I think Sam's expression pretty much sums up the disaster this experiment in upcycling turned into. Remember those sweater pants I made for Sam? Well, I had visions of making a little cable knit vest from the same material with some folksy stitching around the arm holes. But somehow I just wasn't getting it right and the arms looked sort of wing-like and the stitching looked crappy, not folksy. So, it sat on my craft table for many months.
Finally this past weekend while working on a quilt, I saw that piece of felted sweater and said, "you've been here long enough!" And zip, zip! it became a hat! Sometimes the things you make the least plans for, that you just wing in a burst of creative energy, turn out the best.
I stitched two points into the rectangle of material and added some ear flaps and strings to tie under his chin in some red jersey knit. The red trim didn't quite meet in the back, so I added a little square of that Guatemalan material that I made the sling out of (as well as a pair of rugged play pants for Sam). I ended up loving the way the striped patch looked on the back. Funny how little accidents can sometimes turn out to be the best part of a project.
I'm so thrilled with how this hat turned out. It's a bit out of season, so hopefully his head doesn't grow too much over the summer. We did have a freak snowstorm though, during which I took Sam on plenty of errands so he could debut his new hat. I just about melt from cute overload every time I look at him in that pointy-eared gremlin hat.
