my love-hate relationship with crochet.

so it started out as a necessity.  I needed to learn to crochet so i could make the caps for the waldorf-doll hair.  (you make a cap, sew it to the dolls' head, and then latchhook each hair into place individually - tedious, but then the hair is playable and styleable).   I sucked at it.  HUGE.   But hey, no one saw it, cuz it was all latch hooked over, so it didn't matter.

Then, my friend tanja, of sewfunky slings, made my daughter a beautiful crocheted winter earflap hat for her first birthday.  I decided at that point that I wasn't going to remain bad and slow at crocheting, if only to get more proficient at making the doll wig caps....

Something happened.  I'm still no good at reading patterns, though a really really really good book is helping me figure that out (the stitch 'n bitch guide - the happy hooker) - i got it out of the local library, have used all 6 weeks (including my renewal) and am onto my partner's library card with it!  But I can crochet!  I can chain, single, half double, double, and triple stitch along with the best of them!!!!

And to top it all off... I'm HOOKED (pardon the pun).  I can't stop crocheting little hats and shoes!  It started with the hat and booties from my previous how-to post (the hand dyed wool), and now I'm doing summer hats out of cotton!  Eventually I'll consider moving onto other things, but the great thing about hats is that they're fun, I seem to be good at creating patterns for them in my head (I can see the end project and easily figure out how to get there - can't do that with knitting as well) and they're pretty quick (well, maybe not as quick for me as others, but the gratification is pretty instantaneous)....

spring colours sweetie hat 3 - 12 months

spring colours sweetie hat 1 to 3 years 

So here they are.  A few more hats.  And I have a couple more on the go.  Trying for some bigger brims, and for some more gender neutral and "boyish" styles...Check them out at the shop, heart them, heart the shop, heart what you like!  (hearts are well loved on etsy.  they help us crafters feel encouraged to continue our passion.  Working from home means no co-workers to pat us on the back
  Oh.  And I'm opening the shop up to special orders, requests, custom orders, etc..  I've gotten a few orders from people who were brave enough to ask about it, so I thought I'd make it official.   I've done the slippers in toddler and children and adult sizes, I'm working to summer designs for the slippers with leather instead of sheepskin, and I'll do the hats in other colours and sizes too!!!  Just let me know in the conversation section of  my etsy shop and I'll let you know what I am capable of.

Coming soon:  Upcycled DIAPER BAGS - working on one of wool right now!  Will let you in on how it goes soon.