Excuse me, but those earrings are a LITTLE fishy

Seriously...they are totally fishy. Because they're fish!

I haven't done too much jewelry, but I'm still carrying around the wire and beads from when I did the crocheted jewelry a few years ago. I started up this project to clear my brain and try something different. It's a frustrating project because it's hard to keep the wire from bending (in the wrong places). And I had several small pieces of wire which made things a little hard to manage until it was complete.

I liked the initial look of the plain fish, but decided I wanted to try hammering it. So I grabbed a regular hammer and a piece of wood...that didn't work. All I did was smash my finger and make a fish impression on the wood.

So next I used a flat stone that we found on the beach. It worked ok, though I think I need to practice this skill a little more. After the hammering I decided it was still missing something, so I wired on a bead for the eye. I actually really loved the way it came out and wore the one earring by itself all day. (I didn't make it's partner till the next day...and honestly it was harder because I had to make it look like the previous one)

If you've never done any of this, it's worth a try. I bought all of the original materials at Hobby Lobby with a 50% off coupon, and it's lasted me through several projects (and only cost like $30; including the tools, 3 spools of wire and 3 packs of beads). Then I just sat down with the pliers, cutters and wire and started shaping a fish. That's how I learn a new skill, I just sit down and mess around until it either works, or I get too frustrated and give it up. It's not fancy...but it's my way.

Knitty Fish Hat

Another Pinspiration...made by me...but inspired (obviously) by Pinterest. I did not follow the free pattern, and chose instead to wing it. I also simplified it a bit, choosing not to do the shaping around the mouth. This hat is actually SUPER simple. If you can knit in the round, you can make this hat. The only strange thing I did was at the tail, and it was just because I didn't want to stop and look it up.

So here's my non-pattern...

Figure out the size of hat you need to make based on your yarn and needle size. Once you've done that cast on the lip color and knit until you get enough to roll up nicely (see how it looks like lips?) Then switch to the next yarn (keep them both attached) and alternate the colors any way you like.

Somewhere about halfway down the fish start reducing every once in a while. I knit-2-together every 8 stitches for a full round, then I just knit a few more rounds and decreased the same way again. It doesn't have to be exact, the point is to reduce slowly so that it looks even.

Once you've made it as long as you want, and decreased it enough, split the stitches evenly onto two smaller needles (or stitch holders); the front half of the hat on one needle, and the back half of the hat on the back needle. Then alternating one stitch from the front and one from the back place them on needle the same size as the circular. Once this is done you knit a couple of rounds and you'll see the increase for the tail (it sort of self increases since you "doubled" the number of stitches by going from circular to linear) Strange I know...I was just sort of winging it...but it worked.

After a few more rows you'll want to take half the stitches and put them on a holder. With half the stitches still on the working needle you can increase and decrease to your hearts content...every fish in the sea is different...so have some fun. But if it helps I increased 1 stitch on the right and the left on every knit row, 3 times, then I began to decrease 2 on the inner side of the fin while keeping the outer the same. Then towards the end I decreased 2 on the inside fin and 1 on the outside fin until I had just one stitch left, voila. Fin finis. (ha ha)

Tie on the yarn to the other half of the fin and repeat (or forget what you did and wing it like I did)...zoiks...what kind of knitter AM I?!?!

For the fins, this part was easy, I picked up 15 stitches for the top fin, then knit the front and back of every stitch so that the 2nd row has double the stitches. Then do a k1p1 rib until you like the length of the fin and bind it off. Easy Peasy. For the side fins I picked up 10 stitches, and the rest was the same. Now...once I did this I did not like the way the fin waved around, so I took the loose yarn ends and weaved the edges of the fin to the hat. Since there was an increase it naturally fans out to a rainbow shape, and holds it's shape better.



I liked the dead fish eyes from the original pattern, but Luke wanted a LIVE fish and requested button eyes (what can I say we LOVE Coraline). So button eyes it is. He loves this hat.

This pattern is super changeable so that your fish can be any color, length, size, etc etc. There is more than one fish in the sea you know! This is a fun knit, a quick knit and one that will delight the recipient (even if it's yourself). You can also use up your old scrappy yarn stash and make a rainbow fish. See how much fun this is...and you haven't even started yet!

Here is the original hat, click on the picture and it will take you to the original pattern.