Warm Fuzzies

Lacy Blue Crochet Earrings

Ever since I received the beautiful pearl earrings from Kari, I've been, well, obsessed with earrings.  Handmade earrings, because I'm a brat.  Last month, I had fallen in love with a pair (the bottom ones) that Stefanie had posted on craftster, and promptly hunted her down and coerced her into swapping with me  =).  She wanted me to recreate these lovelies (on top) created by the talented Erin, the creative force behind purldrop and sodafine boutique. 

Stefanie wanted blue earrings, and in my tiny, disorganized stash of cotton embroidery floss, I could only muster three different shades of blue.  This chart was used (convenient, no?) to approximate the color of the floss so that Stefanie could make an informed color choice.   

After I finished figuring out a pattern that I felt adequately approximated the earrings that Stefanie wanted, making the earrings didn't take too long at all.  I lightly sprayed the completed earrings with some starch, and ironed them to give the earrings a more professional finish. 

Here are the earrings that I received from Stefanie.  They're even more wonderful in person...the clear glass beads have just the right sparkle.  I would have gotten my hands on them even sooner if I had given Stefanie my real address instead of one that didn't exist (I wrote out the wrong zip code, doh!).

I also recently received a package of Berger cookies from Lera.  She had treated herself to one for her birthday, and when I mentioned to her that I had a sudden craving for them, she sent me a box...just weeks after giving birth to her sixth child!  She was way too good to me. 

Sorry, no picture...Kyle ripped into the box as soon as they got here...and they were gone in the blink of an eye.  Berger cookies + glass of milk = heaven.  It was a favorite procrastination snack for my roommates and me during college.  "Okay, okay, I'll work on the paper....after a Berger cookie," I'd say, and then pour myself a tall glass of milk, take a cookie and slowly nibble away at it for an hour.  Or more.  Ah, the memories.  Thanks so much, Lera!  There will be payback =p.

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Shortly after putting the crochet earrings in the mail, I felt an overwhelming urge to make a pair to keep for myself (I'm a born-again earring glutton, remember?).  So I did just that, using a different shade of blue embroidery floss.

* Erin has given me the okay to post a pattern for my version of her earrings!  So without further ado, here's a quick tutorial, in case anyone feels like making a pair.

Lacy Crochet Earrings

You'll need :

• about 2/3 of a skein of 6-strand cotton embroidery floss
• a size 6 crochet hook
• 2 silver earring hooks
• small sewing needle
• starch spray
  

R1: ch 8, slip the starting end of the chain through the bottom loop of an earring hook, and sl st into the first ch to join into a circle.  (sc, ch 3) in loop to count as first tr, 15 tr in loop, turn. (16 sts)

R2: ch 4, skip 2 tr, sc in next tr, ch 4, skip 2 tr, sc in next tr, ch 5, skip 3 tr, sc in next tr, ch 4, skip 2 tr, sc in next tr, ch 4, sk 2 tr, sl st into last tr, turn.

R3: 5 hdc in first 4 ch space, 5 hdc in next 4 ch space, (3 hdc, 2 dc, 3 hdc) in 5 ch space, 5 hdc in each of last two 4 ch spaces (28 sts).  Fasten off.

Use a small sewing needle to weave in ends.  Repeat R1-R3 to complete second earring.

To finish: Spray completed earrings lightly with starch.  Iron to set.

Crocheted Spider Web Earrings

I was walking around the city the other day when I saw a woman with the loveliest earrings buying a newspaper.  The splash of lacy silver had caught my eye, and I stopped in my tracks and shamelessly shuffled over to her side to take a closer look at them.  They looked like those beautiful spider webs that you sometimes see while hiking through the mountains.  And in the middle was a black spider.  The spider surprised me, you know, the same way that finding a roach in an unexpected hiding place would surprise me...I must have thought it was a real spider for a split second, because I gasped.  She must have heard it and noticed that I had been staring, because she turned to face me, pointed to her earrings, and said, "Martha Stewart."

Huh?!?  Before I could ask her to elaborate, she was already out of my sight, having rejoined the hoard of people out and about during their lunch breaks.  But I made up my mind then and there that I, too, would have earrings like that.  I went home and googled "Martha Stewart spiderweb earrings," and got nothing more than a bunch of eBay auctions back as results.  Maybe my mind was playing tricks on me, because the pictures in those auctions didn't exactly match up to the earrings that I thought I saw.  I thought the earrings were more delicate than bold, if that makes any sense at all.  So I decided to try making a pair for myself.



Here are my spider webs, complete with a cotton embroidery-floss spider.  At first, I thought I would wrap some wire a la loose God's Eye style to make a spider web.  But then, while looking for Halloween decoration ideas, I stumbled across this very nice crochet spider web table topper pattern (so cute! Did you see the candy cauldron that goes with it?).  I put two and two together, and decided to crochet wire to make the spider webs.  Instead of the yarn suggested, I used thin (32 gauge) non-tarnish silver wire, and a US size 9 (1.25 mm) crochet hook to make the web.   I loosely followed the table topper pattern for a few rounds to make the web for the earrings.  (As an aside...man is it hard to crochet with wire this thin!  And I thought crocheting thread required concentration...).  And for the spider, I pulled out four strands from a piece of black embroidery floss (usually made of 6 strands), and just double knotted the floss directly onto the web.  I trimmed the ends down, and voila!  8 legged spiders. 

I attached the spider webs to fish hook bases, and I had my very own pair of earrings.  I put them on immediately, and couldn't wipe the smile off my face for the rest of the day (heh, doesn't take much, does it?)

I made a couple more to give to a few friends as what I like to call 'happy' gifts.  For no special reason...just because.  It makes me happy.  And I hope it makes them happy, too.