Rainbow Extravaganza Pom Pom Hat

Check it out!!  Is this not the craziest, rainbowiest, pom-pomiest hat you have ever seen? I absolutely love it!  This was a special request from my friend for her daughter and I'm so glad she asked me to do it because it is spectacular!  The best part about it is that it is spectacularly easy!!!  No kidding. The only stitches used are dc and sc and there are NO increases or decreases at all. NONE!!!  So pull out your rainbow colors and lets get to it! 



Here's the pattern for a standard 18 inch child size hat - this hat is very easily adapted to bigger or smaller sizes by increasing or decreasing the initial chain:

Yarn:  Any worsted weight yarn.  I used cotton, but I think any similar weight yarn would work.  For my hat I used red, orange, yellow, lime green, kelly green, aqua, navy, and plum.

Hook:  J Hook

Gauge:  11 stitches and 5.5 rows is approximately a 4 inch square.

Pattern:

HAT:

Note: Hat is worked from the top down working two rows of dc for each color, except for purple which is 4 rounds of sc. 

With red yarn, ch 50, join with sl st without twisting chain.

Rd 1: Ch 1 loosely, dc around, join with sl stitch to first dc. (50).

Rd 2: Ch 1 loosely, turn, dc around, using orange, join with sl st to first dc of round. (50).

Rd 3-14:  Repeat rounds 1 and 2 using orange, then yellow, then lime green, then kelly green, then aqua, and then navy for 2 rounds each.

Rd 15: Ch 1, with purple, sc in same st and around, join with sl st to first sc of round. (50).

Rd 16-18: Ch 1, do not turn, sc around, join with sl st to first sc of round. (50).

Fasten and weave in your ends.

With hat inside out, sc the top of the hat closed.  Fasten and weave in your ends.

TASSELS: 

Note:  Your tassels will be worked with 4 rounds of dc for each color.

With red yarn, ch 7, join with sl st without twisting ch.

Rd 1-4: Ch 1 loosely, turn, dc around, join with sl st to first dc of round. (7).

Rd 5-32: Repeat rounds 1-4 using orange, then yellow, then lime green, then kelly green, then aqua, and then navy for 4 rounds each.

POM POMS:

I used this tutorial by Made to make the pom-poms.  There are many ways to do it, but I felt this was the easiest (and the prettiest!).

Finishing:  Weave in all your ends.  Attach tassels to hat at either side.  Attach pom poms to corners of the hat and at the bottoms of the tassels.  ENJOY!!!

Winner of Mandala Giveaway

Thanks to everyone for participating in this giveaway. I'm so happy that you all like the slipper pattern. The winners are:

Comment #7

Elizabeth

Jan 19, 2012 11:26 AM

New fan! Following your blog now! Would love to win these, my daughter saw the picture and wanted them immediately!

Comment #13

Anonymous

Jan 19, 2012 02:23 PM

I am following you on Facebook....awesome slipper pattern, so cute!

Comment #22

andrea

Jan 20, 2012 06:51 AM

I am also a new follower! I can't wait to check out your blog - and your amazing patterns! Thank you

Thanks again and happy hooking!!!

Conversation with Confessions of a Barefoot Housewife

One of the greatest pleasures of starting this Etsy and blog venture has been meeting so many wonderful people along the way. When I first started on Etsy my sales were pretty low so I decided to ask people if they would like to trade with me for items in my shop. In doing so I met Vanessa, one of the craftiest people I have ever met. She has made me bookends, letter magnets and craft bins made from thrifted fabrics and denim. These are all wonderful treasures in our house now and really make our home feel so cozy.

Vanessa of Confessions of a Barefoot Housewife

She has started a new blog called “Confessions of a Barefoot Housewife” where she writes about repurposing, thrifting, canning, raising toddlers, motherhood, and of course crafting!  Go check it out and give her some love!!! I’ve asked her over here today to ask her what I can do with all those little scrappy pieces of yarn I’ve been collected in jars from all the various projects over the months. You know, the teency little 2 to 3 inch little guys that you can’t even use for granny squares.

Here’s our interview:

Please tell us a little bit about yourself?

Well, I grew up in a little island in Washington where I met my now husband. My mother didn’t let my sister and I watch TV so we had to be creative. I think that’s where my passion for making things really started. My husband and I have had quite a whirlwind of a life, including a 6 month backpacking trip through Europe and 8 months teaching in the Dominican Republic. We now call a little mountain town in Northern California home but we average 2 moves a year so who knows where our next adventure will take us. I have no idea how I find the time to craft between going to school, watching my 15 month old, cleaning the house, and making dinner. But I tend to have at least 4 projects I’m working on in any given week.

When did crafting become an obsession for you?

I have always loved creating, building, and exploring. My sister and I used pretend we had our own craft show. We would make anything from cornhusk dolls to bird houses. It was a lot of fun. But I think that my “obsession” really got started when I found out I was pregnant. We were living in the Dominican Republic at the time and I was having crafting withdrawals. So I gathered up all the different glass bottles I could find (which, sadly, were a lot!) and made a mosaic. By the time we moved back to the US I was so craft deprived that I spent all my waking hours making toys for my daughter. I even knit a blanket throughout our road trip from Washington to California, via Wisconsin. I have since filled my house with toys, canned and dehydrated food, lots of cloth boxes, and many other crafty things.

