crochet shawl

Lavender and Lace Shawl and Scarf crochet pattern

| Valerie Baber Designs

lavender and lace combo

Lavender and Lace Shawl and Scarf Crochet Pattern:  New design by Valerie Baber with 2 styles to make.  The longer wider Shawl or large scarf size or the smaller scarf size.  Shown in a beautiful fingerling weight yarn by SweetGeorgia Yarns called Flaxen Silk.  This yarn is perfect for all year long.  The design can be made with most sock weight or fingerling weight yarns.  The inspiration for the Lavender and Lace shawl scarf pattern is the beautiful lavender that is a calming essence for all and can adorn your wardrobe any time of year.

Other new crochet patterns are available at www.valeriebaberdesigns.etsy.com

Wired to the Past Gradient Shawl – Black to Grays

| Valerie Baber Designs

wired lace shawl poncho black to snowfall6

MORE PICTURES IN THE LOOK BOOK LINK BELOW, Check it out.  🙂

wired to the past shawl pattern look book teaser

Check out the new Wired to the Past Gradient Shawl Look Book and Photo shoot fun in the link above coming soon to www.valeriebaberdesign.com, www.valeriebaberdesign.etsy.com  The Wired to the Past Gradient shawl is part of my collection “Wired to the Past”  where I am taking inspiration of the past in design and architecture and “wiring” it to the present in yarn with an essence of the past.  This shawl has a wired feel to the design in both the colour and stitches.  I used beautiful yarns from www.sweetgeorgiayarns.com that include the Party of Five Gradient mini skeins in the Graphite with a skein of the Cashluxe Spark yarn that has a lovely sparkle effect especially when light hits it a certain way.  This really shows up in evening light beautifully giving it a metallic essence perfect for the Wired Look I was going for.  To top it off it is extremely luxurious yarn.

On a side note, I would love to start patterning some of the many designs I have made over the years, however whenever I start I stop as it is just not what I enjoy nor it is something I am good at anymore.  I used to design kids and adult sweaters and accessories and pattern them for others to enjoy, but that was years ago.  When I took my Interior Design and Interior Decorating it opened a part of my designing mind that hasn’t been able to stop since.  I absolutely love the designing process, it is where I experience pure bliss.  I scribble down in my notes, very messy notes, of what I did in some sort of short form that I can’t always read later.  You would think I would know better by now lol.  🙂 There they sit on pieces of paper, books, post it notes and other strange places that were available when my thoughts and hands started designing the newest idea.  It’s a dilemma that I struggle with as I would love to pattern many of my designs, but it really is not in my skill set to do this well anymore.  I can be honest about that and though I wish it was something I excelled at I feel it is more important to be who I am and create in the realm that I was meant to be in and that is in the designing end.  Perhaps one day I will come across a company who is look just for a designer or a person who is wonderful at pattern writing and just loves this part more than designing and we could work together to bring you beautiful patterns to make.

This is one of my dreams I wanted to share with you today.  You can’t always have everything you want or be good at everything, but if you work hard at what you are good at, concentrate on that skill set you will become great at it down the road.  Don’t get side tracked by the ideas and goals others think you should take or even the ones you feel you should be adding to your goals because that’s what other people do.  If it is not who you are you will not enjoy it and then what is the point! If you are a designer, then design to your best ability.  If you are a pattern writer than write the best ones you can.  In whatever you do work the best you can at it and enjoy it. Work together with people who love what they do and the outcome will be amazing and great.  When we work together to support each other and help each other everything is better.  Perhaps one day I will find a company who wants a designer to design and nothing else or a group of people or another person who whats to collaborate our skills and make amazing designs and patterns together for you to enjoy.

I have struggled for a long time about this and have tried doing some recent pattern writing, but it truly is not something I am good at anymore as my mind is purely on designing and I truly enjoy it.  Designing is my bliss where I can create something new on a daily basis.  Designing something I am inspired with each day or take an old design and revamp it into something better and continue in my adventure in design with yarn and some needles.  Working with colours and textures with beautiful yarns that are hand painted by other Artists and creating something special with these amazing yarns.

My newest love of yarns is from www.sweetgeorgiayarns.com the colours Felicia designs and the staff make are just amazing and inspire me everyday to design something new. The Wired to the Past shawl above was inspired by their new Part of Five Gradient yarns in the Graphite colours and their new Cashluxe Spark yarn.  The outcome of these two yarns together is so very soft and elegant with and edge. The Cashluxe is stunning with the soft sparkle in it that comes alive when light bounces around in the evening, it really is a beautiful stunning yarn. The Part of Five Collections are so fun and fabulous to work with, check out some of their newest colours including the lightest one in the shawl called Snowfall.  This colour is so elegant!  I absolute love them together.  I wanted to pattern this design and share it with you as I love making them.  They are calming and relaxing and easy for most people to make, but my dilemma is as above when I get to the pattern writing part I stop.  I would love to share this pattern with you, perhaps down the road something will come together and I will be able to share it with you.

