Lifestyle - 40/40 pt 2

Yesterday I told you that my birthday is coming up and I have decided to make a list of things to aim for before the big 4-0 coming up in 4 years. I shared half my list yesterday so today I best tell you the other half!

40 before 40 - part the second.

21. Visit Paris for a day.

Basically, I want to go somewhere on the Eurostar and this seems the best place to pick as I've never been to Paris!

22. Take madam to Disneyland.

I have wanted to visit Disney with madam for a couple of years. She is such a fan and if we make it there before she turns 8 it'll be sooooo much cheaper!

23. Write the first draft of a novel.

Because I have started so many books that I have never quite finished...

24. Have a full body massage.

I have never had one. I think I need to remedy this. Possibly whilst also being at some form of spa...

25. Dye my hair a bright colour.

I have wanted blue hair since I was about 14. I have several friends who have blue hair at the moment and I am hideously jealous of them. I've just never quite been brave enough to take the plunge and I know my parents would hate it...

26. Own a diamond!

I'm an April baby which means diamond is actually my birthstone. I think it's about time I owned one in some way. 

27. Give away one thing each month.

Because I think it would be good for me to try and be less selfish. 

28. Always have a notebook with me and keep them when full.
I've usually got a notebook on me somewhere, but I want to underline how important that has started to become for me. I think keeping my notebooks to look back on will help me to see my growth as well.

Finally finished my clouds notebook and moved on to my new one the other week...

29. Keep a folder for madam's schoolwork.

I want to remember all those rubbish pictures that she's done. Because she's getting better all the time and I sort of miss them!

30. Get a good photo of madam and I together :)
I don't have one! So many pictures of madam, none of us together :(

31. Learn to make a selection of cocktails.
Everyone should be able to make a few cocktails, surely!

32. Walk along the whole of Hadrian's wall.
This has been a dream of mine since I was quite young. I've always fancied a walking holiday and this seems a good place to start.

33. Teach madam to knit or crochet.
These skills have come to mean so much to me and I think part of the joy I have in them is that I share them with most of the females in my family. They unite generations and they have a wonderful community around them. Plus they're both such great ways to help find inner peace.

some of my latest crochet projects...

34. Learn to use a camera properly.

Rather than my "point and shoot and hope for the best" technique!

35. Visit the Natural History Museum.
Another place I've always wanted to visit. Really want a major museum binge in London at some point the Natural History museum is just top of that list.

36. Have breakfast in bed!
That someone else has made for me. Just once would be nice...

37. Grow my own food.
Um, because things taste better when you grow them yourself. 

38. Sort out the DVD collection.
As we have no TV we watch endless DVDs. They have a habit of migrating from where they are supposed to be and getting into the wrong boxes. It drives me insane. Must sort them out properly!

39. Make a Christmas tradition just for madam and I.
Because every family needs a Christmas tradition.

40. Create a work of art that I'm proud of and display it in my home.
I've had a plan to make a canvas for a few years and never got around to it as I'm worried it won't be good enough. I need to take the plunge and have some fun. And displaying it will help with my "everything must be perfect" issues!

So that's it! All 40 things I want to aim for in the next 4 years. Do you think I've missed anything? 

Love, Pearl.

Lifestyle - 40/40 pt 1

Friday is going to be a good day. I have got lots of plans with friends and with madam. This is because it's my birthday and I am going to be a whole 36. I feel incredibly conflicted about this. On the one hand I don't really care, age is nothing but a number etc, etc. But on the other I'm pretty sure my 20yr old self would be surprised at where I am in my life.

this is my excited face...

In the tradition of these things I have decided that I should make a list of things I'd like to achieve before I turn forty. Which will give me four years to get them all done. 

It genuinely took me two hours last night, wracking my brains, to come up with a list that I was pretty much happy with. I thought up 40 things; some of which are going to be quite easy, some harder and some possibly impossible! But I'm not going to beat myself up if I don't get them all done. This is just supposed to give me something to help me focus on achieving more with the next few years than I might do otherwise.

As it is a massive long list I shall split it into two posts for ease of reading. I shall do periodic updates to let you know how I'm getting on and what things I may have managed to cross off!

40 before 40

1. Make a dress for me to wear.
Pretty self explanatory...

2. Get control of my diet
As is this!

3. Sort out my divorce.
I have downloaded all the forms, I hope this will be done very soon!

4. Learn to finish one project before I start the next!
I am really bad for having multiple projects on the go at once. But I then never seem to finish any of them. I'm definitely all about the thrill of the new!

