Cranking out some projects!

While I don't feel like I've knit a whole lot of interesting things so far this year, I have made a lot of things. My goal was to make a couple of sweaters, 52 hats for charity, and 12 pairs of socks, and so far, I'm right on track for the hats, I'm ahead on the socks, and I'm already nearly done with the 2nd sweater! I've got to find some more projects...

I'll start with hats. As I mentioned in my last post, I'd like to knit or crochet 52 hats this year for my Grandma's church's charity. I have never made anything for something like this, and I felt that if I have the time and resources to make myself so many beautiful things, I can make some for others. I have quite a bit of random colors of worsted and DK weight yarn, leftovers from past projects and skeins Grandma let me pick out of her huge stash. Most of it is acrylic, and all of it is too much to just cannibalize for the Ugly Square. So I am going to use up what I can to make hats this year. Much of it is pinks and purples, or baby yarn, and at this time, with 3 little boys and a nephew, I just don't have much use for those things. And much of it is very old (30+ years on some of it!) and scratchy, and I don't think I would enjoy making things with it, let alone wearing it. Grandma uses whatever she wants with her projects, so I figured I could too.

It is the 3rd week of February, and I am up to 8 completed hats. I showed 3 last time. I have a couple more Chiefs colored ones, and the others are combinations of pretty variegated yarns I have had.

I have been using the same pattern for each one, now that I have it memorized, and it was from a Red Heart label. I haven't been religiously working on these every week, but I am keeping up and catching up when I need to. I am making the "adult size" on the pattern, but I think my gauge must be pretty tight, because I can't wear these hats. I could wear the first hat. I don't know what I've changed. They at least fit the boys. Grandma tells me that she made 150 hats last year, and nearly as many twiddle muffs. I will stick to my 52...

Part of the reason I haven't been making hats every week is because I am participating in the Grocery Girls Podcast sock bash. I have planned out my entire year in yarn and patterns so I can complete a pair of socks each month (WIP's don't count) that fits the theme. At the end of the year, I would like to enter for their grand prize, which might be something really cool, and there are decent odds of winning if you complete all 12. I have on my calendar (yes, I am like that) for the first 2 weeks every month to work on socks, so I can complete them early and get them posted in time. For February, the theme is cables:

The yarn is Opal, and when it was in the ball I wasn't too keen on knitting it. I bought it to add some different colors to my sock yarn scrap blanket, but it didn't look like anything I normally wear. Once I caked it up, though, I started to see how beautiful it is. My hubby even said if I wanted to knit him a pair out of that yarn he would love them! We'll see...

I knit the Felia socks, but I started them toe-up. I am self-conscious about knitting cuff-down socks with my big giant feet. I just don't want to run out of yarn right before the toe and have to find something else that matches. I messed up the chart a little by looking at it upside-down (you can see the bottom is different than the top in the upper photo), so I wish I had done a better job on that, but I think they turned out neat. I was in a rush to finish them, since February is a shorter month and I had other goals in mind, so when the cable pattern took too long for me, I did the chart once and finished it. I wore them yesterday, and I really like just the detail on the top of the foot. No one knows it's there but me, unless I am home with my shoes off.

I over-estimated how much yarn it would take for the KirbyWirby Afterthought Heel and the cuff, so the leg is a little short and I have a LOT left over for my blanket. I love the little cables in the ribbing, and these socks don't fall down like most of my others, so I may keep the length. Love the heel! It makes so much sense. I posted about it on my Ravelry projects here.


Once I finished the socks, I started on Grandma's sweater. I showed a photo of the hot pink sweater I'm making for my Grandma, out of yarn she was donated. I quickly finished the front that was pictured and started on another project, then the 1st rolled around and I wanted to work on my cabled socks. Once I finished those socks, I jumped right in on the back of the sweater, which is identical. I am about at the same place as the photo, so I won't include one this time. I plan to finish it this weekend and do all the finishing work next week, unless I don't have time to finish the other project I'm working on, in which case I'll save it for next month. I showed it to her today, and she loved it. She even liked the reverse side, so I told her she can wear it however she wants!

The last project I'm working on right now is another pair of socks. I don't remember if I've mentioned it or not, but I sing with the Kansas City Symphony Chorus under a fantastic and charismatic director. I take my knitting to nearly every rehearsal, and when I was working on the black and neon socks last month, he walked by and said that his 1 pair of hand-knitted socks were his favorite, then jokingly told me he's a size 8 1/2. I told him my feet were size 10 1/2, and he said that it's basically the same size in socks. So I thought, I'm knitting myself 12 pairs of socks (give or take 1 or 2--my hubby has some queued up too), and I hardly even wear socks. This man wears socks every day of his life (I've maybe seen him in sandals once in 6 years), so surely I can knit him a pair. I went out and bought a beautiful pair of balls of Patons Kroy yarn from Hobby Lobby the next day, and I'm working on toe-up Vanilla Latte socks for him. I am hoping to have them done by Thursday (6 more days) so I can enter them for February's sock bash. I *love* the yarn colors! They started with navy in the toe, then teal with navy flecks, then burgundy, and light blue with teal and purple flecks. I don't have a photo of them yet, but I'm getting ready to start the heel, so I will have them done for my next post. I can't wait to see his face when I give them to him! He even mentioned it to me again this week, as I was working on my Felia socks before rehearsal. I told him I already bought yarn, but I don't think he heard me as someone else started talking to him. They are flying off the needles, being mostly stockinette.

Next month, along with my socks, hats, and finishing up Grandma's sweater, I'm taking part in my very first mystery knit along! It is a sport weight cowl, and I immediately knew exactly what I wanted to use. I have some Road to China Light that I bought on destash last summer that didn't have a designated project, so it is my new cowl! I wound it up the other night, and now I can't stop touching it! I am going to enjoy the heck out of knitting and then wearing this puppy. They release a clue a week for 4 weeks, so hopefully between making socks, hats, and taking care of little people I might be able to keep up. I'm so excited! I've been wanting to do a MKAL for a few months, and it seems like spring is the time for them. I can't wait to see what it looks like.

Finally, I have a photo of a FO in the wild. I love this outfit today, and my favorite shawl is one of the best parts of it!

New Year, New Goals

It’s been a little while, and I still haven’t gotten around to making my post about all the projects I finished in the last year. I will have to do that in another post, so I can sort everything a little better.

So far for 2019, I have completed an entire sweater, a pair of socks, and 3 hats! I’m pretty impressed with myself, and pleased with how the projects are turning out. One of the podcasts I watch was running a “Knit your behind off” sweater KAL from January 1 through 31, so I gave myself the deadline of 2 weeks, and made it! I knit an entire worsted weight, size 2X sweater for myself in only 11 days! I had it washed and blocked and was wearing it before my deadline. I couldn’t believe how quickly it went.

I knit the Weekender by Andrea Mowry. I bought the yarn for this sweater back in August, after the same podcast ladies were talking about it in detail, so I thought it would be a good one to try for myself. I used cheap(er) wool from JoAnn’s, Paton’s Classic Wool Worsted in a gray color. It was really the only one they had 8 skeins of the same dye lot that day, or else I would probably have picked a different color. I started on the sweater and knit about 2/3 of one ball the first couple of days, and thought I might be cutting it close on the yardage, so I bought 1 more skein, from a different dye lot. I added a couple of inches to the body (I have a long torso and didn’t want my belly to show), and I worked the stitch count for the 3X sleeves, since my arms were larger than the 2X schematic.

The sweater turned out huge, and I didn’t even use a full 7 skeins! I don’t know how my gauge got so far off. I did actually swatch (I didn’t want to knit for hours on a sweater and not have it fit!), but somehow my gauge was a little bigger, and I didn’t use nearly as much yarn as I should have. The sweater is supposed to have quite a bit of positive ease, but mine has so much. It is very slouchy, and I don’t think I’ll be wearing it out as much as I would like. I do wear it all the time at home, though. It is incredibly warm! I went out in 20 degree weather the other night, and didn’t realize I wasn’t wearing my coat until we left the venue after the sun went down! It fits like a very oversized sweatshirt, which is nice, because none of mine really fit anymore. I’m just proud to have something that I made to wear. If I end up losing some weight, I might even steek it under the arms to make it a little less boxy, but I’m not worried about it right now. I don’t mind the scratchiness of the less expensive wool, and I’m planning another sweater in the same wool later. I even took back the 2 skeins and exchanged them for two of the other colors I would like. I posted more details about the sweater here.

