Sunday, August 26, 2012

Fuzzy Chunky Crochet Baby Bear Hat

A Quick and Easy Newborn Hat with Ears


For once I actually used the same yarn and hook size that the pattern did. O.o I know! I surprised myself too. I would feel like I'm the in the Twilight Zone if I do not make any adjustments to the pattern either. :p hehe

Circumference: 12 in
Height: 5 in
Yarn: Loops and Threads's Country Loom
in Landscape
Hook: 6 mm
Pattern: Fuzzy Bear Newborn Hat with Ears by Alli Crafts
I did have to change a very small part of this pattern.
I crochet in rounds on the ears instead of in rows.
That's all. :)

I did have some trouble working with this fuzzy yarn because I couldn't see the stitches.
Panda's Tip of the Day:
Here are some ways I helped myself see the stitches.
Keep an eye out for the center thread. It is usually what is taught/tight. That is how you can see the stitches.




I also added bobby pins to help me keep count of my stitches.
Along with counting, I just felt for the holes between the stitches and relied on my muscle memory.


Thankfully, this yarn is so fuzzy, it would probably hide any mistakes you made. :)

Football Baby Earflap Crochet Hat

Here's another hat for the Solider's Angels of California Baby Shower.
I thought it would be cute to make a football hat for a baby boy.


Yarn: Lion Brand Yarn's Vanna's Choice
in Chocolate and White
Hook: 5 mm
Circumference: 14 in
Height (not including ear flaps): 5.5 in 
Pattern: Football Hat by Sandra Clifton
Adjustments: On the ear flaps
I used an invisible dec with dc and when I turned
for the next row, I invisible dec in the back loops (aka the right side)
I stopped after 6 rows and used the space between dc to thread the ties.

Because I was using a thicker yarn I was thinking of just making the preemie pattern so that the size would come out to a newborn size. After I did a few dc to check the size, I thought it wouldn't make the hat too much bigger if I worked the newborn pattern. I was wrong, I should have gone with my first instinct. But it did allow for the baby to grow into the hat and to wear it longer. More football games with dad. :)

Here is another free Football Crochet Earflap Baby hat Pattern from Jenny and Teddy

baby football crochet hat free pattern

And I love this idea of making it for a girl baby.
Daughters like to watch football with their daddies too. :)

Baby Girl Football Beanie Hat Pretty In Pink Toddler 3 - 6 month to 2 Years  - Cute Photo Prop

Saturday, August 25, 2012

Crochet Baby Bunny Wash Cloth

I guess I was a little tired of making hats even though I have a list of other hats to make so I decided to whip up a quick washcloth then tie it up like a bunny. Although, I think mine looks more like a mouse. :p


Yarn: Caron Simply Soft
Hook: 5 mm
5 inch Wide X 4.5 in High
Pattern: Baby Washcloth from Alli Crafts
Bunny Wrapping Idea from Posh Pooch Designs's Baby Bunny Wash Cloth Tutorial Post
I liked the Shell design better than the Semi-Granny Square design which is why I have two different wash cloth patterns linked. :p


American Flag Crochet Newborn Hat

An American Flag Hat for the son or daughter of a hero seems fitting. :) Yep, another Hat for the Solider's Angels of California baby shower.


Yarn: Caron Simply Soft
Hook: 5 mm
Circumference: 13 in
Height: 4.5 in


Hat Base Pattern: Newborn Baby Hat from Crochet Spot
Adjustments:
Round 1-5 in Blue
Round 6: White
Round 7: Red
(Because I used a smaller hook size, I thought the hat would be too small.
Since I knotted the yarn after the color changes, I had to increase here instead of in Round 5.
*dc, dc, 2dc* around)
Round 8: White
Round 9: Red
Round 10: White
Round 11: Red

I don't like weaving in too many tails so I just carried the yarn along the back.



White Stars Pattern: Tiny One Round Stars by Fiber Flux
I put on 7 so that it would be a luckier number. :)

Top of the Hat

My finished American Flag hat. :)
This American Flag Beanie form Ambassador Crochet was my inspiration.


But they did something like this to the top and I didn't want to figure that pattern out right then so I went for an easier route. :)

Friday, August 24, 2012

Granny Stitch Preemie Baby Hat

My latest baby hat for the Solider's Angels California Baby Shower.


Yarn: Caron Simply Soft
in Orchid and Grey Heather
Hook: 4.25mm

Base Hat Pattern: Granny Stitch Sun Hat by My Merry Messy Life
The pattern is for a 3-6 month old baby so I adjusted the pattern down to fit a newborn.