5. Make time for reading on a permanent basis.
My reading challenge has shown me how much I have missed regularly reading in my life. I want to carry it on even after my challenge has finished.

6. Give books I won't read again to charity.
This is an attempt to not allow clutter to build up. I know I have a few books on my shelves I genuinely will never read again, so lets make some space for better ones! 

7. Find a job.
Um, yeah, need to do that.

8. Take more photos of actual things.
I take so many photos of madam and food, I want to make more effort to record other things as well.

9. Learn a new craft.
Not sure which one yet though...

10. Remember I am valuable.
Because I forget too often.

11. Learn proper budgeting and stick to it!
You know, like an actual grown up...

There are bicycles, there are canals. Must be Amsterdam!

12. Take madam on a foreign holiday.
Because it'll open up a new world to her. And she's only ever been to Amsterdam when she was tiny! 

13. Take a trip to New York just with friends.
I have always wanted to go to New York and I would really like that first trip to be a selfish one where I get to do grown up things. And drink.

14. Take madam on an overnight trip that isn't to visit friends once a year.
The amount of excitement she has worked up for our overnight in Hull on Friday has shown me I should make more effort to take her places for just us. 

15. Start saving for a deposit on a house.
Because eventually, I want to buy one.

16.Cook a meal for my parents in my home.
They've not had a meal in either of the homes I've lived in in Beverley. This is a sad state of affairs!

17. Do something that scares me.
Meh! I can see that I am going to have to be high up at some point. Terrified already!

18. Get a cat.
Always wanted a cat. A British Blue is my ideal...

19. Have another child (!)
I never planned for madam to be an only child. I am thoroughly aware of the practicalities of that statement!

20. Watch a show in the West End (or on Broadway).
I'm a massive fan of a musical. I'd just love to see one in a big theatre and with an all star cast.

Look out for part 2 coming soon!

What would you put on your list?

Love, Pearl.

Reading Challenge - March Update

Hi! I have had a much better reading month than February and am feeling back on track with the old challenge. I've even gone through the barrier on the challenge I had set myself on GoodReads! I pledged 24 books this year and have already finished 25. I wonder if I can increase it...

This months book from The List was Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood. I've read a few of her books before and always enjoyed them but was slightly disappointed with this one. It started well enough, and I liked the flashback style of storytelling, but I was left thinking it could have been more than it was.

The story centres around Snowman, the lone survivor of a viral epidemic which wiped out humankind. He is living with a group of genetically engineered "Crakers" who he is sort of responsible for. 

The story sees Snowman set out to collect more supplies and along the way he tells you, via flashback, how the world became the way it is now and his role in it. I honestly found the flashbacks to be more interesting than the actual present story! And also the ending was a bit odd. It just felt as though it had more to be said but didn't have the space. 

Snowman spends all of the book collecting his supplies and explaining the back story and then when he gets back to the Crakers the story sort of ends. This is because the book is part of a trilogy (which I didn't at first realise) but I think books should be able to be read independently to their series and still feel complete. 

It didn't even feel like a cliffhanger, which I could accept.

Do I recommend it? Yes, I guess I do. I sort of want to read the next parts to see how the story progresses. But I think you probably need to already like Margaret Atwood or post-apocolyptic style novels in the first place. 

My full list of books read in March was:

1. Sew Step by Step by Alison Smith (8/3/14 - 8/3/14)
2. Stitch Step by Step by Maggi Gordon (8/3/14 - 8/3/14)
3. Bonjour, Blogger! by Hayley Constantine (10/3/14 - 11/3/14)
4. 12 Years A Slave by Solomon Northup (7/2/14 - 13/3/14) 
5. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins (14/3/14 - 17/3/14)
6. Knit Step by Step by Vikki Haffenden (17/3/14 - 17/3/14)
7. Crochet Step by Step by Sally Harding (17/3/14 -17/3/14)
8. Oryx & Crake by Margaret Atwood (1/3/14 - 18/3/14)
9. The Fault in our Stars by John Green (17/3/14 - 19/3/14)
10. Only One Way Out by Oliver Clarke (19/3/14 - 19/3/14)
11. Jack Pepper by Sarah Lean (19/3/14 - 23/3/14)

That last one was a book I read to madam at bedtime, but as I'd never read it before I counted it!

I have not managed to get through a Heyer book in this month, it's in progress at the moment. I'm about a third of the way through A Quiet Gentleman and enjoying it so far. I'm also still reading The Time Machine so those will both have to go onto next months list!

