Cute Hat

My neighbor is going to be a grandma tomorrow. I made this cute little baby hat for her to take to the birth. My "birth hat" pattern knit in Bernat Baby Jacquard #6412, Berries and Cream. This is really great self striping yarn.

 

 

A First

I did something today I have never done before. I voted in Early Voting. I wasn't going to but we have some things going on and I did not want to miss Election Day. I used an electronic voting machine, another first. We usually used the "color in the circle with a Sharpie and drop it in the counting machine" method. I love the voting process. I love coloring in the circles. I don't mind standing in line waiting to exercise our freedom to vote. On election day after voting I would come home and all evening enjoy watching the election results, well most of the time. So this year I will have already voted even though I joked I could just go stand in line just for the fun of it. So this is an early heads up. Go and vote. Because remember if you don't go vote, you shouldn't gripe if you don't like the results on election night.

Blake's Hat 2

I made Blake another hat. He is the new baby of our infusionist at the doctor's office. Actually he is 6 mos now. Back on September 28th I made him a bigger hat, (picture of it on that post). His mommy showed me a picture of him last week and the hat fit great. So babies being what they are I figured he better have a second one for back up. Here it is.

 

Sensations Sincerely Royal Blue # K627 (from Joann's)

Red Heart  Soft White #0316

 

The Sensations yarn is very soft and comes in a 7oz skein.

I so believe in hats that cover the ears. It helps avoid those nasty ear infections.

Hats are also good "therapy". No wonder I make so many.

 

 

Jo's Hooded Scarf

Jo wanted a hooded scarf but could not find a pattern she liked. We were not too big on the ones that have a point on top of the head so we just created our own pattern. I used Red Heart Team Spirit yarn in Red/Grey #0988. I cast on 20 st and knit for 16". I then added 35 st more for the top of the hood. After knitting 24" I decreased back to 20 st and knit 16" more. We played with the pattern while I was knitting to get what Jo and Allison thought would be a good length. We thought of using lion buttons at the neck to pull the hood closer in. The lion is her school mascot. It was hard to find lion buttons and after we got them we did not like that idea. So we ended up seaming the top shut. Because we really were making this out of the air when we seamed the top the stripes did not match but Jo liked it.

 

What I liked about the fact that we just experimented was that the scarf is wide enough at the back of the neck that when Jo wears her coat it fits right over the scarf.

 

 

I love how this turned out. No cold wind blowing down your neck.

We decided to add the tassel so the hood was not pointy. I think I got a little carried away on the size of the tassel. I braided the strand to hang it from and added the tassel. Before I gave it to her I told Jo I would redo the tassel. It really is a little big, but she liked it.

 

 

This yarn stripes itself and comes in many school colors. It is a little rough as a lot of Red Heart is and if I use it again I will use the soften idea (earlier post) before I begin the project. But I liked the self striping.

 

Apparently Jo liked her hooded scarf enough she decided she would wear it a bit longer....in the house.

 

 

 

 

Monster High Hat

Jo's birthday is coming up and I finished her Monster High hat. I went ahead and gave it to her today because I won't see her on her actual birthday.

 

Covers the ears great. I also made it big enough to go over her ponytail.

We were going to a couple of fall festivals today and the girls wore their costumes.

 

Here Jo is with her Frankie Stein costume on, including the wig.

I asked for a nice picture and then said she could be scary.

 

This is what I got. Pretty scary.

 

Scout was not a happy camper at this point so no picture.

Maybe next time.

 

Little Girl Hat

A friend of Allison's recently had a new grandbaby. Out went the call for a hat. This one was Allison's idea and I think it came out really cute.

 

Bernat Satin Worsted #0423 Flamingo

Bernat Boa #0416 Chick

 

I used a base row of worsted yarn and then switched to the Boa for five rows. Then I returned to the worsted and finished the hat in it. This is my standard newborn roll brim hat . It is a great pattern and so versatile.

Have A Laugh

I ran across this cartoon Emily had posted at Chronic Curve (site located below my blog list). I laughed out loud. Matthew, aka Uncle Daisey, came through his surgery and is now recovering and this made me think of him. His surgery was no laughing matter taking 7 hours but we are confident he is on the road to a full recovery. So because of that I thought hey now we can have a laugh.

 

Trying Again

I went to Michael's today and exchanged the Loops and Threads Fabulous yarn I posted about yesterday. Here is hoping this one works better. I actually went ahead and checked and balled up the skein and there were no "ties". So here's hoping that the Christmas garland will turn out.