So, I get to check “make a sweater for myself” off the list, finally! I’m so happy. I have yarn to make several more, of varying weights: 4 fingering weight, 1 sport, 3 DK weight, 3 more worsted. I would like to lose weight before I make something more fitted for myself, but for the first project, I’m okay with this boxy one. I wouldn’t even mind knitting another Weekender in the future. It was a very enjoyable knit. Maybe I’ll buy some softer, more colorful yarn next time.

The sweater was all I knit for the first 2 weeks of 2019. I have set a new goal for myself to knit 52 hats for charity this year. My Grandma has been doing this for years, along with several ladies from her church. I would love to start creating for other people as well, as I’ve never done anything like that. I did look into the NICU octopus project, but their guidelines are so stringent, I didn’t see myself being successful at that. So I am going to make at least 52 hats, one per week, to donate to Grandma’s church’s clothes closet. Since I only worked on the sweater the first 2 weeks, I had some catching up to do. I pulled out some Red Heart from my stash (this is also going to be a great stashbuster for me!), and on the label was a neat crochet pattern. I have been knitting so much lately, I was relieved to find something to crochet, for once. I crocheted that hat in 2 hours! One hat down, 51 to go!

I had some red and yellow in a bag from last Christmas (2017) from an abandoned project, so I planned to make a couple of Chiefs hats, since they were doing so well in the post-season. Then, I saw that one of the podcasts was having a colorwork KAL, so I found a nice pattern that I could knit and enter another hat. This one took a little longer, but turned out nice as well.

My third hat for the year is also colorwork, but it is crocheted instead of knitted. I have never done anything like this with crochet, and it was a little more work than I bargained for. The yarn kept getting so twisted up, it took a lot longer because I had to keep untwisting it. I thought it would make an adult size hat, but this one barely fits my 2-year-old. Someone will be able to wear it, though. More stashbusting!

My last finished project this year is a pair of socks!! I feel like a knitting machine. I have never completed a pair of socks so quickly, not even the size 6 short summer socks I made for my sister-in-law. The Grocery Girls podcast is running a monthly "sock bash" where each month has a different theme. They have posted all the themes for the year, so I carefully planned out every pair of socks I am making this year to hopefully match the themes, as well as take care of some of my own desires. I have been collecting sock yarn for over a year now, and I figured it was time to start doing something with it. I have enough yarn to make at least 16 pair, and I thought a pair a month would be good, plus all of my other dream projects.

January's theme was "local to me" and I just happened to have 1 skein of yarn from a dyer a few towns over. I purchased it when I was on my way home from a volleyball tournament in the same town this fall, and I didn't plan to do anything with it right away. I bought it because I didn't have anything like it in my stash, and I was collecting bright colors to add some variety to my sock yarn blanket.Since it was the only yarn I had that would fit the theme, I went ahead and added it to the queue (after my sweater, of course!). I was hoping that I could complete the sweater in 2 weeks, and then spend the other 2 weeks of the month on the socks, but the socks only took me 8 days to finish! I posted about them here.

I love these socks more than I probably should, and even my hubby is super impressed with how neat the colors play together. I used the Blueberry Waffles pattern, with Sockmatician's Toe-up Recipe. I made a similar pair last year, but I made these a little shorter in the foot and the leg, so maybe they'll wear a little more snugly. I wore the other pair today, though, and they are really nice, if not a little baggy!

