My Minion Hat

I made my grandson a minion hat. He didn't know I was making him one, but when he saw me sitting on the couch crocheting with yellow yarn he ran across the room and asked, "Are you making a minion hat?"
He was so excited and luckily I was nearly finished. I made the eyes and the mouth and showed him how to braid as I added the ties. He loves it.
I decided to add Minion Hats to my etsy store and they are posted as a 'made to order' item, so people can get exactly what they want.

I can't stop making them, so I have made a preschool size one for a little girl and I am currently completing a newborn-3 months one that I think I will put only one eye on. :-)

I was lucky to find a couple of patterns online and adjusted them to suit what I wanted. I would like to thank Repeat Crafter Me for getting me started on this project. I will post pics of the others when they are finished.

Do You Like Fingerless Gloves?

I first fell in love with the concept of fingerless gloves while travelling a while ago. I was in France in January and wanted to take lots of pics, but I had to keep taking my gloves on and off as I took pics. I remembered I had bought some fingerless gloves at a craft fair in Mission before I left on my travels and got them out of my purse. Voila, the perfect way to keep your hands warm and also still be able to access the touch screen on your phone.
On my return home I thought I would open an etsy store for my crochet and knitting.
When I first started thinking of items I would like to sell in an Etsy Shop I immediately wanted to knit some fingerless gloves. I love the look of them and they are so practical.
The first ones I made were in fact knit. I posted some pics of them on my facebook page and immediately got orders for two pairs from friends.

One day while browsing on YouTube I discovered some great crochet ones made by Happy Berry. I fell in love with this pattern and you can see I have several pairs for sale in my shop.

Happy Berry has a great video on youtube for making these lacy gloves. She also has a wonderful blog at Happy Berry Crochet. 

                                
To download the pattern check it down at Ravelry.


Right now my favourite fingerless gloves to make are knit with two strands of worsted weight yarn, a way of using up left over yarn. A great stash busting idea. I knit them flat and then sew them together using the mattress stitch.
I love seeing how the colours come together as you knit with multiple strands, and also I like the thick chunky gloves that result from using bulky weight yarn.
I like to change things up by ribbing some of the cuffs, and doing garter stitch for others. The possibilities are endless.

So please let me know what your favourite style of fingerless gloves are.
My next project will be to make the really long wristers with some colourful stripes.

Mayne Island Chunky Infinity Scarf Pattern (Two patterns in One)

Yesterday I was busy writing out my first ever crochet pattern. It was a big learning curve as I had to calculate how many yards of yarn were needed, the gauge etc. Also writing things out so they are clear to strangers is also a challenge.
After writing it out I then did a test scarf and corrected any unclear instructions.
I decided to do two patterns for this scarf, one that was crocheted 'in the round' and one that was crocheted flat and then sewn together at the ends to create the infinity scarf.  I wanted to add instructions on how to sew crochet together invisibly. I found the perfect video demonstrating the mattress stitch to link to.
I uploaded my new pattern to my etsy store and I am very excited to be offering patterns to my customers. You can see the listing for my Mayne Island Chunky Infinity Scarf here.

Mayne Island Chunky Infinity Scarf Pattern

Then today I thought I would upload it to Craftsy and I am thrilled to announce it is also available online at  Craftsy. So you can head on over there and see it. Click here for the listing.

This is a whole new world for me and I am happy to celebrate my first pattern with you here. :-)
Here it is just hanging loosely and not wrapped twice around.

Welcome

Welcome to Carroway Crochet.
Creating this blog seemed a natural next step for me as I develop new patterns and products for my etsy store.
I look forward to sharing my creations and patterns with you here and look forward to your feedback and comments.
I have recently been making fingerless gloves. There are so many styles and looks for these gloves, which are perfect for keeping your hands warm as you text.

My new facebook page, Carroway Knitting and Crochet was launched last week. The first person to like it was Dianne Bigg-Smith  and to celebrate the occassion I decided to gift her a pair of my new gloves. I sent her pics of all my new fingerless gloves and she selected this pair as her thank you gift . Congratulations Dianne on being our first fan.