Is There Any Good Yarn Out There?

By good yarn I am not talking about wonderful Alpaca or cottons or wool, I am talking about good acrylic. Oh yes, I can hear it now, acrylic...yuk.. the stepchild of yarns. Well sometimes you need a good acrylic. Acrylic is good and sturdy for fast growing kids, hats and scarves for deployed soldiers, hats knit for needy children who would not have a hat otherwise. Arylic is suggested for many charity projects because it can be treated roughly and still comes out ok. Sometimes we may not be financially in the postition to fork out $75 for some really nice yarn we like. I am also not going to make something out of expensive yarn for a 4yr old who gets their afghan caught in their bike spokes. This has actually happened in my family. Fortunately we were able to repair the beloved blankie. I have had several projects for fall that I have needed to use acrylic yarn. It seems that crappy yarn spans the spectrum of companies. I got some Red Heart, not my favorite but the colors worked. There is a previous post on trying to "soften" this yarn. Not too far into the pattern I found the yarn had broken at the factory and had been tied together. Now we all have to tie yarn once in a while but usually where we want not just out of the blue. I got some With Love Red Heart Yarn and some Caron Simply Soft. Same issue. You get knitting or crocheting along and bam right in the middle there is that tied together yarn. Aggravating. Today was what sent me over the edge. I had purchased some Loops and Threads Fabulous Yarn from Michaels. 

 

Cool looking yarn. You simply knit the edge of the yarn and it gathers up. They had a scarf on display but I got to thinking that it would make a cool garland for the Christmas tree.

 

 

I used size 7 needles and cast on three stitches. I am merrily knitting along when I found the first tie. What? Dang ok I am not too far I will just start over. That is the chain at the bottom of the picture. So I recast on and am merrily knitting along thinking this is cool yarn but not something I would use a lot and bam, a second tie-together. Are you seriously kidding me!! Now I am mad. See the second chain. All I wanted was to knit this yarn up and have a cute little garland. I did not want to spend half the time having to "repair" the yarn. Obviously the people who process yarn are not knitters or they might have a solution to "their" problem. Oh, hey I have a solution already. Any skeins that break could be sold as smaller skeins or hey they could be marked as broken skeins and then you would know what you were getting. I mean I do not mind getting them if I know what I am getting and can work around my pattern. Ok, rant is over. It is frustrating though to deal with this problem. I am thinking I will just cast on again and then see how far to the next broken area. Eventually I will have to tie it all together, but, seriously...isn't there a solution somewhere?

Cute Hat, But Does It Work?

I am working on a birthday hat for Jo. She will be having a Monster High birthday. I did not want her to know about the hat but was unsure about how it was turning out. It seemed wide and even though I had found the pattern on Ravelry it seemed to not be coming out the way I wanted. Solution, tell her this was to be a surprise but I need your help and opinion. She loved it, said it looked cool and fit great. So here is a pix of a half done hat. Full info to follow soon.

 

Funny girl.

 

 

Covers the ears even over a ponytail, very important.

She liked it so much she did not want to take if off , even unfinished.

So I will finish this up this weekend and give the full info on the pattern and yarn.

 

World Arthritis Day

Today is World Arthritis Day. I first showed the symptoms of Rheumatoid Arthritis when I was 21 years old. I was never really diagnosed with RA because one, I did not go to a rheumatologist and two, it went away and I thought it was just a passing thing. It flared again when I was in my thirties. Again it went away. I should have been thinking it could be RA because my Dad and my Grandma both had RA. I was busy raising kids and living life and just struggled through it. In 2001 RA struck with a vengeance and has never gone away. I am lucky to have a wonderful rheumatologist who provides me with great meds. Most people do not know I have RA because these meds keep me moving. But... it never goes away. I deal with some form of pain or other issue that comes with RA every single day. One thing that I love to do is knit and crochet. I am so lucky to be able to continue to do these activites. When I was discussing my hand hurting at one doctor appointment I reminded my doctor of my yarn activity. He stated, "I will never tell you to stop. You know when to rest but that is a good activity for your hands." Today we are so lucky to have the medicines we do to help us live with all the different arthritis diseases.

 

World Arthritis Day is a day to raise awareness of all the different types of arthritis. One good informative website is www.iaamovement.org . Check it out.

My New Picture

I went to Jo's Open House at school recently. She had made me a picture.

 

It is now framed and on the wall. I absolutely love it.

