What is this obsession I have with weather lately?

i finally finished Ja's hat.  Actually, I finished it a couple of days ago, but it wasn't sitting properly on his head...  kept hiking up.  Why was it hiking up?  Because I, big surprise here, wasn't following a pattern.

So, what I did was I stole the crown shaping from another pattern.  Sort of...

This is what resulted (hopefully pics will soon follow!)

A ribbed shaped hat

I used cheap walmart worsted weight wool...  A red Heart TLC I think it was, in black, and striped it red and grey.

So,

co 88 stitches on 4.5 circular 40 cm long

k2 p2 until you have enough of a fold over to cover the ears (about 6 inches or 15 cm)

switch to red, continue in rib stitch for three rows

switch to grey, continue in rib stitch for six rows

switch to red, continue in rib stitch for three rows

switch to black continue for another four inches or 10 cm, then start crown shaping.

crown shaping  (I think you could do any stitch pattern you wanted to and as long as you shaped the crown properly, it would work.  I intend to test this theory someday...)

Row 1:  K2 tog, P2 repeat to end

(at this point I switched to 4 dpn's...  easier with the lesser number of stitches.)

Row 2:  K1, P2 tog to end

Row 3:  K1, P1 to end

Row 4:  K1, P1 to end

Row 5:  K2 tog to end

Row 6:  K2 tog to end

Row 7:  K2 tog to end

finishing

without binding off, pull a doubled up piece of wool through your live loops with a darning needle, pull tight to close the hole in the top of the hat and tie a small knot.  Weave in ends.

ta da!!  I think hubby likes it...  He wore it to work today!

I don't know if it's this nasty cold weather, or what, but I've been looking at lovely warm stuff to knit....  I adore this shawl, and I think I must make it...  Wouldn't it be nice to wrap up in on those cooler spring or fall evenings???

Now I just need to amass enough yummy wool to make it....

I find it fascinating to look at the handiwork of people who have done things out of necessity, rather than simply out of want.  A lot of these people have moved on and yet their handiwork stays behind, and it says something about them.

I have a quilt.  It's a handstitched quilt that my great grandmother, my father's grandmother made that I inherited.  Unfortunately, I have to keep it packed away, it is falling into terrible disrepair...  old enough that some of the patches are disintegrating.  The quilt is handstitched, but where the patches have come off or disappeared entirely, you can see what was used to quilt it with...  a couple of bleached pieces of flour sack.

Everything was used back then.  They didn't have to have rules like the three R's.  It was automatic.

I was at my girlfriend Sharlene's today, and she had a giant knitted snake in her basement.  She was showing me the hole that it had in it, and we were talking about how it could be fixed...  What was so interesting was that this snake, a snake that her Oma made for her when she was very young, was stuffed with little bits of yarn.  The entire thing was stuffed with pieces of yarn.  Longer pieces, tiny pieces, the pieces that you get after you weave your ends through and are virtually fuzz...  all of those things were packed into this stuffed snake.

What a heritage that is!  To simply think about all of those things that Sharlene's Oma lovingly made for people, of all of those things, Sharlene has a tiny bit of them stuffed into her snake. 

I would have never thought to save those little pieces of yarn and wool.  I immediately toss them in the garbage.  I feel like I have wasted so much by not considering the other uses of those little odds and ends.  I too am going to try and keep my wool ends from now on.  Maybe one day I can pass something on to my grandchild that has been stuffed with bits and pieces...  something made from bits and pieces that becomes whole and beautiful.

Well, haven't done much crafting over the last couple of days...  I am totally bogged down with Ja's hat.  Busy hating his hat terribly.  I haven't even gotten to the stripes yet!!

I keep telling myself it will get better when I get my turbos...

I am stuck.  In that after Christmas/pre-moving/can't decide what to work on/extreme exhaustion rut.  It sucks, quite frankly.

I want to work on this basic ribbed hat for Ja...  but, it's incredibly boring.  knit 2, pearl 2, knit 2, pearl 2... around, and around and around.  So then I made myself this granny square purse which turned out oh so cute (pic and pattern soon to come, I hope)  ((man, do we need a digital camera!)), and now i'm wanting to make some crochet socks...  these ones in particular, even though I'm not allowed to buy any more wool.  ((although, if someone SENT me some sock yarn ((with no wool content)), then that might be okay, mightn't it????))  I do have some baby wool that's about the right weight, and I'm trying to downsize to make them for my monkey girl.  But, we'll see how that goes.  I just feel like right now nothing is going quickly enough to gratify me...  perhaps because I am continually interupted by screaming monsters???

On the plus side, I won $50 in a raffle from this forum that I'm a part of, deposited directly into my paypal account, and so I went ebaying...  Got myself two Brittany crochet hooks which I have been wanting dreadfully for quite some time now.  The first one I went with the buy now option, and the second one I got for a bit more...  oh well, they'll be heirlooms...  I won't be leaving my kidlets any money, but crochet hooks?  ooo ya...  I also have a circular set of addi turbos coming (when, oh when did I become such a snob???) for the chicknits aran weight bucket hat.  I can NOT wait to make that!  Although I have to wait for the right size circulars to come in...  I'm wanting to do this hat in a cotton in several colours for summer.  OOOO, baby.  We shall see how it goes.  I tried to make up my own pattern, and only succeeded in failing miserably...  size wise, anyways.  So, I splurged and spent the six bucks for this one.

Anyways, I have lots of ideas, but I can't seem to find anywhere to start from.  I guess tonight I'll plug away at Ja's hat, and hope that I can start some new non-boring stuff soon!!

My friend Manda has totally changed her blog around.  She's really going to focus on the crafty things and has a tonne of fabulous links.  Check her out!!

Thanks, manda, for this great link!!

I always think that there isn't enough about crochet out there...  so this magazine, Crochet me, looks like a goody!

I'm loving this...  especially since I seem to be in a pony-tail stage of life right now...

These are also incredibly cute...  can you say stocking stuffers?

I can't wait to see what they're going to come up with next!

((hey manda, maybe I should submit the wrap I made you, eh?  Send me some pics, girlie, girl!!))

wow.  the littlest penguin has a great tutorial on how to unravel a thrift store sweater!

thrift stores, here i come!

well...  almost....

okay, not almost...  but, it is in process!

my sister ashley got me this great knitting book for christmas, and in it is this little knit sundress...  very simple, but is it ever looking cute!

i'm using some lion brand microspun in lime green that amanda gave me,  to do it.  the pattern calls for red white and blue, but that was a little too all american for a canadian gal like me.

it sure is nice to just knit something for fun...  without the pressure of having to have it done in a certain time!

although, i guess i do have to finish it before she grows too much more.