For years I've been looking for the perfect flower motif, that would be altogether pretty AND easy to crochet. Finally, I found one in a vintage stitch dictionnary this winter. Okay, it wasn't perfect but after fixing some petals that just didn't look right, ... I had the perfect flowers !! I first made a hat using this stitch, but quickly needed to turn it into a pretty cardigan... I've now made 3 so far (+ the doll versions :-P).




It was my niece's birthday, so she was the first to get one, made it with 2 strands of baby blue thrifted yarn. And made a matching tiny cardigan for her doll :-)


I then made 2 more, with the lovely "Eco +" yarn by Cascade yarns: you gotta love those pretty colors, and the yarn was surprisingly softer than I thought ! I only kept 4 buttons, and my daughters love those !! I really enjoyed making them too, top down + all in one piece is def. my favorite construction method !! Yay for crochet :-D

This year, I knew I need to make myself new hats. The old ones are still ok, but a girl needs a new style every so ofte, right ? ;-)
Last week I was working on a cardigan for my niece, and finally worked on inserting this daisy pattern I've been dreaming about for years. I searched high and low in all my stitch dictionaries, and all the flower motifs I found were not right: either too fussy or complicated, or just not the right look.

Then I found one that looked nice in a vintage french "Mon tricot". Tried it, found that the petals just didn't look right on the second row, "fixed" that with a couple modifications... It looked great on the baby cardigan... but I KNEW it begged to become a hat as well !!

I grabbed some Malabrigo merino that used to be a bright yellow, which I re-dyed apple green a couple years ago (yep, sort of a long-haul project :-P ) and started crocheting furiously.. I even took it to my new knitting group (first meeting that night)... and came out with a new hat !!

I just love it, love the color and the way this yarn works out with this pattern !

I hope you'll like it too :-)

Oh btw: Marguerite = daisy in french (I'm french!)   :-)

This year, I wanted to crochet snowflakes to send as Xmas cards. But none of my white cotton yarns gave a crisp enough stitch definition... so I ended up using red cotton instead !
I searched in all my stitch dictionaries, and finally chose this motif: pretty and easy to make :-P




I'm not sure I can call those snowflakes anymore... but I still loved them ! I had some troubles with finding the right glue as well, as the super-strong instant glue I first used didn't work very reliably.  For the next ones, I used "neopren" (not sure what the word is in english) glue, which worked well but left yellow-ish marks if not in the right place.
What I did was draw the outline of the crochet motif on the card with a pencil, then apply the glue within those marks.. That worked fine.

Jehanne cardigan hood by sylvchezplum, on Flickr

So about a year or two ago, I made a hooded cardigan for my girls. It's so pretty and cute that I knew I would have to make one for myself too... But sizing up a kids's cardigan and hood seemed a bit daunting, so I first made a hooded capelet to work out the hood, and then finally made the hooded cardigan. This strategy worked out pretty well, and even though the whole process did take several months, I am now SO happy with my new cardigan, and wearing it nearly every single day too !!

Jehanne cardigan front by sylvchezplum, on Flickr
 
Jehanne cardigan by sylvchezplum, on Flickr

The hood is super long and nearly goes longer than the sweater itself, but it's also very wearable and snuggly... love to wear it at night as a little cocoon.
And as usual, I crocheted most of it in the front loop only, so that it's drapey and not thick as crochet tends to be. The granny square inserts both add shaping to the hood and the hips... and because I'm so addicted to granny squares... :-P

Oh and a couple days ago, I learned that this type of hood used to be called "liripipe", refering to medieval costumes. Cool !  I probably had seen those types of costumes and it stayed in a corner of my head because I loved it so much...  ;-)

I hope you'll like it as much as I do :-)

Sylv

After making similar cardigans for my daughters a couple years ago, I finally made a larger version for myself this year, yeah !! I figured working out a full cardigan AND the hood at the same time would look too daunting and split the work in 2: First I worked on the hood for an "easy capelet", and then would work out the second project, this time focusing more on the cardigan part.

It ended up working out pretty well. Of course the capelet wasn't as easy-peasy as I thought, and the process meant a lot of ripping/starting all over again, in order to get the perfect fit I wanted.