Round 1: stop at 9 hdc instead of 11
Work the rest of the pattern as stated
Round 2: ends with 18 hdc total
Round 3: ends with 24 hdc total

Note: when I changed to the grey color on the Granny Square Stitch part, I actually turned and stitched the other way. It was the only way to get the stitched into the right spaces. :)

I ended up with a hat that measures:
Circumference: 11in
Height: 4in


The pattern states to fasten off and join for each color change but I didn't want to weave in all those ends so I carried the yarn along the back. I don't think it looks too bad so I'm sticking to it.

Because this hat came out so small and is for a newborn, I didn't want to do a big floppy brim.
Instead I crochet on this easy Shell Edging pattern.
Round 1: 1 sc into each st and ch around
Round 2: 1 sc *skip 2 sc, 7 dc into next sc, skip 2 sc, 1 sc into the next sc*
repeat around



The hat is cute but needs a little embellishment so I crochet this Teeny Tiny Flower and added a grey button in the center because the flower gets lost a little without it.




Finished and so cute!!! I need to make more boy baby hats now so stay tuned. :p

Update:
Sara from My Merry Messy Life honored me by asking me to link this post onto her Link Party, so I did. :) Please check it out. :) She has lots of very cute patterns. :)


She is so sweet...she also featured this post on her Sunday Fan Tribute Post! I hope you guys go check it out! :)

Crochet Lavender Baby Mittens

Newborn babies have really sharp nails when they are born and easily scratch themselves. So, I decided to make some easy baby mittens. They are so tiny! :)


Yarn: Caron Simply Soft in Orchid
Hook: 5 mm
Pattern: Suzie's Worsted Weight Baby Mitts size 0-3 months
(magic circle instead of ch 2 to start
Round 15: dc instead of sc)
Notions: Ribbon

These will also be donated to the baby shower for some Military wives at Camp Pendelton put on by Solider's Angels California. :)

Zip-Itself Triangle Coin Purse

Here is my newest experiment in sewing. I am still deciding if it was a fail or not. :)
Here is my zipper coin purse. I used this free pattern from Craft Passion.




It is cute but sadly it is not very triangle shaped. :)

I think I used the wrong zipper. The teeth seem too big to go around the tight curves so it is not really unzipping.

This one is staying with me but I think I could get some good use out of it. :)

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Crochet Dragon Baby Hat

After crocheting amigurumi using smaller crochet hooks and tight stitches, it feels really strange to use the actual size crochet hook that the yarn calls for. The hook feels so big! hehe (sorry, my mind went to a naughty place.)

On one of my favorite blogs, All About Ami, she posted these hats that she made.

Green, blue and coral earflap hats with white edging

Click here to see the post about the cute hats above. And she made this one below as well:

Here is another earflap hat I made from Alli’s Crafts.  It is essentially the same as the newborn earflap hat pattern (I blogged about them here), but this one is sized for 6 month old babies (pattern found here)!  I switched to brown for Row 9 and used the pattern for the “Loopy Six-Petal Flower” found here, also adding a button in the centre.  I think pink and brown make a lovely colour combination, don’t you?  Check out Alli’s blog as she also has earflap hat patterns for premies, newborns, 3, 6, and 9-12 month old babies and toddlers as well!

She did an amazing job. I loved the basic hat but I had to make it for a baby boy. It was obvious to try to make a dragon baby hat since it's the year of the Dragon so, here it my version. :)


I hope he's not too scary for the parents. hehe I am sending it along with the pink baby hat to the Solider's Angels of California baby shower for some strong Marine wives.

Yarn: Caron Simply Soft
Hook: 5 mm
Pattern: Baby Ear Flap Hat for Newborn by Alli Crafts

For the ridges, I double crochet directly onto the hat because I didn't want too many seams or to have to sew it on.

Ridges Pattern:
Join the yarn to any stitch on the top of the hat along the middle line. You will crochet each line of pattern into one stitch/hole/row on the hat base.
 ch 1, sc, hdc
dc, tc 
dc, hdc
sc
sc down to last 3 holes you want, turn
sc all the way down but stop when you get to the first ridge
turn and crochet the rest of the pattern onto the sc rows

Ridges
ch (first one only), 
sc, hdc
dc tc dc
hdc slpst
repeat till you get back down the row

In the last 3 holes:
sc, hdc
dc, tc 
dc, hdc, sc

That was what I came up with. It didn't end up exactly what I pictured in my head but I think it looks cute.

