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?

Triangular scarf with fringes

I love trying out new scarf and cowl patterns – they are so fun to wear in the fall and winter!

I have been wanting to crochet a triangular shaped scarf for a while now and found a super cute pattern that only used one skein of yarn. Gotta love that! If you’re anything like me, you have SO many skeins of yarn laying around just asking to be picked up and turned into something beautiful!

I particularly liked the look of this pattern because it was so airy – lots of holes! It is so light that it doesn’t add a ton of warmth or weight, so it is perfect for a nice cool fall day.

I found the pattern on Pinterest and Ravelry. http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/triangle-scarf-or-shawl Although it was a little confusing to get going, once you get it figured out, it works up quickly. 

I really liked the added pictures in the pattern that helped show the beginning couple of rows – that helped me a lot!

The entire pattern is worked in triple crochet stitches. That’s what makes the nice tall stitches. The chains in-between give the spaces between the stitches, creating a nice light and airy scarf.

I used an 8mm hook and the Red Heart soft yarn in a creamy color (no dye lot or color name).

Once I was done crocheting the scarf, I had to decide if I wanted tassels on the 3 corners or fringes all the way around. 

First, I tried the tassel look but I wasn’t really in love with it. I took them off and decided to go with a fringe look instead.

To make the fringes, cut an 8 inch strip of yarn for each of your holes all the way around.

Fold the yarn in half and take the looped end and put it under the edge of one of your holes. Then, pull the two ends up and through that loop. The pictures below show the two-step process.

Center the fringe so it’s in the middle of that section of yarn and then pull tight to secure. Make sure you stay consistent with which side is facing up as you are doing the fringes – they look slightly different from side to side. 

Ta-da! Super excited for my newest scarf! It can even be used as a shawl. So, dig a skein out of your yarn stash and get going on this fun pattern - it won't take long! :)

If you liked this pattern, follow my Pinterest crochet board for more awesome patterns! https://www.pinterest.com/erinkit/crochet-ideas/

Matching adult-sized crocheted poncho!

Have you dug out your boots and ponchos yet? If not, it’s time! As promised, here is the adult version of the crocheted poncho I made for my niece, Sydney. 

This pattern is pretty much identical to the toddler size, only bigger. :) I found the FREE pattern here: http://www.lionbrand.com/patterns/crochet-pattern-boho-poncho.html

The picture to the right is what the start of each row looks like: A chain of 4 and then 3 double crochets. When you get to the end of the row, you'll crochet 2 more double crochets in that same stitch and slip stitch it to the top of the initial chain 3.

The only thing I did differently was not include the scalloped edging. I wanted it to look exactly like the toddler version so instead of doing the fancy scalloped edging, I completed the poncho by chaining 1 and single crocheting around the entire thing to give it a nice finished look.

Since Steph is pretty skinny and tall, I stuck to the smaller size and only started with the chain of 44. I used the same yarn as the smaller poncho: Lion Brand Homespun in the color Clouds. It is so super soft and delightfully toasty warm. In fact, after finishing this poncho, I decided I needed one of my own. I want to use a different kind of yarn so I can play around with a different texture and color scheme, so I’ll be going shopping soon to find something fun and unique!

In case you missed my post on the child sized poncho, here it is: https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=4475178157260115808#editor/target=post;postID=1808159726405592478;onPublishedMenu=editor;onClosedMenu=editor;postNum=2;src=postname 

This poncho pattern works up so fast! I had it finished in a little over a day. And, once you get the pattern down, you really don’t have to think about it or count. I repeatedly had Steph try it on to make sure it was the correct size and to determine how long to make it.

Aren’t matching mother-daughter ponchos the best?! Too cute for words! 

Enjoy the free pattern and get busy working on your own poncho!

Crocheted poncho

My adorable niece, Sydney, showing off her poncho. :)

It’s starting to get a little chilly out. Personally, I’m not complaining. I love the crisp cool air that comes with fall. I love the turning of the leaves. I love digging out my sweaters and boots. I love hot cocoa and snuggling under blankets. Can you tell fall is my favorite season? Too bad it’s so short in North Dakota. It usually doesn’t take long before the snow starts falling.

One of the new fashion trends for this fall includes ponchos. I wanted to try my hand at crocheting one and found the cutest pattern! 

Since the pattern is a bit small for me :), I decided to make it for my adorable niece, Sydney. The pattern is for older infants and younger toddlers. I adjusted the pattern slightly to fit her perfectly. 

This is a free pattern on the Lion brand website: https://www.lionbrand.com/crochet-pattern-baby-poncho-4.html

The pattern uses Lion brand Homespun yarn. I loved the beautiful gray and white neutral color called Clouds. 

It will go with anything yet has a slight variation with the two colors blending together. The yarn is super soft and fuzzy and machine washable and dryable – a must for toddlers!

I used a 9mm crochet hook and chained the first ones loosely like it is stated in the pattern.

I got by with only one skein of yarn but didn’t have much left and I only did 11 rounds instead of the 13 that is needed for the 2-3 yr old size. 

The end of Round One.

 My niece is 20 months old so I didn't need the extra couple of rounds for the larger size. If you are doing to do the 2-3 yr size, you will probably need 2 skeins of yarn.

You can start to see the corners forming.

Love the cozy look and
feel of this yarn!

Honestly, this poncho took me two days to finish, and that’s with a lot of other things going on in my busy schedule. With a large crochet hook and lots of double crochets worked into clusters, it works up quite fast.

I was a little worried that the finished product wouldn’t fit over my niece’s head but it fit perfectly. 

Close-up of the double crochet clusters. 

In fact, if I had crocheted it any looser, it would fall off her shoulders. If I had done the smaller infant size, I think I would have crocheted the initial chain a little tighter. 

Almost done with the body part of the poncho. Now would be a good time to start trying it on to see how long you want it.

The poncho part is finished - just the neck part is left!

Finished product!

Have fun jumping in a pile of leaves and sipping your hot cocoa! Stay tuned for a matching adult sized poncho pattern!

Mr. "B" crayon letter

Summer is winding down. Target and Walmart have sales on crayons, notebooks, pencils, and pens. Backpacks are flying off the shelves. Kids are getting anxious and excited to meet their new teachers. It’s that time of year again…. Back to school! 

Many of my friends are teachers or parents (or both!), so this is an exciting time of year for them. Teachers are busy getting their rooms ready for that first day of school. Kids and parents are busy buying all of the school supplies needed to have a successful year.

For one of my friends, Phillip B., this is his first year teaching! He is awesome with kids and will make a great teacher. I wanted to make something he could put up in his classroom. 

I had seen some pictures on Pinterest of some colorful crayon monogram letters. I loved the idea and decided to see if I could find a nice big wooden letter “B” for Phillip’s last name. When I had asked him if he was going to have the kids use his first or last name he said he might just go with “Mr. B!” Perfect!

Materials needed for this project:

Wooden letter
8 boxes of Crayola 24 count crayons
Glue gun with glue sticks
X-acto knife
Picture hangers (I used two pop tops)
Ribbon for hanging

I browsed a couple different craft stores and found a good sized wooden capital letter “B” at Michaels for a couple of dollars. Then, I hit up the local Walmart to buy lots of crayons. Luckily, since they were on sale, each box of Crayola 24 pack was only 50 cents. I wasn’t entirely sure what color combination I was going to go with so I bought 8 packs.

After getting home, I pulled out all the crayons and started organizing them by different color groupings. After playing around with them for a while, I decided on a blue, green, yellow combo. Since there were 3 different blues, 3 different greens, and 3 different yellows, I had 72 crayons to work with for this project. I didn’t end up using all of them, but there were only a few left over.

Now came the layout. Instead of putting them all in a row from dark to light, I wanted a gradual change from one blue to another, from blue to green, etc. So, I went with a few rows of the dark blue, stuck in one crayon of the lighter blue, and then put in one more row of the darker blue before going on to the next shade. This gave it a nicer more streamlined look. Play around with the order of the colors BEFORE you start gluing them down. I laid them on the wooden letter and moved them around until I found the order I liked best.

I wanted some of the crayons to show the word “Crayola” so in order to do that, they needed to face left. I lined them up so that the very tip was hanging off the edge of the letter. To prep the “B” I made some straight lines across the letter and all the way down to make sure my lines were going to stay straight as I started gluing.

Now, it was time to start cutting and gluing the crayons. I took enough crayons of the one color to extend the whole way across and then used my sharp X-acto knife to cut the tip off the middle crayon and any excess of the last crayon so that the end of the crayon was lining up with the right side of the “B.” 

 
The easiest way to cut the crayons is to gently put pressure on the crayon and start turning it so that you go all the way around the crayon. Then, it will gently snap off where you scored it. After cutting the crayons to the correct length, put a layer of glue on the wood and gently press the crayon onto the glue for a few seconds. Go on to the next crayon and finish off that row.

Continue on with each row, varying the colors and the way the crayon is laying. I didn’t want all of the crayons to say “Crayola” so I tried to randomize it the best I could. Make sure that you pay attention to the curvature of your letter and any holes you have to work around. It’s better to measure twice and only have to glue once!

 

When you are finished gluing the crayons, let it sit for at least 24 hours to completely dry. In order to hang it, you will need to have some kind of picture hangers on the back. I went with two pop tops and glued them in place with the hot glue gun. After letting them dry completely, I wound some green ribbon through both of them and tied it in a bow, putting a dab of glue in the middle of the bow tie knot to secure it. 

Let that dry for a few hours before testing it out. Ta-da! Your crayon letter is ready to go!

With some inexpensive materials, some patience and time, you can make a personalized monogram crayon letter for the special teacher in your life!