I started 2 other projects that I will be working on over the next few months. Well, one is an ongoing project that will probably never be "finished"--a cozy memories sock yarn blanket that I have tons of fingering weight yarn to add to. I have been buying mini skeins and random bright colors with the intention of making it more diverse. I like blues and purples and teals, so that's what I pick out. So I have been purchasing bright neon yarns, oranges, yellows, reds, and bright greens to give my blanket some variety. I haven't taken a photo of it yet, but I only have 3 tiny squares done. I hope to add a square a day once I finish my next project. They are about 2-3" square, so I will need lots and lots of them to make it at all usable. And I need to weave in ends as I go. Like every other day! I hate weaving ends...

The last project I am currently working on is a sweater I mentioned, for my Grandma. Someone donated a lot of yarn to her knitting group for the charity hats and twiddle muffs, and there was an unopened package of this cotton yarn in the mix. It was enough for a small sweater, not my size, so I asked Grandma to pick out a pattern from a few I had researched. She chose this one, made with the same yarn, so I knew it would look good.

So far, it is coming right along. It is about half and half knit and purl, and I feel like I purl so slowly. I knit continental, and the way I hold my yarn (the same way Grandma taught me, and how I hold it to crochet) makes it difficult to purl the way I've seen some other continental knitters do. I am exploring ways to make it faster or easier, but this sweater is a size small, it is an interesting yet very memorizable pattern, and it's worsted weight, so it is going very quickly. I just started on the front sleeves this evening, and I just started it Wednesday.

I guess I also started on a shawl the other day as well. I couldn't work on my socks during the last Chiefs' game because I knew I would be so tense it would throw my tension off, so I started a new project. I got this yarn from Grandma last year, as it was a donation to her that she said she wouldn't use. It's a beautiful fingering weight merino/mohair/nylon blend, and I only have 1 extra-large skein of it, so I decided to make a Spindrift shawl. I wanted to learn a new way to purl, and since this is in stockinette (knit one side, purl the other), I decided to try to knit the whole piece with the yarn in my right hand and "flick" it. I made it about 8 stitches before I gave up. I need to have lots of time to practice, and to be able to go slow, and not be worried about my home team not going to the Super Bowl again. I might work on this some more once I finish Grandma's sweater.

The only other thing I need to do right away is make another hat. I still have lots of the red and yellow Red Heart, so I might make another ombre knit hat, or I might try a different colorwork pattern. Once the colorwork KAL is over, I will be exclusively crocheting hats unless I find a ridiculously easy and fast knit pattern. Crocheting them is so much faster...

I will try to catch up with last year's projects in the near future. There were far too many projects finished between my last post and the end of the year to include them all in this post, but I'll try to get a post up soon of them. And the boys' newly decorated rooms. Sheesh, it's a lot to keep up with. Wish me luck.

Happy crafting and happy New Year!

Lately

I've been busy knitting so many things lately, I haven't taken the time to take proper photos. I have been working on the sweaters for the boys, plus a blanket, making beards like crazy, weaving in ends on projects I've had off the hooks forever, and making gifts with the Cricut.

The boys' sweaters are finally coming along nicely. I finished weaving in all the ends on little Blessing's brown cardigan this week, although I still need to sew on the 5 buttons. Once I get that finished, I'll take a pic to post. The blue striped pullover now has 1 sleeve finished (as of yesterday!), and I'm about ready to finish the second sleeve soon. I still have ends to weave on that one. I also started a green sweater in the same style, using the same colors as the brown one. I'm about two-thirds done with the body, and will post photos as it gets closer to finished.

I found a home for the little purple striped sweater and wove in all the ends on it. My best friend had a little girl in March, so I gave it to her as a gift this weekend when she was in town from Tennessee. It will look great on this little cutie this winter!

I wove in the ends on my big maroon crochet C2C blanket today and let the boys finally lay under it during movie night tonight. They love how soft, large, and warm it is. They didn't say so, but the hubby spoke for them.

I have made 2 more dwarf beards since I wrote last, both in a color I had not done before. I took photos of my handsome hubby in it, so I would have a photo of a male wearing my beards with no helmet of any kind.

Beard in light brown Hobby Lobby I Love This Yarn

Surprise! I have a beard!