This might be a good thing as I have BIRTHDAY to look forward to and will hopefully be having a busy social life! I do have my book lined up and ready to start tomorrow... I'm really looking forward to this one, it has to be said :)

I have made a page dedicated to this challenge, so if you don't know what it's about or just want to catch up, it's at the top waiting for you to check it out! I also added in a new photo of me doing a reading! Hope you like it! 

This challenge was inspired by the Books Are Amazing posts on essbeevee.co.uk :)

Have you got any recommendations for me?

Love, Pearl.

Craft - More Of My Drawings

We're at the next point in my #BLCreativePrompts journey and I thought I'd share this weeks bad drawings with you. As I've said before I'm really enjoying taking part in this challenge, I'm just very aware of how much less talented I am than some of the other participants! 

But I should stop being so negative. They might not be stunning works of art, but I have enjoyed creating them and they give me pleasure so I am proud of them (which is why I'm sharing them with you!)

This week I have drawn:

6: something on my wishlist, 7: a favourite lyric, 8: your favourite creature, 9: hair, 10: a first, 11: the weather, 12: book.

I put it into a handy little collage so I don't bore you with loads of pictures! I drew:

6: an arbour for my garden, 7: "Not all those who wander are lost.", 8: a cat, 9: a mermaid, 10: Mother, 11: rain (there are rainbow coloured raindrops, but you can't really see them in the photo...), 11: green rabbits from Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood.

Today is a hot air balloon. I'm quite looking forward to making it as Montgolfier as I can :) 

I've spent quite a bit of time browsing dressmaking patterns for my Sew Dolly Clackett attempt and think I have found one I really like. It's a Simplicity Amazing Fit dress and it has both short and long versions. And it has pockets! Not enough pretty women's clothes have pockets... 

The pattern is Simplicity 1800 and I hope to make it in a blue based print. This should surprise no-one as most of my clothes are blue or purple! I should try going right out of my comfort zone and making it something really bright and beautiful. But I don't think I dare! 

What do you think? Recommend me some nice print fabrics people, please! 

Love, Pearl.

Craft - It's All Just Sew Dolly Clackett

My plans for doing different types of posts on different days was obviously foolish! My inability to plan what will bubble to the surface should have been more obvious to me from long experience... So, today I am back on the craft/creative bent again. I have got another Pearl's Pantry post in mind and shall be putting that up as soon as I remember to buy the ingredients and do the tutorial!

Today, I mainly wanted to tell you about a couple of books I bought at the weekend whilst buying yet another (bigger) pair of school shoes for madam. She's on her 3rd size since September, when will her feet slow down? 13.5 is nearly as big as quite a few of my friends and their teeny feet!

Anyway, books... I have a bit of a thing for DK books as they are genuinely some of the best reference books I've come across and are always well laid out and easy to read. I've been lusting after some of their Step by Step series for ages and have been putting off buying because, well, I'm skint.  

The ones I'm interested in are the Knit, Crochet, Sew and Stitch books. And it's those last two I managed to get. They were on sale at The Works for £2.99 each so I snapped them up despite my mum rolling her eyes next to me and complaining I didn't need any more books and where was I going to put them? 

One day I will post pictures of all the book piles/bookshelves stuffed full that my mum owns and let you work out why I found that statement hypocritical. 

But as you can tell I paid no heed and merely joined the queue and happily paid out for my new prized possessions. I sat and read through both of them on Saturday evening - my rock and roll lifestyle showing there... For those who have never read or heard of these books, Sew is about dressmaking and mending and Stitch is about embroidery and decorative stitching. 

There is another, bigger, version of the Sew Step-by-Step which is called Dressmaking Step-by-Step and includes some projects to have a go at, but it's way out of my budget, sadly. Even in The Works! 

I am particularly interested in learning as much as I can about dressmaking because I still feel very nervous about taking the plunge on my own to make an actual garment. I really want to take part in the Sew Dolly Clackett challenge and have to just give it a go and get on with it... But, but, but... ugh. I know Roisin herself would be telling me to just have a go and do the best I can.. It's about the taking part, after all!

The idea is to make a Dolly Clackett inspired dress, like these, modelled by the lovely Dolly Clackett (Roisin) herself...

Blanche dress - Christine Haynes Emery dress

Madarch dress - By  Hand London Elisalex bodice, Simplicity 2444 skirt.

I used two examples as I couldn't pick just one! And I adore that mushroom print! And if you click on the photo it'll link to the post about the dress (I'm starting to get technical with this blogging malarky...) 

