Newborn Owl Hats

Sep8

I can’t stop making these character hats! Can I just say how much I love the Repeat Crafter Me blog?? Sarah is the creator of the blog and it’s her basic owl pattern that I keep coming back to over and over. It’s just genius, how simply it’s designed and how she’s included variations for sizes from newborn to adult. I also love that she’s so generous to share the pattern with crafters like me. So here’s a big thank you to Sarah. She does a ton of fun, unusual projects, so be sure to check out her website.

Now, on to the hats! I got an order for two newborn hats, one in pink and one in gray. After a quick trip to Joann for some super soft gray baby yarn, I made two owl hats in one day. And I cannot tell you how much I love them. Why is it that things are so much cuter when they’re little? Check them out:

And using the wine glass as a hat stand? Yeah, that was Repeat Crafter Me too. Genius, I’m telling you. If you’d like to see other things I’m making, or contact me about making something for you, you can find me on Facebook too.

Finally, here’s the guy who was trying to help me take pictures. He’s cute, but not terribly helpful.

Captain Jack Update: Pictures of a Puppy

Sep4

I’m in a bit of a funk this morning, so I’m going to look at cute puppy pictures and share some with you. Captain Jack is 7 months old now. He’s gained around 10 pounds since we got him from the shelter two months ago, which makes him about 52 pounds. He’s muscular and strong, with these broad shoulders and a thick neck, but he’s also got the sweetest face and disposition.

Balancing on boards from deck demolition

He loves to play in his pool, but since our yard is in a state of upheaval right now (deck demolition prior to patio construction. We are in mud pit phase) I haven’t been filling it lately. He doesn’t care. He’ll play with it empty too.

“You can’t see me!”

“BOO!”

And when it rains, he has his own pool!

Like most dogs, he loves his walks, but it took a while to build up his stamina. For a long time, he’d plop down in some shady grass and just look at me. We thought he’d end up being like Ferdinand the bull.

“Yeah, I’m happy here.”

Now he can go and go and go, and I come home from walks sweaty and tired and he’s like, OK! LET’S PLAY BALL NOW! But he can sleep with the best of them too, and he ends up in the funniest positions.

Recently we discovered he has allergies, and he ended up with an ear infection that broke one of his ears. No, it wasn’t really broken, but it was floppy and flat.Oops, there’s my foot. Sorry about that. Anyway, the puppy was still cute but I like him better with matching ears. We got him started on allergy meds and ear drops, and the ear stayed floppy. I was afraid it was permanent. Then one morning I got up and bam! Perky-eared puppy! And we’re all still glad that even as he’s growing, he hasn’t lost our favorite pose: the full sprawl. He’s smart enough to learn quickly and wants to please us enough to obey our commands. We’ve had two training classes and he’s learned a lot already. The only thing keeping him from being the perfect dog is that he goes nuts when people come over. It doesn’t matter if he’s met them before or not. He gets all protective and barks and barks and barks. That part sucks, and I’m hoping we can get him through it so we can have people over more easily. He’s just darn cute and lovable, and brings a lot of joy to our house.

*Sighh* I feel better now. I’m going to take my puppy for a walk and enjoy the morning.

Progress on my Cowls

Sep4

The problem with having a lot of WIPs is that it makes the FO posts fewer and far between. I have been knitting, I swear. I’ve been working on two of my cowls. See, I’m making progress on my Madelinetosh Honey Cowl: and my Silkindian Neck Thingie:Hopefully I’ll be able to finish one of them soon. The Honey Cowl is going much faster. The multicolored silk is lovely but also slightly thin and slippery. I’m not convinced it’s a true worsted, so really I’m just hoping the cowl will fit when it’s done. (No, I did not check my gauge. … I know. I might regret it.) I should have some good knitting time in the next couple of days: the daughter has a piano lesson today, and tomorrow she’ll be marching in the band at her first football game. If I have to sit through a football game, you can bet I’ll be taking some yarn with me!

Hello Hats

Sep2

Today is Tuesday. Right? I’m feeling confused, having come off this long weekend. It was productive for most of us. My husband worked on our patio project, and though we still have a ways to go, it’s encouraging to see it progress. For me, Labor Day weekend meant watching the US Open, which of course includes playing with yarn. I finished another Christmas present yesterday and I’m quite pleased with it.

