Blythe reroot tutorial - part 2: the lock-loop method

In my previous tutorial we ended with a scalp that is ready to be rerooted. If you followed the instructions, your scalp has a whole bunch of little holes and optionally a thatchline. For darker reroots, you might have decided to dye your scalp...and now you're ready for the real work!

Here's a picture of the final result, a little teaser to get you going ;)

The first thing you'll need, is a batch of mohair, alpaca or saran/nylon. The hair you see on the pictures in this tutorial is huacaya alpaca. I think I'll write another blogpost about the different hair possibilities for Blythe reroots later (I actually started typing it down here, but there's so much to tell about this topic that it's probably better to spend a whole post on it). 

How much hair you need depends a bit on the type of hair, but with 2 oz you will definitely have enough. 

Some other things to keep at hand when working on your reroot are a cup or bowl of water and a comb. The next step is to start dividing the hair into small plugs!

Plugs, you say...and how thick should they be? Well, I tried to picture this for you together with the crochet needle you'll be using to root the plugs as a reference. The crochet needle was already mentioned in part 1 of the tutorial; I use a 1.00 mm. However, a 1.25 or 0.75 will work as well, whatever your prefer or have at hand. Just keep in mind that the picture below shows a 1.00 mm crochet needle, so you will get a correct idea of the size. 

The plug you see on the left is way too thin, it will slip too easily through the holes, for example when you comb your Blythe's hair. The plug in the middle is too thick, you will have trouble pulling it through the hole of the scalp, half of it will slip off the crochet needle and things will become a mess on the inside of the scalp. The plug on the right side has a good thickness, that's what you should be aiming for. Of course this is also a matter of personal taste and preference, I've seen reroots with thicker plugs than I'm used to work with. Some people go for less holes in the scalp in combination with thick plugs. This will naturally result in the same amount of hair, but also in an increased risk of seeing the scalp through the final hairs...something I just like to avoid. But less holes and thicker plugs are a quicker method, so if you're not very patient, it might be the way to go for you! 

Usually I draw quite a bunch of plugs from my batch of hair before I start to root them. I never draw áll of them beforehand though, I tend to get a bit bored after a while so I like to switch between the plug-drawing and the rooting every now and then. This is totally up to you though. You can draw all the plugs first (count the holes!) or even do completely the opposite: draw one plug, root it, draw the next plug, etc.

I like to dip my fingers into a bowl of water when forming the plugs. The water will make the hairs stick together so your workspace won't get too messy with loose hairs everywhere ;)

Next I will try to explain the rooting process. We're making a lock-loop method, so first thing you need to do is fold the plug in half. Now punch your crochet needle through the centre hole in the scalp (punch from the inside, see 1), and hook the folded plug around your crochet needle (2). Now pull the plug gently through the hole (3). 

Allow the loop to go through at least one centimeter, especially when you're a beginner. Let it stay loosely around your crochet needle, which you'll have to punch into the second hole now (4). Repeat steps 2 and 3, you will end up with something that looks like picture 5. Now draw that second loop thróugh the first one (which will be easier when you pulled it trough at least one centimeter or more, this gives you enough space and will prevent a mess). Again, pull it through at least one centimeter (6). Now you can pull on the first strand from the outside, tightening it on the inside around the second loop. 

When you repeat those steps, a little spiral of tightened loops will start to form!

You can imagine that when your plugs are too thin, it's quite easy to accidentally pull them out while combing the hair, especially when knots have formed over time. On the other hand, thicker loops won't result in such a neat spiral.

Now, about the thatch. If you decided to make a thatch, it doesn't really matter if it's a middle thatch or a side thatch. There are several options: you can treat the thatch as a different, separate rerooting pathway or you can include it as a kind of 'sideway' in your spiral pathway used on the rest of the scalp. 

