Shark Week 2014, Day 7 and a Stash Bust 2014 Update

Posted on August 17, 2014 by CrochetByDarleenHopkins

Shark Hat Finished!

His name is Cap’n and he is mighty proud of his multiple stripes. I’ve had a lot of fun making this hat during shark week. I’ll have to remember to do this again next year. But I do have a slight confession. I only watched one shark show while making him, the one on giant hammerhead sharks. We recorded a couple on the dvr and will watch them eventually. It seems like every year the researchers get themselves in more and more dangerous situations in order to get the great whites to breach or catch the elusive Old Hitler (giant hammerhead) on film. Watching the shark shows gives me the heebiegeebies a little but they are wildly entertaining. Now back to the hat…

I do love the pattern by Monica Miles but as I’m working with limited yarn and a totally different weight than what the pattern calls for, I have to make a lot of adjustments to the pattern. You can see a few more details on my project page as well as a couple more pictures. One day I’ll get the right yarn and make one as the pattern is written. Cap’n will be donated to Halos of Hope and is another hat completed for my Stash Bust Challenge 2014. He weighs in at 5 1/2 ounces.

Total hats made in the 2014 Stash Bust Challenge: 12

Total weight of the hats to date: 2 pounds, 5 3/4 ounces.

Shark Week 2014, Day 6

Posted on August 16, 2014 by CrochetByDarleenHopkins

Shark Hat Update, Day 6-Almost Done!

Moving right along! Last night I adjusted the body of the shark by removing about 10 rounds and reworking them. The hat was a little too loose so I frogged back to the last increase and reworked the rounds without it. I also saved enough yarn to finish the fins. I wish I had enough to outline the fins in sc but this will have to do. I had less than 2 feet to spare of each color! I added the gums and worked in some of the ends. With a couple more ends to work in, teeth and eyes left, I hope I’m able to finish it tonight. CHOMP!!

Shark Week 2014, Day 4 and 5

Posted on August 15, 2014 by CrochetByDarleenHopkins

Shark Week Hat Update!

I made a lot of progress on the hat Wednesday (day 4) as you can see by the photo! I really like the two colors together. I was a little concerned about the different yarns as one is worsted/aran and the other is bulky or maybe even chunky weight. I worked the bright blue, the thinner yarn, in hdc and the aqua, the thicker yarn, in sc and used the same hook for both yarns. Therefore, the sc stitches are stitched pretty tight. Last night (day 5), I finished up the body of the hat and started on the fins. Unfortunately, it looks as if there won’t be enough yarn for all the fins so I will have to frog a couple of rows. I’ll just make the gums and teeth section larger to make up for any lost length. There’s nothing wrong with a lot of big shark teeth!

Shark Week 2014, Day 3

Posted on August 13, 2014 by CrochetByDarleenHopkins

Update on the Shark Hat for Halos of Hope

Last night I realized I wasn’t going to have enough of the bright blue yarn to finish the shark. I’ve made them before and they usually use more than a full skein. So a frogged a few rounds and added some aqua stripes. They are totally random and I add a stripe as I feel it is needed. I’m happy with the progress so far. I have a couple free minutes so it is time to squeeze in a round or two. Check back tomorrow. : )

Stash Bust Update, March 2014 – Stash Busting for Halos of Hope

Posted on April 13, 2014 by CrochetByDarleenHopkins

Still On Safari with Halos of Hope and Stitches South

Going along with the On Safari theme, I made three more hats in March for Halos of Hope. Two are flamingos, a variation of my Chirp! Chirp! Tweet! Tweet! pattern. The third is another wacky variation of the Zombie Monkey pattern turned into a Lion. After making two of these lion creatures, I still have some Pomp-A-Doodle left. I guess a third lion will appear later in the year. I had the privilege of dropping these hats and others off at Stitches South yesterday. It was a great day-check for a blog post about it later this week. The 3 hats weigh in at almost 8 ounces.