 

But I'm so happy with the result that it was totally worth it !!! :-D  I added 2 granny triangle inserts, one in the hood and the other sligtly off-centered to flare the edging of capelet. And after trying several edging versions, I added a bobble edging to balance it all. I end up LOVING those bobbles, think it really makes the charm of the piece.

All in all, I'm totally in love with this capelet, have been wearing it every single day since I finished it, both inside (we live in the french alps, and when you work in front of a computer all day, it can get chilly) and outside to get the girls from school ect... It ends up being a perfect layering piece for spring, and I love feeling that loooong hood in my back !!!

Hope you'll like it too :-)

Sylv

Last summer I made Babouches slippers for myself and loved them. And then suddenly the other day while hiking with my husband I thought "I should make some in baby size!!!" ha !!!


Baby Babouches by sylvchezplum, on Flickr



BabyBabouches1 (2) by sylvchezplum, on Flickr
So that night, once the girls were in bed I took my hooks and yarn, and it just flowed ! I had a small babouche... but not really small enough for a baby, rather for a toddler.


Baby Babouches row by sylvchezplum, on Flickr
Following that, I changed yarns, and tried lots of different tricks to make them smaller while retaining exaclty the same look which I loved so much. (you can still see the loose ends on some...) I think I got it now... and it's fun to see all those wee slippers lined up  !!! Now I just need to visit my cousin to try them on their baby's feet   :-)

Hope you like them ! :-)

Sylv

Here are my newest slippers. I call them "Babouches". I love them, they fit really well following all the natural curves of the foot...  kinda was a long process though :-P

It all started with an idea. I started my first prototype sometime this winter, with bulky wool and really it was all wrong. Wrong yarn (super heavy slipper!) and wrong construction, it just didn't work out the way I liked. So that one stayed in a basket for months and months while I worked on other things.

Finally, about a month ago while talking to my daughter and staring at a granny triangle, I had a sudden inspiration for a totally different construction for this Babouche. I started right away, and that was the blue sample. I could see that it was "right", yet not perfect yet.
So I changed the size of my hook, refined the shaping of the heel, and Ta da... this time it was PERFECT!! :-D

I'm so proud of those, I made 2 more pairs since (including smaller ones for my daughter). And will probably make more... :-P

I hope you like them too  :-)

Last week-end, my daughter was invited at her friend's birthday party. I recently started sewing again, so I decided to sew a skirt for the friend.

But, how to decorate it with ? You know, for that little special touch that will make it really special ? ;-)

I didn't have much time left (ahem, I'm your typical last-minute person) and whipped up a nice crocheted triangle from a japanese book, with some pretty contrasting cotton. I figured it would make an unusual pocket to her skirt :-)

I sewed in on with the sewing machine, but I didn't like the result that much. Next time, I'll probably sew it by hand, at least so it doesn't distort the shape and cuts the yarn in places when the sewing machine gets caught in the stiches. :-P

I bought this jacket a couple years ago, the hood was soooo cute and I loved the cheery colors too. Both my daughters wore it, and the youngest still does. It makes me happy whenever she does. :-)

So when I started thinking about making them a new cardigan, I thought long and hard about how to  make a similar hood. AND to incorporate as well my current favorite crocheted feature, the granny square (& its variations)

After numerous sketches and ripping and recrocheting, here's the result. I'm so happy with it :-D
Only flaw is the hood is actually the right size for my oldest, while the body fits perfectly my youngest.. Ahem. Please pretend you didn't know ;-)


Then I made another one for my older daughter, this time without the hood. What I love is the feminine look of the flare given by the triangle grannies around the hips.

Now I totally need one for myself too. :-D

Sylv

I first discovered this very clever pattern via french blogs I follow, and couldn't resist. They're called "peter pan slippers", but I think they look like elf slippers, and to my daughters they're princess shoes ! :-D

I made 3 pairs already (for each daughter, plus for a friend but didn't take pictures) and there will most probably be many  more in the future !
I love them because you can adapt it to any yarn and any size, and my daughters wear them every day. Perfect to use up stash yarn, esp. the yucky acrylics... :-D And what's better than a handmade project that actually gets worn ?!! :-D

Sylv