Other People's Kids

A few of my friends have been kind enough to send me pictures of their kids enjoying my madness. I thought I'd share a few with you just so you can see that my items are, indeed, wearable. I know it can sometimes seem unlikely. :) These are all of Little Miss M, which is fair since she's the one who gets most of my creations.

Isn't she sweet?

And you don't know how pleased I am to know that monstrosity of a blanket is truly used.

I love, too, that it looks like it'll stay with her for awhile since it swallows her.

Some days, you laugh in the face of logic. Or perhaps you make up your own. I mean, why use a blanket for warmth when you already have a jacket? Know what she didn't have? A pillow. Problem solved.

And the hard hat. Mama says it's a little big, but not overwhelmingly huge.

For pattern reference, that's a 12mo kid and an H hook, so I guess change your hook for up or down sizes within that general range.

I've been up to my eyes in character hats. I'm very, very close to swearing off of them for the next bit of forever. The pieces. The sewing. The ends. The inevitable lopsidedness. For some people, it may "add to the charm." For me, it's WRONG and I just hate it. But I was very good at trying not to let it get to me. If not for the fact my friend bought the yarn, I would've quit after the first two. She was so excited about them, though, I made myself finish.

I want to whine just looking at this and it's already done.

Oh! Ugh! Pieces. Buttons. Ends. Oddly reorienting cameras. Ugh!

I gotta say, I love this little dude. He needs a bit of tweaking (that green ear seems a bit wonky) but I like him!

I'll post a pattern once I get confirmation that it fits a real head.

He's supposed to have a mouth, but I don't know if I want to add it.

I was in the middle of owl making when she sent me a pic of a monkey hat and asked if I could make it. Naturally, it didn't have a link or anything with it, so I had to wing it.

The right one does not have a pointy head - that's my straw.

Please note how different their eye spans are. PIECEWORK!

And then this guy has his eyes thisclosetogether, because that makes sense.

The end is in sight, but not quite in reach.

Whew! Done!

What do you think on the braids? I think I'm partial to the separated ones (like on the arms of the chair) rather than the mixed ones (like the pink owl on the seat).  I also left the girls' "ears" a bit long so that it's almost pigtail-like. The boy's I spiked out.

I'm tired all over again simply looking at these. I can't help but think of how many other things I could have done with the yarn "wasted" on the braids and ears.

Pattern notes? I changed it a bit. The original calls for starting with 9dc, but that left me with a bit of a pointy head, so I changed it to 12. I also played around with the earflaps a bit in two ways. One, I didn't like having different lengths of "face space" in front and back, so I made them even (quite like I do with my bags). Two, I didn't like the way they came to a point at the ends and wanted something rounded, so I fiddled a bit. I don't think any two hats were made with the same technique. What else? Oh, when sc around, I dc in the back. These kinds of hats always seem to sloop over the eyes of a kid or else leave the back of their neck exposed. I'm hoping this alleviates at least a bit of that.

When I get pics with these on heads, I will share them if her mama approves. Sorry about not having a pattern to share, but I've been busy trying to not lose my cool and turn all of this mess into a giant granny square. :)

Thanks for checking on me! Here's to hoping you don't run into anyone you know when you head out for cold medicine!