Sock monkey hat pattern

My sister asked if I would make a hat for one of her friends who is expecting a girl and is planing a monkey themed nursery.  Of course I said I would so I headed to pinterest to get inspiration!  This is what I came up with:

I loosly used this pattern: http://knottyknotty.blogspot.ca/2011/03/free-sock-monkey-hat-pattern.html  to make this adorable little Monkey hat.

I didn't think the hat was looking baby sized so I made some changes in the pattern.  The following is what I ended up doing to create this hat:

Size:
0-3 months

Yarn:

Red Heart worsted 4 Medium Purple
Red Heart worsted 4 Buff Fleck
Red Heart worsted 4 Pale Plum

Hook:
G/6-4.25MM

Hat:

Start with Pale Plum.
Round 1: Magic ring (if you have not made one yet here: http://www.crochetme.com/forums/t/28917.aspx is a good tutorial), 11dc in ring, pull tight, join to first dc, ch2.
Round 2: 2dc in each dc around, join in first dc, ch2. (22dc)
Round 3: (2dc in first, dc in next) around 11 times,  join to first dc, ch2. (33dc)
Round 4: (2dc in first, dc in next 2) around 11 times, join to first dc. (44dc)

Change color to Medium Purple
Round 5: ch1, sc in each st around, join to first sc. (44sc)
Round 6: Repeat round 5.

Change color to Buff Fleck
Round 7: ch2, dc in each st around, join to firsd dc. (44dc)
Round 8-11: Repeat round 7. Fasten off. Weave in ends.


Earflap:

Start with Buff Fleck.  Find center of hat, count out where you would like both earflaps.
Attach yarn to hat.
Round 1: 9dc, ch2, turn. (9sts)
Round 2: dc2tog, dc in next 5 st, dc2tog, ch2, turn. (7sts)
Round 3: dc2tog, dc in next 3  st, dc2tog, ch2, turn. (5sts)
Round 4: dc2tog, dc in next, dc2tog. Fasten off. Weave in ends. (3sts)
Repeat earflap on other side of hat.

Trim:

Attach Buff fleck yarn to hat at end of earflap. sc around in each st, going around earflaps.

Ear and Mouth:

I used the pattern as shown for both the ears and the mouth: http://knottyknotty.blogspot.ca/2011/03/free-sock-monkey-hat-pattern.html

Carefully place ear and mouth and fasten to hat.


Braids:

For the braids I used (2) 24" strings of each color. Folded the bunch in half as attached as if it were a fringe.  I then braided the yarn with each color seperated as a (4) string bunch. Knot at the end and trim the ends.

Pined it, Made it, it worked!

This project, like so many of mine, was something I made over a year ago, Feb 2012.  During one of our gatherings on a Wed. night at my house I decided I was going to try making something I had seen on Pinterest.  I had some yarn left over from a previous project so I only had to buy some ribbon for the ends.  The tutorial I followed is called "The knotted headband."  I like to think of it as a Celtic knot.

 

The tutorial is great, it was very easy to follow, had clear instructions and pictures, and was true to the final product.  Best of all this was a quick project, I would say no longer than 1 hour to complete the entire thing.  You can find the tutorial here: http://youseriouslymadethat.blogspot.com/2011/02/knotted-headband.html

 

 

One week I decided to wear my knotted headband to dance class.  Everyone loved it, I got many compliments and when I told everyone I made it they seemed surprised. A few people asked me to make headbands for them as well and I happily said yes.

 

 The light pink headband was the first one I made.  I was able to make the second one, a dance class request, with the same spool of ribbon as my original.

 

This is a progress picture of another one I'm working on.  I will have to go pick out another spool of ribbon to finish it.

 

For more great projects like this be sure to follow my "Too legit to knit" board on Pinterest here: http://pinterest.com/hccarroll/

 

Another Blanket for Guendie

So it's been quite some time since our last post, not because we haven't been busy crocheting, but because all of our lives have been quite full.  We've all been working on making gifts for the babies that are entering/have recently entered our families... something must be in the water!  Anyhow, I thought I'd send a quick blog out here before I get too sidetracked with taking care of baby.  After making two afghans for Guendie I wanted to make a real special afghan for her.  I bought some cute pink and variant yarn and started on a new stitch.  After about 4 incredibly long rows, I wasn't happy with how it was turning out and after showing Marvin it, he said it looked a little old lady, so that project went to scrap.  I then realized that I have a pattern I really like, one that I've used three times before on afghans and twice on scarves... I would make my baby version of the Classic Style Afghan from this blog I posted a few years back.  I originally started with just pink, blue and white, but after crocheting those three colors together realized it looked a little too patriotic, so I went to the store and bought a purple skein.  This pattern was great because it only used 2 skeins of white and 1 skein of each color (in Jo Ann Sensations Cuddle brand).

Baby Afghan and Headband

With a little of the leftover yarn I made a baby headband to match the style of this blanket and then created the flower I did for my cousin's headband last year (read how to make it in this old blog).  I still have some extra yarn in these colors so I'll probably make more headbands as little Guendie grows.

Giraffe Hat Pattern

A few weeks ago I just finished my little monkey and had time to start a new project. Marvin suggested I make a little Christmas gift for his cousin's daughter. So I checked my Pinterest pins and found a giraffe hat that would be perfect for her. The pin took me to the site ( http://damnitjanetletscrochet.blogspot.com/2011/12/giraffe-beanie-with-earflaps_13.html?m=1) and I started this project. It was a fairly easy and quick pattern to make since the directions were very clear to follow. At first I had sewn on some eyes but I didn't like them so cut them off and opted for buttons instead. After I finish my current blanket which just needs a border, and the blanket after that, I intend on making more hats and headbands for baby Guendie.

Christmas-time Crochet

It's that time of year again where everyone is putting out their holiday decorations and/or making some new ones.  Last night was my company's internal holiday party and everyone really got in the spirit of things.  A co-worker of mine had asked me to crochet her a Christmas Wreath.  She gave me some green yarn and I was able to make the wreath below for her.

A simple wreath

For the pattern all I did was crochet a chain that I thought would be a good side for the inside of the wreath.  I then did a double crochet in each chain and joined.  For row two I did a double crochet in two stitches followed by 2 double crochets in the next one, and repeated till the end and joined.  And for the last row I did a double crochet in five stitches followed by 2 double crochets in the next one and again repeated till the end and joined.  Luckily I was at HDH making this and good ole Ethel had some red yarn for me to use and weave in to give this otherwise bland wreath some character.

I gave the finished product to my friend and she put it with the rest of her decorations. 

Then later in the day our holiday party started so I was walking around the agency keeping my eye open for some crocheted gems... I was surprised that there were so many items this year!  Here were some of the most memorable crocheted items I could find:

Large crocheted Santa that someone's mother-in-law made

In the area that decorated with a '70s theme they threw lots of crocheted afghans everywhere.

Here's another crazy Santa, his hat and face are crocheted..

Pink Monkey Pattern

With Baby Guendie coming to us in a little under 4 months, I have a list of lots of projects I want to work on for her.  With one afghan out of the way, I thought it was time to make a little stuffed animal for her.  I really wanted to make this, since Marvin and I want to take monthly pictures of our baby with a stuffed animal to see how much she grows each month (and if it's something I've made I feel it will be more special.)

After picking out a monkey theme for her room I found this pattern on pinterest and knew I'd have to make it for her.  Overall I really enjoyed this pattern, it was clear and easy to follow.  Using only single crochets, slip stitches, and decreased single crochets.  I was just about to post that my mouth didn't turn out as pictured in the pattern, but this could have been fixed by easily adding a few extra rows to make it bigger.  Now after I re-read the pattern I see that I actually WAS supposed to do that... whoops!  At the time I saw it was smaller, but thought that a monkey's mouth can look like that... sort of like Curious George, so I decided on assembling the mouth to the head as is.

Guendie's little pink monkey.

I promised my little niece that I'd make her one in blue, so I'll have to do that in a couple months after I get all these baby things done. 

Santa stocking

Woohoo! It's finally done!

This isn't one of my crocheting projects but I thought it was blog worthy for two reasons.
1. Most people who like to crochet also like other crafts
2. This has been taking away time from my crocheting projects

I purchased this felt stocking kit back in December of 09 and have been working on it a little bit each year. Finally I decided Kevin needed a completed stocking for the Christmas season this year so I made it a priority to get this project off my list. Check it out!