How to size a hat – I broke my own rule!

02/08/201503/08/20151 Comment

I broke my own rule, I followed the pattern and even though I knew it was getting too big I kept going…

Unravelled crochet hat

so I have unravelled and will start again tomorrow!

I am currently working on so WIP’s so I hope I will have something more interesting to show you soon, but I’m getting worried as it’s been really quite warm this weekend and crocheting in Sydney Summer is just not done!!

Sydney Winter

Frozen blueberries in the sun

But eating blueberries in the sun is absolutely the done thing!!

I made this today! Newborn half double crochet shell pattern hat

30/07/201530/07/20152 Comments

In fact, I made it in less then an hour… as I thought I had another weekend to make this and it turns out the Mum-to-be’s last day is tomorrow!!

Newborn half double crochet hat

So as she loves white, and I had some white baby wool, she will soon be the proud owner of a white newborn hat…

There’s no pattern, I kinda made it up, but I’m sure there is a pattern out there somewhere for this.

I hope she likes it! I hope you like it!

Newborn half double crochet hat

I made this today – Crochet Amigurumi Tea Cup

25/07/201530/07/20157 Comments

After some not very subtle hinting from my Mum I made my first Amigurumi project today! Mum send my a Pin on Pinterest with the oh so subtle comment “hint hint”. As I’m on a bit of a family crochet gifting theme and it’s her birthday soon – shh don’t tell…

I used this free Lion Brand pattern and add the embellishments from the hint hint picture.

Making an Amigurumi Tea Cup in the sun – Psst, the back ground will be featured in the next post..

We had a girls day as hubby was at work, and it was a beautiful Sunny Winters Day.

We also did coffee and Gelato followed by some playing in the fountain…

which led to, some op shopping for a dry size 4 top….

followed by some sitting on a mat in the sun on the grass, crocheting, playing with Robo Poli cars and picking dandelions.

Crochet and Robo Poli outside

I hope Mum likes it and is OK with my firsts ever Crochet Amigurumi and its little faults… It’s a bit lop-sided and I’m thinking the saucer should have been the other way up….

This one can be used as a pin cushion, my Mum is a sewer, I put rice in the bottom and ripped open an old pillow (go the upcycle) to stuff the top.

Crochet Amigurumi Tea Cup

Amigurumi wasn’t as fiddly as I thought, though this is quite a big Amigurumi, and it has made me quite keen to try another one, maybe for the upcoming niece/nephew…

Have you tried amigurumi? Any amigurumi hints and tips?

I made all of this! Crochet Stash busting and family warming.

20/07/201530/07/20153 Comments

You may have noticed a bit of crocheting for my nieces lately, well it’s all ready to ship but I thought I’d show it off first!!

The ribbed mittens have already been expressed down, as miss Z was very cold in her new cold climate and mittens small enough were proving hard to find.

Ribbed Crochet Mittens

I made her a beanie as well…

Crochet Lady Bug Beanie

And then I made this random snoodie…

Snoodie

Not sure who that’s going to fit, hopefully miss Z as my sister bought her a set with mittens, scarf and beanie, but they were too big are have gone to miss J.

Purple is her favourite colour

Meanwhile I made miss J these…

In her favourite colour.. Purple

Ribbed Crochet gloves that reminded me of boiled sweets!

I started with a rib and just kept going.
Hippo Hat

Cos it was purple…

More appliqué!

Lexi helped..

Lexi “helped with the plaits”

Find the free pattern here on Repeat Crafter Me…

Wearable together without, hopefully, being too over powering.

So just in case, I whipped up one of my signature items from last year…

Last minute Beret for Z

This took me less then 2 hours to whip up! I’m really hoping it fits, but I’m pretty confident as I’ve had a bit of practice with these. If you are using the hand measuring method of sizing for the beret, you will need to go almost double the hand size and then come back in to the right width. I count how many rows I’ve gone past the beanie size and then bring it back in that many rows…

So.. minus the pink mittens, here is the final shipment!

Shipment for nieces

Hopefully this will get them though the cold winter and I can make some more for the older one next year and “hand-me-down” from mine to the younger one.

I was hoping to do some serious yarn busting with this project, but it doesn’t look any smaller… baby and Toddler hats just don’t take up much yarn!

Now I should really fit some study in before making an Infinity Scarf for my sister, hoping to barter it with one of her amazing prints!

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KEEP CALM CRAFT ON {CRAFTING ON}

How to size a crochet hat

19/07/201530/08/201514 Comments

I see crochet patterns all the time where they have all different sizes from newborn to large adult. And it doesn’t always turn out the right size, with different yarns and tension. But in reality, if you have the recipient (or a similar sized one) nearby there’s a much easier way to size the hat.

