Sunday, September 30, 2018

Strawberry Blossom Bracelet

After making the strawberry kitchen items, I moved away from crochet.  I knew I wanted to find a way to use some of the beautiful lampwork glass strawberry beads in my stash.  As I searched the web for inspiration pictures of strawberries, I decided I'd like to add some blossoms too, so I found some lucite flowers and bright green lucite leaves.


The bracelet chain is sterling, and the findings are sterling-filled.  The beads are a mix of handmade lampwork berries, Czech glass, and Swarovski crystal.  The whole piece was a joy to make. 

Saturday, September 29, 2018

Evil Eye Rearview Mirror Charm

Put this together for dear kittykill, as an extra in a swap recently.  A rear view mirror charm to protect her in her travels.  I've had the big square glass pendant for ages, just waiting for the right project.  The tassel came with the beaded eye band.  I think I found that on clearance somewhere a few months ago.  The glass eye bead was also stash.



Strawberry Kitchen Accessories

I recently organized a "Life is Berry Sweet" Swap, themed around cheerful little strawberries.  I had the good fortune to be crafting for the lovely kittykill.  I know she has a red & yellow kitchen, and an overall 'Granny-Chic' design concept, so I decided to make her some granny inspired goodies.

I fell in love with an adorable potholder I saw on Ravelry, but the pattern was only available in a book that's out of print, so I decided to try to figure it out myself.


I started by looking on Youtube for a video showing how to make a mitered corner square.  For mine I started with a chain of 52, then followed the video instructions, alternating colors every 2 rows.  I made two of these squares, and then used the red yarn to hook them together along the edges to make it two layers thick.  I added a basic shell border in red, along with a loop at the top, and found a pattern for a strawberry applique


I liked the alternating stripes of white and green potholder so much that even though I planned to make some strawberry dishcloths (below), I decided to make a striped one too.  I was partially afraid that kittykill might want to display her goodies, rather than use them, so I figured a spare dishcloth to actually use wouldn't go amiss.  The pattern is one of my all time favorites, as it makes nice sturdy, but still pretty, dishcloths.  It's available as a free Ravelry download.  Fire Blossom Dishcloth.


I knew I would be making at least a few of these Granny Strawberry Dishcloths, before I started on the potholder.  I made them earlier this summer for some friends, and just loved how they came out.  The Granny triangle is a quick & easy pattern, but the stems can be a little confusing as you read the written pattern.  I just used a pen & paper to sketch out what the directions were saying badly, and then winged it. 

Finally I wanted to add a few more bits and bobs to the kitchen set.  I thought a set of coasters might be fun, so I tried starting with a set based on a variation on a granny square, but I disliked how it was coming out.  It didn't seem like it would make a good size coaster, and the bubble stitch used made it too bumpy to hold a drink on top of. 

 

So I ended up taking the coaster I started and turned it into a trivet instead.  I figured with a larger item like a pan, the slightly lumpy center wouldn't be as much of a problem as it would with a narrower glass.  I just added a few granny rows and a border with some picot stitches in the corners.

 

Since the square coaster idea didn't work, I decided to try a round variation on the Granny theme, and went with this pattern, intended for Christmas ornaments, and added a round of slip stitching on the backside, to give it a slightly raised edge.