Welcome to week 3 of  the “Friends Around the World” CAL.  You can find the previous weeks by clicking on the Friends Around the World tab on the menu above.  The next two weeks we will be featuring Esther Dijkstra from It’s All in a Nutshell. You may know her from the popular video tutorials for Sophie’s Universe.  She’s also created videos for Around the Bases, Mandala Madness, Flight of Fancy, Circle of the Sun CAL, just to name a few. Several of her videos are available in Dutch as well. If you haven’t yet discovered her videos, you are in for a treat!!! She has a very soothing, velvety voice that keeps you company as you learn and crochet along with her. Esther has a wonderful gift of being able to make the most difficult pattern or stitch seem very easy. Her videos are a great tool to have, whether you are a beginners or a seasoned crocheter.  You’re going to want to add her website to your favorites for sure!!!

Esther currently has an ongoing series of very helpful instructional videos on her blog  Beginning January 2016, and aptly named “How to Crochet”, each video lesson teaches you how to crochet step-by-step. Be prepared!  You WILL have homework!  But at the end of each assignment you will have a beautiful, completed project such as a purse or cowl.  Check out How to Crochet for more information.

Esther not only creates video tutorials in English/Dutch and gives lessons on how to crochet, but she’s also a blogger for Scheepjes!

In case you aren’t familiar with this yarn here’s a little info. The company was founded in 1855 and is the last remaining Dutch producer of yarn. They have a wide variety of types and colors of yarn to choose from such as cotton, wool, alpaca. Cotton 8, Color Crafter, Stone Washed and more! Additionally, you may know about the upcoming Scheepjes CAL by Wink from A Creative Being – very sadly, her last but very special CAL.  This Scheepjes CAL,  Last Dance on the Beach is being offering in 3 different color packs.  To find out more about these wonderful yarns, go to  Scheepjeswol.com.

Esther has designed 2 squares for our CAL. She’s has lovingly named them after her sons. Below you will find a description of this week’s pattern and a sneak peek of week 4.

Week 3 is called Stephan. This shapely square begins as a square, turns into an octagon, then a circle and back to a square.  Whew!  You’ll use a combination of dc and tr stitches with stitch variations created by stitching in the back loops. “Stephan” is delightfully named after one of Esther’s sons. And as a special treat, Esther has created an instructional video just for this square!!!

And here is Margaret’s (one of our admin testers) version of this week’s square.

No sneak peek photo for Week 4 but we can tell you it’s called Vincent for Esthers second son.  You won’t be going in circles for long while making this square!

While I have never met Esther in person, (I hope to one day!) I’ve come to know her over the last year. She is extremely talented, creative, patient, intelligent, and lover of animals! I  have learned so much more about her while writing this announcement. Please stop by the above links and do some exploring too. You will probably lose an hour our so, just like I did! But it will be time well spent I promise.

We are very lucky that Esther was able to take time out of her very full life to design these squares for us.  Thanks a million, Esther! I had so much fun crocheting them and hope you do as well.

Please post your finished squares! I can’t wait to see them!

Happy Crocheting!

Laurene