Celestial Beads

Well... it's the first day of winter here...

And it's living up to expectations - dreary, cold and wet!

Please don't think that I'm complaining though...

It makes for the perfect crafting day - indoors where it's warm and dry - and no guilty feelings about how you should be outside making the most of the sunshine...

Most of us here have spent the last week or two suffering effects of the flu - so I lost my little model for the Alien Encounter hat, and for this one too. Poor little blossom was down for the count, and spent the best part of a week in bed.

This beanie was created for the Celestial category at the Alice Springs Beanie Festival.

And if you're thinking that the copper wire and beads looks a little familiar... it's from a project I made a few years ago - you can read the original blog post about it here.

I added a bunch more beads to fill out the centre section of the sun... since it just needed some more bling to give it a lift.

And once again, it was fabulous to recycle an old piece and put it to good use!

Alien Encounter

Finally I have finished ALL of my festival hats!!!

This one is a competition beanie....

You might remember that the theme this year is OUT OF THIS WORLD.

And I think that this piece will suit the ALIEN category nicely!

Birth of an Alien

Now that those other hats are out of the way for the moment - I'm working on my ALIEN HAT...

It's pretty BRIGHT... especially the fluorescent yellow of the eye... 

there's a couple more of those eyes to come

It's changed a little since the original sketch I had planned... It ALWAYS changes, but you can see the basic elements are all still there...

I was a bit disappointed not to be able to have the eyes up on stems the way I had sketched - but there was just too much weight in them (there's polystyrene balls inside) and they kept keeling over... so I've had to secure them directly to the hat...

Hopefully I'll have a finished photo for you tomorrow!

Psssst. 

Look closely at the photo above... 

At the bottom left hand side...

That smooth brown looking surface...

That is the TOP OF MY DESK!!!!

So glad I have a photo of it... just to remember what it looks like... because we don't see it very often these days...

Usually it's hidden under a sea of STUFF!

Bobbly...

Loving how the front of this one is so very different from the back...

The front side is all about the bobbles... and then the back features the spoke wheels...

The photos are a little on the blurry side - due to fading light - but you get the idea!

Stripey Jester

I started running out of time with my goal of sending beanies to both the Castlemaine Beanie Affair and the Alice Springs Beanie Festival...

So I raided my storage tubs which are full of unfinished projects...

Yes.

I have enough unfinished pieces to fill more than one tub...

But that's a story for another day!

Anyway, I discovered a half made beanie which I had been making from this pattern here.

All the stripes were already done, but I wanted to give it a different finish...

So I added some freeform knitting and crochet to the top - and created two long.... hmmm... what would you call those long tips you see on a jester's hat? Ears maybe? You know the bits I mean!

Yep. I added two of them - and some big old tassels to finish off...

Plum Surprise

I think that PURPLES and GREENS would have to be my all-time favourite colour combination...

They just complement one another so beautifully - and remind me of a glorious Springtime garden!

Button Down the Hatches...

Ahhhh.....

Could this hat be any more different from that last one?

It's so subdued, calm and serene...

And although it's really not plain - it certainly feels that way after some of the others!

The Carnival is NOT Over...

I have a NEW favourite hat!!!

This one is so bold and cheerful and colourful and fun...

I love everything about it - from those brightest of bright colours, to the granny squares, to the way it morphs into a pixie hat, and the giant pom pom...

And my model loves it too!

It's Complicated...

I'm a bit CONFLICTED by this hat...

I feel like there's a lot going on -

so many different stitches and colours,

that I don't quite know where to look first...

And it AMUSES me that from some angles,

there's a little bit of a mohawk going on!

Here's one final photo, to prove that my model wasn't COMPLETELY sullen during this shoot...

Busy Out Back

The name says it all... this one IS "Busy Out Back"

Around the face, the details are simple... 

just some soft, chunky yarns... worked in regular rounds...

But the back is a burst of colourful freeform activity!

With three separate tassels - each on a different colour...

A bit of knitting... A bit of crochet...

And some novelty yarns for texture...

A Little On The Bright Side...

I wonder if it's possible for this hat to be even MORE INTENSE in real life???

It certainly seems to be...

In fact, 

the photos just don't quite do justice to just how OVER THE TOP colourful this beanie really is...

Industrial Revolution

Somehow this hat seems a little subdued...

It's quite incredible to see the difference that colour makes...

Because of the muted greys - this hat doesn't seem nearly as silly as it would if it had been worked in a bolder colour...

And again I'm loving the ASYMMETRY...  with two large dangling pom poms on one side... and a single high one on the other side.

 It takes so much pressure off, when you're not trying to match everything... and you just allow the pieces to fall into place naturally...

  

 

(Pssst. That was #8 of 12.)