Birthday Gift

 So I asked my sister what she wanted for her birthday (stipulation I was making it out of yarn that she had previously commented on wanting something made out of) and she bombarded me with tons of images of hats.  Here is the finished hat, its done up in the Puff Stitch with a DC boarder.  I originally planned on adding a short brim to it because a lot of the images I was shown had them, but this pattern sucked up this whole skein of yarn I barely had a foot left when I did my tail tucking.   

So no brim, but what do you think of adding a set of detachable flowers so she can pick and choose what flower she wants to wear with it, as sort of a dress it up, dress it down, dress it kookie how ever she feels that day. (And however many flowers I made -.-)

This way she can place the flower any where she wants and it is not stuck in some random location I picked that might not work well for her.

Sorry for photo quality I took these last night just to show her to make sure she liked it I was going to take photos today but its overcast out and they would not look any different.

The Backup plan-FINISHED

Its finished I am happy with how this one turned out.

I took an indoor shot and two outdoor shots, I had to spin the hat around on the head form so the image could be seen with out the nose making it misshaped.

The Black Mage badge alone was just around over/under 500 stitches with my E hook.  So not sure if I will be making something this tasking for a while.

Hope he loves how this one turned out!

Black Mage from Final Fantasy

 My older sister want to know if I could crochet a hat for Johnny, her husband.  She wanted a Black Mage from final fantasy and wanted it worked into the hat.  This first image is the results of my first try at making a Black Mage hat, I was unhappy with how it worked up.  Do to the fact that I could not start the BM until after I finished all my increase rounds I was not able to get the whole mage on the hat it grew to long.  If I had tried to start it earlier the increases would have made the color changes and rows not line up properly.   I also had to fight the image from twisting.  What I mean by that is as you crochet in the round and slst to move up a round your stitches will slowly slant or twist or spiral in that direction.  To fight that I had to increase right before all my color changes and decrease right after.  I failed to take into count that all the bulk of the yarn will bulge which created a 'dip' along the colored portion that my inc/dec helped exaggerate.

Backup Plan

I started my backup plan even before I showed her the hat.  She liked it from the image I texted her, but I just was not happy.  I wouldn't charge someone for this hat if I had been paid to make it I would offer it for free or offer to re-due it at no extra cost- that's how much I disliked how it came out.

Now there is nothing particularity wrong with the hat, its just long and would need the brim folded up which in turn would cover up the gist of the image defeating the purpose of having it. Also the brim was wibbly wobbly, but whatev's Johnny said he liked it and would wear it.  So then I showed them my backup plan. I free form crochet a black mage that I plan to stitch onto a plain crochet beanie.  They loved that idea!  So I just need to remake a basic black hat and stitch it onto it.

I made this free form one with my E sized hook so it would be a bit smaller then the one made as part of the hat which was worked with and I hook.  I tried to block it by damping it with a spray bottle and pinning it to a sheet of cardboard so the point of the Mage's hat and his brim would lay flat and not curl up on itself so when I do stitch it onto something it wont pull at the stitches and warp the item.

Now you see me, now you...

Camo

My mom asked me to make a Camo hat with ear flaps so here it is! I hope John likes it.

I used the Red Heart SS Camo, their specialty skeins are smaller but there was enough to make the hat, and have some left over not sure what I will do with the leftovers.

The cat that couldn't smile and other things...

Finished Grumpy Cat Hat!! In the sunllight!!

I was asked to make a 'Grumpy Cat' hat, and a Zebra Hat.  Grumpy cat aka Tardar Sauce is a cute Kittie that was born with feline dwarfism and a huge under-bite leaving her to look grumpy. She is the inspiration for this hat.

I will update with images as I work!

I really hope they turn out well.  I really like how the GC hat turned out, it was sunny enough out I was able to get a natural light picture of it, it does have a pink nose my camera just didn't pick the color up.

Will start on the Zebra tomorrow!


I finished up the Zebra Hat today, it ate up the rest of my black yarn  trying to make the mane stand upright, and not flop to the sides.

