Tag: beanies

Alice Springs Beanie Festival 2019

I’m so very late with this post, but better late than never, or so I’m told… Many of you have asked me about my Alice Springs Beanie festival 2019 entries – did I even enter?

To explain… The past couple of months have been super busy with getting my online shop up & running which has taken more time than anticipated. All my for sale crochet & freeform crochet items have been transferred to rensfibreart.com  My Etsy shop will only be carry patterns now. I feel this is the right move. What with Etsy now aggressively pushing free shipping, something I’m not able to do; the integration of PayPal into Etsy direct payments; not to mention a whole string of other changes that adversely affect many sellers. Please take a moment to checkout my new shop & let me know what you think… I’m open to all feedback, so don’t be shy.

Now… getting back to Alice Springs Beanie festival entries, yes I did enter: one Beanie & one Tea cosy & here is a link to all the 2019 winners

The Theme this year was ‘Head full of Tunes’

So, there you go… I’m still re-organising from last week’s Maleny Knitfest & will post about that soon as well…

For the love of Colour & Texture… Freeform Crochet…

Here are some new freeform crochet pieces I’ve been working on over the past few weeks, now finished & sold from my Etsy shop… Lots of gorgeous colour & beautiful textures to inspire you. For each piece I took into account the type of yarn used, resulting in totally distinct & individual pieces. I’m pretty happy with the outcome… enjoy!

 

This Jester beanie is possibly my most popular beanie style, created in an 8ply, 60% Superwash / 40% Polyamide yarn & an assortment of acrylic / natural yarn embellishments. Rich, vibrant colours, a joy to work with…

 

 

 

 

 

I just love the colour combinations of this lovely 8ply, 50% wool / 50% acrylic yarn, reminiscent of the ocean blues & yellow sandy beaches.

 

 

 

Texture, texture, texture… these 2 pieces, created in 12 ply, 80% Acrylic / 20% wool yarn, are wonderfully chunky yet, if I may say so, subtle & dignified..

& lastly, this freeform crochet scarf that moves from creamy, off white, to chocolate brown to velvety black. Created in a gorgeous, super soft, 8ply, 30% Alpaca / 70% Acrylic yarn blend.

 

 

My re-purposed Freeform Crochet Coat…

Forest InspiredSo, continuing with my personal commitment to complete UFO’s & work on new projects that have been sitting on the back-burner for far too long, I took a good hard look at this Freeform Crochet Coat that I created in 2006 & is featured in my book ‘Freeform Crochet & Beyond.’

This piece has special meaning for me as the colours, textures & forms came alive for me in a forest reserve where I often visited for solace & inspiration. Having that said, & as much as I love it, I also know that it’s big, bulky & heavy, more over, not to everyone’s taste, & to sell it on the Net would cost a small fortune to ship…

It’s been in my mind to pull it apart & make other items, but… Oh my!…What a job that would be… so,… the idea was put in the ‘too hard basket’ time & time again… Then, this summer, an extremely hot one at that, so much so, that I found it difficult to move too far away from the air fans blowing at high speed, I decided that, seeing as I’m sitting here like a sweltering lump, I might as well be doing something useful… & so I began unravelling the freeform patches…. long story short… here are the items I came up with… I’m very happy.

Hood & scarf ComboDSCF1717Large Freeform ToteLarge Freeform ToteSmall Freeform bagSmall Freeform crochet bagFreeform Crochet Tcosy

Beanies… Plain & Simple….

chunky purple flowerWell… not quite… the simple styled beanie hat with a little embellishing & tweaking can become a flattering winter accessory that doesn’t date too quickly over time…

I’ve been rather busy lately, with local displays, markets & classes, so elaborate projects have been put on the back burner for a while or, at least,  until I have a clearer creative head space… but that’s not to say I’ve had idle hands… hence, this collection of Beanie Hats…

With some, I’ve experimented with large hooks & double threads of chunky yarn & with others I’ve used double threads of sock yarn. I hope this beanie hat collection gives you some new ideas for the beanie that is more than just plain & simple… enjoy!

All hats are now available for sale in my Etsy Shop

turquoise hatpurple turquoise flapper

purple chunky beanie

Red chunky BeanieMulti chunky beaniemulti chunky clochepurple turquoise cloche 1rustic clochepurple brooch clocherustic brooch clochepurple brooch beanierustic brooch beaniered flower beaniemulti beanie scarf set2ply beanie scarf set4ply beanie scarf set

Alice Springs Beanie Festival 2015….

Fire & Flood felted beanieHi everyone, it’s been quite a while since my last post… time is just flying…

So, it’s that time of year again… The Alice Springs Beanie Festival… & all the excitement that it generates across Australia… I did find the theme ‘Opposites Attract’ a bit challenging this year but, as it so often happens, in a quiet moment the ideas slowly emerged… These are my 2 entries that I know have safely arrived in Alice Springs, thanks to Aussie Post’s tracking system…

I’d like to wish all contestants much success &, all those lucky enough to be at the festival, a fabulous time…

1) Fire & Flood ~ Wet Felted & beaded Beanie.

Fire & flood 1Fire & flood 2 

Fire & flood 3Fire & flood 4

2) From Coral Reefs…to Tropical Beaches…to Forest Hinterlands ~ Hand-spun beanie, embellished with freeform crochet & wet felted motifs.

DSCF0947DSCF0948DSCF0949DSCF0950