New design - crochet clutch

I was invited from the group plexi-class in ravelry to participate at a creative journey around the world, with the wonderful idea of Kostas, the group moderator, creating something inspired by Asia!
Traveling with my fantasy to Asia, I admired the amazing cherry blossom trees of Japan

and was inspired to create a crochet clutch! This was the first time I tried Tunisian crochet for the body of the clutch and I embellished the front side with a branch full of flowers and buds, while for the back side I choose stripes and two flowers for decoration. The clutch has cotton lining and closes with a zipper which is embellished with a tassel.

pattern for homeshoes

These homeshoes pattern is basically a converting acrochet project that I found in a Japanese magazine  (I have shown in an earlier post ) . I thought I'd turn it into a knitting project, which is indeed my favorite art .
It is a composition of 6 squares and two triangles and although I knitted together on the go,picking up stitches each time from the finished square to knit the next , I give you the easier version, that a novice knitter can create !
I chose this lovely bright blue color for the closed scarf I made for the upcoming issue of Brava ( February ) :

Royal blue was emerged strongly by the fashion designers last summer and this winter and for spring 2014 it is considered by Pantone color of the year , and especially the Dazzling blue

FOR THE SLIPPERS

You will need :
YARN : Zara of Filatura di Crosa 1974 electric blue color ( 100 % wool , 125m./50gr . ) , Two skeins .
Needle for sewing
The slipper has a length of 23cm . approximately . Fits size 38-40 .
For the squares: CO 20sts and  knit and 32 rows in seed stitch . BO (make 6 )
For the triangles : CO 20sts and knit 32s .decreasing 1st the beginning of every 2nd row until you have 3sts left . Knit the 3sts tog. and BO ( make 2 ) .
Thread the needle and  initially join the squares and triangles together according to the scheme:

 

Then fold and join together the sides as shown in the scheme. The oblique sides of the two triangles are open to the opening.

Weave all threads.

Finally Make 2 small pom pons and sew each one in front of the opening as shown:

 

Hooked on bags

This month I have been terribly busy at work (tax season in Greece) and after work I couldn't sit in front of the p/c anymore! But I wasn't lazy, I made some new bags, my favorite accessory!

Τake your dowry out of the trank! The new collection of Dolce & Gabanna for Summer 2011!

White is dominant in all summer collections. This year it is beautifully combined with gold!
The design duo at Dolce & Gabbana celebrated their quarter-century collection with a show done nearly all in white — and, according to Mr. Domenico and Mr. Stefano, they based it all on the items that would go in a bride's hope chest before she marries. 
Bedspreads, tablecloths, and curtains transformed into the duo's familiar hourglass sheaths, sexy skirtsuits, baby-doll dresses, rompers, and not a few va-va-voom corsets. Out they came in broderie anglaise, what looked like antique hand-tatting and crochet.

This is my new bag, inspired by their collection:

My new creations

Lately I'm hooked on bags!My mind is full of ideas for new designs!There are the new bags I have listed in my shop, I have a couple yet to finish :)

In-between I made these statement necklaces, playing with materials and colours:

New bag and spring bracelets

Finally I finished the brown bag and it's pattern! Good thing that the weather is still cold!

This week I had two days off from work, so I was creative! I made three new bracelets for spring:

The last one was made for the weekly challenge of the European Etsy team (est), which is hosted by  Dindi!
Now I'm working on new bag designs for spring/summer, I'll show you when they are finished :)

Coffee with the girlz!

Last Thuersday I went downtown after work to meet the girls for coffee!The meeting was set by Maria from her blog and of course I couldn't miss it! Mania, a good friend was there too, with whom we wanted for months to meet, but had not managed to do it till then. She brought for all of us memoirs from her granddoughter's christening, hanmade of course by her:

Aren't they lovely?

Panagiota was there too, aka Olivetreegirl and I was very happy to mmet her in person!Very sweet!I hope we can meet again! Maria had brought her knitting and we admired her work!
After coffee we went to the shops looking for yarn and I finally found the fine cotton yarn for crocheting I was looking for!I bought 20 different colors!

and the very next day I started playing with it!These are my two first creations:

And finally I managed to take photos from a crochet halter top I finished long ago:

Shopping therapy

The spring is coming, the whole nature is singing about it! The flowers have begun to bloom and the birds are singing cheerfully! And with in spring comes also the need for renewal! I made an extensive shopping therapy, first within Etsy and last week I went to the shops! No I did not buy new spring clothes and shoes, to be sincere I didn’t even look at these windows! This winter I managed to gain  five entire kilos and I have decided that I will not buy anything new until I lose them! I bought however various materials in order to experiment with new creations! I bought gorgeous fabrics and felts and made cute brooches!

The fabric flower pins or corsages made intense appearance in this spring  fashion shows and they are a fantastic accessory for decorating  an evening dress, or to  wear on your favorite jacket or it to adopt the style of Sarah Jessica Parker, placing a pin flower above a simple t-shirt.

Tutorial how to make a flower corsage with silk muslin:

1). Cut for the individual petals about 24 recktangles of fabric approximately 7x7 large. You can cut some smaller and some larger pieces. On the top of each piece cut with the scissors formin two curves:

2). Stitch the petals together along the bottom edge using a gathering stitch, one after another, until you have all the petals stung on the thread:

3).Draw the fabric up tightly, creating a flatt circle of petals and tie off:

4).Embellish the flower with a button, or beads:

5).Cut a disc from felt and sew a pinback on it, or cut with the scissors two small lines and pull the pin back through them without sewing :

 6) Glue the disc to the back of the flower with fabric glue and your corsage is ready!

I made this brooch for this week's eurpean team challenge, which is "your favorite traveling destination", chosen by Zsazsazsu!Visit her blog to see all the lovely creations made for this challenge!. I love to travel, and every place on this planet is for me a favorite destination, but I chose Paris, which is a fantastic city, and I have visited three times, but I can never had enough of it!