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.

A very special award

A few months ago I responded to the call of the famous magazine Vogue Knitting and took part in the international competition «The Warmth of Mohair Blanket Design Competition", organized by the magazine and sponsored by the organization «Mohair South Africa", for the desinging of a knitted or crocheted blanket, using yarn with at least 25% mohair content in it's composition. 
The magazine's staff selected 10 projects as finalists from all entries, which were exposed two weeks ago during the big event VogueKnitting LIVE Passadena, where the final review of the entries was made three projects were awarded by impartial industry experts. Projects were judged on the conception, the uniqueness of the project and adequacy of the technical implementation. 
Drawing inspiration from the hottest decor trends of the next season, which have ethnic influences, I created a design with a pattern reminiscent of Moroccan tiles, but choosing more sophisticated color combinations.
I'm incredibly excited because my design  won the second prize of the competition, which is the 1st Runner Up and People's Choice and my pattern will be published in the festive issue of  Vogue Knitting magazine. :)

Fashion trend houndstooth

Houndstooth (or hound’s tooth), known to the French as “pied de poule” and to Americans as  “dog’s tooth” also, is one of my favorite prints. It is a checked pattern with broken checks or abstract four-pointed shapes and has a timeless classy and chic flair.

This winter it's one of the hottest graphic patterns.

Although it is traditionally in black and white, colored houndstooth print are also making their way into the fashion industry.

It is a classic pattern that can never be out of style.  You can find skirts, sweaters, pants, coats, scarfs, bags in this classic pattern. It looks great when combined with black, white, grey, red, burgundy, yellow and  other colors.

I love Stella McCartney's houndstooth dresses and coats for this winter.

Focus on : Stella McCartney's Houndstooth by montaignemarket featuring a black and white houndstooth dress

coat: nastygal.com

 karen millen coat from lyst.com

houndtooth dress, shabbyapple 

If you are reluctant to adopt this pattern in a dress or coat, you can wear an accessory like a scarf or bag and be in style:

Houndstooth by cindycook10 featuring an oversized purse

Juicy Couture handbag (see more satchel style handbags)

And if you like knitting, you can knit my  houndtooth clutch and have your unique and timeless piece of accessory: 

Time for knitting!

Finally fall is here with rains and chills! The ideal weather for knitting!

I decided to play with wool and make a colorful felted bag, inspired by the beautiful fair isle & argyle designs.

 Ralph Lauren

 Tommy Hilfinger

The bag is large, closes with an internal metallic frame and can be easily be worn on the shoulders with the bright leather handles! Charming addition two large tassels attached on the front!

Fashion trend colour orange

The main color of the new season is, without any doubt, the energetic orange. Bright, positive and capable to arouse only good emotions, orange is the best vitamin and cure to the winter blues.

Voted as the colour of the year by Pantone, tangerine tango is one of the hottest colour trends of spring/summer fashion 2012.

The colour was popular in the 20s and 60s and began to ascend in popularity again last year, belying the argument that orange is uplifting and comforting during miserable economic times.

Whether teamed with a pair of jeans, worn as a dress, or used to accessorise, orange shades can easily add a bright burst of colour to your wardrobe.

Dolce e Gabbana, Marc Jacobs, Jil Stewart 

Mulberry, Oscar de la Renta, Vivienne Tam

This is my new shibbori nunofelt scarf inspired by this colour trend:

Fashion trend SS2012 pastels and my new scarf

I made a new shibori scarf after a loooong time, inspired by the beutiful pastel hues that are so trendy for this spring/summer season!

Pretty pastel hues popped up all over the Spring runways from many designers such as 

Ralph Lauren, Oscar de la Renta, Issey Miuake, Carolina Herrera, Versace and Valenitno. 

I  love this feminine color palette – lavender, mint green, candy pink, saturated coral, light yellow and sky blue !

 The upside for this trend is that it's both pretty and appropriate for the season. The downside for petites is that light colors tend to visually add bulk.  For those who still want to wear pastels, but don't look their best in pastel clothing, it would be easy to add a touch of light color with pastel fashion accessories, such as a pastel handbag, a bag or jewelry in pastel hues.

My new bag in the classic black and white fashion trend

If you are not sure about a colour combination, you can always rely on black and white, because it is easy for creating a fairly effortless wardrobe.

The crisp contrast of this classic combination is always in style, it’s classic, simple and very sexy and look good on every woman, no matter what is her hair colour or skin.

Monochrome is one of the simplest, most chic looks and never fails to gain attention when done well.

Marc Jacobs' collection was inspired by 40s silhouette and he combined this idea with futuristic elements, presenting a collection full of metallics, latex, hats, turtleneck sweaters, patent chunky boots, aggressive use of lace and lots and lots of polka dots.

One of the biggest trends of this season, if we talk exactly about bags - a combination of black and white. It is embodied in the form of cells that mimics the texture of the costume fabrics, prints “zebra”, abstract stripes and so on.

In the collection of  Salvatore Ferragamo were presented clutches from black and white tweed in the  classic style ”goose foot”.

Dolce and Gabbana have pleased there fans with bags- wallets with prints in the form of piano keyboard, musical notes, stars and animal prints in black and white.

My new bag is inspired by this trend: 

My new project!

When I find fantastic yarn in fantastic prices, I can hardly resist!!I have said it before, I'm a yarnaholic :) When I arrived home from holidays, the package was waiting for me! Two packets of a gorgeous silk yarn, two packages of a delicious synthetic yarn in velour tape from and some skeins of fancy yarns:

And guess what? I grabbed my needles right away!!

And made this scarf:

New necklaces

I have written many times before about the creative challenges of the Europeanstreetteam of Etsy! The last months I didn't participate to most of them, but I try as much as I can, because it is a good motivation for creativity!

This week the challenge theme is "rainbow" and is hosted by Natalie, aka Dinafragola! You can visit her blog to see all the gorgeous submissions. I'm participating with this necklace:

I also joined an other challenge with monthly themes, the  "Being Creative" project of   Julia Crossland and made this necklace for the June theme "Ocean":

And since I started making necklaces, I was inspired to make some more: