Feather and fan hat crochet

Here I am again!

This time I crochetted something useful.  I don't like wearing rain jackets so when it's raining, I never have a hood to cover my head. And since I'm on my bike a lot, I can't use an umbrella. Only solution: a hat.

A few days ago, I started looking for a pattern I liked, found that quite hard (I'm soo picky) so I made one up. I made a really simple one, in half treble crochet, but it wasn't special enough so I wanted to add earflaps. So I did, but they didn't work out the way I wanted them to, I tried another way of adding the earflaps, but then the edging around was too tight, then I started over and then the edge was too loose and I got so sick and tired of that stupid had that I ripped it all out! Now there I was, with lots of yarn but still nothing to cover my head with. 

So, I went back on ravelry, looked through all the headwear I could find and I finally found something I really liked: The Hat-Tastic Fan Stitch.

But when I started, I soon realised it must have been a pattern for a baby hat, because I could already see it was way too small and way too short for me. So I added some changes to the pattern, below you can see my version of The Hat-Tastic Fan Stitch.

The yarn I used: Lana Grossa Bingo Mélange (100% Merino).

The hook I used: 5 mm

CROWN

Round 1: Start with a magic circle, make 12 trc, join with a slst in first st. (12)

If you don't know how to do a magic circle, just watch the youtube video. They explain it slowly and clearly and once you know this method, you'll never want anything else. You no longer have a hole where you start the hat, you can pull the it tight.

Round 2: Ch 2, 2 trc in same st, 2 trc in each trc. Join with a slst in first st. (24)

Round 3: Ch 2, trc in same st, * 2trc in next st, 1 trc in next st *, repeat from *, 2 trc in last st. Join with a slst in first st. (36)

Round 4: Ch 2, trc in first st, trc in next st, * 2trc in next st,  trc in next 2 st *, repeat from *, 2 trc in last st. Join with a slst in first st. (48)

Round 5: Ch 2, trc in first st, trc in next 2 st, *2trc in next st,  trc in next 3 st*, repeat from *, 2 trc in last st. Join with a slst in first st. (60)

At this moment my circle was about 39.5 cm (15.5 inches) in circumference, which is way too small. So I decided to make some more increases in the next round.

Round 6: Ch 1, *dc in next 9 st, 2 dc in next st*, repeat from *, join with a slst. (66)

FEATHER AND FAN PATTERN

Round 7: Ch 2, *trc in next 3 st, 3 trc in next st, skip 2 st*, repeat from *.  Join with a slst in first st.

Round 8: Ch 2 *skip 2 st, 3 trc in next st, trc in next 3 st*, repeat from *. Join with a slst in first st.

Round 9 – 16 : Repeat rounds 7 and 8.

At this point my hat was long enough, so I stopped ad 16 rows. If you want a longer hat, you just add some more rows of pattern.

EDGE

Round 17 – 18: Ch 1, dc in each st around. Join with a slst in first st.

Weave in the ends and you now have a gorgeous and elegant feather and fan hat!

Circumference: 51.5 cm / 20.3 inches. (It does stretch quite a bit, my head circumference is about 54 cm / 21.3 inches)

Length from top to bottom: 21 cm / 8.3 inches

(UK) Abbreviations:

trc = treble crochet

ch = chain

slst = slip stitch

dc = double crochet

It's just so my colour!

I finished the hat in one afternoon, it works up really fast and the feather and fan pattern is very easy.

Hope you like it!

Amigurumi penguin

I discovered what kind of crochetter I am.
I am the crochetter that makes cute but useless things. And what is cute and useless at the same time? An amigurumi penguin!
Actually, it's a birthday gift for a friend of mine. When it was my birthday, he and another friend bought me something, and it was so sweet! So I decided I had to give them something sweet back. One of them is crazy about penguins, so I knew what to do.

This is the pattern I used: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/amigurumi-penguin, it's free!

Look at all of my earrings in the background!

Aww, isn't he cute?

I had some leftover black and white yarn from my panda hat, and I just bought the yarn to make a fox hat, so I had all the colours I needed. The yarn I used calls for 6 to 7 mm crochet hook, but I used 5mm. Maybe that wasn't such a good idea, because when I finished the body, the eyes and the beak, my thumb and my whole hand ached. I was a little too enthousiastic, I guess :)
The only thing I didn't have, were black safety eyes. But I went through my bead stash and thought these blue ones would do great as a replacement. A blue-eyed pinguïn, why not?

Now I'm just waiting untill I see my friend again, I really hope he likes it!

Panda earflap hat

My boyfriend was complaining that he wanted a hat but he couldn't find one he liked. So I decided to crochet one for him! I showed him some hats on ravelry and what did he pick? A Fox Earflap Hat, but it's for small children! He definitely wanted a hat with some kind of ears attached to it, and it had to have earflaps and pompons. I went looking for yarn in the right colour, but fox-coloured yarn is hard to find so I started off with black and white. It was going to be a panda! I could always make a fox later on.

Then I had to find a pattern I liked, and I chose the 'Quick Easy Winter Beanie'. It was a bit too small for a 19 year old boy, so I added another row of increases. I added earflaps, made two cute little ears and sewed them on and finished it with white edges. Then I made the two braids and attached the black and white pompons.
And look how cute!

For a first hat, I think it's really cute and my boyfriend likes it as well. Next up: a fox hat and after that, an elephant hat (all his idea).
Today I got a compliment from an old lady on the bus, she asked me whether there was an iron wire in the ears, because they stood up straight so nicely. She thought the hat was really cute. Yay for me! (By the way, there is no iron wire in the ears, they are just crochetted nice and tightly)

Knitted snoods and scarfs

My mom knits a lot, but she only recently started knitting things for me, mostly because I'm allergic to regular sheep wool. But then we started searching for knitting yarn with no or very little wool in it. At first, we didn't find a lot, it was mostly 100% acrylic, but not very soft. We also found a mix of cotton and acrylic, which was softer but it didn't really look like the way I wanted it to look. And then we discovered 'Soyeuse', it's 50% silk and 50% alpaca, it doesn't give me a rash, it's soft, the colours are totally me and it's just plain gorgeous! And a few days ago, we discovered another yarn which was suitable for me: Malabrigo Lace (100% merino) and Silky Merino (51% silk, 49% merino).

These are a few pictures of the things my mom knitted for me

This is a grey triangular shawl, it's a 100% acrylic yarn from 'La lainière de Wazemmes'.

I think this is one of the first things my mom knited for me.

This pink scarf is 60% cotton, 40% acrylic, it's called 'Miami haute gamme' and its from 'La lainière de Wazemmes'. It has leaves on the edges.

This snood was knitted with three yarns togehter, in different shades of brown. One is darker brown, the other two are more light brown or beige. All three of them are 'Charly' from Phildar. 

 This white feather and fan snood was knitted with Soyeuse from La Droguerie. It's really soft and it's one of my favourites, it just goes with anything and any colour.

This is possibly my favourite snood of all times. Its knitted in Soyeuse from La Droguerie and I just love the colour. Sometimes it looks pink, sometimes it looks more purple, sometimes it looks grey-ish, it's just a nude colour and I simply love it. You can wear it as a long snood or you can wrap it twice around your neck if you want it warm and cozy.