Belt

click for pattern

This pattern is from Janette of  The Green Dragon Fly blog,
we think is a really beautiful, easy and smart pattern that's why we chose this for our first meeting.It's of course for personal use only,except if else indicated in the pattern source.Feel free to send us pictures of your finished projects!

big hugs and kisses

Panagiota of the Double Crochets

fuck yeah!

so there is this thing on tumblr called "Fuck Yeah___insert anything__" and it is a way to find a tumbl-blog that posts stuff only related to the ___insert anything___ topic! Two of my favourites are: "fuck yeah crochet goat" and "fuck yeah knitting alpaca"! As you can tell they are memes about crochet and knitting , and they write funny facts and stuff about them!

Here are some of my favourite (sorry for the image overload but it was pretty hard to choose only these)

they are hilarious! 

You can check the blogs of crochet goat  and knitting alpaca for more! Me and Panagiota enjoy reading these together, it's so much fun if something of these have happened to you before...

In other news, our followers on tumblr got 100!! (105 today to be honest) and we are super happy...! Check our Double Crochets tumbl-blog, it is some kind of an inspiration board and a place to collect stuff we love and motivate us. You can follow if you like! 

kiss

marietta ♥

Summer love

Hello!!

How are you? (have you seen the new blogger's dashboard?) and how was your summer? Mine was terrific! Some weeks ago I visited my sweet cousins at Aigina island! We did some catch up, we cooked together, laughed, swim, rest by the sea, had a blast!!!  We did enjoy some mornings with a cup of coffee and chocolate croissant. nom nom! Aaaand we did some knitting by the sea! As you already know, Marietta and I, like to crochet or knit anywhere (literally at any place!) One place I haven't tried before, and was found out to be pretty awesome, was the beach!!

My younger cousin wanted to learn how to knit, and I was more than happy to show her, while it happened that among the sunscreen and the underwater masks, we've packed needles and yarn. The scenery was ideal and so.... we started knitting lessons at the beach! It was a little crazy but most of all relaxing!

what's your top 5 strangest places you've ever tried knitting or crocheting?

The perfect photos of me and my younger cousin Marietta (yes they have the same name with my sister Marietta) were shot by my older cousin Marina, a very talented architect and bon viver! Thanks for everything girls! Now that I am back in Athens I'm trying to enjoy myself until I get back to the crazy life of autumn. Double Crochets will soon start meeting again in Athens and new projects are about to begin!! Wherever you are, find some time, grab your needles or hooks, choose a nice pattern and let's spread the thread! September is here, autumn is at the door, we'll soon be wearing socks, warm pullovers and drinking hot tea while we knit! But summer isn't totally over yet!! let's keep some summer in our hearts! 

big hug

Panagiota 

Double Crochets in Athens News

Last week we were on the news! eeeeeeek! Marie Zaharaki wrote an amazing article on Athens News about crafting groups in Athens and we were really proud to be among two well known ones. We received a questionnaire with questions about us, our group and some crocheting issues!

here are some of our favorite answers:


How did you learn how to crochet/knit?
Marietta:I remember myself being taught by my mom how to hold the crochet hook since i was a little girl and doing simple "paint by number" style embroidery during the summer vacations. Panagiota is mostly self-taught and the one that talked me into crocheting and taught me more stuff.
Panagiota: The first time I sat down and finally started learning how to knit was when I wanted to make a scarf for my boyfriend at the time. I asked my mother and grandmother, who both showed me how to start, the basics so to speak. The rest I found on the internet. There are too many sites and tutorial videos on how to knit. After learning how to knit, crochet was next! Internet was again my tutor. Now crocheting hooked my heart!

When did you decide to start coming together as a group?
Marietta: I always considered Panagiota and myself a creative duo and literally a team since we were toddlers. Some time before 2008 I started reading lots of crafting and vintage related blogs! And the whole movement inspired me! I kept trying to talk my sister into creating a serious crochet group and have a more serious attitude to it. A year later I also persuaded two friends of ours to be in the crochet club and then it was reality! Panagiota was our leader and teacher ,me, Eleni and Tonia were the students/members!

What benefits are there in working as a group?
Panagiota: Well when you are in a group like ours the benefits are more than one can imagine, the most important for me is that one inspires the other and together we are moving forward and stay motivated! more ideas are coming on the table and we are having fun at the same time.


Do you feel comfortable to take your needle work out when with other friends or visiting someone?
Panagiota: We feel totally comfortable with that, but we don't like getting too antisocial, that means that when we're with friends that don't knit or crochet we prefer having fun with them so we don't crochet/knit!

What have people's reactions been like if you have taken your work out?
Marietta: There are really surprising reactions from people watching us crocheting! They ask us what is it that that we do, if they can buy something from us,even if we can teach them! Old ladies usually get too excited, they say that we are going to make super good brides and how lucky the men that will marry us will be... They also give us advice about what yarns to use, how to finish our project, then they ask our names and say goodbye! It's so cool! In the cafeterias, where we do our crochet club meetings, the waitresses will every time comment on our projects, and also happened sometimes that they ask us to teach them how to crochet in their lunch break! We also have taught two or three complete strangers how to crochet, we are still friends with some of them!


Marie (a knitter herself) wrote a wonderful article about craft meet up groups and commented on if it is socially acceptable to do needle work in public.There were some amazing ladies answering those issues and it is very interesting to read about crafts gaining ground in Athens.You can read here the article in Athens News (the oldest english spoken newspaper in Greece!) And  there will be some more of our answers in the About us page. Hope you enjoyed this!

