Family Santa Hats

Everyone in the family got a hat! But only just.  Each of our hats was reworked at least twice. . . boy do these ones stretch.  I used TuTu Boutique's pattern from Ravelry.  I sized down to an H hook (I think. . . the last few weeks are a bit of a blur) and the body of the hat ended up with the following number of stitches for each member of the family:

Kate (hat was too big in the end. . . I'll maybe fix it next year) - 70 sts

Kevin - 65 sts

Amelia (5) - 50 sts

Zoe (16 months) - 43 sts

We're following my English roots and not taking the decorations down til the 4th/5th of January so maybe they'll get a little more wear yet.  

Christmas Cookies

It is that time of year, where I take over the kitchen and dining room and make Christmas cookies.  We give them as gifts to friends, teachers, and child watch staff so it has become quite the undertaking.

Every year I tweak what I make and this year discovered a great blog just before I started baking.  I switched from the Martha Stewart royal icing recipe that I've been using for the last four years but has caused me a few issues lately to one courtesy of The Sweet Adventures of SugarBelle. For the first time I made two different consistencies of icing (piping and flooding) and it made such a huge difference to how neatly I was able to pipe. . . and for the first time in a while I had no clogs. . . even in my #1 tips.  I'll be using this method again, although I may try to work on getting a glossier finish next time.  I miss that from Martha's recipe.

This is what 250 cookies looks like stacked.

And here's a few of this years cookies.

Hopefully, next year I'll remember to get started in November and maybe make a little less red icing. I have a huge bowl left in my fridge.

Cloche Hat

I first made this hat for Zoe in the spring.

I've just finished making one for my cousin's daughter, Eva. . . just in time for Mum to take it over to England with her.  It was made to fit a five year old, hence Amelia modeling.

I used this pattern from Crochet Kitten, with a g hook and Bernat Softee Baby yarn in flannel.  The smaller hook and lighter (is that the right word?) yarn help me crochet to a similar size as the pattern.

I sized it up to a child size as follows:
In my magic circle, dc 23 in ring, making 12 shells per round throughout the pattern.  Repeat rounds 4-5 through round 17, so there are 19 rounds in total.

I ran out of ribbon for Eva's hat so just used some shiny yarn and an h hook for the rim and center of the flower.

Santa Hats

As promised, Amelia got a Santa Hat for Thanksgiving.  I wasn't too sure about this one as I was making it, but I love the way it falls when she wears it.  I have a second one on my hook.  It was going to be for me, but since the bells performance I was making it for tomorrow got cancelled, it may be Zoe's instead as she keeps trying to steal her sister's hat.  We'll see if I manage to make one for the whole family by Christmas. . . .there's one or two other things on my to do list.

I used this pattern from TuTu Chic Boutique on Ravelry and Lion Brand Vanna's Choice in cranberry and Bernat Pipsqueak in white.

Amelia's Turkey Hat

The five year old has picked up on Mummy's dislike of Christmas starting before Thanksgiving and taken it to a whole new level this year.  The mention of anything Christmas-related is met with hands covering ears and often screeching.  So, she requested a turkey hat and thanks to Kristen Hankins' My Creative Side Blog I was able to oblige.  

In a way, making this hat sums up my crocheting experience.  For some reason, I crochet big (if anyone has any suggestions, I'd love to hear them).  So after three attempts at the beanie I ended up crocheting the 2-4 year old size with a g hook instead of an h. . . and it's still a little big for my average sized 5 year old.

Now I need to get making a Santa hat (why do I tell her what my plans are??) as she has declared that as soon as Thanksgiving is over, she can't possibly wear the turkey any more. :) Oh well, at least it will still fit her next year.

Festive Striped Beanie with Flower

As a first post, how about my first pattern writing experience?  Zoe (14 months) has been wearing a pumpkin hat all fall and Amelia (5) has declared that it's time Zoe got a new hat. . . so this is what I came up with.  It's a little tight but maybe it will stretch out once she's worn it for a while.  

Materials:
Worsted weight yarn in cranberry and white.

H hook

Tapestry needle

Beanie (12-18 months):
Round 1: Using cranberry yarn magic ring, chain 1, 9 HDC in ring, join, chain 1

Round 2: Work 2 HDC into each st around, join, chain 1 (18 HDC)

Round 3: *2 HDC in first stitch, HDC in next*, repeat around, join, chain 1 (27 HDC)

Round 4: *2 HDC in first stitch, HDC in next 2*, repeat around, join, chain 1 (36 HDC)

Round 5: *2 HDC in first stitch, HDC in next 3*, repeat around, join, chain 1 (45 HDC)

Round 6: *2 HDC in first stitch, HDC in next 14*, repeat around, join, chain 1 (48 HDC)

Rounds 7-12: HDC into each st around, join, chain 1 (48 HDC)

Round 13: Switch to white yarn, join, SC in each stitch around (48 SC)

Rounds 14-16: SC in each st around, join, chain 1 (48 SC)

Round 17: Switch to cranberry yarn, join, HDC in each stitch around, join, chain 3 (48 HDC)

Round 18: 2 DC in same stitch as chain, *skip 2 st, SC in next st, skip 2 st, 5 DC in next st* 7 times, skip 2 st, SC2TOG, 2 DC in same st as chain. Finish off. (8 Fans)

Flower:

I added this flower from The Party Artisan.