hooks and needles

I'm nearly done with a big knitting project/birthday present for Joe, but it won't be finished by tomorrow, which is his birthday. It's okay, though. He understands and knows he'll have it within the next two or three days, and then I'll post photos, etc. In the meantime, I took a few hours off to crochet this little hat for our little friend Rory, shown here with her mama.

It's an owl, and there's no real pattern; I was just winging it (I don't mind if you groan at the pun). I'd read the dimensions (circumference and depth) for a hat for a 2-year-old and tried to match those; it's double crochet in the round, with the earflaps added when the rest was done, then the eyes and beak crocheted and appliqued on, and finally single crochet in turquoise (to match her new jacket) around the bottom edge, with braids attached to each earflap.
     As you can see, Rory and her mama were both pretty happy with it. Sheep are Rory's favorite animals, and I'd found a cute pattern for a sheep hat, white with black ears, but it just wasn't coming out right so I unraveled it and used the yarn for this one instead.