Crochet Colored Glasses

Vintage Inspired Crochet

I really love going to yard sales and estate sales and finding little hidden treasures (for cheap! =)

A while back I had the idea to start an ongoing crochet project of making things inspired by my newly acquired treasures.

This first item really doesn’t qualify as “vintage” per se, but I did buy it at an estate sale and it is red. (Isn’t that reason enough? =)

Since I use this little pot on my stove to save bacon drippings, (no, I’m not a vegetarian,) I decided to make a trivet that I could use near my stove as well. I also incorporated some inspiration from my “old school” stove.

I adore the little flecks of white in the red enamel of this little pot and the small rim of blue is just enough. I held two strands of Comfort Chunky together along with one strand of dk weight white, which I picked up and dropped randomly to get just a few touches of white in the work. Using a size N (9mm) hook I made 5 rounds of hdc in the back loop only and then added the blue in reverse sc.

To more strongly accentuate the swirl that mimics my electric burners, I slip stitched in the reverse in the front loops of the stitches.

I haven’t had a chance to put it to the test by placing a hot pan on it yet, but hopefully it will stand up well, since it is 100% acrylic.

I really look forward to my next estate sale treasure hunt and my next vintage inspired crochet project!

Pink is sooo in!

Well, according to the Pantone Color Report for Spring 2011, pink (more specifically, Honeysuckle,) is the #1 fashion color for Spring this year.

I did not know this little tidbit of information when I started my Spring yarn shopping, but I found myself gravitating to all things pink and sparkly.

This beautiful Cascade Ultra Pima in light pink together with the pink Plymouth Yarns 24K, is going to be one gorgeous Rose Petals Spring Sunhat for my little Sweet Pea!

This huge ball of Kertzer Marble Chunky may be more of a warm and fluffy Winter yarn, but it has all the Spring colors, so I’m going to make several more of my popular Little Sprout hat that will be just right to keep little ears warm on cool Spring evenings.

My next foray into putting hook to pink will be a little something for me.

I’ve had this wonderful little ball of brown Tahki Cotton Classic Lite in my stash for over a year, which once had a purpose, but…I changed my mind. I could hear it calling out to me from the bottom of my yarn bin as I passed by, so I picked him up a girlfriend, along with a little crystal embellishment and one day soon the two will become one! (I was thinking of a cute striped clutch, but I would welcome suggestions. What do you think I should make?)

That now brings me to the piece de resistance! My birthday was a couple of weeks ago and all I really wanted was a gift card to Loops Yarn Store so I could buy more yarn! (Yeah, I know. I work there and I’m around yarn all the time and my husband rolled his eyes, but…) he bought me one! Needless to say, I was very happy. And not only did I get his, another dear friend who knows my love-‘o-the-fiber, gave me one also!

Weeeell…there is a particular yarn that I have had my eye on for quite some time, but it is rather pricey so I could not justify using any of my yarn-budget money on it.

But birthday-yarn money, that is another story!

I am now the proud owner of one skein of Prism Light Stuff, and together with some matching yellow Classic Elite Provence Egyptian cotton, I am going to make myself a birthday cowl! (I’ve been working hard to complete orders and shop models so I can dig my hook into crocheting some things for me!) I’m almost there, one more shop model and then I plow into the pink! (I’ll probably get all 4 project going at once. =)

I love pink!

A Little Crochazy

OK, I’m a little Crochazy.

That’s a word I came up with when I was brainstorming for a new business name for selling my crocheted items. I Googled it to see if anyone else was using it. I didn’t see it on any websites, but I did see someone use it in a blog comment. At least one other person on the web thought it was a cool word LOL! I still like it, but I’m not sure if I will ever actually use it as a business name.

Anyway, that’s not what I logged on here to talk about. Crocheting really is one of my most favorite things to do. I’ve been crocheting for over 30 years now and to tell you the truth, sometimes I get bored with using written patterns. (But not always. There are times when something needs to be just the right size and the research and development that someone has already put into their pattern is extremely valuable.) It’s best to at least start with a pattern when making a hat because getting the crown circumference correct is very important. Once I get the crown done, I usually modify it from there.

When I get an idea to make something specific, (like when I decided to make a sweater for my cell phone,) I’ll usually just grab a needle that is appropriate for the yarn or thread I’m using and start making stitches that I think will turn into what I see in my head. Sometimes it works out well, and sometimes it doesn’t. The phone sweater actually turned out quite well!

Now I’m actually making a little pouch for my cell phone earphones that will match my phone sweater. I’m kind of a geek about organizing things. (My purse is full of little zipper pouches holding all my stuff.) Sooo, of course I need one more pouch! :-P

Oh, look. it’s a pouch.

Another project that I just dove into with yarn and hook and a picture in my head was this little sweater that I made for my doggie-baby, Cynnamon. I was home from work ill for a couple of days, so I sat on my couch and crocheted. I really love the way it turned out (and I hope I can remember how I did it, so I can make another one! :-)

Beautiful Leftovers

There is a cute and crafty little fashion accessory that I had never seen before I started doing business with Etsy. It is called a cuff. I have now seen all kinds: fabric, knitted, crocheted, woven, but I had never made or worn one. That is until now…

I am in the process of making crochet squares for an afghan and last night I had a bit of pretty green yarn leftover. I decided to try my hand at making a little green cuff. I knew I had some other colors that I could use to make a flower button closure for it, so I went at it. It didn’t take very long to make and I just love how it turned out!

It seemed a bit bulky to wear on my wrist (at least in warm weather,) so I decided to try it out as an ankle cuff instead.

It worked perfectly! I even wore it when I went out this morning to the Cherry Street Farmer’s Market to pick up some goodies! (I asked my husband if it looked OK and he said that if it looked TOO goofy then he would have told me to take it off. I’m not sure if that’s good or bad. :-}

Oh, well, it’s my first cuff and I like it and by golly I’m gonna wear it :-D.

Craft a happy day! ~<@