Crochet, the Sixth Sense

I must show you what arrived in the mail this month for my birthday:

It's a pretty gift bag full of Gifts for the Senses. It so happens that when it arrived, I was home all day every day taking care of my son who had a nasty flu. Imagine the cheer it brought to both of us! 


We played with each little gift -- a classic tin kaleidoscope for the Sense of Sight, a sweet French lavender sachet for the Sense of Smell, a pretty seashell for the Sense of Sound. 

A gift basket for the five senses is a great idea, isn't it? What really moved me was how crochet added to the total experience. A Lettuce Coral Crochet Kit represents the Sense of Touch -- you can see the box at the lower left corner of the second photo. 


Lettuce Coral is not just any crochet kit. It's designed and packaged by Kathleen Greco (she's a fellow Aquarian who created Gifts for the Senses and sent me this gift). Her crochet corals are part of the Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef that is currently on display at the Smithsonian. 

This is also not just any hyperbolic crochet; it's created with Kathleen's own Jelly Yarn(R), which has long fascinated my sense of touch LOL. I love that the contrasting color at the coral edge glows in the dark. 


And then there's the Sixth Sense, the Sense of Crochet. Don't you love this idea? That's what crochet is for me, a sixth sense! In this sweet little pink gift bag* is a bracelet Kathleen made herself, with a glass heart charm. 


*I'm using these pretty gift bags for my on-the-go crochet projects. They're weightless in my purse!

Happy Crochet Valentines Day!

I crocheted a last-minute Valentine card for my dearest sweetie. He's been my Valentine for 18 years of marriage (plus more years a-courting).

Each page of this Valentine Wishbook is a wish for my Valentine for 2011. (I've always wanted to crochet a book.)

I used Tunisian Simple Stitch for the center background because it's a great surface for adding er, um, embroidery. (Elsewhere I've confessed a weakness for using dimensional fabric paint as a stand-in for embroidery floss. Also, my menfolk like its vivid colors and raised textures.)

The ivory page with the glittery red heart on it is smaller because it's the prototype of the other pages. I didn't have time to make a larger ivory page! The paint requires a long drying time.

Once upon a time I was a young professional calligrapher for a small town. One year I created some special-edition deluxe hand-crafted Valentines. We're talking silk brocade, hand-tinted cameos, real lace trims. They were so labor-intensive that I couldn't sell them! I've carried them with me ever since, and there'd be a photo of them right here and now [insert photo of them here] if I could find where I stored them. One of them was a small hand-lettered book with parchment pages inside.

Plan A for my life's sweetheart in 2011 was to crochet socks. The socks are still happening, just not with a tight deadline. (Anyone who has knit or crocheted socks is probably smiling knowingly right now.)

A crochet Valentine's Day card worked out nicely today as a Plan B. I blogged a 2008 attempt for "Mr. DesigningVashti" and it's been on display in our house ever since.