Craft Splurge!

The new school year is only a week away, and this means this is the last serious crocheting time I will have for awhile. So, for the past couple weeks I've been going crochet crazy! Here's a quick rundown of what I've worked on.

1) Wolf Dreamer OTH's Umbreon. Still have to finish this one up actually, but I've just got the circles and the eyes left!

2) Baby Elephant. Kind of on a whim while I watched superhero movies, I crocheted up this adorable little elephant. A pretty easy amigurumi pattern with almost no sewing, you attached the ears and legs as you go!

3) A matching hat and cowl set for chilly football games. I made these two from separate patterns, but they look pretty good together. For the hat, I added an extra row of increase (up to 48 sts) because as written it was turning out too small for my already little head.

4) Actually I just made a lot of cowls in general. The sage green cowl was the first time I'd done a foundation sc, and it turned out alright! There's a link to a video posted with the pattern if you've never tried this before either. I made the smaller of the two sizes. The other green cowl was a pattern I made up as my boyfriend and I watched Dollhouse. It's bulky yarn and basically just works alternating rows of sc, hdc, and dc. I may post up a quick pattern at a later date.

5) Colorful coasters! This is another pattern I made up that I will post when I refine and make a few more for my apartment.

6) A crochet bag for my momma! This pattern is available as a Ravelry download.

That is it for now, but stayed tuned for some possible new patterns!

All the Hats!

Because I'm taking forever to actually get things updated, I'm going to combine several projects in this post. After finishing my Avatar: The Last Airbender blanket (another post I need to get up!) I needed a couple of small projects to carry around with me. Hats are pretty much perfect for that!

Hat Number 1: One of my friends was deciding whether or not she wanted to get her haircut. I told her if she cut her hair short I would make her a hat. I wanted it to be a fancy hat, and found this pattern for a Spider Web Slouch. Super cute if I could pull it off. I added some extra pizzazz by using sparkly, white yarn.

Side view

Top view

Detail of design

Overall I was happy with how it turned out (my friend says she was too!). My only gripe is that it came out bigger than I expected, but that's really my fault more than anything!

Next, I had a skein of brown speckled yarn that I had lying around for awhile and I decided it might make a nice project. One of my favorite bloggers, Sarah Zimmerman of Repeat Crafter Me, had posted a polar bear hat pattern awhile ago, and I thought, 'hey, bears are brown too!' (Obvious, I know). So I decided to quick whip myself up a bear hat.

Because I made this hat for myself I decided to leave off the face. I put the ears just on the top of the hat when I probably should have moved them farther forward a little. This hat has been perfect for these last couple weeks where its been in the 40s! 

Lastly is the bobble poof hat I also made for myself! I am completely in love with this hat. I had some bulky yarn that I really wanted to use, and even though the pattern called for worsted weight I decided to go for it anyways. A good choice in the end! 

Bobbles!

It's pretty warm because of the thicker yarn. I've gotten a ton of compliments on it too! And it's three of the best colors in the world. Win-win-win situation.

Sibling Christmas Gifts

I know, I know, it's March. But this semester's been pretty busy, so cut me a little slack.

I made a lot of the Christmas gifts I gave this year. This post will be dedicated to the gifts I made for my boyfriend's siblings and my brother.

First, I decided to try and tackle the gift for my boyfriend's older brother because I had no idea what I wanted to make. Through some "sneaky" question asking during Thanksgiving I confirmed that he was a Zelda fan. Enter the Triforce hat.

I had to add around seven rows to the end of the pattern, and it was a bit tight, but I was pretty pleased with it over all. And he didn't take it off for a couple weeks, so I think I did good.

For my boyfriend's sister I made armwarmers. It took me awhile to decide which colors to use, but ended up using black and white because they will in theory, match more things.

I made my little brother a hat for his favorite sports team that I unfortunately didn't get to take pictures of. The pattern was my own invention, but I'm going to have to modify it some if I want to make it again! New pattern coming?

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.

Minion Hat

Every once in awhile I get a PAID commission. And those make me happy, because being a broke college student kind of stinks. What happened was that a friend needed to get a secret Santa gift, but they only thing she knew the girl liked was Despicable Me. So what better to make than a minion hat? I managed to get it done in three evenings, which is pretty good since it was during the last week of class.

I made a couple of modifications to the pattern that I used. I added two additional rows of yellow at the end, and made two black rounds in the eye instead of one black and one brown.

The eye sits a little higher than I'd like. So, if I make this again, I think I will also make one more round of yellow before switching to black.

After crocheting for almost two years, I've decided it's a universal truth that I crochet tighter than patterns expect. There is something fun about experimenting with crochet, but I should probably learn to properly use a gauge!

