Pandemic knitting?

My friend Christine shared this funny meme with me today. 😂

I told her I have already crocheted a mask for myself. LOL!! 😄

Alien mask balaclava costume prop

I started to crochet this Alien Mask (free pattern by Cirsium Crochet) for my grandniece Jill, a tween who loves aliens. 👽

Ran out of yarn about 3/4 of the way through

 

But two things stopped me. First, I ran out of the Red Heart Super Saver yarn in the Spring Green colorway I was using. And second, I sent Jill's mom the in-progress photo of the mask at the point where I ran out of the yarn and asked if she thought Jill's two younger sisters, one who is still just a toddler, might think the mask was too scary if Jill wore it around the house. Jill's mom, who thought the mask looked really cool, reluctantly said, yes, it probably would be too scary for them.

So instead of going out and buying more yarn to finish the mask, I frogged the yarn and will save it for another project. 😂 Maybe I can make it again for Jill later, after her sisters get a bit older.

The pattern really does make an amazing-looking alien mask, though!! If you or someone you love loves aliens, you should give this pattern a try! 

Checking for size

BOO! My skull balaclava mask free tutorial

Boo! Happy New Year!

Sure, I might have my holidays a little mixed up, but I felt inspired to crochet a skull mask/balaclava on Dec. 31 while waiting for the clock to strike midnight for the new year. I got the idea from the ebook "Manly Knits."

I started out making a basic hat shape in double crochet.

I made the hat length a little longer than standard so that the bottom of the "hat" portion sat just below my eyebrows. At that point, I measured how many stitches wide I would need an opening to be to accommodate both of my eyes (side to side) and continued adding rows to the hat going back and forth (turning my work when I got to the end of a row) to build height on either side of the large space for my eyes.

I had to try the hat on several times during this process to tell by feel when the eye hole space was tall enough for me to see through easily. Then I chained across the gap (using the same number of chain stitches as the number of stitches wide my eye hole space was wide) and joined the chain with a slip stitch to the top of the next double crochet stitch on the other side of the gap.

Then I continued in the round to add a couple more rows of double crochet, making 1 dc in each chain across the eye space, then finished off.

To fill in the vertical space between my eyes, I tried on the hat and placed a stitch marker on the stitch in line with where the inner edge of each of my eyes was in relation to the top of the eye space. Then I reattached the working yarn to a stitch with one of the markers and worked double crochet stitches just until I reached the stitch with the other marker. Then I turned my work and added a couple more rows of double crochet until the height of the section I was working matched up to the total height of the eye space. I broke the working yarn, leaving a long tail, and whip-stitched the center piece I just worked to the bottom of the eye space.

For the finishing touches, I reattached the working yarn to the bottom edge of the mask and worked a few pointy teeth. Lastly, I used a small amount of black yarn to embroider on some nasal "holes," and voila. Creepy enough for you? Bwah-ha-haaa.

This means I already have my Halloween costume ready for when, 10 months from now, come Oct. 31, I will be handing out candy to all the trick-or-treaters. It even fits comfortably over my glasses.