Crochet Caterpillar Cocoon & Hat...

I crocheted this hat and cocoon for my little niece, who will be arriving soon.  I made the cocoon 20" in length and approximately 11" in width.  Since she will be a spring baby, I wanted the cocoon to be a little big for her so she will get to snug inside of it in the fall.  I made 2 hats -- newborn-3 months and a 6-12 month one.

Caterpillar Hat & Cocoon

Materials:
For the hats, I used #4 worsted weight yarn and a 5mm hook.

Directions:
I crocheted the hats using double crochet stitches.  I started with a magic ring and 12 double crochet stitches, then a row with 24 stitches, then 36 stitches, then 48 stitches (stop increase rows here for newborn-3month size) and on the last increase row I added 4 more stitches evenly spaced out to make a total of 52 stitches for the 6-12 month-sized hat.  From, there I just did rounds of 52 stitches until my length was achieved.

For the eyes:
I used green yarn.  Starting with a magic circle, chain 1.  9 HDC and 3 single crochet stitches.  Slip stitch to join.  Tighten ring.  Switch to yellow yarn.  Ch 1.  2 single crochet in each stitch around.  Slip stitch to join.  Ch 1.  1 single crochet in each stitch around.  Make a second eye.  When I placed the eyes on the hat, I had the single crochet green stitches on the bottom.  Attach to hat at rounds 3-7.

For the nose:
With green yarn, start with a magic circle and chain 1.  9 HDC and 3 single crochet stitches.  Join with slip stitch and tighten.  Fasten off.  I attached the nose with the single crochet stitches on the bottom.

For the antenna (make 2):
With purple yarn, start with a magic ring and chain 1.  8 single crochet stitches.  Slip stitch and ch 1.  For the next 2 rounds, 1 single crochet in each stitch.  For round 4, single crochet decrease with the first 2 stitches, then 1 single crochet in remaining 6 stitches.  Round 5, 1 single crochet per stitch.  Round 6, single crochet decrease with the first 2 stitches, then 1 single crochet in remaining 5 stitches.  Round 7, 1 single crochet per stitch.  Round 8, single crochet decrease with the first 2 stitches, then 1 single crochet in remaining 4 stitches.  Round 9-10, 1 single crochet per stitch.  Fasten off.  Leave tail for attaching to hat.  I attached mine at round 2.  Weave any ends.

Note:  on the 3-6 month hat, I went down a hook size for the eyes, nose and antenna.  

Cocoon:

--1 skein of bulky yarn

--#5 worsted weight yarn in blue, turquoise, green and yellow (less than 1 skein of each)

--8mm hook

For the cocoon, I found a pattern and altered it somewhat since I had a #5 bulky yarn that I wanted to incorporate at the beginning and the end of the cocoon.  I started with a magic ring, and made 10 rounds, using HDC stitch with the bulky yarn.  Do increase rounds until you have the diameter you want to make the width.  And then on the other rounds, I used 3 colors of worsted weight yarn held together (blue, yellow & green) for 4 rounds, then aqua, yellow & green for 5 rounds, then blue, green and aqua for 4 rounds.  I ran out of green yarn (I was using a partial skein that I hat on hand), so I did 2 rounds of blue and aqua.  Then, 4 rounds of blue, yellow and aqua.  And, like I said, I used bulky yarn at the end.  I had enough bulky yarn to do 5 rounds.  Weave ends.  

For this project, I used yarn that I had in my stash.  Overall, I think it turned out pretty good, even with altering the cocoon to what I wanted.  

Happy Crocheting...