Bumble Bee: A Free Knitting Pattern

 

For some reason, knitting for boys always feels difficult to me.  My boys aren't into sports teams and little boys don't seem to care much about the craftsmanship in lovely cabled hats.  They want pictures of their favorite things. They want snips and snails. If only I loved doing intarsia, so they could have all the things!

I set out on this hat pattern with the plan of making it reminiscent enough of a bumble bee for my son's approval, but also cozy and warm enough to satisfy my tastes.  For toddlers I strongly prefer earflap hats with ties so that it stays put and keeps little ears warm.  I also included instructions for just making a typical no-earflap style for both the toddler and kid sizes.  Knitted in a super bulky weight yarn, this hat knits up quickly, just in time for holiday giving.

I have linked to the techniques I used for increases and decreases.

Bumble Bee Hat

Yarn: Lamb's Pride Bulky 1 skein of "wild mustard" colorway and one skein of "onyx".  Keep in mind that this is actually a super bulky weight yarn, if using a substitution.

Needles: 10 1/2 circular needles or size for appropriate gauge.  I use 40 inch and magic loop method, but you could use 16 in and dpns for the top, if you prefer.  TAKE TIME TO CHECK YOUR GAUGE.

Gauge: 15 stitches and 21 rows per 4 inches in circular stockinette

Sizes: Toddler (Child)

(for non-earflap style, skip the instructions for the earflap and start  in appropriate section marked with ***)

Earflaps: Starting with black yarn, CO 5 (for both sizes)

   row 1: K across

   row 2 (and every even row): P across

   row 3: K1, M1L, K to last stitch, M1R, K1 (7 stitches)

   row 5: increase as row 3 (9 stitches)

   row 7: FOR CHILD SIZE ONLY increase once more as row 3, you should now have 11 stitches.  For toddler size, K across.

Continue in stockinette stitch until earflap measures 2 (2 1/2) inches, ending with an even (purl) row.  Cut yarn and place all stitches on a stitch holder.  Work second earflap as first, but DO NOT cut yarn.  Knit back across.  Using knitted cast on, cast on 24(26) stitches, knit across other earflap (from stitch holder), then cast on 14 (16) more.  You should now have 56 (64) stitches.  Join, being careful not to twist, and marking beginning of round.  Knit 1 1/2 inches from front brim.

***  for non-earflap-style hat, start here, if doing earflap hat, ignore the portion between the *:  Cast on 56 (64 stitches) using black yarn, then join, being careful not to twist.  Work k2 p2 rib for until work is 1 1/2 in long.**

Switch to yellow yarn.  You will be working three (four) yellow stripes (and  consequently two (three) black stripes).  Each needs to be 3 rounds wide.  Please keep in mind color changes every three rounds while working the next steps.  I should have used a jog-less jog but didn't.  You can see where the change-over is on the hat.  I'm pleased with it anyway (and so is my son... though ecstatic might be more accurate for how he feels about it) but you may prefer to use one.  After last yellow stripe, remember to cut the yarn so you can weave it in.

Work until hat is 4 1/2 (4 3/4) inches from the front brim.  Work one round.

Next rnd: *K5(6), K2tog.  Repeat from * around (48(56) stitches remain)

K next two rounds.

Next rnd: *K4(5), K2tog.  Repeat from * around (40(48) stitches)

K next two rounds.

Next round: *K3(4), K2tog.  Repeat from * around (32(40) stitches)

K one round

Next round: *K2(3), K2tog.  Repeat from * around (24(32) stitches)

K one round

Next round *K1(2), K2tog. Repeat from * around (16(24) stitches)

CHILD SIZE ONLY: knit one round then next round *K1, K2tog repeat from * around (16 stitches) t

Stinger:

Both sizes should now have 16 stitches.  The rest of the instructions for the hat are the same for both sizes (except the finishing).

Knit two rounds.

Next round: *K2tog.  Repeat from * around (8 stitches remain)

Knit two more rounds.

Next round: *K2tog.  Repeat from * around (4 stitches remain)

Knit two more rounds, then cut yarn and pull through all stitches.

Finishing: (earflap style only) Pick up 68 (76) stitches spread evenly around entire brim and around earflaps.  Cast off.  Weave in ends.

For ties, I used the twisted cord method:  I took a long length of yarn (I didn't cut it from the skein until I had made the cord), maybe 2 ft or so, and folded it back so it was 4 ft of yarn forming a loop that I would be twisted together.  I didn't do multiple like in the linked video because I didn't want it too thick, especially since the yarn is so thick already.  I twisted the "loop" end while holding tight to the end of the yarn and where it was folded back to until it was twisting up on itself.  Instead of tying off at this point as in the linked video, I used a crochet hook to pull the loop end through the bottom of the earflap, and folded the twisted portion in half and held the loop end and the other end together.  Then I just held it up and let the hat spin until it was well twisted then tied it off.  Repeat on the other side trying to make them the same length.

As an alternative, you could just do a simple braided tie or an i-cord tie. 

Happy knitting!

