Sizing Beanies made easy…

Beanies, apart from being practical items for your family & friends, are also a lot of fun to make. The problem, however, is that no two heads are the same & no one pattern can cater to the differences. The following, presuming you’re working from the top of the head down, is a simple guide that I trust will be helpful with your beanie creations.

Beanie Approx

Circumference

Approx

Crown Diameter

Approx

Beanie Height

Premie 30.5cm (12”) 9.7cm (3.8”) 12.5cm (5”)
Newborn 33cm (13”) 10.5cm (4.2”) 15cm (6” )
0 – 3 months 36cm (14”) 11.5cm (4.5”) 16.5cm (6.5” )
3 – 6 months 38cm (15”) 12.1cm (4.8”) 18cm (7”)
6 – 12 months 43cm (17”) 13.7cm (5.4”) 20.3cm (8”)
12 months to

3 years

48.2cm (19”) 15.4cm (6”) 21.5cm (8.5”)
3 years to

10 years

50.5cm (20”) 16cm (6.4”) 23cm (9”)
Teen to

Adult woman

53.4cm – 56cm

(21”- 22”)

17cm – 17.8cm

(6.7” – 7”)

23cm (9”)
Adult Man 58.54cm (23”) 18.6cm (7.3”) 25.5cm (10”)

 

2 New Winter Hats: A Purple Cloche & Rainbow Beanie…

With winter officially only days away, here are a couple of bright & cheerful, fun winter hats to brighten up  your winter wardrobe & keep you snug on those chilly days.

Both were created in 100% premium, non-allergenic acrylic yarn & available for purchase from my online shop.

 

Alice Springs Beanie Festival 2024

Alice Springs Beanie Festival 2024

It’s that time of the year again, time for all the super creative Beanieologists from around the world to strut their stuff at this year’s Alice Springs Beanie Festival; only 2 sleeps to go.

This year’s theme, “Listening to the land” will have inspired many wonderful creations & I’m looking forward to seeing everyone’s interpretations. Good luck to everyone who entered the completion. It’s a tough gig &, I imagine the judges, as always, having a difficult task deciding each category.

I named my entry simply “Listen” with a short speal:

Listen:
to the birds & bees,
to the rustling flowers & leaves
&
the cascading waterfall.

This is Alice Springs Beanie Festival’s 28th year & still going strong.

Have fabulous 2024 festival everyone.

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