Impressive How To links/ Hand Bag Handles/Tawashi/Dish cloth

I like the concept of these items I found whilst browsing the internet.

How to make a hand bag handle

How to make a tawashi/dish cloth

Dish Cloth Scrubby, made on a loom, with a real scrubby twist

Granny Stitch Hat Pattern With an Added Granny Square For An Ear Flap

It pays to scour the web for inspiration.

I was going to write my own pattern for a hat like this granny st hat, but I came across a free one that was easy to read and to make up.

The hat is for a child.

Here is the link.

But I was planning a different look, so here are my changes.

The hat is made as per the pattern, I made up a granny square of 3 rounds and placed the square in a triangular position onto the hat for an ear flap.

I placed 2 corners on the very edge of the hat edge and sewed them into position.

I made sure they were placed apart to fit correctly over the ears.

For the ties with 2 strands of yarn held together, I chained 50, then made a mini cork screw on one end.

I also did a row of sc around the hat before I sewed on the ties.

And here is the result, simple yet effective.

I used 8 ply yarn and a 4.00 mm hook.

Here is a tutorial for the corkscrew.

Here is a tutorial for a granny square.

Four More Flapper Hats

Over the last 2 days I have completed these four adult ear flap hats.

I am trying to write patterns as I go, I have the draft for the granny flapper hat, but I have to make a second one to complete the pattern instructions. The pink and blue ones in this picture have a very similar pattern to the childs ear flap hat pattern I up loaded a few days ago.

These 2 black ones have a different stitch each, one being the granny on the left and on the right is the puff stitch. Both ties have a lovely finish, one has a black rose and the other has curly ends.

Below I made a ladder type of tie for the adult pink ear flap hat. It has the filet st with a scfd row threaded through the centre.

With a small flower attached to the top of the tie, the ladder looks almost like the stem of the flower.

A few simple rows of the colours that are used in the blue earflap hat, finish off this tie nicely, suiting a male or female wearer.

Whilst I am here, I am going to type down some of my instructions for future use. I have so many things jotted down that I can barely tell them apart.

Adult hdc ear flap hat worked almost the same as the childs hdc hat, difference below.
Adult HDC ear flap hat.
1. 12 hdc into ring
2. inc to 24
3. inc to 36
4. work row with out increase
5. inc to 48
6. inc to 60
7. inc to 72
Work with out inc for approx 7 inch measure of hat from top to bottom. Fin
Place ear flap 7 st's away from back centre.
Make ear flap
1. work 12 hdc
2. 3. 4. work 12 hdc
5. dec at each end ( 2nd st in and 2nd lst st)
6.work 10 hdc
7. dec each end
8. work 8 hdc
9. dec each end
10. work 6 hdc
11. dec each end
12. dec each end (2 hdc) fin off.

Edging the same as childs hdc.

Tammy's HDC Ear Flap Hats for Jr

What an absolute blast it is to see another crocheters work made from a pattern that you wrote.

Below are some pictures from Tammy, she made 3 hat's in one day and was onto her fourth when she told me the news. Tammy is from the States and she used 4 ply yarn and her favourite 6.5mm hook to make her hats.

This is Jr's favourite hat, front view.

Jr's hat side view.

How clever, Jr requested a spiderman hat with out ties.

Thank you Tammy for allowing me to use the photo's of Junior.

Here is the link to the hat pattern.

I made these 3 hats today

I really wish I had the time to write down all the patterns for the hat designs I come up with.

Writing a pattern takes so much time, I can make 4 to 5 hats in the time it takes to write a pattern, I do get some patterns up on my blog, but not as many as I would like to.

Below are some pictures of 3 hats I designed in 1 day.

Pink with cream spike.
Cream wave.

Simple black ear flapper hat with a folded peak.

Childs HDC Ear Flap Hat Pattern

Finally another free pattern to share.

This hat is for a child from 4 to 10, but can fit a little loosely on a 2 yr old and firmly up to 14. I have had it on my head and it barely fits, my head size is an adults meduim to small.

The hat fits my 4 yr old grand son just perfect and was a little loose on my 2 yr old but he still looked good in it. I hope to have some pictures of them wearing the hats soon.
I also used a hook 1 size smaller, same ply yarn and made the hat to fit a baby 6 to 12 months old.

The hat is made with the hdc st and works up quite fast, I have included a video tutorial for the hdc st at the bottom of the page.

If you make this hat, I would love to hear your feed back.

Enjoy.

I put a small flower on each side of the pink hat and a couple of buttons on the blue hat.

In the picture below I used a 4mm hook with the same pattern directions, this fits a 2 yr old.

 
In the picture below, I am showing you what I am referring to in the pattern as the centre back st.

In the picture below, I am showing you where to sc twice when you make the edging for the hat.

My Grandson Used My Knitting Loom

Meet Darcy, my 7 year old grandson. I taught him how to use the knitting loom tonight. He found it relaxing (words from his mouth).

Unlike the his sister Lily, he soon became a little bored with the loom knitting about half the way through making his hat. So I wrapped the pegs and he lifted the stitches over, soon this eventually bored him too, it was not growing fast enough for him.

I was making something for myself on another loom, but I had to put that aside to finish Darcy's hat off. Darcy was getting a little tired at this stage so I had to go very fast to finish it.

Once it was off the pegs and sewed up, he stuck his fingers through the hat and said look Nan a monster, so we came up with the idea for a monster face to put on the hat.

Some buttons for eye's, a bit of sewing for the mouth and he had to have a mohawk too!
All just in time for bed time too! I'm sure we can add a little something extra tomorrow for more of a monster look. He has worn it to bed, because he says it is nice and warm.
I was really pleased Darcy took an interest in the loom, we have nintendo's, wii's and a playstation too, they all took a back seat to him being creative on the loom.
Well Done My Darcy boy!

Crochet Butterfly Hat's and Mitt's

I really like this trio set I made this week, I just discovered the butterfly mitt pattern that works up very well, I made some minor alterations because I was using thinner yarn.

A close up of the butterfly effect.

I've always believed any pattern can be used in a hat, so here is the butterfly effect in a hat too.

I sewed some small crystal beads onto the top of the butterfly for a minute touch of bling and class.

The hat is constructed of simple dc, beginning with 12 dc, increasing to 24, 36, 48 to 60, work a couple of rows straight then place the butterfly in a spot that suits you. I changed to hdc on the last row where I picked up the wings in the center part, giving the edge of the hat a little bit of firmness.

*UPDATE* UPDATE* ON THIS POST*

Seems I am not so original after all.
After surfing the net I came across a butterfly hat for a child. DOH!

Joining your Yarn

I found 2 quick video's of how to join yarn with 2 different methods. The first is a Russian join, which I use quite a lot, the only trouble with that way of joining is that you do have a thicker yarn where it has been joined.
The second method can only be used with wool or other animal fibers.

World Record for Most People Crocheting

Over 400 Mets fans set Guinness World Record for most people crocheting in the same place

More than 400 Mets fans set the Guinness World Record for most people crocheting simultaneously at Citi Field Saturday.
Most crafters - 427 in all - worked on a project in Mets-appropriate orange or blue yarn, establishing the record for most people crocheting in the same place for 15 minutes.
Crochet diva Lily Chin showed up ready to set the record in a homemade Mets uniform that she had knit herself, complete with a crocheted cap and even a mitt made out of yarn.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/06/06/2010-06-06_record_stitched_at_citi_field.html#ixzz0qN58z8Ya

Never too Young to Learn

My 10 year old grand daughter Lily and her friend Molly came to sleep over tonight. Molly was talking about her grade teaching French knitting and how confusing it was. I told her I could help her and bought out a loom. Blow me down they were both doing it in no time!

Lily's loom knitting.

Molly's loom knitting.

Lily is on the left and Molly on the right.

While they were loom knitting, I was making this hat.

On the move, Crochet Defrosted

Only a few hours previously I was at a stand still, I grabbed some yarn and my hook and began to crochet a hat with the bullion st at the beginning centre, I kept the bullion st going as I increased the rounds, but I got bored with doing the bullion st, so I frogged it and kept 1 round of the bullion st near the beginning. At one stage whilst I was still increasing the rounds of the hat, I stopped almost half way around to have a look and it gave me an idea to make a flap at the front that folded upward, so here it is below with a nice button on each side of the flap. I've seen similar before and liked them.

You can just make out the bullion st here on the top of the hat.

With this blue hat, I made a bit of a granny st in one of the increase rounds.

I crocheted a long band and sewed it around the blue hat and added a silver button.

These were both made with beginning 12 dc and increased in each round until 72 dc.
12-24-36-48-60-72.

I continued a few more rounds and changed the st to the up and down st, which gives a lovely closed decorative st.
When I made the front flap for the red hat, I finished off the hat and re-joined the yarn to the side of the hat and made the flap of 36 dc in the front loops so the flap turned upward, made about 4 rows of dc and left a long thread to sew the flap to the front of the cap.

Standing Still, Crochet Freeze.

The basket of left over yarn and labels sits next to my chair. I dropped a small pair of scissors a few weeks ago and finally found them buried in the basket. Don't throw any thing out before searching through it, you just never know.

I keep pulling out different varieties of yarn to come up with a new project. Go surfing on the internet for inspiration and I'm at a stand still.
Mind you I frogged some projects that I began.

What to do, what to do?

Does this happen to you?

Mikeyssmail Tutorials now Available on DVD!

Not only has Mikeyssmail made his first dvd tutorial for loom knitting, he is giving away 2 signed copies to bloggers world wide!

Go here for the competition.

I found Mikey a few weeks ago and was able to dust off and use my knitting looms for the very first time ever.

I am now constantly viewing and downloading Mikeys tutorials from youtube.

I would really love to be a winner of the DVD so I can just pop Mikey in my DVD player and learn from him with out turning on my computer, which is so slow due to it's age.

Post to Australia please :)

Knifty Knitter Speed Tip to Share

It's been less than a week since I learned to use the knifty knitter and I have made 4 scarves and 1 hat.

It can be that fast!

Below is a video showing the knifty knitter weave tool that speeds up the weaving process, but you can achieve the same results by using an empty pen/biro casing or even a straw.

Below is the empty pen/biro casing that I have been using to speed up the weaving process. I learnt this tip from Mikeyssmail video tutorials, he calls it a stylus pen, how stylish.

This is my latest scarf made on the rectangular knitting loom. The yarn I used is in the picture too. The length I have been making the scarves is 60 inches or so.

Correction, this is my latest scarf made on the knifty knitter, I made 2 in a day :)

Below is the yarn I used in the black scarf, it's so soft and fluffy!