Cowboys Mason Jar Koozie

I haven’t written a blog post in forever. A lot of that is that it takes a lot of effort to figure out a pattern I improvised from pictures after I already gave away the actual product. I’ve been lazy. I decided to play catch up just sharing what I’ve been making. If someone wants the pattern, I am more than willing to share!

First up: a Dallas Cowboys mason jar koozie. I actually did not love how this turned out. I was knitting at a friends’ child’s birthday party and their neighbor asked if I could make them a mason jar koozie with the Cowboys logo. I said sure. I figured out a pattern for the letters, but it was really wide. Knitting with number 2 needles and worsted weight yarn (which is ridiculously tight if you know knitting) the letters went more than halfway around the jar. The only way I was going to get the letters on the front was to use super fine yarn. That would have been a crazy number of stitches, and I would have to buy new yarn instead of using stash yarn. Considering I had already spent a lot of time ripping out my work to even get the letters mostly on the front half of the jar, I really didn’t want to go through any more effort. Next I tried several different crochet star patterns, none of which were pointy enough.  Lastly, the letters ended up too low. I’m a perfectionist. Here is how it turn out. Not my best work.   

  
   

Difficulty: Easy

Time Required: 6 Movies (Due to a lot of ripping out)

Overall Experience: Meh

Baby Baseball Hat

In honor of Craig Biggio being elected for the baseball hall of fame today, I will finish my summer of baby hats (I know…  I’m super behind.  Other hats included:  Chappy Newsboy Cap, Lacey Summer Baby Cap, Elmo Inspired Baby Hat, and Emory Beanie.) with my baby baseball hat.  Some friends of mine are huge Astros fans, so when they had a baby I naturally wanted to make them a baseball hat.  I had seen pictures of hats I liked, but couldn’t find a pattern.  I ended up remaking the Chappy Newsboy Cap with same alterations.  Instead of single crocheting in the front and back loops, I single crocheted in both loops to give a smoother texture.  I crocheted the hat in white with a red brim and embroidered baseball stitching over the white.  It turned out super cute!

Difficulty:  Easy

Time Required:  2 Movies

Overall Experience:  Good

Bugs Bunny Carrot Koozie

As mentioned in my last post, I’m way behind on my blog. There are things I made in August that haven’t been added yet! I decided to start the posting with something quick and easy. A coworker asked if I could create a beer bottle koozie that looked like a carrot for his Bugs Bunny costume. Challenge accepted! I improvised the carrot using alternating groups of rows of knits and purls to give the carrot texture. I also created a large cartoony leaf that snapped to the bottom to give the effect of Bugs’ carrot. It turned out great!

Difficulty:  Easy

Time Required:  2 Movies

Overall Experience:  Good

Emery Beanie

This post adds to my summer of baby hats.  (See:  Elmo Inspired Baby Hat, Chappy Newsboy Caps, and Lacey Summer Baby Cap.)  The Emery Beanie pattern is a free pattern on Ravelry.  This hat crocheted up quickly with an adorable flower accent.  I only increased up to 40 stitches in circumference because the hat was being made for a sweet preemie baby girl.

Difficulty:  Moderate

Time Required:  1 Movies

Overall Experience:  Excellent

Elmo Inspired Baby Hat

To continue my summer of baby hats (see Chappy Newsboy Caps and Lacey Summer Baby Cap), one of my coworkers had a baby (or rather his wife did).  They also have a toddler at home that loves Elmo.  I decided to rework my Oscar the Grouch hat for a newborn size and make an Elmo hat for their toddler.  I was rewarded with adorable pictures and videos of both babies the next day.  The Elmo hat was a huge hit!  I love that he liked it so much.  Usually when I make things, I don’t know if the item just sits in a drawer (meaning I wasted hours of my life) or is loved by the recipient.  The later makes me happy.  🙂

 

Disclaimer:  Feel free to make this pattern for your personal use, for your platypus, for charity, or to sell.  The only thing I ask is that you please do not sell it on Etsy.  If you are interested in purchasing a hat from my Etsy store, you may do so here.

Gauge:  9 stitches x 13 rows = 2 in Stockinette

This hat was about 16 inches in circumference when finished.  It is quite stretchy and will stretch several inches.