A Little Bit of Luck

I found this little four leaf clover pattern on Pinterest. Matthew likes four leaf clovers and Jo wanted to find one to give to him. I told her they are hard to find but I could make one for her to give him.

 

Caron Wintuck yarn #3251 Holiday Green

 

I sewed a safety pin on the back so they could be worn as pins. One is for Uncle Daisey (Matthew) and the other is for Aunt Corteney. It was a very easy pattern and I think turned out great.

Ack!

Recently on Pinterest they had a post on how to soften yarn. I thought I would try it on some Red Heart I was going to use on the skeleton and pumpkin hats. I followed the directions. Take off the label, loosen the yarn a little, put it in a small laundry bag and wash. I followed the intructions. This is what I got.

 

Before

 

 

After. Yeah.

 

 

After about two hours it looked like this. I used this yarn for the previously posted pumpkin hats.

 

 

Interestingly this is how the other two came out. Fine.

I decided I had loosened the skeins too much so I tried it again. Took off the labels, did not loosen the skeins, put it in the laundry bag  and threw it in the washer.

 

This is what I got. Crazy.

 

So I decided that it must have to do with the skein itself and it is a toss up as to whether you will have yarn barf or not. I guess it is theraputic to untangle the yarn. I do know it does make it softer, although I did add some softener to the rinse.

Skull and Crossbones Hat

 

Allison wanted a Skull and Crossbones hat to wear for her Halloween costume this year. I could not find a good adult size hat pattern but found Pippi's Skull and Crossbones baby hat pattern on both Ravelry and Pinterest. I had to adapt the baby pattern to adult size. I used Red Heart Black #0312 and Red Heart Pretty N Pink #0722. There is a back story to my "pre-washing" the yarn to soften it but that is for another post.

 

TaDa.

 I could knit it two ways, carry the pink yarn or overstitch after knitting. I chose to overstitch because I was having an issue with loose spots while carrying the yarn. It actually came out ok except for the fact that the black is really black and hard to see. But this was a first go on the revised pattern and I already am planning to make another, just not in black.

 

 

Side view.

 Because of the size of the skull that goes across the front of the hat  I felt the hat was about two or three rows too long. I think we are going to take those rows out and also squish the skull a little more narrow. I am also thinking of changing the decrease rows so it won't be so tall. This side view shows Allison had turned up the little rib at the bottom of the hat. But better a little long and cover the ears than too short.

 

 

I do like the colors but think that since I am revising the pattern it will take a couple of more times before I feel comfortable with the pattern.

 

Apollo 13

 

Yes, I know last night was the first Presidential debate but I seriously could not take it. I am a news junkie but I have to draw the line at the debates. So what to watch while I am finishing up a skull and crossbones knitted hat? As I flipped through I saw that Apollo 13 was on. There you go, that is going to be it. I love this movie. I was in high school when the actual event happened. This version had "story notes" ever so often. These notes stated this incident or situation was an exact original quote or this was different from the actual event, ie; movie license. What was amazing was how closely the tiny facts were followed. Even though we know what happened at the end does anyone else sweat through the movie wondering if they will survive and get back to Earth? I do every time I watch it. There are several scenes that are "iffy" as to the astronauts survival which still "worry" you that they will find a solution to that particular problem. One thing that came to me about midway through the movie was how sad it is that we no long have a real space program. I remember sitting in the auditorium at school when John Glenn blasted off to circle the Earth. I don't mean to sound bad here but we now have to hitch a ride with other countries to get to the Space Station. I grew up in that excited era when men and women went into space and it was an unbelievable triumph for our country. I have my own ideas about what we could be doing with our government money and where we could cut some expenses so we could rebuild our space program. Watch this movie sometime and see if it does not give you a fantastic feeling, of what we can do, have done and hopefully what we can do in the future. It will make you proud.

Dinner

The other day Coach was off work and decided he would make supper. A side note here, I have always said supper. All my kids now say dinner. Wonder when it changed. Realize that is of no importance but just a curiosity. Recently I have been spending way too much time on Pinterest. Personally I think it is a lot more fun than Facebook which I find kind of boring. Between Pinterest and Ravelry I have added so many things to my list of want to do, make or eat that I don't think I will ever accomplish it all. Now back to the original thought. Coach found a recipe called "Oven Roasted Sausages, Potatoes, and Peppers" and decided he wanted to make it. It was very yummy. This was not a recipe that I thought I would be that excited about but it was really good. It is quick and easy.

 

The picture was an afterthought. Look it up on Pinterest for the recipe. A super simple dinner.