Flower Bud Hat

I have to apologize for the less than stellar photos that I am posting here. However, to really show off this hat it needed to be modeled and the flash was not helping.  So, sorry Jason that your wife posted these horrific photos.  ;)

I really like the finished look of the hat.  I like the scalloped edge as well as the flower bud look to it.  It was a really easy and quick knit as well.  I plan to give this hat to a friend who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer.  She has already started chemotherapy and I don't know how quickly a person loses their hair, but I hoped that this might help keep her head warm as the winter comes.

Ruffle Hat

I was looking for a nice quick knitting project the other day so I could use some of the yarn that Jay gave me for my birthday. I have been saving this pattern for months and decided to give it a try.  I didn't have the exact right type of yarn for the hat.  I think the pattern uses and acrylic yarn, which would be lighter and probably allow the brim to stick out a little more.  The yarn I used was a cotton/linen blend and made for a bit of a heavier/floppier brim.  I felt like the hat was cute, but probably would never stay on a kid's head, so I decided to crochet a tie to help give it a little more shape.  Overall I am happy with how it turned out, but I have seen a few other ruffled hat patterns and I think next time I would try something different.  I am definitely a fan of knitting in the round, as this hat was knit flat then seamed up the back.  I do like the pattern on top of the hat too.  Adds a bit of visual interest as well.  I need to find a better model, but for now Mrs. Bear will have to do!

Yellow Dress

Friends of ours are due to have their first child at the beginning of May. When they found out in December or January that it would be a girl, I decided that it would be a perfect opportunity to try knitting a gift for their little girl.  I found this pattern and liked it because it is all knit in one piece, therefore minimizing the amount of seaming that is necessary at the end.  I am quite pleased with the final product.  I should have taken a picture before I blocked and seamed it, because I didn't know how I would manage to get it to lay flat.  It's amazing how much stockinette rolls in on itself.  I was very pleased with how well blocking worked and will not be afraid to make more things that need blocking.  I am still not a big fan of seaming things, but I am pleased with finally learning how to do mattress stitch, which makes an invisible seam that is not too bulky.  I was able to give the gift at the baby shower yesterday, and I think it was appreciated :)  It's nice to be crafty, as I have never really known how to make things by hand before.  It's also nice when they come out looking like what they are supposed to.  I did make a few mistakes on this piece, but being my first clothing item, and being for a baby, I think they are forgivable mistakes.  I will pay better attention to the pattern while I am knitting in the future and make sure that I measure things precisely.  I think this ended up being about 2-3 inches longer than it probably should have been.  I think by the time it fits the baby in the arms and body, it may still be a bit longer than you would like, but it is a wrap, so I guess as long as the ties can be tied it should fit for a while.

Here is the inside.  One of the mistakes I made was not increasing on every row on the left side of the cross over.  The tie should have been sewn to the point a couple of inches lower than it is, but then it wouldn't have lined up with the tie on the right cross over.  Not a huge deal really, but not perfect.

I like the ties in the back.  I think that I would maybe make them another 4 or 5 inches longer then maybe the dress would be functional for a little longer.  Oh well, it was a learning experience, and I am sure it will be a nice keepsake for the new parents.

Since I finished this, I also knit up some little thumbless mitts for the baby as well. I didn't get a photo of them, but they are super easy to make and I think pretty functional. I also FINALLY knit up a pretty hat for myself with the KnitPicks baby alpaca yarn that Jay got me for my birthday. I think I will be looking for excuses to wear it, even though it's too warm for it. It is so soft and I love the pattern, and the yarn was really great to work with. I am hoping to get Jay to take a picture of it soon and I will share it.

Giving Knitted Gifts

I have thoroughly enjoyed making and giving gifts to various people this Christmas season already.  I am glad that I have been able to spend less, and put more thought into gifts than I probably ever have before.  I have never been very crafty, but knitting is sure up my alley.  I would like to share a few photos of some of the things I made this fall to give as gifts for Christmas.

