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Daisy May Hat–It’s Finally Up!

Nov 15th, 2011 Leave a comment

During the summer I was inspired by some hat designs which popped into my head.  They just wouldn’t leave me alone and, after some encouragement from friends, I wrote them up as patterns. Two of these are already up on Ravelry as free downloads. Alchemilla and the Pebbles Walking Hat.  I’ve been so shocked by the warm welcome they’ve received and the wonderful compliments have really encouraged me to continue.

Next up is Daisy May.

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This one was a bit trickier. It’s a more complicated/involved pattern and I really struggled for a while to work out the best way to explain what was in my head. I could knit it no problem but changing it into a pattern gave me a headache, but eventually with the aid of some very patient test knitters it’s ready.

I’m rather proud of this one and I’ve knit several as gifts and yes matching mittens (and possibly a scarf) are in the pipeline. Well I’ve procrastinated and stomped my foot like a little child out of nerves but today I’ve finally uploaded it to Ravelry. It’s now available to purchase for £2.00 as a pdf download. It’s my first pattern that I’m charging for and I’d welcome feedback on it. (Now goes and sits nervously in the corner hoping people like it).

 

Daisy May can be made out of dk or aran weight yarns (I’ve done both with great success) and I’ve never needed more than a single 100g ball.  I’ve also used both solid and variegated yarns and loved them both.  Because of how the band is knitted it adjusts to your individual head size.

 

Pebbles is ready for her walkies…..

Aug 9th, 2011 Leave a comment

Pebbles the mad English Springer Spaniel was the inspiration for this fun hat which is now up on Ravelry as a free download.

Chatlotte Modeling the Pebbles Walking Hat

and here are a few more shots in the form of a slideshow…

I’ll also put these links over on the Patterns and Tutorials page which is linked to at the top of the page.  I hope you like it and if you decide to knit it I’d love to see some photos Smile

 

Pebbles Walking Hat Testing

Jul 26th, 2011 Leave a comment

I’ve been absolutely amazed by the responses to some of the hats I’ve been making.  Especially to one particular silly little hat……

Pebbles-Hat---Charlotte-1-copy

This hat was only ever intended for me to keep my ears warm while walking the dogs.  I wanted something warm with ear flaps, inspired by the big floppy ears of Pebbles the dog.

Pebbles-Hat---Sue-1-copy

However, when some friends were over visiting, they loved it!  Then another day I took it into work (I was the only person with warm ears that day believe me) and my colleagues all loved it as well.  In fact just about everyone wanted to put it on!

Pebbles-Hat---Charlotte-copy

There was a lot of pulling faces and clowning about (yes my boss really did pretend it was the helmet of a medieval knight and rode an imaginary horse around the room while wearing it – I think it might have been an imaginary jousting contest but I was laughing to hard to ask).  The one thing this hat did for everyone who tried it on was to cheer them up and put a smile on their face.  Eventually I decided sometimes it’s cool to look that silly at work……

So this silly little bit of yarn has now been christened the ‘Pebbles Walking Hat’ and I’m hoping to have it test knitted real soon Smile

New Shots of Alchemilla

Jul 22nd, 2011 1 Comment

Alchemilla---Charlotte-6-copy

Finally the weather has played ball long enough for some shots of the Alchemilla Slouchy Hat.  This is Charlotte who kindly agreed to model for me.

Alchemilla---Charlotte-copy

The photo shoot was more laughing and giggling uncontrollably than the serious sort of thing you see on Americas Next Top Model…

Alchemilla---Charlotte-4-copy

Of course tree hugging had to be involved.  What photo shoot with a tree as part of the backdrop would be complete without giving the tree a hug to say thank you.

Alchemilla---Charlotte-7-copy

Oh and did I mention the giggling and laughing?

Alchemilla---Charlotte-3-copy

Thanks Charlotte, our quick little shoot really brightened my day with laughter……

(OOooooo and I’ve finally got this up on a ‘Patterns and Tutorials’ page all of it’s own.  There’s a link at the top of the page or you can check it out here)

Alchemilla is up on Ravelry… Scary!

Jul 21st, 2011 Leave a comment

Remember that annoying pattern idea that jumped into my head a little while ago.  The one that bullied all the other ideas out until I agreed to knit it up?  Well I did, and then a wonderful group of people test knit it for me and now it’s finally up on Ravelry.

alchemilla 1

Photo taken from Maytheweed’s Blog with permission (she was one of my fab test knitters)

There was quite a debate about if it should be a free or paid for pattern but in the end I decided to put it up for free.  It also changed name, eventually becoming the Alchemilla Slouchy Hat.

alchemilla 3

You can find it here on Ravelry and I’m looking at putting it up on the Fantasia Yarns Website as well.  Unfortunately (or should that be fortunately, I’m not sure) it seems to have invited some friend in to settle in my mind.  So I now have another two designs.  One (The Pebbles Walking Hat) is typed up and ready for test knitting, the other (Daisy May) is in the process of being written up.

What I really need now is for the weather to play ball so I can get out and take some photos.  It just doesn’t seem right to ask people to test knit something without some decent shots to show them what they’re letting themselves in for……

Video Tutorial

Jul 17th, 2011 2 Comments

At the moment my first hat pattern is out with a group of wonderful test knitters.  They’ve been great with ideas on the best way to present the pattern for maximum clarity.  To say I’ve been nervous about all this is an underestimation.  I’ve fretted and worried about every stage of the process.  If I was a nail biter then I’d have no nails left!

Fortunately this wonderful bunch of people are great.  They’ve let me know how they’ve been getting on and checked in with me when something hasn’t been clear.  A few changes have been made, such as adding in US needle sizes which I hadn’t thought of, and the pattern has changed name.  However, one particular stitch has needed a bit more explanation.  I tried explaining it over email and this helped some but for others I just seemed to confuse them further.

 

 

So with the help of Maytheweed I made a little video.  I hope it’s easy to follow.  We did get a few strange looks doing this sat by the window in one of our favourite tea shops over lunch, but I think it was more curiosity than anything else.  I’ve deliberately not added a vocal explanation on the video based on my own experiences.

When I look techniques up on sites such as YouTube it means I’m sat by my pc.  If I’m sat by my pc then practically by definition I’m playing music or listening to an audio book.  In both cases I only want to see the technique, my ears are busy with something else.  So I’ve removed the sound and put text on explaining the method.  Besides it spares you all from having to work out my accent!