Hello Kitty!

Finally! I finished Irene's Hello Kitty hat. The pattern is free on Ravelry and is darling. It is knit with Lion Brand Jiffy and the bow is made with Red Heart. The hat itself was very easy, but for some reason I had endless troubles with it. The pattern calls for a size 9, 16 inch circular needle as well as double pointed needles. I have larger size 9 circular needles but no 16 inch ones and I have no size 9 dpn's at all. After two false starts I finally managed a third time to get the size I wanted on size 10 needles. Once I got to the decreases I somehow managed to mess them up. I had to rip back a bit. It was a relief to finish. Of course, then I had to sew the nose, eyes and whiskers. Plus I had to sew on the ears. The sewing makes me nervous. I can't sew and having to seam anything makes me nauseous. I am afraid of how it will look or that it will look wonky.

Surprisingly, I think I did a damn fine job! It isn't perfect and I hope no one ever looks on the inside of the hat, but Irene loves it and even Gavin wants to wear it around. So yes, I am quite pleased with myself.

I am now working on Henry's hat and I am trying to convince my husband that buying yarn to make Gavin's Roar hat is a good investment. His head needs to be warm this winter!

With Gratitude

A happy surprise was waiting for me in my email last night. One of my wonderful blog readers and ravelry friends (I'm not including her name in case she wants to remain anonymous) purchased the Roar, A Dinosaur Hat and Louie the Lovebot pattern for Gavin! It brought a smile to my face :-) I am so pleased that I will be able to make those for him.

Getting these patterns reminded me that I received a surprise in the mail several weeks ago and never posted about it. A package came in the mail from California. For the life of me I could not figure out who would be sending me something. Inside the package was a bag of Knit Picks Gloss Lace in Sterling, a lovely card and a fantastic stitch marker. The gift was from someone I do not know, however we belong to the LSG group on Ravelry and she decided to surprise me with a little yarn to pick me up.

I love the stitch marker and it is one of the best I've used. It doesn't catch on the yarn and is small enough that it doesn't leave a gap.

I was thinking of using the yarn to make something for my sister-in-law's birthday. Then I found a simple but lovely cowl pattern, Superior Cowl. When going through the finished projects I found one that someone had made with this same yarn. I am soooooo using this yarn on myself to knit this cowl! Mine, all mine!!!

I have been feeling rather "blah" and "down in the dumps" lately. The holidays are approaching and it is starting to hit home that I may not be able to give my children much of a Christmas. I won't go into it more on this blog since this is suppose to be about my knitting. Knitting relaxes me and I want it to remain that way.
Since our current situation is rough going I have been making birthday gifts for my family out of either cheap yarn or stash yarn. In the past 4 months there have been 4 birthdays and that is not including the two that have been my children's! I've been making hats for my family members. Below is the hat I made for my dad. It is made out of Red Heart yarn. The pattern is Ryan, which is a free pattern I found on Ravelry. It has a simple one stitch cable that did not need a cable needle to do. It was a fast hat to knit and I think it is quite nice. My younger brother had a birthday in August and I've written about his hat in an earlier post. I decided to make my older brother the same hat for his birthday in October. Unfortunately, the hat turned out too small. I have no idea how that happened, except that sometimes the knitting Gods like to play pranks. Anyway, the hat fit his 3 year old son perfectly and he used it on Halloween to trick-or-treat in. I have another pattern picked out for the older brother and hopefully I will get around to it soon.
Keeping in the hat knitting theme, I've started the Hello Kitty hat for Irene. Super cute and fast going. Henry picked out a skull and crossbones hat that I will start after I finish Irene's. For Gavin I want to make Roar, a Dinosaur Hat from ravelry. He loves dinosaurs and likes to walk around stomping his feet and roaring. Unfortunately, this pattern is for purchase and not free. Right now I just can't afford it.

I did finally make Irene's Penelope the Monster. The pattern is by Rebecca Danger and had been gifted to me through a Random Act of Kindness. I made one earlier for the daughter of a friend. Irene had wanted one since then.
I think they turn out so cute but I hate sewing the ears, arms and legs on. I can't sew, so to me this is the hardest part of the entire thing. Of course, Henry and Gavin wanted one but they've since gone on to pick out other patterns. Henry really wants Harriet the Haberdashery Hippo.
It is also a pattern by Rebecca Danger but this one is featured in the Knit Simple fall 2011 magazine....which I don't have. Sighhhhhh. Shall I go on about how Gavin is in love with the Louie the Lovebot (also by Rebecca Danger) and that it is a pattern for purchase on the Knit Picks site? