Skull and Crossbones hat inspired by Jake and the Neverland Pirates

I'd been feeling some mom-guilt as I was finishing my orders this weekend, when suddenly I was inspired by my son's outfit choice.  He LOVES Jake and the Neverland Pirates (on Disney Junior), so when I asked him what he wanted to wear Saturday morning, of course he said Jake--meaning his one short sleeved (aka not appropriate for the weather) shirt cover with Jake and pirate motif.  So I layered it over a striped thermal and we went about our business.  

 After I put the final stitches on yet another Yoda hat, I wanted to make him something.  He loves wearing the Yoda Hats I make but I've yet to make one for him to keep, but then I noticed the skull and crossbones on J's shirt.  I thought, I could do that! But how?

 Then I remembered I'd pinned a skull applique a while back.  


The applique from Josh's Jake shirt is a bit different; the eyes are uneven, there's no nose, and the teeth are only the top set.  But it gave me a great idea about how to start.  In fact, I'd highly recommend that pattern to beginners compared to the pattern I am debating about whether to share.  Oh and I absolutely agree with the blogger--Caron Simply Soft Yarn is a great choice for appliques, of course I have it on hand, so that's what I used.  The crossbones were simple 10 single crochets with 2 picots at each end.

Then I followed my trusty beanie pattern, using Vanna's Choice Dark Heather Gray for most of the body and Scarlet for the stripe on the 11th and 12th row.

 I stitched on the applique carefully crossing the bones at just the right point.

Then I begged my brother to take some decent pictures.

  

Click here to see the listing on Etsy

Free Old Fashioned Flower Crochet Pattern

 I was reorganizing my crafts board on pinterest and came across this inspiration I'd pinned a while back. Unfortunately the link was broken and there was no pattern. I liked it enough to write my own patters.  I write a lot of patterns for what I carry in my etsy shop, but I don't share them or sell them for now.  I figured I probably won't sell this pattern since someone else created it, so time to payback the crochet world for all the awesome free crochet patterns I've found.  Here is what I came up with. 

My creation

The petals on my old fashioned flower are a bit more distinct, but I like it that way.  What do you think? 

Here's the pattern along with pictures of each step.  

I used three colors, a G Hook, and Caron Simply Soft Yarn. 

Step 3: The wagon wheel becomes a hexagon

Steps 1 & 2 make a wagon wheel
with 6 spokes of 2 DC each

1. With color one Ch 4.  Join with a slip stitch to form loop.

2. Slip stitch into loop.  Ch 3.  DC. Ch1,  [2 DC, CH 1] 5 times.  Slip Stitch into top of Ch 3.  Tie off Color 1.
3. Join Color 2 in any CH 1 space.  CH3 DC, CH1, 2DC all in first chain 1 space.  [2DC, CH 1, 2DC] in the five remaining CH 1 spaces.  Slip stitch into top of CH 3 to join.
4. Slip stitch in next stitch,[slip stitch into CH 1 space, CH 2, 6 DC, CH 2, Slip stitch into same CH 1 space, Slip stitch in next three stitches] 6 times.  Tie off color 2.

Now it's starting to look like a flower!

5.  With Color 3, Join by single crocheting  into the top of the first(rightmost) CH 2 of any petal. * SC in next 6 stitches of petal.  Skip CH 2 and next Slip stitch, SC into next stitch covering both the slip stitch and the stitch below. Skip next Slip stitch then SC into top of Chain 2.   Repeat from * 5 times. Slip Stitch into first stitch with Color 3 and tie off. 

 

Weave in the ends and voila!

 There are a bunch of ideas floating around in my head about how I'd like to use this...You may see some soon in my shop :) What would you do with them?