Three Bear Hats

Our daughter and granddaughter stopped to admire hand-made hats on Pearl Street in Boulder. When our daughter mentioned Grammeo could make hats like that, our granddaughter asked for a bear hat. One without ear flaps. She is totally into bears these days.

They sent a photo for reference. Like this, but without the bee please.

I started our granddaughter's bear hat one week before our trip to Boulder. The first one was too big. I could tell because it fit me. The second one looked about right. I couldn't be sure because our daughter forgot to send measurements. Since these hats worked up quickly, I did one more in a smaller size for our littlest grandson making Three Bear Hats in total. A perfect surprise for our granddaughter and daughter.

 

 

 

 

 

These Three Bear Hats were a big hit with our granddaughter. She enjoyed donning her hat pretending to be a bear. Our youngest grandson tolerated his hat for short periods. The largest hat fit our daughter perfectly. I can just picture the three of them dressed as bears on cold winter days walking to school to pick up our oldest grandson ... so sweet.

To make these hats, I used worsted weight acrylic yarn in brown, off-white and black with a 5.0 mm hook. For the base of the hat I followed this panda hat pattern at Repeat Crafter Me making three sizes: child, toddler/preschooler and 9-12 months. I made the ears from my Buster Bear pattern. The muzzle is a simple circle worked using half double crochet. The nose is an elongated circle in single crochet. I added button eyes and embroidered the face using the long tail from the nose. Hats like these are an easy project sure to impress the little ones in your life.

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Still Waiting

Since we’re in Boulder and still waiting for the baby to arrive, I thought I would share a few photos of crochet items I made for this little one. I started way back in July before our daughter announced she was pregnant. Even though I was ready to start a blanket, I had an urge to make a little pink owl hat and announced I thought Natalie was expecting and going to have a girl. Turns out I was right about the pregnancy but we’re still waiting to find out if it’s a girl. Almost everybody else thinks it will be a boy. Luckily, the hat can be used as a prop for my daughter’s new photography business Sweet Maple Photography if she ends up having another boy.

Owl Hat and Tiny Owl

Both the owl hat and little owl patterns were posted by blogger RepeatCrafterMe here and here. The bunny used to model the hat is not for the baby. I’ll post a link to that pattern in a later post covering crochet toys.

Our daughter loves crochet bunting so I got busy and made a long bright colourful bunting. I got a bit carried away making 23 big bunting triangles with colourful buttons sewn on the tips. The pattern was just a single crochet increase at the beginning and end of every second row starting with 2 chains. I also added a single crochet border and joined all the triangles before deciding to add buttons. I blocked the triangles to make them lay flat and had them ready for our daughter when they visited in October.

Bunting Before Adding Buttons

Once our daughter was back home, she decided this bunting was too big for the baby room but was perfect for our grandson’s room.  She sent us a photo of it in place. I must admit it matches perfectly with his name decor our daughter made from buttons and wooden letters. They also hung an Ikea tent with colourful circus bunting around the top which coordinates beautifully.

Mavid's Bunting (photo by Natalie at Sweet Maple Photography)

Ikea Bunting Tent

Our daughter requested I make a smaller bunting for the baby in colours to match the crib set so I set about doing just that. For this bunting, I got my inspiration from a pattern posted by Lucy at Attic 24 here. Since it is much smaller, it is a much better fit for the baby room.

Crib Set

Baby Bunting to Match Crib Set

I've always liked the look of jellyfish so I made a jellyfish mobile in matching colours following a pattern posted here. To hang the jellyfish, I used two black space saver multi-clothes hangers strung together at 90 degrees with a jellyfish hung on each of the four end hooks and one in the middle.

Jellyfish Mobile

Previously I shared a post on the brown bears made for the baby. The bears are currently sitting on the mantle waiting for baby cuddles.  The rest of the crochet items are stored in the baby room.  The baby room will be decorated later as the baby will spend its first few months in Mama and Dada’s room.

Brown Bears on Mantle

Our daughter also selected a baby blue crochet blanket from my stash. I've not taken a picture of it yet but will at some point and share more details including yarn and pattern link in a post specifically about baby blankets. I’ve made a few different baby blankets so I think they deserve special attention.

This afternoon, as I was drafting this post, our daughter was busy cleaning the house - vacuuming, picking up toys, dusting and doing laundry. I offered to help but she insisted on doing everything herself. I wonder if that can be considered ‘nesting’ behaviour? If so, it might not be long before this baby arrives. I'd love it to happen before we leave on Sunday. Time to send a little prayer before bed and keep my fingers crossed.

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