Excellence in S’s and Zs!
I made this for myself because I tried on the shop sample at Black Sheep Wool Company and it was adorable and I can’t resist Baby Cashmerino yarn, and the sample fit beautifully. Unfortunately, mine turned out too big. It was easy to make, with an easily memorized vine and leaf pattern. It made me want to venture out and try more lace and more cables!
Perhaps some larger-headed friend will get this for xmas, because it’s done now and I can’t bear the thought of stitching elastic into the band.
(I borrowed this photo from the Crystal Palace Website, where you can see all the lovely colorways of Mochi Plus self-striping yarn)
I bought this gorgeous yarn at Black Sheep Wool Co. months ago. I knitted my favorite baby hat design.
It is so hideous that I couldn’t give it to the intended new mommy. I should have used one of their other colors!
I was reminded of this experience when Jane Brocket published this too-true post about the beauty of handpainted yarn…before it gets knitted up!
Please don’t go saying that this hat is beautiful. SOMEHOW, it is just marvelously photogenic, but I know you’d agree that in real life, it’s atrocious.
Photo Credit: Jama Rattigan
Here is an adorable photo of Erica Perl, author of the new children’s book “Chicken Butt!” sporting a very cool hat made my yours truly.
Erica contacted me a few months back and asked me to make a hat modeled on the one I made last year for the Boogedy, but before the plucking.
The body and drumsticks are white cotton, “Luna” by Cascade Yarns. The feet are also Luna, and they’re crocheted around a brown pipe cleaner for stability. The “feathers” are a polyester fluff yarn but I don’t remember the name.
This project was fun every step of the way (ok, the feet were a challenge) and elicited lots of laughs from people who watched me make it on the bus!
Congratulations Erica on a fun book, I’m so glad you trusted me to design your reading hat!
Last year I made a crazy chicken butt hat for my sweet Boogedy when he turned 1. I knew it would be hard to top. I tossed designs around in my head all year. Zach came up with this idea and it was up to me to research snake markings and design this gluttonous creature. He may be deadly, but perhaps he bit off more than he could swallow!
What you can’t see in this picture is that the hat tapers to a long, skinny snake body that hangs down off the top of the hat to the Boogedy’s neck. I’ll try to get that shot uploaded soon.
To tell if this is a poisonous Coral Snake or the look-alike King Snake, you can use this handy rhyme: Red next to yellow, you’re a dead fellow. Red next to black, You’re OK, Jack!
Happy 2nd birthday Boogedy!!
A few weeks ago, Erica Perl, a children’s book author, contacted me after seeing this post about a crazy hat I made last year. She has asked me to create something similar for her to wear while she does readings of her soon-to-be-released book, “Chicken Butt!”.
Erica sent a copy of the book to my son, and it happened to arrive on his birthday last week (the big 2!). I can’t wait to develop a new fuzzy hat to go with this adorable book. The silly text and great illustrations gave me a preview of our life two years from now when I have a joke-obsessed four-year-old.
Ooh, this yarn is luscious. I think it’s from Malabrigo’s Aquarella line, but honestly, I was so giddy as I put this baby on the ball-winder, that I cast away the ball band in haste without even looking! I went into Soul Spun looking for the perfect kidsilk haze or something like it to go with something else, and was helpless in the face of this beauty.
I took a huge series of photos trying to capture the hat’s texture and style just right, and trying not to capture any sheetrock, or pink insulation fluff, or water spots on the mirror. In looking at all these photos just now, I began to wonder when I started looking so…Mature…even in a cat hat.
Here Zach is in all his knitted xmas finery, plotting the next pillage. The hat is already his most complimented item of clothing ever.
The scarf is the Noro stripey fad that I first learned of through the Yarn Harlot. Kristin and I went shopping together, but used different colorways (her Ravelry link). We both made the mistake of reading “supplies: two balls”. She went back for more to match her first balls, but I decided to try a third colorway. It’s an interesting jog where the third ball meets, but I like it.
The hat is my own invention. I used Lamb’s Pride Bulky in dark gray for the beanie. The horns are crocheted from a skinny yarn Sonya gave me (koigu?) and stuffed firmly with fluff. I’m quite proud of the horns, especially that fact that I managed to make them the same size, when I never wrote down the pattern. Kristin and I spent ages cutting out napkins and thinking this thing through to get horns that curved this way! The braids are Cascade 220. The bolts are plastic buttons.
I’m working on writing up a pattern. Leave a comment if you’re interested!
In February of 2006, Zach’s friend Jeremiah came to Hollywood to visit us for the weekend. Zach and I had decided we might elope, if the time felt right. On a nice Sunday morning, Jer went online and got his minister’s license so he could officiate. When our regular Church of Brunch guests arrived, we told them that they were all invited to Griffith Park after brunch for an elopement party. Actually, we had told two close friends, Mike and Dorothy, about it ahead of time so they could be witnesses, but no one else knew.
Here’s a photo of us swearing our vows on a stack of pancakes (because we BELIEVE in pancakes). The Chibby ate most of them after the ceremony. Zach’s holding my bouquet because I was nervous and didn’t know where to put it while I was making my promises.
So anyway, I promised Jer a hat in thanks for his matrimonial services. He recently tried to talk me into felted slippers, but I just couldn’t bear doing another pair! So, he’s getting this awesome hat instead. The pattern is easy and FUN, find it at Spunky Eclectic. If Jer requests earflaps, I’ll post an update after they’re done.
So many new babies in the last year! I made a pixie hat for most. This rainbow hat is for my guy, whose sex was unknown until birth. You can see him in it here.
My nephew’s hat was photographed atop an appliquéd quilt made 25(?) years ago by my mom for her second granddaughter, Rachel:
Rachel is the recipient of pixie hat for her own daughter, born in January. This is the detail shot so you can really see the colorplay.
Pattern Notes: I found the Crystal Palace pattern to be too big when I used Koigu yarn (my favorite yarn for this project). So I cast on only 78 stitches and followed the pattern in all other regards…perfect for a newborn head. My friend Kristin (a Delicate Genius!) agrees with me on this and also casts on 78. The pattern is easily resized by casting on a multiple of 4 plus 2.
I also found that the hat needed some way to hold it on! I started with skinny braided cords, but they were too long and cut into chubby soft baby chins. This hat has shorter i-cords that can just be tied and untied easily. I think this is my favorite option so far. I’ve thought of experimenting with tabs and velcro, but velcro gets unattractive quickly, and tying a knot is timeless!
My son (on the right) and his cousin were born 5 days apart. I made each of them an Elf Hat for their tiny little newborn heads. Now they are celebrating their first birthday, and again I made them matching hats. We have to make them wear these things while they’re young and can’t say “no” or “hell no” or “mom, no way, I’ll look like a dork!!”
My hats were inspired by this pattern, though my decreases at the top are different (for that distinctive “chicken butt” shape). I crocheted the drumsticks because that was so much easier than knitting. The hats are some inexpensive cotton from JoAnns, because that’s the yarn I could find in this lovely “plucked poultry carcass” colorway.
