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.

Aviva's Shawl

I think the story behind Aviva's Shawl is really moving.

Erika is an older lady, a holocaust survivor who had been sheltered by a family during the war. The lady that saved her also taught her how to knit and crochet.

Many years later, Aviva met Erika while working as a volunteer in Cafe Europa where she provided emotional support for survivors of the holocaust. Erika in return offered to teach Aviva how to crochet, this is the beautiful Shawl Aviva made!

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)