merino wool scarf

NEW Modern Essence Scarf crochet pattern

| Valerie Baber Designs

The NEW Modern Essence Scarf crochet pattern is an easy to make pattern that has a modern contemporary style perfect for any wardrobe. Designed just for you to warm your day with elegance and style. Wear this contemporary scarf on the outside or inside of your coat for a different look. Made with a DK weight yarn to keep you warm and cozy in the colder days. Easy to crochet pattern that is perfect in any colour combination including neutrals, bright and bold or soft pastels. Change the colours so there are stripes of colour or use gradient colours that move from light to dark for another unique touch.

Yarn: Takes approximately 230 yards / 210 m of DK weight yarn of your choice if you are making a solid coloured scarf add a bit of yarn in a contrasting colour if you are making with a different coloured trim. You can use most DK weight yarns for this design just make sure you check your tension if before starting especially if you are using a different yarn. Makes changes at your end if necessary.

Yarn Used: The dark gray scarf is made with 1 skein of Sweetgeorgia Yarns 100% Superwash Merino Wool DK 256 yards / 234 m per skein and the light gray scarf was made with 2 balls of Diamond Luxury Fine Merino Superwash DK 138 yards / 125 m per ball plus a bit of another colour for the trim.

Various crochet patterns by Valerie Baber Designs are available at: 

Etsy store: www.valeriebaberdesigns.etsy.com or Ravelry www.ravelry.com/designers/valerie-baber

Follow me on my Instagram, Twitter and here on my Blog for the newest patterns, free patterns, weaving adventure, crochet journey and other fiber related items. 

Have a fibertastic day!

Weaving a Clasped Weft Scarf

| Valerie Baber Designs

The other week I decided I wanted to learn clasped weft weaving. With 3 colours in hand I decided to warp the dark purple and use the 2 lighter colours on the weft. One is hand painted Colour way of light purple, blue and hint of mauve pink and the other a tonal hand painted merino wool in the mauve pink colour. I love using merino wool it is so soft and lovely to wear.

The great part about clasped weft weaving is your free to decide on each row how far to move each colour. You can do so many things with this pattern. Check out the various YouTube videos online for great demonstrations on how to do this weaving technique.

Clasped weft weaving is something I want to explore further in the future. Maybe some mug rugs will be next.

Various crochet patterns by Valerie Baber Designs are available at: 

Etsy store: www.valeriebaberdesigns.etsy.com or Ravelry www.ravelry.com/designers/valerie-baber

Follow me on my Instagram, Twitter and here on my Blog for the newest patterns, free patterns, weaving adventure, crochet journey and other fiber related items. 

Have a fibertastic day!

Rose Onie Scarves are back!

| Valerie Baber Designs

The Classic Rose Onie scarf in beautiful soft chunky merino wool is back!  Various colours are available as shown in the pictures. Available at http://www.valeriebaberdesigns.etsy.com and http://www.valeriebaberdesign.com

This design was designed in memory of my amazing mother.  She loved flowers and gardening.  Roses remind me of her and her beautiful personality.  I miss her so especially around Christmas time which was the perfect time to bring this design back.  My mother loved Christmas and made it such a special time for all of us.  You will notice many of my designs are embellished with roses, this is the reason.

Made with beautiful soft hand painted merino wool perfect for this design.  There will be other similar styles coming soon with various READY TO SHIP ones as well currently available and coming soon.

Check out more on my online stores.

Beach Stone Scarves

| Valerie Baber Designs

Beach Stone Scarves in various styles and colours are now available on my stores at www.valeriebaberdesigns.etsy.com and www.valeriebaberdesign.com

Made with hand painted merino wool that is soft and luxurious to wear.  Available in the blue, ivory and gray backgrounds with beach stones and sea plants you see on the beach.  One of my favourite places to go is Vancouver, Canada.  The yarn used is from SweetGeorgia Yarns which is also in Vancouver, Canada.  A perfect match for this design as Felicia often uses inspiration from the area for the colours of her beautiful yarns. The blue is called Deep Cove which is a beautiful area outside of Vancouver that has water this amazing colour.  I had a great time popping into SweetGeorgia Yarns last week when I took a visit to Vancouver.  More on that later….

You can purchase my designs locally in the Edmonton, Alberta, Canada area at:

Alberta Craft Council:  www.albertacraft.ab.ca

Art Gallery of St. Albert:  www.artgalleryofstalbert.com

 

Floral Architectural Essence Scarf

| Valerie Baber Designs

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Celebrating today that I am back designing again after a difficult injury that spread to both arms making it impossible to knit, crochet and doing basic things everyday.  I want to thank my amazing family who were my hands and arms during this time.  They truly are amazing and I am so blessed that I have the most amazing husband in the world who stopped to look after me when I couldn’t.  I am so grateful for everything you do.  I also want to thank my amazing kids  who also became my hands and helped me everyday including cooking!  (I now have some awesome cooks in the house!!)  I wouldn’t have made it through this time without them.  Thank you all so very very very much!  My favourite thing in the whole world is being with you!  You guys are my everything!  THANKS!

