CAL: Frida's Flower Blanket

Janie Crow/Jane Crowfoot will be running the Frida's Flower Blanket CAL (Crochet-A-Long) in the first few months of 2016.  It's inspired by Mexican crewel embroidery as seen on Frida Kahlo's clothes:

As for the Lily Pond Blanket CAL, Jane has designed an exclusive extra crochet pattern which will be available with yarn kits sold via the Janie Crow web site and not elsewhere.
Jane has designed the project based on Mexican traditional embroidery/crewel work and the costumes worn by artist Frida Kahlo. The colour palette is bright on dark shades and the main theme is flowers - the project will be called Frida's Flower Blanket.



Image source and further information here and in her January update here.

Yarn kits will be available from various retailers using Stylecraft yarns.
Follow her on Facebook etc or sign up on her website for her email updates to find out more, or read her blog here.

Note: links are in UK crochet terminology.

Katniss Cowl, Huntress Cowl, Hunger Games-inspired Cowl: texture and simplicity

There were many people inspired to replicate the grey cowl worn by Katniss in the Hunger Games films.  It's sometimes listed as 'huntress cowl' if you're searching for versions of it.

Friendly Red Fox has a version that isn't quite the original, but is a very wearable cowl - worn as one loop or two - with lovely surface texture using front and back post techniques.

http://www.thefriendlyredfox.com/2014/09/free-crochet-katniss-cowl-pattern.html

She shows how you can wear it three ways:

Image from link given above

Ravelry link: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/katniss-cowl-3

At my knitting group meeting, there is an annual destash market day, where you can pick up some lovely yarn.  I acquired some Italian merino Aran/10ply yarn in orange, and it made up beautifully into my version of this pattern.  The one change I did was to start with a chainless foundation, so the edge would lie flat.

Note: links are in US crochet terminology.

Star Wars crochet: BB-8 Droid crochet hat

If you crochet even a little bit you'll know there's a bunch of Star Wars related crochet, amigurumi and other models, scarves, hats, mittens... out there.

The Death Star looks works really well in crochet:
http://www.popsdemilk.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Death-Star-Pattern.pdf

Image source: http://popsdemilk.com/ which has lots of good crochet ideas.

And if you want to be up to date, here's a YouTube video of how to make your own BB-8 Droid hat:
https://youtu.be/yVZaA9NZiDo

The latter was posted, a bit diffidently, on a Facebook crochet group by a bloke who ended up being rather overwhelmed by the approbation he'd received; he seemed a tad nervous that his creation was left-field to other projects being posted.

For more, any search on "Star Wars Crochet" on Ravelry or Pinterest would be bound to hit paydirt.

I asked one of my nevvies if he'd like a BB droid hat crocheted by his dear aunt.  He hasn't responded, which could well be a response anyway....
UPDATE: but another one was very very very keen....

Note: links are in US crochet terminology.