I was recently looking for the perfect birthday present for my youngest son, who just turned 2 years old.  We try to limit the number of toys we buy our kids, so instead of a toy, I was looking for one of his favorite items - a hat.  It had to be a special hat though, and so my search led me to etsy, where I found a great shop that I'd love to share with you all. 

Emie Grace Creations makes and sells unique and fun crochet hats for toddlers through adults.  And even better for someone like me who loves to make my own things, she offers some of her designs as patterns.  I only had a couple days to work on it, but I went ahead and bought the Logan Puppy Hat crochet pattern for only $5.99.  I used a tiny amount of three different colors of yarn, so the cost was very minimal for the whole hat.  Miriah's pattern was easy to follow with my strong background in crochet (she does not recommend this pattern for beginners, and I agree that it probably wouldn't be the best starting project, but for those who know the basics of crochet, it wasn't at all difficult).  I usually don't really like working in the round, which most of this hat was done in, but Miriah shared a tip about the magic adjustable ring for starting your round.  You can find videos on how to do this online.  I would highly recommend looking at this method if you crochet, it was super easy to do and meant a much neater and less tricky start to my ring.  I also appreciated that each round had a stitch count.  Some patterns I've used leave this off, and I don't like having to guess how many stitches I should be on each round. 

Many people have asked me how long it took me to make the hat.  Unfortunately I did not time it.  I know I spent parts of two evenings and one naptime on it, so I would guess a few hours total.  It was done in time for the party and my son absolutely loves it!  He asks to wear it almost every time he sees it and we get tons of compliments on it every time we go out. 

One thing I really enjoyed about this project was the chance to sit down and crochet.  I had to do it while my kids were sleeping to keep it a surprise, so I was pleasantly surprised by how relaxing the project turned out to be.  I sat quietly counting stitches and let my mind wander.  Amazing how little time I spend just thinking and praying with all the other craziness in our day.  I was quite refreshed and was therefore encouraged to try some more crochet projects.  Don't worry, I'm still hard at work on my sewing patterns as well, but it's nice to have something different when I am burned out on the sewing machine.

Whether or not you like to crochet, I would recommend checking out Emie Grace Creations for either her made to order hats or her patterns.  She informed me that she'll be adding lots of new patterns next year, so keep checking back.  But until then, check out both her Logan Puppy Hat and her What a Hoot Owl patterns or any of her many other made to order designs.