Huesday Tuesday 8.13.13

Huesday Tuesday 8.6.13

Huesday Tuesday 7.30.13

A freshly finished project and new yarn

This project has been a bunch of blocks slowly accumulating in a bag for so long, I can hardly believe that it's finally finished. I am so excited!

I was first inspired to make this blanket when I saw this tutorial. It was free at the time, but now it's on her Etsy shop. I really liked the idea, but I wanted the bobbles to be further apart. I improvised my own motif for the blocks, and I'm really happy with how they turned out. I wish they were a little closer to the actual proportions of legos, but I still really like them.

Once I had 120 blocks (phew!), I joined them together with single crochet on the long sides into 10 rows of 12 blocks each. Then, I joined each row together with single crochet. Finally, I did a single crochet all around the blanket. The nice thing about joining this way is that I was able to crochet in all the yarn ends, so I only had one yarn end to weave in at the end. Nice!

My nephew is coming into town this weekend (which is who I made this for). I'm so excited to give it to him. I hope he likes it. His mom (my sister) thinks he will, so I'm hopeful.

I also got a shipment of yarn in the mail yesterday - some Drops Safran. I've used this yarn before, and I love it. It's 100% cotton that's so soft and shiny, and look at those colors together. Don't they look nice? I can't wait to get my hooks into those.

Welcome to our new blog feature: Huesday Tuesday

From now on, here on A Pinch of Katy, every Tuesday will be Huesday Tuesday. I will post a color palette from an inspiring picture. I'm very excited about this new feature. I hope you enjoy it.

Where to find color inspiration

I love to play with color when I'm making and designing, but I'll admit, when I'm in the store or on a website shopping for yarn, I get stuck. I'll grab a few colors I like and stare at them forever, trying to figure out if they will look good together in a final project. I'll grab random people as they go down the aisle and say, "Hey, do you think these go together?"

Honestly, there have been quite a few people who have said I have a good color sense when they see my designs, but I don't really feel that way. I had a lot of trouble matching colors when I was growing up. When I started dressing myself, it was quite common for me to go to school in clashing outfits. Even now, a good 25+ years from when I started dressing myself, I do not often take chances when picking clothes to wear. So, for both reasons above, I find it very helpful and inspiring to find color inspiration online, and I will share the best resources I've found below.

Sure, this one is obvious, but it's still worth mentioning. Tons of people post pictures for the purpose of color inspiration, and you can use your Pinterest boards to catalog all the inspiration you've found elsewhere. And, when you find good images on Pinterest, you can use . . .

. . . to create a palette from the image. You can also use Color Hunter to generate palettes from an image and see palettes that other people have created.

Another great compendium for inspiration is Colour Lovers. You can find pictures, palettes, patterns, individual colors, and more. There's so much, it's really kind of overwhelming.

If you're looking for ready-made palettes, these sites are great resources.

The Perfect Palette is branded towards weddings and parties, but there are still many great palettes to use for your designs.

Design Seeds is by far my favorite site for color palettes. Not only does she provide the photo and palette for inspiration, but she also posts the hexidecimal code for each color. So, you can copy and paste the codes for use in your website or paste them into Photoshop or your preferred photo editing software. The color scheme for this blog is based on one I saw on Design Seeds.

Creature Comforts also features regular color inspiration posts. You can also find DIY tutorials, free printables, and other inspiration on the site. It's really quite a nice blog, all in all.

For the Love of Color has some beautiful palettes as well. You can browse them by color in the right hand menu, or click archives to browse by categories such as food, interiors, or nature.

Color Collective has almost 1,000 bold and interesting palettes.

And, you know what? I love these things so much, that I think I might start posting some palettes myself.

Sneak Preview: Doily Necklaces

Take a look at some of the new items coming soon to the shop. I am very excited about this new line of jewelry. Here's just a smattering of what's to come. What's shown below is made of some vintage mercerized cotton thread, but I've also gotten my hands on some great organic cotton thread in some great colors that I am absolutely in love with.

Crochet Inspiration: Summer Tops

I'm definitely a year-round crocheter--I can't even go a day without getting a hook in my hand--but it can be hard to find inspiring projects for the summer. In that vein, I have rounded up a collection of summer top patterns, a couple of shrugs, and some things that are just meant for inspiration. 

Patterns

Festival Fancy Vintage Top

This free pattern from Coats and Clark was originally published in 1956. Some things never go out of style, and with vintage being so in right now, this seems like a great choice.

Botanical Pullover

This beautiful pullover is on sale for $3.85 right now. It would be great over a sundress or as a swim cover up.

Muse tunic

I like the look of this tunic in the Summer 2013 issue of Interweave Crochet.

Tango Tunic

This tunic from the Spring 2013 issue looks quite pretty as well.

 

Beatriz Shrug

This gorgeous shrug was published in the March 2013 edition of Inside Crochet. An electronic version of the magazine can be purchased in the Apple app store or on pocketmags.com.

