The Stuff of Life – Craft Gossip

The most memorable weddings are those that tell a story. The same is true of our homes. In her new book, The Stuff of Life, interiors stylist Hilary Robertson shares stunning images and thoughtful insights on our possessions, and what they reveal about our personalities. If you want to create a meaningful wedding celebration that truly reflects who you are as a couple, it’s as simple as looking around your living spaces and letting the colors, themes, and objects that you love serve as inspiration!

In The Stuff of Life, Hilary shares four methods for arranging the treasured objects and collections that we all seem to gather over time, and later in the book she discusses five categories of collectors and the various ways they approach styling the interiors of their homes. I find myself looking at this lovely book over and over, and I’m thrilled to offer a chance to win a copy to one of our readers! Just leave a comment on this post before midnight CST on Saturday, May 3rd, 2014. Best wishes to all the entrants!

I thought it would be fun to take some of my favorite images from the book and create inspiration boards based on them to inspire your handmade wedding celebrations. I loved the idea of the glass cloches above shown here with a seemingly random display of objects that in fact represent special memories and mementos.

The first board I created takes the concept of the glass jars and turns them into beautiful centerpieces. Gather items that have special meaning to the bride and groom, whether it be favorite books, flowers, childhood mementos, photos, or travel souvenirs, and display them singly or in groups. Click the links below for all the details on the centerpieces shown here.

Cedarwood Weddings

Collage Interiors

Remodelista

My So Called Crafty Life

Unruly Things

If you’re seeking a color palette, look no further than the colors you’ve chosen for your walls, furniture, and accessories! I love the monochromatic scheme of this still life created by landscape gardener and florist Lindsey Taylor, captured beautifully in the chapter “How to Arrange Your Stuff.”

I created a mood board based on the black furniture, neutral accessories, and the soft pink blooms in the photo that creates a marriage of sophisticated minimalism with a soft, romantic vibe. You can do the same for your wedding by taking the time to look at the colors of your home or wardrobe and incorporating those into your wedding decor!

Whether it’s a theme based on your travels or dream destinations,

the objects you gather while beachcombing or hiking,

or the vintage treasures you’ve collected along the way, look around at your home, your hobbies, and your interests for inspiration, and let your personality shine through in the way you style your wedding!

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It felt like it had been a while since I’d done a roundup of knitting patterns involving sheep, and if search is any indication, that is true. I found a roundup of patterns for knit sheep from a few years ago, but the only one with v I could find is from 2015. So it’s definitely time to revisit this fun genre of knitting patterns.

This all started with a headband. Alyssa Kaat’s Icelandic Sheep Headband (free on Ravelry) to be specific. Ravelry showed it to me as a pattern highlight and I couldn’t resist taking a closer look. It’s worked with two colors of worsted weight yarn and alternates sheep with stars around your head.

Another great sheepy headband is this one from Loch Fyne Crafts on Etsy. These sweet little sheep are worked in bulky yarn and you can make the background look like field and sky or work it in a solid color.

Or make a headband (or a hat, cowl, or all three) covered with a flock of sheep with this set of patterns from New Age Knitting CA. These pieces also use the field/sky coloring, but you can use whatever colors of worsted weight yarn you like.

Speaking of hats, there’s also the sheep hat from Lynann Knits Designs. The sample was worked in Icelandic wool to make the sheep and the hat extra fuzzy and warm, but any worsted weight yarn will work.

There’s also the Wandering Sheep hat from Kat Hudon (on Ravelry), which features a fun collection of speckled sheep that can be worked in different yarn weights to make different sizes of hats for kids and adults.

And lest you think sheep need to be knit in traditional stranded colorwork, check out the Rebel Sheep Mob blanket by Deborah Moore. This one is worked in mosaic knitting using fingering weight yarn. In mosaic knitting you’re only working with one color per row so it’s pretty easy. You can find this pattern on Ravelry.

I can’t possibly share sheep knitting patterns without mentioning the amazing Black Sheep Shadow Shawl by Mark Jamieson. Shadow knitting is a technique I want to do more of, but it involves working two rows alternating in two different colors and the pattern emerges when you look at the design from an angle. It’s so cool and the sheep on this one are amazing! It’s not a beginner project but well worth the work. You can find it on Ravelry or at the designer’s website.

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