Free Pattern Friday: Crocheted Elf Hat

I've shared projects from this pattern before, but I just love it, and had to share it again.  We recently took a little family road trip, and on the way I was able to make up this cute crocheted elf hat for my Sister In Law.  She is a photographer in North Dakota (Jessica Marshall Photography), and I thought an adorable elf hat would be a great addition to her prop collection.

I love the way it turned out!

You can see my first project in action as a prop for my friend Kandice McDermott Photography.  They make the cutest props.

Hop on over to Oodles 4 Noodles for the free pattern.  It's a great little project.  I love the pom pom, and the faux ribbing at the base of the hat.  Nothing but sweet.

Crocheted Pumpkin Hat and Smiles

Ahh, an actual project up on the blog.  Micah Makes has some of the funnest little crochet hat patterns, and I had to make her crocheted pumpkin hat for the fall season.  It was a project that I found I could work on while August slept on my lap, which means that it actually got done.  Hooray!  

This newborn sized hat will be a perfect photography prop, and I might just make another to throw on August for Halloween.  Micah also provides instructions for making a leaf to add to the top of the hat.  I made the leaf, but chose not to add it.  I like it the way it is.  I love that little ribbed stem, such a perfect detail.  Hop on over to her blog to find her free crochet pumpkin hat pattern.  

Now for a little August update.  Thanks to all of you for your sweet and supportive comments on my last post.  I wrote up the post at a  bit of a desperate moment, and I am so grateful to have kind readers to share their experiences and wisdom.  Thank you, thank you.  We are still trying to figure out exactly what is bothering his little digestive system, and I'm still currently breastfeeding.  It may just be that his digestive system is immature, but he has had some really good days among the harder ones.  So it is a bit more tolerable for all of us. He's also started to give some social smiles, which is so wonderfully rewarding as a parent.  I'm considering giving the infant probiotic drops a whirl, just to see if they help his little system out.  Have any of you tried them?  The reviews online seem pretty good, so I figure it is worth a shot.

Mom Top Knot Hat blogged about here.

Crocheted Hats

I have a favorite animal.  Do you?  Forever, it seems, my favorite has been the giraffe.  So charming with their spots, long eyelashes, longer necks, and purple tongues.  I love them.

I had to make up a little newborn giraffe hat.  I used the free versatile earflap hat pattern from Micah Makes, and then made my own adjustments to turn it into a giraffe.  The ears are slightly enlarged versions of the lamb ears from Repeat Crafter Me.  Every thing else was pretty much winged.  I really need to start taking notes as I go, just so that I can repeat projects in the future.  I don't know how many times I've referenced my own sewing tutorials for my personal use.  

I also had the opportunity to be a pattern tester for Warm Fuzzy Boutique.  I got to try out her great little Turkey Hat Pattern.  It is available for purchase in her Etsy shop, and would make for some festive attire in the coming months.  

I also tried out Micah's Bear hat pattern.  Just add ears to the versatile earflap hat pattern, and you've got an adorable little bear hat.  I added a cute peach bow, and handed it off to Kandice as a photography prop.

Free Pattern Friday: Crocheted Apple Hat by Micah Makes

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I love a free pattern, and an easy one at that.  I've been in a bit of a crocheting mood, so I couldn't resist trying out the adorable Crocheted Apple Hat Pattern by Micah Makes.  

It worked up so quickly, and the addition of a simple stem, and leaf really make this hat.  I think it will make an adorable photo prop for a little babe.

You can find the free crochet apple hat pattern on Micah's website, along with several other free patterns.

Crocheted Baby Hats

After finishing up the crocheted afghan I had a bit of yarn left over.  I thought it would be fun to make a few baby hats for newborn pictures, heaven knows that the little guy isn't going to NEED a hat mid-August, but he'll be so cute with one covering his big head (my boys all have them).

These little aviators are adaptations of Repeat Crafter Me's Puppy Hat pattern. I just winged the little flap and added some buttons.

I attached the ears a bit too high-woops.

This little lamb hat is also from a Repeat Crafter Me pattern. I loved it when I saw it on her blog, so I made it.  The creamy silk color of the yarn was perfect for the pattern.  Gender neutral?  I'm hoping so. 

I also whipped up a blessing day bonnet from the aesthetic nest.  It really isn't photographed well, but you can see it sneaking in the corner.  Not a bonnet for the boy, but for the little girls that go visit my photographer friend.