In character

Side shot; it's not too small, he just has a very large head...

My hubby has always worn glasses and rarely has an opportunity to see himself without them (unless he's 4 inches from the mirror), so he was pleased to see himself in a photo without his favorite accessory.

I also made some projects with the Cricut for Mothers' Day, but had some technical difficulties, so I haven't yet had an opportunity to give the mothers their belated gifts. I will be doing that soon, so I can share some of the fun things I've been doing with that piece of equipment. I have a lot of iron-on and a lot of the regular vinyl, so I will be on the lookout for opportunities to use both of those for gifts and for around the house in the coming months and years.

One of the last things I've been working on is a beautiful knitted quilt, by Very Pink Knits. I am making it with Lion Brand Mandala yarn. Yes, I have hopped on the Mandala bandwagon and I've fallen completely down the rabbit hole. I fell in love with this yarn after I saw this cowl on Pinterest:

I found out it was unavailable ("Out of Stock" on LionBrand.com) online and only available in certain WalMarts, so I tried to look on Ebay, but it was quite pricey there. I don't live near any of the WalMarts on their map, but I realized that my mom was visiting her sister in South Carolina, and they had it there! I begged her to pick up some for me in the above color, as well as two others. She sent home a huge box of 15 cakes for me! Then, a couple of weeks later, we were visiting family in Springfield, Missouri, and the yarn was at a WalMart just over the Arkansas state line, so I begged the hubby to go there with me, and I was able to get my hands on all the other colors (there are 16 total). So now I have more yarn than I will ever be able to use for a long time, but it's unique and a little hard to get a hold of.

I am using one of the colors (Wood Nymph) to make the quilt. I have one block (out of 16) done, and the small squares for 8 more completed.

The pattern calls for bulky weight yarn and the Mandala is DK, so I just made the first squares to the correct measurements instead of following the number of rows. I ended up with 23 garter rows, or 46 stitches, after the first squares were finished. The other 8 blocks will have the cream in the center and the outside, with the purples in the middle section. I can't wait to see it put together!

I am feeling a bit dizzy, probably from staring at the computer screen all night instead of knitting, so I should wrap this up. Hope you are having fun with your projects!

So much to post!!

I have a ridiculous number of projects and things to talk about, so I need to just get it out there. I've been very busy spending time with my kiddos, being outdoors, watering flowers and plants in our new yard, finding fun things to do this summer, and I was housesitting my mom's place for a month while she spent time with her sister. In my "free time," I have been working on quite a few large projects, as well as lots of little things. Add to that, a very needy little boy who likes to be held every waking moment, and still refuses to sleep through the night, I've been very busy!

One of the cutest reasons to not post

First, I should wrap up about some projects I hinted at a couple of months ago. My mother-in-law loved the brown and navy flower beanie I made for her in January, so for her birthday, she requested a solid black hat, with removable flowers in red and tan. I had a hard time finding the right tan, so it is more of a yellowy cream than a tan, but she liked it. I just sewed the flowers to a barrette clip, and it worked out beautifully. She can wear both together, either color separately, or just the black hat. If I'd had that yarn in white, I probably would have made a white flower as well, but those were the only colors I bought.

Caron Simply Soft black, red, tan

 

The next project I hinted about was the pink elephant. I wanted to make it for our youth minister's new daughter, and since I never get to make girly things, I immediately found my pink stash. I planned to give it to them at their shower, but that was the week Blessing cut his first teeth, stopped sleeping through the night, and rolled over, so he was very high-maintenance that week. I didn't get it completely finished by the following week when I gave it to them, either. I should have sewed toes, eyebrows, a smile, and crocheted a chain tail. I also misread the pattern on a couple of points. It had different wording for crocheting in the back loop, so I did the opposite. Oops. They won't be able to tell, but I fixed this for the next one I made (still needing to be sewn and stuffed for Blessing...).
 