When you treat it as a separate pathway, you can create it before or after the main spiral. I prefer doing it before, because I find the thatch a bit more difficult/tricky to work on and I like a bit of clean working-space for that part. When the main spiral is already done, the fondling with the scalp while working on the thatch might make a mess of the already rooted plugs, on the inside as well as on the outside. If you're working with mohair, there's also a risk of felting!

The other option is to just start in the middle of the scalp, work the first few rounds of your spiral until you meet the first holes of the thatch, and then root the thatch as a 'sideway'. There are four lines to follow: first toward the edge of the scalp, back towards the middle, to the edge again and then eventually back to the centre, where you can pick up your main spiral again. With this method, you won't have too many plugs rooted on your scalp already when starting on the thatch, so you don't need to worry too much about messing things up. 

In the thatch lines, the holes are much closer to each other than on the rest of the spiral. You don't want to see any 'skin' showing through the finished thatch! You can use the exact same rerooting method as described above for the spiral. Be careful though when pulling plugs through these holes, if you're too aggressive tears may form (2 or more holes becoming one big longitudinal hole)! You might even decide on creating a separate bunch of slightly thinner plugs for the thatch line. 

Mistakes happen, don't panic if you do something wrong. Be gentle on yourself when it's your first lock-loop reroot, it's quite a challenge to get a neat spiral and your final result might not look at all like those perfect ones you've seen on Flickr or elsewhere. Practice makes perfect, and by the way...nobody will see the inside once the scalp is attached on your girl! What doés matter though, is that the plugs are well secured. I admit that I use a tiny drop of glue every now and then, when I notice one plug is a bit slippery for example. 

What also might happen, is that one plug is accidentally pulled out while combing the hair (I recommend combing the hair thoroughly before putting it back on your doll, íf there are plugs at risk of being pulled through, it's easier to repair them when you can still reach the inside of the scalp!).
When one plug is accidentally pulled out, first thing you want to prevent from happening is that the previous plug will also pull through (which happens easily, because it's no longer secured), and the next, and the next...it's a bit like a crocheted chain actually! This is also why you want to make sure (véry sure!) that all plugs are in place and secure when you reattach the scalp to your Blythe's head.

Now you ended up with a gap in your rooted row of plugs. Like I already said earlier: don't panic and stay calm (I remember my own first reroots, and the frustration and 'almost-throwing-the-scalp-through-the-room' that came with them ;)). Grab the loop of the previous plug, pull your crochet needle through that loop and through the scalp, and pull a new plug through, just like you can see on pictures 4-6. Now there are 2 things you can do:

• Glue the loose loop very tightly to the scalp. This is not a very secure method, as you can imagine. You can try to make a knot in that loop (but make sure that the previous loop is still firmly around it, some extra glue might help here!) to make it safer. 
• Try to repair the original rerooted row. This method is a bit trickier...but it's definitely doable if you have some patience and fine motor skills (which you will probably have anyway, people without these traits won't start a reroot :P). After you've pulled through a new plug (picture 6), hold only one end of the folded plug on the outside of the scalp and pull the other half completely through. Glide your crochet needle under the first loop after the gap (actually, under the two 'legs' of this loop, between the first two holes). Hook the plug hanging inside the scalp behind your crochet needle, and pull it through under these two 'legs'. Now, pinch your crochet needle through the hole again (the hole from the plug you're repairing), only this time from the outside to the inside. Hook the loose plug behind your crochet needle again, and pull it through the hole to the outer side of the scalp. Now, you've repaired the row :) I hope my explanation makes sense!

Above you can see the finished reroot! The most outer row exists of many holes with less space in between them, just like the thatch. The same principles count here: be careful not to create tears, and maybe use slightly thinner plugs. Because I used Huacaya alpaca for this reroot, it's a bit fuzzy here and there...but it's secure and full. Oh, before I forget...what to do when you've rooted your last hole?! Well, you just make a knot in your last plug (like I suggested when repairing a gap), make sure the previous loop is tightly around it and add a drop of glue for extra security. 