This first picture is a hat and mitts that I made for my coworker's baby, Jesse.  I didn't know how big his head was, but took a guess and it fit him quite well.  I was able to give it to my coworker on Friday when we had our Christmas lunch together.  I am happy with how it turned out.  It's an easy pattern that I think I would try again.

Of course had to have a picture of Jesse modelling his new duds :)

This next photo is a coffee cup cozie that I knitted for each of my coworkers.  I was fascinated with the owl cables when I saw this pattern and wanted to try it.  It was a really quick knit, and once I sewed on some button eyes and stitched in some beaks and feet I thought they were pretty cute.  I also gave each of them a gift card for Starbucks so they can try out their cup cozie!

I previously shared photos of the Gryffindor scarf and the Mario hat that I knit for my nephews.  Tonight our family got together to celebrate Christmas, since Jay and I will be heading to Swift Current.  I gave the boys their gifts, and I am glad to say they were happy with them.  Of course they liked the DS games we gave them, but Will was quite thrilled with his hat, and James was happy with his scarf once I told him that it was a Gryffindor scarf.

I made a couple of other gifts that I unfortunately did not get photos of.  I made finger puppets for Aurelia and a cabled hat for my sister's birthday.  I have a couple of projects in mind for the new year.  One, as a baby gift for friends and one is a completely selfish gift for myself.  I am hoping to buy myself some beautiful, luxurious, possibly expensive yarn and make myself a nice knitted hat and possibly a cowl.  However, we will have to see how my arms hold up.  I have not knit in at least a couple of weeks and I don't plan to do any until after Christmas.  Busy weeks at work don't leave much ability to knit without causing some inflammation in my elbows, wrists and hands.

Super Mario Hat

I just finished the knitted gift for my younger nephew, Will.  I had decided to make him a hat for Christmas.  At first I had thought of doing Pokemon, but the patterns aren't quite as plentiful as the Mario ones.  So I decided to go this route.  I am still a little undecided about the pompom, so I have decided to let Will choose. I attached it loosely, and if he doesn't want it I can take it off.  If he does I will attach it more securely.  It was fun to do, and I hope he enjoys it :)

Ridiculously Busy Weekend

I think I have always looked forward to long weekends.  Because, hey, it's an extra day off work.  However, I think since it has been so busy at work for the last four and a half months I really seem to appreciate them more.  Typically the days off are just spent relaxing, or doing things at home like cleaning or baking or knitting or relaxing.  This weekend was particularly busy!

Friday started out with having friends over for coffee.  They came over in the morning and I gave a knitting lesson and Jay visited.  I think the lesson went well.  She caught on easily to the basics, it will just take practice until she builds more confidence and gains an understanding of what the different stitches should look like, and how to tell if something isn't right (at least that's what I found when I first started).

Friday afternoon Jay and I headed down to the Midtown to look at Tip Top Tailors for a jacket he had seen at Market Mall on clearance that they didn't have in his size.  Unfortunately the Midtown didn't have it either, so we browsed around a little then headed home.  After a quick look at the weather forecast for the weekend I decided that I should probably get out and hang the Christmas lights.  I manged to do that without falling off the ladder, so that was a plus.  Friday evening I headed down to my 'office' to start ripping up carpet.  It actually came up fairly easily and only took me half an hour or so to get it all taken out.  Next I spent a bit of time taping around door and window frames.

Friday evening I got an interesting email from one of my old massage instructors at McKay.  She was emailing to find out if I knew any clinics that were hiring as she had just given her notice at work because her workplace had too much 'drama' that she was tired of dealing with.  I emailed her back and said, yes, my clinic will be hiring as two of our therapists are leaving.  She emailed back with a ton of questions, which I answered and she seems interested.  She is going to stop by the office tomorrow morning to look around and drop off a resume.  I have never worked with this girl before, but I would say that she was a great instructor and she has at least ten years of experience and likely a lot of her own clientele.  Great timing, I hope it works out!

