Recent Custom Creations

I've done a few custom order in the last few month that I wanted to add here to the collection on my blog.

First here is a custom hat based on The Penny.  The patron wanted it to be gray and light pink (the same colors used in The Madison) as well as taking off the leaves.

Then, my friend Marcy asked me to make this hat, two of them in fact.  She sent me a screen shot of her pin.  So I just wrote my own pattern.  Here is Josh, my reluctant model.  

I will be adding this to the shop after I get good shots of it.   

Then I had an order for a blue version of my Rutgers Little Fan hat, which looks to me like a Giants hat, or maybe Captain America (since I live in Eagles country and so does the recipient).

  

 After that I had an order for two Gingerbread Man hats, with the addition of a pair of baby legs.  This is the first set of baby leg warmers I've made.  I read a tutorial pattern and I adapted it to what I needed,  of course now I can't find the tutorial I used, so my apologies for not being able to link that.

Finally, my husband co-worker had a special request.  His son was outgrowing his favorite hat.  He asked if I could make a replica and sent me this picture.        


How did I do?

The funny thing is I wasn't sure what animal this was while I was working on it,  I though raccoon, but then I thought the colors were wrong so maybe it was a fox, heck maybe it was some weird animal I don't even know.  My husband confirmed upon deliver that it was indeed a raccoon,  I think I will make a gray, black, and white one for the next shop photoshoot.

Abby Cadabby and Cookie Monster Custom Hats

I was recently asked if I could make hats for a friend's children when they go to Sesame Place in the winter.  Because I generally believe I can do anything when it comes to crocheting, I said yes.  This is one where I really had no idea what I was in for!  Before I go on, here is a picture of the finished projects.  Abby is for a 2 year old girl and Cookie Monster is for a 6 month old boy.  

 I did a little research on the internet before I began and sent a few links to my patron.  We discussed features she liked of each and I made my own pattern.  After shopping for the perfect colors to use, I started working on the bases and went from there.  

Abby was a lot more work than I anticipated.  She requires several pieces and LOTs of color!
She includes a nose, blue eyes with blue "eye-shadow" and hand stitched eyelashes, ears, daisy hair ties, and of course the hair!  The colors I found for her hair are awesome, really the picture doesn't do it justice.  They are Shimmer yarn by Red Heart and they have colored sparkles that run throughout, perfect for a fairy!  I had to learn how to wig a crochet hat.  This free tutorial download was quite helpful, though not perfectly specified or aligned to how I made this hat, but with some common sense and experimentation, I was able to adapt it.  Then Abby got her hair done!  This was the first time I cut hair on a hat!!  

Cookie Monster was a lot easier, though he had his fair share of parts: googly eyes, mouth, and who could leave off some chocolate chip cookies with bites taken out of them!

These hats are not yet available for purchase in my shop, but I would gladly take a custom order.   I will be listing them after my next photoshoot.  

Result of the Sibling Collaboration Experiment

Well this is going to be difficult.  I want to share SOOOOOOOO many images.  I seriously think blogger would crash! 

For a first time event, we're calling it a successs. John snapped gorgeous photos of all my new hats.  I had 2 friends who participated (there were supposed to be 3 but one of the babies got sick). Plus my son who hates modeling but seemed to enjoy having some company. 

I'm hoping to do it again someday.  I'll have to make even more new designs though!

Without further ado, here are our outstanding photos.

Out Takes



Do I hafta smile Uncle John???
 

"No, I didn't try to pull that off, my head is just odd shaped"

Well, ya know this isn't the easiest place to sit ladylike, but I'll make it work. 

Mommies make us SMILE!



Reindeer!

 

 

 

At this point blogger can't handle all the pictures and I've lost the ability to add captions :( A picture's worth a thousand words anyway!

 

Penguins!

 

 

What a little beauty!

Kids being kids :)

 Time to slide!!

 

Penny's Hat

 

This beautiful little girl's mommy commissioned a hat for her and left me a lot leeway for artistic discretion.  The mission: create a hat with a deep red flower with an off white/creamy tan for the main body.  I am quite happy with how this turned out!  In additon, my little man was excited that he didn't have to model this one (don't let the gorgeous blue eyes fool you, it's not my son in the picture).

 

First things first--go get some wool.  Michael's is great because they have a teacher discount you can use (well if you're a teacher) along with their rewards.  15% off makes a difference.  This hat is made of my favorite yarn, which just happened to be on sale, Vanna's Choice.  It is soft but sturdy. 

 

Previously all the hats I'd made like this had three colors.  Threes just seem to look more complete.  I love purple, so first I tried adding a purple in there.  Though I liked it, I suddenly panicked, wondering, "What if she hates purple?"  I adore purple by I have a friend who absolutely hates it.  Hoping that Becky liked purple would not suffice, I had to make another hat just in case purple was the bane of her existence! 

Pic the hubby took of the hat with purple. We've got a bet going, he thinks he can sell it faster than I can!

 

This time only the colors specifically mentioned would be used. I modified the pattern a bit so there would only be two rows of color. The thinner band of color achieved a more feminine look.
   

Then lightning stuck!  A little light bulb went off when I had the idea to add green leaves. I created a simple leaf pattern (which will be shared on this blog for free very soon). Isn't it perfect!  If I ever am blessed with a baby girl, you can bet this will be the first hat I make her.

 

Penny presented a special challenge because her head is a little bigger than average (although no one would ever notice, her mommy told me she has a tough time getting some shirts over her head).  A simple sizing adjustment was made by adding one stitch to the very first round and as you can see, it fits perfectly!

Kent State Hats for Little Fans!

My dad's cousin's wife, aka Aunt Becky recently comissioned me to create something for her
daughter's field hockey coach's daughters.  Could I use more apostrophes in a sentence? Anyway,  Alyssa plays field hockey at Kent State, so whatever I made had to be blue and yellow with a little white in the mix and it had to be something they could wear to games.  Immediately this pin came to mind.

Source: craftsy.com via Cheryl on Pinterest

Now if you know one thing about me you know I do not spend money on patterns.  I either look at the pic and figure it out or I find something close and alter it until I am happy with the results.  So of course through trial and error, I ended up making 3 hats.  My husband is constantly losing hiding misplacing the good camera so please forgive the poor image quality.  From left to right, they are size 0-3 months, 2T, and 6-9 months. 

What a perfect combination of school spirit and feminity!

My first source to hit up was ravelry.com where I found a pattern for the earflap hat.  It was a double crocheted pattern and it was easy.  I changed the striped part to half double crochet to make the color appear more vibrant. 

Next I needed a rose.  Coincidently I'd just started making roses for headbands that will be on my Etsy page (currently in development).  There will be a post about my tweaks later but here is the original pattern. 

Source: 2crazy4crafting.blogspot.com via Cheryl on Pinterest

The basic plan was in place but I had to have the perfect yarn in the perfect colors!  Since these hats were for little ones I was really picky about yarn.  All the colors I needed were already in my stock, but it was Red Heart SuperSaver Yarn. Don't get me wrong, it's a great basic, sturdy yarn, but being a mother, I want something very soft for my little one's head, which carries over to my projects.  Luckily, I had a 20% off coupon for Michael's AND some of my favorite yarn was on sale!!  (I know, I know, you can get wool cheap on the internet, but the crafter in me needs to touch and feel the yarn to make the selection).  Vanna's Choice is my go to yarn for softness, unfortunately they did not have--or my Michael's did not carry-- the vibrant blue that I wanted.  On to Loops and Threads Impeccable Yarn, SCORE, it was also on sale and had exactly the colors I wanted! 

Finally I cut 3 lengths of yarn in each color, looped it through the bottom of the earflap, then braided it. Voila!

 

Here's my son, the not-so-cooperative model.  My brother the budding photographer photographed him for me.