Crochet Beanie Hat

I made a hat!  My first actual, wearable, properly useful crochet item!  Ok, I know the blankets I am working on will probably be fairly useful too but a hat is different, a hat is like clothes!  Which you can out on and wear outside the house!  Can you tell I am fairly excited?

I followed this You Tube Tutorial which was really simple and easy to understand.  I've just recently found BobWilson123 on You Tube and I am really enjoying her (her name isn't really Bob Wilson ;) ) tutorials, they are great for beginners.

And here are my results.  I wasn't without issues during the process, at first I over estimated the sizing by quite a bit and seemed to be crocheting a fruit bowl sized hat.

Which I had to rip back to get to a more manageable size (the fruit bowl is about 21cms across, the smaller size which actually became the hat is 18cms and I did 12 rounds in all).

It definitely requires a bit of playing around to get your size right but as explained in the video your hook size, yarn weight and tension all combine to mean that once you've had a go at making one you should have a fairly good idea of what size you need to be working on to get a nice fitting hat.

Mine was crocheted using Robin Chunky yarn, in a shade called Mole, with a size 7 crochet hook.

For me the added bonus was that I also learned how to crochet in a circle which could come in handy in future, I'm not sure when but you just never know.

And here is the final, finished product, on my very patient model.

This hat is a little shorter than I would normally make them I think but it was a special request and surely the whole point of making things yourself is to be able to tailor them to the wishes of the people who will be wearing them?

Now I'm off to make a second hat with the left over yarn!

Highlighter Pink

I was so taken with my highlighter yellow nails from the other day I couldn't help but continue the theme, this time using two pink polishes from Barry M.  Both are from the Limited Edition collection released for summer 2013, the darker pink is the Boots LE and the lighter one I used as an accent nail is from Superdrug. they're both still available now.

Both colours are two coats over a white base, with an accent stamp done in Pomegranate from the Barry m Gelly Hi-Shine range.

Although I like both shades, the darker of the two is definitely the winner for me, it is so bright and neon, perfect for summer, in fact I think I am going to do my toes in it tonight.



Highlighter Yellow

I LOVE this polish, it's so bright and neon, pretty much the exact colour of a yellow highlighter on white paper, perfect for burst of summer colour.  The photos really don't do justice to how bright this polish is, within an hour of arriving into work the day I wore it five people had commented on it!

 

 

Unfortunately it isn't a very well know brand, these pictures are 2 coats of yellow over two coats of white.  It's a polish I picked up when I was last in Spain, made by Lusty Cosmetics.  I think it set me back about 1,25 euros in the local China Bazaar.

 

 

On it's own it's very sheer and unimpressive but with a base coat of white the colour really pops, it's by far the most in your face neon polish I own and I love it, it's so bright!

Kiko Mirror Nail Lacquer 621 & 622

I couldn't resist picking up a few more of Kiko's Mirror Nail Lacquer when I was away recently because they are so perfect for stamping, this manicure shows exactly why.

This manicure uses two colours swirled together on the plate to give a sort of duochrome stamped effect which I was pretty pleased with.  I stamped over yesterday's Guava by Barry M.

 

The polishes are so easy to work with when stamping and they transfer onto the nail in totally opaque layers which makes them perfect for stamping manicures.

 

It's quite difficult to see the two colours / duochrome effect in full light but it's a bit easier to see it in the dull lighting in the photo below.

 

Here's a quick bottle shot to show the two colours on their own.

 

Barry M Gelly Hi Shine Guava

I couldn't resist trying Guava on it's own, it's such a beautiful, bright turquoise colour, perfect for summer.  Here's two coats of it...

It applies beautifully and is totally opaque in two coats.

I love how shiny it looks, the Gelly polishes really do manage to look juicy in their finish.

And I even managed to match my nails to my latest piece of crochet...

Even More Stamping with Barry M Gelly Hi Shine Nail Paint.

Having looked at my two previous posts about stamping with the Barry M Gelly Hi Shines; HERE and HERE, I seemed to have missed a trick, I should really have used the same stamp again to make the comparisons all match nicely. 

Sadly I didn't think of that so you're getting a different stamp instead.  A rather poorly executed stamp at that, for some reason my stamping skills weren't really up to scratch last night so the stamping here is rather messy but I think it shows off the colours pretty well so up go the pictures.

This stamping is done with the new Summer 2013 releases from the Barry M Gelly Hi Shine collection.  Key Lime - the lime green, Guava - the turquoise, Blue Grape - the blue, Mango - the orange and Passion Fruit - the pink leaning red.

As with the majority of the other Hi Shines these polishes stamp beautifully, bright vibrant colours which are easy to work with and apply nicely to the nail.

There are some great additions this time round, leaving plenty of opportunities for ombre looks when they're combined with the rest of the Hi Shine collection.

As stamping polishes go you can't go far wrong with these; they are easy to work with, reasonably priced and readily available.  Although some of the lighter shades from the range might not work too well over darker polishes they are perfect over a lighter or white base and the growing number in the collection mean that you'll never be stuck for colour choice when it comes to a stamping manicure, AND they are beautiful on their own just worn as regular polish; win / win!

Repeat Nails

I generally try to vary what I wear on my nails and what I post about on here so it doesn't get too repetitive but today I have a polish which I already posted about fairly recently, I felt like it deserved to be included again to give it another outing and more praise.

 

Snow Me White by Sinful Colors is now definitely my go to polish for white, whether that's as a base for neons or stamping or just on it's own.

 

A good white polish, like a good black, is pretty much essential in every nail addicts stash, I think, and in Snow Me White I reckon I have found my favourite.

 

It's opaque in two coats, applies beautifully and doesn't take too long to dry, pretty much everything you could ask for in a colour which is used as a base for other colours or designs.

 

And I even think it looks pretty nifty on it's own. :)

Crochet Progress

Progress on my giant blanket is slow, mostly because it takes an age to do even one row it's so big!  I'm up to 28 rows now so I've started using the colours for a second time, I'm struggling with being random, I can't quite bring myself to just pull a ball of yarn out of the bag and use it so some thought is going into which to use next while still trying to be a bit random.  I think if I were to do it again I would maybe pick less colours or stick to more of a theme because it really does look a bit unmatching and clashy at the moment with so many colours in it.

It's impossible to take a picture of it fully laid out without moving furniture as it's so long, these pictures are it folded into quarters, so it's 4 times as wide as it looks in the photos which is pretty big, I think I might have got a bit carried away with my foundation chain but at least when it's done (which may be some time yet) it will be plenty big!

James was a bit annoyed that I tried to use a crochet hook to show scale, apparently that's his job.

I have also started another blanket, this one is to be a gift for a little girl - ideally to be used in a buggy - so it's much smaller than my giant blanket and in different colours.  I didn't want to go for anything too girly or pink so I chose purple, lilac, cream, turquoise and teal.

I only started it about a week ago and haven't had much time to work on it yet but I'm hoping it'll be ready in time for the birthday deadline in a couple of months time.

I'm pretty pleased with how it's working out so far, I just hope I've made the initial chain long enough and that it doesn't end up the size of a tea towel! :)  It is faster to do rows on though so I'm hoping when I get a bit more time it should work up nice and fast.

Barry M - Gelly Hi-Shine - Mango

I've been so bust lately that I have been spending shamefully little time on my nails, I had originally wanted to use the new Barry M Gellys for stamping manicures but time has totally gotten away from me and instead I found myself reaching for one last night when I just wanted a quite fix. 

 

 

This is two coats of Mango, a lovely lush orange shade, to me Tangerine would have been a much better name for this colour. :) 

 

Like almost all the Gellys it applies beautifully and leaves a lovely glossy shine on your nails.  I still use top coat on mine but you could definitely skip it if you wanted to, and if, unlike me, you can be trusted not to chip your nails immediately without the aid of quick dry top coat

 

I do still really want to try stamping with these polishes but for now they are perfect for a quick fix solution to a manicure when I'm short of time.