Materials:

• 5 Size US 7 double pointed needles
• US Size G Crochet Hook
• Tapestry needle
• Vanna’s Choice yarn in Scarlet (R)
• Vanna’s Choice yarn in Black (B)
• Vanna’s Choice yarn in White
• Vanna’s Choice yarn in Terracotta (O)

Stitches Used:

• Knit (K)
• Knit two together (k2tog)
• Slip slip knit (ssk)
• Chain (ch)
• Slip stitch (sl st)
• Single crochet (sc)
• Single crochet 2 tog (sc2tog)
• Stranding techniques

Instructions:

Cast on 72 with R and distribute evenly on four needles

R1-R7:  Knitting in round, KR 72

R8:  KR 28, KB 16, KR 28

R9:  KR 26, KB 20, KR 26

R10:  KR 25, KB 22, KR 25

R11-R12:  KR 24, KB 24, KR 24

R13:  KR 23, KB26, KR 23

Continuing only in R:

R14-R34:  K 72

R35:  (K4, k2tog, ssk, K4) six times

R36:  K60

R37:  (K3, k2tog, ssk, K3) six times

R38:  K48

R39:  (K2, k2tog, ssk, K2) six times

R40:  K36

R41:  (K, k2tog, ssk, K) six times

R42:  K24

R43:  (k2tog, ssk) six times

Cut the yarn with several spare inches.  Thread a tapestry needle and pull yarn through all 12 stitches on needles.  Work in ends.

 

Eyes (make 2):

R1:  With B use magic ring technique to start round, ch 1, sc 8, sl st to first sc.  Cut yarn and work in ends. (8 stitches)

Continue with W

R2:  2 sc in first stitch from R1 and in each sc around, sl st to first sc (16 stitches)

R3:  Ch 1, sc in same stitch as sl st, sc in next stitch * 2 sc in next stitch, 1 sc in next 2 stitches, repeat from * 2 more times, 2 sc in last stitch, sl st to first sc (20 stitches)

R4-R6:  Ch 1, sc in each stitch around, sl st to first sc (20 stitches)

R7:  Ch 1, sc in same stitch as sl st, sc in next stitch * sc2tog, 1 sc in next 2 stitches, repeat from * 2 more times, sc2tog, sl st to first sc (16 stitches)

R8:  Ch 1, sc2tog around, sl st to first sc (8 stitches)

R9:  Ch 1, sc four together by slipping hook under the stitch from the row below, wrapping the yarn, and pulling a loop through, slip hook under next stitch and pull another loop, repeat until you have done this four times and there are five loops on your hook, yarn over and pull loop through all five loops, sc last four stitches together using the same method, sl st to first stitch (2 stitches)

Cut yarn and work in ends.

 

Nose:

R1:  With O use magic ring technique to start round, ch 1, sc 8, sl st to first sc (8 stitches)

R2:  2 sc in first stitch from R1 and in each sc around, sl st to first sc (16 stitches)

R3:  Ch 1, sc in same stitch as sl st, sc in next stitch * 2 sc in next stitch, 1 sc in next 2 stitches, repeat from * 2 more times, 2 sc in last stitch, sl st to first sc (20 stitches)

R4-R10:  Ch 1, sc in each stitch around, sl st to first sc (20 stitches)

R11:  Ch 1, sc in same stitch as sl st, sc in next stitch * sc2tog, 1 sc in next 2 stitches, repeat from * 2 more times, sc2tog, sl st to first sc (16 stitches)

R12:  Ch 1, sc2tog around, sl st to first sc (8 stitches)

R13:  Ch 1, sc four together by slipping hook under the stitch from the row below, wrapping the yarn, and pulling a loop through, slip hook under next stitch and pull another loop, repeat until you have done this four times and there are five loops on your hook, yarn over and pull loop through all five loops, sc last four stitches together using the same method, sl st to first stitch (2 stitches)

Cut yarn and work in ends.

 

Using a picture of Elmo as inspiration, tack the eyes and nose onto the hat using a tapestry needle and yarn.  I would also suggest tacking the eyes and nose to each other.

Difficulty:  Moderate

Time Required:  2 Movies

Overall Experience:  Excellent

 

Lacey Summer Baby Cap

As mentioned in my previous post, I have a lot of friends who have had babies lately.  Next up:  the Halas.  The Halas have an awesome adoption story that I would not do justice.  Check out the story on their blog.  I simply made a hat for their beautiful baby girl, Evie.

I recently purchased a new book, Luxury Yarn One-Skein Wonders, and wanted to make something out of it.  I combined Alpaca and Silk Baby Cap with the flower from Angora Baby Bunny Cap.  I also added some pearl details to the flower.  It turned out so precious!

