Hat of the Month: March Blonde Braids

For March, I decided to channel my inner princess.

I'm so happy to have this hat finished! Not because I didn't have fun making it, but because of the mental block I had surrounding it. As I said before, I started making one hat, and just when I thought I was finished I decided to change what I was doing. I was just going to make a basic hat then fold up the brim and sew on a button (ala Blossom). But when I was almost done I spotted my yellow yarn and decided to try for the braided look. Voila!

Here's what I ended up doing...
For the hat:
- Approx. 2.5oz of yarn, any color (I started with a new skein of Red Heart Candy Print and used about half of the skein)
- J-hook

Round 1. Ch 3, work 7 hdc into the first chain. (8 hdc)
Round 2. Ch 2, hdc in same st. 2 hdc in each st around (16 hdc)
Round 3. Ch 2, hdc in same st. *1 hdc in next 1 st, 2 hdc in next st* repeat from * to * around (24 hdc)
Round 4. Ch 2, hdc in same st. *1 hdc in next 2 st, 2 hdc in next st* repeat from * to * around (32 hdc)
Round 5. Ch 2, hdc in same st. *1 hdc in next 3 st, 2 hdc in next st* repeat from * to * around (40 hdc)
Round 6. Ch 2, hdc in same st. *1 hdc in next 4 st, 2 hdc in next st* repeat from * to * around (48 hdc)
Round 7. Ch 2, hdc in next st. hdc around (48 hdc)
Round 8-18. Repeat row 7.
Round 19. Ch 2. Working in back loops only, hdc in st around. (48 hdc)
Round 20. Repeat row 7.
Weave ends.

For the braids:
Cut 52 pieces of yarn, each approx. 4 feet long (or twice the length you want your "hair" to be).
I used a combination of 3 yellows to give it a "natural highlights" feel, but you could use whatever color(s) you choose. I didn't really count how many strands I cut of each color, but I probably had about 8 light yellow, 18 medium yellow, and the rest the darker yellow. Since I had them on hand, I have no idea what the color names are, but if I had to guess, my light yellow was Red Heart Super Saver Light Yellow, my medium yellow was Red Heart Super Saver Bright Yellow, and my dark was Red Heart Sport Yellow... I like Red Heart :-)
Go back up to Round 19. Starting from the center (I used the ch 2 as my guide, but you can really start from anywhere), count over 5 stitches each way and mark the 5th stitch on each side. Take 2 pieces of yarn, fold them in half, and pull the middle of the folded yarn through the front loop of the 6th stitch, just enough to have a loop. Pull the other ends of the yarn through the folded-yarn loop. Repeat in the next 25 stitches, and again on the opposite side.

The blue yarn was marking my stitch.

Separate the hair in to 3 even sections and braid. Finish off by wrapping the end of each braid with a piece of yarn and tie to secure.

I finished the hat with a simple flower, and called it done!

Hope you like it! Let me know if you have any questions!

Moving On Up!

While my promotion was official over a week ago, and I finally got my managerial login for work last Thursday, today it became legit when I got my promotion present from Amy!

Birds of a feather tweet together!

I posted a picture of a similar necklace on my Instagram account a few weeks ago, and she found this one on eBay. I heart it bunches!

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I worked on my cousin's hat yesterday. I've been struggling with this lately, mostly because I've been annoyed with her. She's done and said a few things that I really don't appreciate. She called me the other night, and I was so aggravated when I hung up the phone I thought I would scream. But I decided to do this as a way of praying for her, and I'm not going to let my annoyance stop me. I know this may sound like one of those crazy holy rollers, but I feel like satan is trying to use my negative feelings to stop me from doing something positive.

So I changed tactics. While I was at the store yesterday I decided to look for a yarn that I really liked instead of trying to find one that I thought she would appreciate. And when I got home, I looked for a pattern I wanted to make instead of one I thought she would appreciate. I started one pattern, and it slowly morphed into something different. You might be able to tell from this preview...

