A Beautiful Model

This is, by far, the best way to display a headband!

I love it when people send me pictures. =)

Packer Headbands for Toddlers

My dear sister-in-law asked me to make some Packer headbands for my little niece's birthday coming up. They are far from Wisconsin, so they love to show their Packer pride whenever they can.

Once again, I was so excited to see what she thought of them that I forgot to take pictures first. Good thing she snapped one for me before she shared some with friends and family!

They sure are fun to make for little girls, even if they don't actually last long on the head... ;-)

Packers Football Orders

These Headbands and Neckwarmers were ordered quite a while ago. I'm finally posting them because I'm a slacker.

I started with this one in a Shadowbox Pattern I created:

Hubby pointed out (in all his Packer wisdom) that adding a little white would keep it from looking too Retro-Packer. He's so brilliant!

It definitely brightened it up.

So I kept that up for the Headband/Earwarmers, too.

I wasn't really sure about that football. I probably wouldn't do it again, but she seemed to like it.

It definitely appears that spring is coming, so maybe the Headband and Neckwarmer making will slow down a bit so I can post all I've been making. ;-)

More Neckwarmers

You still have some time to enter my current giveaway.

Here's a quick glimpse of what I've been working on these last few weeks.

One very fuzzy neckwarmer (crocheted with Patons Bohemian in Hypnotic Haze). I finished the matching headband last night. Picture coming soon...

Matching Headband and Neckwarmer (Crocheted with Yarn Bee Boucle Traditions in color: 60s Vintage). I really love the way this yarn works up.

Headband Spotted

...but not a Spotted Headband.

...but it sounds fun. I might have to consider it.

Anyway, hubby spotted a lady sporting one of my headbands at the grocery store the other day. A proud moment to see it on a complete stranger!

Yes, he secretly took a picture for me. What a sweet man! Then, as sly as he was being, the crazy flash went off on his camera. No one noticed, or he would have had to explain what a crazy woman his wife is and that she would of course want a picture of this momentous occasion. He's probably just glad I wasn't there because I would have walked up to a complete stranger and said, "Hello, I made that!" ...or not. I guess it would have depended on my mood for the day...

And in other OTHER great news, now all of you know that we needed eggs in the house and some Fritos Scoops for a snack I've made for a meeting tonight. ;-)

Earwarmer Headbands

Since the New Year started, I've been making a lot of headbands for a local boutique. I have a few extras, so they're going in the ArtFire Shop.

White headband with Red and silver strand cabbage rose, silver pearl accent

Fuzzy cream headband with burgundy cabbage rose, three pearl accent

Purple and silver headband, white and purple layered flowers, jewel accent

Spring color headband with turquoise cabbage rose, silver pearl accent

Shades of green headband with white cabbage rose, green pearl accent

Lots of bead crochet items will be going up soon!

Special Order Headbands

A couple months ago, Kitty Cats and Airplanes did a 'Headband Week' for links of headband projects. I linked a few of mine, and Amie featured them at the end of the week! She really liked them and had wanted to get some the previous winter, but she never did. So I offered to make one for her.

Once Amie decided on colors, I found just the right yarn in my stash, whipped something together, and packaged them up for her.

...then I realized I forgot to take any pictures.

Thankfully Amie looks super cute in these headbands and took some great pictures! So here's a glimpse, photos courtesy of Amie at Kitty Cats and Airplanes. Take a look at her post to see some other great items she's received recently!

--Gray yarn with yellow cabbage rose.

--Slightly sparkly silver/gray yarn, white and yellow flowers, and a touch of bling.

Even though I have some headbands for sale in a local boutique, I think I'll be putting some more for sale in our ArtFire Shop again soon. If anyone wants to order specific colors for Christmas gifts, feel free to make a special request!

Camping Project #3 and #4

Next, I had time for another quick headband that got the flowers attached once we got home (I feel like that was just "an angel earned its wings" moment...).

I finished off the weekend with a couple quick washcloth/sponges for my friend.

All in all, it was a pretty productive weekend!

Camping Project #1

After finishing that baby blanket, I wasn't quite sure what project to work on while camping. So I ended up taking some basic cotton yarns figuring I could always come up with something for them. I also grabbed a skein of fun yarn I had picked up on clearance at Hobby Lobby a couple months ago.

As I started it, I wasn't completely sold on it, but I think I like the finished product.

I thought this butterfly would add a nice touch to it.

