Another FAB day in my Crochet Bubble + free edging pattern

Firstly I thought I would share the fact that I am now the proud, however, temporary owner of a stall at Merton Abbey Mills for Sunday 11th December 2011 - from 10am to 5pm

I am really looking forward to my day, however I am not relishing the weather, so I will have to hunt out my thermals.

Now to some more news.

A customer ordered a Lime Green Beanie Hat with Ear Flaps via my For Sale page, so after purchasing the wool and agreeing via emails that the colour was right, I got to work.

However once I had got the main hat made, I thought that it might look better with a contrast colour finish, as it was for a young lady, so another email later and that was agreed.

I decided on a White Blanket Stitch all the way around the edge

which I thought looked FAB

And this meant that the plaits could have a touch of White in them too, which really sets off the whole hat.

I am REALLY pleased to say that the customer loved it too.

"...it’s really lovely! Thank you SO much for doing this, I’m sure she’ll love it."

I also had a Crochet Class today.  VM had bought some 100% Cotton tape from a local wool sale recently and she wanted to make a scarf from it.  

She had started on her own using a "mesh" pattern from a book she has, but there was a mistake in the pattern so it wasn't working out.  She was also using a 4mm hook and this made the work really tight.

  We went through the pattern together and with my help we adjusted the pattern (a stupid little mistake that added one chain too many) and got to work together.

Fortunately I had some Cotton Tape in my stash, so we worked alongside each other and worked 3 rows, until VM felt comfortable with carrying on, on her own once at home.

I decided to use a 9mm hook and VM an 8mm hook (the wool label said 9mm knitting needles)

I am sure that you can see the difference that 1mm CAN make - the lighter scarf is coming up much larger using the 9mm hook than the red scarf using an 8mm hook.

VM also wanted to add a nice "edge" to each end, so again, together we worked on a pattern together, however the pattern she liked in the book didn't quite fit in with the scarf's end, so we made our own up.

This is what we did for the edge

Join the wool & 1 ch, 1dc, 3tr into the one chain space. (UK)

Join the wool & 1ch, 1sc, 3dc into the one chain space. (US)

Repeat all the way along

In the end chain space - 1dc, 2tr, 1dc & fasten off (UK)

1sc, 2dc, 1sc & fasten off (US)

Another day in my Crochet World

Hi everyone, I had a busy day yesterday with a Crochet Class at a local "Arty" Cafe to start the day off.  I went to speak to the owner about holding Crochet Classes at her venue in January 2012 and not only did she think it was a great idea, but she wanted to take a few classes herself!

Next was one of my regular students who I haven't seen for a few weeks due her having a major cold last week, which she kindly text me about to let me know, so we rescheduled.  She came along producing one completed beanie hat - 

Isn't it simply FANTASTIC

When she came to me 5 lessons ago, she didn't know how to crochet and now she's turning out Beanie Hats and a scarf for her Mother's Christmas present, which we decided between us that it would be very ambitious to complete in time for the day, so it's now going to be a cowl.  So 10 hours of one to one lessons and she's doing wonders!

Another thing that I completed yesterday was to finish off the Beanie Hat ordered by my Postman.  I wasn't happy with the lettering - it was too "spidery" so I decided to make the lettering thicker....

....and now it looks perfect.

I also discovered a site called Urban Knit .co.uk and so I took a look on there.  They sell 100% Acrylic Scarves for £29.99!!!  I wish I could sell one of mine for that price!

I also started my commission order yesterday and all I have to do now is email the buyer with a photograph of the ear flap hat so far, to see if she would like anything added or altered before I finish it off.

Oh, and I contacted the Merton Abbey Mills people too that Mrs. Jones kindly left me a comment about - I am hoping that I can get a one off stall there this coming Sunday.  It's a "handmade" orientated place, so the people that go there to buy, are expecting to pay some money for goods, not like the craft fair that I did last week which I know I shouldn't moan about, as I actually did ok, but the people who went there were expecting car boot sale prices,  not "hand made" and not "mass produced".  So hopefully I will hear from them today and I can pack up my leftover stock (of which there is quite a bit) and Pixie my mannequin and spend the day selling my wares and giving out leaflets about my crochet classes!