Curly Q

Since the famous groundhog has informed us that winter will go on, we have been hit with very cold temperatures here at home. A brief snow fall, though nothing like I have seen on the news happening up north. One more reason I am thankful to live in the Lone Star state.

A dear friend of mine admired the pig tail hats my twins wore on a recent outing.

How could one not be swept away by that adorable-ness?

She mentioned that her 3 year old daughter would love to have a hat like these.

So I set out to make one. Easy enough to get started, use a favorite DC beanie pattern.

The curly pig tails are really the only pattern I have for you. 

Supplies:

Red heart with love Chocolate

G hook

Yarn needle

Stitch marker

--make 2--

Start with magic ring, 8 SC into ring. 

Join to top of first DC with slip stitch

**Chain 45, 2SC in 2nd chain from hook, 3SC in each chain to beginning. Slip stitch to next SC of circle**

Repeat from ** in each SC of circle, until you have 8 curly tails extending from the inner circle.

Mark placement on hat with stitch marker, , mine start at round 6, but you can add them wherever you like.

Sew the curls to the hat, using the circle as a base. The curls should cover the circle when the hat is held upright, or worn.

Repeat with the other set of curls.

You can do a few things here, add ponytail holders, add ribbon, crochet a hair bow. Whatever you like.

In this case, I opted to make some crochet bows on hair clips so they could be worn with or without the hat.

Take a moment to wind this hot mess into a proper ball, trust me.

I used the same hook as above

Chain 30, SC in 2nd chain and across

Ch 1, turn. DC on each SC across

Ch 1 turn. SC in each DC

fold each end toward the middle and sew the ends together. Cut off a long length of yarn before binding off. 

Use the long length of yarn to create the middle portion of the bow by wrapping it around the center several times.

Fasten off and weave in ends.

Insert hair clip into a few layers of the center

Use the clip to affix the bow to the hat above the curly pig tail. Repeat with the 2nd bow.

Give your hat to an adorable model and enjoy the cuteness. 

Stars and Hexagons

      When the twins were a few months old, I decided I wanted to make them blankets. It can get cold here in Texas, and even at a year old, they were still in their infant car seats. This meant a lot of carrying from the car to the house in the seats, and using those seats in the double stroller. So I wanted something that could be used in the car seats.

      I wanted a blanket that would be warm enough for while they were in the seats, but small enough to fit inside the seats without worrying about them being covered. I also wanted something beyond a standard square or rectangle.

     I went to Hobby Lobby and decided on color combos before I had patterns picked out. Sometimes colors lead to a pattern, sometimes a pattern leads to a color combo. You never know how inspiration will strike.

  I chose these two color combos:

And then I set out to find patterns.

I opted to make two different blankets, so I settled on a star for my first one. At this point I’d made simple rectangle blankets and hats. But nothing more involved than that. Never even a granny square. But it seemed easy enough, and pretty. So I picked out this pattern:

Star Blanket

And got to work.

Here is a great tutorial for the first few rows if the pattern is confusing, which it can be if you’re like me and want to see it “in person”

Tutorial

For the next one, I opted for a hexagon, again something I had never done before. I like a challenge. I chose this pattern:

Hexagon Blanket

And set out.

Overall it took me about 4 days to finish both blankets working on my lunch break and at night after the kids were in bed. They are not overly large, big enough to use in the car seats. We still use them in the car today. They are the perfect size for that.

Here they are after a year and some change in use, still holding up very well. This yarn washes wonderfully. I have had no fuzzing or pilling as can happen with some yarns. Yet another reason I love Hobby Lobby products!

They do lay flat I promise.