It's been yonks since I did a post about crochet, so let's have a badboy one. This project was a present for a friend for last Christmas and featured not one but two items! I was the ambassador and I was really spoiling her. She was the last one of a group of friends to receive a crocheted gift from me and for years has been going on about this wooly hat I own. So I decided to crochet her a matching scarf and hat set. No gloves though, because I'm too much of a wuss to work them out.
I got this M E G A T R O N ball of yarn in a sale at one of the local wool shops with this project specifically in mind. She likes quite neutral colours see.
Look at it! It's a MONSTER!
Because I'm a fusspot I couldn't find a matching scarf and hat pattern that I liked. So I decided to mix and match. I went for a chunky cowl pattern for the scarf firstly, as I've had one of them in mind for ages and this yarn was perfect for it.
The scarf was dead easy and I got through it quickly. The trickiest bit (and this is telling because it was easy peasy) was crocheting it together with a seam, as I hadn't done that before.
I like the little black fibres running through the yarn
Look at that beauty of a seam!
Like a web of awesome
I should probably get on with showing you the hat right?
Fine, one last one for luck...
SCARFALICIOUS
Once I'd finished the scarf I cracked on with the hat. Like I say, this was my first hat and so I was quite excited about trying out something new. I decided to go with this particular design which had ridges on top, partly because it was cute and went with the scarf, but mostly because its name was PHANNIE and I am a child and found this hilarious.
The makings of a great phannie
The phannie groweth
Can you see those little ridges going around it? This was my first experience of what's known in the trade as an FPDC (a Front Post Double Crochet to all you non-cool-crochet kids).
After a while the phannie gets a bit curly-uppy and unruly...
That's the phannie's undercarriage that is
Majestic
Then you start decreasing in order to bring the shape back around.
I was at the next stage for quite some time. What tended to happen was that I got to here...
and...
1) made my mum try it on (she has a tiny pea-head like the friend I was making it for)...
2) found out it was far too big/too tight/weirdly shaped...
3) tore my phannie right back to about 2 inches previous and then redid it.
**repeat ad naseum**
This stage took quite some time.
A pro-tip might be to actually measure the head of the person you're making it for, in order to establish how big it should be rather than guessing.
Anyway, here it is finished
Eventually I was happy that my phannie was adequately small without being too tight, and my work here was done!
I really am sorry about the innuendo. I think my innuendo metre broke and now I can't judge when a joke has not only been thrashed to death, but also thrown down the stairs.
Look here's me squeezing my big melon-head into the hat anyway.
I found that once made into garments the lovely yarn was suddenly actually quite itchy, so there were quite a few stages after I'd made both of the items.
Tort's guide to how I made them not itchy
First I...
1) Filled a sink with cold water and V05 conditioner and left the items to soak for an hour
2) Gently squished out the water with towels (no rubbing)
3) Put them in the tumble dryer
4) Found they were still wet, put them in the tumble dryer again
5) Found they were still wet, put them back into the tumble dryer, cursed the wool
6) Found they were still wet, put them back into the tumble dryer, cursed the wool, cursed the skies, cursed the crochet gods for having foresaken me
6) Took them out and found that they were dry and lovely and soft. Hurrah!
Not a bad job
See you in August. x x x
