fairest of them all

My love for crochet started because -- plain & simple -- I wanted to be able to somehow duplicate the delicacy & beauty of a doily.

And I am just head-over-heels, in love with this pattern designer...

Elizabeth Hiddleson

I found one of her patterns in this magazine:

This one is ~ Fairest of Them All.

And this pattern truly is!

The crochet thread is Coral 
Classic 10
by Aunt Lydia's
hook size 7

I read that Elizabeth Hiddleson began designing crochet thread patterns in the '30's and did this in her 'spare time' while working a full-time job & raising 2 children.  She designed over 200 patterns & lived to be 101 years old.  (Her birthday would have been this Thursday, January 31.)

Indeed ~ the fairest of them all.

Miss Lovey

When I was little I made a billion Heart People out of construction paper.  Yes.  A billion.

They hung all over the house and my scissors could not move fast enough to keep up with how many hearts I wanted to adhere together.

Sadly my construction paper days are over, but not my days of dabbling in yarn.

And if you can make Heart People out of paper ~ well...why can't you make them out of yarn?

This is Miss Lovey.

And she was made out of hearts, of course.

This is my most favorite pattern for a crochet heart -- ever.

After making 2 of my most favorite crochet hearts, I stuffed it and edged it with single crochet in white.

Button eyes, embroidered floss mouth, 2 tiny hearts for a barrette & heart-shaped hands & shoes for Miss Lovey.

It took me awhile to figure out how to make the arms & legs.  With paper, I would accordion-fold strips for the arms & legs.  So what to do with crochet?

How 'bout corkscrew arms & legs?

It's been awhile since I have done this stitch but I watched this as a great refresher on how to crochet a spiral/corkscrew.

I think she is lovely. 

♥ ♥ ♥...

a quaint heart

A heart.

For Valentine's Day.

I wanted something quaint & simple and seeing as how I had these gold rings from a crocheted belt that I was going to make...well, how about putting them to use for this?

A simple single crochet around the edge of the ring.

Round 2 is a super easy scalloped edging of ch 5 into every 4th stitch.

Then onto a heart.

The pattern for this I got from Nicky Epstein's book:  crocheting on the edge.

Traced the bottom of a vase & cut out a circle from cardboard and fabric...

...I folded and glued the edges down.  Then glued all of this to the crocheted ring.

Adhered the crocheted heart to the front & found a tiny, antique button in my button tin that was just perfect for this.

Quaint indeed.