Rose Hip

I often visit Etsy in search of new ideas and inspiration. This is a place were hundreds of talented artist sell their handmade creations. I can spend hours browsing through the beautiful stuff and often buy knitting and crochet patterns. It is here I found Rose Hip; she lives in Vancouver and offers a collection of pillowcases made out of new and vintage fabrics. What is so special about these is that she tastefully finishes the pillowcases with a lovely scallop crocheted motif using a soft cotton yarn in stunning contrasting colours.

I noticed the link to her blog and was happily surprised when I realized she has 2 great crochet tutorials absolutely free.

Her Crochet Flower Square Pattern and Crochet Flower Pattern were a fabulous addition to my "things I want to make" list. These two patterns are perfect for making throws and pillow covers. The colour combination she uses reminds me of the stuff at pottery barn kids with a bit of a vintage twist.

Check out her Flickr photostream where I find inspiration on all the fabric she uses. I like to open my Color Munki palette creation software, where I throw in photos that inspire me and pull out unique color palette combinations I can later use on my own projects.

A FAMILY OF PUFFS

If you were inspired by my last post where I showed Christien Menderstma's Urchin Puff (which btw retails for $800 at Design Within Reach ...Ouch!) , you will be happy to know that Anna & Heidi Pickles offer a whole family of Puff patterns for FREE. These Puffs (Norweigan word for stool) are meant to be knitted in a much thinner yarn, Acrylic is recommended and you need to get yourself a pair of size #19 US circular needles.

PUFF DADDY:

Materials:

Eskimo, 18 balls (Or yarn suitable for US #13 needles)

Acrylic yarn would probably be a really good alternative, as it´s a piece of furniture

US #19 circular needles 2 cheap duves (feather and down)

Instructions:

Cast on 35 stitches using three threads.

Knit the garter stitch until you´ve knitted all the balls, and there is just enough yarn left to asseble the stool.

You now have ONE rectangular piece.

Cast off loosely.

Assemble the short sides (35 stitch side) as neatly as you can.

Assemble the first long side. This is supposed to be the top or the bottom of the stool. Put the needle through the end stitch of every second row and tighten, tighten, tighten! Repeat on the rows in between and tighten until there is no whole in the middle.

Stuff the duves into the stool. We tried to make a ball of the duves before we stuffed it.

Assemble the other end in the same manner as the first.

And there you go! Your first knitted furniture perhaps?

YOU CAN FIND THEIR OTHER TUTORIALS HERE

PUFF MAMA:

PUFF DADDY'S BABY:

PUFF MAMA'S BABY:

PUFF GRANNY'S BABY

Edith's Challah

Creating new things gets my adrenaline pumping, but for some reason baking cakes, breads cookies, etc. sort of intimidates the heck out of me. I have accepted the fact that I am not a baker nor a bread maker. How-e-ver I do want to learn how to make this challah, thus I asked sensei Edith for her famous recipe. This is one thing I have yet to make!

Edith's Challah Recipe

1½ Cup warm water

½ Cup vegetable oil

5 tsp dry yeast

¾ Cup sugar

Mix in bowl until yeast starts to bubble.

Add:

3 large eggs

7½ Cups all purpose flour

2 tsp salt

Knead in mixer until ingredients come together and form a ball. Knead by hand until smooth and elastic. Cover dough with clean cloth and let it rest for ½ hour. Punch down and knead to distribute air bubbles. Divide dough into three equal parts. Set one part aside. Combine the other two parts and divide into three equal parts. Make three strands and braid. Divide the dough set aside earlier into three equal parts, and make a braid long enough to go over the first braid and tuck its ends under it. Cover with cloth and let it rise till double in size.

Preheat oven at 350ºF once the oven is hot, brush again with egg wash sprinkle with sesame or poppy seeds and bake for 20 minutes, rotate pan 180 degrees and bake an additional 20-30 minutes. Cool at least 1 hour.

Flower Crochet Sandals

I know the summer is over now, but I thought these are some cool crochet sandals we can all aspire to make. Being a crochet beginner I can surely tell you that making crochet flowers is not at all difficult. The difficult part here would be, first of to find some inexpensive (or not) plain sandals that we can decorate...and then to find a way t attach the flowers to them so that the would look good and not move or fall at all, perhaps just wrapping the yarn around the straps would do. Creations by Eve (the designer of these cool sandals) sells them on etsy for aprox $30-42 us Dollars, she lives in Greece and shipping is obviously not included! My next project just might be to run out to kengsinton market and find myself some simple leather sandals to revamp.

Crochet Inspiration (In honor of Edith-my crochet teacher)

This is how it works for me: It is not so much that I like the actual knitting, drawing, cooking, or making anything for that matter, but the fact of the actual "high" that I get when I see something that inspires me and I want to create. I get a sudden need to make that something at that very second, and that is the motor that urges me to learn to do all things I know. Don't get me wrong, I do love the process, but the inspiration is what drives me the most. I stumbled upon this designer and fell in love with her ideas. Although I know little about crocheting, I now want to learn more. These hats are cool, cute and funky, and I really want to make one. Unfortunately she does not sell patterns but the actual items... and as you already know : I LIKE TO MAKE THINGS. These are great ideas and the colors she uses could serve us as inspiration for any knitting or crochet pattern. She goes by the name of Sparkleberry Crafts and sells her stuff on etsy.

Her hats are lovely and I don't think they are expensive at all. It will probably end up being more expensive to to make one than to buy one already made. But the pleasure and the satisfaction that you get when creating, making and crafting something with your own hands is priceless! (even if it turns out as a hanukkah stocking)

Knitting Light

I wish I would have thought of this one, but I didn't. Ilotlove did and called it Matt.

I think this design concept is fantastic!

The first thing I thought when Nathan showed me these pictures was : Doesn't the yarn burn with the heat of the light bulb?...the answer is NO. This hanging light is designed with a 12 meter cable, is meant to be moved and played with. It uses an environmentally-friendly energy-saving bulb (Lola will love this one), the light emits no heat thus is safe to hang and integrate into your home.

Although Matt seems to be machine knitted, I don't see why it could not be done by hand and even use thicker yarn for a funkier look. I am not sure I will venture onto making one for my home, but I will definitely keep this idea in mind for a future project. Who said light can't be knitted? Hope it serves you as an inspiration as well.