Batman Hat (Free Pattern)

This is one of those times of the year where I get really busy/ make a lot of crochet Christmas presents. As such, internet, you are about to get A LOT of posts in a short amount of time. First I would like to share the Batman hat that I created for my friend. Louie's Loops has this great Batman bat pattern that I'd been wanting to use for a long time, and this was the perfect chance. The beanie is my own original pattern created with the bat in mind. So here goes!

Batman Beanie

Materials:
I hook
Red Heart with Love in Daffodil and Black
Tapestry needle

Note: repeat instructions in **
         ch counts as 1 dc throughout pattern

In black
1) Make a magic circle, ch 3 (counts as 1st dc), 9 dc in magic circle, join with sl st to chain (10)
2) Ch 3, dc in same st, *2 dc in ea st* around, join with sl st (20)
3) Ch 3, dc in same st, 1 dc in next st, *2 dc in st, 1 dc in next st* around, join with sl st (30)
4) Ch 3, dc in same st, 1 dc in next 2 sts, *2 dc in st, 1 dc in next 2 sts* around, join with sl st (40)
5) Ch 3, dc in same st, 1 dc in next 3 sts, *2 dc in st, 1 dc in next 3 sts* around, join with sl st (50)
6) Ch 3, dc in same st, 1 dc in next 4 sts, *2 dc in st, 1 dc in next 4 sts* around, join with sl st (60)
7-11) Ch 3, *dc in ea st* around, join with sl st (60)

In yellow
12-16) Ch 3, *dc in ea st* around, join with sl st (60)

In black
17) Ch 1, *sc in each st* around, join with sl st, FO (60)

All that's left is to sew in the ends, create the bat, and sew it onto the yellow stripe of the hat!

Waffle Hats

Over spring break I was walking around in Hobby Lobby while waiting to pick up my boyfriend from class and I saw some bulky yarn on sale. Now, if you partake in the fiber arts you know that this yarn is more expensive than "regular" yarn, so I jumped on the opportunity and got green, gray, and teal. I'd been wanting to make some hats that needed bulky yarn and now I could make some!

These are waffle hats! Aka they have a mesh pattern.

I made the green one first, following the pattern exactly and it took me one sitting (while watching Skyfall). Only problem was, the hat didn't slouch.

Probably because I crochet tighter... So I decided I needed to make another one.

For the gray hat, I added about 5 rows to what the pattern calls for...

And huzzah! It turned out! 

The pattern was very easy to follow, and like I said before, very quick! It was a nice breather from the blanket. (I'm halfway done with the earth (2nd) square!)

Some clarification for those of you out there who might be in the dark like me: apparently slouchy hats are hipster.

Waffle Cone Hat Pattern: http://www.gleefulthings.com/blog/?p=3258

Don't have bulky yarn? Sugar Cone Hat Pattern: http://www.gleefulthings.com/blog/?p=5569

Pattern Testing

I was scrolling through Facebook one day when I came upon a post from a crafting blog I follow. Julie, the author of Gleeful Things, was looking for pattern testers for the new skully hat she designed. I thought, hey this looks like fun, why not. I didn't at all expect to be one of the six or so picked but I was!

This gives you an idea of what the pattern of the hat looks like.

Pre-pompom

This is my completed hat! I chose to make the extra long skully so that there would be a slight slouch in the back, and the pompom made it look even better. I really enjoyed making this hat. The pattern is very unique and it only uses basic stitches.

Now that she's gotten all of our feedback, Julie has her Heartbeat Skully Hat pattern available at her Ravelry store for $4.

A Commission

Over break I was hanging out with one of my best friends. We were spending the evening by introducing her to Firefly, and naturally I brought my crochet bag with me (because I bring it everywhere). Here mom came in and was talking to us and saw that I was working on a hat and commented how cool it was that I knew how to crochet and she wished she had learned. She then went to her room and grabbed a bag of yarn that she had bought at a garage sale and asked if I would make something for her. I showed her this blog with the things that I had made and so we decided upon an infinity scarf and a hat!

This is the 5th infinity scarf that I've made with this shell stitch pattern! Gotta say it has become a favorite.

The yarn that I used was really cool. It was spiral shaped and had a silver strand with all the blues (and purple). Also, it was at least ten years old.

My friend was even kind enough to let me take a picture of the back of her head!

Infinity scarf pattern: http://yarnchick.blogspot.com/2011/10/simple-shell-stitch-infinity-scarf-free.html
Beanie pattern: http://linz-craftingadventures.blogspot.com/2012/10/neon-green-beanie.html

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.