Never ending granny spiral

I was asked to make a blanket with rainbow colors, I suggested a granny throw and they came back at me with this pattern Rainbow Special by Michael Sellick.  There are a few things missing from the pattern, and a few typos in it so if anyone wants to make one, you need an odd number of colors. The pattern implies you need 6 colors (two balls of each) but really you need 7 because of the spiral you need an odd number of rows or your granny wont be able to turn the last corner. Why you might ask, well simply because granny's work in groups of stitches and chains, if you used and even number you will not have a chain on the turning corner when you start your next spiral round.  Also I found on the blue and green round directions there is an error and since these are to rows they tell you to repeat, it will effect your whole blanket if you don't catch it early.  It tells you to '3dc ch2 2dc in chain space' at the corner, you DON'T want to do that it will make the blanket lopsided.  Every time you get to a corner you want to do '3dc ch2 3dc in chain space' its how the diagram shows the corners done.  My last sugestion is for your hook, this pattern works best if you used the right hook for your yarn, normaly the lable of your yarn will tell you what size to use, in my case my yarn called for a size K (10 1/2 or 6.50mm) hook.   So working with a K means my blanket will come out a bit larger then the pattern says because it calls for a J hook, likewise if I went down a hook size instead of up it would turn out smaller.

Once I got started, and got all the colors going it has been pretty easy.  Even fallowing the directiosn he has for how to set up your yarn work well but I some how managed to get my red and white tangled..

Finished!!

First round of all colors complete.

Give a Hoot..

I got in a few more orders for Owl hats, sorry I didnt post wip shots.  Two of these hats have already been sent on their way.  Up next is a never ending granny afgan and I will make sure I post WIP shots, but  I cant start it till I get a color change confirmation.  After that will be a Grumpy Cat Hat and a Zebra Hat then I will be on hiatus to give my wrists a break.

Crochet at Animeggroll!

I was out at Animeggroll tuesday and today thursday helping Cindy.  She wanted to make a crazy hat so I worked out a pattern for her and this is what we wound up with when she finished it was about 60 inches long.  I think she did a great job on her first hat!  I sent her home with a pattern for a shorter verson of this hat, and for a tam or slouch hat.  I cant wait to she what she brings into Animeggroll on Oct 15 at 3pm when we meet up for an other 'class'.

Huge shout out to Animeggroll for letting us come take up space in the back.
They are having there 3 year anniversary party this weekend on Oct 12 starting at noon, come by and have some cake!!

Pumpkin carving contest

Animeggroll  is having a pumpkin carving contest this weekend on there 3rd anniverary party.
They have to be anime theamed, and I was going to do drawings/painted on of the cats of anime but I saw on of the pumpkins they aready recived and the art on it was from Nana and it was amazing!  So I am going to actull crave a catbus from My Neighbor Totoro.

Since I was feeling a bit under the weather this morning crocheting is more difficult then it should be so I thought I would start sketching out my catbus on the pumpkin. The colored in sections will not be cut out i am still debating on if I will cut out the eyes or just make the wall really thin.

This Pumpkin was not made by me, Luthor over at Animeggroll carved it.

Come see me!

I will be out at Animeggroll today crocheting.  Grab a hook and some yarn and stop in for a stitch or two. They are open 3-8pm today, located 9254 Watson Road Crestwood Mo, 63126 in Crestview Plaza across the street from Crestwood Mall. In the same plaza with Aldi’s, Red Cross and Zen Restaurant.

I will be helping out a few people so if you need some help just stop in.  I will be bring in some of my current projects I am working/starting 3 owl hats and a rainbow never ending granny blanket.

Horsing around

I have been asked to make a horse beanie with matching Mitten and Booties.  She wanted the boots to look like Clydsdals legs with fur trim.  She requested this style yarn, eyelash yarn.  Sadly this stuff is hard to find in the color she wanted (cream) so I went with the next best option, white.

This stuff is so slippery, I have tried atleast 4 diffrent ways of attaching it and settled for the LONG TEDIOUS manor of attaching one strand at a time any other method leaves it looking like a matted mess and not like fuzzy strands of hair.

I will update with more images soon.



If I get the time I will try to get daylight shots of these before I send them off.

EEk an other minion hat!

After people saw Jordans FeMinion I got a request for a male Minion.

I just have to sew in the eye and pluck in some hair, then add braided tassles.

This one has ear flaps unlike the other minion hat I made.

While I was out this weekend my sister bought me this nifty head form so I could easily display hats when I take pictures.

 

UPDATE

Finished the hat and managed to get some pictures of it while the sun was still shining!

I have the front pulled down over the nose so you can see the eye and the hair in the picuter together, I also took a side shot to show off the ear flap and tassel.