The Girl by the Sea » crochet

Valentine Garland Winners!

Jennifer — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 19:13:37 +0000

I do love a good giveaway and as I made three heart garlands I figured I’d better give them all away. The winners are: Elizabeth- Raspberry, Sage and Cornflower Garland Rachel- Red Garland Emma-Mustard, Turqouise and Charcoal Garland. I will e-mail the winners in just a minute, please reply with your address and I will get these in the mail. Thanks everybody for playing along. I’ll be back tomorrow with a quick, easy springy project. See you then!

Valentines Day Garland and Giveaway

Jennifer — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 15:24:45 +0000

I’m not usually a heart person, but when I came across this pattern for tiny crocheted hearts, I must admit, I took a liking to them. In fact I thought they would make wonderful little garlands, so I made several. One of my favourite things about these little hearts is that you use embroidery floss, so you can pick out quite a few colours without having to have skeins and skeins of yarn. The hearts are quick and easy, but quite addictive so if you need a few decorations around the house you should definitely have a go. The hearts themselves would make adorable brooches, hair pins, package or card decorations or just a few in a small bowl to look pretty. You can go traditional with all red hearts, or slightly different but still feminine with raspberry, sage and cornflower (I had a difficult time photographing these colours, they are not quite as bright in real life) coloured ones. You can even go super trendy with charcoal turquoise and mustard. These hearts are quite tiny, but very adorable and each garland I made was approx. 38 inches from heart to heart with a little extra on the ends to tie however you want. If you’d like a chance to win the garland of your choice, just leave a comment and let me know which is your favourite colourway. I will close the comments at 12 noon MST on Thursday Feb. 3rd and announce the winner shortly thereafter. Edited to add: I will ship to wherever you are, so go on, throw your name in the hat. Please don’t forget to let me know which garland would be your choice.

Convertible Cowl

Jennifer — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 15:15:34 +0000

Here is another low budget, high impact gift for the Holidays, or anytime really. This convertible cowl is fantastic for keeping you warm on a chilly day. As with all crochet and knitting projects depending on your yarn choice is can be budget friendly or super luxurious. I took these photos with it on my six year old and it is obviously a bit big, but I find it quite difficult to take decent pictures of myself, so there you go. It would be very easy to make a smaller version for a child though. You can wear this around your neck, or pulled down over your shoulders, or pulled up over your head to wear as a hood. This was a quick project, it took me just under three hours, so if you have an evening free and you are in need of a beautiful, warming gift for someone, give it a try. Even if you don’t already know how to crochet it would only take you a bit to learn the stitch and then you could make a beautiful convertible cowl. The pattern is free (yay budget!) and the results are fabulous. What is your go to winter accessory? What can you not leave the house without? Is it a pair of gloves, or do you have to have a hat on? Is a scarf the one thing you reach for?

For Those on the Go

Jennifer — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 20:05:43 +0000

This next gift idea is for those on the go. I love the idea of being able to throw an apple in it’s little jumper and it stays protected in your bag from bumps and scrapes, perfect for the time you want to eat it. I want the majority of the gifts I give this Christmas to be handmade, but that also means I can’t take weeks on each one. I have been working on projects that take less than an evening, somewhere between two and three hours. It’s the perfect opportunity to sit down with some tea and a nice movie and work on something for someone special. This pattern is perfect and at $3.49 it fits right in with my high impact low budget gift ideas. If you make more than one the cost per apple cozy goes down as well. This is the first time I have done crochet cables, and I love how they turned out. If you are unfamiliar with any of the stitches there are loads of videos you can look up online as well, that’s what I did. These are really quite sturdy as the stitches form these sort of ribs (like inside a bell pepper) so I know my apple is going to remain in pretty good shape. Give it a shot, they are adorable, and a perfect fairly quick gift for those on the go.

Ruffled Crochet Bib Necklace

Jennifer — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 17:38:39 +0000

Well, up to this point I have been hesitant to start thinking about Christmas, but as we had our first snow a couple of weeks ago and it has now been snowing for the past three days, I’m starting to get into the mood. Curled up with a mug of cocoa and some spiced apricot oatmeal bread, watching the children play all bundled up in their snowsuits, I have been coming up with my Christmas list. Over the next few weeks I plan on sharing some high impact, low budget gift ideas for lots of different gifts. I hope you find something that you like. Up first is this gorgeous crochet bib necklace. I came across the pattern last weekend while searching for some new ideas and I love it. It is quite bold, and definitely fun, and for the right person it would be a perfect gift. It’s such a clever and easy pattern and can be made from start to finish in a matter of a couple of hours. My favourite part I think is that it uses ordinary 100% cotton yarn. You’re looking for a sturdy well defined necklace here so no need to spend a bunch on some luxurious yarns. Total cost? I spend $2 for the yarn and used only half of the ball. I did get the jewelry chain and closing for 50% off at Hobby Lobby, but even full price it would have been less than $2 for the chain and clasp. So, I spent less than $2 for an absolutely gorgeous, handmade, super high end looking necklace. I think so much of gift giving is the thought and effort that goes into it, not just the money. To know what the recipient likes and go about picking out and/or making them the perfect gift means a lot. Even though the cost is very little (which pleases the frugal side of me) I also know that someone who loves bold jewelry and accessories would love that this was made just for them. I’ll be back with some more gift ideas in a couple of days. If it’s cold where you are, stay warm, and if you still have some autumn left, enjoy it.

