Christmas Cowls

Christmas 2016 was the year of the cowl. My eldest niece Taryn, a budding fashionista, requested a red knit cowl and, once I make one cowl, momentum took hold and I made all the nieces their own cowl.

I even made my mom a cowl (Pictured below). I liked Taryn's red cowl so much that I made one for myself. I didn't write detailed patterns for the scarves, but I have included my notes below for reference.

Red Cowl for Taryn

Yarn used: Bernat Satin Yarn in Crimson

I used the yarn doubled (two strands worked as one) with size 10.5 circular needles.

I cast on 61 stitches and knit in seed stitch until the cowl was ~8 inches tall and cast off.

 I would have made it an inch or two taller, but, alas, I ran out of yarn.

Teal Cowl for Carleigh

Yarn used: Deborah Norville Everyday Soft Worsted Solid Yarn in Peacock

I used the yarn doubled (two strands worked as one) with size 10.5 circular needles.

I cast on 65 stitches and knit in seed stitch until the cowl was ~9-10 inches tall and cast off.

Plum Cowl for Audra

Yarn used: I can't remember exact brand. Similar weight to the Bernat Satin.

I didn't take any notes on this one, I am guessing it was the same as the red cowl.

Bulky Blue Cowl for Quinn

Yarn used: Loops and Threads Charisma yarn in Electric blue

Cast on 61 stitches with size 10.5 needles.

Knit in seed stitch until ~9-10 inches tall and cast off.

Mustard yellow Cowl for Meleah (and I made one for my sister Holly too!)

Yarn used: Caron one pound yarn in Sunflower

Cast on 51 stitches with size 11 needles (yarn doubled, two strands worked as one)

Knit in seed stitch until ~9-10 inches tall and cast off.

Orange cowl for Lyza

Yarn used: I think Red Heart Super Saver in Carrot...

Directions: same as Mustard cowl for Meleah

Light turquoise yarn for Mombo (aka, my mother)

This was a super fine acrylic yarn from a local yarn store. I used the yarn doubled and smaller needles. I forgot to take notes on this one...

Mustard scarf made to support Iowa Hawkeyes in Rose Bowl in 2016

Wanted to include some notes on this cowl I made in January 2016 to support the Iowa Hawkeyes during their Rose Bowl game (too bad they got trounced by Stanford...). I used the yarn doubled and size 15 needles. I can't remember how may stitches, but made it so it could be worn open or wrapped around once. This one was a super quick knit that only took ~2-3 hours.

Elsa Knit Hat

  Here is the Elsa themed knit hat I made for my nieces Taryn and Carleigh. These were the first two Frozen hats that I knit and I am excited to finally publish a blog post about them. You can find the Anna hat here and the Olaf hat here.

All of the patterns that I found online were not quite what I wanted to make, so I designed my own pattern with a tiara, snowflakes, and a big white-blonde braid. I originally designed the braid to go straight down the back of the hat, but my nieces tended to wear the hats so that the braid was on the side, so in the future, I would put the braid a bit off center so that the tiara could be dead center.

The pattern for this hat can be found here on Ravelry, here on Craftsy, or purchased directly here. 

Frozen Inspired Anna Knit Hat

Photo Credit: Kate Arjes

I hope you all are ready for the second installment of my Frozen-inspired knit hats! (I previously posted the Olaf knit hat.)

Photo Credit: Holly Burbridge

Here is the Anna knit hat as modeled by my niece Audra this Christmas. I think she liked the hat! I really liked the way it turned out. The flower detailing was inspired by Anna's dress and the colors were inspired by her hooded cape. I even made sure to add the white streak in her braid.

You can find the pattern on Ravelry here, on Craftsy here, or purchase directly here.

Photo Credit: Kate Arjes

Olaf-inspired Knit Hat

My sister's kids modeling their Frozen-themed hats

Christmas of 2014 in my mind will always be the year of the Frozen hats! I decided to make all six of my nieces frozen-themed hats. (Yes, that is right, I have SIX NIECES, 4 from my sister and 2 from my brother - it is a bit of a joke in my family that if I ever have kids they will all be boys!). The eldest nieces of each family got Elsa hats, the second eldest nieces got Anna hats, and my sister's 6-month-old baby got a Sven reindeer hat (patterns for these will be published soon).

I made an Olaf hat for Quinn, my sister's third daughter. As an aside, if you want to see how quickly kids grow up, check out ~8 month old Quinn in her Polar Bear knit hat from Christmas of 2012.

 I was not happy with any of the Olaf patterns that I found online as most of them were crochet patterns and I prefer to knit. Therefore, I decided to create my own pattern. You can see for yourself how it turned out!

The pattern begins with a basic white knit earflap hat (optional crochet border). Then all the face details are either embroidered or knit separately and sewn on.

This pattern can be found here on Ravelry, here on Craftsy or purchased directly here. Please let me know if you find any mistakes or have any questions about the pattern! 

Hopefully this pattern will bring smiles to many people's faces and countless warm hugs. :)

My Instagram "Before" Picture

My Instagram "After" Picture - #nailedit

Easy 2-needle Baby Slippers

This is a super easy pattern for baby slippers. These slippers can be knit up in a few hours and are the perfect gift for a baby shower or the baby kiddos in your life.

These can be made out of any scrap yarn, baby yarn, or worsted weight yarn. The green slippers pictured above are made out of worsted weight yarn. The cream slippers pictured on my niece Taryn are made out of Sensations Boucle yarn.

The pattern for these slippers can be found here. This pattern was based off a pattern I found online in 2008, but that link is broken now. Enjoy my version!

The slippers look like this after casting off.

The slippers are folded and the back and bottom are sewed together.

Here is a picture of the seam along the bottom of the slipper.

Peachy Baby Blanket

To welcome my newest niece to the world, I did what I do best! I got to knitting and made this blanket. I found this awesome baby blanket yarn at Joann's - Bernat Baby Blanket Yarn. It is super soft and feels like a plush blanket when knit up. I bought 2 skeins of "peachy" and got to work.

I originally intended the blanket to be a square with a target pattern of varying knitting stitches. However, halfway through I realized that I did not have enough yarn or time to finish the entire blanket. I edited the pattern to be a rectangle as diagrammed below. It still ended up plenty large enough for the new little one measuring in at approximately 48" by 32". I used a 29" size 10.5 needle to hold all the stitches.

Polar Bear Knit Hat

Delta Polar Bear Napkins source

The inspiration:
I was flying back from my friend Sarah's wedding a few weeks ago. When the flight attendant handed me my drink, the accompanying napkin was none other than the Coca Cola polar bear theme. I thought, "Wouldn't that make a cute baby hat!"

After finishing some other hats (cat hat, Bird-dog hat, pottery hat, and Football hat), I was all set to begin this hat.  Luckily, I was also home for Thanksgiving and my 8-month-old niece Quinn nearby so I could make sure I got the fit right. The hat pattern is written for her (17" head size) but would stretch to fit most babies from 6 months to 1+ year. It is very easy to make the hat larger for older kids or smaller for infants by changing the number of stitches cast on. Click here for the pattern. For a tutorial on embroidering the eyes, click here.

Knit Cat Hat

 We did Thanksgiving at Christmas for half of the family this year so I have been very busy designing and making hats for the fam.  I made this hat for my 3-year-old niece who loves kitties.  I used a lilac purple for the hat and cream for the kitties.

The pattern for the hat is found here and information about the pattern is here.  It is relatively simple and uses color work.  If you need to learn how to switch colors, here is a good tutorial for color work.  I considered embroidering on cat eyes, nose, and whiskers, but I thought it looked good without those embellishments.

I made this hat almost entirely on my 5 hour ride home for Thanksgiving! Stay tuned for more patterns for my stocking hat gifts!

Elmo and Cookie Monster Knit Hats

 I am excited to lead off my blog with my favorite original design.  I was inspired to knit my niece Taryn an Elmo hat for her second birthday because she loved Elmo at the time.  I made a hat to fit her head (or so I thought, it ended up stretching and being big enough for me at the end) and then knit some balls for eyes and an elongated ball for the nose.  Even though it was too big, the kiddos still enjoyed playing around with the hats, hopefully as much as I enjoyed making them!

The pattern for the Elmo hat can be found here.  This is the first pattern I have ever written, so please let me know if there are any corrections or if you have any questions.

The Cookie Monster hat can be made just like the Elmo Hat, but with blue yarn and without a nose.  As you can see, my hats were too big and when I made the hat again, I was sure to make my hat smaller and the appropriate size for a toddler.  My niece's cousin, Kennedy had fun showing just how big the hats were by pulling them down over her head.

For a tutorial on embroidering the eyes, click here.

Thanks to Taryn, Kennedy, and Carleigh for modeling the hats.  :)