Saturday morning I woke up quite early and couldn't get back to sleep (between thoughts of painting and the email from my massage instructor).  I thought that five hours of sleep would have me looking for a nap by lunch time.  However, Saturday was another productive day!  We got up in the morning and I took Kiwi for a walk then I shoveled our couple inches of snow that fell overnight.  Then we headed over to Home Depot to buy my painting supplies!  We decided a while back that we wanted to cook a turkey this weekend, just for us to enjoy so we stopped in at the local bakery to get some bread to go with our turkey.  We settled on a loaf of olive sourdough which was delicious!  When we got home I went downstairs and got to work painting!  I probably spent 3-4 hours down there and in that time got a first coat of the light green paint on everything, then did a second coat on two of the walls, which just left one wall and the inside of the closet for today.  I am pleased with how the colour looks, and I am looking forward to doing the feature wall to see how it all comes together.  Last night my lack of sleep caught up with me and I spent my time relaxing with some knitting, surfing the net and a soak in the tub.  We were in bed by 10:30 and I slept like a log all night!

Today we went to church in the morning.  Then came home and I baked skor bit cookies.  After that I headed downstairs and finished up the green paint.  On closer inspection of my paint job yesterday I think I did an alright job.  I only saw drips in the closet, which I don't think anyone will see.  I have to say painting closets sucks.  After spending a few hours painting yesterday and today I have to say that I don't love painting.  It's okay, and I am not quite as sore as I thought I would be, but it's not my favorite thing.  I don't know if I would have the patience to paint our whole house by myself.  I could probably do another room if I had to, but I won't be opening a painting business any time soon.  I capped off this afternoon with a nice nap.

It has been a good weekend.  I look forward to watching my home office take shape.  My inlaws are hoping to come up in two weeks to help me lay the flooring.  That will depend on the weather though because it can be so unpredictable at this time of year.  Once that is done and we put the baseboards back on, all that will be left is to start trying to figure out how to decorate and find some decent but inexpensive furniture to use in the room.  Fun! 

Gryffindor Scarf

I finished the scarf that will be a Christmas present for my nephew James.  I am pleased with the way it turned out and I think the colours are quite nice.  According to what I have read, the official colours of Gryffindor are scarlet and gold, so I tried to find yarn in those colours.  I ended up using Vanna's Choice yarn in Cranberry and Mustard (sounds delicious, I know! haha).  I used this pattern as a general guide for the number of rows between stripes and sort of did my own thing beyond that.  This was my first time making fringe, and it was quite simple.  I am also planning to give James a Harry Potter DS game, and maybe write him a note saying that wearing the scarf will help him to defeat Voldemort....we'll see though, haha.

Knitting Group

I decided for Christmas this year that I am going to knit something for each of my nephews.  My oldest nephew, James, is into Harry Potter lately so I thought it might be fun to make him a Gryffindor scarf.  I am about half way done and it is looking quite nice.  As for Will, he is not into Harry Potter so much as he is Pokemon.  I tried to look up some different Pokemon patterns for knitting and there aren't too many out there.  I asked my sister if he is still into Super Mario Brothers and she said he is, so I decided to make him a hat with some Mario related items knit onto it (there are lots of patterns out there for Mario things).

Earlier this week I asked on Facebook if any of my friends have any scrap yarn in various colours.  For the Mario hat I will need about 4 or 5 different colours but only a small amount of each.  It seemed like a shame to have to buy a whole ball of each colour just to use a few feet.  No one responded to my request on FB so I thought about putting an ad up on Kijiji requesting scrap yarn.  However, yesterday evening one of Jason's homecare care givers told me that she had seen my request and that another one of her clients was an avid knitter/crocheter and she had told her about my request and she said she would be happy to share some scraps with me.  She friended me on FB and invited me to a knitting gathering called 'stitch and bitch' next Wednesday.  She said that she hosts it at her place most weeks and that I am more than welcome to join them.

