Getting Back to Normal

February was the worst.  I cannot remember a time in my life that was so overwhelming at work and at home. But now, in just the first few days of March, it feels like I'm in a new chapter, maybe even a new book.

Miss D is feeling much better. Last week she was sickest she had ever been in her almost seven years of life. Now she's back to her normal sassy stuff.  I kind of enjoyed when she was sick because she was so docile, polite and cuddly. But that's not her and I am glad she is better. Stormy is also back to his normal self. Apparently Augmentin is a wonder drug and now I have my funny little boy back.

Today I even got to run for the first time since throwing out my back. It was a tough run since I hadn't run in two weeks, but it went really well, better than expected.  Although I am not in the shape I was hoping for, I think I will do fine at my 5k race on Saturday. I might even pull off a PR with my new found speed.

I am getting things done at work too.  I was stuck in a holding pattern at work.  I kept working, but I didn't feel like I was getting anywhere. It was like I was treading water, not going anywhere, but not yet actively drowning. Then I missed a lot of days with my sick kids and bad back. In the first two work days of March, I am finally feeling like I am making some headway and getting tasks accomplished. I might get everything checked off my to do list!

I even knit a hat for Stormy.  It is the same pattern as the hat I made for Miss D last week.  I am on a hat kick.

He's a great model. The hat pattern is called Luuk and I use Patons Canadiana yarn. I might have to make a few more of these hats, the pattern is not quite out of my system yet.

So even through March comes in like a lion, and it really has with a plethora of snow and ice, things are feeling much more lamb-y for me.  How's March going for you?  Lion or Lamb? Or too early to predict? 

The Cute Things in Life

I make cute things. It is the truth.  Cute things are made by me; it is an undeniable fact.

And when those cute things combine you get this:

And you thought I was lying. Cute kid, cute hat.  It makes life good.

I bought this yarn to make Stormy a hat when I was pregnant.  I am so glad I finally got around to making it.  I used KnitCol yarn and the pattern Basic Baby Hat. I really love a basic beanie and I hope to be able to make the next sizes up for little Stormy as he needs them. 

I have never used self-patterning yarn like this before.  I am not sure why I haven't, but this will certainty not be the last time.  The results make it look like I put in much more effort than I really did. I am all for making things look complicated when they are not.  It makes me look like a better knitter. Beginner knitters, this is my tip for you, let the yarn do the work.  Buy pretty yarn and everything you make will look amazing.  Tip for parents, your kid will look cute in just about anything (Stormy would be cute wearing a sack), but they will look especially cute in things handmade with love. There are a lot of babies being born into my life right now and they should all be expecting cute little hats for Christmas next year.

It is the first day of winter and we have a winter storm advisory in Central Illinois.  We should be getting an ice storm right now, but currently it is just overcast (thankfully!).  Tomorrow we should get snow, and even more snow in Iowa at my parent's house (Yay for sledding!).  On Monday, we will see negative temperatures (Boo for sledding). On days like this and coming this week, it is nice to have a warm, wool hat and now every person in my family has one handmade by me.

How are you braving the winter?

FOOTBALL!!!

It is not secret, we are a football family.  My husband has turned my daughter into a Packer fan which is just horrible for his Vikings fan.  

Anyway, when I saw this pattern from Knit Picks on Pinterest. I had to buy it and make it.

The pattern is Faster Football Hat.

The yarn is ???

Again, my model either does this or won't let me take her picture at all.

What is your football team?  Or do you not care?

Two Hats

I made these hats sometime in the past month but forgot to show them off on the blog.

Robin's Egg Blue Hat  in Cascade Pacific Chunky

and

Regular Guy Beanie in Cascade Pacific.

There is a Cascade Pacific theme, if you couldn't tell.  It is such a soft and shiny yarn.  Not to say it doesn't have problems.  It tends to have knots and it splits very easily, but the more I work with it the more I am willing to forgive those faults.  I have been in a forgiving mood lately...for yarn.

Beanie Town

I made a fabulous hat from the newest edition of KnitSimple. 

 I want to make the cowl on the cover too.  So amazing!!!!

I may or may not have a magazine subscription problem, but I do make things from the magazines, so it is fine, right?

