leave no stone unturned

crocheting around a smooth beach or river stone....
i made these:

everyday art design studio's crocheted stones

inspired by these:

Margret Oomen's crocheted stones featured on Purl Bee

These beautifully wrapped stones were designed by Margret Oomen and called "Little Urchin crochet covered sea stones".  They are featured on Purl Bee's website.  Margret generously supplied the crochet pattern for this design:

Margret Oomen's crocheted stone pattern featured on Purl Bee

 

Margret's Blog: resurrection fern

Margret's ETSY shop: knitalatte : resurrection fern

Thank you Margret for sharing your creativity with the world!

I crocheted the white stone (on the left above and on the right below) following Margret's pattern...  except that I continued the crochet around the whole stone (just continuing with "dc in every second stitch pulling tightly to make the cover very snug on the stone" from Margret's pattern: step 9).

the back of my white stone

I used Aunt Lydia's Bamboo Crochet Thread in White for the white stone. 

For the cream stone, I used a DMC crochet thread in Ecru.  For this stone, I started with a pattern for a heart.  From there, I improvised with different sets of stitches around the heart to fill in the rest of the front of the stone.  The back is completed in the same way as the white stone: dc in every second stitch until the spiral closes.

a new experiment

I am always up for a creative challenge.
Actually, I suppose I would say I thrive on them.

I read a shop owner's profile on ETSY the other day.  She is a crocheter who says that she only works without a pattern.
Innteresssting! 
Challenge On.

I think I probably know enough about crochet to work without a pattern... I think.
So here is where the experiment comes in.
What to create?
I am thinking... a cowl... a simple circle with lots of potential for... experimentation.
So here is the work-in-progress:

I started with a slubby cotton yarn (merlot colored).  Worked a few rows in a single crochet, double crochet repeat. 
I continued the sc,dc repeat with a double strand of a wool yarn (lavendar colored). 
Then completed the circle by joining the wool to the other end of the cotton yarn.

Ok.  Nice.  Lovin' the colors and the texture (thanks to the sc,dc repeat).

Time for a little embellishment.

I thought: trim.

Scallop.

I had a remnant of a ball of Noro sock yarn (sssooo love the long color gradients in Noro yarns) that is in the same color family as the first two yarns I used...  

Scallop started.

Now where?
The experiment continues....
I'll let you know...

today

today's project:  bias knit scarf

I was inspired by a scarf that I saw at a local yarn store.  It was long and skinny with diagonal stripes of different art/novelty yarns in MANY shades of pink.  It was capped off with 1" wide silk ribbon (in ombre pink/white) streamers as fringe.  It was fabulous! 
SO, I went searching on the internet for a pattern or directions on how to knit on the bias (diagonally).  Ravelry.com is a glorious source for patterns of all kinds- I can usually find what I am looking for there.
Although, this time, not so much.  I did not find exactly what I was looking for.  I wanted my "scarf" to be wider that what you would normally think of a "scarf" being... almost a "shawl"- but not a triangle... maybe a "wrap"- but not old-lady-looking...  so I took bits and pieces of other patterns and experimented.
LOVE EXPERIMENTING!!!!... the process of creating is such a joy! It took some tweaking... the first try was not what I wanted.  I adjusted.  And, LOVE the end product!

12 or so, yummy, quality yarns in shades of colors and a variety of textures.  Wool, Cotton, Acrylic.
I am working on an orange/brown/blue/ Autumn Leaves color scheme one right now (the collection of yarns at the top of this post).  You can see a couple of other color groupings here.
 It seems to me it needs a special style name.  "Joseph's Amazing Technicolor Dream Scarf" or something of the like.  Help me name it, will you? Post some suggestions.
Happy Knitting!

The Babette

The Babette blanket.
Such an amazing pattern.
I think it is seen in the crochet community as a crocheter's rite of passage.
I came across the pattern in a search for something completely different- not knowing of its renowned.
I fell for it immediately!
Went on a search for the perfect yarns.
And started crocheting. 

It was my first big project. 
What an initiation!!

Flickr has a group dedicated to the babette blanket! Over 1000 versions of THE babette.

I used a combo of Vanna's yarn and Simply Soft and I Love This Yarn... all easy, not-fancy purchases from Hobby Lobby or Michael's.

This pattern produces a thick, weighty, bucket-of-love blanket!

Love poured into
Time devoted to
Wrapping a loved one into an everyday work of art!

- have a blessed (and creative) day!!

renewed

given new life

These little beauties found their way to me this Spring at the Round Top Antiques Fair in Texas... a biannual event that brings vendors and collectors/thrifters from far and near to celebrate the art of collecting.

Who knows how they made their way to Round Top?  Someone, Sometime, lovingly crocheted them.  Used them to beautify their silver tea service, or adorn the back of their Queen Anne wingback chair.  But then maybe they got lost at the back of a linen drawer....forgotten for a time.

They called to me and asked to be loved and useful.
Who am I to resist.

I brought them home happily.  Helped them bathe and put on a new spring coat.  And then for the finale of their makeover, linked them together. 

Never to be forgotten again- loved and useful, graceful and romantic.