DIY Googly Eyed Headband & Hat

I found a great craft on Pinterest done by The Crafty Blog Stalker.
The best part about this craft is that it is almost entirely a Dollar Store Craft. The one exception is you must buy or already own a hot glue gun and glue sticks.

Just so we’re clear you will need:

• Hot glue gun and glue sticks

• A package or two of googly eyes
• Headbands (the wider the headband the better for gluing eyes)
• And/Or, a knit hat

Step One: Gather supplies and get a workspace.

Step Two: Plug in your hot glue gun.

Step Three:
For the hat–Lay out a pattern that you like. I put a piece of cardboard (used the tag from the packaging) between the hat fabric layers. It would be lame to make a fun hat that you inadvertently glued shut.

For the headbands–Pick out a pattern that you like.

Step Four: For hat–Apply dots of glue to the backs of the googly eyes and stick to your hat. Allow to fully cool and dry before throwing it on your head. Again, you don’t want to have glue and hair and forehead all trapped and boiling hot.

For headbands–I applied glue to the headbands directly because my headbands were a bit more narrow than my big googly eyes. Be very careful not to get glue on your fingers. It’s stinkin’ hot! For the large eyes, I mashed them down and waited a couple of seconds to make sure I didn’t knock them back off while they were still cooling.

Step Five: Once you allow the pieces to fully cool, I picked away those little hairs that I always seem to have to deal with when hot gluing.

After doing that bit of housekeeping, throw on your accessory and hit the town.
I believe that people should dress up, or at least start getting festive during the whole month of October. I think the headbands would be a great accessory for people to wear who work in places they are not allowed to dress up. Offices and such typically err on the serious side. Hopefully your office doesn’t have a policy against wearing googly garb.

Kids: Get someone intelligent to supervise you. Or better yet, learn how to properly use tools, because when you’re an adult no one will stop you from chainsawing your fingers off. Hot glue is painful, please be careful.

This would make a fantastic costume piece too.
For example: I am working on creating a cherubim costume. The cherubim from L’Engle’s Wind in the Door were described as being a mass of eyes and feathers and wings. I believe a huge package of craft feathers and more hot glue is in my future. Feel free to use this idea and out-nerd all your friends at the next Halloween party. Perhaps more simply, this could be the spider eyes for a fun spider costume.

~Kat~

Day Thirty-Eight: Project

Frustrating First Rows of a Hat

During Christmas break my old roommate taught (or re-taught) me how to knit. Which included casting on (getting stitches on the needle) as well as knitting. Once I got bored with just stitching rows and rows of yarn I asked her if she could help me with a hat.

This is the beginning of the first hat I have ever made. As you can see in the pattern it is super simple. Just knitting and purling (which I had to learn).

I started this project tonight and it was so frustrating for me because it has to be perfect the first time I ever do it—Feel free to roll your eyes.
I tried casting on once, but ran out of yarn on my tail before I got all 64 stitches on the needles. I pulled it all out and did it again.

Tonight, I got three rows done. That may not sound very impressive, but I have never done 2×2 ribbing–Knitter code for the uncool phrase, “knit 2, purl 2”–and I’ve also never worked with the round needles before.
My old roomie uses four small bamboo needles. I considered her method, but stuck to round because I’m notorious for dropping stitches.

Two Side Notes:
1) The yarn is deep purple, which is hard to see in this picture. I left my camera out West with my fiance when I went to visit his worksite last. Ditz that I am. I should be taking better quality pictures soon.

3) I have added to the ‘about me’ section and renamed it, “A Glimpse”  for anyone who feels they haven’t learned enough about me through my blogs. Is there anything my readers would like to see in my sparsely detailed section?