Stitching Stitch

Happy Update! The Stitch Pattern is now available here!

My friend was recently blessed with a new niece and she enthusiastically told me her niece's nickname is Stitch. To celebrate her, my friend commissioned me to make a Stitch hat. (If you're not familiar with the character, Stitch is from a Disney movie called Lilo and Stitch)

I browsed around the internet for a Stitch pattern but didn't find one I liked so I set about creating this one. I think he came out pretty stinkin' cute. Since I posted the picture on Facebook, I've had a number of friends request Stitch hats. I'm up to my elbows in blue yarn! He's really easy to make. If there is enough interest I might just post the pattern here. 

I hope you've been enjoying your summer and have made lots of awesome projects yourself. 

Pirate Owl Hat

A while ago, long before I started my Etsy store, I came across a pattern for a Pirate themed Owl Hat. I fell in love immediately. Fast forward a while later and I proudly present my own Pirate Owl Hat.

The original Pirate Owl Hat was designed by the very talented Mary Angel and you can find her original pattern for sale in her Etsy shop here.

If you'd like a finished hat, they are available in my Etsy shop here.

What have you been working on, my lovelies?

Lacy Teardrops Slouchy Beanie Hat

I spent most of last night designing this scrumptious slouchy hat. I'm not usually one for slouchy hats, but I thought, hey, why not try something new?

I'm sorry the photo isn't that great. Trying to get a sideways selfie is hard. I need to work up the courage to ask one of my friends to be a model. Or take the photographs for me. 

I'm hoping to nail the pattern down this week and post a tutorial on how to make this hat for yourself. I've been experimenting with the increases to see which I like best. The hat pictured came out perfect in size, but I like the look of the other hat's increase a bit more. I'm hoping to find a way to blend them and produce the perfect hat. 

What are you working on this week? 

Crochet Wire Necklace

A while ago I got this idea I would make crocheted wire jewelry. I decided on a peacock theme for my first necklace so I ordered a bunch of wire, beads, and other supplies and plunged into the process headfirst. My first necklace didn't come out so great. The clasp broke off and the charm hung funny. It was a mess. But now, a few YouTube tutorials later, I have a finished piece I'm really proud of.

I think it came out rather nice. I love the aged bronze look and the colors of the sea glass beads. 

My brother's wedding is in December and I think I'm going to design and make a necklace for that. Maybe I'll document the experience with that one.

What have you been working on? 

About / Contact

Welcome to Hailee Lynn Creates!

This space, albeit digital, is dedicated to all things crochet and the occasional post about baked goodies. In this blog you'll be able to find free crochet projects, updates from my Etsy store, works-in-progress, and perhaps even a cookie recipe.

If you need to contact me, free free to reach out via Facebook.

Simple Headwrap with Flower

I just love yarn! I recently came into a few skeins of this beautiful chunky blue acrylic. A friend is moving away and she offered all her yarn to whoever wanted. Naturally I had to snap it up. Immediately me gears began to spin coming up with a project for this lovely stuff. I decided pretty quickly it just needed to be a headwrap. Here in the Alps it is never too early to prepare for cold weather.

It came out so cute! This project is really simple and you can do it too.

You'll need:
- Approximately 40 yards Bulky yarn
- N/10mm Crochet Hook
- Large Eye Yarn Needle

You can make this headband in several different sizes: child, teen/small adult, medium adult, and large adult.

With N hook, chain 38 [40, 42, 44]

Row 1: In third chain from hook, make a half double crochet. One half double crochet in each stitch across. 36 [38, 40, 42] stitches. Chain 2 and turn.

Row 2: Crocheting only in the back loops, crochet one half double crochet in each stitch. 36 [38, 40, 42] stitches. Chain 2 and turn.

Row 3-5: (you can change the number of rows to suit your tastes) Repeat Row 2.

Finish off. Leave a long tail for stitching. Whip stitch ends together or use your favorite joining technique. Using a scrap of yarn, tie it around a section of headband to give it a gathered look. Attach a flower applique over the gathered section of headband.

I used the Picot Flower designed by Julie Armstrong Holetz over at SkaMama designs. The pattern can be found here. Or use your own favorite crochet flower!

This headwrap can also be purchased in my Etsy store!

This Dog Learned a New Trick

I will be the first to admit I hate pricing my crochet work for my Etsy store. I have notes scribbled in my Etsy notebook about all the things I need to remember to calculate; all the fees, retail formulas, percentages...you know, all that jazz. I was researching how-to articles on improving Etsy Store performance when I saw someone post about their pricing formula spreadsheet.

It is such a genius concept!

They didn't provide instructions on how to make your own; it was only mentioned in passing, but I loved the idea! I have minimal excel skills so a few google searches later I was ready to try my hand at building a pricing formula spreadsheet. It took a few (mostly painless, but no promises) hours. I found myself staring at the computer with a blank look in my eyes more than once and I had to revive some long dead math skills to get the calculating properties I wanted. But I did it. It's the best Etsy tool I've created for myself. I input the numbers and it does the math for me. Voila! Retail price with no pain. No tears. No wishing I hadn't ever started this Etsy thing.

Another tool I created was a cost-per-yard yarn calculator. The pricing formula above requires the amount of materials (in my calculator's case, the yardage used in the project) and cost of materials (in this case, the cost per yard) to properly calculate the price. This calculator basically takes the cost of the skein of yarn and divides it by the yardage in the skien and spits out the cost per yard. Basic math, but hey, I'm lazy. I'm more than willing to let the calculator do all the work for me.

I would love to explain in exact detail how I made the pricing formula spreadsheet, but I don't think I could actually do it justice right now. Nor do I believe I could replicate what I actually did. But if you stay tuned I will post a tutorial for how to make your own cost-per-yard yarn calculator and maybe sometime further in the future I will re-figure out and make a tutorial on how to make your own pricing formula spreadsheet. 

Stay crafty my lovelies and goodnight. 

So Many Pageviews!

I'd like to think I'm already a popular crochet blogger with a dedicated following and hundreds of pinterest-worthy crochet posts, but the simple truth is, I'm not. All those pageviews are myself. No matter how many times I select the 'don't track my own pageviews' button, it tracks them anyway. I've basically come to the conclusion that any pageviews from Germany are mine and those numbers don't count.

It's been a busy day, but in the digital world, not the crochet world. I've been spiffing up my blog. I'm the OCD type that wants a professional looking blog before I get my first visitor. I don't think it looks too shabby thus far, especially given my  non-existent HTML skills. Thank Google for giving me all the answers. And a special thanks to my fellow bloggers, whom I stalked to get an idea of what works and what doesn't.

I'm off to enjoy the lovely weather we're having. Volleyball with friends followed by a night under the stars.

The First Post is the Deepest...

If you've found this post, congratulations! It is my demo post whilst I figure out all my settings on my blog. Check back in later for crochet related awesomeness!