As an Artist it was very difficult not to create everyday like I was used to.  At first it was almost painful to not knit or crochet creating what inspired me that day, but as time went on and I began to let go and take the time to rest my injured arms. I began to relax and design in my mind.  Though it was a very physically painful time it also gave my mind and arms a rest which I found calms your creativity and lets you fine tune things.  Sometimes set backs are actually steps forward, we just can’t see them at the time as we get lost in the emotion and hardship of the moment.  I have been able to crochet a bit this week and finished this scarf I had been working on prior to my injury.  It felt so good to create again.

The Floral Architectural Essence Scarf is a combination of two scarves (a long two tones scarf with slits I put in and a vine frieze scarf woven through them.  I designed a floral brooch that can be used on and off this design or other items in your wardrobe.  I also made an all ivory one I will post later.   I haven’t decided if I am selling this one yet as I love it so much I may have to keep it. 🙂

See more at www.valeriebaberdesigns.etsy.com

New Designs and more…crochet and knitting

| Valerie Baber Designs

Stone Tracery XLarge Scarf

Now available on my Etsy store at www.valeriebaberdesigns.etsy.com Many other unique scarves, hand warmers, hats and more.  Check out the newest designs too.

It has been a long hard 10 weeks since I injured my right arm especially since I haven’t been able to knit or crochet since then and still not able to.  I have to say it is almost torture for a designer not to design and create everyday, but at the same time it gives you rest (even though your kicking and screaming LOL).  The injury progressed to my left arm due to over use looking after the right arm and then angered my neck and shoulders so just when I thought I was making head way everything was a mess.  Glad to say that this week I finally feel like I am getting back to doing some things myself again and it feels great.  Part of my injuries was over use from working to hard on my creations, but you know you just have to knit and crochet as it’s so much fun.  I did try to dabble a little with more pattern writing, perhaps I will work on that again soon.

I hope in the next few months that I can once again pick up my needles and create new pieces.  Luckily I was working on new designs all year prior to my injuries and will have more new designs on my Etsy store soon.  You can also link with www.valeriebaberdesign.com for my new Etsy Website.

You can also purchase my many designs locally in Edmonton, Alberta at www.albertacraft.ab.ca or in St. Albert, Alberta at www.artgalleryofstalbert.ca

Stained Glass Window Scarf – Gothic Architecture Inspiration

| Valerie Baber Designs

stained glass scarf large window scarf9stained glass scarf large window scarf

Stained Glass Window Scarf is based on the Stained Glass Windows of past Architecture with a trim reminiscent of Gothic Style Architecture. As I continue to work on my Architectural journey with yarn and needles I am inspired by many different styles and designs of the past that continue to influence us today.  In previous designs I have concentrated on the Stone Tracery on Gothic Architectural buildings.  This year I will be concentrating on the Stained Glass with an undertone of Stone Tracery and other aspects of design.  I have always loved Stained Glass and even took some course on Stained Glass for a couple of years.  I know the depth and extreme talent, patience and skill it takes to make and design a window like this.  It is very time consuming and you need to be a perfectionist to achieve the finished product.  I can tell you having made Stained Glass in the Past that is much easier to crochet it like I have.  I love both working with glass and with yarn, but now that my designing is in yarn again I just had to let my inspiration go in this direction.   SEE MORE PICTURES BELOW.  At the bottom of these pictures you will see the underside of the Stained Glass Window showing 3 buttons you can use to fasten this design where you like.

Various designs are available at www.valeriebaberdesign.com, www.valeriebaberdesign.etsy.com  and other local store locations (message me for locations of stores in the Edmonton, Alberta area).

This is my first try at Stained Glass with yarn and there is definitely room for improvement and fine tuning so pop by again to see how I improve and enhance this stained glass crochet.  I will be selling a few down the road and will let you know at that time where.  This is just the beginning of this adventure so come along with me and join in the journey by following my Social Media where I will post new blog posts and listings in this Collection and more.

This scarf was made with beautiful www.sweetgeorgiayarns.com in the dk weight Super Wash Merino wool on the base of the scarf.  The metal trim around the “crochet glass” pieces was done in the exquisite Cashluxe Spark yarn in the Slate colour way.  It has a lovely sparkle to it that shines in the light giving that perfect metallic essence.  The Stained Glass pieces were done in www.malabrigoyarn.com Rios yarn that I had on hand.  I love combining different yarns from different companies at each is unique especially when it comes to hand painted yarns like these.  Each skein of hand painted yarn is done perfectly just for you to expand the Artistic journey for the item you are making.

 

 

 

Lace Shawl/Scarf with Stained Glass Brooch

| Valerie Baber Designs

Lace Shawl – Scarf – Poncho with a Stained Glass Rose Window Brooch showing the details of the stained glass window that is under the Rose window tracery.  This design shown in two different stone colours has the “Wired to the Past” design essence that I am continuing to work on this year.  You can wear this design as a poncho/shawl or a scarf depending on where you fasten the buttons and brooch.  The brooch can be worn on or off this piece.  See the slide show below for the various ways to wear this new design.  Other styles and colour will follow as I have time to make them.

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Yarns used in this design are mostly from www.sweetgeorgiayarns.com

See more of my designs at www.valeriebaberdesign.com, www.valeriebaberdesigns.etsy.com