Also stay tuned for Dimi's new blog and the Sunshine awards! coming later on this week on Double Crochets!

cheers
Marietta ♥

new blog on the block!

Yesterday we had a photo shoot for Dimi's new blog and an extra tiring name-brainstorming. God, finding *the* cool name is hard! But totally worth it, I am super excited for it and really can't wait till it's finished. I'm pretty sure it'll be the awesomest blog ever! Here it's a making-of photo, but sorry I cannot show you more or reveal any more information... you'll have to wait!

coming soon!

In other news, the other day, we received the Sunshine Award! From lovely Marielle of Magical Day Dream!! We promise to pass it on to the ingenious bloggers that we love, really soon!
Oh and a question to anyone interested answering: how do you stay motivated to post on your blog?! I really admire the ones that are so dedicated to this! It seems like I'll never manage to do it!

cheers
marietta ♥

A photo an hour, almost...

For quite some time now, I wanted to make this "a photo an hour" project , in which you must take one photo an hour for the whole day! I always forget to finish it, although I shoot a lot of photos through the day , like everyday! When it comes for the project I keep forgetting it. Yesterday I almost did it, almost...

8 a.m.: (missing photo) woke up

9 a.m.: (missing photo) having breakfast

10 a.m. : having coffee with Panagiota while waiting Vicky (to go shopping)

11 a.m. : Vicky is here and she is trying some cool shoes on

12 p.m. :  I haven't been shopping since forever, and it is ecstatic

1 p.m. : We are still, searching for dresses, but we are not that focused...

2 p.m. :  (missing photo) Having lunch, at a really nice place

3 p.m. :  Athens is really hot but we have to get some sewing supplies at a street called "Sau Sages"

4 p.m. : Taking the train for the way back home

5 p.m. : (missing photo) Home at last, having some rest/mail checked

6 p.m. : Playing with the newborn kitties and their mom 

7 p.m. : (missing photo) We were supposed to go the Knitting meeting of this month with the lovely ladies of the Raverly community but we were too tired... and didn't :( 

8 p.m. : Just had a haircut!! 

9 p.m. :  (missing photo) Drinking ouzo with Dimi and Vero

10 p.m. : The metro to home, and Dimi's vertical planking! 

11 p.m. : (missing photo) reading favorite blogs, pin some photos on Pinterest and other internet stuff...

12 p.m. : (missing photo) yogurt with maple syrup (inspiration of the moment) and watching "four rooms"

so this is my almost  "a photo an hour"!! Promise to do it again properly

cheers
marietta ♥

big deal!

Every time I want to post something here I really make it a big deal, I will type the text in a draft and I will try to figure out if my english are nice, I will have to decide how to sort the images out, and then sometimes the text won't be okay, and I will have to struggle with blogger and it will break my nerves, and I will have to edit the whole body in html to put proper spaces between the images... Okay okay I don't want to be grouchy, all I am trying to say is that I am missing something here!! Maybe I should just try to relax and post! A million times all this frustration keeps me from posting, and it's a pitty!
Today I just singed in to fix the problem with the images in the kip's post (don't know if you noticed,,,sorry about that!), to say hi! and share these concerns about posting!

Big kiss from me and Panagiota
the world have gone mad, have you heard about Norway?  Amy Winehouse died, we have a zillion other reasons to be miserable, but Greece is hot and the Double Crochets do try to remain swoon...!

cheers
marietta ♥

KiP in Athens 2011

Last week on the 11th of June, there was the world wide Knit in Public Day that is being celebrated for a whole week! Anyone can host a KiP (knitting in public event) or participate in a local KiP. As long as there was no other event around, me and Panagiota, decided to organize a KiP event to celebrate the wwKiPDay and that was on Sunday. Some knit friends didn't make it to the event, mostly because of their hangover.. and all the members of our crochet club was decimated off the hotness and the last night's booze. Yet, we were actually 12 people, 9 out of whom did knit!! I know it's not such a success but we are super happy for it! hahaha

here are some photos Panagiota, Veronika and me shot:

 The park was pretty cool , although it was a hot day, and surprisingly enough the street noise couldn't reach us.  The best thing one could do was to walk on the grass barefoot and enjoy the sweet breeze, while Panagiota was teaching the basics of knitting and crocheting. As you can see there are 3 boys that learned how to knit! Cool ha? In my opinion they did pretty amazing... I'm very proud of everyone that learned how to knit that day.

me crocheting and my brother knitting

panagiota and manolis

elisavet and eleni

orestis' dedication...

It was pretty relaxing and funny, Manolis and Dimitris were the first to arrive, and refused to knit... or to learn how to knit, but they were there to amuse us with their first class jokes. Later on , Elisavet, Eleni, Dimitra, Marios and Christos joined me, Panagiota, Panagiotis, Orestis, Veronica, Manolis and Dimitris. We laughed, we chatted, we knitted, we crocheted, we ate Panagiota's homebaked cookies and shot some pictures. It was 6 in the afternoon when we finally decided that it was time to pack and leave the park, but then we had some visitors of the sweetest kind!! A shiny black cocker that wanted to check my progress and a little girl that wanted to learn how to crochet! hehehe

veronica holding a ball of yarn, matching with her nail color

me and Panagiota, proud organizers... ♥

So that was it! yeah! Next year, we promise to do it better, or  let's say... next week!? Yes, we did enjoy it and like everybody else we love picnics, too. don't you?

p.s. I forgot to shoot the progress of each ones knit work, but it doesn't matter. I couldn't post a million of photos anyway... Check some details on my flickr

cheers

marietta ♥