I've found that I am really enjoying crochet.  It is easier to pick up and put down than knitting, and is the perfect  project to work on while letting kids play in the bath.  It travels well in the car, and is a good stress reliever.  Best of all, you can pretty much learn everything you need to know from youtube tutorials.

Striped Crochet Afghan

I've done it.  I completed my first afghan.  It might now seem like a huge accomplishment, especially since it is crib size, but for me it is.  I'm a bit of an instant gratification crafter.  I don't want to spends weeks or months working on a project.  I want things to come together quickly.

I knew I wanted to make the baby a blanket, even though blankets are the last thing that we need to get ready for this baby. It just seems right to work on a blanket for the new baby.


I went to the store to pick out some yarn, and ended up with these three colors: Sage, Fern, and Silk from Bernat.  The yarn is from their satin line.

I didn't have a pattern worked out in my mind when purchasing the yarn, so when I got home I had to figure out a pattern that would work up using roughly the same amount of each color of yarn.

The pattern is nothing fancy.  Double crochet with a double thickness of yarn all the way across.  4 rows blue, 2 white, 4 green, 2 white, 4 blue (repeated three times).  I did  a single row of double crochet in white for the border.  I used a J sized hook, so that the afghan would work up even faster.  It took me a few days, but that really isn't so bad. All in all I used 2 skeins green, 3 blue, and 3 white.  I got the yarn on sale, so it wasn't really too expensive.

It's funny, when I was picking out the colors, I honestly thought I was being original in my color selection.  Then I got home, looked around, and discovered that it is one of my favorite combinations (take a look at my blog, business cards, bedspread, you name it). Oh well.

So even though a new blanket might not be a necessity for baby boy number three, it makes me feel like I'm getting ready to welcome him home.

What are your favorite projects for welcoming baby?  And for those of you with multiple children, what baby items do you find are needs for 2,3,or 4, that weren't for number 1?  I'd love some input.

By the way, I found the coolest random stripes generator while looking into stripe patterns.  You can select your colors, then number of rows you want, and generate your own pattern.  Pretty cool.  I didn't end up using it, but it seems like a great choice when working with odd amounts of yarn.  Check it out.

Crocheted Wash clothes

When I decided to learn to crochet, I asked for suggestions on good beginner projects.  Many suggested scarves, baby blankets, and wash clothes.  Wash clothes are boring right?  You spend all of your time making something that is going to be cleaning up messes (not my favorite activity). The truth is though, they really are an ideal beginners project.  You spend your time practicing basic stitches, and when you're through, if the project doesn't turn out perfectly, you haven't spent much time or money on it.  Plus, you can still put it to good use.  I actually love my knitted/crocheted dish clothes.  They do a great job.

 I can now cross wash clothes off my list.  The first one I made was the multi colored single crochet wash cloth.  You can find the free pattern here.  It is a really nice wash cloth, but was a little bit of a snooze.

I much preferred the yellow wash cloth (pattern here).  It involves both single and double crochet.  I don't know why it made it so much more enjoyable, but it really did.  It also adds a bit of texture to the cloth. 

If you are looking for a quick project that involves a bit more than single crochet, here are a few fun wash cloth patterns to try...

Source: gratefulprayerthankfulheart.blogspot.com via Tricia on Pinterest

Source: gillianhamilton.blogspot.com via Tricia on Pinterest

Source: crochetme.com via Tricia on Pinterest

Beginners Crochet: Baby Elf Hats

Over the past couple of weeks I have been attempting to teach myself to crochet.  I've tried three different infant hat patterns, and I think that I've finally ended up with something that would fit an infant (by the way I'm lazy with gauging).

Source: oodles-4-noodles.com via Tricia on Pinterest

I used this pattern from Oodles-4-Noodles

It was fairly straight forward.  This was my first time working with multiple yarn colors, my first time making a pom pom, using a magic ring, and fdc in the post.  Thankfully, there are a huge amount of video tutorials available to help me work my way through new patterns.

I love following patterns, because I find that I am forced to try new techniques.  It is a great way to expand your knowledge of something.

 I decided to go ahead and make two hats.  One for a boy, and one for a girl.  You can tell that my tension changes a bit from one hat to the other. They aren't perfect, but I'm still going to call them successful.

Any recommendations for beginner crochet patterns/projects, preferably free?  I'd love to know what you recommend.