Opinion time! Do you think I should make a flower for the butterfly so it stands out a bit more? Maybe something ivory? Or should I just keep it simple and leave the butterfly to be the only embellishment?

Baby Girl Blanket and Headband

Is it because summer is winding down that all of us are so determined to finish off various projects? School is almost starting and craziness will begin again? Back to schedules and calendars and much less free time? Whatever the reason, it's good to accomplish projects that have been waiting around, and I'm determined to put away certain ones to make room for something new.

We were headed out for camping this weekend, and I knew there were certain items I didn't want to drag along with me (more on that later). On Thursday night, I wanted to finish a project I had started with that fantastic yarn deal from earlier this summer.

Here is the Ocean Tranquility Afghan from Anastacia Knits.

I decided on a color changing pattern rather than one solid color. I also made it slightly bigger than the suggested baby blanket size using a Size H hook and beginning with Ch 93 rather than Ch 63.

I really liked this pattern! It was fun, simple, and it came together so quickly even with adding the color change in there.

When I finished, I had just enough yarn leftover to make a matching baby headband.

Here it is not-yet-assembled. Now it's time to find a really great button to put in there to make it perfect for a little girl.

Once I finished that blanket, I had to rush around to figure out what project I did want to work on while camping... oops. Plan ahead! I figured it out though, no worries.

Headband WIP

Someone gave me some fuzzy yarn that they couldn't use, and I immediately thought of headbands.

Here's my first work-in-progress.

Now I need your input. How should I embellish this one? Should I pull out one of the colors and find a coordinating yarn for flowers? Maybe a pink flower with a yellow center? Or should I find some fancy bling for it?

There are two more versions of this same fuzzy yarn in other colors, so I'll need some good ideas before I make more!

Spring and Bling headbands

In the midst of making headbands like a maniac, I was asked to make sure there were some with plenty of bling. I adore this lady all the more for telling me she wanted more bling.

This isn't quite as much as I was going for, but here's my first attempt at adding some jewel stuff.

The red is a "standard" style I've been making. The two black ones are plain. The 4 flowers are attached to clip/pin combos for changing out as wanted. The pink one and the black one have a sparkly (though hard to see) jewel in the middle.

These are 2 spring-y ones on the left. Let's face it, spring in Wisconsin can be pretty chilly at times, so I thought I'd give it a try. I don't know if they will actually sell. The silver one has a really nice sparkle to the yarn and a jewel in the middle.

It's been a slow week for projects, but I have several waiting that I keep getting delayed from posting. Maybe next week will be back to normal...

Headbands

H is for Headbands, because I can't get away from them anymore!

The headbands all started because I had a request for some. Before I knew it, a shop in a local salon wanted to sell them. Now I feel like I'm making them every free second. It's great! I just hope they keep selling.

A few of my latest creations:

The pink and brown above-left I kept without the flower and changed the pattern for a little variety. The pink one above-right and the blue one below are Yarn Bee Fleece Lite. These were fun and a nice thickness for a headband. I've since also made a hat out of the blue.

The brown and turquoise one below is Yarn Bee Boucle Traditions. I LOVE how this yarn turned out! I will definitely use it again!

And finally, the bottom right is Baby Bee Sweet Delight Pomp in color Grape Jelly! My boy liked the name of the color, and I liked how it looked with the silver thread running through it. The white flower also has a touch of silver in it, as well.

There's my latest additions to my headbands. Remember to pop back again tomorrow to find out the winner of the Hair Accessories Giveaway.

Headband Catch-up

I was gathering my headbands to give to some friends, and I realized that I hadn't taken pictures of all of them.

Here are a few of the stragglers.

These are coordinating Infant and Toddler Headbands. The Infant Headband is slightly thinner, shorter, and has the yellow flower and pink background. The Toddler Headband is about as wide as my "normal" headbands, but is slightly shorter. It has the pink flower and yellow background. Both headbands have a little white flower button in the center. I would just LOVE to see a couple sisters or cousins sporting these two headbands in a photograph!!

This is a cream colored headband in TLC Amore yarn with coordinating rosette. Very soft and elegant for a variety of outfits.

This last one is white with white flowers (hard to see...). The buttons are wavy-textured in red, blue-green, and black.

I have a "trial project" that I really want to get back to now! Hopefully I'll have something to show you on that later this week.

