More hats

First there was the Irish Hiking Hat, made for my mother from cotton yarn I bought in Blacksburg.
She liked it so much that she asked me to make another one from the organic cotton yarn we salvaged from a really, really bagged out cardigan I made for her for Christmas last year (hint: The Fairly Easy Fair Isle doesn't translate well to thinner yarn on larger needles to get gauge). So after something like five hours of the two of us frogging and rewinding the yarn from the sweater, I got around to doing this:

Same hat as before, only now you can see the cables better. She liked THAT one so much, she decided that's what she wants me to do with all the yarn - make her enough hats so that she's not heartbroken when she loses one (which happens several times a winter). I was kinda sick of cables by then, and I didn't have enough of the next color to make the whole cable band, anyway, so I decided to practice my fair isle technique in a gauge that was a little more robust.

This hat totally kicks ass, and I think I may have to add a leash to it so she doesn't lose it the first time she wears it. Can't you just see it - an idiot hat instead of idiot mittens?

Since I came up with the pattern for this one all by myself (yay!), I can sell them if I want ... not sure I can get enough $$ for a hand-knit hat to justify the time spent making them, but they will make awesome Christmas presents for, oh, EVERYONE I'VE EVER MET.

Oh, and Laura - I totally need to teach you to knit, because these would be soooo nice in the CottonEase you like so much :)

Not a pattern, but it IS new merchandise

Now available in the store. So cute, it makes me want to hide it in a closet and keep it for myself.

More personal knitting

In case nobody's noticed, I'm getting a lot of personal crafting done recently, but I've been posting virtually nothing work-related. Fear not, fellow crafters! I've got a couple patterns in testing right now, and I should have them ready for you sometime in August (maybe sooner?).

In the meantime, check out what I've been up to:

Picovoli by Grumperina, in the Knit One Crochet Too Ty-Dy yarn I got in Blacksburg.


This is the second time I've knit this pattern, and I love love love it. I highly recommend it, as it's a fit-as-you-go, top-down, all-in-one-piece-so-there's-no-seams pattern. And the fit came out nicely both times - pretty true to the measurements given in the pattern. I'm having a bit of trouble with the picot neckline wanting to sag, and I ran out of yarn before I could do picot edging on the sleeves, but otherwise I'm super-happy with how this turned out. I even wore it out to dinner tonight, the day after I finished it!

Also, Foliage by Emilee Mooney, knit from some organic cotton I had leftover from a sweater I knit for my mother for Christmas.


I made this up as a birthday present for a friend who has beautiful long wavy red hair, and I purposely made it large so it would have plenty of ease to fit over her barrette without snagging or squishing her hair. It fits perfectly, and it's sooooo soft. I love the finished fabric this cotton makes ... just wish I could remember the manufacturer. Oh, well - I guess OOAK objects are good, too ... I'll just have to "borrow" it from her when I go to visit ;) Anyhoo, the hat pattern was a lot of fun, if a bit attention-intensive. It's the first time I've had to follow a chart as part of a project, and it went pretty well. I pulled out the magnetic board I used to use when I did a lot of cross-stitch, and it worked great to help me keep track of my place in the chart. I'll definitely have to try that again next time I use a chart.

Well, that didn't work out as planned

Shawl was nice and cozy and necessary in the freezer-temperature reception hall, but I spent so much time chasing after Little Miss Dances To Every Song that I couldn't keep it on. And out of 100 photos of the wedding and reception, here's the best one of me:Can you tell I'm the photographer in the family?

Creepiest. Listing. Ever.

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=12952245

Emergency Shawl

When it's one week before my sister-in-law's wedding, I'm leaving for the east coast the next day, and I realize that my shoulders look like pizza and I don't want to gross everyone out by exposing them in my halter-style dress, there's only one thing to do: go stash-diving and knit a shawl. Fast. Like, in less than 8 hours of total working time.

Look how well the teal in the yarn matches the awesome sandals I'm going to be wearing. Now THAT'S some good stash-diving!

(I get bonus points for posting this from Dial-Up Land, where it took me damn near as long to upload the photos and post here as it did to make the shawl. Seriously, we have got to do something about my MIL's internet access.)

Oh, and you can find more info on the yarn and pattern (which is free) here. At least, you can if you're on Ravelry!

On the hoop

Step 1: Find fabric you can't live without.

Step 2: Trace one of the motifs from the fabric (while watching a dreadfully boring movie).

Step 3: Transfer motif onto linen and choose embroidery thread to complement the fabric.

Step 4: Embroider motif, squinting regularly to make sure you're following the actual tracing and not the shadow that also showed up because your wax transfer paper is really, really old.

Step 5: Wait until kid is asleep to even contemplate adding beads - do you know how much of a mess a 3-year-old can make with a whole tin of seed beads?

Step 6: Turn the whole thing into a purse that will sell on etsy like hotcakes. Hotcakes, I tell you!

Bandana pants!

I've been wanting to make a pair of these for a while, but when I saw the patriotic bandanas in the $1 bin at Target, I knew what my kiddo was going to wear for the 4th of July.

I started them when LazyHusband was reading LazyKid her bedtime stories, and they were finished except for fitting the elastic waistband - before she actually made it into the bed. Yes, they're that fast. Dang, I need to make more of these ... can you say, scrap-tacular? I can!


Edited 7/2/08:
I finished them up this morning, and of course she wanted nothing to do with them. I wanted her to try them on tonight so I could get a photo of them, and after LazyHusband referred to them as her "twinkle twinkle" pants, we couldn't get them off her. She's decided they're pajamas ... and I can't really say she's wrong.