'Mixin it up with DaPerfectMix'

Show & Tell

2013-04-28T18:55:00.000-04:00

Rachel sent me her finished items from my Quick Easy Winter Beanies pattern. This is her first ever crocheted hat and I'm so honored that she chose my pattern! It looks like it turned out great. She said she combined two beanies to make a reversible beanie with two different colors to choose from, or you can flip the bottom up like it shows in her picture. Brilliant! Great job, Rachel, and thanks so much for sending pictures!

I love seeing finished products from my patterns. If you want to be featured on my blog with your finished items, just shoot me an email. If you don't want to be featured but are still willing to share your pics, that's great too! Just let me know in the email if you want me to post your pics or not.

daperfectmix@gmail.com

Autism Awareness Scarf

2013-04-06T14:04:00.002-04:00

Image from http://adamsfrood42.angelfire.com/Kamaa-Nhanda_Designs.html

This is the other big project that I was talking about in a previous post. This took a lot of patience and time. The final piece is always such a great reward for all the hard work.

The scarf was requested by a coworker for his son. I found the pattern on Ravelry and it can also be found at this link. It is actually a chart and is made using a Tunisian Crochet Simple Stitch. When I finally figured out how to do it, it became pretty repetitive. All I had to do was follow the chart. I repeated the chart one time, but I think I should have made the scarf a little longer. The pattern says to make two panels and stitch them together back to back. I did not want to make another panel since the first one took so long. Instead, I cut a length of fleece and stitched it to the back. The wrong side of the stitch looks like this, which is why it would need to be covered.

I attached the fleece after blocking. I tried to take pictures, but my camera didn't like all the black. I guess it was too dark. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. It was really neat to see the picture coming together in the beginning. I have to admit though, about halfway through I was ready to be done, but I kept on and finished the project. If it wasn't requested by someone else, I may have abandoned it.

Show & Tell

2013-03-17T21:58:00.001-04:00

Karen sent me pictures of her floppy sun hats made from my free pattern. They look great! She listed them on ebay.com and can be found by the username "hillbubba". Check out all her listings! Last I checked, I didn't see the sun hats, so maybe they have been sold! How exciting! Thanks for the pictures, Karen!

daperfectmix@gmail.com

Brett's Viking Hat

2013-02-23T20:54:00.000-05:00

I have recently been challenged with two projects. One is finally done and the other is very close (you will see in the next post). Brett sent me a picture and asked if I could make him a Viking hat with a beard. I almost bought a pattern for the hat, but decided to give it a try before doing that. The first try was a fail, but the second came out pretty good. I found a free pattern for the beard on Ravelry at this link. I also found a free pattern for the horns at this link. I stuffed the horns so they would keep their shape. I really like how it came out.

Perfect Fit

2013-02-13T22:01:00.002-05:00

Remember the Cloche that I made to felt? It shrunk to the perfect size for my little neighbor. I didn't get a chance to adorn it with anything, but it still looks cute on her.. or maybe she makes the hat look cute. Either way, I think it's cute. She's adorable!

Show & Tell

2013-02-02T10:27:00.000-05:00

Liz sent me some pictures from her visit at the Inauguration in DC this year. She made a red white and blue cloche from my Classic Cloche pattern and adorned it with some Obama buttons. Very creative! She even made a scarf to match. Thank you for the pictures, Liz. I'm glad you and your husband had a great time and a safe trip. The hat looks great on you!

daperfectmix@gmail.com

First Felt

2013-01-23T07:57:00.001-05:00

I've never felted anything before. You will probably be able to tell after you see the pictures. I bought some Wool of the Andes from Knit Picks and decided to try it out. The wool is 100% Peruvian Highland Wool. It didn't say super wash so I knew it would felt when washed. The first thing I did was crochet a cloche. I went up two hook sizes, but when I was done it seems to fit almost too good. Maybe the yarn was too bulky, or maybe I need to reevaluate my pattern. There was a little room for shrinkage, but I now know that I need way more room for shrinkage. Here is the before picture.