So, this hat was supposed to be a knit-along with Vickie Howell starting July 31st.  Well, I couldn't wait, so I cast on and made it all in one day, while watching Doctor Who (2005) from the beginning on Netflix.

I had to take self-portraits while wearing it so they are not the best.  I had to do a lot of cropping.

And my hair is extra flippy.

The pattern is Beanie Town by Vickie Howell and I used her yarn too Sheep(ish) in Magenta(ish).  It only took about half a skein so it is a really economical project.  I also recommend it as a first cabling project since there are only two rows of cables.

Again, I am knitting something that is not yet in the Ravelry database.  But you can see the project here on the KnitSimple website.

Do you like it?  I am going to put it in my shop once I get some better photos. Any tips for self-portraits?

For the twins

I am making baby hats that resemble boobs for my cousin's twins due this spring. Yay for baby hats and breastfeeding.

Get it?, "For the Twins".  The boobs are twins, the babies are twins...crickets?

Anyway, here is what the finished product will look like:

Image from Lottie's Creations

Do you know how hard it is to find yarns that are flesh and nipple colored?  The pattern calls for a peach color, but I couldn't find one.  My husband joked that if i needed to match my skin color I would have to choose white.  So I settled for in-between color, I did the best I could and got off-white/cream and pinkish colored yarns.

I'll be working on these this weekend. They shouldn't take too long.  Crochet baby hats come together quickly.  This may be the strangest, most unique and unusual thing I have ever made for anyone, and she requested it.

What is the strangest thing you have ever made?  Have you seen something like this before?  What weird baby items have you seen recently?

Accidental Hat

We finally got the cold weather and snow that we have been waiting for all winter.  This made me realize that I did not have hat for myself.  I saw another mom at daycare that had a great cream colored hat.  I decided I could make myself a cream colored hat.

A few weeks ago I saw this pattern on Purl Bee (another great knitting blog.)  I love the cables and the classic look. 

I went yarn looking.  I wanted something that was machine washable and warm and also wool.  I could not find any superwash wool in cream so I went with plain old wool, Cascade 220.  How often do you wash your hats anyway?

I cast on Saturday afternoon and just never stopped.

I did not mean to knit a whole hat in a day, but I did.  I just kept going and going.

I love how it turned out.

Swapping with Whoopdwhoop

I am a crafter and I love to make things, but I am adverse to selling them.   I have a lot of friends and family that take my items for free, but mostly, I don't think I make things in selling quality.  It just seems like an unattainable level of quality.  I am a pretty good knitter and crocheter, but something about selling my items puts me beyond my comfort zone.  So, instead I swap. 

I follow a lot of crafting blogs for inspiration and free patterns/tutorials.  I am a firm believer that my crafting shouldn't cost too much, but I do spend quite a bit on yarn in a year.  Anyway, one blog pointed me to Whoopdwhoop the "currency free marketplace."  Basically you make stuff then add your creations to the market.  You earn "whoops" as currency for adding items and for "selling:" items to other whoopers for their whoops.  Get it?

I joined a several months ago in May and got regular requests for items.  Then I haven't received a single swap request in three months until last week.  Last week I got one full request and two future requests if I can make my creations just a bit bigger.  Then today, I got another swap request for a pair of earrings.  I wonder if people are starting to think about Christmas gifts. 

So I set out to make my swap from last week.  It is a cute crocheted butterfly hat.  Seen here modeled by my niece just after her first round of chemo this past spring.

 

For some reason it was super easy to make this first hat for my niece, but I had to make four hats this weekend just to get the hat to be about the right size for a toddler for my swapper.  I tried different yarns and hooks.  I kept playing with my gauge, but the pattern doesn't have a gauge; I was just hoping it would turn out.  Something was always wrong so, for my final attempt I used the exact yarn as I made this hat out of  (had to go shopping, I was trying to make it from yarn I already owned) and the exact same hook.  Well, the small shopping trip paid off and the hat finally turned out right and I sent it out to California.

My next trick with this pattern is to make it adult sized so I can fulfill another possible request.  I just like that people like what I have made.  I love making things.

Now I have a pretty good bank of whoops and I can go shopping and get something I want.

If you are on Whoopdwhoop, check me out: http://whoopdwhoop.com/profile/view/u.id/1553/n/michelle523