Any guesses?

I'm actually kind of excited about it. I still have a few more details to finish, but hopefully I'll have the pattern posted by next week. I'm also hoping that I can get Greg to take some pictures of it with his fancy-smancy camera. He said he would, but he has a pretty busy week ahead so we'll have to see. Regardless, I'm glad I found a way around my mental block. I hope you like what I did!

February Hat of the Month: Burgers on the Brain

I'm just barely making this one in under the wire! For February I gave Melissa a hat I affectionately call Burgers on the Brain.

Side view

top view

I based this hat on the pattern I found here. As I said before, this hat was so much fun to make! On a scale of Beginner to Advanced, I would say this one was Intermediate. You have 5 color changes and use a few different stitches, but that's what I liked about the hat. It made the pattern go by pretty quickly, unlike some patterns where I feel like I'm in crochet purgatory. 

This was actually my second time making the hat. The pattern says it's for a child, and since Melissa is 32 I wanted to make sure it was the right size. I figured if it was still too small, I have a few friends with kids who would get a kick out of it. Well... It ended up being too big! I gave it to our youth pastor for Christmas because he has a love/hate relationship with Five Guys. 

It made me come to the realization that either I crochet really loose or she's around really big-headed children. Regardless, it taught me a few things to change when I made Melissa's hat:

1. The pattern calls for a J-hook to make the child-sized hat. I went down to an I-hook on Zac's hat. I ended up using an H-hook for Melissa's.
2. As you can see in Zac's picture, there is a dc row beneath the lettuce "skirt." I left it off on Melissa's hat because I wanted the red "tomato" row to peak out from under the lettuce row. If I make it again (which I probably will because I love it), I think I'll change it to a sc row between the skirt and the tomato. It added a little bit of lift, and the tomato almost disappeared on Melissa's hat. 
3. The pattern says to stitch teardrop shapes into the top of the hat and then fill them in. Let me just tell you, it is not easy to stitch a teardrop shape into a crocheted circle. I just did random stitches all over the top. You get the same idea. And in 1/3 the time!

Overall, I loved making this hat. The pattern was fun. The hat is adorable. I will most likely make it again. 

Interesting

I would like to start by saying GO RAVENS! I know I'm a few days late, but I promise I was a fan before Sunday. Actually, I was a fan when I realized their mascot was named after a literary character. I'm a bookworm like that. :-)

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We had quite a bit of fruit left over after the weekend, so I threw it in the blender, poured it in an ice cube tray, and voila!

I really wish I knew why Picasa doesn't load

I think it was peaches, strawberries, and pineapple. Anyway, I put the cubes 5 to a bag and put them back in the freezer. My plan is to throw them in with protein powder and milk alternative for quick smoothies in the mornings. I miss having smoothies for breakfast. I think I stopped when I didn't have to hit the ground running in the mornings. Dumb, because they are tasty! I kind of just wanted to suck on the cubes. :-)

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Today was kind of an interesting day. Amy called me this morning to tell me that Ajilon called her to check my references. I've known her for 9+ years and have worked for her at least 3 times. :-) She said they asked quite a few questions and of course she gave me a glowing recommendation. I know this doesn't mean they have found a job they like for me, but I find it promising that they are calling my references.

About 5 hours after that, my boss asked if I would be interested in the lead position at our club. She just got promoted (today!) from lead, so now we need a new one. The position comes with a pay raise a bit more responsibility/authority, but I think I could handle it. She said she wasn't sure if she could just name me lead [insert joke about my name being Jen] or if I'd have to go through the interview process, but we should know tomorrow. Interesting stuff all around!

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For those who were wondering, my cousin did get her box of hats. Her husband mentioned it in the blog he's been writing about Melissa's ordeal. Or at least how he's handling it. I'm currently working on ideas for February's hat. I think I know what I'll do, I just need to go get the yarn.

Hat of the Month: January Heat Waves

Yep, it's still Melissa's birthday! Here is the last of the 3 January Hats of the Month.

