Showing posts with label Crochet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Crochet. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Wee Tiny Elf Hats

I made not one, but two little elf hats this weekend. It was part out of a desire to make crocheted elf hats and part necessity. You see a few months ago I received the cutest green fleece elven hat sewn by an awesome lady named Rose. You can find her items Here if you're interested.

The hat is sized for an adult because I wanted it for me, and when I happily showed it to my lovely children I made sure they knew that THIS was MY hat. Mine. Not theirs.

They all nodded their heads solemnly and assured me that they understood. Two seconds later they were fighting over who would get to wear it first.

Hello! It's mine! I get to wear it first.

Finally it was somehow decided that we would just take turns wearing MY hat. It works well. I get to wear it while they sleep at night and for the most part Anna-Marie wears it the rest of the time. She'll put up quite a fight if one of the other children tries to take it from her.

The only real problem is that it's a bit too big for little Anna and she can't see while wearing it. This doesn't deter her in the least. It certainly doesn't keep her from wearing the hat nor does it keep her from walking while it's on her head. All it does is cause her to walk into walls with a greater frequency than any other child in the known Universe.

She's okay with this.

I, on the other hand am not.

I worry she might knock herself senseless or even worse *gasp* mess up my hat in some way.

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That's why when I came across This Free Pattern on the Lion Brand Yarn website I knew that I had to make a little Anna sized elf hat. Lion Brand doesn't refer to it as an elf hat, of course. They use the dorkalicious title of "Earflap Hat" but that's only because the pattern naming people stink at their job. Good thing I'm around to rename things on a whim.


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Not only was Anna thrilled with her new hat but as should be expected so were the other three children. So much so that they looked around expectantly trying to find their crocheted elf hats.

They had quite a time finding them too, seeing as how they didn't exist.

Of course being the pushover loving and doting mother that I am, I agreed to make the rest of them a hat and I now only have two left to finish. Then finally I'll be able to wear MY green elf hat without having to chase a little person through the house and tackling them or challenging somebody to a thumb wrestling match for dibs on it.

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As you probably can't tell in the pictures, Annie really truly adores her hat and wears it all day long. Unfortunately Anna moves at the same rate per second as a hummingbird which you probably know only slows down long enough to gather nectar before zooming off again.

Hence the non-smiling slightly odd look on my child's face. In order to get her hummingbird wannabe self to sit still for a photo I had her father bribe her with the chocolate that her mouth is full of in the photos.

In other news my baby bro who I absolutely want to be like one day when I grow up will be celebrating his wedding anniversary in a few months. I love this picture from his wedding and really want to draw it for him and my sister-in-law Carrie. I'm thinking of working it in both charcoal and colored pencils although I might go with pastels too.

Aren't they just the cutest couple?

All I have to do first is finish these other fifty trillion projects I've got started. It doesn't help that I ordered and just received yesterday a Navajo Spindle so that I can spin my own yarn. I've already spun a small ball of the world's slubbiest and uneven yarn ever, but that's a post for a different day.

Saturday, August 9, 2008

Free Crochet Mushroom Pattern

Today I'm sharing a freebie. Cute and whimsical little mushroom appliques to crochet. Normally anything I do with yarn takes place in the Fall and Winter but I'm taking a sewing break for a little bit and this seems to be the next best thing to do craft wise. Also with the cold weather coming and my love of woodland clothing (full of cute critters and the like) mushrooms seemed like an ideal project.

Unfortunately after searching I couldn't find any directions for shrooms that weren't 3 dimensional so I decided to draft my own. A fellow crocheter (is that a word?) liked the little things so I offered to try and write out the pattern to share with her. Well... since it's already written up I thought I should go ahead and share with anyone interested as well. If you like the design I'd love for you to leave a comment. I'd also like to ask that you don't copy the pattern to claim as your own or to sell. Feel free to make the mushrooms to accent your own items for resale though if you'd like!

This a little grouping of various different ones that I've made. I'm currently writing up patterns for the rest but so far I only have the medium sized completed. I'll try to post the rest of the tutorials soon though so be patient with me.


Close ups. Woot! The rainbow one is made of fuzzy yarn, just so you know. My picture taking abilities are bad, but not that bad. Okay, maybe they are that bad but at least I have an excuse for this one.

One last note before I post the instructions. I have never tried to write out a crochet pattern before, so if you don't understand something or you see that I've goofed somewhere please let me know so I can correct it. Thanks and enjoy!

Medium sized Shroom Top of Mushroom:

Row 1: Chain 4, sc in 2nd ch from hook, sc in next 2 ch ( 3 stitches total) chain 1 and turn (from now on at the end of each row chain 1 and turn work)

Row 2: 2 sc in first sc, 1 sc in next sc, 2 sc in in last sc (5 stitches total)

Row 3: 1 sc in each of the five sc (five stitches)

Row 4: 1 sc in first sc, 2 sc in next sc, 1 sc in next sc, 2 sc in next sc, 1 sc in last sc (7 stitches)

Row 5: 1 sc in each sc (7 stitches)

Row 6: 1 sc in first sc, 2 sc in next sc, 1 sc in each of the next 3 sc, 2 sc in next sc, 1 sc in last sc (9 stitches)

Row 7: 1 sc in each sc (9 total)

Row 8: repeat Row 7 (9 stitches)

Row 9: sc in first sc, decrease once in next two stitches (insert hook into first sc and yo, pull hook through and insert into second sc and yo again. pull hook through yo and pull through all 3 loops on hook), 1 sc in each of next four sc, decrease once in next two stitches (7 stitches total)

Row 10: 1 sc in first sc, decrease once in next two stitches, 1 sc in next sc, decrease once in next 2 stitches, 1 sc in last sc (5 stitches total) 1 sc in each in each of next 5 sc *do not turn work*, continue to work 1 sc in each row up the side of the mushroom, in top 2 sc work 1 sc in first sc, 2 sc in second sc, 1 sc in last sc, continue to sc in row ends down mushroom, slip stitch into the first sc at bottom. Fasten off and weave in ends.

Stem: Row 1: Chain 4, work 1 sc in second sc from hook, 1 sc in each of next 2 sc (3 stitches total) ch 1 turn (as above, continue to ch 1 and turn work after each row)

Row 2: 1 sc in each sc (3 stitches total)

Row 3: repeat Row 2 (3 stitches)

Row 4: 1 sc in first sc, 2 sc in next sc, 3 sc in last sc (four stitches)

Row 5: 1 sc in first sc, 2 sc in each of next 2 sc, 1 sc in last sc (6 stitches)

Row 6: 1 sc in each sc (should be 6 across) *do not turn work* continue to make 1 sc in each row end up the side of the stem, 1 sc in each of 3 sc across top of stem (will make 3 stitches total), 1 sc in each row end down mushroom, slip stitch to first sc. fasten off and weave in ends. Using matching yarn or thread attach mushroom top to stem