Free Pattern: Robin Hat

Yay! It's time again for a new free pattern!

I have been working on this the last couple of days.. in between school runs, mad wednesday, housework (well not really... )

I have made this hat for me! I loved the first one I made, green, grey and white. But those are not my colors. So I made this one for me! And I will wear it all winter! And I hate selfies, so unless a really good one turns up you just have to believe me that it looks great (especially with the cowl and gloves I'll be making as well!).

I named it Robin, because it reminded me of the hat Robin Hood wears. My first name was Miss Dorothy, because of the spiral. But I liked Robin better.

So I hope you like it! And I would love to see pictures of your finished Robin Hat!

Supplies

Let's make our own Zombie Apocalypse!!!

My 4 yr old boy loves his zombies!! Not the scary zombies in Walking Dead or World War Z.. but the Plants vs Zombies - Zombies! He refuses to wear his Minion hat, Turbo hat, Smurf hat or any of his other 20+ hats he has in his collection. He still wears his summercap, his old man's hat I bought for him 2 yrs ago.

He never leaves the house without a hat and he gets really upset if other kids take his hat away. He's a cutey!

I washed his favorite hat, R2D2, from last winter too hot and had to bin it. So he is waiting for me to make this years IT hat.

I had this beautiful color in my big stash of Drops Nepal Yarn. A beautiful Grey Green. The perfect green Zombie color!

I was in the zone making this hat, everything fell in place while working on it. I LOVE it when that happens. Sometimes you have this idea in your head and it just doesn't happen with your hands. You're failing constantly and frustrations run high. And it takes a lot of work and will power to see it through. Most of the time, it will end up in my "One Day..." box.

Needle Felting!

As usual, browsing Pinterest, I saw some cute little felted hearts and I thought they would look brilliantly in my Christmas tree this year! So I did some research and found they were pretty easy to make! Yay! I LOVE EASY!

But I needed the materials for felting. Again another google search brought me to a felt shop online here in the Netherlands: MeerVilt! They have absolutely everything for felting and they do workshops as well.

Normally I just buy whatever I think I need. I did that with my soapmaking adventure. Well adventure, we never left off so to speak. Because it's all still there waiting for me to make soap! I will make soap... one day...

So to be sensible (yes I can be that!) I bought a starterpack. With needles, a foamboard and wool.

Free Pattern!!! The Pukado Cowl

Free Pattern!! Yay!

I received a request to make a cowl for a little girl, who refuses to wear hats, no matter how cold it is. So the mam hoped a cowl would do the trick coming winter. I have made a cowl before with my Starry Starry Night hat and promised it to be a free pattern.

But my head was just brimming with ideas I had to get out first, before I could start on this project.

I love a cowl, it keeps you nice and warm!

For the little girl, I will add some nice little ears, so she will be a warm little bear (or cat or what ever animal you want to make basically). You can also add a ribbon, so you're able to adjust the size. This would be handy with little kids, that way you can make sure it stays put!

This cowl I made with HDC's, but you can use any stitch you like basically. It's all about the calculations!!

Free Pattern!!!! Double Up Hat

I made a Cowl for a little girl, who refuses to wear a hat, and while working on the edging a light bulb appeared. I was just winging it with the edging and it kinda looked cool....

HAT! I have to make a hat with that stitch. 

I'm the hat person. I love making hats and I love wearing them! No more sinusitis since wearing hats as soon as the temperature drops below 15 degrees C. I make my kids wear hats all the time. And I'm trying to get my husband (who is a chosen bald one, meaning; he shaves his hair off completely even though he has the thickest hair in the world) wear a hat, but he makes ridiculous requests. Don't ask.....

I just started with a magic circle and let it flow from there.... an hour and a half later... finished! Shock! And it looked cool as well!

Thank you!

As November is the month of giving thanks, I would like to thank you all for your support and love for crochet. I have never thought a year ago a simple angry birds hat would lead to where I am now. There is so much more to come, so I hope you'll stick with me!

As a thank you to all of you, I'm offering a 25% discount in my Etsy shop until the 30th of November. Please use NOVTHANKS at checkout to receive your 25% discount!

I have read loads of things people are thankful for, from their cup of tea on a rainy day to the love of their live. Respect for all of you who are doing the 30 days of thanks. I love reading it in blogs and on facebook. I'm thankful for my husband, my beautiful little lady, my cheecky monkey boy, the support and love from our family and friends and my little corner of the sofa surrounded by hundreds of skeins of beautiful colored yarn.

xoxoxo

Gum drops...

I fell in love with the Gum Drop hat Kinga made! It's such a pretty stitch! I had to make one, just to try it out. And it's lovely and perfect for winter hats, because it's nice and thick.

I'm a loose crocheter and that gives me all kinds of trouble! My patterns are written with my crochet style in consideration. This means a lot of people have problems with gauge with my pattern, but also, it's giving me problems with other designer's patterns.

I found this great quote from Kim Guzman:

"Pattern=Guide, not Bible.

Remember, there is usually a method to the madness! What is perfectly clear to you as the crocheter may not translate to pattern writing. The pattern writer may have discovered a different method as well, but it simply didn’t work when writing the pattern, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t do it! Get creative! That pattern isn’t a bible! Use it as a guide and I think you’ll find that you are much happier with your finished project." Quote Kim Guzman

It's so true. If I get a pattern, I always work it the way it works for me best. I love and appreciate the work the designer has put in the pattern, but there's nothing better then discovering what more you can do with a pattern. A lot of patterns start with 12 stitches in a magic ring. For my style of crochet, 12 is too much. So I use 8 stitches as average. See where I´m going with this? I might need 3 increase rows to get where I have to be, but the pattern tells me to do 6 increase rows. You have to make it your own to work it.

This doesn't mean, because I made something completely different, it's my pattern now. No, it still is Kinga's design and pattern. You can't copy write a stitch, but you should respect the work and creativity the designer has put in the pattern.

I think my hat turned out fabulous! But I don't have little baby girls anymore... So not sure what to do with it!

Happy Happy, Starry Starry night! Pattern Give Away!!

Yay!!! My Star Stitch Hat pattern is finally available in my shops!

To celebrate this release I'm giving away 5 Starry Starry Night Patterns with a bonus pattern of the matching finger less gloves! Woohoo!!

All you have to do is go to my facebook, like my page, like and share the post. I will randomly pick 5 winners who will receive the pattern! Yay!!!

Winners will be announced tomorrow night (European time)!

I'll just do a few more happy dances...