Giddy-up!

Howdy everyone!

To start off this week, I'll show you a few pictures of a lovely gift Henry got from his Granny and Granddad when he was born:

Just a tease:

There it is! (most of it anyway):

Henry is still a little small to really get full enjoyment out of this beautiful rocking horse.  Or so I thought...the following picture suggests otherwise:

What is up with that smile little man?  Not the greatest picture of the hat, but hey, it's a great picture of his smile/teeth/tongue, so what can you do?

What's this?  Cowboy boots?:

Looking at daddy (better picture of his hat):

Little smiles (from a big man)!  He looks so big on the rocking horse:

Just chillin:

Initially I wanted to do this photoshoot on a real horse, but we couldn't get organized in time.  I think the rocking horse turned out to be a nice compromise.  I still can't believe how big he looks in these pictures!  For anyone not up to speed, Henry just turned 9 months last week.  He's growing up fast!

Hope you all had a great weekend, see you next week pard'ners!  

My little Monster part 2

Hello everyone, 

This week I am extra organized and in fact, one hat ahead of the game, so I've decided to delight you all a day or two early with some new pictures.  I made another monster hat this week because I couldn't resist.  

Also I'm facing a new dilemma:  lack of yarn variety.  Of all the things I miss about living in the city, one of the biggest is that you can get anything anytime when you are downtown.  Here in the suburbs, I've got to plan and research and drive.  I miss the days when Romni Wools was my local yarn shop.  This week we tried out Soper Creek Yarn in Bowmanville, which was pretty good, but nothing ever compares to Romni.  If you've never been to Romni wool and are a knitter/crocheter/fibre artist of any kind, I highly recommend you go.  It's incredible.  In fact, I've included a picture of the upstairs here for you:

Yup, that's all yarn.  Not to mention there's a basement with discounted yarn.  This pic isn't even an illusion, the place is that big, with that much yarn.  Sigh.  I'm going to have to go on a mission there sometime soon.  It's not exactly stroller friendly...I'll let you know how it goes...

Now onto the hat: 

Well, that's a nice smile Henry, but we can't see your hat or your new friend (Penelope the empathic monster, pattern courtesy Rebecca Danger [or rebeccadanger.typepad.com])

This is more like it!  Still can't quite see Penelope though

What's that sound?

Oh, hi mom, is it picture time again?

Matching ear flops:

If you have time to take a look, I've finally been working on updating my Etsy shop.  

  

Next week we'll take a break from the monsters, I have a special Mother's Day hat planned!  Hope you all have a great weekend!

G.

My Little Monster Series - Part 1

 Happy Weekend everyone!

I'm pretty excited about this weeks' post, I'm not gonna lie.  But first I have a confession: sometimes I am totally at a loss for what hat to make for Henry.  Sometimes it takes a great deal of time and effort just to come up with something.  This was one of those weeks.  I sat around, trying to come up with something cute and funny to entertain you all, but I just wasn't feeling it.  

I decided early in the week that I wanted to knit a hat this week, there's been a great deal of crocheting going on, I needed a change.  I looked through my epic yarn stash and saw a full ball of aqua coloured yarn that I had used for the crest of the dragon hat.  There aren't a lot of things that colour in nature, so I came up with the idea of a monster hat of some kind.  Something cute and funny to fill the week so we can move on. Instead of searching for a pattern, I figured I would wing it and make one up, so I googled "knit monsters."

That's when I came upon the most amazing etsy shop ever!

Rebecca Danger creates the most awesome knit monster patterns I've ever seen.  You can see her monsters (and purchase her patterns) on her blog, or at her etsy store.  She also provides adorable names and background stories for each of her patterns.  All of the sudden, I was having creative overload and an idea was born:  I'm going to do a small "Monster Series" of hats for those weeks when I'm just not sure what to do.  Although it is tempting to do them all in a row, the first one turned out so well.

Not only did Henry get an awesome hat this week, but he made a new friend too!  I can't wait for the follow up hats and creations to come.

Henry meets his new pal "Iris the Gourmet Monster:"

Look Ma!  We're twins!  (and I can hold my foot!)

Oh Iris, you're so funny!

Check out that coy little smile:

Umm, I appear to be all tangled up in monster

So awesome, right?  I think I am experiencing cute overload at the moment.  Stay tuned for more monster themed hats (and maybe some new friends).

Peace!

For those about to rock, we salute you

Trevor says this week is Henry's testosterone charged hat week.  After much hassling about the lack of manly hats featured, this week I made a simple black toque with a lightning bolt on the front to match Henry's awesome new AC/DC shirt that he got from Debbie (thanks Debbie)!  Please note, it is an authentic AC/DC shirt, not one of those AB/CD shirts, this increases Henry's street cred, fyi.  

