Matching Hats

I made Snow Girl as a gift for our granddaughter, so I thought it might be nice to make a matching hat with braids on the earflaps and a big white pompom. 

The hat patterns at Repeat Crafter Me are written for worsted weight yarn. My yarn is DK weight which works up much smaller. I planned to compensate by making a larger size. I started with the adult size hat, but it looked too small. Next, I tried the large adult size hat plus added more rows. It looked too big. So then, I tried the large adult size without extra rows. It looks about right.  

I am hoping one of these three Matching Hats will fit our granddaughter and perhaps another might fit our youngest grandson. I expect our oldest grandson is too old to wear a hat like this now that he is ten.

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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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Baby News & Photo Props

Since I got back from Boulder over a week ago, I've been busy making baby photo props for my daughter's photography business. My main motivation is to get cute photos of our grandchildren but also provide items that might work for clients. 

I decided to start with a doily. The pattern is free and can be found here. Doilies like the one shown below can be draped over a baby posing bean bag and layered with coloured blankets for a cute photo. I made this one with Bernat Handicrafter Cotton yarn in off-white using a 5 mm hook. It measures 22" across so should work well for babies. 

Baby Prop 'Doily'

I've also made some cute hats and a diaper cover. The hat pattern can be found here from blogger Repeat Crafter Me. I used the base of her puppy hat pattern with ear flaps and braids but did not add the face or puppy ears. The teal hat with orange trim was made using Bernat Satin in "light sage" and "goldenrod". I used a 5 mm hook and the pattern instructions for size 0-3 months. The grey hat was made using Bernat Softee Baby yarn in "flannel" and a 4.5 mm hook. Bernat Softee Baby is a lighter yarn, so I followed the pattern instructions for size 3-6 months and the hats ended up about the same size. 

Baby Hats (side view)

The larger orange hat shown below was made using Bernat Satin in "goldenrod" and using the pattern instructions for size Toddler/Preschool. I'm hoping my daughter can use these hats in a Little Sister/Big Brother photo. I chose these colours to match the logo on her website Sweet Maple Photography.

Little Sister and Big Brother Hats

Baby Hat and Diaper Cover

To match the grey and white hat, I made a cute diaper cover following a free pattern provided by blogger Annoo's Crochet World here. I altered the pattern slightly by omitting the ruffle and adding a white trim with a grey tie. 

Instructions for the white trim
Row 1: chain 1, single crochet (sc) in each sc and each chain space around, join with a slip stitch
Row 2: chain 3 (counts as first half double crochet (hdc) and chain 1), skip 1 sc, *hdc + chain 1, skip 1 sc **, repeat * to ** around and join with a slip stitch to second chain
Row 3: chain 1, sc around and join with invisible join

Instructions for grey tie
Chain 108
Row 1: sc in back bump of each chain stitch (see here for explanation)
Weave grey tie through holes created by row 2 of the white trim
Add a white/grey fringe to each end of the grey tie to match the fringe on the hat braids

I made these items while waiting for news of our grandchild's birth which took patience as the baby was overdue by a week. I am happy to say she arrived Tuesday, February 18 at 5:04 p.m. Boulder time weighing 8 lbs 11 oz and 21.5" long. My daughter sent me a cell phone snapshot showing her new baby wearing the little owl hat I made last summer. My daughter will be posting proper photos on her website soon so I won't share any baby pics. Although I will tell you, I think she is beautiful and looks just like her Mom.

My 50th Birthday in July - showing off a little hat for our 'granddaughter'

I remember I made this hat (pattern by Repeat Crafter Me found here) and announced to our family I thought our daughter was pregnant and having a girl. I think they all thought I was joking. Turns out I was right about the pregnancy AND right about her having a girl. I'm so looking forward to visiting again in March and finally meeting this little one.

I can hardly wait to see my daughter's first photo shoot with this baby. I better get busy and make some more "props". I think a headband with flowers should be next on the list.