So, I have to find a (simple) dress pattern that will actually fit my plus-sized and gorgeous self and then some impressively wonderful printed fabric to use. The print is the defining thing about Roisin and her dresses. And quite frankly being big and beautiful lends itself to some funky prints. Ditsy prints look stupid on me... 

Um, yeah, so this post started out about books and ended up about sewing love, wasn't sure how to categorize that, went with craft! (Is there a category that I could invent for mindless rambling from one topic to the next?). Anyway, that's enough from me. I'll update you on my #BLCreativePrompts next post...

Love, Pearl.

Lifestyle - A Garden Makeover

When I did my post about the Liebster Award I had to think up some questions to ask my nominees and it seemed unfair to not answer them myself, too. So here goes:

1. What's your motivation for blogging?

I started blogging because I was depressed and it was to help me organise my thoughts, now I just really enjoy being able to share the things I love with anyone who might be reading! I find it a fun thing to do and it still helps me to focus and clear up space in my head.

2. Is there anything you would change about yourself and why?

I'm not a big believer in regrets, I don't think they serve much purpose and I'm pretty much the same about who I am too. I would like to lose some weight as it's not healthy to be as big as I am, but I do go to the gym regularly and I walk everywhere so I don't count myself as unfit... 

3. What's your favourite book?

Why did I ask this?! I cannot pick just one. But I suppose if I was going to be trapped on a desert island the book I would most like to have with me (other than a book on survival skills) would be Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. I've read it over and over...

4. Do you have any pets?

Um, no, but I would love a cat. 

5. Do you have a pet hate?

I hate people cracking their knuckles!

6. Who inspires you?

My biggest inspiration is probably my mum. Yeah, I know. But I always take her advice and respect her opinion. She shows me the way when I can't see it and she somehow manages to always give off a calm, yet determined, vibe.

Oh, and she smells like coffee :)

7. What's the best piece of advice you've ever been given?

You'll never know if you don't try.

8. What would you do if you won the lottery?

Buy the house I'm currently renting and do it up properly. Put in a nice arbour for my new garden. Then I would make sure all my friends had something they needed and lastly, go on a big holiday somewhere warm and sunny. Oh, and I'd give some to a couple of charities that I care deeply about... (MS Society, Cancer Research UK, RSPB, Scope, Hull Animal Welfare Trust and Dove House (and probably a couple of others as well.)) 

9. What's your next ambition?

To have a paid job!

10. What's your favourite flavour of ice cream?

As long as it's got chocolate in I'm usually good! Probably Ben and Jerry's Phish Food...

11. Are you happy right now? 

Yes. And it's been a very long time since I have been able to say that!

So, that is my contribution. I shall now leave the Liebster Award alone and you can all heave a sigh of relief! 

I mentioned in those answers that I have a new garden. What I meant by that is that I have done up my garden to such an extent it looks like a new one! My neighbour and I pruned back all the privet hedging down both sides of the garden. We also got rid of all the random debris that was at the bottom of the garden and had been left by the previous tenant. 

The right hand side, after pruning (basically this was what we did in the morning)

I have no idea why this one is so blurry, and I didn't even notice until after we'd cut all of this hedge back too! (you can see the weird structure that was left by the old tenants too...)

The agency had been meant to tidy that up, but never did.

We trimmed back the hedge at the bottom of the garden and found that there was a patch of actual earth in there. The word garden is probably an overstatement. It's a concrete yard, but much bigger then I had realised! We also sorted the gate so it actually worked as such. It took us a whole day and I spent the two subsequent days with arms that were incredibly sore...

et voila! This is before we sorted the gate, but the garden is unrecognisable from earlier...

I went out on Saturday and got some flowers to put in my new flowerbed and planted them up on Sunday. I have put 2 lupins, a verbena, 2 lavenders and some pansies in :) 

Not the neatest, but it's all mine :)

Now, I just sit back and wait for them to grow... 

Love, Pearl.

My creative progress

I have decided to attempt to be more organised in my blogging and perhaps get the hang of scheduling my posts so that they always appear at the same time so people know what to expect (I give this a week before I have forgotten or something has gone wrong!)

Anyhow, I might try doing one crafting and one cooking post every week. Particular emphases on the word “try”. I have every hope that this will be easy enough to achieve but I might have to shufty things around a bit when I forget change what I planned!

