Bob’s Burgers ?

Anyone heard of Bob’s Burgers? Me neither, until I met a young woman who loves the program and asked me to make her a hat like the pink one below:

Well, I tried. But I think this one has to go down as a fail. The ears are too close together, they aren’t pointy enough, and THEY DON’T STAND UP.  I’ve used a medium-weight interfacing in them plus a bit of plastic-coated wire, so they certainly won’t lose their shape – just their erectness. (Is that a word?)

I handstitched them to the top, to try and give a bit of three-dimensional shape to the base, if you know what I mean. But floppy still prevails. Plus, Cape Town is an extraordinarily windy city – I’m worried those ears might whack down and give the wearer two black eyes.

If you have any advice to share about sticky-up ears, please let me know.

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pixie hats

A while back I made a pixie hat:

It came with me to a lot of markets but no-one liked it enough to buy it. Until last Saturday, when a woman came along, grabbed it, stuck on her sister’s head and said Right, this is yours. And could I please order one for my son?  I’ve just finished his:

        

Despite all the things I crochet from patterns, this is my favourite thing of all – to just make something up as I go along, changing colours and thicknesses, adding in a row of popcorns here and there, and doing some wiggly beady bits on the top to finish it off.  This way, nothing can ever turn out wrong !!!

magnificent submit

The whackiness of drivel spam sometimes makes me laugh out loud. This is my favourite so far – “Thanking you for magnificent submit.” You’re welcome, freaky spam bot.

Meet Hattie. She was made for me by Steve, one of the wonderful woodworkers we’ve met through being at Kirstenbosch Market.  She’s as light as a feather and can display 10 hats at a time and, because she’s a table stand, won’t get blown over if there’s wind. Pic out of focus, sorry. My bad. Bad and lazy.

Next up, two wooden boxes that were taking up space without purpose at Rob’s flat: I’m not in the mood for painting right now so I decided to wallpaper them with newsprint. I have to say, I’m not entirely sure that this really is the way to go, but if I don’t try I’ll never know. I’ll do the tops and one bit of the insides and then, if I think it looks stupid, will just have to do something else!

Still working on Tammy’s cushion in aubergine, lilac and willow, but nearly finished. The middle was the flower from the afghan in Issue 3 of Simply Crochet, but I changed things a bit after the row of cream. The purple cotton I’m using isn’t Vinni’s and I’m finding it a bit thinner, so I felt a smaller stitch than a treble was called for. I’m pretty much just making it up as I go along now. I like that about crochet, although it’s not an approach that works with cooking.

Last thing for today, the winner of the Jam Tarts facebook give-away last week for a frog beanie was Mary-Anne from Woolhogs.

She said she was thrilled but felt “undeserving” – not sure why, maybe because we know each other (only through blogging), live in the same city, have the same interests, etc.  I told her she won fair and square.  Life’s random, so things seem  coincidental some times.  That’s how random works.  I wish we could give away a frog beanie to everyone who entered and shared and liked, because you are all lovely people who would all look good in one :-)

Back soon x

Friday update

So, I was right about the size of Jono’s head – the Jayne hat was way too tight, so I knitted him another one and he gave the first one to his eldest son, Max.  (Two Firefly fans in one family, what are the odds!?)

Here I am wearing Jayne hat #2.  

And you don’t have to say it – when it comes to photography, I’m a natural, I know. Thank you.

Then I made more hats.  Autumn, here, remember? I guess they look pretty stupid just lying there like this, but I didn’t want to hit you with two pics of me in a hat in one post.

I made these patterns up. Sort of. The brown and maroon stripey one is a larger variation on the CrossStitch slouch that I’ve made many times before, and I don’t often do stripes but the recipient loved it! She has dreads, and wanted something big enough to accommodate them but not so big around the brim that the whole thing would slip off.  When I’d finished it, it looked humungous so I did a red one. It fits me very nicely, not like the black one below that was made last year, which will possibly be turned into a bag.

  (Oops, sorry, that’s two after all.)

Another hat but this one with little bear ears for a baby. Anne is officially our Chief Baby Beanie Maker but I suddenly got the urge to try one myself.  I’m not big on faces so, hey, could be anything you want – meerkat, squirrel, pug? Heh.

In other news, I’ve been whipping up as many pairs of house slippers as I can for the Kirstenbosch Market on Sunday. We have a new spot there (I did mention that Jam Tarts is now a Permanent Vendor, hey?) and I’ve just taken delivery of five stunning wooden crates made for me by Colin at the Carpenter’s Workshop; these will be used in our new-look display, which we’ve been working hard on. Will post a pic after Sunday. Very excited.

I’ll leave the other makes for my next post, don’t want to overwhelm you and think I never do any ‘real’ work…

Back soon x

work-in-progress Wednesday

For the first time in a long time I’ve got back into glue and grout…been making one huge marvellous mess in the kitchen, smashing up cracked mugs and plates, wielding my ceramic nutcrackers, etc, hoping to create two beautiful stepping stones for a commission.

Already nearly dry. At this rate I should be able to make Finished Object Friday!?

Back soon x