Granny Square Hooded Scarf

A Christmas gift for Gabrielle.

These squares came from the same blanket as the squares used for Angie's shoulder bag. 

It is quite a simple project. 

Scarf

11 x 6" squares 

Add a round of single crochet(Sc)

(3 or 5sc in each corner, whatever looks best)

to each square before joining.

Join together with slip stitch(ss).

Hood

Sc back and forth along the edge of the centre three squares for approx. 4",

 or whatever you need to make the hood fit.

Do not break yarn.

Fold the flat hood piece in half and join the two halves together with a ss.

Picot Edging

Round 1:

Join yarn in any stitch. 

Chain(ch) 1, Sc around,

Sc 3 or 5 in each outside corner, whatever looks best. 

Sc2together before and after each inside corner.(-2 stitches)

Join with ss to begining ch.

Round 2:

Ch 1, *sc2, 1 picot* repeat from *to* around,

As in round 1, sc2tog before and after each inside corner.(-2 stitches)

Join with ss to begining ch. 

1 picot = sc, ch3, ss into 1st of 3ch.

Here's a good video demonstration.

***On round 2 I did not add any stitches to the outside corners,

however if you look closely at the picture you can see that the outside corners curl a little bit.

Next time, I would +2 stitches to each, for a total of 3 stitches in each outside corner.

The Granny Square Shoulder Bag

When Jesse was young his grandmother made a granny square blanket for each of the siblings in his family. Jesse's was damaged and had been sitting in our closet for a long time. I had been meaning to fix it for quite some time, but when I mentioned it to Jesse I found out that he wasn't actually very fond of the blanket. He felt like he should keep it because his grandma gave it to him, but he didn't actually like it much. So I decided to take it apart and reuse the squares. He liked this idea.

I tossed around a few ideas, and this is what I came up with.

 It is a Christmas gift for Angie. I think she'll appreciate the sentiment.



The other side.

   It could easily be lined, but it was nice this way too, so I left it. Angie's a great seamstress, so I know it won't be much trouble for her to line it if she wants to.

How Its Made.

As you can see from the pictures, you need 13 granny squares. One "+" (5squares) on each side, plus three squares that join the two sides. Connect the squares with single crochet(on the inside of the bag).

Border:

Round 1:

Attach yarn anywhere along the top of the bag.Ch(chain)1, Sc(single crochet) around, in the valleys skip the bottom space, at the peaks 2sc in the top space, join with slip stich.

Round 2:

Ch1, begin to sc around.

When coming up to a valley: Sc until there are two stiches before the bottom, crochet 2 together, twice, continue sc around.

When coming up to a peak: Sc until there is one stich before the top, 2sc in each of next 2 stiches, continue sc around.

Join.

Round 3:

Ch1, begin to sc around.

Valleys: same as round 2.

Peaks: Sc until there is one stich before the last increase(2 stiches before the top), 2sc in next stich, sc in each of next 2, 2sc in next stich, continue sc around.

Join.

Round 4:

Ch1, begin to sc around.

Valleys: same as round 2.

Peaks: Sc until there is one stich before the last increase(3 stiches before the top), 2sc in next stich, sc in each of next 4, 2sc in next stich, continue sc around.

Join and break yarn.

Handle(Make 2):

Ch5, sc in second ch from hook, sc in next 3, *ch1, turn, sc4 across, repeat from * until desired legth.

Sew the handles to the flat spots at the tops of the peaks.

Sc arround entire border and handles for two more rounds. (There will be 3 separate areas to crochet arround. The outside of the left handle, between the handles, and the outside of the right handle.)



The closure is simply two wooden buttons conected by an old hair elastic.
 Just pop it through the hole at the bottom of the V on both sides.



Box Costume

My Lego Boys

Just a box and some plastic containers.

I learned my lesson with Liam's box costume last year. We ended up having to walk on either side of Liam, each holding up one side of the box by the arm hole so that he could walk without stunted steps. This year we made Liam's shorter and Elias' longer from front to back, they were both able to walk though stairs were still difficult.

Elias was a trooper. He lasted much longer than Liam did at that age. When he was too tired to walk he rode in the stroller, slouched down in the box so far that you couldn't see his head, just arms and legs sticking out of the lego block. He would look out the arm hole and wave as we walked away from each house. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture.

Inspecting the loot.

Candy is a serious luxury in our house. They just kept stuffing it in as fast as they could,  knowing that eventually we'd put it away and that would be the end of it. Jess and I weren't much better. 

Yoink!

How its made:

Start with a box approximately the same width as the kids shoulders. Cut the bottom off, and cut holes for the head and arms. Use masking tape around the raw edges to soften them. Glue on some plastic containers. I left the lids on them and used some Alex Plus to glue the lid onto the box. Spray paint the whole thing. 

For the lego head buckets I used a spray paint for the yellow and a craft paint for the black. The spray paint scratched off even though it was a plastic paint. If I were to do it again, I'd probably use a craft paint for the yellow too. 

Alex Plus passed the test when Liam took a tumble and the containers stayed attatched. I was impressed.

Last Year's Costumes