Fall shawl #4: blue reef shawl

So, I finally made another scarf. This one is my very first complete freeform scarf. I didn't used a pattern or what so ever. I just started crocheting some scrumbles: circles, a spiral, a hyperbolic structure. Then i crocheted them together and added some fringes on one side, these are fringes with curls or curllicues on the ends.

I actually was inspired by structures you can find undersea: not only color, but also form and texture.

Here are some close up pictures:

And some pictures of me wearing it. It's very hard to take pictures of yourself though.. :-)



I opened my Etsy Shop!

Hi there
I'm proud to announce that today I opened my Etsy shop. You can find it here: http://tienshands.etsy.com. So go on ahead and take a look over there.

There is not much yet for sale, but keep an eye on it, because more items will come soon.

Byebye!

polymer clay crochet hook handle

Yesterday and today were Fimo (polymer clay) days. I made two flower canes to decorate my crochet hook. I first made the handle in white Fimo, then I decorated it with very thin slices of the flower canes. After baking (33 minutes at 100°C) and cooling, I sanded and varnished it. I'm quite pleased with the result, but next time I want to use a greater variety of flowers. So I'll have to make some more flower canes... And that takes quite some time.
Here is another picture:

I engraved the thickness in the back of the handle. It's an 3.5mm (E) hook. But, as you might notice below, it's quite hard to see. I think that's because of the flower motif on the back. Anyway, here is a picture:

I also made some rose bobby pins and ear studs:





Grandma Violet Cushion

Last week I was busy crocheting and on Saturday I. I got the pattern from The Royal Sisters on etsy.com. Here is a link: Grandma Violet Cushion

I used my stash yarn to make this pillow. It took three evenings to finish, so that's quite fast I guess. I didn't have a round pillow insert, so I decided to sew one in white cotton and stuff it with fiberfill. I love the button closure, it adds to the retro touch.

Front:

Back:

Noodleheads gathered clutch

On Sunday I made my second gathered clutch, using Noodleheads tutorial, which you can find here: Noodlehead: gathered clutch tutorial

I used a linen fabric with a nice print for the exterior, the card pocket and the divider pocket. For the lining I used a purple coton fabric. Here are some pictures.

Front:

Back:

Inside:

I'm quite satisfied with the result, but inserting zippers is still tricky for me. I always have the same problem when sewing the whole thing together. This is what happens:

I know I should sew right next to the zipper tabs, which I try, but I just don't succeed. I guess because the fabric sandwich is too thick or I don't have enough space next to it (and will be sewing nothing). So... Any suggestions are welcome.

Fall Shawl #3: Juicy Scarf

It took me a week to finally finish the third shawl. Again, this scarf is based on an ethnicdesign pattern. For the color scheme, I got my inspiration from kuler.adobe.com. I picked the color scheme "Beetle Bus goes Jamba Juice" (hence the name of the scarf). I picked out yarns from my stash that matched the scheme and started crocheting.

I used 15 different yarns for this scarf. It is 160cm long and 50cm wide (without fringes). Below are some more pictures.

Jewelry!

Today I made some jewelry. First I made some necklaces with wooden beads, with a vintage touch. I made one thinner and shorter version in red, as you can see here. The diameters of the beads range from 12mm to 20mm. It is 42cm long.

The other one I made in teal and is a bit longer and thicker. The beads range from 8mm to 30mm and the necklace has a total length of 50cm. Here is a picture.

Next, I made some earrings. First, I made a pair of red ones, a custom order for a friend:

Next, I decided to use the Czech teal glass bell flower beads I ordered some time ago on Etsy. I made three different types of earrings, as you can see below:

As I needed something nice to display the earrings, I created some cardstock earring cards. I did this just by cutting some cardstock, folding it twice, poking two holes in it and finishing of by decorating it with a butterfly and my name. Easy peasy ;) And it looks good. On the back side I wrote the url of my blog.

P.S.: If you're interested in buying a necklace or a pair of earrings, just send me an e-mail: tiens (dot) hands (at) gmail (dot) com.