FO: Creeper Beanies

This past Christmas, I really wanted to make things for my boyfriend and his son. I had previously made his son Minecraft Animals for Christmas and his birthday, so continuing on that theme I decided to make him a creeper beanie as soon as I saw this pattern. At first I was just going to make the hat in crochet, but in my experience crochet isn't as stretchy as knitting and since I didn't know his head size, I decided to just knit a basic beanie instead.

I started out with this picture of a creeper face. The nice thing with knitting an 8 bit character is that the pixelation translates perfectly to knit stitches. I used this as a template when I added the face later. I tried for a while to find the perfect green variegated yarn, but no one near me had anything remotely close. In the end, I had this Red Heart Super Saver in Spring Green leftover in my stash and decided to use that.

I used my old reliable Basic Hat pattern by Ooo Baby Knits to knit a basic adult sized beanie - I seriously have no idea how many times I've used this pattern by now. Over 10. It's a free one and so simple - I definitely recommend it :)

So I knit a plain green beanie that fit my own head knowing he could grow into it and have it for a long time that way. Then I grabbed some black super saver yarn and made the face with duplicate stitch. There was a definitely learning curve there because it's been YEARS since I did duplicate stitch, but it turned out pretty good.

I made this in the second week of December, giving it just enough time to get to North Carolina before Christmas. The recipient was very happy with his new hat, so that's all that matters :)

While I was making the first hat, my nephew saw it and requested one for himself too. I was in the Christmas spirit, I guess, because I made him one as well and finished it on Christmas afternoon before giving it to him.

Both my Minecraft enthusiasts were very happy with their new hats, so I count this as a successful gift indeed. If you ever have a simple character to make on a hat, I highly recommend doing it this way. It's quick to whip up and the pattern is free :)