I felted the cloche in the bathroom sinks. I used my sink for hot water and my husband's sink for cold water. I put a little dish soap in the hot water. I scrubbed, squished and agitated the cloche in the hot water, then in the cold water, going back and forth a few times until the wool looked felted. It was a lot more work than I thought. When I was done I squeezed the water out and rolled it in a towel to remove any excess water. I tried to put the cloche on my Styrofoam head to dry, but it did not fit. I left it to dry, standing up, so it wouldn't lose it's round shape. It took a really long time to dry. The finished piece, will probably fit a young child. I'm still thinking of what to embellish it with. I think a ribbon around would look nice and classy.

Rockin' Mohawk Beanie

2013-01-16T18:13:00.000-05:00

Here is my Mohawk beanie. I've been wanting to make one for a while. I didn't use a pattern, I just made a basic beanie using half double crochet, added ear flaps, made a single crochet outline in red, and added the braided tassels. For the Mohawk, I cut 4 inch pieces of yarn and latch hooked them, two at a time in the stitches of the beanie making a single line all the way to the back. I thought I would have to put more on the sides to make the hawk a little thicker, but the yarn spreads out nicely. What do you think?

Isaiah's Beanie

2013-01-06T21:10:00.001-05:00

Here is a beanie I made for my son. It's a basic beanie with added ear flaps and some surface crochet on the side. You can't see, but the bottom of the ear flaps have a braided cord with the black and lime yarn. He looks pretty happy with it. I'm happy with it too! The surface crochet of his name on the side took a while, but I really like the way it came out. I thought about putting a "mohawk" on it, but decided it would be too much, so I just left it like this. Maybe I'll do another one with a mohawk and without the surface crochet.

Head Warmer Video Tutorial

2012-12-29T21:34:00.002-05:00

Someone had asked me to make a video tutorial for my Easy Headwarmer Pattern, so I finally got around to doing it. The kids are visiting with my parents so it was the perfect time to do a video without so much background noise. So here is the final cut. I hope everything is clear and easy to understand.

Show & Tell

2012-12-13T16:00:00.000-05:00

Somehow I forgot to get this posted. This is Catherine's beanie made from my pattern, Quick Easy Winter Beanies. Looks like a great hunting beanie to keep someone warm. Awesome work, and thank you for sending the picture, Catherine!

daperfectmix@gmail.com

More Headbands

2012-12-05T21:57:00.000-05:00

Here are a couple more Tunisian Stitched Headbands and a knotted headwarmer. The headwarmer is for my neighbor's daughter. Hopefully it will fit. If not, it's a quick project that I can remake with a smaller hook. I made mine not as wide as the pattern calls for, but I think I will make another that is wider. I found the pattern as I was looking through Pinterest. The Knotted Headband pattern can be found here.

Tunisian Bamboo Stitch

Tunisian Simple Stitch

Knotted Headband

Tunisian Headbands

2012-11-29T21:46:00.000-05:00

Here are some more Tunisian projects. I made these headbands using Tunisian crochet stitches in the round with a double ended crochet hook and two different colors so you can really see the effect of the different stitches.

This one is the honeycomb stitch. This is the same stitch that I used to make the blue scarf in the previous post. It is made by alternating Tunisian Simple Stitch (TSS) and Tunisian Purl Stitch.

The next one is made using a Tunisian Rib Stitch. You make this pattern by alternating TSS and Twisted Tunisian Simple Stitch. To make the twisted one you enter your hook into the vertical bar from the opposite direction as you would normally do with TSS. This pushes the two stitches together making vertical rows as you can see below.

My last headband is made using a Tunisian Cross Stitch. To make this pattern you skip the first bar, work a TSS in the next one then come back to the first bar and work a TSS, doing this for every pair of stitches. This crosses the stitches as you can see below.

I didn't know there were so many different things you can do with Tunisian Crochet. I'm still experimenting and learning new stitches.

Tunisian Crochet Scarves

2012-11-25T21:35:00.003-05:00

Lately I've been experimenting with Tunisian crochet. The first complete project I finished using a Tunisian stitch was this sparkly scarf. The pattern is called "Scarfaroo" from the book, Crochet Lace Innovations by Doris Chan . It has a pocket on one side to conveniently stash small objects with a couple snaps to close it up. The other side is supposed to have fringe according to the pattern, but I ran out of yarn at that point. I used Hobby Lobby's "I Love This Yarn". The drape of this scarf is really nice. I need to buy this book. I borrowed the book from the library a long time ago and never got around to posting a picture.

