Star Wars Crochet Beanie

I wanted to give my husband something he wouldn’t expect for Christmas. We decided not to have wish lists last Christmas to shake things up a bit, but that left me wondering what I could give him. There are people I can make crochet gifts that I know would love them. He’s not necessarily one of them, but if it’s something he wants, then he’s all in. He’s into Star Wars and he often complains that his head is cold when we are at Disneyland so an idea was born, and I took a chance.

I found a graph on Pinterest that I thought would work. It involved using Fair Isle crochet and boy did it take me forever. Ok, not forever, just forever for me. I still finished in a couple of days. However, it was super frustrating not to work as quickly as I usually do. I kept messing up too.

First, I had to readjust the pattern because I used a thicker yarn. That wasn’t too bad, but it did require work and math and all that jazz. Then, I forgot to to repeat the pattern and had to undo hours of work. But after all that, and probably because I had to redo my work, I got better and faster on my second-go-round. I also messed up on the Tie Fighter design and then had to compensate and adjust the pattern again on the fly because there was no way I was going to start over a third time.

In the end, I was happy with the hat, and if my hubby didn’t like it or didn’t want to wear it, I could always wear it. That was my devious plan all along, because I love Star Wars too! But he liked it, so I guess it’s his afterall.

Check out the pattern here. I am not affiliated with this site.

2019 Small Crochet Graduation Hats

It’s time for our 5th graders to leave our program and our school, as they get ready to go off to middle school. Every year, I make them a little crochet graduation cap  in the school’s colors. It’s my small way of letting them know I enjoyed knowing them and hope they remember me as they continue on in life.

This years presentation of the little caps was my favorite so far. I bought jumbo-size Jawbreaker lollipops and made the hats so they would fit snuggly. I used styrofoam cups and a styrofoam ball. The kids thought they were snow cones! Yeah, they did look like snow cones. 🙂

The kids really liked them. I wrote a post and I made a YouTube tutorial about it when I originally made the hats. Here’s a look back at some of the previous years.

Crochet Graduation Hats

The school year is over, and on the last week we have a party for our 5th graders as we send them off to middle school. It has become a tradition that I make them all a small crochet graduation hat as a keepsake.

This is from the tutorial I posted on YouTube

The caps I gave away last year

I made the little caps again but couldn’t decide how I wanted to present them. In the past, I have placed them on top of a stack of supplies like pencils and pens. I have dangled them from a candy wreath and sometimes I just handed them over. Candy is always a hit, so this year, I filled a baggie with Skittles and tried to make it look like a little face. I stuffed the bag into the hat. I wasn’t sure it would work but the kids loved it.

The latest round.

The face isn’t very artistic but the kids loved it.

Around this time of year, I get more views and questions on YouTube about the graduation hat. A few times, someone has asked me how to adapt it to make a real hat. Well, you can do the same thing as in the video but just make it bigger but after thinking about it, a few minor adjustments might be needed to make it sit right. I realized some might appreciate a video on it and as  I have no other pressing projects, I started working on a wearable version.

So far so good

I plan to make a YouTube video on it if it works out. So far, the head part seems to fit just right. I’m practicing with some yarn I had on hand which is why it’s grey, but once I have the pattern ironed out, I’ll pick a school color. I’m seeing a lot of red/burgundy and blue so it will probably be one of those colors.

Stay tuned, this might turn out interesting. 🙂

 

Disney Mickey Mouse Ears Crochet Ideas

Sometimes (always) I can become a little (a lot) focused (obsessed) about certain projects. We all remember the sweaters/coats I made. I just wanted to make one and ended up making three because I kept thinking the next one would be better. As it turns out, the first one is my favorite.

Then there was my Minecraft phase where it was all about Minecraft. That rolled into my Pokemon phase where I was making all kinds of Pokeballs. Oh, and the puppet phase. There are plenty of other phases I’ve gone through and right now I’m in the middle of my ‘Disney Mickey Mouse Ears’ stage. I have mouse ears coming out of my ears!

Let’s start at the beginning of the first ‘Ears’ phase. Awhile back, I crocheted my own hats to wear at Disneyland because we had passes. I wanted something unique and I made two for me and one for my hubby.

The first hat I made. This one was for me of course. 🙂

This one came second. The bow helped the ears stand upright.

This one was for hubby. He got many compliments whenever he wore it.

Progress Last Minute Crochet Projects

The Crowns

The crowns are done and my queens loved them. They picked really cool yarn colors that worked out really well. They keep trying to convince me to let them wear them now. Nope. They have to wait until it’s their week to be queen. Cruel, I know. 🙂 But in the meantime, the doll gets to wear them.

I get to wear the crown!

I might keep this one.

Jeffy the Puppet

This is what I’m working with. (Image courtesy of Pinterest) My version of Jeffy will have no diaper or pencil shoved up his nose. I refuse!

I started work on the easiest part of the  puppet, his t-shirt. I made a yellow tube in single crochet and embroidered his name on it. The yellow yarn I picked might not be exactly right but I think it’s close enough. In some pictures of Jeffy, the shirt looks bright yellow but in others, the yellow has more of an orange cast. I don’t think my student will complain about the color of the yarn.

My first attempt at the shirt came out a little wide so I ripped it back and tried again. I made it smaller, was happy, added the name, and then realized the first attempt was better. 😂 Oh well, I’m committed now.

The arms and legs came next. I didn’t feel like stuffing arms and legs, so I crocheted rectangles and rolled them up. Gives it dimension without having to stuff. I probably should add hands but I’m not sure I will yet. I guess it depends on how much time I have. He is supposed to have shoes but that might not happen either.

Don’t be alarmed by my headless body! It’s in the works.

I’m leaving the head for last. I’m not sure how I’m going to do it yet. Different ideas are marinating in my head and I’m almost ready to get started. I’ll probably take this part back to work with me and finish the head there. That will give the student the chance to say something about the hands and shoes. If he doesn’t, it stays the way it is. 🙃

 

 

Superman Beanie

I’m so excited! I just sold a beanie to someone I met at a craft fair where I had a booth selling my crochet. The person bought a Minecraft beanie I had made.

This is like the hat that sold.

He asked if I could make one with superman as the theme. I told him I was up to the challenge and I went for it. He showed me an illustration that looked very simple to duplicate. I delivered it today and he loved it.  Here’s what it looked like.

This is the actual hat I delivered today.

A side view that shows the color work.

Instead of crocheting in the round for these hats, I opted to crochet in rows since I wanted the ‘hair’ to go down the sides of the face in graduated steps. I did my increase rows in the same way I would as if crocheting in the round, top down.