Grand Gentleman Hat

It's been a while since my last post, I've had several projects on the go as well as the preparation for Christmas, so the Crochet Hat Challenge has gone a little bit on the back burner. I crochet when I can, so there are hats in the process of being made. I will share projects when they're finished as I can't keep up with posting mid project on each Work In Process (known in the craft community as a WIP).

So I finished Hat 6, having skipped 3, 4 and 5 for now, I will get back to them. Finished hat number 6 in the #crochetcancerchallenge by #sweetpotato3 this pattern is called the Grand Gentleman Hat designed by @straighthookedus I decided to go for an all black version.

Of course this hat can be worn by anyone, any gender, but this one is slightly big on me, so will be labelled large for charity.

I tend to post a bit faster on Instagram than here, so do make sure to follow me on Instagram if you aren't already! https://www.instagram.com/flyniccrafts/

 #crochetcancerchallenge2021 #chrochetofinstagram  #chrochethats  #crochet  #crochetaddict

Hat 3 - Crochet Hats for Cancer

Hat number 3 of the #crochetcancerchallenge2021 - this one is Striped Dylan Claire Beanie by @eyeloveknots and was a pattern of the 1st Bonus Weekend. 

I think I am going to redo this one in another yarn as this worsted weight 4-ply Lily Sugar & Cream in white and yellow, seems too rough for a beanie hat. So I’m not going to finish this for now and go hunting for other yarn that will feel better and not too scratchy. 
Still wanted to share that I got this far, so far… 

#CrochetCancerChallenge #cancerawareness
#CrochetForCancer #CrochetersOfInstagram
#CrochetHats #SweetPotato3patterns #EyeLoveKnots

Crochet Interlude

With Halloween around the corner there's some distraction around. Distraction from my Crochet Hat Challenge. Yes, still crocheting, but another crochet project finished. 

This is the 60 minute pumpkin by @nickishomemadecrafts from her #linkedcrochet e-book. It was a fun project to do, probably took less than 60 minutes when I got the hang of the stitch. It was so easy to do! #crochet #crochetersofinstagram #nickishomemadecrafts #pumpkin #halloween #autumndecor

Hat 2 - Crochet Challenge Cont'd.

 Finally finished hat 2 of the Crochet Cancer Challenge organised by @sweetpotato3patterns 

This was a bonus pattern the first weekend, the ‘Adelaide Beanie’ by @crystalizeddesigns 

This one was a bit of a challenge indeed and got half made and undone about four times. Somehow I ended up with more stitches than I should’ve when I was half way through the pattern. I finally sussed what I was doing wrong though. However I am now way behind making my hat patterns, I think I’ll be crocheting these well into November and December… 

Still not sure if I should add a pompom to this one or not. What do you think? 

#crochetcancerchallenge #cancerawareness
#crochetforcancer #crochetersofinstagram 
#crochethats #crochetcancerchallenge2021

Hat 2 - Crochet for Cancer Challenge 2021

The next hat is on the hook… this one is going to be the Adelaide Beanie by @crystalizeddesigns 

I do hope that it is as quick and easy as the previous one, which I made two of in two days! I have loads of this yarn as bought it for a jumper that never got made for someone who has now outgrown that pattern, so this is a good use for the yarn stash. 

#chrochetofinstagram #crochetcancerchallenge #cancerawareness #crochetcancerchallenge2021 #cancerawarenessmonth #crochetforcancerawareness

Hat 1 - Crochet Cancer Challenge

As posted before, I’m taking part in a Crochet for Cancer Challenge. I have been busy since October when the challenge started. This crochet challenge is organised by, and this is Hat number 1 ‘Colors of Courage’ designed by, Christine Naugle of Sweet Potato 3. The first hat was finished on 3rd October 2021 in adult size, these were so easy to crochet, it got me all fired up to do more.

Second hat finished 6 October, yes, really a hat a day! 

