background

Monday, June 22, 2009

Sun-Hat Take 2



I recently finished a sun-hat that was mainly white with one thick stripe of pink. This turned out better than the Left-Over Stripes hat that I attempted a couple of weeks ago. I still noticed a problem with the way that my colors matched up on the change from white to pink and then back to white. But to fix that problem I just stuck a flower on that part and . . . voila, it disappeared. This is a great solution for girly-type hats, but I am determined to figure out the best way to change colors so that the hats are at their best quality. (If any of you out there have a suggestion, I'd love to hear about it.) Brynn was being a bit of a stinker, so you cannot see the attached flower. I couldn't get a better photo before having to gift the hat to my friend who is expecting a baby in September. Now I need to adjust the pattern to make the smaller sizes.

On another note, Compass Rose and I have finally come to an agreement that is much less stressful for me. I finally admitted that I would not be able to fulfill the hat order with a bamboo product. After testing and trying a bunch of products, I just wasn't pleased with the quality of the caps. The bamboo was very heavy and looked sloppy when finished. So, I will be using cotton or a synthetic to make the caps a bit more cold-weather appropriate. I will focus solely on the critter-cap style and sell those exclusively through Compass Rose or my Etsy site. They want the first order in late August or early September. Simple Cloth still proves to be my best business. I've had a lot of fun making caps for that shop and hope to bring in a couple of other styles as the fall approaches. I'd like to get into monogramming some of the stocking caps, so I'll need to begin practicing my embroidery a bit more.

Saturday, June 6, 2009

Leftover Stripes Sun-Hat





I had some leftover yarn after making all of the newsboy caps and decided to try a striped sun-hat pattern that I have. I really like the style of the hat, but I do not care for the puckering that the slip-stitching creates when I change colors. I had this problem when trying to create stripes in the newsboy caps, too. So the next one I create will likely be a solid color or with fewer stripes. I did list this one for sale on Etsy if you are interested in purchasing it - www.hookedinthesound.etsy.com