Vancouver Bound…

May 16, 2014 | Valerie Baber Designs

Perfect time in Vancouver taking a break from our very long and cold winter. Couldn’t wait till our trees and flowers bloomed here so I took a quick trip to the coast to get my floral, ocean and mountain fix. The weather was amazing with sunny and warm days throughout the trip helping my family and myself thaw after the cold winter we had here.

I love Vancouver, it is easily my favourite place to be. This is a small collection of pictures that I took along our trip which includes many of my favourite places in the Vancouver area. I am always inspired by the nature, ocean, mountains and the city life that abounds in this wonderful city. I have included a shawl I recently designed with thoughts of Vancouver prior to my trip as I was dreaming of the standing on the beach watching the water and it’s magnificent movements and sounds. I will have more pictures to share soon as well as more information about this new design that will be patterned at some point so you can make your own version.

I also had the pleasure of popping into SweetGeorgia Yarns http://www.sweetgeorgiayarns.com for a peek at their amazing facility and stunning yarns. I will share more on this in a future blog as well as the beautiful array of colours and yarns I picked up on my visit. I will be adding their yarns to my Etsy site http://www.intricateknits.etsy.com with patterns I will be writing soon so you can make one of my designs for yourselves. Come back soon for more…have a wonderful day today!!

West Coast Inspiration…Embellished broches.

September 24, 2013 | Valerie Baber Designs

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/163618705/calming-waters-scarf-in-hand-painted?ref=listing-shop-header-1

https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/163723236/calming-waters-scarf-long-in-hand

Calming Waters Scarf – Beach Stone Broche

September 23, 2013 | Valerie Baber Designs

Calming Waters Scarf - short version — Calming Waters Scarf – short version

The Calming Waters Scarf with the Beach Stone Broche is the smallest style of scarf in my Calming Waters Collection. Made with Malabrigo Rios Hand Painted Merino Wool base with two different colour ways with Alpaca from Alberta www.albertarosealpacas.com for the sand, Rowan www.knitrowan.com and Malabrigo yarns for the stones with seaweed and ocean plant life done in a wonderful yarn by www.ancientartsfibre.com as an accent. (I previously Blogged about this wonderful yarn in my “Victory in Victoria” blog.

Done in the two different Ocean colour ways of Blue, greens and hints of purples, sometimes other colours. Accented with Alpaca, Blueface Leicester and Merino Wool. The broche can be worn on the scarf or on another piece in your wardrobe.

This design is based on my many trips to the ocean and the West Coast in particular. The inspiration

Calming Waters Scarf - Short Style — Calming Waters Scarf – Short Style

comes from the wonderful moments by the waters edge. The Calming Waters scarf is the movement of the water splashing on your neckline, or “beach”. The darker yarn shows the rippling of the water and the lighter becomes the waves. The 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. This design was made with crochet.

I wanted to design a piece where you could bring the calm of the ocean sounds, feel the sand between your toes with the memories of warm days by the beach. I will be doing this design in a orange, blue and sunset colour way for the ocean at sunset! Now you can bring your favourite warm memories by the beach with through the cooler days of Fall, Winter and Spring. It will also be available in a longer scarf and the Shawl/Shrug earlier in one of my Blogs.

The Calming Waters Shawl/Shrug. You can see more about this design or purchase it at www.intricateknits.etsy.com or www.vbaberdesigns.com