Pattern: Roller Derby Hats (Jammer & Pivot)

I am a huge roller derby fan! I don't play, I just watch! I'm way too scared of hurting myself! I believe at this point my husband an I have only missed 1 home bout, and I am very proud of my local Lumbersmacks because they are off to Nationals next week! So in their honour here is an awesome new pattern from me!

I've been trying for a year to perfect this pattern, the Jammer (hat with the star) was easy, but the Pivot hat was the complicated one! I didn't like the look of just sewing a stripe onto the hat, I wanted a one piece version and after lots of trial and error I did it!!! *dances like an idiot*

The pattern is available on Ravelry for $4

If you would like to order a hat from me, please email me :)

And guess what?!

More hats!!!
These are some more hat commissions I've made over the past two weeks. I wont deny that I'm very happy to now be moving on to working on a slipper commission! I have a few more hats that I need to get done for December/Christmas, but those can wait another week or two! I'm not taking on any more commissions at this very moment, I have 9 projects to get done, so I'm going to focus on those, and then probably throw out a plea for some more commissions come mid-November :-)

Blue's Clue hat made for a toddler

Cookie Monster hat made for a toddler
I also made a cookie pin for him, that can attach to the hat or the kid's coat,
but I forgot to take a picture... shocking I know!

R2D2 hat made for a Child

Same hat from another angle... this was a very interesting project,
I don't usually do much intarsia crocheting!

I find it helpful to draw out what I'm going to be working on
before I start crocheting, here's my project sheet for R2D2

Green mushroom hat for a child, his sister owns at matching red one :)

And a sock monkey hat for a toddler and matching mittens!

And this is totally unrelated to the hatness, but this past Sunday The Walking Dead
started again, and I made cupcakes for my best friend, J and I to enjoy!
Zombie cupcakes taste even better than real ones! and I'm totally psyched to
have extra bone sprinkles leftover, though I have no idea what I'm going to do with them...

So that's what's been happening in YarrHooked Land recently... I have a blog post in the works too about an obsession of mine... it's not yarn, though I am obsessed with that as well :)

Monday Morning Hat Order

This weekend was SO MUCH FUN! I was in insane hat making mode! A customer had ordered 7 hats  (2 for each of her 3 children, and 1 for her niece) and as it's suddenly really cold in the morning I had to get rushing to finish up 5 hats for her! (The other 2 are for a baby due on Boxing Day, so no rush there!)

And here they are!

Pirate Sock Monkey Hat (made to fit a toddler)

Hello Kitty-ish Hat # 1 (made to fit a child)

Brim Hat with Flower (made to fit a child)
Here's the pattern I modified to make this hat

Hello Kitty-ish Hat # 2 (made to fit a toddler)

Mohawk Hat (made to fit a toddler)

Mohawk Hat (made to fit a toddler)

I'm really happy with how all of them turned out, I think the mohawk one is going to become a staple in my store soon, it's a great fun hat! And it could be made girlier using a different colour scheme  and I'm hoping to offer different options for the applique on the side.

I'm also very happy to have these out of the way because I still have a bunch of more commissions to get made... I think there are 4 more hats to make, a set of owl amigurumi, and some slippers... I think that's it for now... I need to double check my list lol

I'm also finding myself in this weird place where pricing is concerned. I have a VERY bad habit of underpricing my work, I do great work, it's well made, creative and made with love, I love to crochet... but I also need to make some money off of it... Yarn costs money, my time costs money and I'm finally starting to realize I'm really undercutting myself in a lot of instances... I think once all these commissions are done, J and I will be sitting down and coming up with some styles I want to focus on and a pricing guide. I don't want to stop doing commissions, I LOVE THEM, they give me the chance to make things that I've never thought to do myself, but I need to be firm and try to get the prices I think my work and I deserve...

Commissions I finished up last week!

So last week had some insane crocheting happening! A scarf, a hat and a pair of mittens! (not all for the same person ironically) Though I did score all the orders while at a kid's birthday party, so that works for me!

Noose Scarf, made from Bernat Waverley yarn. This was my first time using this yarn, and it was really nice to work with, fluffy and comfortable. The pattern for these is one of mine and can be found for sale on Ravelry.

These mittens are from a Bernat pattern and were made using Bernat Chunky Yarn, I'm not a huge fan of the yarn, but it was the customer's request, so I couldn't very well refuse :)

This hat is my own design, and not available at the moment anywhere. It's made with Lion Brand Vanna's Choice, and fits an adult male, but not my tiny female mannequin head!

Pattern: Not Your Granny's Hat

Another pattern is up for sale on Ravelry!

If anyone would like to purchase a ready-made copy of the hat, please email me directly

Hats done!

It took way longer than it should have, but I finally finished the "Angry Bird" hats! They will be off to their owner in Nova Scotia in a few days

Some more commissions I've finished up!

As I mentioned previously, I've been inundated with hat commissions lately! Here are a few more I finished up, the devil hat was for a co-workers daughter, the actual earflap hat design (not including horns) is a single piece that's worked from top down, I'm hoping to have time after Christmas to actually get the pattern written up and for sale because I LOVE the style of this hat! It doesn't have those earflaps that are crocheted on after fact in back and forth rows, that I find look so different from the actual hat which is in rounds.

This hat was crocheted for the daughter of one my husband's cousins... gotta love those complicated family relationships! Anyway, it's for a two-year old, which explains why, even though my mannequin has a small head (19" circumference) the hat is still too small! but it fit Maria perfectly! I also whipped up a quick cupcake hat to give the mom a few options... she of course bought both once she saw them on Maria. :)

This hat... drove me insane... I wasn't thinking when I took the commission that mohair is from a sheep, much like wool... I'm allergic to wool... I'm apparently REALLY allergic to mohair! After many days of burning and tingling fingertips, which eventually went numb, and working in 15 minute spurts with frantic handwashing between, I finally finished the hat. Many people kept telling me to tell the woman who commissioned it, that I couldn't do it, but it was a sad story, for her father who is sick and the use of mohair to make the hat was paramount as it was an inside joke, that I couldn't stop... I'm actually giving it to her shortly and I hope it fits well and makes everyone smile.

Well... that's all for now... I'm working on some mittens, a few hats based on Angry Birds for a friend of mine and a few Christmas presents... more updates to come as those get finished up :)

Some completed commissions

I've been crazy busy lately between work and crocheting. I've had an influx of crochet commissions, mainly for hats, because people seem obsessed with the hat I made my husband, which is great but means I keep putting off the projects I have in my head.

 And this is the famed My Little Zombie that I made about a month ago and is now happily residing in Missouri.

I have plans for more zombie items but they have to wait until I finish up commissions :)