Ocean inspired scarves in various styles handmade and designed by myself. Each one is One of a Kind in colour or style. Made with hand painted merino wool to give each design a special touch and style. You can see more information about each one at http://www.valeriebaberdesigns.etsy.com or http://www.valeriebaberknitwear.com
Many new designs including scarves, hand warmers as well as yarns and patterns to make your own scarf. Have a beautiful day today!
New Felted floral brooch on 3 different styles of scarves and a shawl. Now at www.valeriebaberdesigns.etsy.com Each is a one of a kind piece made with hand painted merino wool and alpaca. The Rose and leaves brooch is felted to add a nice textural enhancement. I will be working more more felted accents so pop by my Etsy store to see the latest.
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.
A sneek peek into Fall 2016 for Valerie Baber Designs with the new Stained Glass scarves, hand warmers, hats and ear warmers to come. I decided to revisit my Gothic Architectural designs and this time make the focus the Stained Glass while still using the Stone Tracery as a secondary focus. (Last time I focused on the Stone Tracery as the main view point) Here are a few of the newest designs in my Architectural Collection.
On the Purple and Orange scarves I have split the Stained Glass Rose Window Stone Tracery in half to show the more detailed Stained Glass windows underneath. The trim and style of these scarves have a Gothic Architectural essence and stone colours added in the beige or grey yarns. These two will be at the http://www.albertacraft.ab.ca soon for sale and I will be adding others to my Etsy store and Website at http://www.valeriebaberdesign.com or http://www.valeriebaberdesign.etsy.com as well as other unique pieces in the near future.
See my other blog postings for information about the other designs. Have a fabulous day!
NEW: Infinity T-shirt scarves in various colours perfect for summer. Made in various yarns including merino wool, hand painted merino wool and silk depending on the colour way. Perfect for year round wear ability to accent your wardrobe. Many new designs and more at www.valeriebaberdesigns.etsy.com
Coming soon to the Alberta Craft Council Gallery at: www.albertacraft.ab.ca and the Art Gallery of St. Albert at www.artgalleryofstalbert.ca
The Rose Onie scarf is now bigger and better!! I decided I needed to add a super bulky, extra long version of this design perfect for the cold winters we have here in Alberta. I may be adding other colours as well down the road. This one is done in a super bulky merino wool and is very soft and luxurious to the touch. Perfect to warm up a cold winter’s day with an elegant touch and sculptural design.
Available at http://www.valeriebaberdesigns.etsy.com
Many new designs not posted also at my store above as well as my website at http://www.valeriebaberdesign.com
The Floral Crochet Archi Scarf has an Architecture Edge to the design with the colours of stone used in these beautiful buildings as well as the Crockets and circular style of the scarf similar to the rose windows seen in these amazing buildings. A floral touch with a quatrofoil button finishes off the design. Available in other colours and made with hand painted merino wool. Shown with the Classic Edge hand warmers to compliment this design. To purchase or see more of my designs check out http://www.valeriebaberdesigns.etsy.com or http://www.valeriebaberdesign.com Wear this design to the front as shown or to the side as seen in these other pictures below.
Wired to the Past – Architectural Inspired Wearable Art: Scarves and more. See my latest post on my Architectural inspired blog at:
A Desperate Fortune Scarf and hand warmers designed for Author Susanna Kearsley and her newest book “A Desperate Fortune”. This one of a kind design was designed from the inspiration that Susanna used for her newest book. Take a trip into the past and present with this extraordinary book with a cryptic journal from the past telling a secret story in the present day of this written book. A fabulous read that includes suspense, deception, allegiance and love that will entice you through each chapter with plenty of visually written moments. Plenty of twists and turns to entertain you throughout the book and as always a surprise ending. I absolutely love this book, it is a must read so add it to your list soon.
I am fortunate that Susanna is a most wonderful friend and I thank her for asking me to work with her on this wonderful adventure. Like the two women in her book working separately, yet together though they lived far apart in time and Susanna and I in distance. It is a true pleasure being a friend of Susanna’s and I am so very proud of all she has done and continues to do. Awesome job my friend on your newest book!!! One of my new favourites by far!
The A Desperate Fortune collar style scarf (small scarf) and hand warmers are available for purchase together or separately at http://www.valeriebaberdesigns.etsy.com takes about 1 to 2 weeks to make. See more information about them at my Etsy store.
https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/234093633/stained-glass-rose-window-scarf?ref=shop_home_active_13
The present day character Sara wears various scarves through out the book and originally I thought of designing a scarf that included these various scarves. The Architectural descriptions in Susanna’s latest novel were speaking louder likely since I have been greatly inspired by Architecture of the past in my work this past year. I couldn’t wait to begin this newest member of my Architectural designs just for Susanna. Below are some pictures of the building Susanna was influenced by in her description of the building in the book. Susanna’s description: “The building with the windows is the chapel inside the old chateau of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, in France, which once housed the exiled Stuart kings of Britain and their courtiers. For me, having written for several years now about these people and their lives, actually getting to stand on this spot was a very moving moment, as this chapel would have been at the centre of their daily routines”.
You can read the first two chapters of this wonderful book here:
http://books.sourcebooks.com/adesperatefortune/
I began this journey into the past for the A Desperate Fortune Scarf with a crochet base of a light coloured stone as shown in the pictures above. Adding green at the bottom for the stained glass effect that the stone tracery would be adhering to down the road. You can see more of the progress in the pictures below as I design the stone tracery and add the brick colour to the scarf and hand warmers. There are two brooches that accent this scarf so you can wear it in various ways and use them to fasten the scarf. The are both Stained Glass Rose windows that were designed for these wonderful Architectural buildings of the past.
For the “A Desperate Fortune” scarf I used beautiful yarn from SweetGeorgia Yarns, a Canadian Company, who dyes yarn in wonderful colours that portray their local area and Canada. A fitting yarn to use since both Susanna and I are Canadian. The colours were perfect for this design with the light stone colour being the Birch colour way, the stained glass is the Woodland Colour way of greens and the brick is done in the Terra Firma colour way. All yarns were by SweetGeorgia Yarns in the Superwash Merino wool blend. SweetGeorgia yarns are as noted in the name, SWEET! One of my favourite yarns to work with, luxuriously soft and the colours are truly fantastic. I recently took a visit to Vancouver and popped into the store to see the latest colours and newest yarns for this year. They are even more delectable and wonderful than ever. I can’t wait to use them in my next series of designs.
Be sure to check out SweetGeorgia’s website at
I am off to work on some new Architectural designs and new designs for Fall. Come back soon to see my latest as well I am restarting my Architectural project as there was so much inspiration in my research that I have decided to go a different direction. I will blog my start on that very soon. Have a most wonderful day today.
