hats – Page 2 – Crochet blog

Picture Perfect…

Published on December 11, 2017December 11, 2017 by Nicola Florence @ ayarnyrobin3 Comments

A picture perfect weekend…

Jess enjoyed chasing the sledge...

Jess enjoyed chasing the sledge…

winter berries

winter berries

picture perfect

picture perfect

a snowy tree

a snowy tree

sledging...then home for hot chocolate...

sledging…then home for hot chocolate…

Christmas tree

Christmas tree

A snowy Midlands...

A snowy Midlands…

Dudley Castle in the snow

Dudley Castle in the snow

With all this snow, I have started another hat…let’s see if I can make this one to fit Mr R’s head this time!!!

Yes, the countdown to Christmas has begun at the nest.

xxxxx

loom knitted beanie hat

Hats life!

Published on December 9, 2017December 9, 2017 by Nicola Florence @ ayarnyrobin8 Comments

Thank you so much for your hat suggestions, I have really enjoyed looking at them and reading your thoughts about them. In the end I went with a loom knitted hat, inspired in part by a post I read by Kagibari ami unravelled and a forgotten find in the back of a wardrobe.

Do you remember this?

No!

Well if I am honest, I had forgotten about it too and seemingly abandoned it in the back of a wardrobe.

This was my first dabble with loom knitting and on closer inspection, it was a bit holey and I could not remember what pattern I was using or where I had got up to. So after falling into the abyss of you tube and loosing myself for almost a whole day, I set my beating heart upon this pattern

bicolour brioche stitch hat by Tuteate.

I unravelled the yarn from my loom, and began again… only this time I was making a beanie hat for Mr. R.

Oh! how I loved knitting and purling, even if I did have to rip it back 3 times…yes 3 times!!!! to start over and make an emergency dash to the habadashery shop when I snapped my loom pick as my tension was too tight!

When I saw those knitted stripes in perfect formation I didn’t care that my fingers hurt a little or that I had ceased all work on my Charming Harbour Blanket for my new love.

I soldiered on until the end, enjoying every knit stitch and every purl stitch until I cast off and realised…

this beautiful beanie would not be gracing the fair head of Mr R at all because it was just too small…

but it did fit my little birthday Robin and doesn’t he look dandy in it?

and just in time for the snow!

xxxxx

Crochet, senior moments and mud!

Published on November 18, 2017November 18, 2017 by Nicola Florence @ ayarnyrobin4 Comments

What do crochet, senior moments and mud have in common?

Well the answer is me!

It has been a looooong week…let’s just say that. Yesterday I was the Duty Health Visitor in the office, we take it in turns to triage calls and sort out various problems…I won’t bore you with the detail. I took a call from a worried parent and said I’d get the Duty Health Visitor (which was me…I just forgot!!) After several enquiries amongst my colleagues I was gently reminded (actually,ribbed to the max) it was me. I returned to the phone and in a posher voice said Duty Health Visitor, how can I help you?

This was followed later in the day when I received an email from my GP asking me to attend a well woman check (for women over a certain age)…sigh!

Then…yes there is more! I had to ask to borrow my Mom’s glasses for the very first time ever to read a food packet.

Oh my!…little signs.

Another feature looming large in my week has been mud…lots of mud. I have become a rugby mamma and I need help! How on earth do I get this….erm…earth out of his kit.

Proud of my boy…he sure can tackle!

Please let me have any top tips for getting rid of all this mud!

I also need your crochet help…pattern recommendations. I want to make a few beanie style hats for Christmas, male and female. I have a few, but they always seem to come off my hook too large or I am always a little disappointed with them. Can you wholeheartedly recommend a superb pattern? I would be so very grateful.

Have a great weekend.

xxxxx

All the fun of the Circus!

Published on November 2, 2014November 11, 2014 by Nicola Florence @ ayarnyrobin9 Comments

Well as the title suggests, we’ve been to the circus this half term and had sooo much fun…. I’ve got some hookin’ done to show you and some exciting news to tell you also.

all thrill is an understatement!

The Circus came to town quite literally and up went the big top and the signs and I thought that sounds like quite a lot of fun, so we headed off and that’s exactly what happened… we had lots of fun together and were treated to some outstanding entertainment that in places were quite terrifying to watch. Not a harness or safety net in sight, there were gasps from the audience and the modern day clowns (that were not scary at all!) made us chuckle out loud.

balloons

our ticket in

mmm...candyfloss — mmm…candyfloss

So, if this circus should come to a town near you, then it is well worth a visit. Did you notice my hat… that is one of this weeks finishes… It’s not on my YOP list, but I needed a beanie and it only took an afternoon to make. Here are some clearer pictures of it…

my beanie love

love notion

I adore the love notion which really finishes it off a treat, the yarn is delicious and was not only lovely to hook, but it is warm and snuggly too! Project notes can be found here.

I’ve also made lots more poppies, much like these ones as I have been inundated with requests for them, as I have for brainwave beanies so guess what I am currently up to!

So to my exciting news… I have been short listed for interview, this Thursday coming for my Return to Nursing Course at Uni….. as I’ve written that I realise that may not be hugely exciting for you and it might just be for me… so I will also let you know that this week I have started on my first crochet pattern, that will be free to my lovely readers and will be coming very soon.

I have also received a nomination for the above, which is lovely, so will post about that separately in the week! If you would like to be nominated for the award click here and leave me a message!

