Camo Fleece Hat and Convertible Mitts for the Boy

Winter never fails to catch me by surprise, despite being a lifelong Wisconsinite.  Serious denial.

O. has been wearing those cheap-o stretchy gloves, and they weren't cutting it any longer.  He really liked the convertible mittens I bought him last year, but we could only find one. So I broke out the Green Pepper Glove-itts pattern that I've had for a while, but hadn't yet sewn up.  He sketched a specific design that he wanted on the backs,and then we went to the fleece stash in the basement to "shop".  He was going to go with blue until he saw the camo, which would match his glasses.

The pattern is adult sizes, so I shrunk the small size to 90% and hoped for the best.  They were really, really, really fiddly to sew up, especially compared to quick mittens I've made in the past, but I think it was worth it.  The fit and shaping is really nice, although I never in a million years would have guessed how the pieces -- especially the finger gusset -- would go together.  You just need to roll with it!  The only issue I ran into is that the mitten flap is too long (he is only seven), even though I took an additional 1/2" off in addition to shrinking the pattern.

 

When I asked him what the appliqued designs he wanted were supposed to be, he just said it was his symbol.  He cracks me up. They don't show up very well on the camo, but he's happy with them anyway.

Then we decided to make a matching also.  His Badger hat from last year still fits, but now that he has grown out his thick hair, it's rather snug.  There was just enough fleece left to make another The Rainshed Convertible Bomber Hat, as long as I lined the ear flaps with black fleece.  I made the child's M/L again, but added an extra 1/4" to each side. Much better fit.

He's wearing his Death Eater shirt!

I tried to get an action shot of both the hat and mittens this morning, but his ride came a little earlier than I expected, so I got this instead:

Fleece Socks & Infinity Scarf

Why, yes, it is January 19th and I am still posting about holiday gifts....  I just mailed the last one on Tuesday, so there's one more post coming when I know it has arrived at its recipient's house.

My oldest nephew is 15, and we usually give him a gift card of some kind, but I like to have some "thing" for him to open as well.  Since I couldn't find him a unicycle, despite my obsessive stalking of Craig's List (if you're a local reader and see one for sale somewhere, please let me know), I figured fleece socks were the way to go.  These are the Green Pepper Polar Socks in the calf-high version, men's size 12.  I  made the regular/narrow width, but I think if I made the men's socks again, I'd use the regular/wide instead.  They looked a bit too narrow, although maybe it was just compared to the length of the sock.

Fleece socks are such a fun, quick, and useful gift. I still have two pairs that my sister made for me back when I was in college!

Then, for my friend who told me she wanted to start wear scarves, but was worried she'd look like someone from Designing Women, a ruffled infinity scarf.  I figured that was the least Designing Women-ish scarf style there is.

I used 7" wide strips of soft, thin jersey and did a lettuce edge on the serger instead of a zig-zag like in the original tutorial.  I think my fabric must've had some lycra in it, though, because it didn't ruffle nearly as much as other lettuce hems I've done.  Bummer.  Or maybe it was that it was two layers?  

I also constructed mine differently.  Since you're sewing it wrong sides together anyway, I sewed the short ends together first, pressed the seam allowances open and then sewed the long edges.  It seemed like a neater construction method.

Modeled here with my Jalie 2806

Fleece Hats

A few weeks ago I realized we were sorely in need of new hats. I walk E. to school and back four days a week, and O. was no longer a fan of his police hat from last year.

O. requested a simple hat from the leftover Badger fleece. The scale of that print is a bit too big for a kids' hat, but I tried to make it work. I made a size small Classic Beanie from Green Pepper 534 - Polar Beanies.

Unwilling Model

Then I got to work on my hat and E's. I was going for maximum warmth, so decided on The Rainshed's Convertible Bomber Hat pattern, which is the same one I'd used for O's police hat and E's last fleece hat. I left the drawcord off of mine, but added a 1" wide strap with velcro onto E's.

Once O. saw mine, he said, "I really wish mine had earflaps." To which I replied, "I asked you if you wanted earflaps and you said no!" And then I made him one anyway, because Wisconsin winters suck, and I'd thought he should have the warmer version in the first place. There was just enough of the print fleece leftover to eek out one more hat, although once again I didn't get the W in quite the right place.

 

Adult S/M, Child M/L, Child S/M

Not bad for an afternoon's sewing, huh?