Trend Setters - part 4

Hello my lovelies. Hope your Easter Weekend went well. We had some lovely weather and now it is pouring down with rain and turned a little on the cold side. So I thought I would take the opportunity in between projects to give you the next part of our project. 

So by now you should have completed the head piece and the mask of your (if not see previous posts for clues).  

Today we are going to do the embellishments and again there are choices with how you would like yours to look. 

You can choose either the plain top...... this is worked in only one row and was my first attempt. The problem with this one is that it is not stiff enough to stay upright. If you like this look I would suggest that you work two rows and join which I will explain in a minute. To work this style. You start from the back of the beginning circle on top of the head and work down the centre joining seam.  Work 2 or 3 DC, 2HDC, and continue on in SC till you reach the desired length. Turn and work one row of SC to the top. 

If you have more time on your hands, you can add some fringes. In this case I have used a thinner yarn and gone for the bushy mane type look. If you want to cut it off and make it shorter like a brush I would suggest using chunky yarn as it will stick up better).   For the second version I worked it this way. 

Beginning from the bottom this time and along the centre seam (I started on the last row of DC before the back flap.)  Join yarn and Ch3 counts as 1st DC. Work 2DC into each DC space all the way over the top of your beginning circle. You will need to pick up one on either side of your circle between the stitches to cover your hole.   Next work 2DC, 2TR, 2DTR and then end off leaving just enough thread to sew along the last stitch length later. 

Go back to the bottom and now work in the row in front of your last one. Rpt 1st row along the front making sure to match all stitches. It will look a bit like this from the top. 

Now turn your work, ch1 and then SC along the top working through both rows of your work to join the whole thing together. 

For this little section at the back you can join using ss or you can sew it with blanket stitch. I sewed mine. 

I found that sewing it together helped with getting it to stand upright. Don't forget to do the same for the other end. ;-) 

For the plain style you are now finished. If you would like the fancier look (which most of the kids seem to like better) you now start the long job of cutting, threading and looping. 

The way I did this was to cut 4 strands of 8ply yarn into about 20cm lengths. You hold them together place your hook through one side of the top single chain (working alternately from inside to outside along the row. You do not have to do this but it helps to rough up the whole brush look) pull the middle of your four strands through the loop then pull all of the ends through your red loop. If you are unsure how to do this I suggest you google how to make tassles. Sorry but I  don't have the time to make a tutorial right now. 

This is probably the most time consuming part of your project but I must say it is well worth the effort. 

And now you are finished! Yippee! Hopefully your project will look a little bit like this. If you chose the chunky yarn you can work it the same way but cut off your bits to around 6cm long and you will have a spiky brush top. Don't forget to let me know when you are finished so I can add links to your blog. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask. 

I hope you have enjoyed our fun project and that you have been able to decipher my instructions. 

Love and hugs to all xoxoxox