The fantastic art of crochet

I wanted for a long time to make a post about crochet, seeing this beautiful art’s revival through more and more sites and decoration blogs. And even if you cannot crochet, you can find beautiful crochet readymade trims to use in your decoration.

In country living I found a beautiful article with decoration ideas, using readymade crochet trims. Bethany Lyttle writes:

"Evidently, sight isn't sufficient for the full appreciation of crochet. Otherwise, why does the hand reach, almost reflexively, to touch its pretty looped designs? Crochet lace, for centuries a household embellishment in most homes, and long deemed a needlecraft worthy of study by young women in both Europe and the New World, continues to capture the attention of anyone who sees it. Even for those whose tastes tend away from romantic touches, there is an almost instant attraction to its unassuming loveliness and charm. In part, this is because crochet edgings, while pretty, are rarely showy or overdone. And, whether we know how to crochet or not, we all know someone who did. Crochet edgings bespeak our grandmothers, aunts, and mothers, suggesting a quiet attention to detail and a loving extra touch....".

In Apartment therapy I found these beautiful stools:

Moonbasket has gorgeous lamps, vases and votives decorated with crochet:

And as always, Etsy is the best source for incredible crochet creations:

Shown from top left:
crochetbautterfly, namolio, kirevi, FebystanDesigns, suili,AprilAdriance, OnelifeRosen, joyoustreasures, uloni, verityunmondoaparte, sixskeins, Ebruk, JaneBoFelt, swakdesigns, 

elde, Yoola

With great joy I read in several forums and blogs, that young girls show interest in learning this art and because I read that many of them have difficulty to read and understand the symbols and shortcuts in the charts, I have here a picture with the basic symbols:

and  here you will find the instruction for the basics of crochet.
Have fun :)

Lace

Lace is an openwork fabric, patterned with open holes in the work, made by machine or by hand. The holes can be formed via removal of threads or cloth from a previously woven fabric, but more often open spaces are created as part of the lace fabric. Lace-making is an ancient craft. True lace was not made until the late 15th and early 16th centuries. A true lace is created when a thread is looped, twisted or braided to other threads independently from a backing fabric.
Originally linen, silk, gold, or silver threads were used. Now lace is often made with cotton thread. Manufactured lace may be made of synthetic fiber. A few modern artists make lace with a fine copper or silver wire instead of thread.

Types of Lace

There are many types of lace, defined by how they are made. These include:

Needle lace; made using a needle and thread. This is the most flexible of the lace-making arts. While some types can be made more quickly than the finest of bobbin laces, others are very time-consuming. Some purists regard Needle lace as the height of lace-making. The finest antique needle laces were [made] from a very fine thread that is not manufactured today.

Cutwork, or whitework; lace constructed by removing threads from a woven background, and the remaining threads wrapped or filled with embroidery.

Bobbin Lace; as the name suggests, made with bobbins and a pillow. The bobbins, turned from wood, bone or plastic, hold threads which are woven together and held in place with pins stuck in the pattern on the pillow. The pillow contains straw, preferably oat Straw or other materials such as sawdust, insulation styrofoam or ethafoam. Also known as Bone-lace. Chantilly lace is a type of bobbin lace.

Tape lace; makes the tape in the lace as it is worked, or uses a machine- or hand-made textile strip formed into a design, then joined and embellished with needle or bobbin lace.

Knotted lace; including Macramé and Tatting. Tatted lace is made with a shuttle or a tatting needle.

Crocheted lace; including Irish crochet, pineapple crochet, and filet crochet.

Knitted lace; including Shetland lace, such as the "wedding ring shawl", a lace shawl so fine that it can be pulled through a wedding ring.

Machine-made; any style of lace created or replicated using mechanical means.

