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!