Hats - Red Cloche and Brown Beanie

Finally, here are the latest hats. :-)


Red Cloche

This is a deep dark red merino wool cloche hat - all my own design. The wool is a very soft 100% merino Debbie Bliss Rialto Aran yarn. It's warm and cosy and will keep your head warm all through the winter (even if we should have snow!). It can be hand washed, however, remove the ribbon first.


The top is crocheted in a spiral.


The brim is split and longer on one side than the other. It can be worn with the split at the front, either side or at the back. All versions look different and make this a very versatile hat.


I made loops to thread the organza ribbon through. It allows the hat (a medium size) to be adjusted.


Here's another view of the hat from a different angle.



Here's the felted flower in detail. It was needle felted in 2 different reds and black and it's a brooch so can be taken off. The hat looks just as good with just the ribbon.


Beanie Hat

This is my new style beanie hat. I saw lots of beanies with wider ribs and really liked the pattern BUT I didn't like the edge as they seem to get very raggedy with the wider ribs so I added a rolled up brim to the hat, which I think finishes it off nicely.


The beanie has been knit from the same Debbie Bliss Rialto Aran yarn as the red cloche. Below you can see the lovely quality of the wool. The colour is not as light as the picture below, but rather like the picture above. To get the detail I had to use a flash which 'distorts' the colour.




The red cloche will go into my Etsy shop, the other was a private commission. However, I am happy to make more of the beanie (or cloche) hats. I have several other colours available and can always get more. If you have a particular colour in mind, just contact me and I'll see if I can get it.

The cloche hat will be for sale at £25, the beanie for £14 (plus P&P).

Beanie, Wrist Warmers & a Snow White Sneak Preview

I did promise to post some pictures after the last teaser post.

Purple and Black London Beanie

Here's the beanie hat I made for Ben. I found the pattern for it on the net. It's been designed by Mark Thrailkill and if you fancy making one yourself, here's the pattern.



I slightly changed the original pattern to what Ben wanted and also to suit the wool I was using, which was slightly thinner than the one in the pattern. The wool I used was DK Super Stylecraft in black and Emperor. It's widely available and has the advantage that you can just chuck it in the washing machine. Very useful with a beanie hat. :-)


Teal Cable Wrist Warmers

I found this lovely pattern on Etsy in Nunt's Shop.


It was a lot more challenging than I had envisaged for my very first pair of wrist warmers, but I liked the pattern so much... and the pattern instructions were very good, even though I had to teach myself the Magic Loop Method of knitting in the round. I found a great tutorial video on YouTube. I also had to do other things I'd never done before - like make a thumb gusset! I'd done cabling before, but that was a long, long time ago and never anything as complex as the knotted pattern in the middle. However, I am so proud of myself that I managed this and they do look halfway decent and are lovely to wear.


The wool I used is teal bamboo which I adore. It's lovely and soft and great to knit with. Apparently it's also hypoallergenic and has some healing qualities (for most of us, some people find it itchy). The only quibble I have with it is that the threads the yarn is made up of separate quite easily which can make for messy knitting if you're not careful, otherwise I loved the yarn and I think it works really well with the pattern.

Here's the pattern in more detail. :-)



Snow White Necklace Preview

Here's a flower I felted ready for my Snow White necklace. It'll be quite a long necklace with the felted rose as a centre piece.


I've used merino wool, crystal organza and beads. The rose isn't quite finished yet, the edges still need tidying up and I am considering using some fabric stiffener to make the rose more sturdy as it's going to be used on a necklace.



More to come soon....

... I've almost finished my green chenille shawl. It's currently being blocked. I still need to make the Sakura felt flowers to decorate it (which I am about to do). The edging (my own design based on an Edwardian design - more about that later) turned out really pretty and so far it's turned out much better even than I thought it would. :-)

Yarn Addicts Anonymous

Caroline and I have been joking about the amounts of yarn we've bought recently and the number of projects we're working on at the same time. I have no idea how she manages to do all hers!

I am working on a shawl in green chenille at the moment, which will (when it's finished) include some Edwardian fringing (I found a lovely vintage pattern for this) and also some needle felted flowers. This will go in my shop.

I am also still trying to teach myself the magic loop method so I can make myself some wrist warmers in a beautiful teal bamboo with a pattern I bought on Etsy. Once I've got the hang of it I will make them in other colours and yarns too.

My latest finished project is a lovely knitted beanie. No photos yet, but soon, promise. It's really cute in brown with thin stripes in a mid grey, dark grey and dark chocolate brown. There will be others when I get round to it and they'll go in my shop. I just bought some more of the yarn I made the first one with. Ben decided he needs one too. :-)

I am also still working on my needle felted Zombie Fairy Cat, however, I have a design problem which I still need to solve. :(

The other project I am still working on is the Snowhite necklace. Part of it is finished but, again, I hit a design problem, although I think I've solved this. :)

I found several more yarns on the net I just had to have, so there'll be more knitting and crochet projects coming, e.g. more shawls, hats (beanie and cloche), wrist warmers and capelets and possibly necklets. Watch this space.

Now I am off to look at Caroline's blog to take a closer look at her new projects. ;)