West Coast Inspiration…embellished broches from my visit this past summer. One of my very favourite places to visit as noted previously is the West Coast. In my travels there this year I visited several amazing knitting stores such as the Beehive Wool Shop where I found some amazing Canadian dyed yarns. Here is the outcome of some of these yarns I discovered.
These broches will accompany my various Calming Waters scarves and shawl as well as other Designs this Fall and Winter. I used a variety of yarns for each broche trying to keep a bit of Canadian on each one.
This is the Tide Pool broche, made with Alberta Made Alpaca in the sand colour base from www.albertarosealpacas.com The purple starfish are often seen in the Vancouver and Victoria tide pools and on the rocks by the shore. The Beach Stone and Seaweed are also strewn amongst the tide pools along the beach. The Seaweed is done in beautiful yarn by www.ancientartsfibre.com with the stones being made in Rowan Felted Tweed www.knitrowan.com
The Beach Stone Broche is a combination of the sand with beach stones and the various plant life and seaweed that are placed around by the strength of the waves. Bringing fond memories of walking along the beach with sand between your toes listening to the sounds of the water on a wonderful sunny day. I used Ancient Arts Fibre yarn in this design as well adding a bit of Alberta to the design for another Canadian touch.
The Coral Reef broche is full of different types of coral with a starfish hiding amongst it. The vibrant colours are seen in coral that dances along the bottom of the ocean
with surprises like the starfish nestled within. I was inspired to make coral by the Zen Garden yarn from www.zenyarngarden.com as the colours spoke of coral and other wonderful colours in the ocean life.
The last broche is the Grouse Mountain Broche that was inspired by the yarn from www.sweetgeorgiayarns.com in their Grouse Mountain Colour way. I embellished this broche with a mountain range in the back, stones and rock in the centre and surrounded by the beautiful trees of Grouse Mountain and the Cedars around the area. For those who don’t know Sweet Georgia Yarns is a Vancouver Company, which is very fitting for the design.
This venture was truly enjoyable. Designing some of my favourite memories and sights on my trip is a great way to record what I did and saw. I am already looking forward to my next travel adventure. You can view some of the scarves and the shawl below in the links.
Have an inspiring week!
https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/163633495/calming-waters-shawl-shrug-in-hand?ref=shop_home_active
https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/163723236/calming-waters-scarf-long-in-hand
Valerie Baber Designs 
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