Kirsty's Earphones

*****And now I've added it to rav because I really am that sad.*****

So, on Sunday I taught a lesson on how to make my beautiful Bobica. Two people had cancelled on the lesson but because I rarely cancel unless I absolutely have to (once in five years!) it went ahead as a nice relaxed almost private lesson and it was great. About half way through, just after lunch, we settled down to actually start the shawl after we'd practiced all the stitches and talked about the pattern and I got on with my shawl in progress. Kirsty, one of the ladies that was on the lesson, and I got into a conversation about hand dyed yarn (she's obsessed!) and the problem of what to do with them when you buy a beautiful one and it doesn't work out when it's actually worked up even if it looks beautiful in a skein and what you do with the leftover bits that you don't want to waste because it costs so much and you love it with all of your heart. She pulled out of her bag some beautiful earbuds covered in Verity's OMFG. And it was stunning. I wish I'd taken a photo. I did take a photo of her crochet though:

 

That's a gorgeous one off hand dyed yarn that she got dyed based on a picture of somebody's eye shadow. I'm sure we'll get an update of the final thing so worry ye not.

Anyway, she pulled out these earphones and I couldn't not start (and finish) straight away! I chose the most mental colour that we had in the shop - the Poncho colourway of the King Cole Zig Zag - it makes me heart siiiiiiiiiing, chose a smallish hook and got going.

Obviously, because it's like the best thing I've ever made, I posted it to Facebook and Twitter and Instagram straight away and everybody seemed to love it so I'm going to show you how I did it. But I do want to make clear that this isn't my idea at all - it's Kirsty's and she got it from Pinterest and I'm just spreading the joy. Also, I don't want to patronise anybody, this is literally just double crochets (US singles) around a wire. If you can do it - go for it - if not, do this and you too could be as cool as me:



So, grab yourself some yarn that makes your heart flutter, a hook that's a bit too small for it and your wire of choice. I might add in here that I have all sorts of wire-y things that I shouldn't be using because the rubber thing is broken or whatever - don't cover this is wool - that stinks of a bad idea. Haha. Make sure the wire is in tact. How do you know that the hook's a bit too small? Well, look at the ball band if you've got one and use a hook a size or two too small. Ooooooor. 4ply - 2.5mm ish, DK - 3mm ish, any thicker yarn and I think it wouldn't work but go ahead and ignore me. I'm more than happy to be ignored. :)

 

So, I used some leftovers of Vezza's 4ply sparkle yarn (no idea the colourway, probably isn't one anymore given that this was one of the first that she ever dyed. Friends in high places). Probably about 5g of it. And a 2.5mm Rainbow Smoosh hook made my yours truly. And my brand new phone charger.

Make a slip knot and pop it onto the hook. Hold the hook under the wire and the yarn over the top.

Grab the yarn (any which way, it really doesn't matter for this but keep it consistent) and bring it underneath the wire and through to the front. You'll have two loops on your hook.

Then, yarn over (or hook under) and bring the yarn through the two loops, leaving one loop left on the hook. 

 

Keep doing this. Hook under the wire, yarn over the wire, grab yarn and bring back through, yarn over and bring through two loops. It'll look like this:

 

Keep smooshing the stitches down, you want more rather than less I reckon. Keep it going, going and going. Stop and make a cup of tea at exactly this point:

That's a very important part of the pattern and keeping your sanity in tact.



Keep smooshing down and shoving more and more stitches in. If you're doing headphones then you'll come to a 'Y' junction at some point so carry on dc'ing all the way up one side to an earbud and then once you're sure you have enough stitches just add one or two more and fasten off by breaking the yarn and pulling the end all the way through the loop on the hook and pulling tight. Then come back to the point where the ear wires separate off, join to the end of the main wire with a slip stich (i.e. shove you hook into something and hook the yarn and bring it back through then carry on with your life) and work all the way up the other ear wire.

You'll end up with something like this:

And then you can do something about your ends. I guess I suggest that you weave the ends in but to be honest I've ended up chopping them off because if it doesn't hold or only holds for a bit then that's fine - it's quick and fun enough to knock some more up in a whole new colour. Woohoo!!

I'm absolutely thrilled with this little idea! I love how somebody comes to the lesson to learn something new and it's me who ends up learning. It's a bit like when Allison came to the lesson just before Christmas and taught me how to make a paper star. I bloody love my customers.

 

I hope that some of you 'non-crocheters' give this a go because it's really very simple and it showcases perfectly one of the most popular aspect of crocheting - it's speed.

Love love love love love Eleanor. xxxxxx