The past couple of weeks have been rough. I’ve struggled with energy like never before and bouts of light-headedness and several days where I’ve been forced to spend most of the days flat on my back. A phone consult with my wonderful thyroid Dr. going over my most recent bloodwork at least explains the “why” behind my feeling so bad.  The good news is as far as we know the bad numbers should not hurt Caleb. The bad news is it is doubtful I’m going to recover or feel any better between now and the birth. Trying to psych myself up for six weeks or so of being a semi invalid. Also trying not to feel overwhelmed by all the semi-last minute things I’ve put off in the baby-prep department. Hoping I get a burst of nesting energy despite it all that will help me get some things done that reallyREALLY need to be before this guy arrives!

This past week I took my down time to tackle some crocheting projects that have been neglected over the summer. First I put an end to an overly ambitious King Sized blanket project that I realized would likely never get finished. Doodlebug lost the blanket I had crocheted for her as a baby and had been asking me for a blanket for a while. So, I pieced together the patches intended for the King sized blanket and it was the perfect size for the Doodlebug. Each square was crocheted out of fuzzy Bamboo yarn. So.incredibly.snuggly. There just are no words.

Doodles Fuzzy Bamboo Blanket

Once the blanket was finished I surveyed the remaining pile of fuzzy Bamboo yarn and decided to try to figure out how to make some winter hats. Etsy never fails to inspire me with all the hat cuteness that exists out there but a) I don’t have the money to buy them pre-made and b) I can’t follow directions to save my life. My crocheting is completely self taught and I find tutorials for the most part impossibly confusing, especially with all the abbreviations. Ugh.

So I first tackled a hat for the Doodlebug. She *loves* it. 🙂 It’s been worn every.single.day. since it was made.

Doodles first Fuzzy Bamboo hat

Next I attempted a baby-boy hat. Without knowing the head size of the baby it involved too much guess-work for my taste but Doodles insisted it was perfect and proceeded to model it on her doll while wearing hers.

Doodles and her hat with baby-boy hat

I found one of her dolls with a more realistic sized new-born head and tried the baby hat on for size.

Baby-boy hat being modeled on more life-size doll

Both of those very simple hats successfully accomplished I moved onto a bigger challenge. Instead of using the fuzzy bamboo yarn that has a bit of forgiving give to it in regards to sizing I used a 100% cotton yarn I had left over from another project. The general idea behind this one was to have a lighter weight hat with ear-flaps. Again, no pattern, just figured it out as I went along. It needs to be tweaked but I would like to make it again!

Cotton and bamboo flower-leaf hat

The purple is cotton and it’s trimmed in bamboo. The ear-flaps are leaves with vine like ties coming down created out of a crocheted and braided bamboo yarn.

Ear-flap and flower

The dark leaf line details were stitched into the lighter colored crocheted leaf base. This flower was supposed to be a Pansy like flower but my lack of a pattern and complete lack of experience crocheting flowers ended up rendering it unrecognizable as any specific type of flower. The blue accents were sewn in with royal blue bamboo yarn.

Second Ear-flap with accent flower

This flower was supposed to be a daisy then turned into a rose and then was again rendered unrecognizable as any specific type of flower by my lack of skill. Accents hand sewn in fuzzy red bamboo yarn.

How it looks from the front with the ear-flaps tied up

The accent vine at the top of the hat is supposed to be punctuated by little tiny yellow flowers. That was the general idea anyway. Next time I’d like to figure out how to include more flower specific detail.

Ear-flaps tied down

Last shot of the hat, side angle.

I have concluded that hats are much more fun to make than blankets. Take less time to make, involve fewer materials and are pretty much a cuter end product! I look forward to making more creative yarn based creations if I have more weeks like this last one.  At least something good can come out of being flat-on-my-back-exhausted! 😀