Kiko Sugar Mat - 632

Another of the Kiko Sugar Mats to show you today, this time 632 which is a pillar box red colour.

 

 

Of all the Sugar Mats I have tried I would say this is my least favourite, I'm just not a massive fan of the flat, matte look to the red coloured polish.  However, even though I'm not in love with it I do rather like this polish and it grew on me the longer I wore it.  It's a pretty colour.

 

As with all the Sugar Mats application was easy and smooth and opaque in two coats, it also dried nice and fast which I love.

Sunny Skies

A quick bit of nail art today, I used the Kiko Mirror Nail Lacquer I bought recently to stamp with and then filled in the centres of the suns.  I also used a white nail art pen to fill in the stamped clouds as I thought they looked a bit odd in gold.

 

 

The base colour is yesterday's Blue Grape from Barry M's latest set of Gelly polishes, it's a bit dark for this nail art really as it seems more of a night sky colour and so a bit at odds with the suns.

 

Overall I'm quite pleased with how this turned out though, I like the colour combination and it was pretty quick to do for partially  free hand nail art which I often can't be bothered with due to the time it takes.

Barry M Gelly Hi Shine - Blue Grape

I was in a bit of a rush last night so I decided to try out one of the new Gellys on it's own.  The previous releases from this range are great for just chucking on if you don't have a lot of time and thankfully Blue Grape was no different in that sense.

 

 

As with the other Gellys it does have a lovely squishy, high gloss finish to it, this time in a vivid royal, or is it cobalt, blue colour.

 

 

The colour is a little lighter, and brighter, in person.

 

Tequila Sunrise Nails

That's what these nails remind me of, a tequila sunrise cocktail.  I used two of the new Gelly Hi Shines from Barry M, Mango and Passion Fruit, over yesterday's Kiko 359 to create this peach through red subtle ombre effect.  I sponged on the two darker colours.

 

Unfortunately it doesn't show up nearly as well in photographs as it did in person, probably due to it being a fairly subtle gradient.  There was a little bit of colour drag when I added the top coat but it barely showed in person, sadly it's fairly obvious in the photos though

 

 

I think the colours work well together, in person they really did seem to flow into one another.  That's the one annoying thing about using macro shots for the blog pictures, it's hard to get an idea of what the nails look like in context of a whole body or from a distance.

 

The new Gellys sponged really nicely so I think I might have a go with some other colour combinations from the range soon.

 

Kiko 359

Just a nice plain peachy cream to show you today, this is another from my Spanish haul.

 

 

As with pretty much every Kiko polish I have tried this one went on beautifully smoothly and was opaque in two coats.

 

You may notice the change of lighting from now on, this was the polish I wore home from Spain and the last picture is taken back in Glasgow.

 

 

 

Barry M Limited Edition Summer Neons

Every so often (usually twice a year once in winter and once in summer) Barry M launch a Limited Edition range of colours which are available in either Boots or Superdrug.  Generally, as is the case this time, the Superdrug polishes are free gifts if you spend a certain amount (over £6) whereas the Boots ones can be bought on their own. 

 

This summer they have launched 4 neon colours for summer, all of which I picked up.  Superdrug has a light pink and a green (on the left) and Boots has a yellow and a deeper pink (on the right). 

 

 

Since I was buying the new Gellys anyway I picked up the Superdrug colours with them and then used my Boots points to grab the other two, guilt free.  The two pinks are similar, but not the same as you can see from the comparison swatch below

 

 

Here are some quick dot swatches of the colours along with the new Gelly Hi Shines I posted about yesterday.  The LE neons are in the top row.

 

These polishes seem quite sheer, as a lot of neons are, so I am thinking about layering them over a white polish to make them not only opaque but hopefully brighter too.  Look out for swatches coming soon.