big button beret

While waiting for the yarn to come in so I could start the 2016 temperature afghan, I pulled out a WIP started in July of last year.

The pattern is the Big Button Beret from the Adventures of the Gingerbread Lady blog, July 2010. http://gingerschatz.blogspot.com/2010/07/pattern-big-button-beret.html

I used the Knit Picks Felici yarn colorway Time Traveler. You know I had to have that yarn. LOL It's special reserve yarn made in Italy and the colorway is only available at certain times. It is fingering weight, 75% Superwash Merino Wool, 25% Nylon, 218 yards / 50 grams. That is just over 1.7 ounces. I used about 1 1/2 skeins which is about 2.5 ounces for my hat. Note I have a small head so you may use more if you work this pattern.

I used an F crochet hook.

I haven't put a button on it though I'm thinking about it. :-)

I tried to take selfies of myself wearing it. I'm not great at selfies. Also, the lighting wasn't great. Of course, the model is not great. Those are my excuses. I am wearing it as a slouch hat. Note the Adipose earrings my husband made for me. :-)

The pattern is fairly simple to work. You just have to keep track of how many double crochets between the increases and decreases. There are lots of pictures to help too. Although I don't often work with fingering yarn, I found this a nice change. 

I worked this pattern before with Patons Kroy Sock variegated yarn in Cyan Stripes. Here's a pic - from January 2011. (The Gingerbread Lady herself commented on that post!)

In my blog picturing the previous hat I commented about the join. "One of the things I love about this pattern is the start of round. Rather than ch 3 and then work double crochets, the designer has you ch ONE, then work a dc in the same stitch." I want to add that I now use this method almost exclusively when I'm working in the round. 

Great pattern! Well done!

Happy crocheting!
Sandie

Mandalas for Marinke and Osgood scarf

Just over a year ago, Kathryn Vercillo began the project #mandalasformarinke in honor of sweet Marinke (also called Wink) who lost her battle with depression the end of June 2015. Kathryn has been sharing the mandalas collected throughout the past year. I missed the post that featured my own mandalas and happened across it today so I thought I'd share the link. You can find it on the June 12th posting. She did a lovely job combining the pictures of the mandalas along with important facts to help those suffering from depression.

I've really fallen down on my crocheting lately. I started a hat weeks ago and this is as far as I've gotten. LOL  The yarn is made in Italy and is fingering weight Knit Picks Felici in the colorway Time Traveler. I wonder why I chose it? :-)  This yarn is a limited time offering. The wrapper says "special reserve". It's a very nice yarn and I do recommend it if you have fingering weight yarn needs.

The hat pattern I'm using is Big Button Beret. It's not a difficult pattern. I've just been spending too much time away from my hooks and at my coloring desk.

I do have big plans to make another Doctor Who scarf. This time it will be the Osgood which I've not done before. I've been collecting yarn trying to match the pictures I've been able to find online. There is no "official" pattern that I'm aware of but there are a couple out there that have been posted on Ravelry. They are not crocheted, of course.

You can find Chris Starfire's pattern here. (You have to sign in to see it.)

You can find Sonya Shelton's pattern here. It's set to public so you can see it without signing in.

From all accounts, the Osgood is based on the second half of the former Witty Little Knitter's Season 16 scarf. (Witty Little Knitter domain was let go by Tara Carstensen and has been taken over by Gene Fender of doctorwhoscarf.com . There's nothing there right now but there will be at some point.) The reason we think this is the pattern is because that particular scarf pattern had a one stripe color error in it which is shown in the Osgood - yellow, red, yellow, green, yellow instead of yellow, red, purple, green, yellow. Many, many hours of looking went into figuring that out. LOL

I've accumulated a number of skeins to try and find good colors for the Osgood. At this time, Vanna's Choice Mustard is the lead contender for the yellow. Red Heart with Love Pewter is the lead contender for the grey and the I Love This Yarn Mixed Berry for the purple and Fire Red for the red. I have Vanna's Choice Dusty Green currently for the green but will have a look at the Loops and Thread Fern to see if it fits better as I've not seen it in person yet. The tan is giving me fits. I've found a few light tans but none have that pink tinge it looks like in the photo. I may have to settle for one that comes close. We'll see which yarns win. Since there are two online patterns, maybe I'll do two of them. :-) I've still never worked a Season 15 though, nor a Romana S16 scarf.

All that said, it will not be perfect because lighting and other factors affect how the colors look on TV and online. Not having seen the scarf in person, it's all guesswork. And of course the original is not crocheted.

If you're interested in more details about Doctor Who scarves, you know where to go ... my own Gallifreyan Crochetin'.

Happy crocheting!
Sandie