A head full of stars...

I have a large noggin - it's 23" in circumference and that's before you add in the baby dreadlocks. Increasingly I've been finding hats just don't fit me any more, but being handy with knitting needles and a crochet hook means I can get round that problem.

This is my Nebulae Hat. The yarn was a gift a few years back, and while I love it, I’d never quite figured out what to do with it. I tried knitting with it once but decided fairly quickly that crochet was the best way to show off the yarn. It reminded me of photos from space of nebulae and star clusters - the black moving through to grey like cloudscapes, and the myriad colours of the threads like stars.

I found this infrared photo of the Lagoon Nebula on Wikipedia...

The hat itself is based off part of a crochet block pattern. I took the central circular section and used it as a springboard for the rest of the hat.

It features triple crochet and cluster stitches, and is deep enough to contain unruly dreadlocks. Snug, slouchy and warm.

Many small things create a greater whole...

Some time back I started investigating peyote stitch beads. They're fiddly, but not too difficult to make, and are really eye-catching.

 The beauty of them for me is that the simple ones look just as effective as the more complex designs.

 Geometric patterns work well, especially with bold colours, but delicate flower patterns can be subtle and pretty too.

Celtic fretwork patterns are a great inspiration, and part of the fun of designing the bead is figuring out how to match the size you want to the pattern you have in your head. The huge range of seed beads on offer from craft shops and online these days allow you to make stunning beads that work well as focal pieces on a simple choker or bracelet...

...and they really pop when used as a decoration in dreadlocks...

They're addictive to make - a whole world of patterns is out there as inspiration, and you're only limited by the materials you have to hand.