Valentines and Elmo

After much fighting, I FINALLY finished A's special Valentine's Day hat that I wrote about here.

Let me just say what a fight it was to actually make the silly thing. I've only had trouble with crocheting hats one time when I was making this Elmo hat:

The problem with this one is that I was making it for a near-3 year old that love love LOVES Elmo. Did I mention that this near-3 year old's head was unavailable to me for measuring, and that I was doing it as a surprise so I couldn't exactly ask Mom?

I believe I chose the child size for the hat for optimum long term use. Of course I didn't exactly follow the instructions for the hat, and used two strands of Vanna's Choice yarn rather than what was used by the person that made this pattern. This hat needed to stand up to Minnesota and North Dakota winters, so extra warmth was a must.

I'm so happy that the hat is working out and I'm actually keeping count of my rows and then I realize it: the hat will fit on my head. Ooops.

Long story short, I pulled out the entire thing, started from scratch with the toddler size, and it worked out. The hat fit, the near-3 year old loved it, everyone wins.

The Valentine's Day hat on the other hand, turned out to be a little monster in disguise. It looks all cute and adorable, but it really wasn't.

The first time I made it, it was too big and too open. The second time I made it, it was too small, but the openness of the hat was improved by working with two strands. The third time it was still too small. There was at least a fourth and a fifth time after that, but honestly I can't even keep track of all the problems I had.

After the sixth or seventh go at it, here's what I ended up with:

Cute right? The only problem is that it still ended up too big. I am quite confident this will be great for Valentine's Day 2012 or 2013, but for V-day 2011, not so much. But after starting over a half dozen times, I wasn't up for starting over just one more time.

I should also add that when I was making the heart I pulled everything out 2 or 3 times and that I spent more hours than I am willing to admit to myself untangling the two balls of yarn I was using. And I didn't just untangle once nooo, I had to untangle everything twice just because I love to make a mess and make work for myself (apparently).

At the end of the day though Mom will love it and think it's adorable and A. will wear it (someday) and be super cute.