Woodland Critter Hats

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• Step 1

  Start with ribbing stitches for the brim. I did 10 rows, then folded that in half and secured with a row of regular stitches. The hat itself is 20 rows of stitches high.

• Step 2

  When you get to the end, don't thread your yarn through each loop and pull tight like you would to make a round hat. Instead, loop it through the first 18 stitches, then carefully sew each remaining stitch to the corresponding rib on the other half of the hat (the first stitch [#19] to #18, the second [#20] to #17, etc.) until you have a flat, rectangular hat that is 18 rows across on each side.

• Step 3

  Put the hat on and pin where the "ears" start, then sew them with a thread that matches your yarn color. (Skip this step for the owl, so that the "ears" are left open. Instead, thread several short strings of yarn through the corner stitches and tie a knot. Unravel the ends to create the look of the owl's fuzzy "feathers."

• Step 4

  Now comes the slightly more tricky part- the faces. For the fox's face, the fox/raccoon noses, and the owl's beak, I just freehanded the design.

  For the owl's eyes and the raccoon's black "mask", I traced the bottom of a plastic bottle that was approximately the size I wanted, then cut the circles out just inside of my markings. For the white mask, I just pinned the two black circles to a piece of white felt, with a little space in the middle, and traced just outside the black circles, leaving the middle piece intact.

  For the fox/raccoon ears, I measured in and down from the corners where I had sewn the ears together (~2.5" each way), then made a triangle 1/4" bigger than the actual measurement. I then used that triangle to cut out front and back ear pieces for both ears.

• Step 5

  To attach the face pieces, you don't want to just sew them to the hat while it's laying flat or it'll be too tight when you go to put the hat on, and might stretch or warp the face pieces. You'll want to sew them with the hat stretched to a comfortable size.

  To do this, cut a piece of cardboard wide enough that when you slide it inside the hat, it stretches the hat to the size it will be on your head. With the hat stretched to the right size, carefully pin your face pieces to the front of the hat, making sure they're centered. Sew with a single thread, either clear or in a color that matches your face pieces (NOT the yarn color!).

• Step 6

  For the ears, sew the outer edge together from the wrong sides, then turn right sides out and pin to the hat, sandwiching the "ears" between the front and back felt pieces. Sew along the bottom edge of the felt to secure.

  Try the hat on again and make sure everything is still comfortable and nothing is being stretched out of shape. If it's too tight, carefully pick out your stitches and remove the felt pieces. Cut a wider piece of cardboard, slide it into the hat, then re-pin and re-sew the face pieces.

• Step 7

  Once you've made sure that everything fits and looks the way you want it to, it's time to add the eyes! You can use buttons or felt for the eyes if you would like. I just used googly eyes because I think the're fun and I think they add a little personality to my cuddly critters. To attach, I just carefully marked with chalk where I wanted the eyes to be, then used hot glue to affix them to the felt faces.

  For the fox's mouth, I have a quick, 3-stitch tutorial for sewing animal mouths, but it's pretty self-explanatory. You just use a heavy thread or embroidery floss and sew one stitch down from the nose and a couple stitches at the bottom of that, repeated until you think it looks done.

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