Look at those big muscly arms!  (Ok, maybe it's just a bit of baby pudge)

Playing air guitar:

Loving it (can you see that little tooth on the bottom)?

Happy boy!

Notice how well he is sitting up?  Such a big boy all of the sudden!  Hope you all enjoyed this week's manly feature.  I have no idea what we'll do next week, but I'm open to suggestions :)

Cheers!

Will you be my Valentine?

I know there are a lot of Valentine's Day haters out there.  But I don't hate Valentine's Day.  Sure, it's commercial and expensive, but it's also nice to have a day set aside just for lots of love.  I thought today I would first share a few pictures from my own love story:

This is a super oldie from my Aunt Judy's wedding.  Check out that long blonde hair!

 This is probably one of my favourite pictures of Trevor and I.  It's from our engagement photoshoot, I don't know what T said, but I was clearly not impressed (but still amused):

Here we are at our wedding which was the most incredible day ever:

Another wedding pic, laughing like a maniac

And now, our little family, finally home together!

You may notice that I have added a link to my etsy shop at the top of the sidebar.  Not too much to see yet, but please go take a look!  More to come of course, but I thought I may as well start somewhere.

Henry's hat this week is once again knit.  I was going for more of a skull and heart pattern, but I had some challenges carrying 3 colours, so I had to incorporate the red more which makes it look more like skeletons and hearts.  It seems to look ok though.  Here he is, posing with some chocolates:

He's such a cutie, how could you resist being his Valentine?  For the record, his sleeper says I love Mommy, looks like I'm the lucky girl this year :)

Love Valentine's Day or hate it, I hope you all have a wonderful week!

G.

Superbowl XLVI, Are you ready for some football?

I don't really watch football.  I don't understand what's going on and it seems to go on forever, whatever it is that is happening.  But my husband enjoys watching football, the superbowl at the very least.  I've decided I may as well embrace this because I have a lifetime of noisy boys cheering and shouting at the tv in my future.

As part of my new, lets say tolerance of the sport, our hat this week is in honour of Superbowl XLVI.  Henry feels he is too young to have a favourite team, so his photo shoot is team neutral.  Henry's just enjoying his doritos and beer...ok, maybe too little for that too, doesn't mean he isn't going to try!

Pattern by Beezy moms Creations

Now how do I get into this bag?

Oh, hi mom, are you taking my picture?

I don't think I'm old enough for this yet...

Well, ok, I'll try to get in

This bag is empty!  What a rip off!

My etsy shop is still under construction, but if you see a hat here that you simply must have, please feel free to email me at hatsofftohenry[at]gmail[dot]com and we can probably arrange something!

Good luck New York and New England!

Tam o'Shanter

In case you didn't know, Robbie Burns Day is coming up this week (the 25th of January).  Last year my husband and I were at an irish pub on Robbie Burns day, that, for some reason was honouring Robbie Burns (even though he was Scottish).  We had only just learned I was pregnant at this point, and were seeing one of my sisters off on her trip to the Dominican Republic.  Also interesting about this dinner, former maple leaf Glen Healey was playing bagpipes at the bar that night....weird.

A little history for those of you who don't know what I'm talking about: Robert Burns was a rather famous Poet from Scotland.  One of his more famous works is a poem called Tam o'Shanter (you can see it here [as you may have guessed, I love wikipedia]).  This particular poem happens to have a hat named after it, the Tam o'Shanter cap.  I thought it would be nice to honour Robbie Burns day with a hat this week.  I got this pattern on ravelry.

Here is my serious little man:

And now my happy little man!:

One more happy one, so you can see the whole get up:

Isn't it amazing how much that smile transforms his little face?  Such a cutie if I don't say so myself!

G.

Henry visits his Scottish roots.

This week I decided it was time to face my fears and make a Fair Isle patterned hat.  Since it was my first real attempt, I decided to go with something simple with only 2 alternating colours.  Although I'm sure I could have easily found a pattern for a fair isle baby hat, I decided to design this one myself.  I started by charting the pattern

 It took a little longer than planned, I probably spent one whole evening just charting it all out, but I didn't want to chance just winging it.

The next challenge was keeping even tension on 2 strands the whole time:

 So far so good!  In the next picture you can see the pattern starting to evolve:

 Just prior to casting off:

Once all that was done, I really ought to have blocked it, but I really hate blocking and it fit Henry ok the size it was.  I don't really mind the wrinkles it has all that much.

And now what you've all been waiting for, Henry in his hat!

Such a serious little man!  Hard to believe he's not quite 4 months yet, he looks so grown up here!

I must say, Fair Isle was a lot less difficult than I expected.  In light of my new skills, I am now also making Fiddlehead Mittens which are turning out awesome so far!  I'll include a picture of the finished product next week.

Hope you all enjoyed!  As always, new hat next week!

G.

He's making a list, checking it twice...

Greetings everyone!

On to our final Christmas themed hat.  For this hat, I went back to knitting.  I also designed the pattern myself, but it's very basic, all you need to know how to do is knit and purl (and how to work in the round). You could also use a magic loop to accomplish this, but it's a bit more advanced.  

This particular hat fits 3-6 months, if you want to make it bigger or smaller, all you have to do is add or subtract 4 stitches at a time (it's important that you use multiples of 4 to keep the rib pattern).  

I've written out the pattern below for anyone who may be interested in making their own, you can of course change the colours to make it a less holiday specific hat.  

I should mention here that my particular style of knitting in the round uses 5 needles rather than 4.  I learned to knit in Austria where the predominant style of knitting is Continental knitting vs. English knitting which is what most people I've met in Canada use.  As a result, any time I buy double pointed knitting needles in Canada, I am forced to purchase two packages because here they are sold in packs of 4 and I always need 5.  Personally, I think they should just sell them in packs of 5, I mean, everyone can use a spare needle now and then.  

I know what you're thinking, who knew these things even existed/what on earth is she even talking about, right?  Well then, onto the pattern (and then pictures)!

3-6 month

The yarn I used is Vanna's Choice by Lion Brand (available at Michaels) in White and Scarlet (1 ball of each leaves lots left over) and size 6 needles (remember, I distribute my stitches across 4 needles and use the fifth to work in the round).

Cast on 56 stitches in white and distribute evenly among needles.

Rows 1-16 K2, P2 repeat to end of row

cut yarn and switch to Scarlet

Rows 17-37 K2, P2 repeat to end of row (if it's looking like your hat is too long at this point, feel free to skip to the casting off section sooner than row 37, it's all very flexible)

Casting off: 

Row 38 K2, P2tog repeat to end of row

Row 39 K1, K2tog repeat to end of row

Row 40 K2tog repeat until 6 stitches left, pull yarn through remaining stitches and pull tight.  Weave in ends.

Make 1 pom pom in white instructions here  and sew to top of hat.  

Voila!

 Thank you to my wonderful husband for helping me pose the baby in these pictures!

So cute!  If you have any questions about how I made this hat, please leave it in the comments and I will be happy to help you out!

Merry Christmas!

Henry the elf, what's your favourite colour?

Leading up to Christmas, I have 2 hats planned, as such I've decided to post the first one today.  This hat will end our series of crocheted hats, it's also the simplest hat I've featured so far.  Again I used a pattern that I bought on etsy.  Usually I make my own patterns, but these ones were oh so cute, I couldn't resist.

Since starting this blog just a few weeks ago, we've gotten many compliments on Henry's many hats.  I'd like to apologize to anyone who's seen Henry sans hat the past few days.  It's been awfully warm for hats and it's too hot in his car seat so we don't always wear one in public.  But don't fret folks, Winter is well on it's way and as you all know it lasts forever in Ontario, so there will be many opportunities to see Henry's hats in person.  When Summer hits, we're going to have to come up with some creative solutions to the too-hot-for-hats problem.

Now with no further ado...

I tried to take a picture of Henry while he was awake:

 No dice.  Very well then little boy, I'll catch you while you sleep:

 Much better.  Helping Santa is hard work after all.

Bonus picture:  Henry with the big man (and no hat)!

Next week's hat is one of my own design, so I'll share the pattern with you all, just in case there are any knitters out there who want to give it a try (it's an easy one).

G.

Henry the Red-Nosed Reindeer

Hey everyone!  To start, I'd like to mention that you can now follow @hatsofftohenry on twitter (I added a handy button).  I also added some buttons so you can easily share posts on facebook and twitter (should you feel so inclined).  Oh, and of course, the mad hatter background :) Enough housekeeping, onto the hat!

With less than 2 weeks until Christmas, I thought it would be appropriate to have a few holiday themed hats.  This week is a bit of a hybrid on last weeks' hat, with a few epic elaborations.  To be honest, it may be too elaborate to wear out in public, but we'll probably do so anyways.  When I say elaborate, I mean elaborate to the point of having to stuff part of it so it would stand up.  I ended up using part of last weeks' hat pattern and another pattern for a christmas tree ornament (the ornament was awesome btw, see it here: Rory the Reindeer) to complete the look.

Making this hat brought me back to my childhood when I used to make pompoms by the dozen.  This one worked out well, nice to know I've still got it after not having made a pompom in at least 15 years. 

With no further ado, here is the hat!  (I had to take a few pictures so you can get the full picture)

 I know, he's asleep in every picture, it's easier to pose him this way!

 Next week: another holiday hat!  (Maybe a little less elaborate than this one, no antlers or ears).

G.