I am thinking I might go next week.  I would need to go to her place to pick up the yarn scraps anyway, and why not hang out for a while and knit with some other people who like to knit.  I tend to be a little on the shy side with new people, but it would be good for me to get out of my comfort zone a little.

Baby Hats

I have decided to knit up some baby hats to donate.  It started with the cute striped hat and booties that I posted about a while back.  I realized that I enjoy knitting baby hats so I thought I would make a few more.  I have worked my way through a few different patterns and have finally found a couple of patterns that actually seem like they are an appropriate size/shape.

I found this soft baby blue yarn on clearance at Walmart a while back and have made a couple of hats.  This one is pretty small, but it stretches quite a bit and I think it would be an appropriate size for a smaller new born.

I figured if I was giong to make baby hats that I should make some pink ones to go with the blue ones.  I really like this pattern.  It has a nice detail in the ribbing around the bottom and I like the subtle diagonal stripes.  I think the little knotted nub on the top is cute, but I think if I remake this pattern that I will eliminate that, and possibly try making a pompom to go on top.  Still very cute though, and my favorite pattern to date!

This pattern was the first hat I made with the blue yarn.  I think that it is a cute pattern, but it will have to wait until someone has a baby with a REALLY fat head.  I took a picture of it with my hand just to show how big it is.  And it still stretches even bigger than that.  It might not actually be usable by a baby and maybe would fit a small child, but would probably  not stay on because it is not tall enough.  Oh well....I guess that pattern is a dud!

I had a bit of red boucle yarn left from a previous project so I made a little hat out of it.  I think this would be awfully cute on a little girl :)

Again, this one was made with some leftover pink cotton yarn.  I think it is a bit big for a new born but might fit a baby that is a couple of months old.  I knitted this one flat and sewed it up the side.  I don't love the way it turned out, but it was a good use of left over yarn.

I have another project in mind with a matching hat and booties that I will possibly give to a friend who is expecting in the next few months.  My next bigger project I would like to consider is a Christmas gift for my nephews.  I know that James is into Harry Potter, so I thought it might be fun to make him a Gryffindor scarf (and maybe a hat too).  I thought about doing the same for Will, but he's not into Harry Potter so much.  Though he might like it if his brother likes it.  I will have to see if I can find something that he would like and maybe make something for him too. 

Adorable knitting!

Before our holidays I stopped in at Walmart to pick up some snacks for our trip and meandered over to the yarn aisle.  I don't know why I go look so often.  Walmart's selection is not spectacular, and it really seems like they never restock the things that are sold out.  However, I went to look and found some pretty cheap self striping yarn as well as a ball of blue baby soft yarn on clearance.

I have taken a bit of a shine to knitting baby things.  They are so small and knit up quite quickly.  Not that I have diversified much, but I decided that with the self striping yarn I would make a hat.  I knitted it, and was so happy with the way it turned out, I thought I would try to make some matching booties.  I think they are adorable.  I didn't know how they would turn out, being that the stripes in the yarn are a set width, and I didn't know how the pattern would work with booties, but I think it worked out quite well.  They are so tiny!  Hehe.  I don't know who I will give them to, but I do know enough people who either are having babies, or probably will soon, that I am sure I can use it as a gift for someone in the next few months.  I still have some of the self striping yarn left, and had thought about making some little baby mitts to go with it, but I'm not sure yet.

Baby Blanket

I wasn't sure if I should post pictures on here before I give it to it's recipient, but after the nice shots Jason took of it I wanted to share.

It is all finished now.  It is 5x5 squares (5 different colours and 5 different patterns) and about 36 inches square.  I have to say it came together better than I anticipated.  It is far from perfect, but for a first try, I think it is not bad.  I think that if I ever attempt another baby blanket I will invest in a circular needle and do it all as one piece instead of individual ones.  The nice thing about this one was the portability of it.  I could take my knitting needles and yarn anywhere to work on it.  I worked on it at work, at home, in the van when we drove to Swift Current, waiting at the doctor's office, etc. 

