2 Hats Done
I’m fast finishing my Christmas knits believe it or not! Not like the major knitting melt down of 2 years ago and not like the last minute sock frenzy (which I remember as being not too bad since I did finish the socks in time). This year I’m just working on one gift that needs to be finished by Friday and I’ll probably finish tonight and one that will be done for Christmas day. Not too shabby. I might even be getting smarter in my advanced age. Or not, we’ll see how the next two weeks go.
My last day of work before maternity leave is the 28th and baby is due on January 20th (although I understand this date to be somewhat of a suggestion) so I put my baby knits on hold to go full swing into Christmas. I do occasionally look longingly at my Snuggle Sack, which is at the boring stocking stitch part still. I won’t say I haven’t knit a few rows on it but for the most part I have behaved.
Two of my favorite finished projects (which are for individuals I am willing to bet don’t read this blog) are my Chunky Cabled Hats by Emily Wessel. The pattern is great, of course, and it takes one ball of the soft Malabrigo Chunky. I think it’s a suitable unisex hat and hubby gave the go-ahead to knit it up for my bro in law and his girlfriend.
I think my favorite part though is the addition of the brooch to the one hat. It’s one I picked up at a craft fair from one of my fave local artists ACageyBee. I have made several purchases from Kris and they have all been very popular. I have an adorable locket that gets compliments all the time, I gave a friend of mine a print a few years ago and she still has it up on her wall, and I may have picked up a few gifts for Christmas this year. I think the brooch is super cute and makes the hat all the more special. The best part is that the girl in the brooch kind of looks like the gal the hat is for. It was meant to bee! You can check out ACageyBee here.
A Little Knit for the Holidays
Just in the St Nick of time (lame pun but I had to do it) for Christmas I whipped up a whole schwack of these little ornaments. I’m planning on using them as part of a cute place setting on Christmas day as my Mum’s house, as well as adding them to any hostess gifts. I’m thinking they will be filled with my favorite little jelly beans. Once I started knitting them, and realized how many I could get from all my yarn scraps I became a bit unstoppable. They are just so cute and colourful and easy.
I have been whipping one up in only a 1/2 hour! That’s at least 4 per viewing of It’s A Wonderful Life. I wish I wouldn’t cry at that movie EVERY TIME. I mean how many times can I see it and still cry when Jimmy Stewart realizes what a wonderful life it really is? I digress.
To make these little cuties you will need some scraps of DK weight (22 stitches per 4″) yarn, or you can treat yourself to some lovely Blue Sky Alpaca Sport or Melange. I like that you can really get almost any Christmas palette going with this yarn, my cousin digs the wintery blues and whites, I’m obviously into the rainbow this year, and my mum loves the traditional greens and reds.
For the fuzzy 2 tone socks I went a little wilder colour-wize: I used some Blue Sky Alpacas Suri Merino for the white and some scrumptious Peter Rabbit from Handmaiden for the fuzzy bits. I think the BSA Brushed suri would also work wonders for the contrast colour. I used 3.25mm double pointed needles.
For the pattern you can purchase it for $5 with instant gratification from Ravelry here. Or you can purchase it for $5 with paypal here and a PDF copy of the pattern will be emailed to you shortly.
A Little Snuggle
With the cold cold weather around here I am suddenly convinced my pending child needs all the warm woollies he or she can handle. I know it’s not really that cold but I’m a born and raised Vancouverite so it’s darn cold to me! I have been coveting this knit from the purlbee since I first saw it (here), long long before I was even thinking about having a little snuggler of my own. The retro colours and design speak to me.
I not only had to knit this but I had to knit it in the EXACT yarn and colourway. It was kind of an obsession. Even though I work at a yarn store with many acceptable and beautiful substitution options, I just really wanted the ones in the picture. I also wanted to make up some bibs with purlsoho’s organic cotton terry cloth as well so I ordered it all with a smile on my face. They were out of the terry but getting more so the lovely customer service ladies were extremely helpful via email and a week or so later my package was on its way.
When it arrived, however, disaster struck. Even though my awaited package was IN MY HANDS the wonderful gents down at Canadian customs had assessed the package as $1200 in vitamins with a hefty duty charge to match. I had to tic the little box that sends my package back for re-assessment. I wondered whether I would ever see my pretty pretty yarn again. Luckily, it actually came back to me only a week or so later, I was shocked but thrilled. The yarn is as nice in person as it was online.
The next problem, which I have decided to live with, is that instead of casting on provisionally or with waste yarn to be sewn up later, I went with Judy Becker’s Magical Cast on. This cast on is awesome and I highly recommend it. The only problem is that because I cast on this way my work has 2 corners. Not really a problem, these corners would have been created when I sewed the bottom up anyway. The problem with MY corners is that they cause the pattern not to line up perfectly at the bottom. It’s no longer symmetrical.
You might think that the gal who HAD to knit this up in the exact yarn and colours would rip it all out and re-do but in a moment of sanity I decided it really didn’t matter and probably no one would notice if I would just stop telling people about it. I’m onto the dullish stockinette stitch in white but it shouldn’t last too long before there’s some interesting hood shaping. Then I tackle the zipper!