Colour

Jennifer — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 16:49:53 +0000

Are you the type of person that is drawn to a colour even more because of it’s name? I am. Last year when we repainted our kitchen I had to choose between dozens and dozens of cream colours and the one we eventually picked was called crumb cookie which was just perfect for a kitchen. I am drawn to yarn even more when I discover they have chosen the colour description of something like currant, or pea pod. This is my second claudia scarf and this one is for me. Growing up I was always choosing purple over pink, and just recently my love of all things purple is coming back strong. I especially love tweedy looking purples, heathery purples, not anything too light, at least for wearing. When I was picking out the yarn for my scarf I found this gorgeous bamboo and wool blend yarn in just the right shade, but was disappointed when I looked at the colour name. Purple, that’s it, purple, why on earth they didn’t come up with something more creative is a little beyond me. Perhaps I am odd in that the name can make such a difference, I think it is such an opportunity to heighten the deliciousness of the yarn, or paint, or just about anything that comes with a colour name. So I’ve decided to call it my thistle scarf as a rememberance of my years in Scotland. I made this one longer than the original pattern calls for as I really like my scarfs loooong. I love how it turned out and this truly is a fantastic pattern. It’s deceptively easy and so easy to pick up and put down, and helps pass the time while I am waiting for ballet class to be over. With extra rehearsals for the Christmas recital I’m getting quite a bit done quickly as well. So if you are in need (or want) of a new scarf, or need to get some handmade Christmas gifts done I would highly recommend this. If you don’t know how to crochet, it’s a great project to learn with. The pattern is very repetitive and quite easy to learn. What are some of your favourite yarn colours that you’ve come across?

Snail Mail Swap with Mousy Brown

Jennifer — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 15:53:39 +0000

I was so very excited to be part of Mousy Brown’s Snail Mail Swap and so now I can show you what I was working on for the last few months. We decided to make something to wear and I chose this shawl to make for her. It reminded me of Cornwall and as she grew up there and we went on holiday there when I was a girl living in England I wanted to capture those memories for both of us. The colour more closely matches up to this photo. I had such a great time working on this shawl and it was the first complicated pattern I ever used. I am so pleased with how it turned out, and I think Emily is as well. In return, Emily sent me the most delicious mittens. They are adorned in the sweetest embroidery and are toasty warm, I can’t wait for a day chilly enough to wear them. This little scarf is probably the softest thing you will ever feel, made out of her hand dyed angora yarn. It’s absolutely scrumptious and I love them both. Emily, thank you so much for the treats, I will treasure them. It was so much fun participating in this swap, thanks Mousy Brown for coming up with such a great idea.

At The Cabin

Jennifer — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 17:36:34 +0000

Going to the cabin was just what we needed. Good doses of fresh air to help the kids recover from illness and plenty of nature to get stuck into. I started a new Claudia Scarf for myself while sitting in front of a fire early in the morning. I love the sound of the river rushing by, it is so calming to me. Watching the clouds roll by through the mountains… Finding triplet peanuts as you are feeding the stellar jay’s and chipmunks… Seeing all of the beauty of nature around you… I think the babe ate more peanuts than the animals. We had a great, albeit short, weekend up in the mountains. The sounds of the water, the fresh air, the good time spent with family was as restorative as I thought it would be. Now, just to catch up on the laundry, dishes, etc….

Claudia Scarf

Jennifer — Sat, 25 Sep 2010 15:07:18 +0000

As the summer is ever so slowly winding down, I have really been enjoying sitting and crocheting in the evenings. I’ve been working on this scarf for a little bit and I love how it turned out. After Dawn had completed a couple of these gorgeous scarves, I knew I had to jump in and try some as well. This first one is for the kid’s swimming teacher. I have no idea what her personal tastes are as far as clothing as I only ever see her in a bathing suit and cap, but she has dark hair and I think it will go well with her complexion. It’s a pretty bold colour, so I hope that she likes it. Everybody could use one bright, bold scarf, right? I really loved this pattern, the repeats are super easy to remember which made it perfect for picking up and putting it down, a definite must with four kids and plenty more interruptions. I promise, I have been doing more than just crochet, but I wanted to show this to you all before I give it away. Hope everyone is doing well, don’t you just love the chill in the air?

Felted Crochet Slippers

Jennifer — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 20:46:47 +0000

I’ve had several projects on the go that I had to keep under wraps as they were for gifts, but now that these slippers have been received, I can show them to you all. I really do love to crochet, and I love the look of crocheted items, but it is nice every now and then to crochet something that doesn’t look crocheted, if you get what I mean. These slippers are a great example of that. They were crocheted and then felted and I am really pleased with how they turned out. The pattern is brilliant and fairly straightforward. They are crocheted in one piece (the strap is separate) and then felted. A few stitches to attach the strap is the only sewing required. I used some thrifted cover-your-own buttons from the sixties and the babe helped me make them. I love the earthy colours, perfect for transitioning into the fall weather. If you are in need of a good gift idea for the holidays, then may I highly suggest these slippers. One slipper can easily be done in an evening and if you are making several pairs, you can just save them all up to felt when you are finished crocheting. There are so many fun colours of wool out there and tons of brilliant buttons, you can customize these to your hearts content.