A crown of stars and a smokey hood – recent crafts for the little one

I’ve been making a few crafts for the munchkin that I want to share with you before Christmas (because it’s coming fast! Or maybe that’s just my perspective) as one of these might inspire you to do something for Christmas. I made a Waves and Wild “Crowning Glory” (free pattern) which came together surprisingly quickly and was very satisfying, and I knitted another cardigan earlier in the autumn.

The “Crowning Glory” ranges in size from Baby to Large Adult, so if you’re looking for a handmade crown that might last longer than your cracker paper hats, here’s a project for you!

Crowning Glory

This pattern by “Waves and Wild” (formally “Made by Jack’s Mum”) can be found on their website here and is one of their free patterns. The sizes are from Baby (33cm) to Large Adult (60cm) and can be sewn as a full crown, with Velcro, elastic or ribbon at the back. I chose ribbon so this item might last a bit longer given how children grow and change.

Materials

• Cotton quilting fabric (main material / lining)
• Mid weight fusible interfacing
• Grosgrain ribbon

What I did next

I cut out the lining and outer material and the fusible interfacing, interfacing both pieces of fabric for a stiffer hold. I then sewed the ribbon to the outer fabric, tucking the loose ends out of the way as I sewed the front to the back, leaving a small hole to turn it all through.

Trimming the seams, clipping the corners and points and notching the valleys, I then turned the whole thing right side out and pressed it. The finishing touch was to edge-stitch around the crown, closing the hole I had left. I decided to keep using the dark grey thread for contrast as you can see below.

This was added to the munchkin’s play box as well as being a birthday crown, so my hope is the ribbon will help extend its play life.

I am tempted however to make Christmas themed crowns at some point for the festive season, but not this year. Watch this space …

Smoky Cardigan

This pattern (#1782) was a free pattern I snagged on Lovecrafts.com from the company Sirdar. I decided to buy their recommended wool as I want soft wool against the munchkin’s skin, and their Snuggly DK is recommended for children’s garments. I bought 6 balls of wool rather than the recommended 5 as I wanted to increase the hood size and arm length slightly given these are the things that are grown out of first, but this was possibly not needed. However I now have a ball and a bit of nice yarn which will get rustled into something, I’m quite sure.

• 4.00mm / 4.50mm straight needles
• Crochet hook (optional)
• Sirdar Snuggly DK wool (Twinkle Toes)
• 5 buttons (Rico)
• Tapestry needle, scissors
• Stitch markers, stitch holders, ruler

I must admit I was hoping for a grey colour when I picked the wool, but after it arrived the blue tones are very soothing and it’s proven to go with anything. I chose neutral buttons to compliment the wool without disappearing entirely and they are the right size for small inquisitive fingers to undo themselves.

Yet again I had to go up a needle size to get the right gauge with my wool / knitting style, but this is an ongoing pattern which I am coming to accept (and enjoy as I get to use my knitting needle sets without having to add more needles in).

The cardigan is knit in Stockinette stitch (knit a rowl, purl the back) with a K2P2 rib around the bottom of the back, front left and front right pieces and around the cuff of the sleeves. The sleeves are a raglan and taper at the shoulder which helps give the shape and style to the cardigan. I chose to knit a longer set of sleeves as the munchkin seems to grow out of these first, but in hindsight I could have got away with shorter sleeves as they are often rolled up to keep them from sliding over the hands.

Once the front pieces are knitted you pick up the front edge and knit the button band / border. I then sewed the sleeves onto the fronts and back along the raglan edge, cast on and picked up the stitches from the back of the neck and knitted the hood. I chose to knit the larger hood size to give some growth in the garment for the munchkin, as hoods are often outgrown before the rest of the garment and I do not regret this choice. The slightly over sized hood has made the cardigan cute and snuggly.

The hood starts out at as a T shape, with the hood sides sewn onto the central panel of the hood to help give it shape. I then knit the K2P2 border before sewing up the side seams and attaching the loose edges of the hood to the front neckline.

The last thing to do was sew on the buttons and block the garment before hanging it up in the wardrobe and waiting for it to be worn.

The finished product

This cardigan brings me a lot of joy when I see it being worn. It’s gone from being an autumnal jacket to being a layer under a coat / gillet and the hood helps keep the heat in when the munchkin isn’t in the mood for a hat. The colour has also grown on me (to my relief) and I think having had another grey hoody in the wardrobe would have been too similar to a previous garment which has been outgrown.