A baby; an infant; a little one; a newborn; is coming to this beautiful planet. You start thinking of names, checking out the kid’s section in the mall, setting up a plan for decorating the kid’s room, begin searching for parenting tips in the bookstores, and even start observing other parents. Your whole life is about to change; the priorities; the schedule; the life everything is going to change. You are going to have a whole new experience and indeed lots and lots of beautiful moments.

To capture one such moment, I planned to present a special handmade gift to my younger nephew. A baby football cocoon. I have already mentioned about the Toddler’s Football Earflap hat. Since I was planning to make a duo crochet gift for the brothers, I chose America football theme. This is my first attempt to make a cocoon for a baby and I am happy that it came out alright.

At present, the beanie is part of the cocoon’s body. We can also remove the body and use the head of the cocoon as separate beanie!

Process:

The cocoon can be divided into 2 parts:

1. Beanie
2. Cocoon body

Beanie:-

The beanie process is simple. It’s basic Half Double Crochet Stitch (HDC) with white and chocolate yarn changed as required.

Starting from a magic circle and 8 Half Double Crochet (HDC), extend every row (up to row 6) by 8 counts till you get 48 HDC.

With White colour yarn, extend 1 more row (i.e. row 7) by 8 counts to get 56 HDC. Continue 56 HDC for 3 more rows.

Change back to chocolate yarn, continue 56 DC to reach the height of the hat to 7.5″.

Cocoon Body:-

The pattern is taken from Celeste’s Here In the Waiting Place – Crochet Football Cocoon Hat. I have increased the chain stitches and no. of rows to make a slightly bigger.

Caution Section:-

• Calculation of the position of the white band is important.
• It will be easy if the basics hat excluding ear flaps are defined. For e.g. if the total height of the earflap hat is 8″ where 2″ is assigned for ear flaps, then the basic hat should be 6″ in height.
• Since the number of rows alters due to different yarn sizes and crochet hooks, it is best to total up the number of rows required to make 1″. Based on this calculation, the position of the white band can be set.
• Similarly, follow the same caution for cocoon. The positioning of the white band and the football seam along with the knowledge of the gauge will reduce the rework.

Product Specifications:

Defining Dimensions:-

• Height of the football beanie: 7.5″
• Circumference of the football beanie: 16″-18″

The sizes can be altered based on the count of the stitches for the rows.

• Height of the football cocoon: 22″
• The circumference of the football cocoon: 22″.

Optional Alterations:-

• You can increase the base diameter of the beanie to give a more slouchy feel. Also, increase the height of the beanie.
• You can add pom-pom matching the colour with the edging or the base colour.  Link to make the pompom.
• You can attach flowers, beads or a bow made of crochet, plastic, suede leather etc to add more cuteness.

Remember: do not over accessorise it. This hides the beauty of the pattern itself. Believe in elegance simplicity!!

In case, you have stuck anywhere or have any queries, kindly contact me.

Baby Football Cocoon

Style Aisle:

• As the baby grows, you can just use the beanie.
• You can add straps to the cocoon to make it market bag for future use.

Materials:

1. Yarn: Red Heart Soft – White – 1 ball, Red Heart Soft – Chocolate – 2ball
   • Note: you can play around with different branded yarns as far as they give the synchronous flow of the pattern using a constant crochet hook.
   • You can either go for the yarns with the same recommended crochet hook OR decide the yarn and change the crochet hooks along with the tightness on the crochet stitches as you proceed with the pattern.
   • You can change the pattern to get the continuous flow.
2. Crochet Hook: 5.5mm
3. Needles
4. Scissors
5. Measuring Tape
6. Stitch Marker: My stitch markers are the mini safety pins we get from clothing tags. 

Happy Crocheting!!!