Holiday Hat/Snood & Arm Warmers

My dance troupe hosted our second-annual Holiday Hafla (ie dance party for those who don't speak Bellydancer) this past December. We decided to have fun with our costuming & go all Christmas-y, since we were dancing to Christmas music. It was so much fun!

Looking through my yarn stash again, I saw two partial skeins of the CHUNKIEST yarn I have ever laid eyes on. The local craft store doesn't even have anything this beefy! I tried to work it with my 10mm crochet hook, which was the biggest I had, but the yarn was too big for it. I had to go get a 15mm hook to make it work! I have no idea where this yarn came from or how long I've had it, but seeing as one skein was white & the other was red & green, it was going to be perfect for what I had in mind!

I started with the arm warmers. I knew I'd be limited on yarn, so I wanted to start with the items that needed to match first. I chained enough to be able to stretch over my hand but still not be loose around my arm. The whole thing is worked in dc, and worked as tall as I thought looked right. I carried the yarn up from one row to the next, rather than cutting after each color change. Here's the pattern I used:

Arm Warmers
Ch 8. Join to 1st ch w/ sl st to form a circle.
Row 1: Ch 3 (counts as 1st dc). Dc in ea ch around. Join to 3rd ch w/ sl st. (8dc). Switch colors.
Row 2: Ch 3 (counts as 1st dc). * Ch 1. Skip 1 dc. Dc in next dc. Repeat from * around. Join to 3rd ch of 1st dc w/ sl st. (4dc). Switch colors.
Row 3: Sl st in next ch sp. Ch 3 (counts as 1st dc). * Ch 1. Skip 1 dc. Dc in next dc. Repeat from * around. Join to 3rd ch of 1st dc w/ sl st. (4 dc). Switch colors.
Rows 4-6: Repeat Row 3.
Row 7: Ch 3 (counts as 1st dc). Dc in ea ch sp & dc around. Join to 3rd ch of 1st dc with sl st. (8dc). Finish off & hide yarn tails.

I wanted the second piece to be a slouchy hat, but I lost the Yarn Roulette & came up a row or two too short. So it's kind of more of a snood. But whatever, it still worked just fine! :) After the arm warmers were done, I was left with a bit more of the white than the red & green yarn. Some trial & error resulted in the above color configuration looking the best & getting me the most mileage out of the yarn I had remaining. I finished the snood off by sewing three side combs into the edge at center & at each temple to keep it from flying off while dancing. (My hair is extremely slippery & ejects adornments regularly!) I am very happy to say it didn't budge from its place the entire night of the hafla, and I danced three separate times! Pattern:

Slouchy Hat/Snood
Row 1: Start with a magic ring. Ch 3 (counts as 1st dc). * Ch 1, dc. Repeat from * 8 times. Join to 3rd ch of 1st dc w/ sl st. (10 dc). Switch colors.
Row 2: Sl st in next ch sp. Ch 3 (counts as 1st dc). Ch 1. Dc in same ch sp as previous dc. * (Dc, ch 1, dc) in next ch sp. Repeat from * around. Join to 3rd ch of 1st dc w/ sl st. (20 dc).
Row 3: Sl st in next ch sp. Ch 3 (counts as 1st dc). Dc between ea dc of prev row. Join to 3rd ch of 1st dc w/ sl st. (20 dc).
Row 4: Sl st between joining dc & next dc. Ch 3 (counts as 1st dc). Work each stitch of this round between dcs of prev round. Dc between each dc for 5 more sts in this row. (you should have 6 dc on this row now, including your ch 3 at the beginning.) * 1 dc dec. 1 dc. Repeat from * 3 times. 1 dc dec. Join to 3rd ch of 1st dc w/ sl st. (15 sts). Finish off & hide yarn tails. If you wish to make a slouchier hat, add more rows from here.