Crochet Colored Glasses

A Bunting We Will Go

bunt·ing 

For many years I had only heard the term “bunting” used to refer to one of these, as in the definition listed here.  But I’ve recently learned that the above definition also applies to the word.

Well, Monday nights are our crochet nights at the coffee shop and I was in the mood to make “streamers for festive decoration” for Valentine’s Day with cute little crocheted hearts.

I chose this Heart Applique pattern and Noro Nobori yarn, a very light, fluffy color-changing yarn that was perfect for this type of project. I even tried to keep the hearts in the order that the colors came off the ball.

I made a total of 14 hearts using just a little over half a skein of yarn, which were enough to make 2 buntings. One with 8 hearts and the shorter one has 6. The little strip of white that runs through the entire skein gives each of these a homespun look that I hadn’t anticipated, but that I was very pleased to see.

I used a small amount of Debbie Stoller Bamboo Ewe from my leftover stash to connect the hearts together.

I must say, they look faaaabulous hanging in my living room and I am going to love hanging these in my newly remodeled studio, (which is a work-in-progress at the moment. Before and after pics will be blogged at a later date.)

These little hearts were so fun to make that I’m sure I will be making many more. Soon. Maybe now.

Happy Crocheting!

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!