Old Red Heart yarn from Grandma

I am all but finished with 3 sweaters, and have made amazing progress on another one, and just cast on the last one yesterday. The first one is the first sweater I've made for an infant, and it is for Blessing. I believe I mentioned it in a previous post, about the outrageous cost of the yarn and the care of this sweater. I still haven't blocked it, but I think it turned out beautifully. I should have just enough yarn leftover to make myself some ankle socks as well. The yarn is so squishy.

Cleckheaton merino wool in Truffle and Cream, size 6 needles, per pattern

The second sweater is the one I made for Blessing with the leftover yarn from a gift several years ago. I still need to weave in the ends on one sleeve and sew on the buttons, but I think it turned out beautifully.

Yarn Bee yarn from Sue

I had a bunch of girl colors (purple, pastels) that I didn't know what else to do with, so I started a sweater for a little girl in the same style as Blessing's sweater. I wanted to try to steek it, but realized since it was acrylic, that wouldn't work as well as it would if it were wool, so I just just finished it in the round. Of course, it also needs the ends woven in...

Yarn Bee yarn from Sue

The fourth sweater is for one of the twins. I just finished the bottom ribbing Sunday, and obviously still need the sleeves. I should have woven the ends in as I went, but I'll just have to take a day or two to finish that when it's completed. It is going so much faster because it's all in the round, instead of the cardigan, which was all stockinette.

Yarn Bee from Hobby Lobby; Lion Brand Baby Soft in blue and yellow

The last sweater I just started is going to be just like the blue sweater, except the main color will be green. I hoped to have them done by Easter, but that didn't happen, with all the other projects I've had.

I also heard about this thing called a "corner to corner" (or C2C) crochet blanket. I have always liked the Sweet Rolls at Joann's when I went, but never had a use for them, so I ignored them. They had them on sale for 3 for $10 a few weeks ago, which I thought was reasonable, so I bought 4 in two different colors. I let my hubby pick which one he liked better, and he liked the Cherry Twist. I decided to make one of those blankets, but I didn't know how much yarn I would need. I ended up going back to buy 3 more skeins of the yarn, and it still isn't huge, but it is bigger now that I got the other 3. The yarn is warm and fairly soft (although I think Hobby Lobby's "I Love This Yarn" is softer), and the colors are beautiful. It doesn't match anything in our home, but we like it. Once again, I still need to weave in the ends. I entered it in a crochet-a-long on Ravelry, so I might be able to win something for completing it.

 

Sweet Roll in Cherry Twist; H hook, 7 skeins

I also sold my first beard since my Etsy site came back from vacation! I only had leftovers, but I had just enough of 3 different browns to make a full beard. I think this is actually the most realistic and beautiful beard I've ever made. I really like how the different yarns made it look like highlights and lowlights. I probably won't ever make another one like it (unless I have only remnants left), but it turned out wonderfully. I hope the gentleman likes it.

I have so much more I want to post about, but this is getting quite long. I'll try to finish up with a pair of flip flip socks I made a couple of years ago. These are the only socks I ever made, and I hope to be making several more this year. I made them with wool I received as a gift, and I barely knew how to knit at the time, let alone, what a gusset or heel flap were. Yet, I finished them both, even though my gauge was way off.

Wool from Cheryl

A week's worth of projects

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to get any work done on Sam's sweaters as I hoped, but I did have a productive week.

I have a friend whose husband works for the local railroad, KC Southern, and they have a little boy that the twins have enjoyed playing with on occasion. We unexpectedly received an invitation to his 2nd birthday party yesterday, so I was trying to figure out what to get him earlier this week, when I realized I still have some extra Lily Sugar 'n Cream cotton yarn leftover from the boys' 2nd birthday train hats. So I spent a couple of days this week making a hat for him, although I misplaced my G hook, and instead used the H. I left out the last increase round, but the hat still turned out larger than I expected, and is huge on the little boy, but hopefully he'll grow into it soon.

Train conductor hat in Sugar n' Cream in Denim with H hook; per pattern, except last increase round, and adjustment to brim to compensate

Storm says, "All aboard!"

