Square hat with two pompoms

Awwwwww. Seriously, that's the only word for this picture.

Have I ever mentioned that I LOVE making baby gifts? I know SO many people expecting babies right now! As soon as I hear about someone expecting a baby, I immediately ask if they are going to find out the sex of the baby. It’s always easier to make something if you know if it’s a boy or girl. One of the child care centers I am working with has FOUR women expecting. Woo! Don’t be drinking that water unless you want a little one of your own. ;) 

One of the gals, Miranda, had her sweet baby boy, Creed, just about a month ago. I decided to make this adorable double pom pom hat for her lil guy using a nice, soft, thick and colorful yarn. I found the free double pom pom hat pattern here.

Starting the foundation single crochet

For this pattern, I used the following:
10 mm crochet hook

1 ½ skeins of Loops & Threads Charisma in Sunny Day
My homemade pom pom maker (click here for how to make a poof ball)

This pattern starts on the bottom rim of the hat and works its way up.  To make the rim a little bit more stretchy and flexible, I tried out a foundation single crochet stitch.



I have never done that before so I had to look up a Youtube video to see how it was done. Not really all that hard to learn and the result was wonderful! I will be starting more patterns with this technique!

After a row of front and back post double crochets. See that nice texture starting to pop out?

The first couple rows are front and back post double crochet to create a neat looking texture on the rim of the hat. The rest of the pattern is simply double crochet stitches. I made my hat a little bit bigger because I expect the lil guy to grow into it and didn’t want it to be too small right away.

Pom poms are attached. Now time to trim them!

I added a few more inches on the top before finishing off so that the rim can be rolled up. That way, the baby can grow into the hat a little bit more. After finishing the hat, I made two pom poms to attach to the top two corners of the hat.

Finished product with the trim of the hat unrolled

The trim of the hat rolled up to fit a smaller baby.

Absolutely precious baby Creed snoozing away in his new hat!

Professional pictures were done by Expressions by Ashton Photography. She has a location in Fargo and Bismarck, ND. Here is their website for more info: http://expressionsbyashton.com/

Super soft textured poof ball hat

Time to start digging out those hats, scarves, and mittens. I have had the itch to make a new hat for myself with some SUPER soft yarn. I’m talking so soft you don’t want to take it off once you are inside.

I wanted to make a hat that was interesting and had a simple, beautiful, elegant design. Along with that, I wanted a nice neutral color that would go with any coat or color of mittens.

I found the perfect pattern on Pinterest (surprise, surprise!) and set about getting the perfect yarn to go with it. Here is the free pattern link.

At first, I went with what the pattern suggested (Bernat Softee Chunky) but when I got to JoAnn fabrics and found that particular yarn, I had to strongly disagree with the name of it. It was chunky, I’ll give them that, but it was hardly soft. Like I said, I wanted super soft.

After searching the store for a yarn similar in size/texture, I found a wonderfully soft, chunky substitute. It was Deborah Norville premier yarns: Serenity Chunky weight. I picked out a neutral creamy color and grabbed two skeins.

Lucky for me, I was on my way to a conference for work and a friend was driving, so I got to crochet on the way there and back while chatting with good friends. Can life get any better than that? I submit that it cannot!!! (For those of you who are Brian Regan fans, you got that last joke, if not, you seriously need to listen to him - greatest comedian EVER!) Check out the funny joke here.

The rim of the hat took a while since there were lots of slip stitches, meaning progress was slow. I liked the ribbed look of it, though, so the patience it required was definitely worth it.

I stopped a little shy of the 21” it recommends because I was trying it on my head and felt it was the right size around 20 inches instead. I’m glad I went with that length because it fits perfectly!

In the middle of completing a back post double crochet

Now, here is where the pattern gets a little tricky. You REALLY have to pay attention to the different rounds as you go if you want the pattern to turn out right. I LOVE the simple twisting pattern this hat has, but you have to concentrate and keep track of what row you are on for it to work. To make it easier for me, I wrote out the pattern with “f” meaning front post double crochet and “b” meaning back post double crochet and then just wrote the rows out like this: 

2^nd round: f,f,f,b,b

3^rd round: b,f,f,f,b

4^th round: b,b,f,f,f

5^th round: f,b,b,f,f

6^th round: f,f,b,b,f

Super squishy yarn + a fun twisting pattern = super cute hat!

Then, I just kept doing those rounds over and over until I liked the overall height of the hat. I ended up with 3 total completions of rounds 2-6.

Finish with a simple poof ball on top and wa-la, it’s complete! In case you haven't done a poof ball before, check out my previous blog post for a how-to on making a poof ball.

Isn’t it adorable? Oh, and did I mention it is ridiculously soft? I might just have to live in it.

Happy crocheting!

