Posts in Craft Nations: Country Insights

Craft Nations is sticking with it's new format and is heading to

the Netherlands.

(Holland)

What's there you might be wondering?

Well, apart from tulips,

clogs & bright orange jerseys, there's

Ariadne at Home

A wonderful magazine/site full of project ideas

(home decor).

 Is it all in Dutch?

Yes it is,

but I have run a few projects through

Google Translate

and

I think anyone can happily work with the translated instructions.

And even if you can't, atleast you will have

had a laugh trying.

Are there any freebies?

YES!

Ariadne At Home provide plenty of free project pattern

downloads

 that you can easily incorporate into

your own projects.

There you have it, for great project ideas check out 

Ideeëngids

(Ariadne at Home)

Still need convincing?

 As an extra bonus, Ariadne at Home

has a number of sister sites linked to it that are all chock full of

gorgeousness.

These are my favourite;

101 woonideeen

vtwonen

Craft Nations is trying something a little different...

After the unsuccessful investigation

into the history of crochet...

I have decided

to change the format a little, & I am going to 

 sleuth out

stores from different nations.

(unless that proves unsuccessful as well)

This month we will be looking at

 
 a fabulous chain of fabric/haberdashery stores

in Denmark.

You are probably wondering why this would be

of interest to you,

especially if you don't live in Denmark.

Well, Stof & Stil regularily produce

 online catalogues

 chock full of lushiousness.

My favourite is their 'Bolig' catalogue;

full of lovely home decor ideas,

it's always a feast for the eyes.

Stof & Stil

also showcase some great seasonal craft projects.

Now who doesn't like a

great craft project

with a Scandinavian twist?

I love their current 

Easter table arrangements

& hanging decorations.

To quote a friend of mine..

'Go the Scando's!!'

There's even something for the

fashionista's

out there!

 So

there you have it,

the new format Craft Nations.

Enjoy!

Stof & Stil

Craft Nations: Crochet 101 was supposed to a simple lesson...

In the origins of crochet & the different styles currently in use.

Well, I feel like I have just opened

Pandora's Box.

(arrrgh!)

Don't get me wrong,

I knew when I chose the subject for today's post,

that it would be extensive.

I just didn't know HOW much so.

I now honestly believe my original instincts were right.

Crochet did

spontaneously

manifest across the world one weekend!

Try and find information on the origins of crochet on the internet,

and you quickly discover that 

no one really knows.

Theories abound, but no one has any concrete proof.

It either arrived from the Far East

around the 15th century (possibly by donkey),

or

evolved out of steam

during the 18th century Industrial Revolution.

The vagueness is completely puzzling to me,

We can land on the Moon

but can't determine the origins of crochet?

Weird.

After a few days trawling my way through the same

toothless theories,

I decided instead, to look at the different types of crochet.

(sigh)

There are millions of different types of crochet.

Oh okay, that's a slight exaggeration, but there are atleast 129 according to

'Crochet with Dee'

BUT that is still far too much

for one little blog post.

So I am going

to pick a few types and look at them individually,

(over the next few months).

Looking at Dee's extensive list

I have decided to try and investigate the following;

Bosnian

Romanian

Russian

Tunisian

& Pjoning, which seems to be a Scandinavian version of Bosnian crochet.

That should keep me busy for a while.