The other project that consumed my week was an announcement from our church. In honor of our new music minister, who wears bow ties for Sunday morning worship, the church leadership asked that everyone wear bow ties to make him feel welcome. We don't own any bow ties, but I wanted to participate, so I thought, why not make some with all the extra yarn I've got? I went through all the yarns (Red Heart, very old skeins I got from my grandma) that I didn't purchase but had picked out from my grandma's stash a while ago, but this gold was the only one that wasn't a special blend (some wools and alpacas I wanted to save for special projects), so I used it.

I made little knit bow ties for my hubby, the twins, the baby, and myself. They are all different, although not too creative with the stitches, but I think they turned out cute. I crocheted bands for all the men, and if I'd had more time (I finished these last evening) would have added buttons to attach them. Mine I attached to a hair tie, so I could wear it with a messy bun.

Here we all are, wearing them.

It was a fun little project, and we got lots of cute comments from the church members this morning. I tried to find a semi-fancy bow tie pattern (for free), but everything I found was basically a tutorial for a rectangle (knit or crochet) gathered with yarn in the middle. I doubled my husband's and mine, so they actually look like bows, but I don't think it makes that much of a difference.

That was my week in pictures. I will try to get more done on the sweaters this week, so I can hopefully post the finished photos next week. I also need to tell you about the new needles and how I am faring with them. Until then, happy crafting!

A "snow day" update...

It's not a school day, in fact, it's even a long weekend, but we are having an ice storm here in KC right now, so everything's closed. So I thought it would be a good time to update with some more of my current projects.

I just put the finishing touches on another feminine beanie, for my mother-in-law, in some new colors. I thankfully had the navy in my stash, but the brown I had to purchase. I have been so immersed in knitting, it was nice to crochet something again.

Caron Simply Soft in chocolate and navy, per pattern; adult L/XL size

I really like the flower for this piece, although each one I make looks slightly different. She loves it, and almost wore it to bed last night. Another satisfied customer!

I went through my stash again this week, and am working vigorously to find projects to use my yarn on. I have a ton of baby yarn that was given to me after the twins were born that I've just been hanging on to. I am dying to make a sweater, after watching so many tutorials on YouTube that make it look so simple, so I decided to try making one with all the baby yarns. So far, it's been a breeze, and I think the colors look great together. It's coming together so quickly, I think I might even make 2 more, for the older boys as well. I will have to buy more yarn, since they are growing like weeds (3 years old wearing 5T already!), but at least I have a purpose for it. Here's my progress so far:

Yarn Bee in various colors; size 7 needles

I think it will be perfect on little Sam, although I have no idea how old he'll be when he gets to wear it. I'm making size 18 months, so hopefully he can wear it next fall for some nice photos with the older boys. He's growing so much faster than they did. I attribute it to him being almost 10 lbs. at birth, but he'll probably always be a big baby. He's so cute though...

I made an investment in my knitting this week, although I may be returning them shortly. I got a few gift cards for Christmas and was looking into getting an interchangeable knitting needle set, and found this one on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00O99S9UQ/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It's over $50, so it's a bit of an investment, but I love that I will always have the needles I need on hand. I went to my local JoAnn's the other day, though, and found this set: http://www.joann.com/boye-needlemaster-kit-200/7984818.html#q=boye%2Bknitting%2Bneedles&simplesearch=Go&start=4

The Boye needles were $70, but I had a 50% off coupon, so I went ahead and got them. They have tons of tips! I like them well enough, except I'm using the longest cord and it's difficult to make a full circle, because the tips are so long. I went ahead and ordered the Knitter's Pride set, and will try them both for a couple of weeks before I decide which kit to keep. I'm really excited about having one of these sets, though! 

The other project I've finished is one of the infamous messy bun hats that are all over Pinterest. I can't find the pattern that I used for this one, but I could easily have just used a knit beanie pattern and bound off early, which is exactly what I did. My cousin (actual 1st cousin--one of the few girls!) is finishing her Bachelor's at UCM in Warrensburg, and she's a cheerleader, so she wears lots of ponytails. I was pleased she asked me to do it, but I wanted to use up some of my "girl" colors in my stash. Pink, confetti, dark purple, and light purple it was, and I attempted to do the jogless stripes technique again (although slightly different this time), and it still turned out a little wonky. You can definitely see the seam where the stitch was pulled from the previous row and bunched up. I don't know if this is worse or better than having jogs. I will have to figure this out before I make striped sweaters for my boys.

