Jessica's hat

Sarah's new daughter, Jessica, said her three favorite colors are green, blue and black. So I crocheted her an earflap hat using those colors, based on Britta Graham's Bumpy Earflap pattern.

Caleb's hats

For Caleb, I crocheted a Denver Broncos hat, based on Britta Graham's Easy Peasy Earflap pattern, and a Cookie Monster hat, based on Britta's Bumpy Earflap pattern. The eyeballs on Cookie Monster are based on the Froggy Hat pattern at Coats & Clark.

Finished the top-down cardigan

Except for adding a button closure at the throat, I finally finished the Chevron Lace Top-Down Cardigan sweater. It turned out lovely. I think I will give it to Aunt Mary Ann.

For a friend

I found out this week that a dear friend has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. As she faces this battle, I wanted to give her something to remind her of the warm thoughts and love that people who know her are sending her way.

She is such an elegant lady. So I thought that Britta Graham's lovely Shell Stitch Cloche would suit her well.

I added a clip-on detachable rose that she can wear - or not - according to her mood each day.

Yarn hug. Please get well, J.

School colors hats

OK, I spoke too soon when I said it was time to take a break from making hats. Hats are just such quick and easy projects - and therefore satisfying - so I guess it's difficult to stay away.

Now that we're pretty sure my daughter Mika will finally get to transfer to Academy of Art University in January, I figured she needed an earflap hat to showcase her school pride.

Chevron Lace Top-Down Cardigan free pattern

It's time to take a little break from making hats, and I am so glad I went pattern browsing at Ravelry.com because there I found a link to this easy, one-piece Chevron Lace Top-Down Cardigan pattern, which I have been working on for a couple of days in Red Heart Grey Heather yarn.

The cool thing about this pattern is that you start working from the top in one piece and branch off to finish the sleeves and body. In the above photo, I'm just about far enough along to where I will begin to branch off.

Hats for Xmas

Using Britta Graham's Easy Peasy Earflap Hat pattern, I crocheted matching hats for Charlotte Rose, Wendy and Jill in winter white/pink stripes; for Daniel in Superman colors; and for Breanna in Oregon State University colors.

Here's Daniel's hat finished with a Superman logo patch.

Hand warmers and hat for Laura

One of my co-workers, Laura, always gets cold hands at the office during the winter season. To help keep her warm, I crocheted a simple pair of hand warmers (based on the pattern found here) with a matching cap in Caron Simply Soft Paints yarn in Oceana, which I will give to her at xmas.

Toy Run accessories

I wanted to make a matched set of accessories to wear during this year's Toy Run. So I crocheted these oversized hand warmers (big enough to fit over my winter riding gloves and based on the pattern found here), ribbed neck cowl (won't blow off or come untied during the ride the way traditional scarves sometimes will) and flowered beanie for apres ride. Just for fun, I crocheted Britta Graham's Easy Peasy Earflap Hat (missing its plaited tassels in this photo) in the same yarn, so now I'm not sure which hat I'll use after the ride, but it will be fun to choose.

Patriot Guard hats

I wanted some hats to coordinate with my Patriot Guard Riders scarf, so I knitted one on a loom (left), then crocheted one using Britta Graham's Flower Power Hat pattern.

Here's a photo of the Patriot Guard Riders scarf I knitted last year:

Superman hat 1

Daniel's sisters all received matching girly kufi beanies - but since Daniel is a BOY who loves superheroes, I wondered what kind of hat would suit him best.

Here's attempt No. 1 at creating a superhero hat for Daniel: a loom-knitted cap done in two strands - Superman's signature blue and red.

As you can see, it's a little tight - boys grow so fast! So I need to go a little bigger on the next one ...

Slytherin House hats

For Rose Love's xmas present this year, I made her two hats that will coordinate with the scarf I gave her last year. One hat is loom-knitted, and the other is crocheted using Britta Graham's Flower Power Hat pattern.

Here's a photo of Rose Love's Slytherin House Scarf from last year:

Crochet kufi caps/hats for infants to adults free pattern

Angelica got me started on a huge kufi-making kick. So my crochet hooks and I along with some antique skeins of yarn from my mother's stash had a busy weekend!

Between us, Montie and I have six grandnieces, so these should see some good use.

The free kufi pattern was designed by Erika Luke to fit infants sizes preemie to 24 months and is available here.

The free flower pattern was designed by Melissa and is available here.

Then Karen suggested I try a kufi pattern that she has enjoyed making, which was designed by Britta Graham and is available for purchase here. I have been even more prolific at making this pattern (by the dozens!!) because the majority of the cap is crafted in lazy shell stitch, which works up very quickly and easily. Another nice feature of Britta's pattern is that it's designed to fit sizes preemie to adult.

Not enough time

So much yarn, so little time...

More loom-knitted hats

Here's a black-and-raspberry colored hat knitted on a loom. I wanted to see if I could create a rib-knit hat on the knitting loom, but since the looms all seem to have an odd number of pegs, it's impossible to create a rib pattern - at least, a rib pattern utilizing an even number of stitches.

I tried mixing up the knitted and purled stitches, which resulted in a rather funky looking hat. But my daughter Mika, ever the hipster, says she likes it.

Here's a picture of some simple knitting looms that are widely available in the U.S.