cold weather~ ready or not here it comes

 it scares me a little to think of the frigid days and

freezing nights that are coming our way. there's even a chance we'll see a bit of

snow by the time the weekend comes.

in the summer i have zero desire to crochet but hey summer's over so 

guess what? i'm crocheting again. i was at a local sale recently and saw these amazing

hand made scarves. i'd never seen anything like them and i was in like.

i was also kind of shocked by the $59 price tags so i decided to try making one.

i bought gray and cream yarn and also some gold and navy flannel.

oh and to make it the chunky size i wanted, a new crochet hook.

*size 9 mm.

so it was really simple. i just made crocheted chains. lots and lots of

chains. mostly gray with a few ivory ones for good measure. i  

just added one braided circle of the plaid flannel, but if you want to 

try this, add as many of them in it as you want. The texture and
 uniqueness is what i find so attractive about these scarves.

now, here it is almost done. i had my friend christa hold it for me

while i added the last step, which was to tightly wrap some of the gray

yarn around it in about a 5 inch area, hiding all the loose ends underneath

and that's also what holds it all together.

this is the best finished picture i remembered to take of it before another friend

bought it to give as a gift and then ordered 2 more.   :  )

then, because getting my craft on felt so good, i whipped up 2 stocking caps

out of a recycled wool sweater. i was in the middle of burning c.d.'s for a client and

because that takes a while, grabbed my sewing machine and in about 15 minutes had

two caps made. this is a really easy thing to try friends! i'd seen a simple pattern in

a craft book and it's basically just two pieces that you make a pleat at the top of~ and then

sew them together again. here let me show you:

these are a bit out of order but i don't want to reload the pics so bear with me. see the

pleat on the top of the hat as i started to sew the two sides together? well scroll down

to see how to make that.

here's the sweater i used. i was able to get two caps out of it. 

there was a stripe that ran across the bottom and that made the caps extra cute

i think. i thought it would be so warm and cozy to put a layer of that

same gold flannel from up above on the inside, but

didn't take in to account that that doesn't stretch so forget that part...haha

if you want to try one and want to line it, use a stretchy fabric for the inside mm k.?

                                                             *if you noticed the upside down boob effect, you're welcome for the laugh!

i laid this little wedge of paper on one side to demonstrate where you sew the

pleat. just make a straight seam on the inside line of the pie piece.

(oh i'm terrible at explaining things...look at the photo of it again as i

started to sew it, see that little pleat on the curved top?)

          selfie wearing the finished hat.

            * where's waldo??????

then i went a little further and made a little flower and sewed on the side.

it's just 2 circles of flannel, one of the sweater material and a button

in the middle.

remember when we were young how much we all 

hated it when our moms made us wear "sensible" clothes like

stocking caps, mittens and boots? well wearing hats is more in now than it's been 

in years.  and fingerless gloves, boots with boot warmers, ponchos, scarves...all of it,

just so cozy and comforting. 

no matter where you live, if it's cold bundle up

stay warm, drink tea and hopefully we'll all stay well!

xo, beth