History of lace

References to lace are made in the Bible in the Book of Exodus (Exodus 28:28, King James Version). Lace was used by clergy of the early Catholic Church as part of vestments in religious ceremonies, but did not come into widespread use until the 16th century.The popularity of lace increased rapidly and the cottage industry of lace making spread throughout Europe to most European countries. Countries like Finland (city of Rauma), Slovenia (city of Idrija), Belgium, Hungary, Ireland, Malta, Russia, Spain, Turkey and others all have their own unique artistic heritage expressed through lace.

In North America in the 19th century, lace making was spread to the Native American tribes through missionaries.

Also, St. John Francis Regis helped many country girls stay away from the cities by establishing them in the lacemaking and embroidery trade, which is why he became the Patron Saint of lace-making.

Information  from Wikipedia

Modern creations with lace:

Gorgeous creations with lace in Etsy:

From left to right: Malam,Paperstreet, Garterlady, Littlesparrownest, LaCamelot, OnTheInside, WolandandMoon, SassafrazzDezigns, Tcbooutboot, Dollymolly, Loveheylola, Kambriel, YourWayEmbroidery, MySacredHeart, Tortillagirl

Two bags I made with flet and lace:

Etsy Greek Street Team

Ι'm very happy to announce that we have our own group now in Etsy! The Etsy Greek Street Team, a team of Greek artists/crafters! We are still getting organized, but you can already find us in flickr and our blog!

One year in Etsy!

The last months I had big problem with my internet connection (it was broken constantly) and the last 10 -15 days I could not stay connected by no means!!!! As soon as I made connection, automatically it was cut!!! Finally, with my nerves out of control, I found the solution coincidentally: the USB port was to blame, which worked with anything else, but did not work with the mobile modem!!! Finally I inserted it in one of the back ports and it works regularly now (I hope it stays so!!!!) and her I am !!!!! In between my wallet was stolen and I have been running all week for new identities, cards etc, my oven broke and I had to go buy a new one, find carriers to take the old one and an electrician to connect the new oven!!!! With my panic I forgot that ago 3 days I closed one year in Etsy!!! And hardly yesterday I found the article of Etsy about the Greek Etsians!Follow the link to meet us!

 Vicky (Aranwen) prepared a splendid article! Thanks Vicky!!

Also yesterday the Greek Team of Etsy in Flickr was created! If you want to see what Greek crafters/artists are up to, click here
Since I could not connect to the internet, I took the opportunity to re-arrange my photo files, to take new photographs with my new doll and of course I was crafting like crazy! (I made various bangles with felt and embellished them with beads or with buttons:

The perfect gifts for knitters!

For the modern knitter, there is a vast variety, not only of yarn qualities, but also of accessories! I found the best ones to show to you:

Fantastic bags, from leather or fabric, to carry you knitting project with you, and clutches and cases to store and protect you knitting needles and crochet hooks:

Namaste accessories:

Jordana's Paige bags:

Lantern Moon has a beautiful selection of needle and hook-cases, and also beautiful wooven needles. Click here to read a beautiful story about the family who makes the needles!

On Etsy I found lovely needle cases, handmade needles, stitchmarkers and fantastic yarn:

Plainjanetextiles, Knit, Selana1505, Rmkush, Lanea, TemptressYarn, Larimeloom , Gomonkeydesign, Slippedstitchstudios, Knottynaomi, Chelle, Snowberrylime, Namasteglass22, WeirdAndTwisted, Souptoknits, Hobbledehoy

If you like gadgets, Nancy's Knit Knacks introduces a light for knitting in the dark. Knit LightTM provides a bright light in a targeted zone where your knitting is. Can be used by a passenger in a car and even in a movie theatre.

NeedleLite offers lighted knitting needles:

For those who like organizing, there is Knit Witty, an organizer designed especially for the witty knitter, complete with calculator, pen, pencil, a pad of refillable paper and a needle tracker.

Caps for the cold

Caps are in this season, they are also the perfect accessory against cold. They are easy and quick to make, and are a splendid gift idea too.