Since you are usually starting from the top, you need to start flat – magic circle – and work a flat circle by increasing until you suddenly stop increasing and work down the sides. So when does this happen?

Answer: when the circle is the size of the wearers hand.

Please the wearers hand on the circle to know when to stop increasing.

Place the wearers hand on the circle to know when to stop increasing.

As I was making a hat for her cousin who is about a year older, I did another round of increasing and then started down the sides.

The resulting hat

The hat is slightly too big for her, as I did the extra row of increasing, so hopefully, it will be perfect for her cousin!!

I hope this helps! Give it a try, pick a favourite stitch and make up your own crochet hat pattern, start with a magic circle, increase by the number of stitches in the magic circle every row until it’s as big as the hand. Good luck, tell me how you went?!

PS. babies heads are a bit disproportionate and you should make sure their hand fits comfortably inside the circle before starting the sides.

I MADE THIS TODAY – CROCHET TODDLER LADYBUG BEANIE!

13/07/201530/07/20155 Comments

Magic Circles

yes sorry I did finish that magic circle from the last post, I MADE THIS TODAY –

CROCHET TODDLER FOX BEANIE! and it did include probably enough magic circles to cure my obsession with them! It was not today but the day after the fox beanie, only by then my cold had gone to chest infection and blogging dropped to lower priority.

LadyBug – My daughter, not my niece

I’m slowly getting the hang of appliqué, at first I was trying to use the crochet hook, but once I accepted the sewing factor and moved to an embroidery needle I enjoyed much success.

The lady beetle beanie is for my niece and based of this pattern from Repeat crafter me. I’m really liking this blog, lots of free crochet pattens and soo cute!

Ribbed Crochet Mittens for my 16 month old niece

I haven’t sent this one down to my niece yet, as I’m work on a few more things for her, but I did express a pair of mitten to her as that was the original reason for all this crochet-wear.

The thing is, my niece has a super cute sister who my little one just adores, and it’s just not done to send for one and not the other, so we have some purple and cream mittens in the making that remind me of boiled sweets.

Boiled Sweets Mittens

Purple is her fave colour ever!

I will definitely write up some instructions for these as they are super easy and my 16 month old niece will apparently not take them off!

Until then!

I Made This Today – Crochet Toddler Fox Beanie!

05/07/201521/07/201525 Comments

I Love one day crochet projects!! Not only is there faster satisfaction, it’s more likely to be finished rather then fall into the WIP list… Also great for last minute gifting..!!

I’d been think of this one for a while, and then when my sister posted a pic of her little one in his Mum’s beanie cos he’d grown out of his… There is a story behind the fox theme for my sisters family, but thats another story.

When I saw this perfect coloured soft burn orange yarn my mind was made up. I then found this pattern which was perfect and well written. Repeat Crafter Me – Fox Hat

I’m a little obsessed with photographing my magic circles right now

There was a break for dinner..

And Finally Finished after small person bed time

And I just couldn’t help starting the next one…

Can you guess what this magic circle will be?

Well it won’t be finished tonight, so I will continue on and hopefully it won’t end up on the WIP list xx

Crochet Blogs – Aussie Style

02/07/201507/07/20153 Comments

So I’ve been looking through some Aussie Crochet blogs for a bit more local influence. Makes sense really; seasonally, terminology and shopping wise, not to mention supporting my local crafty blogging community. And I thought I would share.

Suburban Jubilee – I feel like I just been on a journey with Jubilee, there is more than crochet and I loved the balance. Lots of yarn and project as well as glimpses of the Grandkids. Yarn and pretty stuff!
Crochet kitten – A good blog – for blogspot – great pictures and original free patterns.
thedovenest – Lots of craft on this page, great pictures and her approach to crochet really suits my style, intuitive with many project on the go at once…
littlewoollie – A feast for a crocheters eyes, great pictures and colours. Once again, a lot of things on the go and the large number of pics really appeals to me. Great colour crochet!!
The royal sisters – I love the Aussie content and the support of the Aussie wool industry.
Katies kitchen blog – I wouldn’t call this a crochet blog, but she is very good at Granny squares and the crochet and quilting are nice eye candy
howtocrochetaheart.blogspot.com.au/ – A very good learn to site. Original patterns and great pictures. Call out for pattern testing
Crafts Mum Ship – Lots of great crafts and pictures. Mummy stuff too.
Future girl – Free patterns for crochet and knitting
gege crochet – Original patterns for crochet and felting

So that would be my first ever “10 best … ” list. it’s as much a reference for myself as you. I’m going to keep building on it, feel free to add more into the comments and I will most likely do a part 2.

meanwhile, here is a sneak peak at my current project…

I love this yarn!