Are You Dying?

I mean...are you? You should be dying of cuteness overload right now.

Dad Dad Daddy-O Blanket

When I started college in 2000, I met a girl who taught me how to crochet square blankets. She showed me how to crochet hdch clusters in rounds and how to change colors. I made an incredible black and red blanket that started with 7 rows of black, then 1 row of red, then 6 rows of black, 2 rows of red, 5 rows of black, and so on in that fashion. The blanket ended up to be about 6 sq ft or more, and it was super awesome. Unfortunately, I gave it away; and I will never see it again or have a picture of it. It's kind of like the big legendary fish that got away but is still discussed by old fishermen at the bar and when they buy their bait at the bait shop. Or wherever they might buy their bait. Well the fish blanket legend lives on in the Dad Dad Daddy-O Blanket. Crocheted exactly as the original fish blanket, Dad Dad Daddy-O currently resides in a closet in Pittsburgh, a testament to why you don't crochet elaborate gifts for people who don't ask for them.Side note, I am using a version of Microsoft borrowed from a friend since my computer crashed, and apparently if you don't/can't register it, the software loses many of its applications. I am worried my Microsoft Office Picture Manager will give out and a friend recommended Picnik. Honestly, check it out. It is amazing.

Hat Fest: FIN

And so Hat Fest comes to an end with Le Chapeau de Tara. This is the final version of the Reversible Sweater Dress/Hat. I stopped increases on the original pattern I was following when I thought the hat was big enough. I added a brim using a pattern I found online, stitching it to the beanie in blo to create a division between the parts. Then I finished with slst in every st around the hat, and I did slst over the brim to further create the division. Comfortable and warm, Le Chapeau is a simple hat for any occasion!

You in One of My Hats

More Hilariousness

Blue Bonnet Bell Cloche

I am not sure if this is obvious from previous posts, but generally I get my inspiration from when I go shopping. Half the time I look at clothes, I think to myself or say to Iron Martin, "why would I spend $50 on that when I can make it?" And of course, the cost of the yarn itself is usually twice that, and it takes 10 hours to make something without a pattern when I could have bought it in 5 minutes. Those arguments aside, here was the inspiration for the Blue Bonnet Bell Cloche, an adorable $42 hat at Anthropologie:

I absolutely loved this hat, and thought it was so adorable on; but I could not bring myself to buy yet another grey hat from Anthropologie, since I already have two, especially for $42. Eh, maybe I will still buy it...

I started this hat as a beanie, which normally has increases of hdc in every row for the back of the head and then levels off. Once I was done making the normal beanie, I started with increases of hdc in exactly the same way as I left off. I didn't want it to look like a bucket hat so I only made a few that went entirely around and then worked it like a big brim.I am loving sea foam colors lately so I bought a couple skeins. I kept insisting that I never mix colors, and it was going to be entirely sea foam. Once I got to the end of the beanie, I realized my sea foam wasn't going to make it so I added in some navy blue (left over from the first bell cloche I tried to make!). I added a little flower applique to the band, which I think makes it totally adorable. Maybe I'll add some better pictures later since I look terrible in these, and I think it makes the hat less cute by association. I wear it every day!

Reversable Sweater Dress/Hat

Believe it or not: this hat also turns into a sweater. Technically, yes. It's name postmortem, Sweater Dress/Hat was just a normal brimmed cabbie hat until I pulled it apart to make a sweater dress (soon to be featured on TeaBeans). But its legend lives on in pictures, and here they are for your viewing eyeballs:The pictures are dark, but you can get the idea. Sweater Dress/Hat is a big beret with a brim. Evidently I misjudged the gauge because this hat turned out WAY bigger than the picture. (I think I pulled a pattern from LionBrandYarn.com, but I can't remember.) At any rate, it was a pretty cool hat with a ribbing pattern (blo-style), but it was just too big and heavy. The hat is still stylin though. It did looked very much like hats featured in Urban Outfitters and Free People. See for yourself:

Savannah Baby Hat

My brother had a baby girl! My Christmas gift to baby Savannah was an orange ear flap hat with a big pink flower on the side. I used a flower pattern I found in my Crocheting School book and a hat pattern I found online. I modified the hat pattern to have a shell edging that I got from a scarf I bought at H&M. The shell pattern is 5 dch in one st, sch in next st, 5 dch in following st around. I think it came out adorable! Look at the beautiful model herself: