Owl Crocheted Hat

Owl Crocheted Hat

One of the request I got to make crocheted hats. She choose these beautiful colors.
They look so awesome together.

I did a basic crocheted pattern. Then added a few layers of the blue to the bottom.
Note: the blue will stretch it out a bit.
Then added one row of the purple.

They eyes I did a black and then white.
I added the blue to the top of it. They ears were so easy and fat. They were like crocheting for finger on gloves.
It took me a bit to figure out how to the yarn to stick out and stay in place.

The end result is this beautiful crocheted owl hat. I can' wait to make more and many more colors.

Stone Ground Mill Bread

Stone Ground Mill Bread
My little helpers :)

Mix : 1/2 cup warm water
1 TBLS honey
1 1/2 pkgs dry yeast

Set aside.
Good, active yeast will double in size by the time you are ready to mix it into the dough.

Mix: 1 cup stirred whole wheat flour with 1 1/2 cups of water. Cook until thick and smooth, stirring constantly. This mixture will be lumpy at first and stick to the pan, but if you keep on cooking and stirring, it will smooth out. Put the mixture into a large bowl.
Add to the cooked flour in the following order:
1/4 cup honey (or 1/3 cup of packed B.S.)
1 scant TBLS salt
1/3 cup powdered milk
1/3 cup oil
1 egg
1 cup stirred whole wheat flour
Mix well. (If you use non-instant powdered milk, mix with flour to prevent lumping)

Add yeast mixture to flour mixture, which by now should be cool enough not to kill the yeast but warm enough to help it grow. Add 2 1/2 cups(plus 2 TBLS honey, if you used) stirred whole wheat flour to the above. The dough should be almost stiff enough to hold its shape.
Leave dough in the bowl, cover it with a towel, place in a warm, non drafty place for about 1 hour, or until double in bulk.

Turn onto floured board or table. Knead 2 to 3 minutes or until smooth and elastic, using just enough flour to keep the dough from sticking to your hands. In kneading, push the dough away from you with the heel of your hand, pull the top of the dough over toward you, fold the dough, press down and away from again. (This folding action stretches the gluten, giving a good texture to the bread).

Cover the dough with a towel; let stand 15 mins

Punch down, knead 2 to 3 minutes and let stand another 15 mins

(If you are in a hurry, you can leave out the two 15 minute rest periods; however, the texture of your bread will suffer)

Knead the bread a few more strokes, cut it in half. Shape into two loaves. (I have a nice big one) Pinch the ends together and tuck under. Place in greased bread pans, cover with towel, let rise until puffy, about 2 hours or doubled. If desired, brush lightly with beaten egg and sprinkle with sesame or poppy seeds.

Bake 30-35 mins 375 degrees

Will be moist(15 mn foil under, 15 mn on top)
Cover last 5-10 mins

It was so good. My family just loved it. My hubby that does not like wheat breads, really love this one.

Stone Ground Mill Bread

Mix : 1/2 cup warm water
1 TBLS honey
1 1/2 pkgs dry yeast

Set aside.
Good, active yeast will double in size by the time you are ready to mix it into the dough.

Mix: 1 cup stirred whole wheat flour with 1 1/2 cups of water. Cook until thick and smooth, stirring constantly. This mixture will be lumpy at first and stick to the pan, but if you keep on cooking and stirring, it will smooth out. Put the mixture into a large bowl.

Add to the cooked flour in the following order:
1/4 cup honey (or 1/3 cup of packed B.S.)
1 scant TBLS salt
1/3 cup powdered milk
1/3 cup oil
1 egg
1 cup stirred whole wheat flour
Mix well. (If you use non-instant powdered milk, mix with flour to prevent lumping)

Add yeast mixture to flour mixture, which by now should be cool enough not to kill the yeast but warm enough to help it grow.

Add 2 1/2 cups(plus 2 TBLS honey, if you used) stirred whole wheat flour to the above. The dough should be almost stiff enough to hold its shape.
Leave dough in the bowl, cover it with a towel, place in a warm, non drafty place for about 1 hour, or until double in bulk.

Turn onto floured board or table. Knead 2 to 3 minutes or until smooth and elastic, using just enough flour to keep the dough from sticking to your hands. In kneading, push the dough away from you with the heel of your hand, pull the top of the dough over toward you, fold the dough, press down and away from again. (This folding action stretches the gluten, giving a good texture to the bread).

Cover the dough with a towel; let stand 15 mins

Punch down, knead 2 to 3 minutes and let stand another 15 mins

(If you are in a hurry, you can leave out the two 15 minute rest periods; however, the texture of your bread will suffer)

Knead the bread a few more strokes, cut it in half. Shape into two loaves. (I have a nice big one) Pinch the ends together and tuck under. Place in greased bread pans, cover with towel, let rise until puffy, about 2 hours or doubled. If desired, brush lightly with beaten egg and sprinkle with sesame or poppy seeds.

Bake 30-35 mins 375 degrees

Will be moist(15 mn foil under, 15 mn on top)
Cover last 5-10 mins

Minion(DespicableMe)

Someone saw my Hello Kitty Hat and wanted that and some Minions hat. One with the one eye and one with the two eyes. So last night I worked on the one with two eyes. Today I am off to do the one eyed one.

Again I did this without a pattern.
I just did a basic beanie again. Then crocheted up some eyes and made the goggle part stick out a bit form the rest of the eye part. I should get a side picture and see if that shows that better.


Then I added on the strap and sewed it all on. Then made his happy mouth. He is so darn cute. I just love this one too. I have a total of 10 hats on order right know. I have my list started and crossing them off as I get them done. I will have more hats to share with you in the next few weeks. :)

Hello Kitty Hat

I saw this picture and knew I wanted to make this for my almost 1 year old.


So I sat down and come up with a pattern for it. I did a basic beanie style hat.


Then made some ears. I did a couple different kinds.I did not like when I did with just one layer. They fell over way to much. So I did it in double layer. So they stay up better.


I wanted a littler pink and made the ties much smaller so you could tie them. My little one likes to pull hats off her head. So it needed to tie. But I really like the braided look.


I am just in love with this one. It is so cute and just perfect for her. Can't wait till she can start to wear it outside. Which looks like it will be really soon.

"Perry" the Platypus Hat

I got an order for "Perry" the platypus hat. All I had to go by was a picture of what she wanted. I love to come up with my own patterns. Custom orders are the best. Well all of them are. But I love a challenge.

I started out with a basic beanie hat. Which is not hard at all.


I then had to figure out how to do the ties on the side. I just cut out a certain length of yarn and sewed them in. Then I braided them. Tied the ends and cut of the extra I don't need.


The eyes gave me a problem. I had to figure out a pattern for them. The first patter I did was just very weird looking. For some reason I did not take pictures of this process. I so should have. It was late and I could not think. So I went to bed and tried again in the morning. Finally I got it figured out. Sorry for picture. Some reason it keeps doing this. I have no clue why.

I made the most yummy biscuits the other day last week. They were so yummy and so much fun to make with Xandra.

Fluffy Biscuits

I doubled the recipe and glad I did.

• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup shortening
• 2 egg
• 1-1/3 cups milk

• Directions

  This recipe's Ingredients were scaled to yield a new amount. The directions below still refer to the original recipe yield of 12 servings.

  1. In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Cut in shortening until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Beat egg with milk; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened.
  2. Turn onto a well-floured surface; knead 20 times. Roll to 3/4-in. thickness; cut with a floured 2-1/2-in. biscuit cutter. Place on a lightly greased baking sheet. Bake at 450 degrees F for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm.

     

Earflap Hat & Booties

I got an order for a real and brown Ear Flap hat and bootie set. I crocheted the hat and knitted the botties. I as so determined to get the booties done. It was my first knitted booties.
They were so cute I just had to get them down. The pattern I saw was not that great on instructions. It was converted from another language. I had the basics. It is this long and this wide. But no clue on what size needle needed for it to be a new born size.

So I started out with a smaller size. Well those would be way to small. So I went up a couple of sizes and it worked so much better. They are so darn cute.