Sock Monkey Hats

Right behind all things owl, sock monkey hats are my most requested.  Who doesn't love a sock monkey?  One thing I love about these hats is that it doesn't matter how big (or small) they are or what colors you use, they're always easily recognizable and sure to elicit a smile!

Baby Bear Hat

I love making hats for newborns!  Tiny, soft and picture-perfect...and then there's the hats!  =)  Our church is full of growing families so I have a lot of opportunities to make baby shower gifts.  I couldn't resist making a little hat for a baby girl due in about a month.  Her daddy just deployed and, at the very least, I'm hoping he'll enjoying seeing pictures of his newborn babe, snoozing away with a sleepy bear hat on.

Newborn photo props

I have a friend from high school who is a very talented photographer.  She has a studio in Colorado Springs and takes beautiful portraits.  (Seriously, check out her website and, if you're in the area, book her services immediately!)  Recently she contacted me and asked if I'd be interested in making a photo prop for her newborn shoots.  Yes!  I've been wanting to do this very thing but didn't really need the finished product so it was at the bottom of my queue.  As requested, I made her a colorful crown.  

While I made it sized to fit the average newborn's head circumference, I also used sock yarn to give it a bit more stretch.  If I can figure out where I sat my little notepad (I really need a better system!), I'll publish the pattern.

Because I had leftover yarn and an idea burning in my brain, I made her a cocoon too!  Without a newborn at my disposal I used a 15" doll.  Again, with the sock yarn, it can streeeeetch!  It changed some of the stitch counts and doubled up on my yarn but, for the most part, this is the pattern I used if you'd like to try to duplicate it.  

I'm really looking forward to one day seeing an item I crafted in a beautiful photograph by M Photography!

The Owls Have It

By far my most requested design is the owl earflap.   I've made them for babies up to adults, with heavy yarn, glittered yarn and everything in between, with open eyes and sleepy eyes . . . and my pattern is still evolving!

At this point I decided I hated the stupid tab ear things that were from the first pattern I tried before making my own.  And I started adding a contrasting trim.

And I like the eyes closer together.

Then I started doing a little widow's peak at the bottom.

I like the peak, but think it looks better if it starts in the bottom row and not in the trim.

But my favorite so far is made with the shell-stitch to resemble feathers!

Business Fair

A few weeks ago our preacher's wife, who is an ob-gyn, mentioned to me that her practice was having a launch party to introduce their new name.  They planned on having local businesses come, like a business fair, and she was sweet enough to include me!  She thought it would be a great opportunity for me to show off my hats and make some contacts.  And I would be sharing a space with two ladies from church who do craft fairs regularly so I'd have two great resources for my prep as well as two awesome people to hang out with the day of!  Why not?

my set-up.  professional?  maybe messy is more accurate...

Of course, as is my style, I made things overly complicated for myself.  I worried needlessly about getting a federal EIN, whether I needed to apply to collect sales tax (nope) and fretted that I wouldn't have enough product done to make it worth while.  I ordered business cards and made a slideshow of past work to be running on my mac at the table.  I even got a card reader that hooks up to my iphone so I could take credit card payments! And I crocheted.  Morning, noon and night I crocheted.  Whenever I had a spare moment, I was covered in yarn.  I didn't sleep much, carried projects with me every where and my husband began to complain that I wasn't doing anything else.   But, like I said, I wanted this opportunity to be worth my time!  By the day of the launch party, I had 17 hats ready to go!

toddler bucket hat-SOLD

4 + bomber hat

baby chunky beanie with brim

toddler beanie with brim

4+ beanie with brim and bird embellishment

4+ beanie with bird embellishment

newborn shell stitch earflap--SOLD

toddler shell stitch beanie-SOLD

baby owl earflap-SOLD

4 + owl earflap-SOLD

toddler two-toned earflap

baby puppy earflap

toddler puppy earflap--SOLD

baby bear eaflap

baby bunny earflap

baby chunky beanie

baby chunky beanie

Was it "worth it" in the end?  Depends on your definition, I suppose.  I only sold 3 hats.  (Interested in one of those still available?  Shoot me an email!) But I covered all of my yarn costs so I wasn't out anything.  And getting that many hats ready gave me the chance to try out a lot of different styles, patterns and embellishments that I might not have been able to try otherwise.  All in all it was a great learning experience and I'm really glad I did it!

Designing My Own Basic Hats

Now that I knew I could handle designing an animal earflap hat, working up a pattern for basic hats without faces or ears would be a cinch!  This was a lot of fun because I got to play with different stitch patterns and embellishments.  I think I have the basics figured out now so I can do anything from baby hats to adult hats.  My friend in Indiana will soon be receiving a baby hat with rose embellishments and a front-post/back-post pattern.

And because this little girl will be starring in a lot of her mother's photography work, she needed something pretty and girly!  How about a delicate earflap hat with a shells design?

She also wanted a hat for her son so I made a basic earflap hat with a stripe and brim.

Adelaide was not thrilled to be wearing a "boy" hat but her head was the right size!

I'm hoping to work on a lot of variations on these themes to sell next month in Chesapeake.