Fall Hats for Kids

 I really love hats. They are cute and practical. I love putting my kids in hats all year round, something different for each season. I've done summer bucket hats and knitted all kinds of winter hats. I figured it was time to make some fall hats. Because why not? They keep the head warm when it's chilly and can hide all sorts of bed hair. Aside from that, it's extra sun protection. A triple "A" in my book.

 Inspired by this tutorial, you might recall that I made some newborn hats right away for my neighbor. Well, I have a few more friends having boys this fall, so I bought some knit fabric and made the two hats above (times four and counting).

 Then I enlarged the pattern a bit and, with some trial and error, made these two hats for my daughter.

The hounds tooth fabric was leftover from a few projects I did last year like this scarflette and this skirt. I used some interlock black fabric for the bottom portion. The bow happened to come from a stuffed animal (who never wore it!). I just sewed it on.

The blue flower fabric below I bought at Girl Charlee. It's so soft and feminine.

While I was at it, I let my son choose his fabric of choice and made a hat for him too. It's so big compared to the newborns'! (And could've been a little bigger too, I think.)

The kids love their new hats and I love them in them!

Now I'm thinking...one for myself?

Happy sewing!

Knit Baby Hat with Embroidery

My friend in Ohio had a baby earlier this week and I had this little green hat knitted up and ready to embellish once the baby's gender was announced. 

Well, it's a girl!

 Nora Jane was born Monday afternoon, so I got right to work embroidering a tiny label for the hat.

Yay! So glad Nora is finally here!
Linking up here!

Striped Organic Cotton Hat with Apple Applique

And another hat unearthed from the winter bins. This hat is made from organic cotton and I realized after I made it that it's...not very warm. So it's not often worn. 

But then I sewed a puffy apple on the side and my son wore it a lot (back in the fall). I started to think, Maybe he didn't wear it because it wasn't warm. Maybe he just didn't like it. Well, since adding the apple, he has liked it much more.

My son later requested a full-fledged apple hat which I knitted earlier this winter. You can see it here.

I was happy to see him wearing this hat again today. (And he never complained about being cold.) :)

This pattern came from the book, Easy Baby Knits: Clothes and Accessories for 0-3 Year-olds, by Claire Montgomerie.

I'm linking up at My Creative Space today!

Simple Knit Rectangle Hat with Pom Poms

Here in Boston, we are waiting (and waiting) for spring to arrive. Today, we had snow flurries! So, alas, it was time to bundle up (yet again) before heading out. I came across a hat we hadn't seen all winter... THIS ONE!

I made this hat back when my son was a toddler, but my daughter came across it today and I realized I hadn't posted anything about it.

It's a very simple hat to make!

I bought some multi-colored yarn to give the hat some interest and set to work with a garter stitch. I knitted a big, long rectangle, then folded it over and sewed up the seam. Then I knitted two very (very) long I-cords and sewed them on. Lastly, I made 4 pom-poms. Very easy!

Here's my daughter sportin' the hat today. I like how it droops on her head. :)

And here's my son who wanted to wear it out. It's obviously tighter on him now as I made it for him to wear when he was my daughter's age. But I still think it looks cute.

 He had fun swinging the pom-poms!

Knitted Apple Hat...upon request

A couple MONTHS ago, my son requested, ever so kindly, a knitted apple hat. Well, I finally got around to selecting the yarn and knitting it up. 

Now this is only my second hat that I've knit in the round. And the double-pointed needle part at the end REALLY tortured me. Lots of mistakes. Fortunately, the inserting-of-the-stem-and-leaves bit helped conceal some of the mistakes. 

This hat is based on a pattern by Susan B. Anderson, which I think I found in her cool book Itty Bitty Hats. (But I didn't use the recommended yarn and I also went off pattern at the end during the double-pointed needle part.) The small leaf was a part of Susan's pattern, but I made a larger one as well because I thought the hat needed it. I think it looks better this way too. :)

And here are my two kids going in different directions. My daughter is wearing a hat I knit for her last winter and now it finally fits!
I'm linking up to Tea Rose Home!
Great inspiration on this lovely blog!

Newborn Baby Hat for Baby in Need

A handmade cap can save a life!

My friend, Alison, told me about this organization called Save the Children and the project they were doing called Caps for Good.

From their website:

Baby caps are a simple and effective tool that can keep babies warm and ultimately contribute to reducing newborn deaths in the developing world.

I was intrigued! As a mom with two little ones who likes to knit, how could I not contribute to this worthy cause? How could I not want to help? 

The site provides a simple knitting pattern (as well as a crochet pattern for you crocheters) and then explains what to do with the cap when it's done.

I'm excited to think my cap will help save a life! I really hope that it will keep a baby warm this spring.

Below is the full link to the project. I had trouble inserting it above.

http://multimedia.savethechildren.org/video/caps2010PDFs/Caps%20for%20Good%20Action%20Kit%2010.25.10.pdf

Ladybug Hat

I really don't think my camera (or my, eh-hem, photography skills) do this hat justice. It's a ladybug hat! And it's my new favorite.

 My daughter was a ladybug for Halloween and so the ladybug theme has just carried over. Once again, I saw something like this on Etsy and thought, I can DO that! So I did some knit 1, purl 1 ribbing at the bottom and then switched over to stockinette stitch and then sewed up the seam. I sewed on felt circles for the spots and, quite frankly, it's one of my better hats. 

And I was so thrilled the other day when when my daughter reached into the hat basket by the door and chose this one on the way out of the house! Here she is modeling the hat. Notice she's carrying her brother's Thomas the Train lunchbox. I don't quite understand what her fascination is with this thing, but every time she gets the chance, she snatches it up and walks away. Funny girl.

Cupcake Crazy!

There are so many cute cupcake hats out there, especially on Etsy. I thought, I can do that!

This is my first attempt at a knitted cupcake hat.

I liked it, but thought it looked a little pointy. So I changed yarn and came up with 

this one.

 With this hat, I used the same super bulky brown yarn for the bottom, but used a softer bulky, combined with a very thin sparkly yarn for the icing part.

 The first "sparkly" hat came out too big, so I made a smaller one. Now my daughter and I can have matching hats. :-) 

 Here are some action shots.

I have another idea for a third type of cupcake hat in mind, but I'm not sure when I'll get to it. I have many other ideas in my mental queue of crafts!

Snowman Hat ~ Now We're Ready for Snow!

I got this really cute pattern from Susan B. Anderson's Itty Bitty Hats. Though I've knitted several hats for my kids, this was the first time I knitted in the round. I think it was an overall success, though I need more practice with the 4 double-pointed needles!

My favorite part about this project was knitting, and

then sewing on, the carrot nose.

Knitted Hat and Sweater for baby girl

Here's my first attempt at a sweater. It wasn't exactly easy, but I learned a lot in the process. I got the pattern off of LionBrand.com, along with the thick & quick chunky yarn. I used size 13 US (I think) needles and it took me about a month to do (here and there).

This pattern had me do the sweater in chunks (right front panel, left front panel, back, sleeves). I thought at the time that this was a pain, but now I'm working on a sweater that's knit up in just two big pieces (front and back) and I'm finding it a lot more difficult, boring, etc. (More on that to come.) Anyway, by doing this pattern, I learned how to do pockets, edging (not sure if that is what it's called), and a collar. There are several mistakes, namely I sewed the seems up wrong. You can kind of see this in the sleeve where it's bunched. But oh well! It's done. Next time I'll know better (if there is a next time! Ha!).

As for the hat, I think it's cute, but the size is for a 12 month old. It is seriously big. I tried it on my son's friend who is 3 and it fit her perfectly. Well, I'd rather it be too big than too small, right? I have the bottom of the hat rolled in this picture just so it wouldn't look too enormous next to the sweater. Ha!

Pixie Hat

I made this cute pixie hat from a ball of leftover Debbie Bliss cashmerino, based on this pattern. I think it turned out pretty well despite some problems:

1. I ran out of yarn.

2. I didn't understand the finishing directions.

3. I wrote an email to the knit designer and didn't hear back so I had to figure out something to make the hat work.

It's a little big on my daughter right now, but I figure it's better being too big than too small. Oddly enough, the size for this hat was 6 months and that's the age of my daughter in the picture. Oh well! I attribute the errors to numbers 1-3 above! I still think it's cute!*

*Cute when it stays on. She loves to pull it off, or slide it back off her head which then make the chinstrap a bit of a problem...

Debbie Bliss Hat

I made this hat for my daughter while she was still in utero. Once I found out she was a girl, I found some pink yarn in my stash and got to work. The pattern is an easy one from one of Debbie Bliss's baby knits books. It was quick and easy to do!

Many Hats

One of the first things I started to knit (once I learned how to knit and purl) was hats. My son got several of them and since my daughter arrived, I have made three for her. My son definitely has his favorites -- like the pumpkin hat which was intended for the Fall season only. (ha!) And it's also the one I've received most comments on from strangers. Being the brightest hat in the bunch, I can also always spot my son in a crowd!