Heat Wave

I'm not sure why that picture's so tiny? Anyway, once again I'm taking artistic license with the names of the hat. Technically the pattern I used is called "Brain Waves Beanie," but since I used red, orange, and yellow, I decided to call it a heat wave. :-)

This pattern was so much fun to make! This one was the last one I made and it was a nice refresher after the fish fiasco. Let me warn you, YOU MUST PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT YOU ARE DOING. Eventually, you establish a pattern to the wave, but until that point you can't let yourself get distracted. This pattern is really well written though, so it shouldn't be a problem. She even has a handy dandy YouTube video to help you out.

My only suggestion is to print out the available PDF and highlight as you go. Oh, and don't let anyone talk to you while you're establishing the waves. :-)

Hat of the Month: January Hungry Fish

Happy birthday, Melissa! Here is post 2 of 3 for January's Hat of the Month Club...

Ok, so technically this pattern is called "Stinky Fish," but I didn't really like that title. So in Melissa's box this one was labeled at "Hungry Fish." I mean, the hat looks like it's eating her head, so hungry makes sense, right?

Before I begin, I feel the need to confess something to you all. I am a cheap-o. Especially when it comes to buying crochet patterns. Since I can usually look at a picture and figure out the pattern, I have to be really determined if I'm going to shuck out the money for one.

When I originally saw a fish hat pattern, it was this one. Cute, right? But, I'd have to pay for it. And I'm a cheap-o. So I started looking for a free pattern. I found one! And it's the one I used in the above picture. But, I'm going to tell you something....

I should have bought the pattern.

Nothing against the writer of the pattern I used, but the tail was a little complicated, and the transition from the tail to the body was more than a little confusing. Case in point....

Ooh, I'm doing good....

Ha, no you're not.

I also was not a huge fan of the way the mouth turned out. Somehow the mouth was getting off center. Twice. The second time around I just slip stitched over to where it was supposed to start and went from there. By the time I had gotten that far I was just ready to be done with fish. 

I didn't crochet the eyes or the middle fin. I used some over-sized buttons for the eyes, and I felt like the hat was cute enough with just the side fins. Like I said, I was ready to be done. 

The hat turned out fine. I'm sure it's a good pattern, and maybe if I had given it a third shot I would have figured out where things were getting so confused. But, in all honesty, I really should have gone with the pattern I fell in love with instead of being a cheap-o.  

Hat of the Month Club: January Birthday Party Hat

My cousin's birthday is tomorrow (Happy b-day, Mel!), so I figured I would post the review/tutorial for the first hat in her collection: the Birthday Party Hat.

As I said before, this hat was a Frankenstein that I pieced together. My original inspiration was this, but I couldn't find the pattern or a link to a pattern anywhere on the site. So I just found bits and pieces I liked and put them together.

I based the main part of the hat off of this pattern. Her pattern was very straight-forward and easy to follow. The only modifications I made were to increase to a J-hook since it was for an adult and I added a single crochet row of pink at the bottom.

Next were the circles.

I didn't follow a pattern for them, but here's (sort of) what I did.
Using a G-hook, working in the round:
Ch 2 
sc 5 in second ch from the hook (5)
2sc in next 5 sc (10)
*sc in next st, 2sc in next stitch* repeat from * around (15)
*sc in next 2 st, 2sc in next stitch* repeat from * around (20)
finish off, leaving a long tail 

If I'm being honest, that's how I started, and I just kept going til it looked right. I didn't want them all to look identical or perfect. I made 3 circles in each color I was using (pink, yellow, green, and blue).
Then, using the long tail and a plastic canvas needle, I stitched it on to the base.

My final pieces were the curly tassels.