After you've made sure all plugs are secure and in place, maybe added a couple more drops of glue at some points (or even a complete layer of glue, if you want to go for 100% security!), you're ready to glue the scalp back on your girl. This can be a daunting task, you might have seen these pics of girls with a bunch of elastics around their head (these pictures look more like they belong in a horror movie, if you ask me...lol!). That's one way to go, but through the years I found out that I like to work with very quick drying superglue. I work my way around the scalp in about 4 or 5 steps: every time I put some glue on a couple of cm's on the scalp's edge, put it on the place I want (on the upper edge of the faceplates and over the dome), hold it there for some seconds and voila! It sticks like nothing else! Then I go on to the next couple of cm's, until I've worked all my way through. Be careful though, sometimes the scalp is just a little bit larger in diameter than your Blythe's head, and you might want to divide the extra space evenly over the back side of your Blythe's head (under the hair), instead of ending up with a big 'lump' in the last cm.

The last thing that we haven't done yet, is create a neat thatch. To do this, put al the hairs away in a tight ponytail, except for the middle two of the (four) thatch lines. Now, grab your crochet needle one more time, to create a pretty little zig-zag system. Start at the edge of the scalp: pick up the first plug on the left row, and pull it to the right. Now pick up the first plug on the right row, and pull it to the left. Pick up the second plug of the left row, and pull it to the right, etc. Repeating this alternating pattern until the end of the thatch will result in a miniature zigzag that won't show any scalp between the middle two thatch lines.

I hope this tutorial provided you with the information you were looking for! Don't hesitate to comment or ask me questions, I'm here to share what I know. I can always edit the tutorial if you think some information is missing or wrong. 

Like I mentioned earlier, I wanted to give some information about the several hair possibilities (like mohair, saran, alpaca, etc.), but I ended up writing down so much stuff that I decided it'd be better to spend a whole blogpost on that topic. So stay tuned if that's something else you're interested in ;)

Blythe reroot tutorial - part 1: preparing the scalp

Okay Blythe folks, here's the first part of a series of (hopefully helpful) tutorials on how to do reroots.  I've been doing them for years now and gained experience in using alpaca, mohair, (thermal) saran, the lock-loop method, the knot method, thatching, washing, etc. There were some disasters on the road, that learned me even more (about what nót to do!). Other members of the Blythe-community have always been helpful when I needed some advice, sometimes through direct answers on questions, sometimes by just posting very clear pictures of what théy did to achieve a specific result. Right now I think I have collected enough knowledge and experience to share some helpful tips myself (although I will surely keep learning new things, I expect I might have to adjust and update these series of tutorials in the future!). I hope it will motivate you to pick up your own reroot...maybe for the first time, or maybe that scalp you once started on but threw away in frustration. I'll make the steps as easy as possible, so you'll see it's not such a daunting task as it may seem!

Although, honestly...rerooting is for people with a bit of patience. If that's a word that gives you shivers or makes you freak out already, you might just decide to commission someone else for that reroot. There are plenty of rerooters in the community, so don't worry ;)

In this first part I will show you the work that has to be done before you can actually start rerooting. It's nasty work that hurts your fingers (unless you are lucky enough to have an original Takara scalp), but it has to be done anyway...so let's get that done before we get to the better stuff (where actual hair/fibers are involved :P).

Let's start with the tools you will need (not all of them are already necessary for this first part, but I included them anyway).

• A scalp. You can use an original Takara scalp of course. Probably one you're tired of, don't like or of a disappointing quality (for example, the Factory Blythe scalps are not always superb, especially in terms of hair density). You could also use a coolcat scalp though, if you don't have an original Takara one. Coolcat scalps can be ordered here, and I believe you can also find them on Ebay. Personally I prefer the soft PVC scalps over the soft rubber ones. The PVC scalps resemble the Takara scalps better in color and material. On the other hand, they're harder to penetrate. If your hands and fingers are aching easily, you might want to go for a soft rubber scalp. It's totally up to you, both will work just fine!
• Needle, with a point as sharp as possible. I prefer working with a long needle, because it offers more grip. You might also want to use a thimble!
• Fine comb. I really love the one included in my picture, because of it's pointy end, which is very helpful in making thatches!
• Crochet needle. I use a 1.00 mm, but a slíghtly smaller or bigger one will do as well.
• Scissors, just in case. 