I am currently selling various knitting kits with patterns and yarns by Sweetgeorgia Yarns on at www.valeriebaberdesign.com and www.valeriebaberdesigns.etsy.com  More to come including yarns soon.

In the meant time I will continue to do what I love and design and create what I am inspired by each day.  Be inspired today and remember to do you best at what you love!

Midnight Garden Shawl – Second version

| Valerie Baber Designs

 

The Midnight Garden Shawl – second version.  I was asked by a customer if I could make her one of my Midnight Garden Shawls which was one of my first free form type shawls.  I don’t usually keep notes or pattern write for my free form style pieces so that I can keep them One of a Kind, but luckily I do take a lot of pictures and used them as my basis to design from making changes along the way to make this newest member of the Midnight Garden Shawls unique.  This time I wrote it down so that I may reuse this design to make other shawls etc. with a similar design essence.

The Midnight Garden shawl is a One of a Kind Wearable Art Shawl made with 100% Hand Painted Merino Wool. Soft and luxurious high quality yarn that is hand painted with a stunning colour way of Teal and a Midnight colour of deep purple,  blue, green and tones in between.

The Midnight Garden Shawl is designed with the thoughts of walking through a garden in the late evening, Midnight Garden. The colours portray this feeling with the different crochet used throughout the design.

Starting from the Neckline of the Shawl I will tell you the story of the design. It starts with the Teal green which represents all the green in the garden and in this case the green grass on either side of the walkway, which is the stripe of Midnight yarn through the middle. As you walk along the path you see the flowers dancing along the side of the walkway at the bottom of the shawl. They are attached with crochet to give the essence of the vines and such you seen through the garden.  The ruffles are the vine like plants you see throughout the garden walk. This is how I interpreted this walk in my Midnight Garden.

The Midnight Garden was a true pleasure to design and Crochet and I look forward to designing more shawls soon.

You can see more of my designs on my Etsy store at http://www.valeriebaberdesigns.etsy.com  or my website at http://www.vbaberdesigns.com  My most recent work is on my Etsy store.

This particular Midnight Garden Shawl is going on a trip to Austria which is exciting as I have never been there.

Calming Waters Shawl…Inspired by the West Coast

| Valerie Baber Designs
Calming Waters Shawl/Shrug
Calming Waters Shawl/Shrug

The Calming Waters Shawl…Inspired by the West Coast, particularily Vancouver where this picture is taken.  Vancouver is one of my most favourite places to visit and just be!  I had the pleasure of living there for 2 years many years ago.  Love everything about it, but then I am a city girl by heart. I love nature and the country too, but I come alive in the city.  This particular shawl was in inspired by my many visits to Vancouver and most recently Victoria, B.C.  From the first time I set foot on the West Coast I felt an immediate calm.  Strange in such a large and vibrant city

Calming Waters Shawl
Calming Waters Shawl

that one could feel this peace and serenity, but it is the one place where I can stand at the very beach where the picture is take and just feel at one with the world, relaxed, calm and alive at the same time.  I could sit there all day just enjoying the sounds and sites of the water and everything around it.  I love strolling around Stanley Park and enjoying the different scenery as you move along the sea wall.  Smelling the scents of the ocean, local plants and trees enjoying every moment of it.  This is the reason I was inspired to do a collection this year on water and various ways it moves along this world.  This way we can wear a piece of our summer fun and great memories while we endure a colder climate and dream of warmer days.

Calming Waters Shawl/Shrug
Calming Waters Shawl/Shrug

The Calming Waters shawl is inspired by the movement of water with the rippling water seen in the base of the scarf in two different hand painted yarns.  I used the Malabrigo Rios hand painted Merino Wool in two different colours to add the various colours you see on the ocean while the water is moving about.  At the neckline the waves gently crash on to the beach (your neckline) and land softly around you reminding you of your favourite moments by the waters edge.  The embellished broche is a combination of waves and ocean plant life in merino wool, hand spun yarns, silk and cashmere of various yarns.  I may add some other embellishments later, still thinking about it.

There will be two sizes of scarves with the same theme in the future as well as a waterfall scarf.  Who knows what else I will design along the way.

Calming Waters Shrug Shawl
Calming Waters Shrug Shawl

To see more of my Water Theme scarves visit my website and link to my etsy store at www.vbaberdesigns.com or go directly to my etsy store at www.intricateknits.etsy.com  There are also a few past blogs on some of the current designs in my Ways of Water Collection.

You can wear this shawl/shrug in many different ways as shown here.  I will be adding more designs to this collection as I continue working on them with my inspiration of the water ways, or in this case the way of the water.

Have a most wonderful day and don’t forget to be inspired by your surroundings and people around you.

Calming Waters Shrug Shawl
Calming Waters Shrug Shawl