Another Hat

So after I made my green hat I loved it so much that I decided to make the same one for my friend Tobi. Since I tried knitting, 8 months ago, I promised to make her a hat but never did. She'd already chosen wool so I just had to get my act together.
For this one I used a larger crochet hook, a 5 or 5.5mm I think. The hat ended up bigger than mine, which was the plan, and it fit really well.

The flower starting to take shape.

Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo of the completed hat so I will have to get her to take one someday!

I've very excited as tomorrow I am picking up a spinning wheel that I am renting for a few weeks to try it out. After learning to crochet, then decided to dye wool I ended up watching tonnes of youtube clips of how to spin wool and so I thought I'd give it a try!

Flower Beret with Hand-dyed Yarn

Well I used up the first lot of hand-dyed yarn for a toy, pictures will come in the next few weeks as it is a gift and therefore cannot be put up until after it has been given! I decided to try again, attempting not to damage the wool as much as last time it came out rather rough. Well this time it work a charm, I didn't leave it in the hot water as long and used less vinegar. The results were fantastic! I didn't take any pictures of the dyed skeins but I already crocheted a hat out of it!

I used this free pattern: http://kellsbubble.blogspot.com.au/2011/10/tea-time-doily-beret.html

Here are some images of the progress!

Here is the beginning of the petals.

Flower motif finished, beginning on the bulk of the hat.

All finished!

The day I finished it I wore it out with a friend to the Tesselaar Tulip Festival

Originally I really struggled with making the hat, I was used to simple toy patterns so using a variety of different stitches was a bit confusing. But I succeeded and have already made another hat for a friend! A blog post for that is coming up =)

First yarn dyeing experiment!

After doing some research yesterday and getting a little bit over-enthused I decided to try dyeing some old cream colour yarn I had using food dye.

The basic method is to use vinegar and heat to allow for the dye to penetrate the wool and then heat again to set it in place. My very lovely Mumsy let me have her old slow-cooker for my dyeing adventures so with a giant bottle of vinegar in hand I started! And here are the results: 

I'm pretty please with it. Looking forward to seeing how it will look once crocheted, although I haven't quite decided what I will make from it.

I will probably upload a photo-tutorial at some point in the next month!

Happy yarning!