Cupcake Beanie pattern

Here it is, friends!  I was asked to write up my version of a Cupcake Beanie.  A few years ago I came across a bootleg internet copy of a similar hat made by Twinkie Chan.  I worked her pattern up and liked it ok, but it didn't work once my daughter wore the hat...it barely sat straight on her head and the cake part kept getting bigger and bigger the more she wore it.  No bueno.  So, like any crafty/crocheting, frustrated mom, I decided to make up my own version and out came this little number.  It's a little slouchier so the frosting looks super-swirly and the cake part fits around the head a little tighter to help keep in on.  If you have any questions or need help, feel free to contact me on FB https://www.facebook.com/pages/Spicy-Tuesday-Crafts/167303963320859?ref=hl and I'll see if I can sort it out for you.  Enjoy!

 Cupcake Beanie

Materials:  I hook (5.5mm)

                  WW yarn in your choice of frosting color

                  WW yarn in your choice of Cake color

                  Pony beads, sequins, pom poms...whatever type of decoration you'd like

 Frosting:  Ch 28, turn

            R1:  1 hdc in 2nd ch from hook, 1 hdc in each st across, ch 2, turn.

(work in BLO from here on)

           

            R2:  1 hdc in each st across, 2 hdc in last st, ch2, turn.

            R3:  2 hdc in next st, 1 hdc in each st across, 2hdctog in last 2 sts, ch 2, turn.

            R4:  2hdctog in first 2 sts, 1 hdc in each st across, 2 hdc in last st, ch 2 turn.

            R5 through R50:  Repeat, alternating between R3 and R4

            FO, leaving a long tail for sewing.

            Sew R1 to R50 to make a tube.  FO, but do NOT cut the string.  Set frosting aside.

Cake:  Ch 14

(work in BLO for the whole cake section)

            R1:  1 sc in 2nd ch from hook, 1 sc in each st across, ch 2 turn.

            R2:  1 sc in each st across, ch 2, turn.

            R3 through R90:  I sc in each st across, ch 2, turn.

            FO, leaving a long tail for sewing.

           

            Sew R1 to R90 to make a short tube.  Carefully and evenly, sew cake piece to bottom edge of frosting piece.  (You'll be sewing 90 sc rows to 50 hdc rows so try to keep the sewing stitches as even as possible around the cake.)  FO and weave in ends.

            Using the left-over sewing tail on the frosting, weave it in and out along the top edge of the frosting, around the tube. Pull gently to cinch the top edge closed.

            FO and weave in ends.

            Add "sprinkles" - pompoms, sequins, etc. - or whatever embellishment you'd like.  For my sprinkles, I used Pony beads, sewing them on and tying the knots on the inside of the hat to hide them.  

Cupcake Java Jammies crochet pattern

As promised, here's the original pattern I came up with for Cupcake Java Jammies, a cozy for your coffee cup.  I used a picture of Twinkie Chan's cupcake cozy for inspiration, but since I couldn't find a pattern of her's for them, I came up with one of my own. 

Cupcake Java Jammies

 Materials:  WW yarn in 2 colors (cake and frosting)

                    I hook

                    tapestry needle

                    pompoms

                    fabric glue

 This pattern is worked in 3 parts; the cake, the frosting and the piping around to cover where the cake and frosting meet. 

 Cake:

With cake color, ch 10.  Turn.

 Row 1:  1 hdc (in back loop only from here to the end of the cake piece) in second ch from hook and across, turn.

Row 2:  1hdc in each st across, turn

Repeat Row 2 until your work reaches 10 inches long.  Finish off, leaving a 15in tail for sewing.  With tail and tapestry needle, sew the last row to your first row, making a small tube.  Finish off and weave in tail.

Frosting:

Attach frosting color to the top of the seam. 

Row 1:  35 sc spaced evenly around the top of the tube.  Join with sl st into first sc.

Row 2:  Ch 3, 1 dc in first st, *SPECIAL STITCH: yarn over, insert hook in same st as the first dc, yarn over, bring up loop, yarn over, insert hook in next st, yarn over, bring up loop, yarn over and pull through the first 4 loops on hook, yarn over and pull through remaining 2 loops on hook*, repeat from * to * around.  Join with sl st into first st.

