Ballerina Hoodie

When my "Punkin' Pie" was a baby I thought she would never have long hair while I couldn't seem to get her older brother to the barber often enough.  It made my millennium the day we took her to the haircut place and the stylist was able to put her in pigtails.  She looked so cute I almost couldn't stand it.  She wore her hair in pigtails with little pink flowers almost everyday and would remark that the cute was worth the pain.  This went on for a couple of months until we took her back to get a trim.  There we met a wonderful woman who put an end to my "Punkin' Pie's" pigtails.  She explained to me that "This little girl's hair is too fine to put in pigtails, your just breakin' it off!  No more pigtails!"  After my lecture she explained I should not put her hair up at all, not even pulled back in barrets for at least six months.  Well, my little girl took this to heart and has not let me put it up since.


Now that she is taking ballet at Act Two Studios she is required to wear a ballerina bun.  If you have ever tried to do a ballerina bun on a three year old who only likes to wear her hair down you know what I have been up against.  We are getting better at the hair thing but I definitely only want to do it once.  We also started ballet during the coldest time of the year when we have to bundle up to go anywhere.  This became a problem because she only had hoodies that pulled over her head.  Pull over hoodies are death to the perfect ballerina bun.  A few weeks into her dance classes I walked past our salvation at Michaels.  It was a new ruffle yarn by Loops & Threads, Florence Florencia.  This is a special ruffle yarn that uses a silk fabric for the ruffle part of the yarn.  When I saw it I knew our ballerina dilemma was solved.

I grabbed a skein of Florence Florencia that was black with little pink flowers on it, a couple skeins of Red Heart Shimmer in black, and my design book and set to work.  What flew off my needles couldn't be more perfect.  It is a zip up cardigan with pockets, an over sized hood (to fit over those ballerina buns) and at the waist I used the ruffle yarn to create a built in tutu!  I couldn't be more pleased with the results.  The three layer tutu bounces with her every move and the hood is big enough to cover even twin pigtail buns!