DIY Reusable Montessori Dot Game

I think the dot game is yet another brilliant method of  teaching high level math to kids.  Maria Montessori seemed to have a special kind of brilliance for taking difficult concepts and making them concrete.  The trouble is that it seems they're expected to use their dot game paper for one single math problem... and then what?  Recycle it?  This gets expensive (AND WASTEFUL!) very, very fast.  Especially when your daughter thinks the dot game is about the coolest thing ever and wants to do it all.the.time.  That's what you want, but not when it drains your pocket book!  I had been just printing it off and letting her use it that way, but then we went through a phase where she was sort of uninterested in doing any school at all and since it's summer I just let it be for a while.

Starting up again, I wanted something fun and exciting and nice to look at.  So I broke out my old scrapbooking stuff and found a pretty "dot" paper.  I printed off a copy of the dot game paper from this site and cut it out.  I stuck it on with tape because I didn't want to take the time, but if I had it to do again I'd use a glue stick or something to stick it on since it does seem to pop up a little funny in the middle of the paper.  Then I stuck on the letter stickers to say "The Dot Game".  Finally I used self adhesive laminating sheets to laminate it and then cut off the excess.

She's using embarrassingly large dry erase markers in the appropriate colors, but I'd like to get some that are a better thickness for the size of the dot game.  These are just what I happened to have on hand.

I love that I don't have to print off a thousand copies of the dot game paper and my daughter can math to her little heart's delight!

Review: Merrell Barefoot Life Wonder Glove

Merrell now has a line of barefoot shoes that include a number of casual shoes (!!!), and because, who DOESN'T want to feel like they're barefoot all the time, I bought a pair.  Now, looking on their website, I see they also have boots and fun looking shoes for fall!

I appreciated the look of the "Barefoot Life Serene Glove", but wasn't sure I wanted the ribbon going around my ankle.  Instead, I went for the "Barefoot Life Wonder Glove"... in "mulberry"!  Hooray for bright pink shoes!  Actually they're not as bright as I expected them to be, but they're still plenty noticeable.  I've decided shoes are now officially a netural (no matter what color), so I wear them with everthing.  Haha!
 

The wonder glove is extremely comfortable.  It seems more flexible, to me, than either of the Merrell barefoot running shoes I own, which is a bonus.  The fabric on the sides is very thin, similar to the fabric for vibrams in thickness, but the toe and heel is leather.  I'm not sure this would be a reasonable shoe to wear if there's water on the ground or if it's cold out, but it's been wonderful for summer.  It's also cute enough that I can wear it with nicer things or with jeans or shorts.  Looks especially cute with jeans.  If I worked, I'd totally wear it to work.

It seems nearly all of their women's line has that elastic by the ankle.  I'm not sure why that is, but it is reasonably comfortable and doesn't really bother me as I expected.  The elastic is fairly stiff and not really pulling into your ankle, as it looks like it might be in the pictures.  That's something I recall being worried about before I bought any of their barefoot shoes.

The sole is, as I said, thin and flexible (you can roll them right up in your hand), but with a decent amount of grip, so you don't have to worry about sliding around.  It's also rubber, so not a problem in slippery polished indoor floors.  As you can see, it's a vibram sole.

I've been wearing them daily, with no sock or anything, for a couple months, and have yet to detect a stench.  They supposedly are treated to slow bacterial growth, but I do wonder how to clean them when they do start to smell.  Of course, this would be a problem with any shoe you typically wear without socks.

Really, my only negative on this shoe is that the cross strap occasionally pulls the shoe over a little and I have to scoot it back.  That is, it sorta feels like it's on sideways.  It's not a huge deal, to me, though.  Overall, I love them and am looking forward to getting other varieties of Merrell barefoot casual shoes!

**Edited to add**

My shoes started getting pretty stinky, so I asked merrell how we should clean these.  They said they do not recommend sending them through the washer, but that I could use a typical sandal cleaner.  What I did instead was dump a bunch of baking soda in them and then dampen it with some water and use that to gently scrub any crud off.  Then I rinsed with apple cider vinegar.  I followed this up with water rinse and then let them dry in the sun.  It's not a perfect fix but it's cheap and made a big difference in the funk.  :)

DIY Montessori Globe

Last week was my kids' last week of school at their tiny montessori school.  We can't afford next year's tuition for my kids, so I am officially starting homeschooling now.  I'd like to keep within the montessori style mostly because I LOVE the montessori math curriculum.  It's just so brilliant!  Also because my kids are just sort of used to that style now.  I'm not married to the rest of the curriculum, though I do like it.


Anyway, I was scouting out Michaels' looking for ideas for things and came across this globe:

It's just a small (maybe 5 inch diameter or so?),  presumably paper-on-cardboard globe that has just light brown for the land parts, though it has some darker and lighter areas to show the mountains and such, as well as the names of the various countries and borders drawn in black.  The kids saw it immediately and were all excited to have their own globe at home, and my immediate thought was "hey, I could make this all sorts of montessori!"... and it cost me all of $1.

This project was super easy.  All you need is permanent markers in the appropriate colors and then carefully color in each continent. I think if you didn't want to see all the borders and country names, you could probably use paint pens, but they're much more expensive and I sort of like being able to see what's underneath.  I already had the sharpie markers in the right colors, too, so that was lucky.

Colors you need:
Europe -  red
Asia -  yellow
Africa -  green
N. America -  orange
S. America - pink
Australia - brown

Antarctica did not need to be colored because it was pretty much white to begin with.