At the beginning of term my son came home from Preschool with a newsletter detailing all the activities for the next couple of months. I diligently wrote all the events down on our calendar and subsequently forgot all about them. Luckily a week before the event the preschool sent home a reminder that they were having an Easter parade and activities day on the Monday before the end of term- and that each child would require a handmade Easter Bonnet.
During some moment of madness and over-ambitious appraisal of my own skills I decided to put myself forward for the title of "Crafty mum that took it too far" and crochet the items for his Easter Bonnet. With one week to go.
I started with the eggs. This was my first go at 'amigurumi' The Japanese art of creating stuffed toys or objects with crochet or knitting. I followed some tutorials on YouTube and within an evening I had created 4 small eggs. There's something very satisfying about getting it right first time and my confidence lead me to start searching for more Easter related patterns.
Next came the bunnies- these are so cute and still quite simple to make. After the first one was born from my hook it was immediately claimed by my son who has a penchant for the furry lop-eared creatures. It wasn't easy to remove it from him to attach it to the hat! The finishing touch on the bunnies was the little pom pom tail!
After this I just went a little mad, I made chicks, daffodils, more eggs, flowers and a chick applique. I was constantly wondering if I had enough, then just making a couple more to be sure. I even managed a couple of baskets to hold a Cadbury's Crème Egg each!
The hat was actually purchased from Home Bargains for the grand sum of 99p, I'd decided from quite early on that I wasn't going to crochet the hat too- far too much work on top of what I was already doing and I was working to a deadline.
The most fiddly and difficult part of the whole project was sewing everything on. I've said before that sewing isn't my thing, and I spent my whole Sunday evening before the parade cursing and swearing and sucking on my poor injured fingers every time I stabbed myself with the sodding needle. I had to leave the egg baskets off in the end as they were just too heavy, the rim of the hat kept collapsing under their weight.
The next morning I anticipated my sons reaction to the hat like a child waiting for Christmas morning. I imagined him squealing with excitement that he would get to be the one in the best hat, parading it around for everyone to see. Unfortunately I am not the mother of such a child and "I not want hat- Get it off" was not the reaction I had hoped for.
Luckily once the other children started the parade with their own hats, he decided he would quite like to join in.
Maybe when he's older (and has worn the hat to every parade for the next five years) he will appreciate just how much work went into it. Maybe :)
Berni xxx
