SweetShop Studio: Head in a Basket? (and a few other things...)

Hi, SweetShoppers! I have a few quick updates for today...first of all, I've been busy writing a new hat pattern for the online shop(which should be back up soon...) It's a basketweave worked in the round...subtle but still pretty and visually interesting. I'm wearing my sample in the photos...I hope you'll all like it as much as I do...

So let's see, what else have I been working on? Oh, yes...remember The MC hat that I was working on? I finally finished it, and...

Ooh. No. Double no. Aside from the fact that I am wearing the hat inside out in this photo, I just don't like the way it came out. It's WAY too big(my own fault, for preemptively deciding to go up a hook size) and the join at each row is very visible. It's lovely pattern, but I didn't do a great job on it. The only thing I really liked about this experiment is the color combination. I wasn't too sure about this, but the mellow gray really makes the pastel yellow pop and appear almost neon. It's a really funky combination and one I'll be trying again in the future.

One last thing...I'm sure I'll be doing a full blog post about this when I track down who is responsible, but the other day I was walking in downtown Denver, near the Union Station construction site, and stumbled upon a fence full of crocheted flowers. I have no idea who's done this or why, but it was an unexpectedly cheery sight on a cold winter day.
I spent about twenty minutes taking pictures of all of the flowers on my phone(and probably looked a bit crazy while doing so...) but the display is really cute and well put together. It fronts a truly ugly, eyesore construction site and elevates the sometimes-grim cityscape just a bit...but a very important bit.

My favorite flower was this one...

And with that, I'll leave you to your crafty days, beautiful people. Peace!!

SweetShop Studio; Pattern-writing mistakes

So lately I've been teaching myself to write crochet patterns for public consumption. I say "lately" but the truth is that this is a process that started about three years or so ago. I was briefly unemployed and spent about three months sitting in my friend's back bedroom crocheting with purloined yarn from my grandmother's storage closet. This resulted in about 20 poorly-written patterns, a lot of  hats, and the SweetShop etsy.

So long story short, I've been going through all of those previous patterns, testing them, rewriting them, and I hope to post at least one a month to this blog in 2013. Pattern writing is a new skill to me and I want to refine it over time, as well as provide something new on the blog for you lovely following followers.

I say all of that to say this; my latest pattern is a full size man's beanie hat called, appropriately, the Beanie Man. (If you don't get it, click here.) The old file looked complete, so I printed it out, pulled out a hook and some yarn, and got to work.

Halfway through the pattern, I discovered a small problem.

Objects in picture are actual size.

Oh. Oh my. Oh my, no.

Just so you can get a better idea of what the problem is...yes. those are my fingertips...

Anybody have a doll in need of a comfy winter hat? 

So long story short, no pattern this Friday, SweetShoppers. I think I need to go back to the drawing board and work this one out. There will be plenty of patterns come 2013, though!

Meanwhile...if you'd like to see some patterns that are correct, check out the Raspberry Beret and the Cup Cozy. 

Peace on earth! And goodwill to all you beautiful people! 

Progress...

...is slow...

SweetShop Patterns: Raspberry Beret(repost)

So I haven't been onto ravelry in ages and when I do log in after a many month absence, what do I find?

A ton of messages from people who aren't crazy about having to go to a third-party site to download the Raspberry Beret pattern.

Oops. Sorry y'all.

I understand, and I'm sorry for not updating the patterns to an online source earlier. I like the format of a downloadable pattern better personally, but I can understand wanting the easy access of having the pattern displayed online and concerns about strange downloads. With that said, I've decided to make my ravelry patterns available as blog entries as well as downloads.

This means I'll be posting new patterns soon, but first I'll be reposting the old ones...starting with...

Raspberry Beret...

Difficulty: Advanced Beginner

Materials:
2 skeins Lambs Pride Bulky in Strawberry Shortcake
N(9mm) crochet hook
Band elastic
Yarn needle, sewing needle and thread

Stitches:
Chain stitch: ch
Slip stitch: sl
Puff stitch: pff st(for help on how to do a puff stitch for this pattern, click here)
Half-double crochet: hdc
Triple crochet: tr