The second project is from Annie's Crafts. It is called Honeycomb Scarf, made with the honeycomb stitch. If you know how to do tunisian simple stitch and tunisian purl stitch, this will be a breeze. You just alternate simple stitch and purl all the way across each row. As I got used to doing the pattern, my stitches got a little more loose and the "honeycomb" was easier to see. I used Lion Brand's Hometown USA yarn. It's super bulky and I think I used a size K or L hook. I would suggest using a bigger hook for this yarn. It is kind of stiff, really thick, and super warm.

Lacy Shirt

2012-10-30T10:33:00.001-04:00

This was a really quick work up. I found the pattern on Ravelry. You can find it on Lion Brand's website, it's called Crochet Bronze Beauty Top. The original pattern has long sleeves, but I think I will keep it just like this. I want to make one in another multicolored yarn with the sleeves.

This pattern didn't give me any problems, I just followed along and everything fell into the right places. It starts off with a foundation single crochet which they call a base ch/sc. The wording through me off a little, but once I realized it was just a foundation sc, it was fine. If you don't know that stitch, they have an explanation in the pattern stitches section to tell you exactly how to do it. Piece of cake! Let me know if you try this pattern.

Green Bay Logo

2012-10-28T23:21:00.001-04:00

Someone inquired about the pattern for the Green Bay logo that Debi made on the last Show & Tell. If you missed that post, here is a picture. She used my headwarmer pattern and made the logo to adorn it. The person inquiring also happens to be named Debi! Thank you to both of you!

So I emailed her and asked if she would be willing to share her pattern and this is what she said:

"Oh my, it's not a pattern but I'd be happy to tell you how I did it. I just crocheted a circle with the gold in single crochet, 4 rounds, then trimmed that in green to form the patch. I then half double crocheted a strip of white long enough to shape into a G and then attached that with needle and thread to the patch. That was it! I hope this helps."

Let's see, I will try to break it down and make a pattern from what she said. Before I get into that I want to tell you that after making this, I googled the logo and noticed that the green should be on the inside and the yellow on the outside. I will incorporate that into the pattern, so don't think I'm confused or have my colors mixed up even though I did it the other way. Either way looks fine to me, but I'm no expert. Now lets get started..

Notes: I used two different size hooks, I and F. I didn't join my rounds, making a continuous spiral, but you can join if you'd like.

Using size I crochet hook, start with Green, make a slip knot and chain 2
Rnd 1: 7sc in 2nd chain from the hook
Rnd 2: 2 sc in each of next 7 stitches of previous round for a total of 14 sc
Rnd 3: (sc in next st , 2 sc in next st) repeat for a total of 21 sc
Rnd 4: (sc in next 2 st, 2 sc in next st) repeat for a total of 28 sc
Here's where we change colors
Insert your hook into the next st and cut yarn as shown

Tie the green and yellow in a knot close to your work

You can crochet over the tails so you won't have to weave them in later.
Sc with yellow all the way around
Join to first sc
Fasten off and weave in ends.

To make the "G" change your crochet hook to size F
Make a chain of 30, turn
Hdc into 3rd chain from hook and each ch across
Slip stitch into last chain (you will have a hdc and sl st in the same ch)
Fasten off and weave in ends.

With wrong side facing, position your white strip into a "G" shape and pin in place.

Using white yarn and a yarn needle, sew the "G" in place. When finished, I tied my two ends together just to make sure it won't come loose.

Now we are ready to adorn a hat, bag, or headwarmer for a special fan.

Order Up

2012-10-22T16:00:00.000-04:00

I'm happy to say that I just shipped an order out to a customer. He ordered some wrestling gear, boot fringe and arm bands - Ultimate Warrior style. He might be a wrestler, or it might just be for a Halloween costume. Either way, I was excited to get an order. It always makes me happy when I see comments on my blog, online store, or even my facebook fanpage. I get even more excited when I get an actual order!

Here's what was shipped out today:

Show & Tell

2012-10-11T20:06:00.001-04:00

Debi send me a picture of her Green Bay Headband made from my Easy Headwarmer pattern. It looks awesome! It's a Christmas gift that I'm sure will be loved. Thanks for sending the picture, Debi!