I wanted Jason to photograph it before I attempted to wash it.  The type of yarn I used, Bernat Handicrafter 100% cotton, said on the label that it is machine wash and dryable.  I figured that was an important feature of a baby blanket.  I imagine if this blanket gets used that it will likely get spit up on, or drooled on, or possibly even pooped on. 

I wanted to run it through the washer and dryer before giving it to it's new owner to make sure that it would stand up to it.  I finally did it the other day.  I am happy to say it didn't fall apart.  However, the white is no longer very white.  I think the colours must have run a little bit.  I honestly don't think it looks bad.  I would say it looks more like an off-white now, rather than a gleaming white.  It looks consistent through all of the white squares though, so I think that's okay.  I had to stitch up one place that I must not have knotted the end properly.  I also had a few ends that I had woven in that came unravelled a tiny bit that I clipped off.  My one disappointment is that in washing it, it looks sort of fuzzy/pilly now.  I will probably sit and pick some fuzz off in the next few weeks before the baby comes.  I don't think it looks awful, but I would say it doesn't have that nice brand new look to it with the fuzziness. 

More knitting!

I have been busy knitting a couple of smaller things since I finished working on the baby blanket. I will post pictures of that once I have given it to it's recipient.

The first photo is a little knitted hat with a knitted rose for my friend's daughter for her third birthday. I had the joy of giving it to her this morning and she seemed excited, though maybe a little reluctant to wear it for any length of time. I know it's not really toque season, but I am sure it'll fit her for a while. When I first started it, I thought it would be miles to big, but it actually fit her quite well!

I just wanted to experiment when I found a pattern for how to make a knitted rose.  It turned out really well and I am sure I will try it again.  The only complaint I had was that the knitting for the rose got really tight toward the end, so it was a little bit challenging to finish it.  But I think it had a nice finished result!  I sewed the rose onto a hair clip so that it could be removable from the hat and that worked quite well!

I also decided after finding a cute pattern for puppy slippers that I wanted to make them for my friend's son.  I did some modifications because the pattern I found was supposed to be made with fuzzy/furry yarn and I find it difficult to work with.  I decided to make a gray and black dog, but in the end I think it looks something more like a cross between a puppy and a mouse.  Oh well, I still think they turned out fairly well, and they fit!

I decided to use the leftover grey and black yarn to make my dad a pair of slippers for father's day.  Not puppy/mouse slippers, just a simple pattern for knit slippers that reminds me a little of ones that my grandma may have made years ago.  I finished one slipper and have the second one about half done.  I think I am going to run out of gray...d'oh!  Maybe I will buy another ball of grey yarn and make another pair of puppy slippers for someone.  I also was thinking of making a baby hat with the leftover yarn from the baby blanket to go with the blanket.  We'll see how I am feeling after all this.  My arms are feeling a little stiff/sore after so much knitting in the last week or two!

It's a boy!

My latest knitting project has been for my coworker, who is expecting a baby in August.  I am working on making a baby sized sampler afghan for her little one.  She went for her 20 week ultrasound today and was able to find out that it is a boy.  I had chosen six colours for the blanket and one of the colours was pink (the others are yellow, blue, orange, green and white).  I was thinking of either eliminating the pink all together, or possibly replacing it with purple, which seems a little more gender neutral.  So far I am happy with the results of my knitting.  I am doing different knit patterns for each colour, so every square is different.  I think it will be fun when it all comes together.  I just need to keep plugging away at it, so I am not rushing to try and finish it when the baby comes.  I figured if I started soon enough that it shouldn't be too much of a struggle to get it finished on time.

Knitting Projects So Far....

Here are my first few knitting projects! The first one here is the scarf that I started and got about half way done before I started on the red fluffy scarf. I did finish the red scarf first, but did eventually finish this blue one. It is a scarf for Jay. I decided to try a basketweave/checkered pattern so I got lots of practice with the knits and purls. I am pleased with the result and I don't think it looks too bad for my first try. I hope that it keeps Jay's neck nice and warm this winter, and in the winters to come :)


Here is a close up on the texture of the scarf. I think it's fun!