For the dots I made:
2 large circles - dark blue
magic ring
10 dc
2 sc in each dc

"Eyes" x2
light blue 6 sc in ring
join with dk blue
(skip 1st st bc too hard to get into) 2 dc x5 - crochet tails in under these stitches

You could have also made a large circle of dark blue and a small circle of light blue or a button and just layer them.

2 med/small circles - dark blue
10 dc in ring

Just sew on the dots with simple running stitch around. Done! :)

Here are my inspirations:


CROCHET PATTERN Dinosaur Hat (5 Sizes Included Newborn to Adult)   Permission to sell all finished items

Girl's Dinosaur Hat - Dragon Hat in Bright Pink -Crochet Animal Hat


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Handmade Crocheted Lizard Dinosaur Dragon Hat




Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Crochet Baby Girl Hat

I love making baby stuff because they are so small and quick to whip up.

I still had another baby hat WIP but my friend posted making this one on her facebook page and I had to try out the puff stitch. It went really quick and was easy. It's so cute!

Here is my friend's little cap in progress.


Here is her finished hat! :)



She is amazing...she doesn't know how to read a pattern, she just learns from watching the videos. :)

Here is my little hat. The picture is a little dark because I finished it at night.


This is the free pattern/video that we both used: Baby Puff Stitch Crochet Hat from Crochet Geek. I decided to go a little more sophisticated and not put the puff at the top of the hat. :)

Hat Materials:
Crochet Hook: 5mm
Yarn: Caron Simply Soft


Pattern for the Bow:
Chain 10
hdc in 3rd chain from hook, then hdc in each ch across, turn
ch 2, hdc in each hdc across, turn
ch 2, hdc in each hdc across
crab stitch around the edge on all 4 sides
fasten off

center:
ch 10
hdc in 3rd chain from hook, then hdc in each ch across

Materials for the Bow:
Crochet Hook: 4.25mm
Yarn: Caron Simply Soft


Don't weave in all the ends.


Pinch the middle together and take a few stitches to hold it together.


Wrap the middle part around and take a few stitches to hold it together.


My bow pattern is a smaller version of this one attached to an adult sized puff stitch hat.

I couldn't decide who to give it to but then came across this site.
I decided to give it to some Military wives. I think the hardest thing a woman is go through is their husbands being deployed while they are giving birth. I hope it will give them the strength and courage to get through the days when their husbands are away. 

Solider's Angels California

Saturday, September 15, 2012
Marine 1st Recon Battalion
Camp Pendleton

Baby shower gift donations are requested. We are expecting 25-30 new Moms.

Event time: Time to be determined

Please contact Anita Dice anitadice@cox.net for instructions for shipping or for dropping off at my home in North Tustin (Orange County). We need to have gifts by September 10th in order to sort and wrap gifts in gift baskets.

Location:
Camp Pendleton, CA
Shower location to be determined.

Baby shower gift donations are requested primarily for newborns for this event. We will need practical items like baby clothes, bibs, bodysuits, play sets, receiving blankets, layettes, fleece blankets, gowns, socks, pants, body suits, booties, homemade blankets/quilts, sweaters, caps. New Mom’s will include newborn up to six months old.

Gift baskets are assembled before the shower for each Mom which requires that gifts be sorted and wrapped ahead of the shower. 

I am going to send a package of baby hats and maybe some mittens.I will also send some nail files because newborn nails are very sharp and you don't want the baby to scratch themselves. It is something that only mom's tell other moms. I got the tip from Ryan's mom. :)

If you guys have some time and energy, it is for a great cause. :) You might not get the instant gratification from seeing and hearing from your friends and family about how much they love your gifts but it is going to some worthy people.  :)

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Welcome Dragon Baby Ryan Ami!

No more WIP, I had to finish him up in 7 hours because...

My friends, Donny and Winnie, had their baby boy! Welcome Ryan! The family are already home. :)


None of my dragons are the same. This one I embroidered the baby's stats on his belly instead of scales.


Panda's Tip of the Day: I used a paper towel to write the words down and then copy it so it is mirror image. Then I just used that as a template to embroider the words as straight as possible. I stitched right over the paper towel. I still need some practice but it helped a lot. Because I glued it on, I left the paper towel on but it would be easy to tear off the template.


Welcome to the world!!!

Another classmate had her baby girl the day after and another friend's wife is going to have their second child this year too. So many lucky dragon babies!!! :) I can't wait to be an Auntie and spoil you all!!! :)