Knit Z-Man Sweater

Happy New Year's Eve! Here is another project that I made for Christmas. I made this sweater for my nephew.

I found the pattern in Zoe Mellor's book Adorable Knits for Tots. A couple years ago, I made this sweater for his older sister from this same book.

I found this cute Ships Ahoy! sweater pattern and I knew I wanted to make one for Zach. I had intended to make it with the boat and fish. I ordered the yarn online. The yarn looked more blue on my computer screen. When I received the yarn in the mail, it was more green than I wanted. I decided to alter the pattern to have a Z on it, but I really like how it turned out.

If you want to see more details about this pattern, please see my Z-Man Sweater project page on Ravelry. Be sure to take a look at some more of my knitting and crocheting projects on my Ravelry project page.

Free Kid's Mohawk Ear Flap Hat Pattern

My eight year old niece is fun-loving and loves to be the center of attention. I wanted to make her a new hat for Christmas this year, so I decided to knit her a mohawk hat.

I made a basic ear flap hat and then added a felted mohawk.


I used Red Heart's With Love yarn in Jadeite held double for the main part of the hat and Lion Brand's Vanna's Choice in White for the hat trim. I found a skein of Joann Sensations Marvel in my stash. I have no idea why or when I bought it, but I wanted something that was brightly colored and was feltable for the mohawk and this yarn was perfect.

Notes:

This hat is knit in the round starting at the top. I used wool yarn for the mohawk so I could felt it. If you do not want to felt the mohawk, you can use a synthetic fiber yarn. You can use either worsted or bulky weight yarn to make the hat. If you use worsted weight yarn hold the yarn doubled. There is a front and back to this hat. The front is the side with the 20 cast off stitches.

Materials:

Set of 4 dpn – Size 10 ½

Size J Crochet Hook

75g Worsted or Bulky Weight Acrylic Yarn - Hat (A) 

15g Worsted or Bulky Weight Acrylic Yarn - Hat Edging (B)

45g Worsted or Bulky Weight Wool Yarn - Mohawk 

Size:

This will fit a large child or a small adult head

Hat:

Using color A, Cast on 4 sts.

1^st rnd: (Inc 1 st in next st) 4 times. 8 sts. Divide sts evenly onto 3 needles (3, 3, 2) sts. Join in rnd. Place a marker on first st.

2^nd and alternate rnds to 14^th rnd: Knit around.

3^rd rnd: *Inc 1 st in next st. Rep from * around. 16 sts.

5^th rnd: *Inc 1 st in next st. K1. Rep from * around. 24 sts.

7^th rnd: *Inc 1 st in next st. K2. Rep from * around. 32 sts.

9^th rnd: *Inc 1 st in next st. K3. Rep from * around. 40 sts.

11^th rnd: *Inc 1 st in next st. K4. Rep from * around. 48 sts.

13^th rnd: *Inc 1 st in next st. K3. Rep from * around. 56 sts.

15^th rnd: *Inc 1 st in next st. K3. Rep from * around. 64 sts.

16^th rnd – 31^st rnd: Knit around.

32^nd rnd: Divide for the ear flaps. Cast off 6 sts. 16 sts. Cast off 20 sts. K16. Cast off remaining 6 sts.

First Ear flap: With RS facing rejoin to the 16 sts. Working back and forth across 2 needles in rows, work 4 rows in stockinette st.

Next row: (RS) K1. K2tog. Knit to last 3 sts. SSK. K1.

Next row: Purl

Repeat last 2 rows 5 times more. 4 sts remain.

Next row: K1. K2tog. K1.

Next row: P3.

Next row: K3tog. Fasten off.

Second Ear flap: Work the same way as for first ear flap.

Mohawk:

Fold the hat in half so the ear flaps line up on top of each other. Run a strand of contrasting yarn through the middle to mark the center line. This is not necessary, but will help you keep the Mohawk straight.

Cut about 120 strands of the mohawk yarn. If you are planning on felting the Mohawk, cut the strands at about 8”. If you are not planning on felting it, then cut the strands at 4”.

Starting in the front about 1 ½” up and using the contrasting yarn as a guide, put a crochet hook under the knit st. Take 4 strands of the Mohawk yarn and fold the strands in half. Grab the middle of the strands with the crochet hook and pull up a loop. Put the ends of the strands through the loop. This will give you eight 4” strands in this place. Do this about every other stitch to the back of the hat. If you want a thicker or thinner, adjust the number of strands that you use. 

You can then felt the mohawk if you choose. Once your mohawk has been felted to your liking, trim it to your desired length. I trimmed mine to about 2 1/2 inches.

Crochet Edging: 

With RS facing and the crochet hook, join B with sl st at the center of the back. Ch 1. Work 1 rnd of sc evenly around the edge of the hat and the ear flaps. Work 3 sc in each point of the ear flaps. Join with a sl st to the first sc.

Ear Flap Ties (make 2): 

Cut 3 strands each of A and B 30” long. Using the crochet hook, pull 3 strands of A and 3 strands of B through a stitch near the point of the ear flap. Adjust the strands so they are exactly folded in half. There will now be 12 strands. Separate the strands by color. Take the 6 strands of A and twist it to the right. Place a small knot or a clip at the bottom. Take the 6 strands of B and twist it to the right. Place a small knot or a clip at the bottom. Twist the 2 colors together by putting the right over the left. Remove the clips or knots and make one knot at the bottom. Trim the ends, if necessary.