Total hats made in 2014 challenge to date: 9

Total weight of the hats made in the 2014 challenge to date: 1 pound 9 ounces

Eyes, Getting them Right, Part III, Crocheted Eyes

Posted on May 27, 2013 by CrochetByDarleenHopkins

Part III in Eyes, Getting them Right

Capturing the right eye look for your crocheted creation may be as easy as baby safe yarn stitched eyes or cute button eyes. Or it may require something a little bit more than either of these. For those times when you need just a little bit more, crocheted eyes are the solution. And, just like anything you make with yarn, your possibilities are endless.

Mix it Up! Patterns will include instructions on how to make crocheted eyes. But once you have made a couple, mix and match different eyes with different patterns for an endless variety of options. My Kissy! Kissy! Fish Face pattern comes with instructions for 2 different eye options. Same basic pattern but look at how different the two fish are with a small change in the eyes.

Add Twinkle! Probably my favorite part about crocheted eyes is the option to add a little twinkle to the eye. With the tiniest amount of white yarn, your eyes go from bland to laughing eyes. And you can use this twinkle to have the eyes looking in one direction. I use the beginning tail (white) and make two tiny stitches at about a 120 degree angle. The result is adorable. He can look up, down, to the side or cross-eyed with this technique. You do have to be careful. If the twinkle in both eyes isn’t lined up just right, your critter will look “off”.

Explore your Options! With crocheted eyes, you are only limited by your imagination. Keep a folder-physical or virtual-of all your different eye patterns. After you have a collection, start exploring. Mix and match or come up with something totally new and unique.

Pros: Endless possibilities!

Cons: Takes a little longer to do and you may need to follow a pattern to get the right look.

IN SUMMARY

Whichever eye option you chose, make sure you do the following:

Keep the eyes even. You want your hat/doll/whatever you are making to be silly, not odd-looking. I always add 1 eye, then follow the same round/row to the spot where the next eye should be. Also, I don’t work in the ends until I am certain the placement is correct.
For hats, eyes placed closer together is better than farther apart. Hats will stretch when worn thereby adjusting the placement of the eyes. Try the hat on before committing to the final placement (ie working in all ends).
Have fun with it!

Stash Bust Update – Feb. 2013 Stash Busting for Hope

Posted on February 28, 2013 by CrochetByDarleenHopkins

Stash Busting for Hope, Update – Feb. 2013

Kissy! Kissy! Fish Face Hat.

This month I have one hat to share in my Stash Bust Challenge-the Kissy! Kissy! Fish Face Hat. This is a new pattern of mine. I was able to make one this month with my CottonTots weighing in at 2.75 ounces putting my total yarn usage to 1 1/4 pounds. (I promise to have more to share next month as I have 4 hats about 90% complete.) This cutie pie will be donated to Halos of Hope for their Stitches South Under the Sea for the Kids in Atlanta collection.

If interested, you can find the Kissy! Kissy! Fish Face Hat on Etsy, Ravelry and Craftsy!

Stash Bust 2013 – update January

Posted on January 19, 2013 by CrochetByDarleenHopkins

A Flapper, Patrick Star and a Frog

I’ve been steadily working on my Bernat CottonTots 100% cotton yarn stash. This month I have three hats to share with you.

Waiting for Spring Flapper Hat

The first is the Waiting for Spring, Flapper hat. This is the first hat pattern I designed and offered for sale and have not made it in a long time. While I was working on it, my husband said “going Old School on this one, huh?” It’s an adorable hat and I guess I need to make it more often! I made an XL which should fit most 3 yr. to small adult heads.

Silly Hat

The second hat is my latest release, the Silly Hat. It looks a little bit like my favorite starfish, Patrick Star from SpongeBob SquarePants. Patrick is such a goofball; no wonder SpongeBob is best buddies with him. It is a version of the Candy Corn Hat. This is a medium (most 3-6 yr. old children). It’s too tight for my almost 11-year-old to wear so it should be perfect for a younger child.