What inspires you?

What inspires me? Well frankly, trash. I look at an empty milk jug and think“that could totally become a bird feeder!” My husband is so understanding when it comes to sorting our trash. I have about ten bins in my garage for trash and only one of them ever makes it to the dump. Not sure if any of you have read Christina Katerina and the Box by Patricia Lee Gauch but if you haven’t I suggest you find a copy yourself a copy. It’s really cute and describes me perfectly. My parents were also a huge inspiration. We had very little money growing up my sister and I had no idea because my parents were so creative. My mom would make us toys, help us use our imaginations and let us play in the dirt (a must for every child’s development). My dad would make us jungle gyms, forts, and even a puppet stage in our house. They were truly amazing. And lastly, my daughter inspires me. I see something that she might like in a photo or at the store and I want to try to make it for her.

Okay crafty woman! Tell us, what can we do with those teeny tiny pieces of yarn?

Oh the endless possibilities. I love lists and they are easier to follow. So here are 10 ideas using yarn scraps:

1. Use it as batting instead of polyfil

2. Make pom pom garland. People tend to make pom poms by cutting a long piece of yarn up. Why not just use the scraps and skip the cutting?

3. Fill an old milk carton and fruit tray with yarn and put it out as a nester for birds. Check out funinthemaking for a visual.



Source:  funinthemaking.net



4. Make balls for a necklace out of them. Use lots of clear drying glue to make the balls hold together.

5. Have your child glue pieces of yarn on paper for artwork (makes a great family portrait). Check out almostunschoolers to seewhat I mean.



Source: almostunschoolers.blogspot.com



6. Make a bowl (yes, I said a bowl) elisabethandree made awonderful one.



Source: elisabethandthree.posterous.com



7. I did this craft once with my mom; we took a petri size dish and filled it with melted wax (melted so it’s not a liquid but not truly a solid). We pushed pieces of yarn into it to create different designs. My mom glued a piece of yarn on the back and hung them on our windows with suction cups. They looked really cool when the sun shone through them.

8. Fill a clear plastic water bottle with water and throw a handful of yarn scraps in (optional: glitter and tinsel). Glue the cap on and hang it to your toddler. He can make the yarn “dance.”

9. Yarn is wonderful because it will keep its shape if you glue it to something. Back when I taught preschool we did something similar to what kinskandykreations did here with Christmas lights and molded yarn.

Source: kimskandykreations.blogspot.com

10. Get a flat rate box from the post office. Stuff as much yarn scraps as you can in it and mail it to me so I can come up with some more ideas! (Feel free to add other crafts supplies as well).

And there you have it!  Thanks so much Vanessa for stopping by.  You never cease to amaze me with your creativity!

My Interview at Optimistic By Nature

Thank you so much to Katie over at Optimistic By Nature for her lovely blog post interview of me!

She has some very lovely patterns and I can't wait to see more from her!

Snowy Days are Perfect

Such a beautiful day of snowy wintery wonder here in Portland.  The first real snow of the season.  Okay, I know there are some people out there that are looking at my snowy pic and thinking, that's so pathetic!  But for Portland, this is significant . . . numerous schools are opening late, buses are on alternative routes, the local news stations are having a field day!

I know what I'm doing . . . I'm going to snuggle into my afghan and . . .  CROCHET!  Gotta finish those sleeves on Georgie's sweater. 

Have a wonderful day wherever you are!

Mandala House Slipper Pattern GIVEAWAY!

I am so very excited and proud to announce my newest pattern.  The Mandala House Slipper!  Yippeeee!  It's been a long time coming: I thought of this pattern in May 2011 and it took until today to finally get it up and running. This went through 4 tests and an incredible number of edits to get it where it is today.  Thank you to all my wonderful testers for making this pattern so awesome! 

This pattern is available for purchase on Etsy and on Ravelry.

To celebrate, I am offering this pattern for free to 3 lucky winners!  Two ways to enter:  (1) Follow this blog and comment below to let me know you are following (current followers included) AND (2) Follow me on Facebook and comment below to let me know you are following (current followers included). Each person can have 2 separate entries.  Leave separate comments for each entry.  GIVEAWAY will be closed and winners selected on Monday January 23, 2012 using a random number generator.

New Year Goals

2011 was such an important year for me with crochet.  I published a few designs I am very proud of and started a fun little Etsy shop that kept me busier than I could have ever hoped for.  I made so many viking hats that I have the pattern and all 3 sizes memorized by heart.

Last 4 viking hats of the season.

But there is so much more I want to do both personally and with crochet in 2012.  Here are a few:

1. Foster more creativity with my family. Provide my kids with tons of opportunities to be creative, craft, be musical, etc.
2. Live more simply: Buy less, use less, reuse and recycle more, grow as much food for my family as possible, learn how to can and otherwise preserve food, shop at thrift stores more, recycle clothing, make the kids clothes, etc. etc.
3. Write out, test, and publish all the patterns I have spinning around in my head. 
4. Finish all the half finished crochet and quilting projects laying around my house.
5. Blog better and more often and otherwise build relationships with fellow crocheters, crafters, bloggers, etc.

Here's to a beautiful 2012!  Best of luck to all of you!