A Hat and a Whale

Liz told me that she had wanted a hat for Christmas but her mom got her a pair of earmuffs instead. When I posted something on facebook about not having any crafts to work on now that Christmas was over she jokingly said I could make her a hat. I told her I would and asked what kind she wanted. She searched around a bit and posted two things for me to look at. One was a hat with cat ears and the other was the Rheatheylia Divine Hat. I asked her what color she wanted and she said either a dark purple, black or grey. I have made so much stuff with black and grey lately that I decided I wanted to work with a nice purple instead. I also decided on the Divine Hat, it's just so pretty!

This is Red Heart Soft in Grape, it is such a pretty yarn and very nice to work with. Now that I see pictures of it outside it's not AS dark as it could be but I think it's very pretty! I read a bunch of the reviews on Ravelry and people said that the hat came out really big and that they had to use a smaller hook. I started with a smaller hook but after the 15th round I realized that the thing was just waaay too small. I guess those people must crochet pretty loosely. So I frogged the damn thing and started it again with the hook the pattern actually calls for (what a concept?!) I ended up adding two more rounds of the shell pattern as well as two more rounds of the ribbed band. This way it comes down over the ears, I mean the whole point of a hat is to keep your head and ears warm, isn't it? It fits me perfectly so I hope it fits her too.




While at the store looking for this yarn I also had to get some fabric for a Tea Wallet I made my swap partner for a Tea Swap I participated in (more to come on that later). I had picked up 3 different fat quarters but ended up only using two in the end. The one fabric I had left was totally asking to be made into a whale stuffie! Liz loves whales so I decided to whip this little guy up and mail him away with the hat as an extra surprise for her. I drew the pattern up, cut out the fabric, sewed him, glued on some felt eyes and a little heart for some added cuteness. After he was done I realized I forgot the freaking spout of water!! Luckily I had some blue felt left from my Mom's flowers that worked perfectly. Normally I would have sewn the spout in but since it was after the fact I was able to finnagle it with the glue gun. He doesn't stand as well on his own as I would have liked but you can mess with him a bit and he will or just prop him again something.



I also figured that Liz would think I'd just give her the hat next time I saw her. I thought it'd be more fun to mail it because seriously...who doesn't love getting mail?!

Stay crafty kids!

Jamie