UPDATE: Cluster stitch hat adorableness ahead

So, remember when I did a newborn hat giveaway back at the beginning of the year? In case you missed that post, here it is: newborn cluster stitch hat

My super awesome friend, Lindzee, won which was fortunate because she had her baby girl, Evelyn, in June of the same year. I did another blog post about the chevron gradient blanket I made for sweet Evelyn. In case you missed that one (seriously, are you even reading any of these posts!?) :)  you can find the gradient blanket pattern here.

Now that it is starting to get a little chilly and Evelyn has grown a bit, her hat fits! I made Lindzee a matching hat so they could be adorable together. Aren't they too cute for words?

Chevron Baby Blanket in Gradient Colors

Adorable Evelyn Elaine about a week old. 

I met my dear friend, Lindzee, when she moved to North Dakota a few years ago. We hit it off pretty quickly. Both of us have a love for kids (that’s where we met – working at the YMCA Early Learning Center). I was the lead teacher in the infant room and she was the lead teacher in the younger preschool room. 

Lindzee and I are both pretty geeky. We both have an adventurous spirit. My husband, Jon, and I got Lindzee hooked on one of our hobbies: geocaching. We have spent many hours together on geocaching road trips. We’ve trudged through snow, gotten lost in the woods (Ok, maybe not COMPLETELY lost – we do have GPS devices on us!), gone camping together, pulled ticks off each other, and even ended up in the ditch together on an icy winter day. Lindzee was always up for something fun. She even joined my Mom and I for a 5K Run or Dye event. 

Lindzee, me, and my Mom after our Run or Dye event. ;)

Sadly, Lindzee didn’t really care for the North Dakota winters and decided to move back to South Carolina last year. I miss her dearly. She is one of the most caring, lovable, spirited, generous people I have ever and will ever meet.

My husband snow blowing our back yard. I don't know why you wouldn't like these North Dakota winters!? 

Now, Lindzee is married to a wonderful man, Brandon. He is a lucky guy. Brandon and Lindzee just had their first baby – a GIRL! Baby Evelyn made her grand entrance into the world at 6:19 a.m. on June 11^th weighing 7 lbs 9 oz and measuring 20 ¼”. Can’t wait to meet her! I couldn’t be more excited for them.

The whole happy family!

Sweet baby Evelyn 

 Of course, after hearing that she was expecting a girl, I HAD to crochet something for her. Anyone who knows me knows that crocheting something handmade is a way I show love for people around me. Especially when it involves a baby! J 

Lindzee looking stunningly beautiful for just having a baby!

I have long wanted to do a blanket in one color scheme with a color gradient theme. I wandered around JoAnn Fabrics for a few hours looking at their yarn aisles and trying to decide what color scheme to go with. 

My twin sister, Elisa, was a great help to me. She is an artist and has an eye for color schemes. I was texting her pictures left and right. She helped me narrow it down to a few choices. I went with purple. A perfect baby girl color. After pacing the aisles and checking out every shade of purple yarn I could find, I decided on 4 different shades and a white for contrast. 

The yarn colors I went with include: Big Twist in color White (371 yds), CARON Simply Soft in color Lilac (812 yds), Red Heart with Love color in Lilac (370 yds), Big Twist in color Blueberry (371 yds), and Big Twist in color Damson Purple (371 yds). I needed only one skein of each (what is pictured) to do this blanket. Using coupons, it cost me around $16. 

Here is the link to the free pattern:  http://daisycottagedesigns.net/crochet/ripple-blanket-crochet-pattern/


I have done several chevron patterns before, but not this one. This one is super simple – once you figure out the pattern, you just do the same thing over and over! 

The only thing you have to decide is when to switch to a different color. I decided to do two rows of each color before moving on to the next color. To switch to the next color, drop the current color and yarn over with the new color when you are pulling through the last stitch of the row. 

Starting to work on row 1. You can see the chevron pattern already!

The entire blanket is done in double crochet stitches, some increasing and some decreasing. There are always 4 double crochets in-between the increasing and decreasing stitches. Super duper easy! 

You could decide to repeat the light and dark rows like I did or just do one row of each. When you reach your desired length, and are at a good cut-off point, tie off the yarn. I ended up with 80 rows. 

Two rows of white stitches and two rows of light purple stitches completed.

I must say, I love the color combo and the chevron pattern together. And, since I bought SO much yarn (not knowing how much I’d need and wanting to make sure I had enough of each color), I have enough of the different purple colors to make another blanket….look for another blog post down the road. ;)

Two rows of each of the colors completed.

If you are anything like me, you like to snack while you crochet.  I made some delicious bruschetta bites and swallowed them down with some even more delicious blackberry merlot. Isn’t crocheting fun?! 

Cuddled up with an electric blanket, bruschetta, and wine. My favorite way to crochet. :) 

The finished product (minus tying in loose ends). Total of 80 rows (remember each skinny stripe is 2 rows).