So with all my news shared, I’ll be off…have a good week and enjoy the fireworks!

xxx

Year of Projects Progress

Published on October 27, 2014October 27, 2014 by Nicola Florence @ ayarnyrobin8 Comments

This week has come and gone in a flurry it now seems and I am happy to report that some progress has been made on my year of project list.

bliss x

I had a lovely couple of days at the beginning of the week, catching up with friends sharing latte’s and maybe the odd cake here and there! I have enjoyed several long walks with the dogs through the autumnal leaves that are now carpeting most of the fields and parks nearby.

walking the dogs x

We also had a Parent’s evening thrown in mid week – which was a pleasure on all 3 counts I am both pleased and proud to say. Even work has come and gone quickly this week and so I find myself as I write this at the start of half term, looking forward to and easing into a long weekend (4 days) to be precise, of fun and family and no alarm clock!!!

I have some finishes to show you, if you are a regular reader you will have already seen a couple of them in the last 2 posts….

brain wave beanies for the boys... — brain wave beanies for the boys…

remembrance poppy

If however, you have not read the finished posts, more details on patterns and yarn can be found on these links:

Beanies

Poppies

I did manage another brain wave beanie, this time for Mr. R, who was super thrilled as he is working on a roof this coming week.

Mr R's beanie — Mr R’s beanie

Details of how my list is now looking can be found here and if you would like to join in or take a look at other folk’s progress you can check out the group just here

xxx

A beanie or 2!

Published on October 21, 2014 by Nicola Florence @ ayarnyrobin10 Comments

brainwave beanie — Autumn Robin enjoyed choosing his own colours!

So here are the promised pics of the beanies I hooked up last week. The pattern is called the Brain Waves Beanie by Liz McQueen.

I made both my boys an adult sized hat from the FREE pattern, which has lots of clear instructions and is easy to follow. The only thing I didn’t have was the stated yarn weight so made these ones from my trusted stylecraft DK Special… it took me a couple of attempts to get the guage correct because of this and my first try was disappointingly huge!! So I came down a couple of hook sizes and used a 4.5mm hook and crocheted using the yarn double stranded… which as you can see has made up a dense, snug fitting hat.

brainwave beanie with ear flaps

Summer Robin made a design tweak and requested the addition of ear flaps… I added one of those cute ele buttons on each hat, expecting a protest… but they loved them and you can’t ask more than that!

it was at the bottom of a stash bag!

Published on October 19, 2014 by Nicola Florence @ ayarnyrobin7 Comments

Well this week I am posting and posting on time!

It’s been a while I know… but I think that I must start by thanking some very special people. If you read last weeks post you will know that I had lost my crojo! and I was desperate to find it again. After searching high and low to no avail, these very kind folk all offered their help in hunting for my elusive and misplaced enthusiasm;

Lucy, from aknitandacake despite having no crojo herself mailed me some enthusiasm.

Kim, from auntmaudknits kindly offered to send the great Aunt Maud herself, to come and have a good old rummage around in the search!!!

Ruth, from mysparemoments offered to search despite her leg being in a cast.

Iris, over at thegreenonion offered some of her very own crojo.

Last but by no means least…Sandra, atfarmgirlsam suggested amongst other things a bit of yarny retail therapy.

I am pleased to report that after all that help, I found my crojo at the bottom of an old stash bag… and got x2 items ticked off my year of projects list. A beanie for my Summer Robin and another for my Autumn Robin…I have no pics as they are away this weekend and their beanies have gone with them! I will post in the week about them.

As you can see from the photo I took Sandra’s advice and indulged in some (restrained) yarny retail therapy. Isn’t it delicious…it’s telling me to hook it into some hottie covers for Christmas!

I also had a little dabble around in Etsy and got these cute little elephant buttons.

bowling balls

I have also spent some very precious time with lil robins this weekend as it has just been him and me, as big brother is at scout camp and other big brother and Mr. R are on a cubs, lads and dads weekend. Lil robins’ requested we go bowling and eat pizza

and ice cream

He has talked my head off about flying cars and ninjago. We’ve played pool and drunk slush puppies too, had long walks with the dogs in our wellies, watched movies snuggled up together and he has enjoyed sleeping in Mommy’s bed and Mommy has enjoyed that too!

Anyway, have a good week and thanks again for all of your help, I am going to enjoy the last few hours with lil Robins, we’re off to church, before the boys return with all that dirty, dirty washing!!

How Ironic!!

Published on September 1, 2014October 14, 2014 by Nicola Florence @ ayarnyrobin10 Comments

It’s ironic that I have been hooking a winter hat whilst on my summer holiday. It’s not that the weather was all that bad, we had days that were windy and rainy and sunny and sometimes all at the same time… but then we were on the beautiful coastline of South Wales, and we had a ball, spent some really lovely family time together and made memories that will last us a lifetime!

2014-08-23 20.47.25 — Sunset over Tenby Bay x

I had packed up a project bag that had a ridiculous amount of yarn in, as the boys had asked me to make them beanies for the Autumn Term. They had all placed their pattern and colour order with me in preparation, and of course they all wanted different colours, hence the bursting project bag! However, I didn’t hook that much whilst away, as we were just too busy. I did manage to finish Little Robin’s hat though…

minion hat

This is the minion hat that he chose and once I had it done, he wore it everywhere xxx

I also hooked up another 10 rows or so of the chilli pepper baby blanket, this is not going as quickly as it should, I think I’m just a little bored of it!

I thought I ought to show you these lovelies too, not made on my holiday, but just before, out of some of the left over alpaca yarn from the infinity cowl

Pattern details can be found just here. So just a couple of finishes then and some additions to the YOP list… more beanies!

So, I will leave you with a few more holiday snaps as I cling on to the remaining hours that are left before the boys go back to school tomorrow…. and I must return to work!!!

xxx