The Littlest of Red Hats

When my grandfather died, my grandmother (who will never die--I mean this in the nicest way possible, this woman is an indestructible force) opted to join the Red Hat Society.  Now, her friend loaned her some "large awful thing", and she requested that I make her a new hat, "but not a real hat, something small she can clip into [her] hair."  My grandmother does not like hats.

Now, I've never made a hat, much less a hat with a ten-day deadline in the middle of the Christmas season.  But, she's my grandmother--so what the hey?

Since I wasn't sure where to begin with the concept of "tiny red hat"--other than the obvious--I poked around the craft store and picked up red felt, embroidery thread, purple ribbon, and some various odds and ends.  I have yarn and fabric in nearly every color, so I figured if I needed anything else, I would already have it.  As it happened, I did not.  To get some ideas, I worked on a couple sketches:

The making of the hat was surprisingly easy.  It's hand-stitched (and, embarrassingly, not my best work), with typical sewing stitching for some portions, and blanket stitching where the floss would be seen.  I also used hot glue to stiffen the two bottom pieces of felt before blanket stitching them together. Not the classiest or most professional way to starch the bottom of the hat, but functional under a tight time limit and budget.

Since the hat was so small, I opted to go a bit simple with the details--purple ribbon (just like the red hat logo), a little purple bow, and some Christmas berries, since the hat is for their Christmas party.

And viola!  A tiny little Red Hat!

Of course, I had some concern over the best way to clip it in, but given my grandma's hair type and preferences, I opted to put two loops on the bottom so the hat can be bobby-pinned to her hair.

I even tried it out myself:

Not bad for having no clue what I was doing!

Tiny Legs, Big Head

To start with, I'm updating this from my new (old) netbook!  It used to belong to my boyfriend, although he has a Macbook now, and this is far more suited to my needs.  What does this mean?  That I can now keep a regular update schedule, because I will have a computer seven days a week, instead of just four.  This basically means I can update weekends, when I actually do stuff!

Anyway, other than the new (old) netbook, my mother's birthday is creeping up on me.  Now, my mother is a Dachshund Person, from a long line of Dachshund People.   (No, really, apparently some great-something on mine won the Westminster with a dachshund once.)  She currently owns two of the little devils:

This is Petey.

And Peanut.

So, I opted to make her a plush dachshund for her birthday with an old pattern I found in the thrift for thirty cents.  Now, I normally draft my own patterns, but it looked cute and old-fashioned, and I thought using the right fabric it would match my ma's bedroom.  The fabric is definitely my favorite part of this--I really love the elegant design and blue color.  It's the perfect match to my ma's decorating style, but not so over-the-top it would look silly as a plush dog.

The pattern was a very simple one, nine pieces in all: Two pieces for the body, two for the legs, four for the ears, and one for the face:

All were done in the cotton print, except for two of the ear pieces, which I did in a grey suiting fabric I had laying around.  These pieces were the inner ears, and was different for contrast.  All-in-all it took about an hour to sew, including ironing time and putzing around with thread tension.

Unfortunately, the chest-area doesn't look as nice as the pattern made it look.  It's a bit scrunchy and off, but what can I do?  Eventually I got to like how it looks with the legs laid out, which makes it a bit more whimsical anyway.  I added the button eyes, and purple bow/ribbon collar just to break up the pattern.

I'm not so sure I'll ever use the pattern again, but it was a fun, quick make for my ma.  I'm thinking she'll love it!  She's all about handmade, and it a huge supporter of my work, so I think she'll find it cute!

If I do try to make another one, I'm definitely editing the pattern a bit.  On the other hand, I do have to chalk some of it up to human error, too--I've never made a stuffed animal before!  I'm normally a dressmaker, so it's strange to have to deal with something that ends up stuffed and sewed up completely.

Handmade for the Holidays

As November comes to a close, the holiday season is fast approaching! What does this mean? Hundreds of projects to make! Well, maybe not hundreds, but I've certainly got my hands full. In fact, there's really only three or four projects right now, but two of them are knitting, and I'm new at this!  So, you know, give me a break here.  I'm still a slow knitter.

First up is a project of socks. Socks frightened me, I admit, for awhile. But then I tried to make one, and, hey: it's actually not so bad. Pretty fun, actually, although starting the cuff is a problem for me still.

I'm at the very beginning of this project, although I have been carefully planning it.  I've never done a multi-color design before, and while it is a fairly simple one I'm pretty nervous about it.  Also: because I'm a bit skittish about who might stumble over this blog, I'm refraining from posting what the design is, but here is my very fragile beginnings:

Eventually I'm going to post the full pattern, and the finished project.  This is one gift I'm pretty excited for, so I'm hoping all goes well.

My next knitting project is one for my friends:  Little octopodes for each of them!  We aren't much for exchanging gifts for the holidays, but I wanted the practice, and this little guys aren't very labor intensive.

Each color is for a different person, and Mr. Orange is almost done--just need to finish up a couple more arms.  I'm hoping to do something fun and quirky with button eyes for the little guy, as well.

The pattern for the octopus was completely self-developed.  Since learning crochet wasn't in the plans, I needed to figure out how to make a ball while knitting in the round.  After experimenting a bit, I'm pretty proud of the result.

Finally, my mother's birthday is in a little over a week.  What does this mean?  She's getting a fancy plush Dachshund for her new bedset.  So far as I have the pattern, and the fabric I'm using.  Hopefully this little guy will be done by Friday to show off here: