I’ve been recently working up a few little pieces of headgear on my looms (…and a very large crochet hook, lol).  These are mostly of the variety that will find themselves best suited to be perched upon the heads of kidletts. 😉    The only one that isn’t necessarily for a child was created as a top secret project that will be able to be introduced sometime in the early fall, I’m thinking.

What is it about knitting for children that I just can’t seem to get enough of?  

Do you think it has anything whatsoever to do with the fact they they’re just so charming and whimsical?

Or, do you think it’s the tiny size of the finished project?

Or, what about the fact that it lets that wee little remnant of inner child be the focus of your thoughts for a while?

I honestly think it’s a bit of all three!

… wouldn’t you agree?

The first of the three…that adorable little Strawberry Hat… was a combination of patterns by some of my favorite loomy friends.  The idea and most of the project was based after a pattern that Jenny Stark, aka: GuppyGirl, designed during a hat event in the Markman Looms Yahoo Group.  I just added a few little touches of my own and threw in some techniques from Brenda Myers‘ submission of that very same event.  What resulted was this wonderfully slouchy style strawberry that is reminiscent of one of my absolute favorite childhood dolls: Strawberry Shortcake!

After I gathered enough strength to part with it (lol), I decided that this special hat was destined to be a birthday present for my great niece Presley, who is turning the ripe age of TWO this week! 🙂  I think it looks much better on her, don’t you? 😉

The cutie-pie Gnome Set was whipped up with my huge crochet hook and some brand new yarn from Lion Brand: Da Vinci Yarn, a gorgeous self-striping super bulky wool blend.  Aren’t the colors truly amazing?  The one used in this project is Oceania. I just love the spin on this yarn too…quite nice to work with!

The Bear Hat & Bear Feet were created on the Martha Stewart Crafts Knit & Weave Loom using the luxurious Lion Brand Chenille in the color Brownstone…so sublimely soft!  I think I will be whipping up a pattern for this soon. The hat is amazingly worked up in one piece, if you can believe that! 🙂  I have a couple more novelty hats that I’m currently working on and hope to release them all together as a set, probably nearer the fall season.

Did you notice my hat stands???  I LOVE these babies! 😀  I have been looking for the perfect hat stands for so long now, I can’t even remember when I started, lol.  Either they were too expensive, or just not the right thing for me.  So, I decided to make my own set!  I got my inspiration from this very cool blog post how-to.  I gave it my own flair and this is what I came up with:

Pretty cool, right??

I also have a third one, which is smaller and shorter.  Its base is a fairly thick glass votive holder.

The two you see here have the base of two different sized sturdy glass candle holders.

I used 6″ styrofoam balls for these to the left and a 5″ ball for the smaller one not shown, with just a portion of the bottom lopped off with a bread knife to form a flat side.  These were snugly wrapped with thin batting, with the fabric pulled tightly over that.  The batting and the fabric were first pinned in place with lots of straight pins, then all the layers were glued down with lots of hot glue.  A finishing piece of felt that was cut to match the opening of the glass tops was then applied over all the pins and glue.  The whole thing was then hot glued onto the glass, with the little pom pom ribbon added as a finishing touch around the edge.  Pretty neat, right? 🙂

We put them to good use here:

  What do ya’ think?!

Emily and I have joined forces and have entered some of our special hand crafted goodies at an actual physical location!

Emily’s luscious hand spun yarns, hand dyed fibers, and hand knit goodies are tucked up there along with my loom knitted goodies and my book, Loom Knitting for Little People.  Pretty cool selection, if I do say so myself, lol! 😉

So….where is all this yummy fibery goodness to be had?  Why, at Pip & Lola’s Everything Homemade at the Freighthouse Square in Tacoma, WA!

Here’s what Samantha Camp, Co-Owner of the business, says about the new location:

“We picked Freighthouse Square for a reason. It used to be a destination for Tacoma shoppers and it has been undergoing a phase of revitalization with the intent to make it a destination once again. There are multiple new stores that have opened or are opening up in the very near future. Each shop features its own unique selection of merchandise. With so many new stores coming in, Freighthouse Square will be a wonderful place to get all your gift shopping done. And, with its ample food court, it is a great place to come spend your lunch hour or grab a quick bite after work. When you’ve finished with your meal, you can simply step into the first shop to the east of the food court and come see us!

Pip & Lola’s Everything Homemade is waiting for you. Come on by and make some memories with us!”

Emily and I agree…stop in and take a look if you’re in town…I think you’ll find something worth treasuring! 🙂

Bethany~