Directions:
Rnd 1: Ch 6, join with sl st to make ring
Rnd 2: Ch 1, 10 pff st into ring, join
Rnd 3: Ch 1, 2 pff st in each st around, join(20 st)
Rnd 4: Ch 1, *(2 pff sts in next st, 1 pff st in next st), repeat from *around, join (30 sts)
Rnd 5: Ch 1, *(2 pff sts in next st, 1 pff st in next 2 sts), repeat from * around, join. (40 sts)
Rnd 6: Ch 1,*(2 pff sts in next st, 1 pff st in next 3 sts), repeat from * around, join. (50 sts)
Rnd 7: Ch 1, 1 pff st in ea st around, join(50 sts)
Rnd 8: Ch 1, *(2 pff sts in next st, 1 pff st in next 4 sts), repeat from *around, join. (60 sts)
Rnd 9: Ch 1, **2 pff sts in next st, 1 pff st in next 5 sts), repeat from * around, join.(70 sts)
Rnd 10: Ch 1, 1 pff st in ea st around, join.
Rnd 11: ch 1, 1 pff st in ea st around, join.
Rnd 12: Ch 1, *(1 pff st in next 5 sts, pff st 2 together), repeat from * around, join.
Rnd 13: Ch 1, 1 pff st in ea st around, join
Rnd 14: Ch 1, *(1 pff st in next 3 sts, pff st 2 together), repeat from * around, join.
Rnd 15: Ch 1, 1 pff st in ea st around, join.
Rnd 16: Ch 1, 1 pff st in ea st around, join.
Rnd 17: Ch 1, 1 pff st in ea st around, join.
Rnd 18: Ch 1, 1 hdc in ea st around, join.
Rnd 19: Ch 3, 1 tr in ea st around, join. Don’t fasten off.
Weave elastic through row of triple crochet carefully, making sure not to bend or twist. Sew ends of
elastic together with sewing needle and thread—be sure that sewn bit of elastic is on the inside of the
hat brim to make it easier to cover.
Using same hook and yarn, carefully cover elastic as follows: Ch 1, go into bottom of first tr crochet
stitch(on top of round 18 hdc) [*yo, pull through. 2 loops on hook. Yo, go through bottom of next tr
crochet, yo, pull through. 4 loops on hook. Yo, pull through all 4 loops, yo, go into bottom of same st]
Repeat from * until all elastic is covered, join with sl st. . Be very careful not to bend or twist elastic
Weave in all ends.

© 2010 Melissa Watkins/Sweetshop Creations


If you make your own Raspberry Beret,  don't forget to comment and post a pic of it here! Peace beautiful people!

SweetShop Workshop; The MC from Get Your Crochet On!: Hip Hats and Cool Caps

Remember how I said I wasn't going to do much with the shop but was going to share more of my personal crafting on the blog? Consider that promise kept, beautiful people. What you see here is a snapshot of my latest personal project--a version of The MC hat from Afya Ibomu's funky pattern book Get Your Crochet On! Hip Hats and Cool Caps. I recently was given quite a lot of fun new acrylic yarn and due to moving a lot lately, find myself low on hats.

I'll post new pics when it's finished, but for now, I have a few quick thoughts on the variations I'm including;

• Afya Ibomu must be an *incredibly* loose crocheter because I always have to go up a hook size or two to match her gauge. The pattern calls for a 5.0 mm hook. The hook pictured is a 6.5. (BTW, I got that hook in a long-ago January sale haul, blogged about here.)
• The pattern also calls for starting with 4 sc, joined into a ring, which is then crocheted into. That's a pretty common start for hats or any pattern crocheted in the round. However, that still leaves a small hole in the top of the hat. I guess that's not usually a problem, but I have an afro, and nothing ruins your daily cute like having afro popping through the top of your hat via a coin-sized hole. I much prefer the magic loop technique because you can close the hole, so that's what you see here. I'll draw it all the way closed when I've finished the hat.
• Last thing for now...the stripes and color combination. The original pattern doesn't include striping instructions, so I'm just winging it by switching colors when I feel like it. I don't know how I feel about the color combo just yet though. I wanted to try something new, and had some pretty gray with a slightly pinky taupe undertone. I don't have enough for a whole hat, though, so I decided to match it with a light floral yellow. In theory it works. In person it looks...okay. We'll see what happens when the hat is finished, I guess.

I'll post more pics when this hat is finished, beautiful people. Meanwhile, hope you're all having a great day--feel free to share in the comments what *you're* working with.

New Item: Papergirl Hat! (and yes, more earrings...)

Hello SweetShoppers!

I realized the other day that although one of my original ideas for the SweetShop was to make hats...I hadn't made one in a while. So I got out the trusty K hook and some gray acrylic yarn that was just begging to be used...and came up with this...

The PaperGirl Hat! See, it's not really a newsboy cap, so why not call it a papergirl. It was either that or call it  the Baggy Gray Pseudo-Rasta Tam with Curvy Brim and Elastic. Brevity always wins. 

Also, because I just cannot stop myself, it seems, I've made even more Curly-Wurly earrings...yay! (Or should that be, ~sigh~?) 

To check out the new hat and the earrings, and order them for yourself, click HERE. 

Peace, y'all!