Hannah Tee

I am loving this t-shirt from the June 2013 Inside Crochet. This pattern and the one before it are enough to make me want a subscription to the magazine.

Clarice

The pattern for this top is available for $6. I love the stitch pattern in the body.

Lizzy's Lace Mantelet

 This gorgeous shrug is from the book Austentatious Crochet. All the designs in the book are inspired by Jane Austen, and all the ones I've seen are so beautiful and romantic. There are quite a few in the book that would be good for summer. You can download the Kindle version here or buy it in print here.

Striped French Sweater

The pattern for this cute striped tee is available for free here. Click on the Cami/Tee picture link to find the pattern. Pierrot, the Japanese yarn company that puts out this pattern, has a ton of cute, free crochet patterns. I highly recommend checking it out.

Miranda Crochet Summer Top

 Is this not gorgeous? The pattern is available as an instant download by Queenieamanda on Etsy for $5.50.

Ruby Cropped Cardi

The pattern for this cute cropped cardi is published in Blueprint Crochet Sweaters by Robyn Chachula. She is a great designer. I own this book, and I can recommend it highly. It can be purchased here.

The Cropped Tank Top

I think this tank by Sara Dudek is super cute. She also has a t-shirt version of this pattern and several other very cute designs. The pattern is available as a $5.00 Ravelry download.

Unchain My Heart Tunic

Another great tank top, this one is by Doris Chan, who is awesome. I love the mix of a lacy stitch pattern and the post stitches.

Starlet Top

This pattern, available for $5 as an instant download, is by Elevenhandmade. Check out her shop to find many other unique, fun, and funky designs.

Rainbow Crochet Shrug

I think this shrug is so pretty, as are the other shrug patterns in BernoliesDesigns. This one is available as a $4.99 instant download.

Flowers and Tiles Top

This pattern is available as a $6 Ravelry download. It's such a cute motif pattern, and wait until you see the neckline.

Inspiration

Roots and Feathers

This mesh crochet top originally came from Forever 21. A nice comfortable and casual look, it seems easy enough to make something similar. I love the pockets.

Crocheted Summer Cotton Top

This top can be purchased from IngasHandKnits on Etsy. I love the uneven hemline that follows the lovely flower motifs.

Crochet Medallion Top

This is a junior's top from Nordstrom. It looks like two large square motifs. Very cute.

Flowery See-Through V-Neck

This gorgeous top does have a pattern, but it is out of print. Maybe someone is selling it on eBay.

Crochet Vest Summer Top

This top is by SmilingKnitting on Etsy. I love the flower motifs with the jewels. It's a very nice detail.

Viva Luxury

I love this whole Bohemian look, but that crochet top is great.

Slamb the Jam

I absolutely adore this blue crochet dress. The author of the post picked it up at a thrift store for $3. Can you believe it?

Not enough inspiration or just don't want to undertake as large a project? Why not try embellishing existing tops with some crochet?

We the Free Bootcamp Tee

Pop-Hop Sleeves

Add sleeves to an tank top or t-shirt.

Sweet 70s Blouse

Replace the top of a shirt with a crochet yoke.

Crochet White Tunic

Boho Love Gray Cold Shoulder Crochet Cut-Out Top

Or, embellish your top with a crochet doily.

Tinsel and Twine

I paid a visit to the Tinsel & Twine Summer Market on Saturday, and let me tell you, it was great. It took place at Homestead Manor on a beautiful green lawn. It made for a great late spring day. I spent more than I planned, but I got some great stuff and saw some inspiring booths.

Here is the booth for Two Green Olive Trees. I got the cutest little shirt with a striped tie on it for my son, and I love her linen banners.

These beautiful cuffs are by the talented Peggy Vessels who was sharing a booth with Charlie Duncan of Gravel Roads Finds and Designs. Unfortunately, I did not get a website for her, though I'm pretty sure I found her on Pinterest. I also know they will both be at Bella Rustica in August. The display for these was so clever. It's painted PVC pipe hanging on some cord. I also bought some great old wooden trays from their booth. I'm planning to use them for display in my booth, and I also found they make a great backdrop for photos for my Etsy shop.

Here's the booth for Perfectly Picky. I almost bought that little green set of drawers in the back. I'm still thinking about it. I love it, but I have no idea where it would go. The kitchen, I guess. I love their sign, too.

I love the big flowers at the top of the booth for Where Roses Bloom. I didn't get it in the picture (Darn it!) but they had a sign for their shop sitting in an old typewriter. It was so clever and different. They also had a bunch of great vintage suitcases. I bought a beautiful black beaded clutch purse from the 1960's from them.

I didn't get the greatest picture of the booth for The Faded Farmhouse. The had a pretty big booth, so it was hard to get a picture with a good idea for the look of the whole booth. They had a lot of great old furniture. I bought a framed sign for my son's room that says, "Future Man Cave," with a moustache on it. Very cute.