Monday, January 30, 2012

White puff stitch cape


Hello and happy start of the week!

I finally took pictures of the cape, you know the one that was quite tedious because of the pattern, but when I finished it I just couldn't take my eyes off of it. 


It is crocheted with a soft wool and acrylic blend. The puff stitch gives it an amazing texture and it looks as if taken out of a fairy tale. Seriously lovable!

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Irish Lace Crochet Necklace

This is a short presentation of a necklace I made for my Irish Lace Crochet Collection.






Crocheted in ecru, this necklace conveys a rich and vintage feel. 

The rolled, dangling vines make it quite eye-catching and interesting.

It closes with a loop and a crochet covered bead.




Upcoming:

Monday, January 23, 2012

A Ruffly Scarf tutorial - DIY

Hello everyone and Happy start of the week!

Ok. Now, with no further ado



{The Ruffly Scarf Tutorial }

This is a super easy project for which you do not need any knitting / crocheting skills. All you need to know is how to use a sewing machine, because you will be sewing this cutie.


For the scarf shown in the photo I used 100 gr. of chunky yarn skein, and the yarn does need to be chunky so that the scarf can get an exquisite and rich (ruffled) look. My scarf is 1.50 m - 59.1" long but that depends on how close/tight you sew the yarn together. And it shoud be closely sewn.




First decide how wide you want the scarf to be, gather a small portion of yarn, hold it tight and sew through the center of it. Next and this is a bit tedious and requires good finger coordination, gather the yarn and push it under the feet but do not sew until you get a nice bulky part. Be careful to keep the same width throughout. Then gather another portion, and so on....until the end.




I said it is a bit slow and boring but you'll be finished in less than half an hour and this also makes a sweet gift without any knitting. When you get to the end back stitch it. It is good to make the scarf stronger (and I strongly recommend this) by stitching another row over the existing stitch.
Do not worry. The stitching is not going to show at all!



I hope you like it. My daughter adores it!



Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Ramblings of an Unadultered Crafter (*)

My household is a one of a kind kingdom where crafty things burst out of every corner and then revolve around the house creating wondrous sights and sometimes make me feel like Alice in Wonderland. And..oh boy... ! Do I know how to make a mess! I am mastering the discipline - take my word for it!

In order to support my claims here's the evidence for it, so witness it yourselves.

Warning: the following images may be deeply disturbing so people with weak hearts are strongly advised to refrain from further viewing.

In my shop. I made a bracelet with this rose and today it received a sister for another project.


On one side of my table - this collar (shrug) I discovered had one last row before I made the lace edging so had to unravel it...(cursing inside myself).


On the other side of the table -three new flowers {figuring out the design..}


On my chair - newly bought yarn waiting to be rolled into a nice ball.

On my walls - a ruffly scarf for a (photo) tutorial I am preparing.


In the finished pile, the wrap (the tedious one mentioned a couple of posts ago) waiting for the return of the model so that pictures can be taken.


On the coffee table - Pine (cones) rosettes I collected recently, waiting to be spray painted


and this lovely book which is a craft of another kind. I carry it with me around the house because it successfully drags me out of my creative ruts and throws me into fits of laughter. This is my first encounter with Cecilia Ahern (followed the librarian's advice to take it) and I didn't go wrong. She's hilarious!

So let these be a kind of announcement of what is going to follow in the course of January. Stay tuned.

(*) the alternative title may also stands as "Revolving around my household".

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Crochet flowers going to the Dark Side and a proposal for the Star Wars producers





The thing is that I had an idea of making a necklace with these two flowers just because I think they make a lovely match. Then I thought of brooches. But together they might be just too much for one brooch - it would be too heavy. But since I am never lacking on ideas, I'll come up with something really soon. One of these may run for the marine beauty category. Can you guess which one?


Wasn't hard, was it? This little thing turned out to look more of an octopus than a flower (I know I had to work more on the arrangement of the different bits).
This happens to remind me of a comment I received on this brooch (below) by a flicker member who said (or rather asked):

"It's not cthulhu?"

Of course I didn't know what a cthulhu was so I had to google for explanation and images. Hilarious! The resemblance is incredible, and I wasn't even trying hard. That incited a fit of a good laugh :) My crochet flowers go to the Dark Side!

OK. It turns out that I am good at creating oddlings, so if any of you Star Wars producers happen to brush by this post, bear in mind that there is a crocheter who can make the wildest, strangest (imaginable) creatures without even knowing it! You may want to hire me for one of your sequels! You will disappointed not be!

Friday, January 13, 2012

The birth of a flower

The title says it all. Here's the birth of my newest flower. One of top of another for an amazingly lovely and structured flower.
I've been caught in a crochet flower craze, making lots of flowers for necklaces and brooches, only to realize that there is not.a.single.pin in the house. Imagine my despair and frustration. To top that I also found there is no chain left and no jump rings. I hate when this happens.

Have a lovely weekend! I'll be having a grand time myself since I am attending a wedding tomorrow!

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Keito Dama - winter knits



Some winter knits I selected from the lovely craft magazine Keito Dama. While browsing it I realized that I haven't touched my knitting needles for more than a year now ! On the other hand I haven't put down the hook and sometimes I think it has roots in my fingers :)
I am in a hurry to finish a project I actually started 3 months ago and left it aside because the repeating pattern was so tedious it almost threw me into a fit (don't worry, I am ok).

Today while catching up on my favourite blogs, I fell in love with Tammy's dishcloth {which I strongly believe could aspire to become a pouch}. I must also mention Michele's crocheted curtain edging and Kate's dress with a sweet crochet hem and upper dress detail and Sachiko's amazing bag.

Are you working on something interesting?

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Master quiller - Yulia Brodskaya




When I started dwelling into and researching more of quilling, I discovered the works of Yulia Brodskaya - a young artist with magic and passion in her fingers who has taken quilling into a new and astonishing level. All her works show amazingly rich textures and depth and her use of color is spectacular. Enjoy!

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Irish roses headband {for Valentine}


Too early for Valentine?

I don't think so. You know that I got the greatest and definitely unbeatable gift for Valentine {my daughter} so for her birthday we plan to have these as 'thank you gifts' for the girls.
And since Irish roses definitely marked the start of this year for me, I decided to surrender myself completely to the urge, hence the creation of this headband which I made from an acrylic blend in thulian pink.


The headband can be found in the shop.
I have also been working on an Irish lace crochet collection of accessories which I plan to finish soon. The whole set is in ecru and I am quite excited about it.

That's all for today. Talk to you later.
P.S. I can listen to Zaz singing this all day long. Enjoy!

Monday, January 2, 2012

2011 in Retrospect

Hello and welcome to the 2012!
I hope you all had fabulous time and that you will mark the start of the new year successfully in any field.
While I was preparing for this post, browsing through my archive, I couldn't help but wish for another year as good as the last one in terms of everything I achieved personally and professionally.
Considering my blog, in terms of craftiness and in retrospect, 2011 was an overwhelmingly fruitful year, sublimed into the following collages:

A snippet of my projects in 2011


Tutorials I made

1. Cutwork: the basic techniques
2. Cutwork:multiple bars
3. Cutwork: finishing techniques

1. Fabric cuff/Bracelet
2. Fabric Rosette Necklace
3. Wrist Warmers
4. Crochet earrings and ring
5. Fringe Necklace
6. Crochet Lace Earrings

I also hope to continue creating as well as writing here and have you visit my virtual diary.