This is the same pattern as Hat 1; “Colors of Courage’ by @sweetpotato3patterns but this one is child size. Only because there wasn’t enough yarn to make another adult one. At least one hat gets donated to a cancer charity - I’m still looking for a U.K. based cancer charity that takes hats to give to patients, but if I don’t find one, I will sell the hats and all proceeds will go to Blood Cancer UK and Cancer Research UK as my two chosen charities. 

More hats to come... ;o)

#crochetcancerchallenge #crochetforcancer #cancerawareness #crochetcancerchallenge2021

Back To School…

Back to school is around the corner and I’m seeing mums already post about getting uniforms and such. 

Now my kids don’t have to wear a uniform, so my search for fun clothes is on. Came across these cute shoes…

They come in sizes up to women’s UK 9 

And they get delivered in this cute chocolate milk box 

Shop these shoes now!

Progress on my crochet bag project.

Oh yes, let’s do a crochet post. 

A bit of background; I never managed to master crocheting until about 5 years ago, when I got so frustrated that I couldn’t get my head around it that I was determined to learn, so I did. 

My first project was a granny square based glasses case. This was the first thing I ever made. This was on the 31st of August 2016 (yeah ok I had to look it up on Facebook) 

I haven’t done an awful lot of crocheting since, but got inspired by my friend Monique in the Netherlands showing off her crochet bag. It was a Mochila bag and the bag she had was from Ingrid Eefting of Kralentik so I had a look and my mum and I got inspired to make one and so we bought a kit… this was Christmas 2016 I think from memory.

Since this was a new craft for me and the crochet pattern seemed complicated, my mum was going to have a go at making them… and she couldn’t get her head around it. So a few years ago I took my kit home to the U.K. with the intention of giving it a go myself. Obviously all sorts of stuff happened in between and I made some other craft projects and a lot of them didn’t get finished. So when I finished my rainbow shawl knitting project, I decided the Mochila bag was next. 

The aim is to get something resembling this bag - photo courtesy of Kralentik

It was hard, I struggled getting the bottom straight, just like mum struggled, so I took to YouTube and watched videos and I managed it. 

So this is tapestry crochet, yes working with five threads at the same time, I know, I don’t go for easy… Four of the threads are running inside the crochet stitches and with each colour change the previous thread goes with the running threads inside and you crochet over the four threads. This is the start and the trick is to keep the bottom flat and the lines to go straight… It took some time to figure it out. 

I didn’t stick to the pattern very well, but hey, it worked and it’s ok, my interpretation of the pattern, making it my own… I came up with not enough stitches at the end of the bottom and had to improvise, I’m sure the end result will look ok. 

The next part is working up, yes, we keep working from the flat round bottom and the bag then goes up, there’s no separate bottom that gets sewn into the top of the bag, it’s all in one. Like I said, let’s not make things easy on ourselves… considering this is like my third ever crochet project… 

I’m sure I’ve made more mistakes on this than I could show in photos and even now I have completed the first layer of the pattern I realise I made a mistake all the way around, so I had to decide to either go with it or pull it all out again and start from the bottom… 

My progress up to the day before yesterday is this - see if you can spot the mistakes… 

Let me know what you think in the comments! 

Resurrection of the Blog

Oh such fun!

I found my old blog about 10 years after I last posted!
I'm actually wearing the scarf today that I made on the 28th February 2011, how well did that one keep! I didn't even think it was that old!

Maybe I should resurrect this blog and write some more about my musings. It's been quite a journey over 10 years, the kids are in secondary school now, I stopped working with Mary Kay and I am now focussed on doing genealogy. Getting my qualifications and also reaching out to help other people.

At the moment, as I write this I am 'on duty' on a volunteer web chat service. It's quiet, so I can do other things whilst there's no calls coming in.

I am also creating my new website for my genealogy services. Whilst sorting out all the work I found a link to this blog and thought to just pop in and say hello.

This is literally that, a pop in to say hello and I will try to post more in the near future. See you soon!