More hats than you can shake a stick at

Is there anything more fun, satisfying, and relatively quick to crochet than a cute little hat?  Nope.  Here are a few that I have made over the last few months...

This kitty hat was based on the Crazy Cat Hat pattern, but because I wanted to use worsted weight yarn, I incorporated the Crochet Shark Hat pattern and the Hello Kitty Hat pattern. Despite the Frankenstein-ish combining of patterns, I think this hat turned out pretty cute!  I gave it to my beautiful cousin, Audrey, for Christmas.

Sonia modeled it for me, and she almost refused to take it off and give it back.  This girl would like it if I did nothing but crochet millions of hats for her.

When my little buddy, Ike, broke his arm over Thanksgiving weekend, I freehanded this Chop Chop (from Skylanders Giants) hat to send to him.  Sonia happily modeled it for me.

There is a removable face mask part, but I failed to get a picture of Sonia wearing the hat with the mask attached!  Whoops.  Here it is (as modeled by a canister of coffee):

I made another one of my beloved Graph Beanies, and this time I created my own graph!  My Michigan State University-loving brother-in-law received this hat from me for Christmas.

Here's yet another graph beanie, this time with a Longhorn on it!  My daughter's school mascot is a longhorn, and their colors are black and red.  I donated this to the school's annual silent auction, and someone bought it for $10.

I had been wanting to try making the Olivia's Butterfly Hat pattern for several years now, and I finally found someone to make it for-- my adorable neighbor (whom I am teaching to crochet!). I love how the butterfly is created with negative space.  I should have straightened out the butterfly a bit more before taking this picture.  Isn't this such a cute hat?

I love crocheting hats.  LOVE.

An MSU Rose Bowl souvenir

Does it count as a souvenir if you don't bring it back from actually going to the Rose Bowl?  Probably not.  Anyhow, to celebrate Michigan State's upcoming Rose Bowl appearance (the first in two and a half decades, or something like that), I made two of my favorite Spartans (my sister-in-law, Stephanie, and her husband, Don) a nice fleecy blanket to cuddle up in while watching the game.

The green and white chevron fleece caught my eye as I was shopping at Jo-Ann's a couple of weeks ago, and I knew I had to get a couple of yards of it to use for something for someone in Corey's Michigan State-obsessed family.  I showed it to Corey, and while I was brainstorming out loud about making it into a blanket with some sort of appliqué, he had a flash of inspiration and suggested sewing on this year's Rose Bowl logo.

He pulled up the image on the computer and I immediately fell in love with it.  Then I counted -- there are 19 different pieces making up that damn thing.  We debated how large to make it, and how to even blow it up to a decent size.  Corey figured out how to print the image over a bunch of 11" x 17"pages and then I taped it together.  Then, I traced it on to Wonder Under, being careful to label each one with a number so I could keep them straight.  After that, I fused the Wonder Under shapes to the appropriate color fabric (I used some Kona cotton from Jo-Ann's), cut them out, and got them laid out onto the blanket.  I was afraid of how the iron would affect the fleece, but I kept the temperature low and the pieces fused onto the fleece with no problems.

Appliquéing all those pieces onto the blanket was awkward, but ultimately easier than I thought.  It took a few hours to get it done, and I had to re-fuse several of the pieces that kept wanting to peel off after getting munched up and manhandled as I worked on stitching adjacent pieces.  Wonder Under doesn't typically fail like that, but I wasn't able to use the high heat necessary to get a good fuse, plus the fibrous nature of the polyester fleece didn't provide a very good adhering surface.  It all worked out in the end, though!

I bound the fleece in some store-bought quilting binding.  I actually hadn't bought enough and Corey volunteered to pick some up for me while he was out Christmas shopping.  I had very low expectations of him finding anything close to the right thing, but I sent him a cell phone picture of the package and crossed my fingers.  Amazingly enough, he was able to come home with the exact right binding!  He was so proud of himself.  Good boy!

The only problem is this is definitely one of those projects that is killing me to give away.  Corey started whining for one of his own and I told him to simmer down and give me time to recover from this first blanket.  It was definitely my most ambitious appliqué project yet!  Here's hoping that Steph and Don love it, and that Michigan State does well enough in the game that the Rose Bowl logo won't evoke horrible memories after the game.

Corey's Sparty Doll -- a free crochet amigurumi pattern

My brother-in-law, Corey, is a Michigan State University graduate and probably the university's biggest fan.  A few years back, his dog chewed up his Sparty (the Michigan State mascot) doll, leaving behind only Sparty's little Spartan helmet.  So sad.  Amigurumi to the rescue!  I scoured the internet for either find patterns or just to ogle others' creations, and I found very little Michigan State crocheted items.  Not one Sparty doll.  Curious, I searched for crocheted items relating to my alma mater, Notre Dame, and found just a few things as well.  I guess crochet mania has yet to truly embrace fans wishing to support their place of higher learning?  Time for me to put my amigurumi skills to work and go rogue.

SPARTY!!!!

Since I would need to make two of several items, I realized I was going to have to write down the pattern that I created.  Can't have a Sparty with mismatched arms!  I am posting my Michigan State University Spartan Mascot (aka Sparty) crochet pattern to the Roonie Ranching blog to save it for posterity and help any other crocheters out there fulfill their Sparty crochet needs.


Michigan State University Spartan Mascot (Sparty) Doll

Materials used:
- US - F/5 hook (3.75mm) and E/6 hook (3.50mm)
- Yarn needle
- Red Heart Super Saver Yarn in white, green (Dark Sage), black, gray, skin color (Buff), and brown (Coffee)
- 9mm safety eyes
- Polyester stuffing
- Marker to mark the end of a round

Stitches/techniques/abbreviations used:
- st (stitch)
- ch (chain)
- sl st (slip stitch)
- sc (single crochet)
- hdc (half-double crochet)
- dc (double crochet)
- trc (treble crochet)
- sc inc (two single crochets in the same stitch)
- sc dec (single crochet two stitches together)
- 3sc dec (single crochet three stitches together)
- hdc dec (half-double crochet two stitches together)
- Rd (round), Rds (rounds)
- Magic circle (can also just chain 2 and work the number of stitches in the second chain from the hook)

Finished doll is approximately 12" tall. Crochet in both loops unless otherwise indicated. Do not join rounds or turn at the end of rounds/rows unless otherwise indicated. Use F hook for all items except nose.

Head:
(with buff yarn)
Rd 1: Magic Circle 6 sc
Rd 2: sc inc in each st around (12)
Rd 3: (sc, sc inc) around (18)
Rd 4: (2 sc, sc inc) around (24)
Rd 5: (3 sc, sc inc) around (30)
Rds 6-9: sc around (30)
Rd 10: (3 sc, sc dec) around (24)
Rds 11-13: sc around (24)
Rds 14-15: 8 sc, 8 hdc, 8 sc (24)
Rd 16: 9 sc, 8 hdc, 7 sc (24)
**place safety eyes between rounds 9 and 10, 4 stitches apart, centered above where the half-double crochet stitches are forming the chin**
Rd 17: (2 sc, sc dec) twice, sc, hdc, hdc dec, 2 hdc, hdc dec, hdc, sc, sc dec, 2 sc, sc dec (18)
Rd 18: (sc, sc dec) three times, hdc, hdc dec, (sc, sc dec) twice (12)
**stuff head**
Rd 19: (sc dec) around (6)
Finish off, leaving long tail to sew onto body.

Nose:

(with buff yarn and G hook)

Ch 8, turn; working down side of ch, 2 hdc in 3rd ch from hook, 5 sl st, rotate to other side of ch, 5 sl st, 2 hdc in last ch, join with sl st to first hdc. Finish off, leaving long tail to sew onto face (with "wrong" side showing).

Right Leg:
(start with coffee yarn)
Rd 1: Ch 6, turn & skip first ch from hook; sc inc, 3 sc, 3 sc in last ch, rotate work, 4 sc, 1 sc in last ch (13 st in an oval shape)
Rd 2: sc inc in next two st, 4 sc, sc inc in next 3 st, 4 sc (18)
Rd 3: In back loops only, sc around (18)
Rd 4: In both loops, sc around (18)
Rd 5: sc dec, sc dec, sc around (16)
Rd 6: 3sc dec, sc around (14)
Rds 7-12: sc around (14)
Rd 13: 10 sc, switch to buff yarn, 4 sc (14)
Rds 14-21: sc around (14)
Switch to dark sage yarn
Round 22: sc around (14)
Finish off (no need to leave long tail for sewing).

Left Leg and Body:
(with coffee yarn)
Work the same as Right Leg through round 20.
Rd 21: 9 sc, switch to dark sage yarn, 5 sc (14)
Rd 22: sc around (14) (do not finish off)
**firmly stuff both legs**
Rd 23: 8 sc, hold Right Leg next to Left Leg; start working on Right Leg in 1 stitch past where you finished off, 14 sc, switch back to Left Leg, 6 sc (28)
Rds 24-25: sc around (28)
Rd 26: (5 sc, sc dec) around (24)
Rds 27-31: sc around (24)
Rd 32: (7 sc, sc inc) around (27)
Rd 33: (8 sc, sc inc) around (30)
Rds 34-40: sc around (30)
Rd 41: (4 sc, sc dec) around (25)
Rd 42: (3 sc, sc dec) around (20)
43: (2 sc, sc dec) around (15)
**stuff**
44: (sc, sc dec) around (10)
45: (sc dec) around (5)
Finish off.

Arms (make 2):
note: Stuff arms as you go; you will be working from the shoulders down to the hands.
(with buff yarn)
Rd 1: Magic circle 6 sc, leaving long tail at top for sewing arms to body
Rd 2: (sc inc) around (12)
Rd 3: (sc, sc inc) around (18)
Rds 4-7: sc around (18)
Rd 8: (4sc, sc dec) around (15)
Rd 9: (4sc, sc inc) around (18)
Rds 10-12: sc around (18)
Rd 13: (sc, sc dec) around (12)
Rds 14-16: sc around (12)
Rd 17: (2 sc, sc dec) around (9)
Rds 18-19: sc around (9)
Rd 20: (sc, sc dec) around (6)
Rd 21: ch 3, skip 1st ch next to hook, sl st in next 2 ch, sl st in next st (thumb made), ch 2, 3 trc, dc, sl st (fingers made), then bypass thumb and sl st in the first sl st made in this round.
Finish off and sew closed.

Epaulets (shoulder armor/decoration) (make 2):
(with dark sage yarn)
Row 1: Magic Circle 6 sc (do not join)
Row 2: ch 1, turn; sc inc in each st across (12)
Row 3: Turn; ch 5, skip first ch, hdc in next 4 ch; sl st in st #11 from Row 2. *sl st into next st, ch 5, skip first ch, hdc in next 4 ch, sl st in next st* Repeat from * to * four more times.  3 or 4 sc evenly across ends of rows, join with sl st to first ch in Row 3.
Finish off, leaving long tail for sewing to shoulders.

Wrist Gauntlets (make 2):
note: do not turn work at end of rounds
(with gray yarn)
Rd 1: ch 12, sl st in first chain to form a circle (12)
Rd 2: ch 1, sc in same ch as joining and in each ch around; sl st join to first sc of round (12)
Rd 3: ch 1, sc in same st as joining, 5 sc, sc inc, 5 sc; sl st join to first sc of round (13)
Rd 4: ch 1, sc in same st as joining, 6 sc, sc inc, 5 sc; sl st join to first sc of round (14)
Rd 5: ch 1, sc in same st as joining, 13 sc; sl st join to first sc of round (14)
Finish off, leaving long tail for sewing to wrists.

Greaves (shin guards) (make 2):
(with dark sage yarn)
Row 1: ch 7, turn; skip first ch, 6 sc (6)
Row 2: ch 1, turn; sc dec, 2 sc, sc dec (4)
Row 3: ch 1, turn; 4 sc (4)
Row 4: ch 1, turn; in back loop only, sc inc, 2 sc, sc inc (6)
Rows 5-8: ch 1, turn; 6 sc (6)
Row 9: Turn (no ch 1); sl st, sc, 2 dc, sc, sl st (6)
Finish off, leaving long tail to sew onto boots. After greaves are sewn onto boots, use white yarn to sew straps around the back of the boots as if the white yarn is holding the greaves onto the boots (see picture).

Skirt Armor:
(with dark sage yarn)
Rd 1: ch 30, join with sl st to first ch (30)
Rds 2-4: ch 1, sc in same st as joining, 29 sc, join with sl st, finish off. (30)
Rd 5: Count over 18 st from where you finished off on round 4 and join with sc, 26 sc (leave 4 st at front of skirt unworked)
Rd 6: ch 1, turn; 26 sc, finish off.
Rd 7: (with white yarn) Join at back of skirt; sl st around top of skirt, join with sl st; finish off, leaving long tail to sew onto body.
Rd 8: (with white yarn) sl st around bottom of skirt, join with sl st, finish off.
Rd 9: (with dark sage yarn) Working in back loop only of round 8, join with sc in last sl st of round 8 and sc around, join with sl st to first sc (30)
Rd 10: turn; *ch 6, skip first ch, 5 hdc, sk next st, sl st in next st*, repeat from * to * 14 times.
Finish off, leaving long tail to sew onto body.

Helmet - main part:
(with dark sage yarn)
Rd 1: Magic circle 6 sc (6)
Rd 2: sc inc around (12)
Rd 3: (sc, sc inc) around (18)
Rd 4: (2 sc, sc inc) around (24)
Rd 5: (3 sc, sc inc) around (30)
Rd 6: (9 sc, sc inc) around (33)
Rds 7-9: sc around (33)
Rd 10: 20 sc (leave remaining st unworked)
Rds 11-13: ch 1, turn; 20 sc (20)
Rd 14: ch 1, turn; sc dec, 18 sc (19)
Rd 15: ch 1, turn; sc dec, 17 sc (18)
Rd 16: ch 1, turn; sc dec, 16 sc (17)
Rd 17: ch 1, turn; sc dec, 15 sc (16)
Rd 18: ch 1, turn; sc dec, 12 sc, sc dec (14)
Rd 19: ch 1, turn; sc dec, 10 sc, sc dec (12)
Finish off.

Helmet - visor:
(with black yarn)
Row 1: ch 3, turn; skip first ch, 2 sc (2)
Row 2: ch 1, turn; 2 sc (2)
Row 3: ch 1, turn; sc inc, 2 sc (3)
Rows 4-6: ch 1, turn; 3 sc (3)
Row 7: ch 1, turn; 2 sc, sc inc (4)
Row 8: ch 1, turn; 4 sc (4)
Row 9: ch 1, turn; 3 sc, sc inc (5)
Row 10: ch 1, turn; sc dec, 3 sc (4)
Row 11: ch 1, turn; 4 sc (4)
Row 12: sc dec, 2 sc (3)
Rows 13-15: 3 sc (3)
Row 16: sc dec, sc (2)
Rows 17-18: 2 sc (2), finish off.

Edging: (with dark sage yarn) Rotate work and sl st along long sides, sc on ends. Join with sl st to first stitch of edging. Finish off, leaving long tail to sew onto hat.

Vertical stripes: (with dark sage yarn) Embroider 6 vertical stripes with two strands of yarn. Finish off.

Helmet - side circles (make 2):
(with dark sage yarn)
Magic circle 6 hdc, join with sl st to first hdc, finish off, leaving long tail to sew onto hat.

Helmet - jaw protectors (make 2):
(with dark sage yarn)
Row 1: ch 4, turn; skip first ch, 3 sc (3)
Row 2: ch 1, turn; 3 sc (3)
Row 3: ch 1, turn; 2 sc, sc inc (4)
Row 4: ch 1, turn; sc inc, 3 sc (5)
Row 5: ch 1, turn; 3 sc, sc dec (4)
Rows 6-7: ch 1, turn; 4 sc (4)
Row 8: ch 1, turn; 2 sc, sc dec (3)
Row 9: ch 1, turn; 2 sc, sc inc (4)
Row 10: ch 1, turn; sc inc, sc, sc dec (4)
Row 11: ch 1, turn; sc dec, sc, sc inc (4)
Finish off, leaving long tail to sew to helmet.

Helmet - neck armor:

(with dark sage yarn)

Row 1: ch 14, turn; skip first ch, sc across (13)

Row 2: ch 1, turn; 13 sc (13)

Row 3: ch 1, turn; sc dec, 9 sc, sc dec (11)

Row 4: ch 1, turn; 11 sc (11)

Row 5: ch 1, turn; sc dec, 7 dec, sc dec (9)

Row 6: ch 1, turn; 3sc dec, 3 sc, 3sc dec (5)

Row 7: ch 1, turn; sc, 3sc dec, sc (3)

Finish off.

Helmet - brush/crest:
(with dark sage yarn)
Row 1: ch 46, turn; skip first ch; 7 sc, sc inc, 14 sc, sc inc, 14 sc, sc inc, 7 sc. (48)
Finish off dark sage yarn, leaving long tail for sewing.
Row 2: (with white yarn) Join with sc, 6 sc, sc inc, 16 hdc, sc inc, 14 sc, sc inc, 8 hdc (51)
Row 3: ch 2, turn; 7 hdc, 2 sc, sc inc, 14 sc, sc inc, 2 sc, 14 hdc, 2 sc, sc inc, 7 sc (54)
Finish off, leaving long tail for sewing.

Take the long green and white length of crocheting that you just created and fold into thirds to form the brush/crest.

Assembly tips:
The easiest order in which to assemble Sparty is:
1) Pull skirt armor onto body over boots and legs and sew into place.
2) Sew greaves (shin guards) onto boots and embroider white straps.
3) Sew wrist gauntlets to arms.
4) Sew arms onto body.
5) Sew epaulets onto shoulders (covering the tops of the arms and touching the green of the body).
6) Sew head onto body.

7) Sew nose onto face and embroider eyebrows and mouth with black yarn.
8) Sew all pieces onto helmet.
9) Sew helmet onto head (unless you want to leave it unattached so you can remove Sparty's helmet during the national anthem).

Here are more glamor shots of Sparty.... and a four-year-old Sonia to give you an idea of Sparty's size.

Uh-oh....  What's that I spy on the water spigot?  A mention of a.... WOLVERINE?!?!

Happy birthday, Corey!!  If any brave crocheters out there attempt to work up this pattern, please let me know how it goes... and definitely let me know if you have any questions or find any mistakes in the pattern!

Tutorial for personal use only, please.

Linking up to: The Stichin' Mommy, Nap Time Crafters, Today's Creative Blog, Flamingo Toes, U.S.S. Crafty, And Sew We Craft

Corey's Spartan Lunch Bag

Corey has been asking me to make him a lunch bag (to replace the plastic grocery bag he always uses) for, well, many months now.  I decided that as long as I was sewing something for the rest of his family, I had better get that done!  I have been wanting to try the Pink Penguin Lunch Bag tutorial for a long time, and it didn't disappoint.  I did stray from the instructions a little to add a layer of felt in there for some insulation.  I could have sprung for some Insul-Brite, but I forgot to buy some on my last trip to the fabric store.  He has a fridge at work, anyway!  So here is the lunch bag for my diehard Michigan State fan:

It's lined in black ripstop vinyl, but none of the interior shots came out.

Here it is with the drawstring part open:

Of course I used Michigan State fabric that I got on a back-to-school sale at Jo-Ann's.  The denim is from Connie's old dog bed, and the ripstop nylon was a Jo-Ann's purchase.  I love using the parachute cord for drawstring bags!

I'm gave it to him at the big family party at Michigan State, because what better place to gift it than at his beloved alma mater?

I think he likes it!