Reversible Crochet Earflap Hat

I decided to give the wrists a break from the knitting last night and crocheted this reversible hat. I am not sure that a homeless person will appreciate it being in mohair or the rather unmanly colours but as I am working with the yarn that I got donated I am making the best of what I have got. The wool was some kind of mohair or mohair substitute. It was unlabelled and in part balls so I can't give you a clue to what it is.

To make it just choose a top down crochet beanie pattern that is appropriate to the thickness of the wool that you are working with. Try it on and then add ear flaps on either side. I try it on at this stage to ascertain where the position of them should be. In this case it was 8 UK trebles and 2 plain rows and then one decrease row to make the ones on this hat. Make another beanie in the same manner in a different colour. Pin them together, one inside the other, with the wrong sides facing and then work a couple of rows of UK double crochet all around the edge going through the edges of both hats to link them together. I finished them off with a crocheted chain with tassels to fasten.

The hat came out a bit on the large side and as it needed washing I have hand washed it but put it in the dryer to try and shrink it in a little. If it is mohair then hopefully it will felt and shrink a little making it an ultra warm hat. I always forget when I am trying on hats to remove the hair clip that sits on top of my head so whilst the hat fits me when I am wearing the clip it tends to fall over my eyes when my hair is down. I must remember to take out my hair clip when I am making hats in future unless they are for me.

I hope that those of you who are in relationships get at least a Valentines Card tomorrow and hopefully some flowers. I won't be looking for any cards this year, As far as I know I don't have any admirers, known or unknown, and as my aunts have long passed away no one in the family to send them to me. When I was a teenager I always got a couple of cards. I found out much later that it was my two unmarried aunts who didn't want me to feel left out on Valentine's Day as they presumable did when they were girls.

My plans for today are few. Just a bit of food shopping and then settle down with my knitting once again. Last night, before I settled down to a night of CSI, I watched 'Fools Rush In' DVD with Matthew Perry and Salma Hayek. A suitably romantic comedy for Valentine's weekend. I still have a few loaned DVD's to watch so if there is nothing exciting on TV a couple of those will be on tonight's agenda.

We are going to be Naked Knitting Calendar Girls

I have just got back from the monthly Knit Out of the Knitty Noras. I had a very enjoyable afternoon of knitting in great company. Glad to see such a good turnout there today. Lisa and Vicky have come up with a wonderful idea to raise money for charity. The idea is a naked knitting calendar for 2010 to hopefully raise money for Christies. Christies is our local cancer hospital and as some of the Noras have had personal experience of needing treatment at the hospital and the rest of us have had close friends who have had need of the hospital's services it is a cause dear to our hearts.

Lots of ideas were bandied about today and Vicky was taking notes as to some of the suggestions as to what the format should be. Plenty of unusual ideas for photos. Some practical and some more bizarre. We are all up for the tastefully photographed naked knitting themed photos and have got quite a number of volunteers from our group willing to disrobe and knit in aid of charity. I have volunteered even though I am not exactly in the first (or second) flush of youth and am built for comfort and not for speed. I may need far more balls of wool or a larger piece of knitting than some but I still want to be involved as I think it's a great idea.

If you click on the blog title it will take you to the Naked Knitting blog. Please support us and follow the blog which will update you to our progress. I hope that you will buy a calendar or a few, and tell all your friends once it is published.

The doubled hat is finally finished. As you can see it is black on one side and grey on the other. I posted the link to the pattern on a previous blog. It is a very warm hat. The crocheted cream hat is for myself. I have made it to match the scarf that I had bought for me for a Christmas present. The pattern is also available free from the net. It is called Divine hat can be found either on Ravelry or from Rheatheylia.com

Another late Christmas present finished

Today I gave my niece the black crochet waistcoat I hadn't managed to finish before Christmas. I was crocheting merrily away on Christmas day only to find I had mis-read the pattern (which I didn't take with me) and so had to re-do the 2 fronts and back from the armhole up to the neck. I finished it last night but as it is very low fastening I was a little unhappy with the bagging at the front. It's my own fault for not counting the double crochet stitches and making sure they were the same on both sides. I put a line of running stitches through the double crochet all the way around the band and that seems to have solved the problem. The close up of the stitch photo didn't turn out and I had already given Vic the waistcoat before I found that out.

Tonight I started a crochet chunky scarf using the remaining 3 balls of tweed yarn I had left over from my niece's jacket. I will have enough to make a reasonably long scarf but she will have to fringe it with a contrasting colour if she wants a fringe.

I am still slowly doing a few rows on the doubled hat. Another unfinished Christmas present. I won't be making another one of those as it really has taken me such a long time to get to about 4". I think having to unrip about 2" really put me off my stride and I never really got back into it after that. I will post it off to Chris once it is finished.

My other niece who lives in London wore her crochet wrap around cardigan to visit some friends and they liked my work and so I could possibly have some orders in the near future. I will never make a fortune out of my craft but it would be nice to earn a few pounds to eke out the coffers. I crochet to pass the time mostly and because I enjoy it but I own far more knit and crochet garments than I can ever wear so making for someone else is a far better option especially if I can get paid as well ! One of the requestees (is that a word?) for my craft lives in Paris France so Ooh La La I am going continental! I like working with the better quality yarns so I don't mind when my niece buys yarn for me to crochet or knit for her. My purse usually only buys acrylic unless I spot a sale bargain. I have given my nieces instructions I will just charge a set fee, depending on garment, if their friends buy the yarn then it is up to them how much they decide to spend on yarn. People who don't craft often have no idea just how much the raw materials cost so I would far rather they bought their own yarn rather than faint when I tell them a finished price.

I am still getting to grips with my PC but my terror is subsiding a bit. I am now getting a little more adventurous and trying to find out where programmes are etc. My niece installed the Microsoft Office and the new web cam for me today so it's all systems a go go once I work out where the system is.

I got rather wet taking the dog for a walk today. My new waterproof suit has certainly got a good christening these last few days as have my new birthday walking boots.

I put my 18 month old web cam (incompatible with new PC) and unused floppy disks on Free cycle and was inundated with requests. It never ceases to amaze me that people want things I would throw away. The guy who took my web cam also took another older web cam that worked but was missing the screw to hold it onto its base so it was rather like a rolling eyeball. I had tried to stick it to the base with Blu Tack but that meant you could not reposition it.

Still plodding on

No photos today as I am still plodding along with Kath's crochet cardigan and the doubled knitted hat. The cardigan now has a back and 2 fronts so it's getting better. I have not enjoyed this project as although the stitch is easy every row is counted as there is lots of shaping and I like to zip along mindlessly whilst watching the TV in the evening. The dog doesn't help as every time I get my pattern, bit of paper where I am keeping row count, my pen and my crochet sorted out he jumps up and either sits all over it or wants to sit on my knee!

The doubled hat is now back to where it was before my disastrous mistake the other night. The principle is easy but it's very slow going. I could have knitted 3 single thickness hats with the length of time it has taken me with this one, but I like the effect so will persevere. I am doubtful if I will make another one this method again. Unless of course it turns out so wonderful that I grit my teeth and knit another one. I usually find that whatever I have hated knitting or crocheting is the one thing everyone likes and asks me to make one. Sod's law I suppose.

My friend Caroline has already asked for a cardigan like Kath's. She might get one but done with my adaptations and not worked to the pattern. Now I have seen how the shaping works out I can do my own modifications far quicker by just crocheting the shape in my own way. That is how I learned to crochet garments as way back when I was 18 the crochet patterns were very old fashioned or the trendy ones were few and far between so I used to stand outside shops or go in and inspect garments several times and then make my own copy. Naughty I know but I cared not a whit about copyrights back then. I still think it's hard to copyright a garment anyway as unless you slavishly follow a pattern stitch by stitch who can say it IS an exact copy and not just that 2 people had a similar idea at the same time. It's wrong to make a business out of selling exact copies but for personal use I don't think there is anything wrong with making something similar for a friend. I am old enough to see patterns now labelled as "designer" when I have the almost similar pattern from way back when in my pattern stash. My mother used to say there is nothing new in fashion just the old ideas re-vamped. I am now old enough to see a lot of my teenage fashions being worn by trendy young things who would be horrified to find out that this old granny figure has photos of herself wearing almost an identical garment. Don't worry folks no photos exist of myself in my crochet hot pants or my mini dress and white high boots. Now that brought memories of my Amy Winehouse beehive hairdo way back in the 60's. Yeah for the trendy old grump.