Monthly Archives: September 2013

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Great prizes to be won!

I’m taking part in a fantastic giveaway over at Multicultural Kid Blogs to celebrate the first anniversary of such an outstanding, supportive community.

What am I giving away? You’ll have to head over and take a look! Hurry up though, there are only three days left to enter.

Pinspiration #6

Posted on September 25, 2013 | 1 comment

The temperatures are dropping and it’s almost time to start getting rugged up for winter. It only took three months for me to get a visible tan line on my feet from my Birkenstocks, so I’m not impressed about this change in the weather.

One plus point though, I get to make and be inspired by some of the coolest hats that you could imagine. At the moment it’s all about themes. I’ve been busy making hats similar to this Spartacus that I posted earlier:

This is Sparta

On my list of orders are some quite cool ideas too, and of course my first stop as always, is Pinterest.

Angry Birds is the gaming craze that just isn’t losing any momentum. It’s great fun and frustrating, and kids love it! I’m making something similar to this one in the next couple of weeks.

With all the Yoda hats that I’ve made in the last few months, I think it’s time to even it out with a super cute Princess Leia version.

I pinned this one months and months ago and have been looking for a reason to make it. It’s one of those that just never makes it to the top of the wish list.

I’ve made this adorable newsboy hat many times now, and it never stops being cute.

This is such an amazing example of how photography is so important! This hat is so adorable it hurts.

I made my own version of this one for my mother in law last year and I wanted to keep it for myself. Maybe I’ll make one this year. Once I finish what I’m doing. Or the next thing. Or maybe for next year..?

These were all just tastes of some of the hat designs that I love. Most of the hats I make I make the pattern up as I go along. My big issue is sizing. I do have a chart that I work to, which is accurate, but sometimes I’m all over the place! A hat for a small boy started out way too small, so I added an increase row. Suddenly it was big enough to fit me! So now I have a super cool Minion hat for myself and I had to start again.

Do you have any hat designs that you love and keep going back to? I’d love to see.

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Where does the time go?

Posted on September 23, 2013 | 12 comments

These last few weeks have been busier than ever! With a big influx of orders (thank you thank you!) and holidays, coupled with starting a new job, I’m just about pooped!

Finding the time to post here has been a struggle, and my poor Facebook page is looking a little neglected too. I don’t even have time for my absolute favourite pass-time – browsing Pinterest!

So, what have I been up to, crochet-wise? Well, I’ve made a lovely dragon, based on this patter by Sidrun on Craftsy, I’ve made another Huggable bear from A Morning Cup of Jo Creations, also on Craftsy. Both were massive undertakings. They are both more than 30cm tall, and in amigurumi terms, that’s pretty huge. Most toys I make are around 10cm tall. My poor fingers hated me at the end, having to keep the tension really tight (so the stuffing wouldn’t show through), but I was so happy with the results:

Not only have I been busy with those two giants, which probably took me on average a week each to make, Spartacus is the coolest thing since sliced bread, so there have been oh, about 10 of those on the go! Not to mention a couple of Hello Kitty hats and a custom order for a mouse/bunny which will be based on another Sidrun pattern found on Craftsy. Please do stop by Kristi’s site – Sidrun – which incidentally means “Lemon” in her native language; Estonian.

Following on with the dragon theme, I’ve also made a super cute dragon hat, based purely on a screenshot a friend sent me. Here is the end result:

I hear the hat has not come off for a week. When we eventually do get it off, I’m going to take it back and tweak it a little, because as it is now, there will be cold ears come December!

In between all of that I found some absolutely gorgeous yarn in my local craft store last week and I just had to make a hat for my daughter:

The photo really does not do it justice. The colours are truly neon and amazing. The yarn is Katia Extreme, and although pricey (I think I paid 8.95 euro), lovely to work with and so, so soft! I whipped this hat up using a pattern that I bought a while back from Baca Creations and it was done within an hour-ish, so super easy!

Coming up, I have more dino hats to make, a gorgeous hooded cowl (still hunting for the perfect pattern, so any hints would be welcomed), more Spartacus, cake pops (can’t wait to make those!) and Angry Birds. Not sure when I’ll find the time to work, or sleep in there, but I’ll manage!

What has been keeping you busy? As it’s Monday, I’m linking up with the Lovely Molly from The Move to America for her regular Monday morning cup of coffee, so head over there to say hi too.