crochet covered stones

beautiful pattern from margaret oomen for sea urchin crochet covered sea stones on the purl bee.

gocco printed crochet cards by tiny happy

crochet cards, originally uploaded by tiny happy.

these lovely cards were gocco printed by melissa of tiny happy.

i love how she was inspired by crochet to create such a sweet print.

you can see more tiny happy on etsy, flickr, and her wonderful blog.

mini craft books

recently, i have been loving little japanese craft books, almost more like booklets. as you can guess they are smaller than regular craft books, but can have some adorable and useful projects in them, nonetheless! this one is about making felt flowers using needle felting.
it has simple instructions (with photos, patterns, and diagrams of course) showing how to make the petal shapes for different flowers, and how to then put the flowers together. flickr set here.

this little book is full of patterns for hand carved stamps, which are quite a popular craft in japan.the designs are all simple, but they are very cute. flickr set here.
and this little book is a glossary of crochet stitches (don't be fooled by the english word knitting on the cover), including symbols, photos, and how-to diagrams for 60 stitches. so useful when i was trying to learn beginning crochet and japanese charting at the same time! flickr set here.

i just added these 3 little books to my shop. although the stamp design one has sold out, more copies will be on their way, and as always i can reserve one just for you.

first crochet

recently, i've been feeling really inspired to try crochet. i am a complete, utter beginner, but i love the way that crochet can be structural, and how you can add to it, and how it lends itself to freeform creations. tawashi, sometimes called 'eco' tawashi, are dish scrubbies, made from acrylic and sometimes antibacterial yarn, and they've been popular in japan for a while now. their 'eco' nature comes from their ability to clean without soap (or with less soap), and also i would suggest because they last longer than sponges. so this little tawashi above is my first completed crochet project! and it actually does clean dishes really well, although i would definitely use a little soap for greasy pans.

i used this pattern from this book, natural tawashi, which has a great selection of tawashi.i'm working on the coffee cup one now.

i also tried a project from this book, which has a really nice variety of very simple and more complicated patterns. for me, it think it's going to be a book that i can work my way through as i (hopefully!) get better at crochet. and i think that done with acrylic yarn, the leaves on the cover would make a good scrubbie.
i also want to try to make some of these little baskets...and of course amigurumi is on the list!and slippers!

both of these books are now available in my shop.

felt plus yarn crafting

i saw this project for felt mittens with knit cuffs on the purl bee a few weeks ago. i love the look of the combination of felt and knitting or crocheting, and this tutorial made me realize how easy it is to combine them!

the slippers on the left are felt, with knit cuffs, from this book, felt and fabric rendezvous, shown below:

and here's an example of crochet plus felt bottle covers, from this book, simple zakka and a bag of felt wool, show below:

felt and knit/crochet are such a great combo, because while felt is amazing in so many ways, knit and crochet are better for fit or places you need stretchiness.

and now that it has gotten colder (suddenly, it feels!), i'm scheming about knitting and crochet projects that i could do on the train. i especially want to try more crochet, at which i am a complete beginner. good thing there are lots of cute japanese craft books for inspiration!

portland recap part 2: craft museum!

i got to see this exhibit that i missed last time. unfortunately the handmade nation screening was completely sold out before we could get tickets, but the crochet-a-thon with mandy was awesome!

mandy greer's new project is called mater matrix mother and medium. it will be installed in seattle's urban forest and will also include a performance by zoe scofield.
here's a photo from the project website. it's all about water, and so the work will incorporate shades of blue fabric and yarn. for the crochet-a-thon, everyone joined in to create some blue crocheted elements that will be incorporated into the final piece. it's a wonderful art creation process, that involves people coming together to create, and maybe to learn a new craft. beginning crochet lends itself especially well to this kind of free form art, as there are no 'mistakes.' i am a complete beginner at crochet, but now i am really curious to try more.