I am on my way to making a crochet blanket – very similar to this one here and using the instructions here – they will eventually be hexagons – but start out their life as circles. I am using beautiful wool from Bendigo wool mills – you get 200gram balls instead of 50gram balls – and it is incredibly soft and yummy. [colours I am using are natural cream, storm grey and grey alpaca and various colours from the luxury wool range - may i recommend purple storm, leaf and lavender.

I am finding crochet to be incredibly relaxing - my parenting tip of the day is when you feel like screaming - crochet instead! Moving the hands by making something seems to do something to your brain - you suddenly focus and everything becomes clearer - you realise that yelling and getting stressed is not the answer - really its not worth it - much better to wind down and go slow and talk softly - all this is possible if you are crocheting. Give it a go. [Hey Jon its good for dads too.]

On the weekend we spent a good wet few hours making felt. Felt balls were the main occupation – although felt squares and felt bags did also get a look in. Something really quite satisfying about rolling wool around in your hands until it turns into a solid little ball. Once you have made a few of these you can string them up to make a garland or a necklace or even window decoration.

Here’s how:
You will need wool roving (that’s wool that has been carded but not yet spun) and some warm soapy water.

Take a handful of wool roving and wet it in the warm soapy water. Start by gently tossing it back and forth between your hands, not rolling it just yet. When it starts to take shape you can gently at first then more firmly roll it into a ball. It takes about 2-3 minutes of rolling per ball.

I have been on a hat making craze, with the sudden chill in the air and the new yarn in my possession I sat on the couch and crocheted. Tea, couch and crochet the perfect remedy for a cold. I made hats for my boys (pictured here) made hats for the nephews (soon to be in the post boys), and spare hats for gifts for friends and family. I tried to make myself a hat three times but each time it was stolen by appreciative family members.

The pattern I made roughly follows these guidelines:
Crochet a chain of 3 and make a loop, then single crochet 9 stitches into the loop, the next row increase every stitch, the third row increase every third stitch, and so on – crocheting single crochet round and round, increasing incrementally to keep your round piece flat until you have a circle with a circumference that is approximately 1/3 the circumference of the recipients head. Its a very forgiving recipe, with the crochet stitches stretching quite a bit to fit a variety of head sizes. Once you reach this part, all you have to do it continue to crochet around and around, without increasing or decreasing at all until you have crocheted about 20 more rows – at this point try it on and see if it fits, add a few more rows as necessary then tie it off and weave in that loose end. I like the nubbly texture of single crochet – but some of these hats pictured I have used triple crochet which goes much quicker and adding ear flaps and pompoms are optional.

Some other people’s crochet hat recipes that might help you out:
double crochet beanie
baby beanie hat with ear flaps and very easy directions for beginner crocheters
single crochet hat – this is basically the design I use – so simple to make
here is a good design if you want to add a visor
another super simple single crochet beanie recipe
great skater beanie recipe