All Vanna's Choice yarn leftovers; jogless stripe technique

Front view

I've got several other items in the works, like a stuffed elephant for Sam, socks (I'm waiting on special reinforcing thread to arrive), sweaters for the older boys, the stuffed animals, and a knit shawl I've got lots of yarn for. I also need to make a large tree skirt for Christmas next year. My parents have a 6' tree that we are taking, so my little tree skirt won't do anymore. I also have some fun ideas for Christmas next year, that involve a lot of knitting, wool, and ongoing projects, that I'll post about as I am able to work on them.

Stay warm this cold day, and hopefully I'll have a couple of baby sweaters to post about in the next week.

Halloween!

Happy Halloween! We always spend the holiday at my parents' house, which is a little different this year, since Dad is sick, but still festive.

It's been a busy time, but somehow between a wedding, traveling, traveling some more, spending time with my dad, cooking for my mom, refereeing volleyball districts, planning a birthday party for 2 3-year-olds, and fully nursing a newborn, I've been able to find time to make some amazing hats for my little people. 

I found all of these patterns on Ravelry or Pinterest, and knew they would be fun for my boys to dress up in. I didn't know how much they would love wearing them all the time! I'm so pleased with how they all turned out.

The twins had a jungle-themed birthday party, so they got to wear them all day Saturday for their grandparents and aunts and uncles too. We're getting a lot of mileage out of them this week! The best part is, I didn't spend a dime to buy any more yarn or supplies for these! They were all made of yarn I already had in my stash.

The giraffe is pretty much exactly like the pattern, except I made crochet eyes instead of using buttons (I did this on all the hats because I had plenty of yarn), and I used colors I had and wanted to use. I made it the largest size that wasn't listed as "adult" and it still fits snugly on Teeny's head. My children either have huge heads or my gauge was off.

The elephant was based on this pattern, but I'm not totally in love with how the trunk came out. I followed the pattern for it first, but I thought it was too short, so I doubled the length. I also wish the ears were a little bigger, but the pattern was written for a newborn, which would not have fit my infant, who also has an oversized head. I used the giraffe pattern and made it to fit a child/toddler. It's a little big for him but he'll be able to wear it when he's older and can play with his brothers.

The monkey was the first hat I completed, and I wasn't planning to do ear flaps for the others at the time, or I would have put them on this as well so it would match. It went to my nephew, who has a relatively small head (smaller than average), but I still made it the same size as the twins' so he can wear it for a while. I should have put the ears down lower because I think it looks more like a bear than a monkey with them up high, but it still turned out cute. I didn't plan to make the half-smile, but I ran out of yarn on my needle at that point, and thought it looked super-cute, so I left it.

The lion is my favorite out of all the hats. I pretty much made the pattern from a composite of several different designs. I couldn't find one that was a beanie style with ear flaps, so I wasn't sure how to do the mane and left it off for a week or so while I debated how to do it. It looked like young Simba from The Lion King, which made my son happy, but I also thought it looked like a lioness, so I wanted to finish it. I finally decided to just try the knotted technique that I eventually used, and after finishing it, I think it looks fantastic! I might make one for myself, I like it so much...

The last hat I made was for my best friend, who is having a baby this spring after trying for over 10 years! I am so happy for her, and thought I would make something very personal. She has a horse that is almost as old as she is, and has put so much love, time, money, sweat, and tears into keeping him that I immediately knew I had to make a hat that looks like him. I used some photos of him to design it, and since she is not finding out what she's expecting, I left off any embellishments, like bows or trim. I think it turned out beautifully, and used the zebra pattern and the muzzle from the giraffe to complete it. I can't wait to see her face when she opens it.

Photo by Sarah Dickerson