New Hats, Same Crochet

So, my hat infatuation continues. I'm not sure what my obsession is--hat making has apparently become my hobby. Or my nesting. I'm excited that I was able to teach myself to crochet, so that's probably part of the problem too. My grandmother, as I've mentioned, crocheted quite a bit and was very talented. I am by no means in that league. However, I feel a connection just that I'm able to do it now, and I can follow simple patterns. These are some of the latest hats I've made. I used one of my old dolls for a model for them (I've unearthed all these old cherished toys and washed them... she looks pretty good for being nearly 30 years old, doesn't she?)
This hat came from my Stitch 'n Bitch Happy Hooker crochet book. I didn't want to attempt it before because it seemed difficult with the ear flaps. The directions didn't seem to make sense, but I just threw caution to the wind and did what the book said. What do you know, it turned out to make an actual hat. Here's a close up:
Then I went to ETSY and bought a few simple looking patterns. I'm not big into the website so I don't know all it has to offer, but it seemed really appealing to purchase something and get the patterns in my email the same day. I bought three patterns; I've made two of the three hats so far.
This is my favorite. It's a pink and white stocking cap (it's really hard to see the pink in the pictures... even with our new awesome camera. I think the pink I picked was too subtle, but it looks really cute in person). I made the 3-6 month size because the pattern said the newborn size wouldn't really fit past the first few weeks, and I really wanted this to be a hat to be used rather than just for a few cute pictures. However, after looking at it, I think it would still work early on for photos, even if I have to clip it in the back for a better fit. I don't think I'll make a smaller size, but I do want to make a red and black one and a yellow and black one for football games next fall. I figure with our football infatuation, Claire can wear these and support her favorite teams. I'd love to make a Christmas one before this Christmas because that would be too cute for our first trip to see Santa, but we shall see. Time runs short. If this is just a terrible fit, I might consider making the newborn size for Christmas. I'll wait and see though.
I made two of these jester hats, also from etsy. This multi-colored one is SUPPOSED to be the 3-6 month hat, but it looks huge. I hated the pattern. I actually had to email the seller to give me more specific instructions because it seemed like I was doing it wrong. Turns out, it's just a stupid pattern. It also eats up quite a bit of yarn (one of those times where I think a double crochet stitch would have been better than a half double crochet... less rows... less tight...). But the masochist in me wanted to make TWO!
THIS is the "newborn" size. It's STILL huge! Granted, I used a much thicker yarn for this (which is what makes it look so big, it's very thick), which I bought before I knew how much yarn it used. It's really heavy, but it's cute and warm. I do NOT recommend using this type of yarn for anything that requires stitch counting. I basically had to just assume I was doing it right because I couldn't really get a good count on stitches or rows. If I was smart, I'd have made notes and tallied the rows, but I didn't realize it would be an issue until I'd already lost count. I mixed in white for the trim and white for the tassels, just to break up all that purple. I originally wanted to make myself a matching scarf out of that yarn, also with the white trim (because I love little fancy scarves), but I'm practically out of yarn now, and I hated using it. We will see if I get daring enough to buy more and try it as a scarf, but right now I'm satisfied to never make this hat or use this type of yarn again.

I still have one more pattern I'd like to try. It's your basic beanie hat but it has ears you can put on it. There are so many possibilities! I thought about a cute pink and white one for Easter (if I can figure out how to make longer ears, that'd be even better). It would also be more practical as an every day hat with just tiny ears. I seem to have this impression that babies MUST wear hats... it seems every picture I have of me little has a hat. I'm sure I've made enough hats (plus bought enough hats) that my baby will never grow hair now, and I could probably sell half of my hat collection and still have a hat for every day of the week, but I'm trying to reason that it's helping me learn the stitches and is a hobby. It's fun to make them though!