The Owl Hat Saga

Hat on your left is mine, hat on right is Claire's.  The eyes and beak are the same size for both (smaller for the other ages).  I'm jealous of her hat--but I guess if I had a head that small, I wouldn't have enough room for all my "smarts," right? 

Everyone knows I have a serious love for crocheting hats.  Claire is unfortunately at an age where a hat might be wearable or not--meaning she'll rip it off her head if it's not a hat day.  How I long for the days where she was too young to know better!  This hat pattern is from Etsy, where I get most of my patterns.  I love buying patterns because I get them in PDF form usually the same night or day after I order in my email, so I can start work on it right away.  With this hat, however, I waited a bit (I've had this pattern probably since last winter).  I wanted to make a hat for this winter, since owls appear to be all the rage right now. 

I started the hat back in September when I had my surgery.  I figured since I'd be useless and stuck on the couch I could at least make the most of my time by working on something productive that required little thought (I can fall asleep crocheting and not screw up stitches... it's a gift).  Unfortunately, my reasoning skills were a little muddled by the wonderful pain killers, so when I selected a size (1-5+ years... seemed reasonable considering she'd be one this winter and the smaller size was only 6-12 months) I didn't think anything about it and never stopped to say to myself, "Self... does this look Claire-sized to you?"

I made the hat itself minus ear flaps and owl accessories the weekend of my surgery, but everyone knows you can't keep this girl down, so I was back to work on Monday and back to life and I ignored the hat since I didn't need it right away (and I still never thought about the size).  Well, that's a lie.  I put it on her, but with no flaps, it was a little big, but didn't seem huge. 

With our one year photo shoot coming up, I wanted to have the hat for cute shots since I have a thing about making sure those pictures always showcase not only my adorable kid, but also all those adorable things I make for her.  So this past week I sat down and finished the hat.  Then I realized, hey, this is pretty big.  I put it on my head and to my horror, it went right on.  I hoped (at that point Claire was asleep for the night) that somehow she had the same size head as me and I just had a small head, but in the morning I realized that no, she was NOT going to fit in this darn thing--and pictures were only two days away!!

I did check my gauge again just to make sure the error wasn't on my part (it wasn't), so I quickly grabbed the yarn and started to work on the 6-12 size hat.  I was careful because I didn't want TWO huge hats, and again my stitches were spot on, so I didn't have to worry any more that my skills were off.  I finished the hat in a record two days (I stayed up pretty late, I won't lie) and on Sunday for pictures the hat was finished, fit, and was adorable.  And now we have matching owl hats! (trust me, it wasn't intended.  I'm sure I'll wear it, because I too love hats, but I think I'm a little old for a purple owl hat ;)  )

 I have another hat, this time with bubble crochet stitches, that I absolutely am in love with.  It'll be Claire's Christmas present.  This hat was technically a birthday present (oh, we'll wrap it, don't worry).  After that I'm pretty much hatted out for her.  A lot of people keep asking about me making hats--I'd love to, but I'm so worried I won't ever get them finished or they won't be as nice as what they want.  I'm a perfectionist like that, I suppose.  I never really thought my crochet skills were good enough for other people to want!  I have some family who I feel "deserve" hats... I also don't know the resell status of these hats--I buy patterns from some folks who let you sell the work and some folks who won't let you sell them.  I don't see the point, because I find it unfair--I made the darn thing!

I have thought about actually researching this and opening an etsy shop of my own to sell the hats.  I have a gift for a friend's newborn and I just love the hat and would make them all day if I could.  Just don't know what I'd do with all those newborn hats, because I'm not having a ton of babies just to fill them (oh, but if I could... ;)  shhh don't tell Matt!)

 So the short answer is, if you want a hat I'm pretty nervous to make people buy them, but I'll see how the gifts are received first (like if my cousin throws it away?)  and then I'll branch out.  It's gonna be a long winter.  You know I won't be doing anything but hiding under the blanket on the couch anyway. 

Hope you like the owl hats.  A lot of love and percocet went into the first one, just a lot of love in the second one.  It's Claire's birthday today.  I find it fitting to talk hats because the first thing we did was try on all the hats I made last year and I remember thinking how adorable she was and that she was alllll mine... I don't think that thought had anything to do with hats in particular, but she's been our baby doll all year.  In a lot of ways today I felt my heart was breaking because she's not a little baby anymore.  But watching her do real people things and eating real people food and having a personality (and last night she "read" me a book--how sweet!!), has warmed my heart.  I'm a proud momma.  Every milestone is bittersweet, but today I'm trying to remind myself of how many wonderful things we have to look forward to and how many wonderful memories we've made. 

Happy birthday, Baby Claire.  You'll always be my baby, no matter how many birthdays go by!