Row 3:  Ch 3, 1 dc in first st, SPECIAL STITCH in each st around, join with sl st into first st.

Row 4:  Ch 3, 1 dc in first st, SPECIAL STITCH in each st around, join with sl st into first st. 

Finish off. 

Piping:  The piping is made by creating a chain of BOBBLE STITCHES then sewing it onto the cupcake.

BOBBLE STITCH:  *Yarn over twice,  insert hook into the next stitch, yarn over and pull up one loop, pull through one loop on hook, yarn over and pull through 2 loops on hook, yarn over and pull through 2 loops.*  This is called an Incomplete Treble Crochet.  Repeat from * to * 4 more times to make 4 incomplete treble crochets in that same st.  There will be 5 loops left on the hook.  Yarn over and pull through all loops on hook. 

With frosting color, [ch 3, in 3rd ch from hook, work BOBBLE STITCH].  Repeat from [ to ] again and again until the chain of BOBBLE STITCHES is long enough to go around the whole cupcake.  Finish off leaving a 15in chain for sewing.  Sew chain onto the cupcake to cover the seam where the cake meets the frosting.   

Apply several small dots of fabric glue to frosting area, add pompoms and let dry completely. 

Shout out to Twinkie Chan for the inspiration for this Java Jammies pattern, (and the BOBBLE STITCH for the piping is my adaptation of her Piping pattern).  Feel free to use this pattern for your own use, and you have my permission to sell items made from this pattern as long as you link back to this post and Spicy Tuesday Crafts.  Please don't sell the written pattern to anyone.  At all.  Thanks. 

sock monkeys and owls...

 I'm currently climbling out from under a huge pile of yarn, hooks in hand.  This summer I signed up to have a table at our local craft fair in Nov. to sell my Ouchie Owls, Boo Boo Birds and sock monkey hats.  Thinking I'd have plenty of time to stock the table, I started slowly working on some hats and other assorted baby/kid gear to put out for sale.  Ha!  Since I started working on stuff for the fair, I've gotten 10 separate orders for monkey hats, two of them while I was sitting on the bleachers at a football game.... my tiny friend slash amazing baby-sized advertiser Quentin was also there sporting his sock monkey hat and causing quite a stir with all his cuddly cuteness.  With all those orders coming in I've hardly accumulated much of anything for the fair but I do still have a month and a half.  Those last few days I'll no doubt be up at all hours.  Here are a few of the items I've finished in the last few days:     

Ruby Red Grapefruit scarf

Made it another week! Here's my entry for Knock-off Week:

I have a new hero -- and her name is Twinkie Chan! She designs and crochets a whole line of food-inspired scarves and accessories, selling them on Etsy and Ebay as well as other places. (You can find her at http://www.twinkiechan.com/.) Her designs make me happy and since I recently lost 40lbs, it's safer for me to merge my love of food with my love of (almost) all things crocheted. I thought this grapefruit scarf of hers was so crazy cutethat I decided to make my own version.

I made my grapefruit slices a little smaller so there were more of them going around and they have 7 sections instead of her 6. I also prefer Ruby Red grapefruit to the plain kind so I chose my colors accordingly. When I was a kid, grapefruit eaten at my grandparents' house was always sprinkled with sugar on top so I sewed on irridescent beads for a sparkly finish. It's my new favorite scarf -- and I hope you like it too!

SYTYC Auditions- I made it!

For those of you who hadn't guessed, the football buddies were mine! I made it through the first week of voting - thanks for all the votes, friends! Here's the entry as it appeared:Meet "Annie" and "Jake"! My husband is a huge San Francisco 49ers fan and our kids love screaming at the tv....er, I mean, watching the games....with him. I made these little friends to join the party! "Annie" loves to tail-gate so I made her a watermelon to share: And "Jake" is in his 49ers jammies with a blankie to cuddle with at bedtime. And because I love accessories (but hate picking them up all over the floor), I made his blankie "attachable" -- two loops for his arm to slide through.These two have become very well-loved friends around our house, especially during football season.
Now, if only the 49ers could get to the Superbowl!

I love Sock Monkeys!

