Scrappy Cap

It's the fall! Which means, it's vaguely cooler than it was a few weeks ago. Cooler weather always leads to me wanting to knit something. It's a hobby/craft that I really shouldn't drop just because it's not chilly, but I always do.

I started with the thought that I wanted to make the Bean (one of many nicknames for my daughter) a fun, unique hat for the winter. So, I hopped onto Ravelry and started looking for a pattern. The only caveat being that I was pretty sure I wanted ear flaps and I definitely wanted a free pattern (yes, I am cheap).

I found an adorable Snowman Hat but it required Fair Isle Knitting, which I had never done before. Yikes! What do I do? First, I polled the few experienced knitters I knew. Unfortunately they didn't have much experience/advice to offer. So, I polled my friends to see if they knew anyone who might know.

I ended up (at the suggestion of a friend of a friend) trying out a snowflake pattern (again, from Ravelry) to see if I could do Fair Isle. Success! So then, being the crazy person I am, I decided to attempt the Skull pattern (which is, of course the boy pattern- but that's a story for another time/blog) of the original Cheery Scrap Cap, put out by Petite Purls.

The hat calls for seven colors. Seven! Yes, I don't choose anything easy as a first try. I ended up using six, and modifying the pattern a bit- which I knew I would have to do anyways, as I wanted to make a version with yarn I already had. My colors clearly did not match those of the original pattern.

When I finished the hat (which I made in the "infant" size, but it came out a little small as I used a smaller weight of yarn/needles), I decided that I liked it so much I wasn't going to bother with the Snowman hat. Not to mention, I'm currently trying to "up-size" the pattern for my adult head.

A few notes (take them or leave them, as you chose): for me, the infant size was a little small to knit in the round. If I make another one in that size, I would use double pointed needles for the whole thing. I left my tails (when I changed colors) suuuuuuper long. Which worked out fine for me, as I just used the extra to make the pom pom. I'm pretty sure the reason the word "scrap" is in the name of the hat is because it uses such a small amount of each color, that you could use left over yarn in your stash (from other projects). This was a super quick project for me- even with the newly learned Fair Isle technique. I made the hat entirely on my train commute. It took me about a week- so about 8 train rides for a total of maybe 16 hours.

I'm calling this one the Scrappy Cap because of the book the Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles. I love that book so much. In the book, the children wear/use what they call "Scrappy Caps" to boost their imaginations. I have great associations with that, and I can't wait for the Bean to be old enough to read that book.

If you're on Ravelry, you can find me as "risykay99."

Also? I'm trying to figure out how to add a Pinterest button on my blog. That's where I store a lot of my ideas and inspiration lately. I'd love for you to join me!

Princess Hat

This is a project from a few weeks ago. I would've posted it sooner but my little lady (who is not so little anymore at 15lbs) has been sick.

A few weeks ago we went to a birthday party for my friend's two year old daughter. I wanted to make her something unique and special. Out of the hodge podge of ideas I had, I decided to go with a Princess dress up set.

This Princess hat was pretty easy. All I needed was some felt, tulle, and sturdy interfacing. I've sewn with interfacing before, but in the past I've used light to medium weight interfacing. This stuff? Was crazy sturdy.

I cut out a triangle shape from the aqua felt- in retrospect I should have made the bottom curved, but I didn't think about that until too late. The bottom part was the length of the birthday girl's head circumference (so, if the head you are sewing for is 18 inches around, you want an 18 inch bottom), plus an inch for her to grow into it. I cut the same shape out of the interfacing and ironed it onto the felt.

Once that was done, I cut the "R" out of purple felt and appliqued it onto the aqua felt. I used an iron on fusible web fabric to attach the "R" to the aqua felt before I sewed it. I wanted to make sure it didn't slide out of place. I just used a simple zig zag stitch to attach it.

Before sewing up the side seam of the hat, I took my tulle (4 strips- 2 each of aqua and purple) and attached them to the top of the hat- with the short ends facing in towards where the seam would be.

Then, I sewed the two sides of the triangle together and once I was finished, I turned it inside out. Viola! Quick and easy project.

Later this week I'll show you the other pieces of the dress up set.