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Screenwriter and crafty type

Orange Crochet Baby Hat. Almost as good as tomato hats

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I never got a photo of the two cute little tomato hats I made a while ago. They were both used, but neither set of proud parents managed to get a photo of his be-hatted sprog before it grew out of the tomato hat. “Useless” is the word that springs to mind.

The hats seemed to have gone down well, especially with Al’s brother, who asked me to make a bigger hat for little Maya, but requested that I make it an orange instead.

Thanks to the lovely Craftster forum people, I came up with the bright idea of making the hat using the orange peel stitch that Jan Eaton uses in her 200 Crochet Blocks book.

I think it came out pretty well – though I ended up over-estimating the size and produced something that almost fits me (as you can see in the pic). However, Maya’s growing like a fast-growing thing, so I wouldn’t be surprised if it fits her soon. Though, no doubt, now she can speak she may have something to say about being made to wear a comedy hat.

I learned a useful lesson while making this hat, which I can’t believe I hadn’t learned earlier: never iron acrylic wool. It goes floppy and lifeless and there’s no getting it back once you’ve killed it.

The hat’s still wearable – it’s just a bit limp.

Mmm, crafty books.

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I’ve been thoroughly sated on the crafty book front in the past couple of months. My Secret Santa gift off Sheldon in the office (everyone fessed up who had bought what about 5 minutes after everyone had opened their gifts) was a fantastic book called Knitted Icons, which clearly comes from the mind of a twisted genius. It is surely enough of a reason even for me to dust down my much maligned knitting needles – even if it’s just so I can make the knitted Gandhi.

The Crochet Me book was sent into the Shiny offices for the Crafty Crafty team, so I’ve commandeered it and promised to write up a review. But since all my craft-related possessions are in storage, I haven’t had a chance to do much more than pore longingly over the pages and read the biogs of the craftsters.

And, finally, my first issue of Craft magazine has arrived and I’ve been carrying it everywhere with me, and lovingly leafing through it whenever a spare moment appears. I’m not actually sure it has much in it that I’ll ever even think about making, but it’s been so beautifully designed, laid out and published, that it’s just a lovely thing to hold in your hand. After years of working in magazines I thought my love for them had entirely gone, but this little publication has reminded me how great it is when you find a mag that makes you want to join its club (which is the key to any good magazine).

Not entirely crafty, but one of those great “inspiration” books, nonetheless, “Recycled Home” was in my pile of Christmas presents this year, and it’s already driven me to give an old table a bit of a makeover. Since I was going to throw it away or flog it, I’m now feeling all good inside about my recycling job. I wish I’d taken “before” shots so I could put up a post about it’s transformation, but I didn’t think about it for some reason.

Anyway, I think it’s fair to say that I’m booked up to the eyeballs for the time being!

Where have I been?!

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Shameful, shameful shameful – there’s no other word for it. I have well and truly neglected this site (and I only just found out that lots of people have commented, but this new-fangled Blogger had held them all back for moderating – sorry! I’ll get back to the people who asked questions asap) and I have no decent excuse for it. I’ve actually been crocheting loads recently, but I keep failing to get photos of the stuff I make before I pass them onto the person I made the thing for, which goes *some* way towards explaining my absence.

Anyway, I’m not quite ready to make up for my absence just yet – it’s getting late and I have a column I’ve got to write that’s due in tomorrow (boo!) – but here’s *one* thing I’ve made during my blogging leave of absence.

Lia, the girl kindly modelling the mittens for me, is now the owner of these woollen masterpieces, and you may imagine how pleased she is. The pattern is from my lovely Japanese crochet book.

Petrol Crochet Hat from Japan and Amigurumi heaven!

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I went to Japan a few weeks ago. It was a long trip with a lot of work and very little free time. But on the final day we got 2 hours to do what we wanted to on the streets of Tokyo. What did I do? I ran to the Tokyu Hands department store (via Kiddieland to pick up some Totoro toys) to buy some crochet books of course!

As we all know, the Japanese make excellent crochet patterns and the books they have are just so much better than the ones I can get in the UK. They just seem so much more creative – and cute – which is why I was determined to get some books before I went back. I ended up having about 10 minutes to decide which books to get, but thanks to my pidgin Japanese (“Sumimasen, Amigurumi?”) I managed to find what I was after.

I got this absolutely lovely amigurumi book from Ondori, which contains a lot of patterns that are already available online for free (courtesy of some helpful translators). But it was only 280 yen and it seemed only right to hand over that small sum for the such great patterns. Can’t wait to make some of the kawaiiii toys.

I also got this book from the Let’s Knit series from Tezukuritown (click on the second button down and you can check out some of the patterns it includes). And the first thing I did when I got home was to sit and make this hat. It was too big when I made it the first time so I did it again with a smaller hook. Then it was too small, so I split the difference and did it again. But it was too small again. So I decided to go back to the original size and just do it tighter. But it was still too small. Just what kind of dark forces were at play here?

It was only then that I went back to the original hat (thankfully, I hadn’t unpicked it) and realised that I’d put in two extra rows by mistake. After taking those out I was left with a hat that was the right size. I try not to think about the 4 evenings I wasted doing all those retries… It’s best not to dwell on the lost hours… 🙁

But the fact that I did keep trying it is testament to the simplicity of the pattern – super quick to crochet and drawn in that excellent Japanese stitch diagram. So much easier than a written pattern – why don’t we use them?! I love this hat – and after last year’s hat making debacles, I think I deserve to have one success at last!

The two books together came to around £6 I think! Unbelievably cheap – and so much nicer than most of the stuff we have.

The amazing Louisa Calder

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I can’t keep away from Louisa Calder for long, no matter how much I may giggle at her indifference to professional finishings off and her cheerful habit of making things that any sane person would feel entirely humiliated to wear in public. On the one hand I’m bemused (and perhaps even a little exasperated) by her obsession with making everything in double crochet (US sc) no matter what, and her unfathomable need to finish everthing off in such a botched manner that it looks like she grew bored and gave it to a toddler to stitch together. On the other, I love the bright colours she uses, the way she creates neat little “bird in flight” effects and the fact that she really does go to town with the crazy designs without a care for taste. Check out these ties for starters. Can you imagine anyone actually wearing these things?! And what’s with the random way they get larger and smaller? I mean I’m pretty lax at finishing things off, but if I were to publish a book of my creations I think I might start actually finding out what this “blocking” business is all about.

Still, if I had to pick a crochet spirit guide, I think it would have to be Mrs Calder. And now I’m looking at these ties, I’m suddenly seeing the next trendy ironic Hoxton boys fashion appearing before my eyes.

Previous Louisa Calder creations: Crochet Laptop Bag| Crochet Bag | Mobile Phone Case

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