Frog Hat is Finished!

I used the eyes that I posted about yesterday to make yet another cute animal hat for my baby knits stash.  I attached them to a hat I made in Caron simply soft yarn following the sweet baby hat pattern at red heart's website.  I seem to have attached the eyes a little lopsided (oops!) but other than that I'm happy with the result.

Mr. Bear is super cute with his frog hat!  I seem to be on this animal hat kick lately.  I wonder what animal will be my next muse...

~Colleen

Knit Frog's Eyes *Free Pattern*

 I had so much fun knitting these eyes up.  They work as either amphibian eyes or maybe alien eyes.  Making them is really simple.  I didn't write things down as I went, so this is the best reconstruction of what I did as best I remember.

You will need:

• worsted weight yarn scraps in green, white, and black
• size 8 straight needles
• tapestry needle
• yarn scraps or stuffing to fill the eyes

Back of the eyes (make two)
Cast on 11 stitches (green).
First 10 rows: stockinette stitch
Row 11: ssk, k to last 2 sts, k2tog
Row 12:  p2tog, p to last 2 sts, p2tog tbl
Row 13: ssk, k to last 2 sts, k2tog
Row 14: p2tog, p to last 2 sts, p2tog tbl
BO all stitches

Front of the eyes (make two)

Cast on 11 stitches (green).
First 2 rows: stockinette stitch
Row 3: (green) k2, (switch to white) k7, (switch to green) k2
Row 4: (green) p2, (switch to white) p7, (switch to green) p2
Row 5: (green) k2, (switch to white) k2, (switch to black) k3, (switch to white) k2, (switch to green) k2
Row 6: (green) p2, (switch to white) p2, (switch to black) p3, (switch to white) p2, (switch to green) p2
Row 7: repeat row 3
Row 8: repeat row 4
Row 9-10: repeat rows 1-2
Row 11: ssk, k to last 2 sts, k2tog
Row 12:  p2tog, p to last 2 sts, p2tog tbl
Row 13: ssk, k to last 2 sts, k2tog
Row 14: p2tog, p to last 2 sts, p2tog tbl
BO all stitches

Finishing:
Sew the backs of the eyes to the fronts leaving the cast on row (the bottom of the eye) open.  Stuff the eyes with yarn scraps or fiber fill and attach to a knit hat or other knit object. 

If you have any questions about this (my first pattern!) just let me know in the comments below and I will try to get back to you as soon as I possibly can.

Also in other internet awesomeness, I know this is old... but it's new to me: Felicia Day+ Crochet= Awesome!

~Colleen 

Let's Monkey Around!

So, I guess this is a follow up to yesterday's post about the bear baby set that I knit up.  I had so much fun that I used the same patterns to do another set for a monkey theme.  I used Caron Simply Soft yarn in the color Bone this time.  I sewed the ears lower down to look like a monkey's and ... viola! This is so addictive and fun that I might just knit up a whole zoo for my stash!

The patterns I used were:

• Sweet Baby Hat and Bear Ear Tutorial for the hat
• Beth's Booties
• and Simple Baby Mittens with a few adjustments!

You really don't need much yarn.  I did all three with one ball and still have leftovers for another small project.  A tiny knit monkey might be a cute addition....

~Colleen

Beary Nice Hat, Mitts, and Booties

This holiday season I saw animal themed hats almost everywhere I looked.  I have been making quite a few hats, so I decided to give knitting up a teddy bear hat a try.  All three projects were knit on size 8 straight needles in Red Heart Soft yarn (worsted).  The cord for the booties and mitts is made from scraps of light brown yarn in a sport weight.

For the hat I used the Sweet Baby Hat pattern from the Red Heart website.  The pattern for the ears can be downloaded from Ravelry here.

Next, I made the booties using this pattern from Bev's Country Cottage.  The only change I made to the pattern was not changing from a main color to white at the top (although you could if you wanted to).

Finally I knit up the mitts.  They really do knit up quick!  I sort of used this pattern from Ravelry, but I made a few alterations. The pattern did not include any kind of cord or drawstring but I really wanted to add one so that it would be easy to cinch around baby's wrist and also to match the booties.  To do this all I did was copy the eyelet row from the booties and substitute it for the first row of stockinette in the pattern.  After the eyelet row, I purled the next row and continued along in stockinette as usual.  I crocheted about a foot of chain for each mitt to thread through the eyelet row.

This whole project was so much fun to make, and relatively quick as well.  You could knit it up in black to make a black bear or in white to make a polar bear.  You could add more detail by embroidering eyes, a nose, and a mouth on the hat.  You could embroider little lines on the mitts and booties to make them look like paws.  The possibilities are nearly endless!

~Colleen