Crazy Frog Hat

The last is my buddy, the Crazy Frog hat. This pattern is included free with every one of Crochet by Darleen Hopkins patterns I sell (Ravelry, Etsy and Craftsy); just an extra bonus and thank you for your purchase! I made a small/medium to fit most 3-6 yr. old kids.

I’m saving these three to donate to Halos of Hope when they arrive in Atlanta for Stitches South. They are collecting regular and sea themed hats to benefit Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta – Egleston & Scottish Rite and will be distributing them that same weekend.

My three hats weigh in just over 9 ounces. Add this to the two I donated in December to Halos of Hope, New England Chapter and that’s a little over 1 pound (so far) of CottonTots crocheted into soft hats for Halos of Hope! Five pounds to go! : )

New pattern-Made with Love, Heart Baby Blanket, a STASH Buster!

Posted on November 24, 2012 by CrochetByDarleenHopkins

STASH: to store in a usually secret place for future use

Use a mix of similar fiber yarn in colors that blend well together

For those who crochet, STASH equals possibilities. Will this skein be a hat or scarf to keep your son warm while he plays in the snow? Maybe a market bag for weekend shopping? How about a baby blanket for your co-worker’s newest family addition? But sometimes a crocheter’s stash becomes overwhelming. Do you have boxes or bags full of lone skeins or partial skeins? Not enough for that sweater you’d like to make or not quite the right fiber for a hat?

Beautiful use of bright colors with Caron Simply Soft.

I’d like to introduce my latest pattern, the Made with Love, Heart Baby Blanket. I designed this pattern to be a “stash buster”. I’m a collector of sale or clearance yarn. It’s hard to pass up a good sale. Eventually the skeins build up and a stash of yarn ends up taking over the closet. This blanket is designed to use only 1 or 2 skeins of each color. If you don’t have full skeins, you can substitute different colors in place of 1 color. For example, the pattern is written using 2 full skeins of Vanna’s Choice solids as the darker background color. You can substitute the 1 color with 2 or 3 or more colors of similar shades. As long as the colors work well together, you can use your stashed yarn to make a lovely blanket for someone special.

Here is a beautiful example. Jennifer had only partial skeins of 2 different darker blue yarns. So she combined the 2 and ended up with enough yarn for the darkest background color. She alternated the 2 shades where the pattern called for 1 and used up some of her leftover yarn. The result is gorgeous!

Jennifer’s stash for Patchwork Heart Baby Blanket.

Adorable! Jennifer subsituted 2 colors for 1 (background dark)

This beautiful pattern can be found on Ravelry, Etsy and Craftsy. Intermediate skill required as you must be familiar with changing colors mid-row.

Thank you and Enjoy!

Darleen

Last Minute Handmade Halloween Costume

Posted on October 21, 2012 by CrochetByDarleenHopkins

10 Days and Counting to my FAVORITE Holiday. I LOVE Halloween. Some of my favorite Halloween memories are of dragging the costume box down from the attic and putting together that year’s spooky creation. That box contained some old miscellaneous costume pieces and a few of mom’s old wigs and 1960’s housedresses. I had a lot fun with that box and created some pretty wacky costumes both for Halloween and for just silly play.

Now that I have my own family, we have a costume box too but with only boys, it’s full of mostly bloody swords and capes. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with bloody swords and capes. We just don’t have anything pink or fairy-like. So when I started thinking about what would work as a last-minute costume with just bloody swords and capes, I thought of this.

What I love about this is the child’s face is not covered with an obstructing and hot mask. I dislike full face masks. They smell funny, are hot and make it hard to see, especially at night. Another awesome thing is once Halloween is over, you have a great hat to wear throughout the winter season.

Not into the spooky costumes? Here are some suggestions for last-minute handmade Halloween costumes for the little ones!

Lego Man Costume
Regular Clothes are All You Need to Add

Oink! Oink!
Add Pink Top and Pants and You’re Done!

Happy Kitty or Happy Puppy
Adorable Costume for Baby or Small Child

Mr. Spingy, the Robot Dude
Add Gray Sweats for Instant Costume

Crochet By Darleen Hopkins

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