So, I decided to repeat two rows of the white and the darkest purple but you could do just two rows of each color so the stripes are all the same thickness. 

Can't wait to see Evelyn in the hat that I 
gave away in an earlier blog post.

Matching hats for Lindzee and her baby girl!

Isn't she absolutely precious?!
 I just want to snuggle her!

Since I had an extra skein of each color left, I played around with another color gradient pattern. I'll post about that blanket in a couple months. :)

Grey ribbed hat with poofball

So, I have made TONS of hats, blankets, scarves, cowls, booties, diaper covers, and other crocheted treasures for my friends and family. I LOVE crocheting gifts - especially for babies. Unfortunately, I don't make a lot of things for myself. To remedy this situation, I decided to make myself a hat. I looked through lots of patterns trying to find a new one that interested me. Finally, I came across one that I hadn't done before. It is a cute ribbed hat that folds up over the ears. I decided to go with a neutral gray color so it will work with a variety of different coats. Of course, I HAD to add a poof ball on the top. 

I started with some Wool-Ease yarn in Oxford grey and a 5.5 mm crochet hook. 

                       

Creating a half double crochet
in the back loop only.

This pattern is basically just creating a rectangle of ribbed half double crochets going back and forth until you reach the desired size. To create the ribbed look, you do half double crochets in the BACK LOOP only. By crocheting only in the back loops every time you flip over the rectangle, you get the nice ribbed look. 

I started by chaining 43. For the first row, I half double crocheted into the third chain from the hook and in each chain across (42 total half double crochet stitches). Chain 2, turn. Then, for each row after that, half double crochet into the BACK LOOP only of each stitch and chain 2 and turn. Simple as that!

From here, you crochet the rectangle until it is the right size for your head. Keep in mind that you will be turning your work so that the ribs are going up and down instead of back and forth. I think my rectangle ended up being about 18 inches. When it is big enough to go around the circumference of your head, you single crochet the two ends together and tie in the loose ends. Now, you finish off the hat by creating the top. Using a large crafting needle, weave a long piece of yarn in and out of one of the sides of the rectangle and cinch it up tightly to make the top of the hat. 

Weaving in and out along one of the sides to cinch
the top together. 

Because I wanted a soft hat and the Wool-ease isn't the softest of yarns, I decided to wash it and try to make it a little softer. I washed it with my All Soft shampoo in cold water and rinsed it a couple of times. Then, I saturated the hat with All Soft conditioner section by section and let it sit in the cold water for an hour. Then, I put it in a lingerie bag and washed it in the gentle cycle of my washing machine and let it air dry. Although it wasn't SUPER soft, I admit it did make it softer.

 

Now comes the fun part - making the poof ball! I have perfected the art of making the poof all because of a weird tool that I found around the house. It happens to be a small remnant from the maintenance free deck material we used to build our deck a few years ago.

The BEST poof ball maker I've found yet! It's a
remnant of our maintenance-free deck material!
The deep-set groove is the secret to it all!

I wanted my poof ball to be two different colors, so I continued to use the grey but also found a nice cream colored yarn. So, to start off the poof ball, I take a couple pieces of grey yarn (about 8 inches long) and tape them to the smooth side of the poof ball maker (the remnant deck piece). Tape each end down and let the ends dangle off each side. Now, holding both the grey and cream colored yarn at the same time, start winding the yarn around the poof maker. Start near the middle of the poof maker and keep it nice and tight. Wrap it around 150 times (ends up being 300 pieces of yarn because you are using two pieces at a time). 

Now, it's time to cut one side of the yarn. This is the REALLY tricky part. I have it down to an art because I've done it hundreds of times. It works best with two people so I always recruit my husband. One person has to take the tape off of the initial grey yarn you taped down. Then, start tying it into a knot but don't complete the knot yet. Basically, pretend you are tying your shoelace and as soon as you cross the two pieces, put one piece under and around the other, you pull it tight and don't finish the rest of the knot. 

Now, I turn the poof maker upside down and have my husband cut the yarn. This is where my unique one-of-a-kind poof maker tool really shines. It has a nice space where the scissors can fit. Use a nice sharp scissors because it'll be hard to cut through that many pieces of yarn at once. 

As my husband is cutting the yarn, I am holding my half knot tight and continue to tighten the knot as the yarn is being cut. When it is completely cut, I tighten the knot as tight as I can and then my husband straightens out some of the pieces so that I can finish the knot. He puts his finger on the grey yarn that is being tied around the poof and I finish the knot. 

Then, I use the long ends of the grey yarn to tie it to the top of the hat. Some of the pieces of the poof are going to be longer than others. To shape it, use the same sharp scissors and start cutting the longer pieces so that they are all similar in length. Cut pieces all around the poof until it looks nice and even.