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.