Optionally, you can also add acrylic paint to the supplies list, if you want to dye your scalp before rerooting. We'll get back to that part later.

Okay, here we go. The first thing you need to do (unless you have an original Takara scalp, then you can skip most of this first step) is to make tiny holes in the scalp, preferably in a specific pattern. 

The Coolcat scalps have a 'B' and an 'F' on the inside, to indicate the front and the back. On the picture below you can see the B, if you look closely. 

Now, remembering where the front and back are, decide your pattern. It is important to remember that if you want to reroot in the lock-loop method, your pattern has to be a spiral.

If you're doing a knot-method reroot, a spiral is fine, but closed circular rows will work just as well. Actually, for the knot-method any pattern of holes will work, because the single plugs are not secured into each other!

I decided to show the spiral pattern, because that one is the trickiest. I drew the spiral onto my scalp for this tutorial just to make it as clear as possible, you don't have to do that yourself (I never do this, normally!). Unless of course you like having a guideline for where to punch your holes...but please be aware of the fact that dark lines might show through a very light (for example blond) reroot! 

Note how I started in the middle, slowly working my way to the end of the scalp (follow the arrows to see the direction of the lines). In my opinion, best is to leave about 0.5 to 1 cm between your lines, depending on how thick/dense you want your reroot to be. 

Now, regarding the thatch. There are several options:

• No thatch at all. In that case you can let your (imaginary) spiral just continue round after round, without the turns I made to leave space for the thatch.
• Middle thatch (the 'B' on the inside of the scalp indicates where the middle is!).
• Side thatch (left, or right).

I made a side thatch on this reroot, on the left side. I always make 4 rows for a thatch. This will result in a beautiful, full thatch line in the end, without any 'skin' (scalp) showing through.

The lines are very close to each other, with only 1-2 mm's between them. Note that I also drew this sideline actually as one long, spiraling line!

I usually regard the thatch as a different part from the main spiral, so they are not attached. This isn't impossible though! I just don't like them attached, because I prefer first rerooting the thatch, and then starting on the main spiral, working my way from the inside out. 

A last little warning regarding the thatch: it's important for the lines/holes to be close to each other, but not tóó close. You will notice - once rerooting - that holes that are too close to each other will easily tear and form one big hole. You don't want that, believe me ;)

Now, what if you have an original Takara scalp, that has no thatch, or a side thatch while you want a middle thatch, or the other way around? No worries! It's perfectly possible to make an extra thatch in the area you prefer, as long as it's not too close to the original thatch. That nasty thing I just mentioned, about separate holes tearing together into one big hole? That has often happened already with Takara scalps. So be careful, also when you decide to use the already existing thatch. Inspect it beforehand, to see if it's still useable. Even when the holes are still more or less separate, remember that you have to pull a plug of hair through it with a crochet hook. Even this small force might already cause it to tear. So you might actually decide to play it safe and make a new thatch line. 

On to the next step (the most annoying one): start punching the holes!

This part will cause your fingers to hurt/cramp, I often find myself doing just a couple of rows at a time, for example when I have 5 spare minutes left.

In the picture below you can see how much space I leave between my holes. In the main spiral, I leave about 5 mm's between every hole...but again, this depends on how dense you want your final reroot to be!

On the thatch line, you have to punch the holes as close as possible to each other. Remember (again, I'll keep warning you...those teared holes are such a drama, especially when you're a beginner at rerooting!), not too punch them tóó close. Leave about 1-2 mm's in between them. The same counts for the last (outer) line. This line is the actual hair line, which will be quite visible in the final result. It would be pretty ugly if there'd be 4 or 5 mm's between those holes huh? So just punch them very close together, just like the thatch lines.