I freaking LOVE sock monkeys! I always have, although "always" for me didn't start when I was a kid, but after my son was born in 2007 which was when I first saw one. I guess I'm way late to the game. My mom showed me a package of the Rockford Red Heel Socks (which I later found out is the original socks the monkeys were made out of) and printed on the back of the package was instructions for sewing your own sock monkey! They actually printed it on the package! Brilliant! Anyway, I still haven't made an actual sock monkey toy yet, but my friend Valerie showed me a photo of a sock monkey hat and asked if I thought I could do it. Um, whether I can or not, it was way too cute to pass up! She wanted him in a gray/blue/white color scheme for her youngest son who's just 3 months old. I made it a little big, partly because I had to estimate his head size (I was so excited to get started that I didn't wait for her to send me his head measurements) and partly because it's the middle of summer here and the hat won't really be needed for a few more months. And I'm so excited -- she wanted him as an earflap hat! I LOVE earflap hats on little boys! Makes them look so cute! Okay, I'll be honest -- I love earflap hats on anyone. I wish I skied so I could wear them on the slopes.
He's a keeper! I was so happy with how he turned out -- and I'm just a big enough dork -- that I'm making one for myself for our christmas tree cutting expedition this winter. We'll see if Kev will be seen in public with me and my new monkey hat. :) More of these will be in my etsy shop soon, in any color scheme you want; stay tuned!

Evy's brown hat

Evy, the new daughter of my close friend Shannon and owner of the cupcake hat from a previous post, is also the new owner of this little brown number. It's an open-weave summer hat, with a lacy trim and a detachable teal flower. Shannon told me exactly what she was looking for (for newborn portraits) and I searched through loads of free patterns online trying to make one small enough but breezy enough for the summer. I really should give up the pattern hunt because none are exactly what I want and I usually end up making up my own anyway. But then I run the risk of reinventing the wheel . . .

This little hat is so tiny; when I was working on it I kept thinking, "This will be way too small for her, even if she is brand new." Well, apparently you do lose some of the memories as your own kids grow up because when I tried it on her, it was just a little too big still!

As requested, I made the flower detachable on a pin back so her mom could switch out the flower depending on what she was wearing at the time. Love love love it! And in honor of its tiny owner, when I write up the pattern it will be called Evy's Summer Hat! Look for it in my etsy shop, coming soon!

more baby gifts

Kev's coworker Christy is expecting a little boy any minute now, and before the school year ended the teachers had a party for her. I made a taggie blanket and a tiny airplane for the little guy.

This airplane is my new fave of the amigurumi I've made. Amigurumi is Japanese for (roughly), "crocheted stuffed toy" and there are many, many books out there devoted to patterns for cute little toys. I couldn't find any free patterns online for an airplane . . . and I hate paying for patterns until I absolutely can't do it myself . . . so I took off trying one of my own. Several tear-outs later, here he is!Christy said as soon as she brought him home her girls commandeered him for themselves! I guess he's a hit!

Ellie's Bucket Hat, request #2

When I went to deliver the first two bucket hats (to her mom at the school where she works) another lady saw it and immediately requested one! I love when that happens! Same size and style, but a different color scheme. This one totally reminds me of strawberries and cream! Yum!

And that giant red flower - I just love it.

summer hats

I love it when I get commissions for projects . . . not commissions as in "income besides salary," although the little extra spending money is nice (it supports my yarn addiction) but as in "requests to make stuff." My friends have been hooking (ha - hooking, get it? as in crochet hook? yeah, I'm a dork sometimes. and it's late) me up with new ideas and projects lately and I've been up to my elbows in soft fibery goodness. Recently I was asked to recreate a hat that had been a baby gift but that the little girl in question had grown out of. The original was crazy cute, but it had been handmade and bought at a bazaar in Seattle (I think) and there wasn't really a way to get a new one so with the original in hand, I went to work. The original was brown and light pink, soft and floppy, with a small brim and a cute flower just off center. Her mom wanted the same basic shape and style, but bigger and in more summery colors so she could wear it right now. I loved it so much when it was done, I made two. In honor of its tiny owner, I named the pattern Ellie's Bucket Hat. Now my daughter wants one. . . :0)

cupcakes!

