Contemporary Crochet Inspiration

Found this London based family company specialising in original handmade crochet and knitted accessories. It's what I love, designer meets handmade, not just homemade. It's craft, but not as you know it. Check them out, definitely not for your granny. I especially love the hats, girly fantasies ahoy!   http://www.domakaya.com/

Free form crochet purse by Domakaya

                                         
This is one crazy crochet lady designer. I discovered her a few years ago. Her name is Ana Voog. She is based in New York, and makes what are utterly unique one off creations. It's definitely wearable art, even if it's not to your taste, you have to admire the skill and imagination that goes into these. http://www.anacam.com/hats/2005collection/2005collection.html

Now for the cute and lovely! Nobody does contemporary craft books like the Japanese, it's a whole genre of its own. I've bought a couple in my time, they're so gorgeously designed and presented. I'm going to endeavour to post links to some of the best websites for obtaining these books, there's a few sellers specialising in them on Etsy and Ebay. This is a book from a seller on Etsy who has a huge selection of Japanes craft books available at http://www.etsy.com/shop/pomadour24

Here are a selection of pictures, all from Japanese crochet craft books, and believe me this isn't all of them. It's a pleasure just looking at the gorgeous presentation of these projects and if they don't convince you to take up crochet then I don't know what will!
Check out this amazing crochet edging, a whole book dedicated to fancy novelty edges, all crocheted. They could easily be bunting, done with the right size yarn. I especially love the little gingerbreadmen, delectable!

                                       Another edging/braid book,

  This is a sample of crochet with beads, in this case butterflies,

This is one of my favourites, beautiful, rustic, simple, chic,

How sweet are these bags!

                                                            

                                                     This is so stylish!

                                                    

 This is one of the craziest ones, a whole book dedicated to tiny crochet miniatures, I'd love to get my hands on those patterns but one must be disciplined!

 My particular love is the world of  Amigurumi, adorable little cartoon style softie animals, check out the examples below. It's like entering a strange little world of Japanese cuteness!  There are a number of Japanese pattern books dedicated to these patterns. Just remember, I got all these images from this Etsy seller, who specialises in Japanese craft books: http://www.etsy.com/shop/pomadour24?ref=seller_info. I especially love the tiny dolls, pretty and adorable.

There are also, of course, a whole selection of free patterns on the internet, and the image below is one to give you an idea of what you can do with the free pattterns avilable at the link below the picture.

This is the most comprehensive list of free Amigurumi patterns I have come across, it's huge, http://mycrochethelp.com/free-crochet-patterns/free-amigurumi-crochet-patterns/ .
There are also plenty of groups and websites dedicated to the love of these little critters. So much joy from a bit of wool! This is a collection of creations taken from the Amigurumi Flickr group, I love the wonderful, kitsch, cheerful quality of all of these. This is about delight, pure and simple. http://www.flickr.com/groups/amigurumi/



My Crochet Experiments

After a disastrous shopping trip I was prodded into making this hat. It was a girls day out in Lincoln, lovely shops, gorgeous things, but I had a choice crisis! I wanted a hat and I tried hundreds of the things on. I ended up overthinking it and coming home with one I didn't like and was actually too small!. What a shopping loser! A few years ago I took up crochet and became slightly obsessed with it, amassing large amounts of wool. I hadn't done it for a while but some good friends of mine had recently taken it up aswell, and this prompted me to get back into it. I always do this, go through various creative phases. Anyway, so after this particular trip I decided I'd make myself a hat instead. I worked out the pattern according to some standard hat patterns I knew, and actually, I think it worked out not too embarassing!

 I used 11-loop puff stitch through out, making a basic hat shape and then adding the ear flaps and braids, and large pompom after.




  I had a bit of an accident a few weeks ago, falling down the stairs, which has meant I have spent alot of time resting. But fortuitively this has tied in with me rediscovering the art of crochet since the hat debarcle, and I have been crochet crazy in an attempt to make the most of unused wool for Christmas presents. What has been really great about it is being able to explore my love for colour, since what I have are lots of odd balls of wool collected from charity shops, and  the only way to use them is in multicolour projects.

The first was a multicolour, freeform scarf, designed for my colour loving sister:

Since my sisters birthday is only a few days after Christmas, I made this for her aswell. She loves cosy, feminine, textural, rich knits, that are slightly flamboyant in their own way. I made this with a vintage and feminine feel, hence the ruffles and deep colours.

This was a bag was made from lots of different left over wools that I had. I made it for a very dear friend of mine who has a love for colour and pattern. I started it as a crocheted round, like a hat, increasing as  I went until I thought the base was big enough and then stopped increasing and just kept going with rows until I thought the sides were long enough and then added the handles and flower. I used a half double crochet stitch which is quite sturdy but also quick, and has a nice texture.

My next project was for a friend who was incredibly helpful to me in a time of need. I wanted something delightful and gorgeous that would really show my appreciation. I used a pattern from a very good contemporary crochet book I bought a couple of years ago and then added my own touch with the flower on top.

Feel the Japanese Kawaii influence

Continueing with a vintage feel and using the left over balls of wool, I crocheted a scarf for my lovely mother-in-law ( you don't hear that very often, but it's true!). The main body of the scarf is done with a v-stitch, which is a lot like a mesh stitch, nearly as easy, but looks more complicated and lace-like. The edgeing was two rows of shell stitch, alternated with purple and a warm burgundy, and finished off with flowers, the pattern of which I intend to post sometime soon.

Special Occasion Cakes

I love a Party!

These are a couple of commissions I did for big occassions. They were designed according to specific requirements. I was asked by a very good friend of mine to make a special cake for her inlaws fortieth wedding anniversary. She had a definite idea in mind, which was to have a model of them both sitting on top of a globe, with flags from all the countries they had travelled to over their years together.

 So that's what I did. The globe was made from a cake baked in a spherical tin and then covered in blue sugarpaste. I worked out all the major continents according to a map and cut them out of rolled out green sugarpaste, and then carefully arranged them around the sphere in the right places, and then, when dry, painted it with confectioners glaze. This went on top of the base cake, which was covered in navy blue and stars, to represent space. Each of the flags was by hand with sugarpaste of varying colours. Each one carefully researched and worked out precisely, then cut out and attatched to a cocktail stick so they could be inserted into the globe. The figures were half made and left to dry and then placed and finished on the top of the globe. The only thing not edible were the glasses on the female figure, and the cocktail sticks for the flags. The writing was also all sugarpaste and flower paste.

The flags are sugarpaste, and written on with edible pen

This cake is one I was asked to do for a South African couple who were coming to visit their relatives they hadn't seen for a few years, a kind of welcome cake. The person commissioning it was very clear about what he wanted, a model of the couple, waving flags, with something to hint at their love of rugby. So that was what I modelled. I used photos to get an idea of clothes, hair etc. I used skewers cut down to size for the rugby goal in the background.

Slideshow

Cup Cakes

Who doesn't love cup cakes?

This is just a collection of cupcakes made for various occasions over the last twelve months. Enjoy!