Baby Hats, and Beards

I’m in the midst of wallpapering – kitchen, family room, three bedrooms (pictures coming soon!) – but when I’m not covered in paste, I’ve been crocheting. Mostly hats. Including baby hats (essentially followed this Jen Spears pattern starting with 8 dcs instead of 12, and smaller hook)…

…with beards attached (made up the beard as I went, then attached this Marion Crick mustache).

My cousin and his wife just had their first baby. They were told they were having a girl. They had a boy!

Now he can wear his beard so there is no confusion. Plus, while the proud papa isn’t currently sporting any shaggy facial hair, all his buddies – the babe’s surrogate uncles – are doing the “mountain man” thing. So now he can fit in with them too.

Not sure if it’ll actually fit my newest little cousin, but it seemed to fit Chocolate the Bunny pretty well.

By the way, if anyone thinks I’ve lost it, attaching a beard to a beanie, at least I have company in my lunacy as a google image search for “beard beanie” quickly proves.

Oh, and my younger brother wants one now too.

Cute Graham Cracker Cottages

I had grand plans to host a “gingerbread” house decorating party with my neighbors this year like I did with my kids, nieces and nephews last year. And then I saw an article in the recent Family Fun Magazine with the same idea.

Only difference: their party used real gingerbread to construct the houses, baked and assembled by the host ahead of time. At my party, we used graham crackers! 20 rectangular crackers make a large house, like this one I made previously. And four rectangular crackers make a wee little cottage.

I hesitate to even write this post since I did a google image search for “graham cracker gingerbread house” and found loads of examples of houses made from four crackers. BUT…

None had overhanging eaves.

And I love overhanging eaves on my cottages.

So, here’s my little trick. For the side and the roof pieces, instead of the usual break-two-crackers-in-half approach, I saw just a little over one quarter off one side of the cracker. This small piece becomes the side of the house. And the almost-3/4s piece becomes the roof.

For the other two crackers, I saw the corners off to make a nice steeply-pitched gable.

My other trick, to keep them from toppling over when assembling them, is to start them off sideways. This probably only works since the side pieces are so short. I pipe the icing onto the backs of the gabled pieces, set the side pieces in place sticking straight up on one gabled pieces…

…then set the other gabled piece on top and stand it upright to finish drying.

A minute or two later, it’s ready for the roof. Icing goes all along the top edges (unlike photo where it’s only on half the edges)…

…and roof pieces are put in place, with a little more icing right along the top ridge.

Side note: that bit of pastry bag visible in a previous photo is a Wilton’s Disposable Decorating Bags with the tip snipped off and the other end closed off with a twist-tie. Great for little hands.

Now, the question is, once they’re covered in candy, are those lovely overhanging eaves of mine even noticeable any more?

When decorated by kids seven and under, not so much.

Hmm, maybe breaking them in half is the way to go after all. As least for a few more years while the emphasis is still on quantity over all else! : )