MK Carroll

$5.50 USD

A quick pattern for a simple floral lace headband, with options for ties or a covered elastic strap to secure, as well as an elasticized version that goes all the way around the head.  As of July 2010, there are two versions, one with North American (Canada/US) terminology, and  a version using AUS/NZ/UK terminology. Both versions give measurements in both inches and centimeters. Both versions are included in the Ravelry purchase.

Pattern includes full written instructions and crochet symbol charts.

Individuals and small groups may make and sell up to 12 headbands per pattern purchase; please contact me if you have any questions.

for styles 1 and 2 (partial headband with ties or covered strap):
YARN: Sport/5-ply/12 wpi yarn, such as Blue Sky Alpacas Skinny Cotton, 100% organic cotton, 150 yds/137 m per skein, or Southwest Trading Company a-MAIZing, 100% corn fiber, 50g/130m per ball. Pattern uses about 25 yards/23
meters. Cream-colored version in photo is Skinny Cotton Organic, color Birch 30, and turquoise-blue version is a-MAIZing, color Little Boy Blue.
HOOK: E/4/3.50mm crochet hook
NOTIONS: for style 2 (covered elastic band): sewing or beading elastic, 2 pieces, each about 7”/18cm long (for covered elastic band version). If you can find clear beading elastic, it will show through the least.
for style 3 (full band):
YARN: Cascade Fixation, 98.3% cotton/1.7% elastic, 50 g/100 yds/91 m per ball, or Elann Esprit, 98.3% cotton/1.7% elastic, 50 g/100 yds/91 m per ball. Pattern uses about 25 g/50 yds/46 m.
HOOK: G/6/4.5 mm crochet hook

Sizes: S, M, L
S: 12”/30.5cm long, 2”/5cm wide
M: 14” /35.5cm long, 2”/5cm wide
L: 16” /40.5cm long, 2” /5cm wide
Gauge: 2dc-cluster measures 1″/25mm wide
style 1: ties 11”/28 cms long
style 2: covered elastic 5.5”/14cm long
Abbreviations used (US/Canada):
ch = chain
sc = single crochet
sl st = slip stitch
dc = double crochet
… = repeats skipped in chart due to space issues

Abbreviations used (AUS/NZ/UK):
ch = chain
dc = double crochet
sl st = slip stitch
tr= treble crochet
… = repeats skipped in chart due to
space issues

Springtime Baby Beanie (no flowers)

For a the newly arrived baby of longtime friends, I chose to purchase handmade items as gifts so that I’d have things ready to send before the child entered kindergarden. Crocheting a simple beanie felt attainable to me, though, so I chose some Blue Sky Alpacas Dyed Cotton from my stash (I’ve been wanting to use this Pickle Green for a while now) and did a simple striping with Lemongrass Yellow and Shell Pink. Cute, right?

Well, the color changes for the stripes weren’t completely even. I wasn’t going to rip back and redo them, so I figured I could just do a quick flower and cover it up.

Springtime Baby Beanie (1 flower)

Aww. Might redo the embroidery in the center, though.

It was getting late, but I had an idea about other flowers I could make, so I stayed up to crochet “just one more.”

Springtime Baby Beanie (3 flowers)

Okay, two more. And I think I need to do more to the one on the right.

Pattern: Basic Crochet Baby Beanie (it’s free, and you can use it to make and sell as many finished items as you like). I haven’t worked up full instructions for the flowers yet; I’ve been thinking about doing a for-sale pattern set of multiple sizes in different yarn weights and might chart up the flowers for that set. I’m also thinking about formatting the free version as a downloadable PDF for Ravelry.

Yarn: Blue Sky Alpacas Dyed Cotton. Pickle Green (body), Lemongrass Yellow (stripes) and Shell Pink (stripe). kpixie.com has it on sale as of this writing.

The British naturalist Gerald Durrell wrote a series of memoirs; My Family and Other Animals is one of those memoirs that has been done as a film. I watched the 2005 version recently and was quite taken with the story…and the knitting.

As you know, movie directors and editors generally fail to understand that it is highly desirable to get tight still shots of all-over cabled vests knit at a fine gauge.

…or that a shot of knitting while in a boat is charming, but I’d really like to know what she’s working on.

They probably weren’t thinking that I’d be trying to get a clear view of the vests during a funeral scene.

Overall, the sort of film meant to be charming and funny – and it was for me, except that I kept seeing the looming shadow of WWII, knowing that Corfu would be bombarded, among other things.

I’m a big fan of the TECHknitting blog already, and this latest tip (Casting on additional stitches at the end of a row by the loop cast-on method: a trick for beautiful edges) is especially timely as I recently used a loop cast-on for the underarms of Liesl, and was complaining about the loop cast-on while I was doing it at an Aloha Knitters meeting. The general agreement there was that the loop cast-on can be quite unpleasant but there are circumstances where it seems like the best option. If you’ve had the same complaints, do take a look at the TECHknitting blog post, and if you’re new to the TECHknitting blog, do take a few minutes to check out additional posts. The tips are excellent and very nicely illustrated.