Deeply Textured Hat

My hubby left for the weekend on a trip up to the Smoky Mountains with a good friend of his. I’m thinking it’s about the guy bonding or something like that but honestly, it’s freezing cold up there and a LONG drive from our house so I’m okay with it 😉 From the pics he’s shared it looks like a lot of amazing trails and gorgeous sites to see.

Autumn mountain gorgeousness coming at you!

Wish you were here!!

While he’s out enjoying his time and getting back to nature, I’ve been keeping busy with our kids and of course, my yarn! Winter always has me on the hunt for new and interesting hat patterns for my family and last night I found one I couldn’t say no to over in Ravelry.

The stitch definition is glorious. It’s something I could look at and never get tired of. And not only does the stitch look good, when you run your fingers over it, the fabric reminds me of an old knobby and gnarled tree.

Sumptuous, right?!?

It’s also UNISEX–which in my house is always a good thing. People are always grabbing hats to stick on their noggin and it’s always comical to see who gets stuck with what hat.

The pattern, published by The Laughing Willow in 2010, is called the Deeply Textured Hat. She hasn’t blogged in a year *sadness* but the stuff she has up is all amazing! I highly recommend browsing her blog collection and pinning your favorites.

This hat works up quickly and can be altered to fit any size just by switching up your crochet hook or yarn (one of my favorite sizing tricks to do.)

Child hat made with an H hook and medium worsted weight yarn.

Adult hat made with a J hook and medium worsted weight yarn.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As far as hats go, I love this one. I’m a huge fan of textured crochet and this one has that and more. I can see lots more Deeply Textured Hats on my hook in the near future!

If you’ve made one and want to share, head on over to my facebook page to drop a pic! I’d love to see your work!

Wrangling Big Color Change Projects

Recently, I opened my MASSIVE book of ‘to do’ crochet projects and pulled out a pattern I’ve been itching to try since it first came out! It’s Playin’ Hooky Designs: Strata Beanie.

Here is what mine looks like halfway finished:

The first thing you notice when you look at that hat is that it’s done using no less than 5 skeins of yarn. That is A LOT of yarn to attach to one project. One of the reasons I kept it on the back burner was simply because I’m not a huge fan of YARN KNOTS!!

However, thanks to Pinterest (I love that place!!) I stumbled on a really amazing technique that I tweaked a bit in order to tame my skeins so I didn’t end up with a single knot or a huge headache.

The tools you will need are cheap and readily available and you probably have them lying around the house right now!

In order to wrangle your yarn you will need:

• One large sized paper clip
• One canvas shopping bag
• A chair or something to hang your canvas bag from so it’s suspended and not lying on the ground
• All of your yarn

That’s it!

To get started, fold your paper clip so it looks like this:

Next, hang your canvas bag onto the back of your chair and place the paper clip onto one of the handles. Then, begin your project, being sure to thread each new color through the TOP of one side of your paper clip. Once you have each of your colors threaded it should look like this:

Quick Tip: Make sure when you are adding your skeins into your canvas bag you put them in so that the center pull is feeding up toward your paper clip!

Now for the fun part. The key to making this all work (and keeping your yarn untangled) is in how you crochet. Begin your project, working in the round, and when you get to the color change:

*Change as indicated, pull your loop out about an inch and then–turn your project one complete revolution in the opposite direction that you just crocheted. Reinsert your hook, pull your loop tight, and complete your next round. Repeat from * around.

It’s just that simple. If you follow those directions for each color change your yarn should remain tangle free and easy to work with!

As you can see here, I’m on round 18, my 5 skeins of yarn are totally tangle free, and I haven’t had to fool with rearranging skeins once this entire project!

Tiny Turkey and Santa!

I’ve had a few new releases that need a home here at the blog! Let’s start with TURKEY!

Tiny Turkey was born out of my absolute love of Thanksgiving (turkey with gravy and all the trimmings is my favorite when the weather turns!!)

However, this year I decided to make our ole’ friend, Mr. Yummy Turkey, the star of the show in a whole other way!

Photographs taken by and used with permission from Multiple Blessings Photography
Turkey prop crocheted by Karen’s Crocheted Hats

I think this one is totally edible!!

You can find the pattern over in Craftsy!