Here is the printable pdf of the patternprintable pdf of the pattern.

You can see more details for this and my other knitting and crocheting projects on my Ravelry project page.

Knit Cars-Themed Sundress Pattern

My 3 year old niece loves Lightning McQueen and the Cars movies. Unfortunately, most of the clothes that are sold with Lightning McQueen is geared toward boys. I decided to make her a Cars dress for Christmas.

I found Lion Brand's Knit Sundress Pattern. I used this as the starting point of the dress and then modified it to make it into a Cars dress. I made the dress using Lion Brand Cotton-Ease in Stone and I used Lion Brand Cotton-Ease in Cherry for the trim.

I found this Lightning McQueen Chart and this Tow Mater Chart. I duplicate stitched the chart onto the pockets. I did have to increase the width of the pockets to fit the charts on the pockets, but I think it turned out really cute. She also informed me that the pockets are the perfect size for holding her cars and even some room to carry treats!

You can check out more details for this pattern and see some of my other knitting and crocheting projects on my Ravelry project page.

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays from my home to yours. I hope your holiday season is full of cheer, whether you are spending it with family and friends or are just having a quiet evening in.

Thank you for following my blog this year. I hope to post even more projects next year. If you ever have any suggestions or want to see something, just let me know!

I will be posting the presents that I made for this year's Christmas, soon. My family is having our holiday celebration a little after Christmas, so I have to wait until after they receive the presents to post it.

Have a wonderful holiday!

DIY Wooden Snowmen

Christmas is just over a week away. If you are still looking for ideas for a quick gift to make, these wooden snowmen may be the perfect thing!

I am a Big Sister in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program. My 12 year old Little Sister wanted to make gifts for her family. She loves woodworking and wanted to build something for everyone. She has a large family, so the project needed to be fairly simple. We needed to be able to get multiple done in a short period of time. She decided to make wooden snowmen.

I am sure you have seen wooden snowmen all over the place, but here is our take on how to "build" a snowman.

Needed Materials:
Wood for the body
Wood for the hats (optional)
Paint
Wood Glue
Sander or sanding block
Craft Supplies

Step 1: Cut your wood.

You can make your snowmen any size that you want.

• Bodies - We used 2"x3"s, 2"x4"s, and 2"x6"s cut at different lengths for the bodies.
• Brim - We used 1"x3"s cut slightly longer than the width of the body for the brim of the hat. For example, if you are using a 2"x3" for the body, the actual width of the body is 2 1/2". If you want a 1/2" overhang on each side for the brim, cut your 1"x3" at 3 1/2".
• Hat Top - We used 1"x2"s cut at the same width of the body for the top of the hat. If you are using a 2"x3" for the body, cut your 1"x2" at 2 1/2" to match the width of the body.

Step 2: Fill in any holes with wood putty, if necessary. Sand the boards. Check out this awesome new random orbital sander we won from a giveaway over on Home Repair Tutor. Using that worked so much better than using the sanding blocks!

Step 3: Paint your boards

Step 4: Using wood glue, attach your hat rim and top to your snowmen.

Step 5: Decorate your snowmen. We used paint, ribbon, yarn, buttons, pipe cleaners, and pom poms. You can use whatever craft supplies that you have on hand.

These snowmen are easy to make and can be decorated any way that you want. My Little Sister made these to represent everyone in her family and they are very personalized based on each person. I think her family is going to love them!

This is a good project for kids to do. Just provide them with the pieces already sanded and painted white and a variety of craft supplies. Then let their creative sides show! They would make a great gift for kids to give their family members, teachers, family friends, or neighbors. This would also make a great classroom project.

Crocheted Big Foot Slippers

If you are looking for a quick crochet project to make for the little monster in your life, this is the perfect pattern! The pattern comes from Brenda K. B. Anderson's book Beastly Crochet and is a fun, fast, and easy project.

Somebody I know loves watching Animal Planet's Finding Big Foot. In fact, the crew of the show was actually in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (where I live) earlier this year and they claim to have sighted Big Foot. I think it's funny, but these crocheted slippers are going to be the perfect Christmas gift for her!

I stumbled upon this pattern when I was looking for something else, but I loved it! This pattern also has a set of matching mittens. I may still make them, but I have not decided yet. You can purchase the pattern for these slippers and matching mittens here for $5.50 or you can find it in Brenda K. B. Anderson's book Beastly Crochet. I downloaded the ebook from Amazon, but you can also buy the paperback book or even find it at your local library. The book has lots of really neat ideas and I know I will be making more patterns from this book.

I made these slippers using Lion Brand Vanna's Choice yarn in Espresso, White, and Beige and Paton's Moxie in Dark Mink. You could use any eyelash yarn for the 'fur' and any worsted weight yarn for the rest of the slipper.

These slippers are crocheted holding two strands of yarn together for the main part of the slippers. The foot pads and claws are crocheted separately and are sewn on later. The hardest part of making these slippers was sewing on the foot pads and that really was not hard at all. I just crochet much better than I sew!

This pattern could be easily adjusted to make any fuzzy monster fan happy. By changing the color of the yarn, this pattern could be used to make Cookie Monster, Grover, Oscar the Grouch, or Elmo. You also could leave the foot pads and claws off and just make some cute fuzzy slippers that any kid or teen would love!

You can find more details about this project and some of my other knitting and crocheting projects on my Ravelry Project page. Be sure to check them out!