On the picture above you can see part of my holes. They appear a bit grey-ish, that's just because of punching through the black guidelines I drew for the tutorial. Note the distances between my lines and holes, and also note how close the thatch holes are!

Punching the last row of (close) holes can be a bit of trouble. I usually punch about 3 mm's above the edge of the scalp. Notice the rim on the inside of the scalp, you want to punch júst above that. Every now and then I accidentally go through the rim instead... You will notice this soon enough, because it's twice as thick a layer of plastic to go through!

Now it's time for the final - and optional - step of this tutorial: painting the scalp.

Personally, I often don't dye the scalps I reroot. I like to make dense reroots with lots of holes, in which case it's not really necessary to dye the scalp. It will be just like a human head full of hair; if you look véry closely...yes, than you can see a bit of skin, but that's only natural, right?

I know that a lot of people use lesser holes though, to save a bit of work and time. Nothing wrong with that! In those cases it might be a good idea though to dye your scalp in the color of the hair you'll be using, to cover up for too much 'skin' (scalp) showing in between the plugs.

I find acrylic paint easy and simple to use. Thin it a bit with water or even better: a special paint thinner. To prevent the paint from dripping all the way down to the edge, you can put a line of tape over the edge, completely around the scalp, just up to the first row. Now start adding a thin layer of paint and leave it to dry. The plastic scalps (at least the soft PVC Coolcat scalps, I have no experience with painting the soft rubber ones!) are not very absorbing, so you might want to add another layer after the first one has dried. 

I will be using dark chocolate brown alpaca for this reroot, so I painted the the scalp in more or less that same color. It didn't became very even, but that's okay...it's just for covering up, in the end!

That's all for part 1 of the reroot tutorial! After these steps, you will be ready to start rooting the hair, which will be covered in the next part of these series. 

I really hope you guys enjoyed this tutorial and that I have explained everything in a clear and understandable way. Please comment if you have any questions, improvements, or additions. I'd also love to hear suggestions for what you'd like to see explained in the next part(s) of these reroot tutorial series!

Handspun for me!

Lately I realized I never really made something for mé with a yarn I spun myself. Most times I put them in my Etsy shop, while scraps and leftovers are used for dolly hats and beanies. So...wasn't it time to try out some of my handspun for myself? Actually, putting it that way...using my own yarn might even give me some useful information on how I can improve their usability!

Being a real lover of scarves and cowls, the decision for a neckwear piece was quickly made. A little while ago I already made a little girl's cowl with super bulky thick-and-thin thread, so this time I wanted to go for a thinner yarn to work with. It would again be a knitting project though, just so I'd get more practice (my crochet skills are way better!). I am really fond of the look of single yarns for projects like these, but I knew that wasn't the easiest way to go. Every spinner knows that it's not easy to get a single, non-plied yarn balanced (for non-spinners: this means that the yarn doesn't twist around itself anymore). And working with an unbalanced yarn means trouble! Your final work will crook and twist, it's impossible to make it equal and straight if your thread is not balanced. But, again...creating a balanced single yarn is quite a challenge!

To make a long story short: this project was an excellent chance for me to get more experienced with single yarns and setting their twist. I learnt new techniques like using steam and even smacking! (Imagine a girl smacking a hank of yarn against the floor like crazy and now try to convince yourself she's not a lunatic...even my cats looked quite astonished :P). Since my plan was to make a loose cowl that could also be worn during the colder summer days, I wanted to go with a bright color. I ended up with Bonfiber's "Pretty in Peach", it actually was exactly what I was looking for! I ordered 6.5 oz and used all of that for this project. 

