Crossed Cables Mosaic Hat

I saw a display of some Bernat Mosaic yarn and instantly fell in love with the colours.  I limited myself to only one colourway, though, and bought two balls in Medusa.  Like most Bernat yarns, the prices was quite reasonable.  It's an easy care, machine washable and dryable acrylic that has a lovely, soft feel to it. 



I made the hat a touch long, though not quite long enough to have to turn back at the forehead.  I was more concerned about covering the ears.



Once again, this hat is a modification of my basic flat topped, straight sided hat, which I've found works well for all the yarn types and hook sizes I've experimented with.  I worked the crossed cables starting in the first side rounds without increases.



I love, love, LOVE the colour transitions in this yarn.  This hat took up one ball of yarn using a 6.00mm hook.

I would definitely recommend this yarn.  The price is quite good for a self patterning yarn - I paid under $6 a ball, and it has a wonderful feel to it.  The easy care is always a bonus, too - just the sort of thing for wearables that will see a lot of use.  I look forward to experimenting with yarn some more in other colourways!  I can just see this being used in a nice shrug or sweater.

Cabled Earwarmer Hat

I've been making a few more hats in between working on a new version of my scoodie design.  Here's a variation of a basic hat using front and back post stitches, finishing with an earwarming modification at the bottom.



One of my frustrations with longer hats is that it's hard to keep the ears covered when it's folded up to uncover the eyes.  Here I've finished the front of the hat quite low on the forehead, but not so low as to obstruct the vision.



Then I continued the ribbed pattern (alternating front and back post stitches) for slightly more than half the circumferance of the hat, reducing each row by one on each end for a bit of a curve.  I finished with a round of single crochet to tidy up the edges, without any increases when working around the turn, so that the earwarmer portion cups the ears every so slightly.



I originally intended to make this into a beret or tam, but didn't like how it was turning out, so I ripped it and went with my basic hat pattern (flat disc top, straight sides) starting with 10 hdc worked into a ring, then working in front and back post double crochet to get this pattern.  When it came time to switch to the ribbed brim, I did the first round in back post half double crochet only, then did the rest in alternating front and back post dc.  The yarn is a Bernat Chunky (2 balls) and I used a 9.00mm hook.

The resulting hat has a lot of stretch to it, and the earwarmer portion really does the job.  The only down side is that the hook size and pattern that gives it such comfort and stretch also makes it less than ideal in higher winds.  Great for cooler weather, but I wouldn't wear it in a blizzard. ;-)

A Gift

A friend staying with us right now saw some yarn in our stash and asked my younger daughter if she could make a scarf for him with it.  It took a while - we got the yarn from an exchange, so I don't know what it is, but it's thin and fuzzy, which made it more challanging to work with.  It's done now, though, and he happily consented to model it for me.



She modified the pattern she used (you may need to sign up at the site to see it) to make herself a blanket for this, and used her favorite wooden crochet hook.  The finished scarf if very light and fluffy, and quite warm. 

Friday Feature: Finger Weaving and the Metis sash

Manitoba, the province I grew up in, is rich in Metis history.  Understandable, since the Metis are why the province came into being.  Many Metis are exceptional artists in beadwork and embroidery, and one of the most distinctive and recognisable symbols of their culture is the Metis sash.  The patterns and colours woven into the sash have come to represent various meanings and different groups within the Metis community.

The original sashes were very long, wide and woven by hand.  Eventually loom woven versions, which were faster to make and cost less, became common.  We have several loom woven sashes ourselves, purchased at Winnipeg's Folklorama and made by local loom weavers.  I won't picture them here, since it's finger weaving, not loom weaving, I'll cover today.

There are still some who weave the sashes by hand, and smaller items can be woven using the same techniques - many friendship bracelet designs are good examples of finger weaving.  Few materials or special equipment is needed. 

For basic finger weaving instructions, here's a good video to start with.



More advanced techniques can be watched at the Metis Museum site as well as this video.



Here are a few other good instructional sites.

Native Tech: Instructions for Finger Weavng Belts

Finger Weaving a Sash

Metis Finger Weaving (pdf)

My own attempts at finger weaving bracelets for my kids have given me a huge appreciation for the skill and patience of those who make the full sized sashes!

Revisiting Tunisian in the round: step-by-step child's hat

I've decided to take part in our co-ops annual craft and bake sale again, so I'm making more winter wear for my inventory. 

It's also a great excuse to try out new things and work out the kinks in old ones.

For this hat, I went back to doing Tunisian in the round, working from the top down, in Tunisian simple stitch.  I wanted to see how close to the beginning I could begin the Tunisian.

For the yarn, I went with Bernat Alpaca in Stone and Fern colourways.  My Tunisian hook is a 6.00mm, which is the size recommended for this yarn.




I'm rather happy with how close to the middle I was able to start the Tunisian stitch.  I started with a base 8 ring in sc.  For the first while, I could only pull up about 3 loops on the hook at a time before I had to switch ends, which made things a bit tight, but I much prefered this to having a larger disc in sc.



In this photo, you can better see the increases, and how much the work curls in on itself. 

I played around with the increases a bit, starting with 8 increases per round until there were 48 stitches in around, then did a single round with no increases before switching to 6 increases per round until I worked it up to 60 stitches per round.



Here's a closer view showing the increases in different places.





Working the sides at 60 stitches per round.  The gauge using Tunisian made for a size suitable for an older child or small adult.  For an larger adult sized hat, I'd have increased to anywhere from 5-10 more stitches per round.

That tuft you see on the left side is a flaw in the yarn.  I pulled it to the inside with a hook later on, so it wasn't so obvious.




An inside view.  At this point, the sides of the hat were built up as far as I wanted and I was ready to start on the brim.



I decided to take advantage of the hat's natural curling tendency and work up a brim in slip stitch, which would then be worn rolled up.  I started by dropping the dark yarn completely and doing a round in the lighter colour, sc into each vertical bar.  You can see a closer view here.



Then I dropped the light yarn, picked up the dark and began slip stitching into the sc round.  I worked in a spiral, alternating colours with each round, for several rounds, then tried it on.

It didn't work.

The slip stitched rounds were significantly tighter than the Tunisian stitches.  There was no way it was wearable.  Away they went!

I still wanted to do a slip stitched brim, though, so I broke out my 9.00mm hook.



Using both yarns on the hook, I worked a round of sc into the vertical bars, then began slip stitching.  In this photo, the first round of sc is done and the slip stitch round is just begun. 

The larger hook and doubled yarn worked out much better.



Here is the finished hat.  (Well, almost finished.)  The two yarns together made for a random pattern in the slip stitched portion that I rather liked.





When worn, the brim is meant to be rolled up like this.



Here's an inside view, showing where the yarn was finished off.

I decided that it needed more, though.  Using the left over yarn, I worked up several spirals.




I did pairs in each colour of varying lengths, working with foundations of 10, 12 and 15 chains, leaving long tails at the start and finish for attaching to the hat.  At this point, I hadn't decided on how many I would end up using.  To attach them, I tied the start and finishing tails together in an overhand knot as close to the crochet stitches as I could, threaded both ends into my yarn needle, pulled them through the hole at the very top, then stitched them into the inside.  I just kept adding them, alternating colours, and ended up using all six.



I think it looks rather cute. :-)

(late) Feature Friday: How to make a Zombie

Here are a bunch of step-by-step photos for different aspects of zombie costumes.  The theme of the walk this year was Zombie Clowns.  Unfortunately, the organizer discovered that a lot of the group's members didn't participate because they are so disturbed by clowns!  Not the zombies.  Just clowns in general.  So this will be the last time clowns are used as a theme for this group. 

Some of the photos might be a bit disturbing, so I will just post links to them rather than have the actual photo here.  If you want to see all the photos, visit the set I have up on my flickr account.

Last week I featured some completed gore that my older daughter used for her costume.  First, I will post some step-by-step photos on how she made it, as well as a cheek prosthetic she made for her friend.


First, the materials.


These pieces were made to be held in place with white medical gauze, so the foundation is a plain piece of white flannel we happened to have.  Other materials are white and clear glue, red, brown and black paint, food colouring (red is shown, but yellow was also used), and materials to create the gore texture; paper napkin, yarn and sponge pieces.  Cheap brushes that can be tossed later on are recommended.  Also, a couple of small pie plates to mix paints and glues will be needed, and be sure to have something to work on, like the cut open box used here, to protect the work surface.




Using white glue, pieces of paper napkin, bits of sponge and fuzzy yarn bits are attached to the base. 




More glue is added and spread with the paintbrush to add more bits in layers.




For this, an edge was left for the guaze that will be used to hold it in place to catch.  Once the bits and pieces are layers on to personal satisfaction, the piece is set asside to dry completely.




While the glue dried on the flannel backed gore, my daughter touched up the paint on a cheek prosthetic for her friend, which was to be adhered directly to the face. The base of this piece was some burlap with paper napkin glued on for the texture.  The base was cut loosely to shape around the side of the mouth.




Once dry, the pieces are very matte, which is not the desired effect.  To make the finished pieces look damp, while also strengthening them and preventing the paint from getting wet and smearing later on, they were given a final coat of clear glue mixed with red food colouring. 




The coloured glue is painted on thoroughly, being sure to go into various crevices.




Once dry, the glue remains shiny and damp looking.





Once the gore base was dry, red, brown and black paints were readied in a mini-pie plate.





The colours don't get mixed thoroughly, though, leaving varied shades of the paints visible.




With all three colours on the brush, the paint is spread onto the surface and worked into any dips and crevices.




The paint is almost completely finished in this photo.

Once the paint has dried, another layer may be added, if needed.  Otherwise, it gets a layer of glue, as above, to finish it.


Now it's time to make some blood.

For this, a decent sized jar with tight fitting lid, some dark corn syrup, red and yellow food colouring, toilet paper and black paint are needed.



Bunched up pieces of toilet paper, some painted black are placed into the jar first.





Then the dark corn syrup is poured in.  Lots of it.  Most of a squeeze bottle was used for this. 





Next, the red food colouring is added.  Again, quite a lot was used, but start with less first.  You can always add more.  You can't take it out.





A wooden chopstick was used to stir the colour in and break up the pieces of toilet paper, which forms the "clots" in the fake blood.




The colour is then tested out on some paper towel.  Here, it was decided that the colour was off.  Some yellow dye was added and tested out again.

Then it was tested again on skin, where it passed inspection.


Time to put it all together.

For this walk, being themed on clowns, a lot of people put together clown clothing, wigs, masks, etc.  Generally, zombies are just regular folk, so any clothing will do - so long as you're willing to tear it up and get it stained with fake blood!  My older daughter tore up an old button-up shirt, while her friend used an old t-shirt.  My younger daughter, who used only make up and fake blood and no attached gore, had an old pair of jeans cut short at the knees with brightly coloured socks, an old t-shirt, bright arm warmers made from an old pair of socks, and her long hair in messy, uneven ponytails.

For my daughter's friend, he first had to prepare his face for the cheek prosthetic.




First, some medical tape was used to pull back his lips and expose his teeth.




(This shot was taken from a mirror.)

We were in a bit of a quandary, as he'd intended to use spirit gum to attach the cheek prosthetic, but we couldn't find any.  We finally picked up some Polydent and hoped it would work.





(Another mirror shot.)

The Polydent was added to the back of the prosthetic, too. 

It almost worked.  Later on, they ended up using medical tape as a "bandage" to hold the piece in place.




Then it was time for the clown make up.  We only had the cheap face paints, so it was a bit difficult to put on.

The face blood wasn't added until they were on site.  They spattered it on with a tooth brush.  Then shared it with other zombies.

To see my daughter's finished costume using the gore she made, here are a couple of photos.  Do NOT click on them if you are disturbed by blood and gore. 

One
Two

I think she pulled it off rather well!

The kids had a blast with the zombie walk.  The route was about 5 km long, with a stop in front of the legislature for a break before continuing on down Jasper Ave. and finishing at Churchill Square in front of Edmonton's City Hall.  There had been a Movies At The Square earlier, and it was packed with people watching Marmaduke, but they were long gone by the time the zombies arrived.  Sadly, the folks selling mini-donuts, hotdogs and drinks were no longer attending their booths, either.  Too bad.  I think they would have done some brisk zombie business!

There were about 150 zombies in total, with some really amazing costumes.  After the walk broke up at Churchill Square, many of the zombies went on to a couple of bars, where some great bands were playing.  Alas, my kids are too young to go to a bar to see the Dreadnaughts and had to go home.

Of course, at the end, we're left with the clean up.  By the time the walk was done, everyone was eager to wash off the syrup blood.

There was a slight problem, though. Remember that I mentioned the cheek prosthetic needed to be taped in place later on?

Well, part of the tape went up and over his hair.




It's a good thing he wanted a hair cut, anyhow!




Hair and medical tape don't mix.

There we are!  Now you, too, can make your own zombie gore and blood for Halloween.

A preview - Zombie Walk

Okay, I have finally uploaded the photos we took of the Zombie walk.  I still need to go through and process the photos I took for the Friday Feature: How to Make a Zombie.  Until then, check out my flickr account to see the 150 or so zombies that turned out for the walk.

Warning:  if you are disturbed by blood, gore, zombies or clowns, do NOT follow this link.

River City Zombie Committee, 2010 Clown Zombie Walk.