Knitting & Crochet Project ~ Owl Hat ~

I have seen soo many cute owl hat projects and patterns. Now I'm not quite experienced enough for a lot of them, but I saw so many cute images on pinterest and thought I would give it a go!

Also I planned to do something crafty every month, this is February's craftiness!!!
Also I was quite poorly so this took my mind of dwelling in self pity!!!

I struggle with following patterns in everything I do, I'm more of a trial and error kinda gal!

 

So this is my "pattern":

Using 10mm needles
Cast on 40 stitches
Stocking stitch for approx. 25 rows (I didn't really count approx. 5")
Then change colour (I changed to White)
Stocking Stitch the same amount again, approx. 25 rows!


Sew up edge.
Then sew top.
(Thinking about sewing across corners as ears??)

Crochet eyes
I'm not the best at crochet but my attempt worked quite well!!!
Chain 3 in circle and keep circling to make big round eyes!!
Start Black for pupil and change to white after one round!

I knitted a beak too, couldn't decide what colour, and I only had much thinner wool so I used 3 colours of yellow/orange.
Cast on 5. Kn1 Pl1
Reduce to 3
Reduce again to 1.

This is the first time I used crochet to "sew" up the seems and sew on the eyes and beak but it worked quite well!!!

And here is the finished product!!!!

Hope you like it!
This hat keeps me warm and puts a smile on my face!!!

Send me links to any simple projects you think I would like or projects you have done!!

xx


Previous Posts:

Check out my last Knitted Hat Project

Organisation, Storage and Cute Jars ~ Spring Cleaning ~ DIY's

Ok I might not be the most organised person but I do like to try! And it is Spring Cleaning time!!!

I love Storage and Storage Jars especially in the Kitchen! Now I have bought sooo many Jars for my kitchen, all different shapes and sizes for storing everything from sugar to cookie cutters. I have picked them up everywhere from pound shops to home wear supplies and everywhere in between! (Ikea you need to move closer to me!!!) Love Meadows & Byrne but again they have relocated away from me!

Now Jar-wise I have branched out to pack cakes in jars, (check out my post here) so my jar collection needs to grow. I had an idea to recycle food jars. (Now I do recycle glass in the recycle centre and way prefer food to come in glass jars over plastics - tangential rant)

Every Jam maker reuses old jam jars so why not use them for other things.

Also it can't be just me that opens plastic bags by exploding the contents all over the place and having no way of keeping the unused contents fresh!

So now I wash out old jars, (especially those that are cute shapes) soak to remove labels and paint the lids and paint on labels with chalk paint (so cute) I have used these to store Macaroni in the large one and chopped Hazelnuts in the smaller one!!!

Here are some before and after pics:

 

 

And here's my Cake in a Jar Attempt:

 

 

 

 

Hope you like this post and give recycling Jars into storage a go!

 

Please send me your organisation hacks!

 

xx

Safety Pin Fashion ~Versace Love ~ Design, Trend or Costume?

So it's my favourite time of year, well favourite holiday, Halloween soon. I love to dress up, to design and create. I find it very disappointing that the older we get the less we embrace the costume. So I am happy to announce that this year I not only get to enjoy Halloween but also a "Reeling in the Years" themed event. So costume time! But I had no idea what to wear. My friend, who invited me had decided on Bad Sandy from Grease, so I needed an equally impressive costume....

 

Liz Hurley's, Versace safety pin from the 1994 premier of Four Weddings and a Funeral!

This dress is famous, simply referred to as "That Dress". It has been voted No.1 in a poll on the most iconic red carpet dresses compiled by Debenhams.

It was shocking and produced much controversy in the media at the time, but did it really change the way we dress? Versace was a man who embraced the female form and to quote Liz herself "Unlike many other designers, Versace designs clothes to celebrate the female form rather than eliminate it."

Today we don't bat an eyelid to the outfits or  it would be better to say lack there of, of celebrities such as Miley Cyrus, Lady Gaga and Rihanna.

Versace may have made it famous but so many other designers have followed suit and used pins in their creations, including Moschino, Alexander McQueen and Marc Jacobs.

Versace has been an inspiration to me for many moons. I have designed and worn safety pin dresses in the past, embraced plunging necklines and skies the limit thigh slits but now I have set my sights on recreating "That Dress" as an iconic 90's costume. I hope I do it justice.

Wikipedia tells me the design basics:

Design

The black dress was made from pieces of silk and lycra fabric, with oversized gold safety pins placed at "strategical places". The dress was wide open at the front, from the neck down to at least half way across the bosom, with two slimline straps on the shoulders each side connected by a gold safety pin and two cut-away parts on both sides that were held together with six gold safety pins on each side and one at the top of the cut-away on each side connecting it to the bosom section. The dress is said to be punk-inspired, "neo-punk",and something which "emerged from the sari development" according to Gianni Versace himself.


I still don't know if there were two thigh slits? From photos of Liz walking up the stairs it looks as if there were? I wish I could see it up close to investigate!!!!

Also I am not using silk, it is just a costume so I am using a stretchy jersey like fabric that clings nicely to the body. €15 per meter from Hickeys Fabrics. Also I don't think I will go so low on the neckline but we'll see, I plan on fitting a bra to the dress so give me support and so I don't have annoying bra straps every where!!!

I painted some safety pins gold and added some gold buttons to make them a bit fancier like Versace's.

Here is the finished product....

Another great night with the Macra crew!!

xx

DIY Trends ~ Fringing ~ Crop Top ~ T-Shirt Project

 

Fringing and distressing, the Crop Top

A Trend to try before the summer ends, the crop top and some fringing (although fringing seems to be continuing into the Autumn) great festival trend read my Festival Fashion post here

After a lovely twitter chat with fellow blogger Jordan C of thestyleselections.com and comparing festival fashion I thought of this DIY project.

I have lots of plain black tees lying around so I thought to vamp one up! Why not??

 

To Distress:

Soak in salt water, softens the t-shirt (not necessary but I wondered what all this was about)

 

Bleach splatters, I went a bit overboard with the bleach but I think it works. I just used the ordinary bleach you use to clean the bathroom costs around 80c.                            

I just love the firey colours of the bleach on black!

I also cut off the collar and shortened the sleeves.

Fringing:

This just requires a scissors, a steady hand and patience.

So chop chop.

 

Then I tied some knots to create a pattern and give the illusion of length to my new Crop Top!

Perfect top for the Indian summer we have been promised or to wear to any festival! I styled this with some high waisted denim shorts so as not to show too much skin!

Front:

Back:

 

You like?? Please leave a comment

 

Have you read my Festival Fashion Post

or my Festival Make Up Bag Post

or trends in my Summer Beach Style Wish List

 

 

xx