Swapping Talents

One of my favorite things about crafting, is trading my talents with other people. I have a friend who is an AMAZING photographer, and we have swapped talents a few times. I make crocheted things (usually hats) for her kids and her business, and she takes our pictures. We both think we're getting the better end of the deal, so it works out perfectly!

A couple weekends ago, she took pictures for Elijah's 2nd birthday. We went to some old abandoned train tracks armed with balloons and toy trains and had a great time! For the first time in the 2 years she's been taking our pictures, it wasn't rainy, misty, drizzly, or wet! In February! Amazing! We had such perfect light for most of our session that she e-mailed me to ask if instead of doing a mini-session like we had planned, if I wanted the whole batch of pictures. Of course, I want the whole batch! We decided to make up the price difference by having her order some more things. First up, a flower scarf for her! This is the first time I'm actually making something just for Cassandra, and I started right away.

Cassandra's husband bought her a flowered scarf for Christmas, and she wanted another one, but in more saturated colors. I dug through my bag (ahem, bags) of yarn and pulled out all the jewel toned yarns I had - it was quite the pile! I decided on two different flower types, both from this book. First, I picked the 5 point flower but I tweaked it a little - I added a petal, and took out the picot points.

I started the flowers right away. A new project can not be put on hold while I finish other things...you know, like laundry and dishes. No, the creativity must be allowed to flow! :)

The 5 6 point flowers worked up really fast. I finished these 12 in a couple of days. Really, it should only have taken a couple of hours, but the whole laundry, dishes, making dinner, taking care of my kid stuff can get make things take longer than I would like...Then I made another set of the same flowers, only I switched to a hook two sizes larger, so I would have some flowers that were bigger. Here are all the flowers strewn about - I love how all the colors play off each other.

 

Arranging the Flowers

Next, I sewed all the flowers together using needle and thread. Yes, I know I could have joined them as I went, but I like being able to look at all the flowers I've made and decide on an order that is pleasing to the eye. This was especially inmportant since I was haphazardly choosing the colors as I made each flower. I really wanted to give it a "scrappy" look, kind of like that crocheted granny square blanket on the back of your Great Aunt Mildred's couch. (Anyone actually have a Great Aunt Mildred?). I'm quite pleased with how it turned out, and I hope Cassandra is as well!

All packaged up and ready to go!