Back to today, I found out yesterday (Tuesday) that I have been given the job as a voluntary Teaching Assistant at the school I interviewed at the other week. I was quite confident that they would give me the job but hadn’t heard back in just over a fortnight and was beginning to be disheartened; the news arrived just in time to stop me throwing myself at an ice cream tub in consolation.

I just have to wait for all the security checks to be gone through now and then I will officially get to have a (voluntary) job! I really have missed the good sides of being in work that a protracted period out of it highlights. The ability to have conversations with other human beings is quite high up there.

Those who know me are aware that I do spend quite a lot of time on Twitter, but barring a few people, most of the lovely folks I chat to I have never actually met. This is sad. I’d love to be able to organise a tweet-up with all the people I like the best in one room at the same time. But then I guess I wouldn’t get chance to speak to everyone and I would probably be intimidated by the crowd! Ah, I am an enigma for sure…

As I mentioned in my last post I have decided to take part in the March creative prompts from being little’s blog. I had to draw somewhere I wanted to visit for day 3 and my ultimate stack of pancakes for day 4. Although, I have to confess to cheating, again. I took a photo of the stack I concocted at lunchtime instead of drawing it as I thought it would be the best way!

Today, day 5, is myself. This was a hard one for me as it meant taking a good look at myself in the mirror and trying to get that across on the paper. I think I habe made myself look a lot older than I really do and I *cannot* get my nose right. But I'm satisfied that, given how out of practice I am, it's a good representation of the brief.

In the next week highlights from the creative prompts are going to be a favourite lyric –typography- and a first. I’m sure that my attempts will be as rewarding to me as my others have been so far. I’m quite obviously bottom of the class when it comes to the drawing talents, but I’m loving having that chance to do a hobby I used to dedicate an awful lot of time to, again.

I am also plodding on with my crochet project and will show you the final product asap.

So, what creative things have you been getting up to? Let me know in the comments.

Being Creative

I can't believe it's March already... It seems to have flown by. I guess that's what I get for being actually quite busy... I was rather enjoying the start of spring yesterday, the nicer weather and the flowers suddenly appearing all over was quite a nice change from the dismal grey of the last few weeks.

Yesterday I also came across a new blog that I rather enjoyed reading. It's called being little. and has lots of loveliness on it. I did spend quite a while reading recent posts... But it was actually yesterday's post that really struck me. 

On it was a list of Creative Prompts for March. The idea is to draw something every day that fits the prompt. Now, I do love a doodle, and the typography ones are right up my street, but I think I shall have to use my own creative urges to fulfill some of the briefs! For example, Day 1 was pattern. I would normally have drawn something, but my latest crochet project took up all my time yesterday and is a pattern, so I used that!

I have no idea why the bottom of this photo has disappeared :( And the colours are *much* brighter IRL

I am trying to make sure I put all my projects on to Ravelry, with photos, so if you want to know what I'm doing on there why don't you follow me and check out my other projects :)

Today I had to draw the contents of my bag, so I did a rather poor sketch of everything I carry around with me all the time... I confess I forgot to draw the eyeliner and mascara I have in the little pocket, but I'm hoping no-one will hold that against me! I also took a photo of everything together to prove I had got everything.

I am a walking advert for the loveliness of paperchase things! Also, if you look carefully at the clouds notebook you can see a madam artwork peeking through the clear  parts of the cover :)

So, I am going to keep going and see if I can do everything on the list there is a Twitter/Instagram hashtag to follow if you're interested to see how everyone is getting on... #BLCreativePrompts there are already some pretty amazing things going on out there and I am excited to be part of it.

Are you guys doing anything exciting at the moment? Let me know...

    

Reading Challenge - February Update

This month I have read a lot less than I did in January, but I have still managed to squeeze in a reasonable amount of books. Mostly, I have been crocheting this month and wrote about that in my last post and I have multiple other crochet projects on the go as well.

I started a cushion cover last night, after having crocheted a large granny to make the basis of the blanket the Guides are doing as part of their latest challenge. The large granny I designed to look like our company necker, which did make it a rather boring/tedious make as it's pretty much all burgundy...

It's already got a couple of friends, but eventually will be part of a cushion cover. Really love the colours together!

Anyway, back to the books. This month's book from The List was The Shipping News by Annie Proulx.

Now, this is a bit of a slow burn of a book. I ended up really quite enjoying it, but it does have one of those annoyingly long preambles before the good stuff starts happening. The main character is a bit of a wimp of a guy as well. One of those anti-hero types. The action takes place in a remote part of Newfoundland and mainly centres around a tiny community newspaper being run on local issues. 

The shipping news is the section of the paper our hero writes and it leads him to many different stories about the local fishing heritage, the boats and the culture of a place that is slowly changing and modernising. It also features a lot of people eating cod cheeks. Ick.

It kind of is a bit like a written soap opera as it is about the daily life that surrounds you. The things that make up the everyday can be the things that are the most interesting. The story, obviously, is driven by the series of events that happen around our central figure. He seems to be one of those people always in the wrong (or right, in terms of the story) place at the wrong time. 

He becomes involved in a murder mystery, he is part of an ancient dispute with members of his own clan, he falls in love. It's all told gently and over a period of time. And I quite liked the way it flowed. I can also see why you might completely hate this book. The main character is not really that likeable, it is set out right on the first page.

I'm not sure that I have become a devotee of the book, or even that desperately keen to read other books by the same author, but I liked it. It was worth the time.

I have also read a Georgette Heyer for my sort of subsidiary challenge and really enjoyed the one my mum picked out for me! She does know my taste so well. I think I even preferred this to last months. I found it really quite funny and it had a mystery running through it which is always right up my street. Really recommend that one if you haven't read it. 

I have a much shorter list of books read this month, but here it is in full:

1. The Shipping News by Annie Proulx - 31/1/14 ~ 11/2/14
2. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins - 28/1/14 ~ 6/2/14
3. The Colour War by Jodi Picoult - 7/2/14~7/2/14 (really short book!)
4. The Reluctant Widow by Georgette Heyer - 12/2/14 ~ 26/2/14

And that was it! Though I have been reading 12 Years a Slave for what seems like forever too... That'll show up on next months list. I have chosen next months book and am looking forward to starting it as I've read and enjoyed the author before. I have next months Heyer picked out too...

My Reading Challenge is inspired by essbeevee's books are amazing monthly feature. This months is all cook books! Heaven.

Raspberry Ripple Crochet

This month, although I have still been motoring on with my reading challenge I have also been getting on with some crochet for myself. I got hold of some lovely yarn in Boyes the other week with the intent of making myself a new scarf. The yarn is King Cole Galaxy DK in Pink Tourmaline and is lovely and soft and sparkly. 

Not entirely sure why I chose such a bright shade of pink, but the black helps to make it less in-your-face and I am glad of the cheerful shade on miserable days. 

I spent ages on Ravelry looking at scarf patterns and found one I quite liked which had been invented from a hat pattern the writer had previously made! I did look at making it and then at the last moment spotted a pattern in Simply Crochet issue 4 called Raspberry Ripple which just seemed the perfect thing to go with the yarn.

I got out hook and yarn and set to it straight away. I found the project grew quite quickly, but getting through 2 whole balls of yarn still takes time. The pattern is a pretty fan and mesh design which, when I finished, I decided to add tassels to the ends of. 

I was so pleased with it and still had two balls of yarn leftover, so I decided I could make a matching hat. Going back to Ravelry I came back to the original hat pattern that had inspired the scarf I liked (this is so much more complicated to explain that it is in practice!)

The pattern, Urban Jungle, is finished off with a rather cool star shaped top and it made me think if I could maybe use the pattern but with the fan and mesh design rather than the puff stitches of the original. 

Are you keeping up with all this at the back? Not sure I am anymore...

Anyhow, I cast on, using a slightly smaller hook than recommended as I had a lighter weight yarn than suggested. I crocheted the band exactly as stated in the pattern and then, after crocheting a foundation row of DC (SC to our American friends) moved in to the mesh and fan design I had used for the scarf. I had somehow managed to make the hat exactly 3 times the pattern of the scarf. Genius. So I crocheted away, joining my rows, but turning each time to keep the pattern correct. 

I have ended up with a slightly weird bit up the back, but as my rows started and finished on the back seam, which you don't see when the hat is worn, I just went with it. 

The other adjustment I made was to not make the hat quite as long as the stated pattern. It says to crochet until 12" from the bottom of the band, but I stopped at 10" as I was happy with the amount of slouch that gave me. I then had to make a solid band around the top so that I could use the star shaped closing that I was after. This meant I chained and slip stitched all the way around once and then did a row of DC into that.

Yes, this is really out-of-focus, it's not your eyes!

I then followed the pattern to the best of my ability (it's a bit fiddly/confusing to me at that point) and have indeed ended up with a star closure :)

Sadly, it doesn't show up terribly well on the photos I took... 

But, there you have it. My new hat and scarf set :) Now, I am just working out if I could get some mitts out of what I have leftover...