 

After turkey, you have to come to terms with WHO is making his way to town! To celebrate December (and all it means), I’ve come up with two hats that give a nod to the season.

The first hat is actually inspired by Mrs. Claus but has its roots in the children’s tale, Little Miss Muffet.

 

Lil‘ Miss Muffet is also available in Craftsy!

And last, but not least, is one of my personal favorites, the Santa Pixie!

Santa Pixie hat crocheted by: The Whole Knit & Caboodle
Photography by: Photography by Tracy Cook

I love the slope and lines of this hat. It reminds me of a very merry vintage Christmas! You can find the Santa Pixie over on Craftsy too!

 

 

Butterfly Hat Giveaway!

This contest is now CLOSED!! Thanks to Sparklerose Designs for furnishing the prize and congratulations to our winner, Kelly Botts-de Bie!

 

 

 

I have a surprise for you guys–who doesn’t love surprises??? I ACTUALLY WON an awesome prize in the Boomer Beanies giveaway furnished by the uber talented Sparklerose Designs!!

She has generously agreed to extend my winnings so that ONE HodgePodge fan can win too!! If you’d like to get in on the action, (and win one of these awesome hats) all you have to do is follow the guidelines below. You will be messaged by SparkleRose Designs to arrange the rest of the details.

How do you enter this super cool giveaway???

• Go to facebook.
• Click the LIKE button over at SparkleRose Designs.
• Make sure HodgePodge is getting some love too and click LIKE if you haven’t already shown us the love!!  🙂
• Once you’ve liked both pages, click your name up at the top of your facebook page.
• Copy the entire line found in the address bar of your browser. (That’s the line followed by http://) Keep in mind that in order for you to win your account must be able to receive messages so that we can get in touch with you. If you enter and can’t be reached, another name will be drawn.
• Paste the link you’ve copied here into your comment, say something witty and clever 😉 click enter, and you’re DONE!

Don’t panic if you get a message telling you that your message needs to be moderated. It will pop up once I approve it.

The winner will be selected by RandomPicker!

Good luck HodgePodgers!!

Lil Indian Boy/Girl Hat

Today’s blog post will be turned over to my very good friend and fellow HodgePodger Debby Wisely so she can showcase her brand new pattern of the Lil Indian Boy/Girl hat!

Be sure to show her some love in the comments!

Hi, I’m Debbie Wisely and I’m a crocheter. Doesn’t this sound like the start of a 12-step program?

I’m the proud Mom of a son who is a U.S.A. Navy submariner. I’m married to a great guy who supports me in all my craftiness, (should have been part of the marriage vows!) and we have 3 furbabies.

Crocheting is my addiction. I’ve tried so many other crafts from clay to ceramics and pretty much everything in-between. Even owned a ceramics business for a short time, but I always come back to crocheting. I get giddy just thinking about shopping for yarns and what I can make with it.  I know I’m not the only one out there, so ‘fess up and join my addiction!

I came about writing my first pattern when I was looking for a feather pattern. With Halloween and Thanksgiving coming around, I wanted to make a little Indian boy and girl hat. I scoured every avenue I could to find one, and there are a few out there, but not what I was looking for. So I decided to make my own. Ok, not too hard, I can do this…..and viola! The feather pattern was born! Well, MY feather pattern. Lol

 

 

There aren’t too many Indian hats out there either so again, I wanted to design my own. Now with my feather pattern complete,  I got down to making the Indian boy and girl hat! I was so excited. I’ve never written a pattern before so I just took it step by step.

First the hat part which is a pretty standard pattern for all hats. I knew I wanted a headband and feathers, but what colors? So after some careful thought, I went for orange, a deep red, turquoise, yellow, carrot and black. The headband was pretty easy too but the design was a little difficult to translate and with the help of my testers, that was worked out too.

Add some pigtails for the girl version….and the Lil Indian Boy/Girl Hat pattern was created!

 

I’m so happy with it and I’m totally eager to start my next pattern to write up. I’ve got some ideas lurking in my head, now I just have to figure out how to make them. So keep an eye out for me!

If you’d like to see more of my goodies, visit my Etsy shop: www.etsy.com/shop/QTPatootieKids

And please come and join my facebook page,  www.facebook.com/QTPatootieKids