Bundle of Beanies

My dear friend Edel is battling breast cancer right now.  While her prognosis is great since it was caught early, she's still going through chemo, and has lost her hair.  Add to that a record cold winter in Ireland, and she's got a cold noggin.  So I whipped up a few hats for her.  They were all made with the same free pattern, but I played with the hat size and hook size, depending on which yarn I was using.  All the supplies came from my stash, so it was a nice way to use up some of my favorite yarns leftover from other project. The pattern is very simple, and easy to adjust as needed. 

The Rainbow Beanie was made from Bernat Mosaic yarn (now sadly discontinued), sent to me by Craftster friend pinkleo ages ago.  I love how bright and cheerful the colors are.  I actually made a skinny, lacy rainbow scarf with it back in 2012, and always knew it was destined to go to someone special.  When I whipped up the hat, I knew I had found the friend the scarf was always intended for.

The Prism Beanie was made with Caron Simply Soft in black, and Lion Brand Shawl-in-a-Ball in Prism.  The Prism has an electric blue metallic thread in it, and sparkles subtly.  It was leftover from my Prism Virus Shawl, but was too thin for an actually warm hat, so I paired it with the relatively thin worsted simply soft yarn, to make one somewhat thick worsted.

The Sporty Sparkle Beanie was made from Caron Simply Soft Party in Platinum and Fuchsia, and Simply Soft in black. The Fuchsia was leftover from making a Pussyhat for  Craftster friend kittykill.  I had picked up the platinum at the same time, hoping to possibly do something with it to match kittykill's' hat, but never figured out exactly what I wanted to do with it, so it had been in my stash since.  I think it was meant to be there for this project.  The force is definitely strong with this hat, considering it's ass-kicking pussyhat origins.

Finally the Briar Rose Beanie  was inspired by the fact that I had one red rose leftover from my Briar Rose Scarf, made for itsmereba in the Craftster Fairytale Swap.  I used a darker green for the hat (Premier Everyday in Pine Green), and used the last bits of the Lion Brand Heartland in Joshua Tree that I used for the leaves and vine of the original scarf.

Rainbow Ripples Neckwarmer & Silk Sari Bowl

I signed up for a subscription box from Darn Good Yarn a few weeks ago, and got my first box on Friday.  The yarn that they sent was a worsted weight silk roving, that is created from silk waste that would otherwise end up in a landfill.  The yarn is fair trade, and helps women in India & Nepal support their families.  The pattern they sent to go with it was for a ripples neckwarmer. 

I normally don't work with silk, but I really enjoyed this quick little project.  I started it after dinner on Saturday night, and finished early Sunday morning.  I would link to the pattern, but it's not up on their site yet. The whole piece is about 20" around, and 6-7" wide.  The colors are so cheerful that it was a joy to work on. 

When you sign up, or place a regular order from them, you can choose to add a 'mystery item' for an additional $5, that is normally sold for $15.  Since I always like surprises, and I like being pushed out of my comfort zone craft-wise, I added the item, and waited to see what came.  My mystery item turned out to be a beautiful roll of wide sari silk ribbon. 

I searched their site, and found a great pattern for a bowl made out of the same ribbon, so I whipped that up yesterday.  The pattern called for a 10mm hook, but I had only a 9 or an 11.5.  The 11.5 kept catching on the work, so I switched to the 9mm hook, which worked much better, but still it was harder than my poor hands liked.  While the project was small and should have been very quick, I had to take breaks to rest my hands.  It had nothing to do with the ribbon, it is just hard to crochet through while keeping your stitches very tight so the bowl will stand up on its own. 

All in all I'm very happy with how it came out, and I'd gladly make another one in future, after my fingers rest up a bit.  Here it is holding 2 large apples and 4 good sized tangerines.  It's currently on my desk, holding some healthy snacks for hangry afternoons in my new studio.