Here we have some models trying out three of my finished projects (and for some reason Kiwi is looking a little disgusted). The red scarf and hat are a gift for my mom (I am pretty sure she doesn't read my blog, so I will surprise her with it sometime soon). The scarf was a breeze to knit up on size 11 needles in garter stitch. For the hat I followed this pattern. I did not have size 10 needles though, so I used the size 11 again and reduced the number of stitches I started with. However, it still turned out to be rather large and floppy. I tried to remedy this by rolling it up twice and 'sewing' the roll up, which I think made it look at least presentable. Not bad for my second attempt at a hat!


I think of all my projects so far, this is my favorite. I found this pattern shortly after I started knitting and right away thought it was really cute. I was initially daunted by the fact that it is knit on double pointed needles. But, after watching a number of tutorials on Youtube about knitting on double pointed needles, I thought I would buy a set and give it a try. I told myself if it didn't work out, or if I hated it, that I would return the needles and move on to other things. It was definitely different working with the double pointed needles, as well as working with a super bulky yarn, but I was very happy with the result.


I shared this picture of the back of the hat because Kiwi looks cute, and more importantly, it shows that it did not turn out perfectly. This was my first attempt at doing a project that involved doing decreases. For those not familiar with knitting, a decrease is when you decrease the number of stitches, and in this case you do it by knitting two stitches together. The majority of the hat, beyond the ribbed edge of it, is done in what is called seed stitch. It is done by alternating knit and purl then in the next row you make sure that the knits and purls are staggered from the ones below (if that makes any sense). I found that once you start decreasing that the knits and purls don't always line up properly, so I found that the back of the hat is a little bit lumpy. I still think it looks alright, and I am happy with it, as my first hat, and my first project done on double pointed needles!!

I am not a knitting machine....

THIS is a knitting machine!



Haha, okay maybe that was a lame joke. But I have to say I have been doing a lot of knitting.

I decided at the end of December that I wanted to learn how to knit. It is something that has interested me for quite a while, but it's just something that I had never actually taken the time to pursue. However, I decided that this is my year! On my 30th birthday, I went to Michaels, armed with a 40% off coupon and bought myself a pair of bamboo size 8 knitting needles, and after being overwhelmed by the number of yarn options (and the cost!), I went to Zellers and picked out a couple of balls of inexpensive yarn to use to learn how to knit.

I had watched a number of tutorials on Youtube in the days leading up to purchasing the supplies, so I had a basic idea of how to cast on and how to do the knit stitch and how to bind off. I set to knitting and realized that I could indeed knit. I tried to learn the purl stitch but was unable to pick it up from the videos. Lyn offered to show me the basics, so one afternoon I went over there for a couple of hours and she was able to teach me how to maintain proper tension on the yarn so my knitting wasn't so loose, and how to do the purl stitch. That was very helpful, and I went home and immediately noticed that my knitting looked so much better. So much better in fact, that the next day I set to working on the scarf that I promised to make for Jason.

I told him my first project would be a scarf for him. I told him he would have to wear it, even if it was hideous. He agreed, being he is not too picky when it comes to fashion. However, I have to say that after having knit about 35 inches of that scarf, it looks darn nice, and he might have to share it with me. Haha! Actually no, I bought some yarn to make myself a scarf once I finish up with his and Karen't scarves.

The other day I had a good chuckle to myself. For a while Jason would mention LBA, lens buying addiction, in reference to his photography. I think I might develop a YBA, yarn buying addiction. It is so fun to look at different yarns and think of the nice things you could make with them. I know for now I am just making scarves, but I do have ambitions to possibly make a baby blanket for a friend who is expecting, and I would also like to learn how to knit hats.

I will definitely post some pictures of my projects as I finish them. But at this point I am a pretty slow knitter. And 35 inches of scarf for Jay has probably taken me at least 15 hours to complete. I still would like to do another 20 inches. I didn't realize that most scarves are close to 5 feet long!