I also ordered new circular needles, since I grew sick of my old cheap ones and also needed a longer string. I picked the KnitPro Nova needles (4.50mm), and did not regret my choice. In fact, I even already ordered more of this series...they knit so smoothly! Finally, I also used some blank, undyed merino roving, I think about 0.5 oz. So...for anyone who feels inspired by this project and would like to make something similar, here's a little necessities list:

- 6.5 oz (superwash) merino roving in any color you'd like
- 0.5 oz (superwash) merino roving, undyed
- circular knitting needles, about 4.50mm (depending on your preferences), at least 80 cm string
- spinning wheel (duh!)

I spun quite an even single, though I did intentionally put in some thinner and thicker parts to get a nice structure in my final project. I set the twist using different methods. I'm not gonna describe them extensively here now, I still have way too much to learn on this area! Maybe one day I'll feel experienced enough to write a blogpost about balancing yarns...in, like, a hundred years or so :P Anyway, there are plenty of good advices, video's and tutorials on the Internet, so just google ahead!

I wound my newspun yarn in two balls: a big peachy ball and a small blank ball. I casted on the amount of stitches I thought I would need for a loose cowl, and knitted one row with the undyed yarn. Then I switched to the peachy yarn and knitted 10 rows. After every 10 rows, I'd do a blank row again, until my cowl was big enough and my yarn was all used up. Simple as that! Of course you don't have to do a blank row after every 10 colored rows...it's whatever you prefer, I just thought it would make a nice variation!

Since this project was so super easy (only knits, round after round after round), I think every amateur knitter can make it. Even if you don't spin your own yarn, you can order a similar thread (go support all the indie spinners on Etsy and buy one of their special handspun yarns to show off in your project!) and work on this cowl while watching tv, sitting in the car, or on the train...it needs no counting or extreme attention, it'll just give your hands something to do!

After finishing my cowl, I noticed it had become a bit fuzzed. This was probably the result of often bringing the work-in-progress with me in my bag and having it in my hands over and over again. To solve this, I asked my mom to bring her fabric shaver over. It was the first time I used this thing, and I was actually pretty careful at the beginning, not sure if I would harm the yarn. But, it worked like a charm! Those fabric shavers are also known as lint/fuzz/pill removers. I'm afraid my mom won't get hers back soon, I've used it a lot after discovering it's usefulness!

My cowl ended up loose enough to be worn during Spring or cold Summer days. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, I think it makes a colorful and comfy accessory, and having made it myself gives it an extra special feeling. Feel inspired? Go ahead and use this post as a guideline for your own next knitting project, if you like! I'd love it if you'd let me know...any thoughts, comments and advices are welcome!

The making of a 'thick & thin cowl'

Hi folks! This week I've been working on a new little project: a little girl's cowl knitted with homespun thick & thin yarn. I am really smitten with how it turned out!

So... I thought it might be nice to share with you how I exactly made this cowl, because it's really easy. I think even beginning knitters (like myself!) can do it!

Okay, we'll start at the very beginning. I chose to spin the needed thick & thin yarn myself, because I like spinning and because it gives me such a satisfying feeling to create a product from the very basis (actually... I'd love to own my own sheep or alpaca, shave them myself, and....well, you get the idea!). But I realize a lot of knitters cannot spin (while on the other hand, most spinners can knit), so I'll start with showing you where to get this kind of thick & thin yarn, spun by other artists and al ready for you to use! The easiest way is to go to Etsy, and search for 'thick and thin yarn'. I did it for you here! There are a lot of different thick and thin yarns, one important thing to keep in mind is the thickness of the slobs (the thicker parts). In my yarn, I made them about 2 cm thick (they contain a lot of air). Obviously there are also a lot yarns available with thinner slobs, which will give your final product a different look. I really wanted to go for a rough structure in this cowl, if you want the same: the bigger the slobs the better!

If you áre able to spin, and you'd like to do so, I will explain a bit about that in the next paragraphs (italic font). If you decided to buy the needed yarn instead (as described above), you can skip those parts and go straight ahead to the knitting paragraph :)

Spinning part
Okay, here's a bit for you fellow spinners! I went to Turtlepurl on Etsy for my superwash merino roving. I wanted a color scheme suitable for little girls, so her so-called 'swirly' roving jumped right out of the page to me! I also wanted the colors to be not too contrasting and differing, they had to flow into each other easily. Just various tones of two or three close colors, you get what I mean? Here and here are some other beautiful examples of what  I'm trying to explain. But this is purely personal, just go for whatever you like! Important is the amount of roving you need. I used a full 4 ounce for my cowl, and it's definitely not suitable for grown ups... If you want to make a cowl for yourself or a friend, you might need 5 or 6 oz! I think Merino is quite suitable for thick and thin yarn, it has a nice soft structure and drafts and spins easily. Superwash merino is even better :)

When you have your roving ready, it's time for pre-drafting. I think pre-drafting is not always necessary when spinning, but it ís when spinning thick and thin yarn. I chose to split the roving one time, but this depends a bit on the thickness of your roving. 

After splitting it in half, I carefully pre-drafted it to make it airy and easy to spin. Be careful though, don't make your roving thinner than you want the biggest slobs to be!

When you're done pre-drafting, you're ready to spin! Never spun thick and thin yarn before? I found Susie's (from Woolwench) youtube video especially helpful to get me started, you should definitely check it out if you're new to this kind of spinning. Take note of her explanation how to get a lot of 'air' in the slobs, I found this part quite important for the final look of the cowl!

Don't worry when most of the twist goes into the thinner parts of your yarn, that's normal and inevitable. Above you see the yarn on my bobbin, the slobs don't seem to be very big here, but that's because the yarn's still under tension... Once off the bobbin, you can really see the results! (Sorry for the bad quality of the next two pictures by the way...it was late at night, but I just hád to finish spinning my yarn ;))

Here I was just playing around, heheh. You can almost say it's not even necessary to knit the yarn, you can wear it as a cowl straight off the bobbin!

Anyway, last thing I did that evening was rolling my yarn into a ball, because that's just easier to knit from. Also, leaving it like that overnight might set the twist a little bit!

Knitting part

Now we get to the part where the non-spinners among us can join along! Next day (after spinning my thick and thin yarn) I proceeded on my project, and started knitting the cowl. For this I used the biggest knitting needles I had at home, which were 12 mm. Actually I would have used bigger ones if I had them, because the bigger the needles, the less air will be pressed out of the bigger slobs. When you knit with big needles, you allow these slobs to stay puffy, resulting in even more structure in your finished product!

I casted on 42 stitches, but this depends a bit on the thickness of your yarn of course. After casting on, the only thing I did was knit. No purls or other special stitches, only knits! How easy can it be? I told you, everyone can make this!

I just kept on knitting until I had almost no yarn left over. I fastened off my work, and with the little piece of yarn I had left I joined the two ends of my work together, to produce a circular cowl. I did not use any special stitch for this (I was counting stitches a moment ago, and almost couldn't find the seam back...the rough structure allows you to do whatever you like!), just kind off sewed the two short sides together. 

Well, that's it! It's a very forgiving piece of work, in that way it's perfect for beginners. It might feel strange though to knit with those huge needles, and with a yarn that differs so much in thickness. But then again: it's forgiving, little mistakes disappear in the bobbly structure. What I found a challenge, was not 'fuzzing' my work too much while knitting it. This happens easily, while I really wanted a more 'clean' look for my cowl, avoiding too much flocks. Al I can say is: try not to distress your cowl too much while working on it. But it's almost impossible to avoid this completely, so if anyone has any advice regarding this, please comment!

When my cowl was finished, I went to my moms house, who looks after a lot of kids (it's her daytime job actually). Lianne, a little lady of 3, volunteered as my photo model. I think the cowl looks adorable on her, so girly and sweet, yet also trendy because of the rough structure of it!

The cowl is still available in my shop for now, but now you also know how to make one yourself!

Mug Cozy Tutorial!

