Baby Its Cold in Here

I have a love hate relationship with our apartment. I love the 12 foot ceilings and beautiful molding and glass doorknobs.

You know all the cool stuff that comes with a house that is over 100 years old.

I do not, however, love the ancient gas heating system or drafty windows and doors. We keep the thermostat set at a very brisk 66 degrees and our heating bill is still ridiculous. . .for an apartment that essentially only has one living room, one bedroom, a kitchen and a bathroom. . .and no hallways (did I mention it is tiny).

So we have taken to dressing in layers and wearing hats indoors. I bought this beautiful yarn at The Smoky Mountain Spinnery in Gatlinburg with some Christmas money (thanks Papaw!).

And made this Koolhaas hat by Jared Flood for Hubby.

I kind of love it and have threatened to steal it.

With all the hats I have made recently you would think I would own a million, but I had never made one for myself! I looked at a bunch of patterns but I really liked the Fjord hat I made for my friend Leah. I am also trying to be more economical with my yarn and so I wanted to use some of my stash first. I had a lot of the Mirasol Kutama yarn left and I wondered how the Fjord hat would look in a bulky yarn.

Needless to say there was no pattern, I just cast on fewer stitches and then improvised to get the general look (details here).

 

I had no idea how warm it would keep my head! And we need it right now, the low tonight is supposed to be 9 degrees. Temperatures that low make our chilly apartment seem almost warm when you come inside!

One Hat, Two Hat, Red Hat, Blue Hat

Now I can finally show off what I have been working on for the past few months! (and get back to knitting my pendulum shawl)

First a hat for a friend at work. The pattern is named Fjord and I knit it with a beautiful red yarn called Rowan Lima that she picked out.

Thanks Hubby for modeling it for me!

Loved the hat, may have to make one for myself one day.

Next a Christmas present for my sister. She asked for a slouchy hat. This is a pretty easy pattern and it knit up really quickly.

Please excuse the weird self-portrait.

Finally I knit an earwarmer for my mother-in-law who walks outside most days. It has been frigid here and so I hope it keeps her warm! I am going to apologize in advance for these truly terrible pictures. I finished this project right before Christmas and I was working 12 hour shifts all of the days leading up to Christmas day. That meant I had to quickly take pictures in awful lighting after the sun went down.

The light does no justice to the color. It is a truly gorgeous undyed alpaca yarn (Cascade Eco Duo) that has a natural variation from light to dark cream color. Although it is a little difficult to work with, the finished products are beautiful and may be the softest things I have ever touched.

So these things kept me busy for a few months (plus the birthday mittens). I know I said I was going to get back to my pendulum, but I have already bought yarn for two new projects. I don’t know what my problem is, I never had this issue when I was just crocheting! I would finish a project before starting another. Oh well, as long as each one gets finished eventually. . . .

Happy New Year!

Birthday Mittens

Yay! I gave one of the gifts I had made so I can share it now! I had been wanting to make mittens for a while when I found this pretty little pattern.

I really like the basketweave on the cuff.

Happy Birthday MGC!

On an unrelated note I had made these two little hats for a teeny tiny newborn. The patterns were written for a premie but I thought the finished product was a little big. I figure the baby can grow into them if nothing else.

I added a crochet flower to the green hat. However, my favorite is the one with the hearts.

Everything else has to wait for Christmas so in the meantime. . . .

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Baby Gifts

I feel like all fall I have been knitting baby gifts! I enjoy making things for babies. I mean the stuff is cute and each item is little so it takes less time to have a nice finished object. However, between school and all the baby showers I haven’t had much time for my own knitting. I also haven’t been blogging because I had to wait for the gifts to be given before I could reveal a lot of these things.

First, this one made me giggle. My friend asked for this hat because her little boy is going to be born around Thanksgiving (still I had to laugh at myself while I knitted each turkey leg). This is the pattern.

The next project I completely forgot to get  a picture of! It was a bib made from this pattern, which is just fabulous. I made the bib yellow with a contrasting orange neck-tie. I added a monarch butterfly appliqué in the left lower corner (ironed and sewn on because a baby bib needs to be durable enough to throw in the washer). I am kicking myself for not getting a picture but I wanted to mention it anyway because I enjoyed the pattern so much.

This was the most recent gift. I think the picture makes it look a little red like a tomato, but in real life it is a beautiful magenta. I was trying to go for a strawberry. I thought about adding seeds but that would require me to carry the yarn in the back which seems uncomfortable for baby’s head, or do a lot of cutting and weaving in of ends, which sounded awful. When I saw the finished product I actually really liked it the way it was, so that is the way it stayed. (here is the pattern)

The shower for the baby getting the strawberry hat had a “sugar and spice” theme (so cute). So I made some sugary cookies to go along with it. Again, almost forgot to take a picture so please forgive the quality of the shot that I took after I had already packed them up to go to the shower.

I have made progress on my other two projects. I am still loving the pendulum although all of the garter stitch is kind of monotonous. I think the fact that I keep changing colors keeps it interesting. I like this project because I can pick it up for a few minutes at a time and not have to put much thought into it.

I am a bit embarrassed about the next one. About a month ago I turned the heel on my first Kalajoki sock and then put it down and haven’t picked it up again. It’s not that I don’t like the pattern, I have actually really enjoyed working it! It just isn’t quite so easy to pick up for a few minutes at a time and so with all of the other projects going on it has gotten neglected.  Maybe by winter break things will calm down and I can finish this sock and its partner.

A Crochet Day

I hadn’t dedicated a whole day to crochet in a while. It was really nice to take the time to finish some projects. Actually I finished one project I had been working on and then did another project all the way from start to finish! Sorry the pictures are so bad. I was the only human at home this morning and Cutty refused to model the hats for me.

Can you guess who the hat with Spock ears is for? That’s right, a certain 17 year old sister of mine who happens to be in love with Leonard Nimoy.  (I think they just look like elf ears, but hopefully the recipient will be OK with them)

This Strawberry Hat is for a little girl in Chicago. I haven’t decided if the seeds make it look too much like a watermelon.

I think the leaves on top help it look more strawberry-like. Hopefully it fits her cute little head, I didn’t have any measurements for her.

I think I am done with hats for a while, although they are a great project because they work up so quickly without a whole lot of concentration.  I have an idea that has been floating in my head for several months about a wreath. We’ll see if it turns out like I planned it.