I had seen these in pictures before and assumed they were going to be complicated. I mean, look at them! They're adorable! How can they be simple? But they are. Here's how to do it:
Using a G-hook:
Ch 25
3sc in second ch from hook
3sc in each ch across
finish off, leaving long tails

That's it! When I first saw the directions I thought I must have missed something, but nope. that's it. The spiral starts to form by about the third chain. Obviously my spirals are different lengths. I just started with base chains of 10, 15, 20, and 25, respectively.

To attach the spirals to the hat, first I twisted all of the long ends of each spiral together and pulled them through the top corner of the hat. Next I started tying the ends to each other. For example, I tied the pink ends to the yellow ends, and the blue ends to the green ends. Then I switched partners and tied the blue ends to the pink ends and the green ends to the yellow ends. Finally I tied all the strings into a knot close to the corner of the hat. I trimmed my ends and I was finished.

I know that last part may have been a bit confusing.... If you have any questions, please ask and I will do my best to answer them.

Return to Civilization

Or at least that's what it feels like. We have been without cable, internet, and a home phone since Tuesday morning. Apparently, U-Verse had some massive outage. There were a lot of people in our area with spotty to no coverage. We still had electricity and cell phones, but we still felt like we were completely cut off. It was very odd to be without even the local news for 80+ hours. But we have service back now (obviously).

To make things a little more awkward, we've been building up to a "severe winter storm" all week. I have the  Weather Channel on my phone, but it still wasn't telling me much I couldn't figure out by walking outside. We kept hearing secondhand about how bad the roads were going to be and what places were closing. I just so happened to see on facebook via my phone that Anthony's school was out today. It was a little disorienting when it hit because my neighborhood wasn't that bad, but I kept hearing about iced over bridges and salt trucks sliding. Greg and I decided not to risk crossing the bridges to go to K-town and called it a night after dinner. Better same than sorry.

Of course this week I had lots of things I wanted to post, but I couldn't get online. I guess I could have drafted in Word or something, but I didn't think about it honestly. I got my cousin's Hat of the Month box off on Wednesday. I plan to go over each hat individually, but here's a preview of what this month's box contained.

"Birthday Party," "Heat Waves," and "Hungry Fish"

Oh, yeah... the first Hat of the Month ended up being hats. I could say that you need a few to start a collection, but really... I just couldn't decide which one to give her first. And yes, my "head" was a balloon in a coffee mug. The mannequin heads I could find all had teeny tiny child-size heads. Anyway! I had a lot of fun putting this together and I'm looking forward to reviewing the patterns I chose to use. Actually, "Birthday Party" was more of a Frankenstein pattern I put together myself, but I'll get into that when I do my review.

Since this was her initial Hat of the Month Club box, I figured it was appropriate to include a a letter explaining what was going on.

Welcome Letter

Welcome Survey

An Idea is Born...

In November of 2012, my cousin, Melissa, went for an MRI because the doctors thought there was something going on with her inner ear. They discovered that her problem was actually a brain tumor the size of a tennis ball in her frontal lobe. The doctors said they thought it wasn't cancerous, but obviously they had to go in and get it. So on December 5, 2012, Melissa went in for brain surgery. The surgery went fine, she came out without any real complications (other than, you know, they had to cut into her head). They were able to remove most of the tumor, and the part they couldn't get looked more like normal brain tissue anyway. 

The doctors ran the pathology on the tumor, and unfortunately it wasn't benign. Melissa has Stage 3 brain cancer. So I started praying. Not only was I asking for healing, but I was also asking God what should I do. Melissa lives in Virginia, and it's about an 8 hour drive so the standard helping around the house option was out. But I feel the need to DO things to help people. Enter the Crafty Jenguin Hat of the Month Club! 

She had to shave her head for the surgery, and her treatment might include further hair loss. I thought sending her a different hat each month might brighten things up a bit. And of course these aren't going to be standard beanies. Melissa's a bit of a quirky chick, and I'm trying to brighten her day, so my intention is to make her hats that are more fun and less standard. Here's a peak at part of the first hat I'm making.

Since her birthday is this month, I'm trying to get the first box off by next Tuesday. That being said, I need to get back to work!