Crocheted Headband - Black with red flower

Here's a headband I made a couple weeks ago. I knew I had to take a quick picture before I gave it away just in case. I've been hoping to grab a picture of her wearing it, but it's actually gotten a little warmer around here lately. This will have to do for now.

This looked really cute on her! I often wonder why I make these things since I can never seem to pull it off. ;-) But then I saw how natural it looked on her, and it made me quite happy!

Color on color headband

The headbands have really given me opportunity for creativity, an area in which I've always felt deficient. But, I'm trying just the same!

Saturday evening, as I was falling asleep, I decided that I wanted to do a red headband with a red flower. Why is it that I can see things I like about other people's projects, but I never think to apply it to my own? I kept making headbands and using other colors for the flowers (which I still like), but I hadn't tried keeping it the same. Sometimes that works best with an outfit, right?

Thus was born Sunday morning's project. Here's how it turned out:

Since I haven't yet gotten a good model for these, this set of pictures will have to do.

The red color-on-color headband:

Thanks for all the great suggestions on this! Here's how I finished it:

I used the other set of flowers and made this headband to go with it:

Sorry this one ended up a little dark, but hopefully you can see that cute pink button in the middle.

The sage headband from the weekend being modeled (still cuter on you, Moriah!):

(Also, DEFINITELY should have taken the extra time for make-up...eek.)

And this is the one that inspired it all. This is what was originally "ordered."

The little white flowers with pink centers turned out to be really cute. They also inspired another idea in me...

...for another post.

Sage Headband and Washcloth

The headbands I've been working on sure provide a lot of opportunities for creativity!

Here's one of them that I made this weekend:

It's hard to tell, but the buttons are sort of metallic. It was a great match with the sage green headband.

(I think it's time to find someone to model these headbands. They look so much cuter ON someone!)

Once I was finished with that, I had a couple extra minutes. I put together a washcloth/sponge. You can never have too many!

Day 1, Friday morning projects complete. More coming soon from the rest of the weekend!

Help me choose

I made a lime green headband, and I can't decide which flower combination to use with it.

Which do you like better?

Or should I add one more tiny flower on top so it is a three-layered flower?

Also, this lime green is a yarn that my mom gave me to finish up the names on our personalized stockings. It was a perfect match for the small amount that I needed. But since she didn't need it back, I figured I'd use it for fun projects. It's a wool-acrylic blend. 75% Acrylic 25% Wool. It says it can be machine washed and dried 80* F. I don't have any experience with this blend of yarn. Has anyone else out there used it? Will it felt when washed and dried?

Thanks for the help! I need the creative inspiration!

More Headbands

The last of the Christmas gifts are completed and wrapped! I was almost too excited to sleep, then I woke up WAY too soon. So since I'm away from my computer a lot these next few days, I figured I'd put my insomnia to good use (but then it's back to bed--no arguments!).

Here are a couple more fun headbands for hubby's cousin.

For these, I used Sugar 'n Cream worsted weight cotton, Size I hook for the headband, Size G hook for the large flower, and Size F hook for the smaller one. Hubby helped me decide on colors since my head was swimming after looking at all the options in my stash. It's so nice having a hubby with good color tastes!

One project out of three to show

Three projects have been progressing well this weekend. Yay!! ...lots more to go. Yikes.

One is a Christmas gift...I can't show you until later when I'm sure it won't be seen. ;-)

The second one ended up being more (and also better!) than I expected. I'll save that for its own post.

The third one I can show you! Background: I got my hair cut the other day, and my lady is SO sweet and creative! She comes up with the best ideas, but she doesn't feel like she can make them. In this case, she came across the Earwarmer/Headbands that are becoming so popular, and she wanted someone to make them for her. I'm up for the challenge!

I looked around online to see if there was a pattern similar to what she described (I LOVE that she is so detailed! She knows exactly what she wants). Nothing struck me as what she really wanted, so I made a new pattern.

I was so excited to take the finished product to her that I forgot to take pictures (bad blogger, bad blogger, shame on you!). Thankfully, I was already working up the second one and just finished it up!

I like the simplicity of it that she was looking for, and I think she was happy with how it turned out.

If you're looking for other options, I'm a teeny tiny bit jealous of that great pattern that Tamara has been using lately! See if you can find that book!

Michelle also has a great pattern for a wider headband.

Here are two more patterns--one done with a pretty shell pattern and one worked along the length of the headband rather than the width.

And a last one--a very simple pattern to stretch around the head rather than connect with a button.

Hope you find something you like!