Difficulty:  Moderate

Time Required:  One movie

Overall Experience:  Excellent

 

Gospel Presentation and Cross Bracelets

This summer I helped to teach dance at a sports camp sponsored by my church.  I was in charge of the middle and high school girls.  As part of our Bible lesson, we made gospel presentation bracelets consisting of several colored beads.  Each color represents part of the gospel presentation.  In short:  The black bead represents the darkness of sin in each man.  The red bead represents Jesus’ blood and sacrifice.  The white bead represents the washing away of our sin.  The yellow bead represents heaven.  The green bead represents growing in a relationship with God.  Here is a link providing Bible verses for each color and a tutorial on how to make the bracelet.

My girls liked jewelry, so I crocheted cross bracelets to give them if they had their memory verse memorized to sign language.  Many of them didn’t speak English, but they could still participate using sign language.  I used this necklace tutorial and used a simple chain slip stitched to the top and bottom of the cross to make it a bracelet.  The girls were so excited!

Crafternoon Tea Preemie Hats

Some ladies in my Sunday School class are interested in learning to knit and crochet.  We decided to add a missions component to the learning experience and make preemie hats to donate to local NICUs.  We had our first meeting yesterday and it was a blast!  We taught some crochet skills and made some hats.  I wanted to show off some of the hats and give the ladies some digital resources concerning what we learned yesterday.

Stitches Learned

Yesterday we taught the basics of crochet to the beginners.  We taught some combination of the following stitches.  If you didn’t learn all of them, no big deal!  You can learn them next time.  If you have any questions, feel free to ask Shanda or me anything you would like.  The links below describe the stitches using words and figures.  The Crochet Crowd also provides a great series of YouTube videos for beginners.  After you learn these basic stitches, you can make any of the hats featured above!

• Chain (ch)
• Slip stitch (sl st)
• Single crochet (sc)
• Half double crochet (hdc)
• Double crochet (dc)
• Triple crochet (trc)

Patterns

I had several patterns printed out yesterday and wanted to make them digitally available to everyone.  I found these patterns on Ravelry, which is a great source for everything knitting/crocheting.  If you join Ravelry, friend me!  My profile is here.  Feel free to be creative with the patterns!

Micro Preemie Hats – Crochet

Both of the hats we made have an added on edging.

Wrapped with Love – Crochet

Baby Cowboy Hat – Crochet

This turned out looking a little more like a Fedora than a cowboy hat.  I might edit it a little next time I made it.

Baby Bear Hat – Knit

I made one edit to this pattern.  The pattern calls to knit until the hat is 6″ long.  That is very long for a preemie hat.  I knit it to 4.5″.  It looks about right.

Preemie Football Hat – Knit

Enjoy the patterns and feel free to ask me questions!

Mad Hatter Crochet Challenge – Absolem

I posted last week about the Crochet Crowd’s Mad Hatter Crochet Challenge.  Since I really enjoyed the creativity of designing the decorations for the first hat, I decided to make a second hat.  I chose to base the hat on Absolem, the hookah smoking caterpillar in Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland.  I knit the hat holding together two colors to achieve the look of a smoke-filled teal and grey background.   I crocheted the brim of the hat in a tan color to resemble Absolem’s mushroom and embroidered spots on the mushroom.  I free crocheted Absolem’s head and body and embroidered all of his features before sewing him on the side of the hat.  I also free crocheted the hookah and smoke rings.  He turned out beautiful.  My gauge was a little off on the the first hat, so I went down a hook size for this hat.  The shape of the hat turned out a lot better.

Mad Hatter Crochet Challenge – Cheshire Cat

One of the blogs I follow, The Crochet Crowd, held a Mad Hatter crochet challenge.  The goal of the challenge was to crochet a Mad Hatter hat following a pattern by Red Heart.  The crocheter could use any colors and decorate the hat using an Alice in Wonderland theme however he or she wished.  I made two hats.

I had fun being a little more artistic than usual with these hats.  The first hat was Cheshire Cat themed.  I loved the colors from the Tim Burton movie, so I based the cat off of that Cheshire Cat.  Typically with crochet the main body of a piece is made in a solid color or stripes.  Other pieces are made seperately and sewn on.  For this hat, I imagined the cat appearing out of the side of the hat so I crocheted the color changes into the hat using a similar technique to that used for stranded colorwork in knitting.  His eyes, nose and smile are clear, he then fades into the hat with only three stripes showing.  His tail became the ribbon that goes around the hat.  I added Red Heart Foxy yarn to his tail to make it furry.  Since the contest was sponsored by Red Heart, I bought all Red Heart yarn (and used a little stash yarn) for the final product.  I love how he turned out!  I had the hardest time not posting pictures of him until after the mail-in deadline for the contest (which was yesterday.)