Simple cap

You will need: 100gr. Yarn, double pointed needles, or circular needles Νο.7-8 mm.
Gauge: 12 sts and 18 rnds = 10x10cm.
Pattern: knit every row
Rib: 1 k, 1p.
Instructions: Cast on 60 sts. Work in rib for 6cm. Cont knitting for 8cm. For the crown-shaping, in the next row slip the 15^th stitch to the right needle, knit the 16^th and pass slip stitch over knit stitch. Repeat with the 30&31, 45&46 και 60&1. Repeat the same every second row, until you have only 12 st left. Pass a double thread through the 12 st, pull tog tightly and secure end.

Beret

Rib: 1 k, 1p
Stitch: Brioche stitch

1 row= *slip st as if to purl, yarn over,purl 1*, repeat from *

2 row= * knit the slip stitch together with the yarn over, as one stitch, slip st as if to purl, yarn over,purl 1*, repeat from *

3 row= *slip st as if to purl, yarn over, knit the slip stitch together with the yarn over, as one stitch*, repeat from *

We repeat rows 2-3.

Gauge= with needles No.8, 8 st and 20 rnds = 10x10cm.

Instructions: Cast on 54 sts. Work in rib for 4cm with needles No. 7. At the last rnd, in every 3^rd knit st increase as following: knit 1, purl 1, knit 1 = 72 st in total.

Change to needles No.8 and continue with the brioche stitch. When we have height of 12cm start the crown-shaping:

*knit together [1 kn,1p,1 kn] together with their yarn-overs, continue 5 st in brioche st, repeat from * 9 times = 54 st.

At 19cm height, at the second rnd of the pattern, knit two st together, then * knit together [1 kn,1p,1 kn] together with their yarn-overs, continue 3 st in brioche st, repeat from * 8 times = 36 st.

At 25cm height, at the second rnd of the pattern, knit two st together, then * knit the slip stitch together with the yarn over, as one stitch, purl 1, repeat from*.

Turn the knitting over, to have the wrong side infront of you. Knit together ever 2 st = 18 st. . Pass a double thread through the 18 st, pull tog tightly and secure end.

And if you don't like or don't know knitting, you can also buy a handmade cap from Etsy:
From left to right:
deepindigo, tonsyn, crazyjaneknits, modestambition, Silvia66, jillroska, Iryna, Nikifashion, SandAndSkyCreations, HotBeads, mymamahat, countingstitches, branda, raghousenternational, katarinacouture, knittingguru

New creations

Finally I managed to take photos of my new creations!

Do you remember the "Africa" challenge? HaHa!This is the bag that I wanted to make for the challenge, but I didn't make it on time!I finished it, but I'm not very satisfied with the result and I will keep it for myself :)


Another creation inspired by the "Africa" challenge. This one was knitted and then felted!



  I also knit some neckwarmers!

I also made some felt necklaces!

Small sweet caps

On Sunday morning we gathered at Sofie Vamvaka’s place (Kangaroo) and knit together baby caps for the “KNIT ONE-SAVE ONE” campaign. We had a wonderful time! We knit and chatted and had coffee! I have a parcel ready to go, but I’m expecting some more to come from ladies that couldn’t make it on Sunday and will knit at home and bring them to Sofie’s shop.

I want to thank first of all my good friend Sofie, who gave us the space, and organized the whole event, by moving later a programmed seminar!!! I also want to thank all the ladies who responded to the invitation and came!!

Thank you girls!!!

Ι wish that next year we will be much more!!!

 Zoe with her knitted cap!

Litsa with her knitted cap!/>
Helen with her cap!
Aspa with her knitted cap!
Helen with her knitted cap!

Young girls knit too!!

  Maria with her knitted cap!

Katerina came and brought her knitted cap!And I had the chance to meet her!A very sweet person!

Eugene with her knitted cap!

The group with the creations!!

This is my cap!

Do you remember my Secret Santa present? Well, it traveled to Sweden and made it to Britta's home!See here more!Thanks Britta for your lovely comments!!


Αnd finally I managed to take pictures of my "Aqua" creations:

 Ι also finished this neckpiece: