Grey Slouchy Hat

Well I seem to just kind of pop in randomly after long breaks :)

I recently had someone ask me to make a grey slouchy hat for her son. After searching around for a slouchy hat (which I hadn't ever made), I wound up creating one that was motivated by elements from several I saw. The ribbed look and increases were inspired from Jen2291's "Basic Guy Hat" and the switching of hook sizes idea was from the Super Slouch Hat . It makes a beautiful drape that I wasn't quite getting from using just one hook size.

So here is what I cobbled together. I've made this twice, but haven't had it tested. So if you find problems please let me know :)

ETA: Thank you Jen for helping find the error with the child size!
Errata: The child size should start with 10 hdc in the magic ring, and the adult size starts with 12. This allows both hats to have the same increases and the right spacing of post stitches for the main body of the hat. Sorry for any confusion this may have caused!

Supplies:

M hook

K hook

H or I hook. I made the hat with an H hook and it fit a 19.5-21" head with room to stretch more. But, two others have said the H hook made the hat come out a bit small. So an I hook may work better.

Worsted weight yarn. A yarn like Vanna’s Choice or KnitPicks Brava provides a nice drape

Gauge:
4" = 15 sts (5 fpdc and 10 hdc) x 10 rows

Abbreviations: 

FPDC: front post double crochet

HDC: half double crochet

BLO: back loop only

FLO: front loop only

Sts: stitches

Sl st: slip stitch

Note: For each “join” - use a slip stitch to join to the first stitch of the round.

Note: For the first stitch of the round, work into the same stitch that you chained out of. Initial chain of each round does not count as a stitch.

Child (adult is in R1 parentheses and the second stitch count at the end)

Using an M hook:

R1. 10 (12 hdc if making adult size) hdc in magic ring and pull close. Join. (10, 12)

R2. Ch. 2, *fpdc, hdc in BLO of same stitch (so working behind the fpdc)* around. Join. (20, 24)

R3. Ch 2. *fpdc into fpdc below, hdc in BLO of next 2 sts* around. Join. (30, 36)

R4. Ch 2. *fpdc into fpdc below, hdc in BLO of next 3 sts* around. Join. (40, 48)

R5. Ch2. *fpdc into fpdc below, hdc in BLO of next 4 sts* around. Join. (50, 60). 
R6. Ch2. *fpdc into fpdc below, hdc in BLO of next 5 sts* around. Join. (60, 72)

Switch to K hook
R7: Ch2. *fpdc into fpdc or stitch below, hdc in BLO of next 2st* around. Join. (60, 72)

R8-9. Ch2. *fpdc into fpdc below, hdc in BLO of next 2 st* around. Join (60, 72)

Switch to H or I hook

R10. Repeat R8 until hat measures 8” for Child hat or 9" for Adult hat. 

Brim:

NOTE: The sl st rounds will “tighten up” the hat. If the hat is already the fit desired, then work the slip stitch arounds *loosely.* If you need the hat to tighten up a bit more, then work them normal.

R1: Sc in each st around. Join. (60, 72)

R2. Sl St in FLO of each st around. Join. (60, 72)

R3. Working in the unused back loops of R2: hdc in each st around. Join. (60, 72)

R4. Working in the loop in the *back* of the stitch (so pull the stitch forward and look behind it, there will be a loop that makes up the back of the hdc you'll be working into), hdc in each st. Join. (60, 72)

R5-6. Repeat round 4.

R7: Working in the loop in the *back* of the stitch, sl st in each st around. Join (60, 72)

Fasten off and weave in ends.

Advent tree + pattern

I finally finished the Advent tree! It's over a week into December, so we are starting late. But I am *so* happy with how it came out. The picture doesn't really do it justice (bad lighting, sorry!) and I'm going to hopefully get another picture tomorrow. It stands about 39" tall. I sewed 25 buttons on (one for the star) and we can now hang an ornament on for each day.

This was my first time doing a "foundation half-double crochet." But once I watched  YouTube video (linked) and tried it out - it wasn't hard at all!

Now to start putting our Advent ornaments up :) Need some? Remember Snappy-Tots had a crochet-along with lots of great patterns!

The pattern is just a quick write-up, I'll hopefully have it tested for accuracy and make it look better soon, but I figured I will get it up now for any others still thinking or working on their Advent trees :)

Pattern:

1.5 skeins Red Heart "Dark Hunter."

1.5 skeins Caron Simply Soft Dark Teal Heather

(or whichever colors you'd prefer)

Some scraps of 3 different brown colors  (mine had lost their sleeves so I'm not sure their specific color names, but they were Caron Pound, Caron Simply Soft, and a Sugar n Cream cotton)

N hook

Yarn is held TRIPLE throughout the pattern.  

I held two strands Red heart, one strand Simply Soft.

Gauge is not important.

Tree:

ch. 56

Row 1. hdc in 3rd ch from hook and in each across, turn

Row 2 - 9. ch 2, hdctog, hdc across to last two, hdctog in last two sts, turn

Row 10. ch6, hdc in 3rd ch from hook, hdc across, after last stitch of the row do 4 foundation hdc’s 

(for information how to do a foundation half-double crochet, see here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tp7mgnV7fs  You will be working in the bottom left “loop” of the previous stitch for each foundation half-double crochet), turn

Row 11 - 20. ch2, hdctog, hdc across to last two, hdctog in last two sts, turn

Row 21. ch6, hdc in 3rd ch from hook, hdc across, after last stitch of the row do 4 foundation hdc’s, turn

Row 22 - 29. ch2, hdctog, hdc across to last two, hdctog in last two sts, turn

Row 30. ch6, hdc in 3rd ch from hook, hdc across, after last stitch of the row  do 4 foundation hdc’s, turn

Row 31-38. ch2, hdctog, hdc across to last two, hdctog in last two sts, turn

Row 39. ch6, hdc in 3rd ch from hook, hdc across, after last stitch of the row  do 4 foundation hdc’s, turn

Row 40+. ch2, hdctog, hdc across to last two, hdctog in last two sts, turn

When only one stitch remains, fasten off, weave in ends.

Trunk

turn tree over so it is upside down

starting at base of tree, count 21 stitches over from the right and attach yarn in 22nd, ch2

Row1. 11 hdc, turn

Row 2-5. ch 2, hdc across

Fasten off, weave in ends.

Is Christmas Here?

The day started in the wee hours of the morning as I finished sewing a hat onto a snowman:

Then, at a far more decent hour, we finally took down our fall season wall so that we can start our Winter and holiday crafts. I have a pretty grand idea for our "tree" but I need to get to work on it. Hopefully I will have it up in a few days :)

Beyond the tree, though, we have lots of winter crafts planned, plus our ornament advent calendar.

Today, we started some snowflakes and a Christmas countdown chain. 

For our snowflakes, I got the idea off pinterest to use coffee filters. These work ok, though they're a bit too flimsy for young children. We'll probably do other ones with normal paper. Blue's scissors are missing, and her purple spring-loaded ones are not nearly as "preschooler-friendly" as they claim. So I let her use my scissors, under our sharp (pun intended) eye. She did good, but enjoyed hanging the snowflakes up the most. We put them up on the windows of the girls' room. Between those and the Christmas lights, it's looking quite nice!

While Blue and daddy worked on the snowflakes, Baby Bear did some coloring. She bored of that quickly, though, and moved onto tasting the crayons. So, we switched her to playing with the fall leaves we had taken down.

I worked on the Christmas countdown chain, with Blue helping me count. Blue is "getting" that Christmas "is coming." But is having a harder time realizing that we'll be waiting a few weeks... not hours. I think the chain will help with that, as well as making our wall even more festive :)

Tis almost the season

The holiday attire crafting has begun! If I'm to not go insane during December, I need to also start the various gifts I'm making. Hoping to do that soon, as soon as I finish the other list that's a mile long :P

These baby-legs/leggings are from a pattern I was testing for an author. They turned out super cute, though Baby Bear's chubby thighs didn't let me pull them up any further haha.

Autumn and hope

So my laptop's trackpad is broken and the laptop is getting fixed.

Until it's done, Mr. River and I are sharing the PC, which means all work no play :)

Well, a little bit of play, while Mr. River sleeps!

It does mean a lot of crochet time after I get my work done though! And I finally finished two scarves for my aunt :) An autumn scarf and a breast-cancer ribbon scarf

Scarf turns blanket

Tunisian crochet is slow. It is slower than crochet, certainly. But, I almost feel like it may also be slower than knitting. To be fair, I'm new at it, so of course it's slow.  Once upon a time - like even two years ago, crochet seemed to take me forever too.

But, upon working on the Tunisian scarf for several ours and having less than a foot done, I stared at it and realized... It's way too wide to be a scarf. Mr. River tried to comfort me and say it could be folded in half.

Thanks, dear.

I promptly cast off, finished off, and decided it would become a doll blanket for Blue's dolls. I'll add a pillow to it, perhaps. One Christmas gift down!

But I still need to finish that scarf. And since the knitting attempt I started was going too slow for my taste, I am back to the drawing board on the pattern I will use. I may just wing it.

Crochet/knitting/yarn aside, life has been hectic. I'm reading a good book called How to Write a Lot. The name sound silly, but really it's a useful book about building practical, productive, efficient writing habits. I need such habits. To emphasize this point, I am mostly reading it on the Kindle (on the iPad) while I nurse Baby Bear at night or for naps. That's how scattered my work habits feel. I do get a few hours of dedicated work time each morning, so I need to make them work better.

And to add to this, my touchpad on my laptop is on the fritz. Ok, not just on the fritz, it's been labeled Legally Fritzy and is on the verge of being committed. The cat splashed a few droplets of water on it. A few droplets. But apparently that was enough. After several days of hoping it'd straighten up, I have disabled everything it's supposed to do (and would disable it entirely if I take the time to figure that out), and am now using a normal mouse. Which means working on a laptop isn't feeling very mobile right now. And because the touchpad isn't completely deactivated, but is still all Legally Fritzy, whenever I try to work at all the touchpad decides to drag windows, close things, randomly tap and highlight and delete. You get the idea.

Yes, minor stuff. Just annoying.

Whining aside!  We have had a few great evenings. I took the girls for a nice hour at the park the other day, and they had a blast :) Baby Bear just loves and loves that she can crawl around the playstructures now. And the park we go to has a really nice "toddler" play structure that is perfect for her.

We also made some delicious chickpea soup, found on pinterest :) I added a few chicken breasts, did not add any chili, and then shredded the chicken when it was done. It turned out great! Even Blue liked it :) The first night, I gave Baby Bear just some mashed chickpeas and pieces of shredded chicken. I couldn't figure out how to give her the spinach, though soft, without it being a problem. 

So, the next day, into the food chopper the soup went! And she loved it! chickpeas, chicken, spinach, cauliflower, onions, tomatoes, oh my. It made a ton of food! We had leftovers for two days of it. I put the rest in the blender, froze it in our minimuffin tray, and popped the individual servings out into a freezer bag. Now we have 24 servings of chicken and chickpea soup for the girls!

Tunisian Crochet

One other little thing I forgot to say - I (finally) learned to Tunisian crochet! It isn't hard, it just looked intimidating and so I kept putting off learning it. But now I know the basic stitch and am loving the look :)