I love seeing finished products from my patterns. If you want to be featured on my blog with your finished items, just shoot me an email. If you don't want to be featured but still want to send me pics, that's great too! Just let me know in the email if you want me to post your pics or not.

daperfectmix@gmail.com

Another Freeform Technique

2012-10-01T19:43:00.000-04:00

Here is another freeform technique from Myra Wood's book. This one is called Doodle Lace. I used a scrap cotton yarn and a G crochet hook. I think this would look nice as an applique on a bag or maybe a shirt. I must say I do like the randomness, or I should say freedom of freeform crochet. The only thing you really have to worry about is keeping your work flat. Other than that, let your imagination run wild. This swatch started with 12 dc in the ring, then in the next round I made random chains and sc in every other dc. In the next round and throughout, I made random stitches into the loops of the previous rounds and chained in between, being sure to check that my work stays flat. Another option would be to stop and turn, instead of completing the round, leaving one side flat (creating a half circle), which could eventually become a shawl or scarf.

Freeform Crochet

2012-09-25T03:00:00.000-04:00

I found this interesting book at the library recently. Creative Crochet Lace by Myra Wood. I didn't get through the whole book yet, but I just wanted to share my first freeform swatch with you. This technique is called "funky filet." In this exercise, I took groups of 5 double crochet and did whatever I felt in each grouping as long as I had 5 stitches in each group. It could be 5dc, or 3chains and 2dc, or 5chains, or 1ch 2dc and 2ch... You get the picture. The point is to keep the work flat which is why you keep track of your stitches. I did about 6 rows and here is my funky filet swatch. There are four other techniques for freeform in the book that I have yet to learn.

Marley Tam

2012-09-24T21:24:00.005-04:00

I got inspiration to make this tam from watching "Marley", it's a documentary about the King of Reggae, Bob Marley. He was an amazing man. When he passed, there were so many Rastafarians wearing a tam like this one, so I decided to make one and call it the Marley Tam. I know it's very un-original, but obviously that's not what I was going for. You can find it in my online store, PerfectMix Creations.

~One Love~

Garment in the making

2012-09-04T22:26:00.000-04:00

I found my next crochet garment in Interweave Crochet Magazine's summer issue. It's called Lauren Sweater by Mimi Alelis. I actually started this garment a few months ago but set it down for a while because I realized that it was turning out too big for me. I was following the pattern for the medium size. I also think my gauge might be off a bit because I am substituting the yarn with a sport weight yarn. I dreaded frogging the whole thing, I hate to feel like my time and energy was wasted, so I just didn't do anything for a long time. Finally, I took it apart and started over. Well, not completely over, but I took it out until the ribbing was short enough to make the smaller size. (The pattern starts with the bottom ribbing.) It's better than doing nothing and I really want to make this sweater. So I will post pics and updates as I go along.

Trendy Nail Wraps

2012-09-02T18:00:00.000-04:00

My daughter and I went to Sally's Beauty Supply yesterday and we found these cool nail wraps. They are basically stickers with designs on them that you put on your nails. We bought some and gave them a try. They look pretty cool, but if you look closely at the nails you can kind of tell they are stickers. Here is what they look like before applying.

I think it's a really good idea and makes manicures less messy and less time consuming. You just stick them on, trim, then file them down to fit your nail perfectly. I applied a top coat in hopes of making it last longer. Isabel loves them and I'm sure she will be showing them off on the first day of school on Tuesday.

Pinoy Rasta Hat

2012-08-22T21:48:00.001-04:00

My cousin asked me to make a small Rasta hat with the Filipino colors. The colors were the easy part, but to make it more interesting, I wanted to put a sun on it, somehow. It was actually much easier than I thought it would be. I started with the colors, making the yellow first to make the circle, then I added the rays after finishing the rest of the hat. I am thinking of making another one with the rays extending across all of the colors and instead of one line for the rays, I'll put three, more like this:

I am happy with how it turned out. This is my prototype, so the next one is always better. Here is the back of the hat:

Show N Tell

2012-08-21T02:00:00.000-04:00

Tia sent me this picture of her floppy hat that she made with plarn. If you don't know what that is, it's plastic yarn cut from plastic bags. She made adjustments to the pattern for the brim and added a very cute flower from a pattern that she found on Ravelry.com. It came out beautiful! Thanks for the pic, Tia.

daperfectmix@gmail.com