Recently, our close friends had a baby (Yay, Shannon & Jerrid!) and their theme for her room is cupcakes. . . so of course I had to contribute! I've made rag quilts before but this was my first foray into the world of applique. I drew out the cupcake onto cardstock (and erased it so many times I wore through the paper) then cut them out in pieces. I used my old-school Singer sewing machine (given to me by my husband's grandma soon after we were married -- and I LOVE IT!) to "draw" on the frosting lines and affix the cupcake cups, then sewed the whole thing together. I wanted a more finished look to the edges so I put on the border pieces instead of just ragging the edges -- I've done both types of edging and like both about the same. Then into the dryer to begin the ragging.

They also wanted a couple of crocheted cupcakes for her decor so I made 4 little cupcakes, each one topped differently. I think my fave is still the swirled frosting with sparkly sprinkles.

And because I think that every little girl deserves a cupcake on her birthday, I made her this little cupcake hat. I was planning to bring it to the hospital when we went to visit her but she decided to make her appearance a little early and we were out of town. My friend Valerie saved the day and brought it to her for me.

I love that they love cupcakes as much as I do -- I had a complete blast making all this cupcake stuff. Mmmmm, cupcakes.......time for a bakery run.

a baby shower

Recently my mom and I had the pleasure of throwing a baby shower for our close friend Valerie. She was expecting her 3rd little boy (who has since arrived safe and sound, and adorable!!!) and she had most everything she really needed for the baby but I personally believe that every baby deserves a shower, no matter how many siblings he or she has, so we themed our party around restocking her diaper bag. They had no idea what to name this little guy, and no big plans for decorating his room, but Valerie wanted teal and green incorporated somehow . . . so we ran with it! I sewed the flag banners the day before the party using cloth fat quarters and bias tape. We held the party in the back room of our church (since most of the invitees attend there, we wanted a central location that was large enough for everyone . . . and the place was packed!) My mom made the blue and green puffs to hang from the ceiling and we tacked up the banners in different places. Valerie also has a deep love for argyle, so the invitations (oops, photo of those to come) were argyle paper diaper bags. And since it was a brunch party, we had fruit and juices and we made muffins and frosted them with cream cheese. The diamonds are blue and green fruit roll ups cut up and the stripes were just more cream cheese dyed with neon food coloring. The invitations explained how this was a shower to restock the diaper bad and listed ideas of things to put in it. Mom and I picked out a diaper bag set for her and were able to find it in her colors . . . score!

We were really happy with how the shower turned out! And I love the colors . . . I dreamed in teal and green for weeks afterwards!

I really wanted to do a blanket for her that fit with her argyle-ness and that was in the teal and green, but I couldn't find anything online in the way of a pattern. There were TONS of purchase-able argyle things online, but none in the colors I wanted and none in crochet. I looked for fabric that might work for a rag quilt or a tag blanket but there was NOTHING good enough. So I took matters into my own hands and came up with my own:I crocheted the squares in the colors and in brown for a background, then set to work on making the half-squares to fill in the edges. Funny thing . . . half-squares are really just triangles (yes, I sucked at geometry) but crocheting them isn't as easy as it sounds. I tore out quite a few attempts before I got one that looked right. Perserverance, right? Finally the whole thing was done and I did a simple border to finish it off:

I love that the border looks like the bottom of an argyle sweater -- total accident! I think I'll write up what I did in pattern form and list it in my Etsy store . . . I can't be the only one out there who wanted to crochet an argyle blanket.

Anyway, Valerie loved the blanket and took it to the hospital with her . . . and I got a txt picture of him wrapped up in it, which is the part of making blankets that I LOVE!

betcha this doesn't make you as happy as it makes me

I love yarn. And a pile like this makes me happy. I'm in the middle of transforming it into something fantastic. Photos coming soon . . . . .

ruby's blanket, etc.

Some close friends from church had a little girl about 4 weeks ago and I got this little set finished just in time for her shower! They picked gray and white for her room, with small orange birds accenting so I came up with this giant granny (goodness, I hate that they are called Granny Squares. There's got to be a better name out there...) and added the tiny flowers for a splash of color.

I also included a tiny hat for her. When I get to shoot newborns (in my photography business) I so love it when the parents bring tiny crocheted hats . . . they add so much fabulous texture compared to the smoothness of new-baby skin!

And since the mom loves orange as much as I do, I threw in a few stripes just for her!

And of course, a tiny orange bird to hang on her door handle. . .

And when she arrived her parents took a photo of her all wrapped up in the blanket and sent it to me . . . cuddly and huggable! That's my favorite part!