Colorful Textured Cowl

I'm back! I missed writing this blog so much but life really just got in the way for awhile. Nothing bad happened but life got really busy for awhile. We were making some big changes in our home school life, my littlest had some health issues, and thanks to some success with my Etsy shop, we got to take a bonus trip to Disney World! Anyway, on with the fun...


I bought a skein of Red Heart Soft Deep Sea without a particular project in mind. It was on sale and the color just really struck me. I've had it for several months, but with fulfilling Christmas orders for customers, I just didn't have time to create anything new. Today I finally had time to sit down and play with it and came up with a quick and easy textured cowl. I used a J hook because honestly, I'm impatient and a J hook just gets the job done a little faster than the H or I... Plus with the texture of this, I thought making the stitches a little bigger was a good thing.

MineCraft Creeper Hat Free Pattern

If your kids are as into Minecraft as mine, they will love this hat! And the best news is that at the end of the week, I will be sharing another Minecraft pattern (for the Steve character)! When I opened my Toluver's Creations Shop, my very first order was for a minecraft hat. The funny thing was, at the time, I didn't feel confidenet in pattern writing so I just made up a pattern without writing anything down. Now that I actually want the pattern, I'm looking at the pictures I took and trying to remember what I did! I've learned my lesson and now I ALWAYS jot down the steps as I make up something new.

MINECRAFT CREEPER HAT 

Lalala... A rag doll hat inspired by Lalaloopsy

My daughter has been pretty into watching Lalaloopsy cartoons on Netflix recently. To be honest, so has my son! Haha! One day recently I watched a little bit with them and decided that I absolutely needed to make a hat inspired by Lalaloopsy. The characters are just begging to be recreated in yarn, don't ya think???

A Very Blue Platypus

Funny story. We home school and last week my daughter started a unit study on the platypus. She's enjoying it but my son was not so impressed. “What??? I thought platypuses were BLUE!” He's devastated. Completely devastated. Perhaps we've watched a little too much Disney Channel in our home? 

 

And so I bring you the latest pattern in the Toluver's Creation collection. A blue platypus, inspired by none other than Perry. It's too bad this hat is too warm to wear in the Florida heat in September because it would be awesome to wear at Epcot during Agent P's World Showcase Adventure. Maybe I'll bring it just for a photo op or two. My daughter and I are dressing like Phineas and Ferb, so we could do an awesome photo!

The Braelyn Newborn Hat

I love my customers! Sometimes I just can't think of a new pattern but then a customer comes to me and says "Can you make something like...?" and the inspiration begins and a new pattern is born. This pattern is for a baby who isn't even born yet, but I sure can't wait to see her wearing it. 

Excuse the lousy picture. I can't believe I did this, but I shipped it off to its new owner without taking pictures of it! So silly. I had only snapped this quick shot on my phone to send to my customer. 

Pooh Bear Hat!

I love AA Milne. I love the original Pooh stories and I love all the poetry, too. When my oldest was a baby, I decorated her nursery in Classic Pooh. Love, love, love.


So when a customer requested that I make a Pooh hat, I was obviously excited!

I knew I wanted to use bulky yarn, similar in style to the Polar Bear hats I'd made in the past. And then I decided that the pattern I used for those hats would be a great jumping off point for my Pooh hat.

Granny Square Button Bracelet

Ah, the granny square. I'm guessing that 's how a lot of us first learned how to crochet. I used to make countless squares. But never enough to actually make a blanket. And in the days before the wonders of the Internet, I had no idea how many cool things you could do with a granny square!

Little Pig, Little Pig, Let Me IN!

One of the most fun thing about character and animal hats is that they do more than keep your head warm. They are actually fantastic additions to a dress up collection. My kids are addicted to dress up games and we have an awesome collection. When other kids come over, pretty much all they ever want to do is play dress up. I do a lot of clearance shopping after Halloween to boost our collection but now I'm going to be adding some hats! And the first one I'm adding to the collection is a piggy hat that's perfect for playing Three Little Pigs! This hat is super easy to make!

Stretchy Headband and a Hello Kitty Inspired Applique

This blog post is awesome because it's really two patterns in one. Bonus awesomeness!

I'm including both the pattern for the stretchy headband AND the Hello Kitty attached to it. The headband is very versatile and can be used for so many crocheted appliques. It's also perfect for clipping ribbon bows to for baby girls.

So let's get started!

Nautical Fun with an Anchor Hat

Over the past weekend, we did some spring cleaning, which led to some redecorating. I had a lot of beachy decorations scattered all over the house in random spots and I really wanted to pull it all together. Plus, I needed to do something with my fireplace mantle. I had pulled it apart at Christmas and never did anything after. So we did some scrubbing and dusting and ripping apart.

My Basic Hat Patterns

There are a lot of different instructions out there to make a basic hat. I'm not going to pretend to be inventing something new here! But I have used a lot of different people's patterns and tweaked them here and there to come up with my own version of the best possible pattern in different sizes. At least, in my opinion.

Unless a hat has a unique texture, it starts with a simple pattern like this. Here are some hats I've made that start with a basic pattern:

A tisket, a tasket, a very easy basket!

This is a very simple, easy basket that even a beginning crocheter can tackle with ease! The only real twist to this one is that you are using two strands of yarn together to make it nice and thick and sturdy enough to stand up on it's own. It's not hard at all, but it may be a new technique to some people.

Drawstring Bag Pattern

I searched Pinterest. I searched and searched and searched for a pattern for a drawstring bag that I liked. But I couldn't find one that was exactly what I wanted so I did the only thing I COULD do. I sat down and made up my own!

An Easy Headband

OK, we are going to start small! If you can crochet even a little tiny bit, I promise you can do this project!  It is only chains and double crochet.

I used white cotton yarn and red and white polka dot ribbon because this head band is part of our "crafting to Disney" project and I think this is very Minnie Mouse!