I never thought I’d get into making these character hats. I thought they were fussy and fiddly and would require so much detail work that I’d hate it, but I’m having a blast with them. Sure, the finishing isn’t my favorite, but seeing it all together makes it worth it. Here’s hoping my niece still likes Hello Kitty by the time Christmas rolls around!

Once that was done, I needed another project. I’m going to visit a friend with a new baby this week, and for the baby shower I made a wee pointy elf hat. Since the baby has a big sister, I thought I’d take her a present, so last night I made another elf hat.

I’m feeling pretty good about my Christmas knitting now, so I might even be able to take a break and work on some selfish knitting for a bit. It’s September…surely cooler weather is just around the corner…I need a new hat for myself, right?

Knitting for the Holidays

Aug31

Okay, these people are freaking me out: “Only 16 Fridays until Christmas!!” Why? Why do we have to start that already? It’s still 90 degrees and sunny here, not even officially fall, and people are gunning for Christmas. Don’t get me wrong; I love Christmas. Love to decorate and buy presents and receive presents and eat lots of yummy food. But I don’t want to think about it year-round. And I don’t want to feel the gift-knitting-anxiety so early in the year.

I like to knit gifts for my people. I have a lot of people. That means a lot of knitted gifts. And the last year or two, I waited too long and tried to knit too many things. By the end of December, I was frantic. My love of knitting dimmed slightly, and I knitted each one with less love and more panic. This year, I decided to work differently. I had a potential gift list written out by May, I ordered the yarn this summer, and I already have three gifts knitted. That’s great, right? Right! I’m excited!

But then I see those things on Facebook where people are counting down and it just doesn’t seem like enough time to take care of all the knitting left on my list. Add in all the selfish knitting I still want to do, and here comes the trembly fear in the pit of my stomach. I’ve started to crave lists. Lists of presents, lists of yarns, lists of selfish projects….

Yikes! I have now thrown myself into gift knitting, and I started another today as soon I finished one this morning. I’ve got two more in my mental queue and I have no desire to go back to my current WIPs. At least not until I’ve made a bigger dent in my gift list. So I’m not really alleviating my knitting-anxiety. It’s just moved up earlier in the year. And maybe that’s okay. Maybe it’ll be worth it once December rolls around. I’ll let you know.

In the meantime, here’s a peek at the gift I finished this morning. He’s a Simple Medium-Sized Bear from The Best Dressed Knitted Bear by Emma King and he used up one whole skein of Knit Picks Brava Bulky in Sienna. The pattern called for knitting each piece flat, but I did the body and head in the round to avoid seaming. When I do the pattern again, I think I’ll also do the arms and legs in the round. He’s a good-sized fellow, a full 16″ tall, and he’s soft and squishy. I think he might get a little shirt too. I really like this pattern and its simple charm. I just hope the little boy who gets him likes him too!

Knitting Fail

Aug28

Well, I screwed up. Not big time, but still enough to be annoying. One of my WIPs is in timeout while I think about what I did. This project was one where I knew what the yarn was going to be as soon as I got it home. It was a project I was anticipating. It’s a purse made out of alpaca, so I waiting to start it until a little closer to fall. It was my celebratory back to school knitting. It started out well enough, though since I was using such large needles (size 10) and one strand of yarn, the fabric felt a little…loose.

I kept knitting away, and soon I had two sides and the gusset, which grew into the handle (that wider section).

I didn’t worry about it until last night. I was waiting for the girl at flute lesson, knitting away on the handle section. It’s all garter stitch and it was so open and stretchy. The pattern calls for it to sewn around a ribbon for reinforcement, but it just didn’t seem right.

I went back and checked the pattern in the book: it called for Rowan Alpaca Chunky. and I was using Cascade Yarns Baby Alpaca Chunky. Should be the same, right? Wrong. Apparently the Rowan Chunky is a Super Bulky, and Cascade is just a bulky. Substituting the yarns but not the needle size meant the product was coming out much differently than the original. (YES, I KNOW! All you smug gauge-testers are laughing and shaking your head and saying, “I TOLD you so!” You did. I ignored you. Shut up.)

