Hello Kitty Earflap Hat

 I made this as a Christmas present to my son. While figuring out what to make him, my husband suggested a hat with ears (he loves animals). Well he loves Hello Kitty so I looked for a Hello Kitty hat pattern and - voila! - I found one!


It worked up pretty fast with simple stitches. Until you add the ears, bow, and whiskers, the face looks a bit creepy. But once it came together it was totally adorable. And he was fairly good about keeping it on.

Adult Earflap Hat

I had a hard time figuring out what to make my husband for Christmas this year. I've made him a scarf, t-shirt, slippers, and apron. I'm not a good enough knitter to make gloves yet so my grandmother's making those. So finally I just asked him what I could make him and this is what we decided on.

It's easier to crochet a hat than to knit one, plus it works up faster for me.We really like the earthy look the different colors of wool yarn gave it. The earflaps could have been a bit farther forward and I need to lengthen the ties if I make one again but for now it works and he loves it.

Scrap Yarn Scarf

Simple scrap yarn scarf I made with leftover eyelash yarn doubled up with regular yarn. I'm giving it to a friend as a small Christmas gift. I try to make sure people feel appreciated (especially this time of year) - and we've been helped out a lot lately.

Jean Skirt

 A friend of mine gave me a pair of jeans. They were really comfortable but they had a ton of buttons and so were annoying to put on. Since I wear skirts more than pants and need warm skirts for winter, I decided to make a skirt out of them.

I had some trouble at first finding a pair of jeans that would work for the panels in the middle. Finally, my husband tried on some old pants and found they no longer fit. Well, they were longer but barely.

The problem became making this an ankle length skirt like I wanted. Then I got an idea - I made the hems on the original pair of jeans into a waistband. Well I was originally going to make it an elastic waistband, but I realized that would no longer work. So I put in a zipper. It doesn't match up right (I'm still learning the art of zippers), but otherwise I'm really happy with how it turned out.

Saddlebags

 I originally printed out this tutorial because Brandon got a bike (after our car died). I figured we could get a rack for it since it didn't already have one. Then we find out it's not designed for one. So much for that idea. Found out a friend wanted one, so I made it for her instead.

The pieces were easy to cut out and while tedious, easy to sew, turn, and top-stitch. My husband helped me put together a messenger bag style strap (she harvested one) that I sewed into the top piece. 

The problem came when I went to put it all together. There weren't any pictures or description to tell me how the rest of the pieces went together. So once I kinda figured it out, I realized that one of the pieces was the wrong size so I had to make a new one.

For next time there are a few tweaks that need to be made (I might eventually make some to sell) . The attachment straps need to be closer together and I need to put something stiff to keep them from getting caught in the spokes of the wheel. There was another (smaller) attachment strap for this, but I didn't have the bike and couldn't match it up well enough. My friend said something stiff solves the problem so that's probably what I'll go with in the future.