Stuffed Animal Hammock-knit

I was looking for something to put all of Eli's stuffed animals in, since he has a ton of them and they seem to take over his crib.  I liked the idea of the animal hammocks, but didn't want to buy one.  I had some extra white yarn sitting around so I decided to get to work and make a pattern for one. So here it goes. This was his other b-day present-practical yes, but he needed it and I wanted an excuse to make it besides just because!

white yarn
Size 13 circle needles

CO2
Knit row
Increase in each st
Knit row
Increase in each st
Knit row
Increase in 1st and last st, knit all sts between
Knit row
Increase in 1st, 5th, and last st, knit all sts between
Knit row
Repeat the above two rows(instead of the 5th st always inc in the middle st of the row) until you have 80sts on needles.
Knit 20 rows
Now you are going to decrease in the same pattern, so it looks even so your decrease row should be:
k2 tog in 1st 2sts, middle 2sts, and last 2sts, knit all sts in between.
Knit row
Continue this until you have 10 sts left on your needles then do as follows:
K2 tog in 1st 2sts, knit and k2tog for last 2 sts
knit row
k2 tog for row
knit row
k2 tog for row
knit row
k2 tog
bind off stitches and leave a long tail so you can tie it all together and you will be able to hang it.

I finally decided to hang this in his closet, low enough so he could get to it, but so they were not just thrown in a pile in the closet!

Hat with earflaps!

I used size 3 needles for the earflaps and size 5 needles for the hat

Earflaps:
CO 3 (leave a long tail)
Row 1: knit
Row 2: k1, inc in 2nd st, k1
Row 3: knit
Row 4: inc in first st, k2, ins in last st
Row 5,6,7: knit
Row 8: inc 1 in first st, knit until last st, inc 1 in last st
Row 9: knit
Repeat until you have 20 sts on needles
Leave a long tail
*Repeat for the second Earflap

On Size 5 needles CO 18 sts, knit on one of the earflaps, CO another 18 sts, and knit second earflap onto needles.
Now you should have the base of you hat.  I didn't do anything fancy...so knit until the hat is about 4in
You will now start to decrease for the top of the hat.
1st decrease row: Knit 5, k2tog (repeat until end of row)
2nd: Knit
3rd: knit 5, k2tog (repeat until end of row)
4th: Knit
5th: Knit 3, k2tog(repeat until end of row)
6th: Knit
7th: knit 3, k2tog(repeat until end of row)
8th: knit
9th: kni 2, k2tog(repeat until end of row
Repeat 8 and 9 until you have 6 remaining sts
Cut a long tail, and sew through remaining sts, sew up the side seam.

I then added two more strands of yarn to the bottom of the earflaps and braided them together, so if need be I could tie the hat on his head!

Baby Mittens

This is a pattern for some Knit Baby Mittens, I had a really hard time finding a pattern that I could do for a 10 month old and was just knit on two needeles. I'm not too fond of knitting on double pointed needles or in the round for such small projects.  I prefer to just knit them straight and then sew up the seams.

You will need yarn (I used Homespun in brown), Size 3 and Size 5 Needles, 2 stitch holders, and 2 stitch markers, and a sewing needle for yarn.  This is a fairly easy pattern as you just repeat it for the other hand!

Base:

Co 18

Row 1 K2, P2, repeat

Row 2 P2, K2, repeat

Rows 3-9 repeat row 1 and 2 (this will make the cuff of the mitten)
Row 10 (Change to size 5 needles) inc in 1st st, knit until last st, in 1 in last st

Row 11 purl

Row 12-13 repeat row 10 and 11

Row 14 K10, place st marker on needle, inc 1 in nxt 2 st place st marker on needle K10

Row15 purl (when you get to st marker transfer to other needle)

Row 16 K10, transfer st marker, inc 1 in nxt st, K2, inc in nxt st, transfer st marker, K10

Row 17 purl 

Row 18 K10, move slip onto st holder, remove st marker, K6(this will be your thumb), remove st marker, slide remaining st onto different st holder

Thumb

K Rows 1-4

Row 5 K2 tog until end

cut yarn weave threw remaining st (leave a long tail so you can sew up the side seam)

Hand:

Join yarn in Knit off of 2nd st holder(in the picture this would be the white one), slide st from 1st st marker onto 2nd needle, K to join together on same needle

Row 2 purl

Row 3 K

Row 4-5 repeat row 2 and 3

Row 6 purl

Row 7 K2 tog until end

Row 8 purl

Row 9 K2 tog K1 K2 tog

cut yarn weave threw last remaning st sew up remaing seams

My little man really likes these and they help keep his hands warm in the awful Kansas wind.  I will be posting a matching hat here soon!

Knit Elf Hat-Baby

I have a friend that loves photography and does an amazing job at it who wanted an elf hat for her newborn son, so she asked me if I could make one.  And I of course, said sure thing!  So here is the pattern that I used.

Note: This was a very quick knit because I was knitting 3 yarns together making it extra thick and fun.

3 balls of yarn(whatever suits you, we used the kind with the balls in it, so it woud have a fun texture)
size 10 needles(again this is big but it's because of how thick the yarn was going to be)

Note: I also always knit my baby hats on straight needls and sew up the side, it is easier for me then trying to do it on the round or double pointed.

Cast on 20 stitches (prob could have done 25)
Knit until hat is 4in in length
Knit 1, Knit 2tog, knit remaining stitches
Continue the decrease pattern until you have half your stitches left.
Knit 6 rows
Knit 1, Knit 2tog, knit remaning stiches
Continue decrease pattern until you have 5 stitches left
Knit until hat is a long as you want it
*I like my elf hat to come down past the base of the hat about 2 in
Cut yarn leave a long tail (don't cast off or remove stitches from needle yet)
Then out of the yarn cut a whole bunch of 18in pieces-I had a total of 15
I then threaded three pieces of yarn into each of the remaining stitches and made them fold in half(so the half way point was by the stitch-therefore making it 6 strands instead of 3
Next braid all the yarns together and tie at the end.  Leaving a nice full tail.
Note:I also added some more yarn pieces to the bottom just to give it some more fun frilly stuff.

This is one of my beautiful friends babies, with the hat on! Isn't it cute????