Once I figured that out last night, I stopped knitting. I don’t know what I want to do with it now. I still want to make the bag. I don’t really want to frog the two pieces that are already bound off. I don’t mind their size or level of openness, especially since this whole piece will be lined. It’s just the handle that’s bugging me, even though it’ll also be reinforced and shouldn’t stretch out with use. Do I frog the handle section? If so, what do I do instead? I have enough yarn to double-strand the handle. Or I could knit the handle with smaller needles to make it a closer knit. What would you do?

Make a new project, finish an old one

Aug26

Crafters have it bad. They’re always thinking of new things they want to make. They look at supplies and their brains light up with possibilities. It’s great to have all the ideas, but it does sometimes make it hard to get projects completed. I have seven WIPs but that doesn’t stop me from starting more. I’ve had some purple LaFurla yarn in my stash for months, but as soon as I got some purple Plymouth Yarn Baby Alpaca Grande to go with it, I’ve been dying to make another furry cowl. It finally got to be too much and a couple of days ago I broke down and cast on. I finished it that day (I *never* finish projects in a day) and love it! The furry yarn was kind of a pain to knit with. It doesn’t like to knot when you finish it off, and heaven forbid you drop a stitch: I don’t know if you’d ever find it! It’s worth it, though.

I know, the last picture is terrible. I’m sorry. I wanted a photo showing how nicely it drapes, and a selfie with my phone was my option.

Once that was done, I was happy, and I could switch back to a WIP. I decided to finish the Chiefs fingerless gloves for my friend, since I knew one mitt would go quickly. And it did. I got it knit in the morning and wove in tails last night. They’re fun. I like the reversed colors, I think. Not what I had in mind, but it works.

Having finished two projects in as many days, I thought I deserved to start another one. So last night during the Emmys, I finally cast on for the Honey Cowl, the Madelinetosh pattern that keeps catching my eye on Ravelry and that I tried to cast on twice already. This time it worked, and I’m six rows in. And that Madelinetosh DK yarn is a delight to knit with too. Now let’s see how long it takes me to finish it!

Itching to Knit Some Gifts

Aug23

The poison ivy was not just two little spots. It is now several spots up and down my inner arm. There’s even one on the inside of my upper arm, right where it brushes against my shirt and itches and itches and itches. My mom recommended wiping it with a rubbing alcohol/water mix to neutralize the poison, so I’ve done that, but it doesn’t seem to do anything for the itch. So far I’m relying on calamine and it’s helping. I’d like to not have to go the steroid route like I have every other time I get this stupid stuff.

The Doctor Who tote bag has gone to its new home and the teacher seemed thrilled to receive it. She even said I was an “artist!” Not really, but it’s nice to hear! It’s fun to make things for people, especially when they’re not expecting it. In that vein, I decided to make a gift for a friend of mine. I’ve had a lot of struggles the last three years, and this friend has been wonderful. She is supportive, kind, and encouraging. She’s a great listener and offers smart, objective advice. I don’t see her as often as I’d like, but I enjoy it every time I do. She loves the Kansas City Chiefs, and has season tickets, so I decided I’d give her something to help her stay warm. She doesn’t strike me as a hat person, so I picked out an earwarmer pattern first.

It’s simple yet has a few details that make it interesting, and it lent itself well to the striping of the Chiefs colors. The first time I tried to do the red purl row, it looked weird. Not sure how to describe it, but just doing one row of red didn’t give the effect I wanted. So I frogged back, picked up the red a row earlier, and knit one row, purled a row, and knit a row before going back to the gold. This was a lovely quick knit.

Fingerless gloves were next. I picked a pattern I’ve used before with success. They’re called Vancouver Specials: Half-Mitts and they’re just a basic mitt with ribbed cuffs. My first attempt, using the size small, was too snug, so I started over with the medium, and I think they’ll be perfect. Unfortunately, I realized as I was binding off that I forgot to pick the red back up for the top ribbed edge like I intended. I think I’ll just make the other glove in reverse colors: a gold cuff with red body.

These were done with Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Bulky. It’s my first experience with Knit Picks yarn, and I was pleased with how it knit and how the finished project feels. The wool isn’t terribly soft, but not terribly itchy either. I’d love to do some felting with this yarn next!

What do you want in a Local Yarn Store?

Aug21

We did a little yard work on Monday, and today I woke up with two little spots of poison ivy on my arm. Of course. It never fails. Whenever I do yard work, I get poison ivy. Doesn’t matter what precautions I take or whether we can see any where I’m working. It just happens. Fingers crossed that it’s just the one spot and the calamine continues to do its job. Then I had a blog post half-written this morning before I realized I’d already posted about that topic (the purple crochet fedoras). Shoot. That was my big plan for the morning. Instead I’ll go down and cast on for the Honey Cowl again with my Madelinetosh.

My brain is a little preoccupied, I guess. I found out the other day that one of my favorite LYSs is moving. It will still be in the metro area, but it’s farther away. It leaves the area on this side of the state line with just one LYS, and not a great one. There are some positives, the best one being that it’s a 3-minute drive for me. It’s a big store and they have good prices. They’ve been there for years and years and it seems like the customer base is much older. The ladies who work there don’t always take kindly to younger crafters like myself invading their space. It is not a welcoming store. It’s not really a friendly store. I like to look at the yarn but I’d never want to just sit down and hang out there. And that’s what I want in my LYS.

So this news started a little voice in the back of my head talking, poking me about opening my own LYS. I’ve thought about it, dreamed about it. I have a vision in my head of what it might look like. It’s fuzzy and shifts, but it’s there. Certain aspects stay the same. I have ideas of promotions I would do, groups I could host, how I’d arrange the comfy chairs for crafters. I’ve already thought about what types and brands of yarn I’d want to carry to distinguish myself from the other LYS, but I think the atmosphere would be the biggest variant. Knitters and crocheters are such a friendly, community-oriented bunch that I think we flock to places that encourage it. I *want* to encourage it. I want to foster it and be part of it.

My husband and I have talked about creating a shop together, one that would allow us both to showcase our creations and help others create. He dreams of building custom furniture, and a yarn store could easily also be a showroom for his sample pieces. We have a name picked out, we’ve looked at available buildings…every For Sale or For Rent sign in our little downtown area catches our eyes.

Right now I’m dreaming. I’m even yearning a bit. But it’s not time yet. My kids are busy, and aren’t old enough to drive themselves to their various activities. I still want to be there for them, help them be active in band and theater and music and whatever else they dream of. I have some other family stuff going on, too, stuff that wouldn’t allow me to easily take on something as huge as my own store. I have a puppy who would eat the house if left alone all day, every day. We haven’t begun to write a business plan yet, something that definitely needs to happen. We need to do some research, start compiling numbers and working out the details. But I think this could happen. I think this could be our future.

It makes me wonder, and I want your feedback: What do you look for in a LYS? What compels you to go there again and again? What do you like and not like? What do you wish your LYS had or did? If you could have a dream LYS, what would it look like?

Doctor Who Tote Bag

Aug20

Several days ago, my SIL and I made a pilgrimage to Nerd Girl Yarns to check out her studio and hopefully score some Doctor Who-inspired yarns. There were several to choose from but not the one we both wanted the most: Blue Box Exploding. It’s a gorgeous blend of TARDIS blue and golds. See, look at it here. Go ahead, order some. You know you want to. It’s okay. I’ll wait. … Happy now? Okay. So I bought a couple of other skeins and figured I’d order some myself in the near future. Then I went to Knitcraft and found two separate skeins of mercerized cotton that spoke to me.

They said, “Hey! This blue looks like TARDIS blue! And look, here’s a fiery blend that could be explosion colors!” And I said, “Hey! You’re right! I’ll buy you then.” And I did. And it was good.

I knew they needed to become a market bag so I had to find a good pattern. Fortunately, I had several in my Ravelry library. (Of course.) My favorite is the Ilene Bag. It’s pretty, it’s knitted, I love the short and wide handle. So I cast on and within a day I had a new market bag! And I love it!

The only part I’m not crazy about is the way the handle attaches. It’s a 3-needle bind off, which I normally like, and it’s definitely sturdy, but it’s not seamless and the seam jumps out at me.

Overall though, I think it’s pretty darn cool. I’m not a Whovian but I play one at home, so I was sorely tempted to keep this little baby for myself. Instead, it will be a gift to the Gifted program teacher who helped my daughter make it to DC in National History Day, a teacher who is unfailingly kind and encouraging and fun and wacky and wild. She has been my daughter’s favorite teacher for the last three years and is now my son’s favorite teacher, and the one teacher I truly look forward to seeing at every school function. She’s a Whovian too, and I think she’ll enjoy this little tote. And I like knowing it’s going to a good home.