Baby Gifts Are a Thing Now

I'm getting to that point in my life where people my age are having babies. This past summer I saw that one of my best friends from elementary school was going to be having a baby girl! I haven't seen her for many, many years, but I wanted to make something for her and her little one.

Firstly, I wanted to make a blankie of some sort. I didn't have a whole lot of baby color super soft yarn in my stash, so I wanted something with a lot of texture. After searching through Ravelry, I found this lovely pattern.

Unfortunately, I have a camera from like 2005, so the pictures are not the greatest. Maybe one day I'll be able to afford a new camera! But I really liked how the bobbles turned out. It's just enough texture to make this lovie an exciting, but not overdone piece.

My friend also really like owls. There are so many owl hat patterns out there that I think I looked at about ten before deciding on Sarah Zimmerman's pattern.The last time I tried to make a newborn hat it turned out WAY too small, so I decided to play it safe and make the 3-6 month old size.

I used cotton for the hats because I wanted it to be washable as well as (hopefully) comfortable. I was very pleased with how the baby hat came out that I didn't want Momma to be left out. So I made her a matching hat!

Super cute!

And with that I boxed them up and sent them off in time for Christmas! The baby is here now, quite adorable, and both her and my friend are doing well!

Craft Trade!

At the end of last month, one of the clubs that I'm in went on a field trip and I made the awesome discovery that one of my friends knits. We decided that since I crochet we should do a craft trade. So she knitted me a scarf and I crocheted her a hat!

The hat is made with super bulky yarn. However, the yarn I used still wasn't bulky enough for the pattern that I used. I ended up adding three of the dc rows and three of the sc rows. I didn't increase any stitches around, but if I make this hat again I definitely will find a way. The other modification I made was starting the earflaps with 8 stitches across instead of 6.

Me modeling the hat

When we traded the final projects, we discovered the yarn I used for her hat was the exact same yarn her sister had used to make her a scarf! It was destiny.

I am completely in love with the scarf she made me (I'm wearing it right now)! It's so fluffy and does a good job of shielding my neck/face from the bitter winter weather.

School Spirit Earflap Hat - Crochet Pattern

The end of winter break came too quickly, but now that I'm back in the swing of things, I've got a new hat pattern! This pattern is somewhat of a combination of my beanie pattern and my Jayne hat pattern. Although it doesn't necessarily look like it, I created this hat with only one skein of Red Heart School Spirit yarn.

School Spirit Earflap Hat

Materials:
I hook
1 skein Red Heart Team Spirit (or a worsted weight yarn)
Stitch marker
Scissors

DIRECTIONS:

Note: Mark the last stitch in a round with a stitch marker or piece of yarn to hold your place, as this pattern is worked continuously.

Hat
Rnd 1: 10 sc in magic ring (10)
Rnd 2: 2 dc in each sc around (20)
Rnd 3: *2 dc in next stitch, 1 dc in next stitch* repeat around (30)
Rnd 4: *2 dc in next stitch, 1 dc in next two stitches* repeat around (40)
Rnd 5: *2 dc in next stitch, 1 dc in next three stitches* repeat around (50)
Rnd 6: *2 dc in next stitch, 1 dc in next four stitches* repeat around (60)
Rnd 7: *2 dc in next stitch, 1 dc in next five stitches* repeat around (70)
Rnd 8 - 14: 1 dc in each stitch around (70) If longer hat desired continue these rounds.
To Finish: 1 hdc in next two stitches, 1 sc in next two stitches, slip stitch in next stitch. Fasten off.

Note: Earflaps should be spaced 18 stitches apart

Earflaps (make 2)

Row 1. Make loop on hook and insert into correct orange stitch on base of hat and make a sc stitch. Continue along base until you have 14 sc (14)

Row 2-7. Ch 1, sc across (14)

Row 8. Ch 1, sc2tog, sc 10, sc2tog (12)

Row 9. Ch 1, sc across (12)

Row 10. Ch 1, sc2tog, sc 8, sc2tog (10)

Row 11. Ch 1, sc across (10)

Row 12. Ch 1, sc2tog, sc 6, sc2tog (8)

Row 13. Ch 1, sc across (8)

Row 14. Ch 1, sc2tog, sc 4, sc2tog (6)

Row 15. Ch 1, sc across (6)

Row 16. Ch 1, sc2tog, sc 2, sc2tog (4)

Row 17. Ch 1, sc across (4)

Row 18. Ch 1, sc2tog twice (2)

Row 19. Ch 1, sc across (2)

Row 20. Ch 1, sc2tog (1)

Fasten off leaving long tail. Cut another long piece of yarn, fold in half, slip knot through the last stitch, and braid with the tail. Knot the end when at desired length.

Now I can finally brave cold football games in style! Maybe.