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

Tiny Turtles

The week before spring break is always rough. Deadlines and exams seem to be coming at you from all directions! That was two weeks ago for me, and I had the most difficult exam I have ever taken. (found out I did well though!) After five hours of hardcore studying one night I decided I needed a crochet break. I'm still working on my blanket, but I want to make a quick project; something I could make in under an hour. While searching on Ravelry I found a pattern for little turtles, and so I made a couple!

Adorable. As you can see, they are very teeny. Each one took me between 25 and 30 minutes with distractions (Pirates of the Caribbean). The pattern is easy to follow and I learned a couple new stitches (popcorn and spike), which I enjoyed.

I apologize for the not-so-high-quality pictures. My digital camera is about 5 or 6 years old now.

I have plans to make more for the other women in my small group, so there will probably be an update with more later!

Water Tribe

Because this blanket project is going to take awhile I plan on giving updates as I finish things like...I finished my first square!

It only took me three weeks! Which is pretty good because I calculated that each of the four squares as 8,836 stitches in it! Holy crap! That's not even including the three rows of dark border. Completing this square means I am approximately 20% of the way through this project.

Appa modeling

I made a few adjustments to this square. First off, there are only supposed to be 94 columns, but the water motif pdf has 95, so I scratched the 95th column (the rightmost column). The pattern also calls for cluster stitch for the dark blue but I changed to half-double crochet because the cluster stitch was not working out for me.

 Swirlies!

This is not my pattern, I found it online and I am so glad I did because I am seriously in love with Avatar: The Last Airbender, on which this blanket is based. Feeling confident? Want to try to make your own blanket? Here's the link to the pattern!

ATLA Blanket Pattern: http://kimby77.wordpress.com/2008/01/15/avatar-the-four-elements/

Chevron Infinity Scarf & News

I've got a couple large projects I'm working on now, but I just finished up a smaller project! I had some gray and white yarn just sitting in my pile for some time now and I decided that I wanted to make an infinity scarf but didn't want to do normal stripes anymore. While flipping through a small booklet of patterns that I have I found a pattern for a ripple baby blanket. With a little tweaking I was able to make this chevron infinity scarf!

I am pretty happy about how it came out! It's a little longer than I'd like, but other than that it's great. I just used Red Heart Super Saver yarn.

The pattern has a slight ribbed effect created by working in back loops only. Unfortunately I can't share this pattern with y'all because it was a purchased pattern and so is not mine, but if you find a ripple pattern you should be able to recreate it!

In other news, I finally got a Ravelry! And I am completely addicted. There's so many things that I want to make now! Also, this past weekend I got started on an Avatar blanket, which I am pretty freaking excited about! Here's what I've got so far:

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.