Okay...grab you crochet needles and some yarn, 'cause here is my very first tutorial! Quite some people asked for a crochet tutorial, so I thought I'd start with that. I kept it pretty simple, this must be do-able even if you're just a beginner! I know it's not a very original pattern, I'm definitely not the first one making a mug cozy. Still, I tried to give it a little unique twist with the wooden buttons. I hope you like it!

Now, get ready...let's start with what you will need.

I found my mugs at a thrift-store. I think it's the perfect place to find the right cups for this project! The yarn I used is fingering weight, in a slightly changing color. My crochet needle is 3.5.

Oh, one more thing...I won't explain the used stitches in this pattern ('chain' (ch), 'half double crochet' (hdc) and 'slip stitch' (sl st)). 

If you're not familiar with these stitches: just google them! There are plenty of places on the Web where you can find them explained, in pictures or in little Youtube movies. 

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Start with making a chain. The length of this chain depends on the size of your mug, actually the length of your chain will be the 'height' of your cozy. Look at the next picture to see what I mean!

2. When you've decided how long your chain should be, crochet 2 extra chains. This will be your first half double crochet (hdc) from  row 1. 

After this you will work al the way back on your chain, crocheting a hdc in every single chain, starting in the 3rd chain from the hook. 

In this little movie showing how I make some hdc's in the row 1 (in the chains):

3. You've worked your way through the chain and finished your first row of hdc's. Now it's time to turn around, and start working on row 2! To do this, you crochet two chains. Now you turn around your work (I usually put my crochet needle into the other side of the loop too, but this isn't absolutely necessary), and start crocheting hdc's again, starting in the 3rd stitch from the hook (just like with the first row!). 

Here's a movie showing how I turn around at the end of the row. I'm a few rows further already, but that doesn't mind, 'cause the technique is the same at every row.

4. Okido, now you know how to make a row of hdc's, and how to turn around at the end of the row. Keep repeating this for a long time!

6. Of course you will want to know when to stop crocheting new rows (unless you have a huuuuuuge mug ;-)). To decide when you're done, hold your cozy around your mug. You will have to leave a space between both ends of at least 2-3 cm. Don't be afraid to stretch your cozy a líttle bit for this!

7. Now it's time to make the two loops at the end! To do this, start crocheting slip stitches until you're at 1/3 of the row. Now stop crocheting in the row below, but start making a chain. When your chain is long enough, slip stitch again in the stitch where you started with your chain. From there, you will proceed slip stitching until you're at 2/3 of the row. Repeat making a loop, slip stitch again in the stitch where you started the chain, and proceed slip stitching in the rest (1/3) of the row until you're finished.

I made one of my loops slightly bigger than the other, because my mug isn't completely straight. By putting the smallest loop on the bottom, it will pull the cozy tighter at that point, following the shape of the mug.

Here's another movie, showing you how I made one of the two loops.

8. Tie off your yarn, the crocheting part is done now!

9. It's time to attach the buttons. Simply do this by putting a little sewing thread (color of your own choice) through the sewing needle. Of course you will sew them on the end of the cozy withóut the loops ;-) Sew them on the same heights as the loops (1/3 and 2/3 of the height). Just stitch your needle through your cozy, and tie off on the backside. 

10. You're almost done now! I decided to make 2 mug cozies, so maybe you want to finish some more too...

READY? Now go ahead and put your mug cozies around their mugs. Warm and snuggly...YAY!

These mugs are perfect for a hot cuppa'tea or coffee, or you can put little candle lights into them and use them as decorative items in your room!

So, that was my first tutorial. I hope you liked it, and I really hope the instructions were understandable! I thing I noticed is that it isn't easy to explain things well in a language that is not your own. Another thing is, that it costs quite some time to make good pics and movies, and put everything together! I really had fun doing this though, I just want to do something back for the craft community and everything I've learned from it for the past few years.

Did you like this tut, do you need help or did you make the cozies and wanna show them? Please leave a note, I'd LOVE that!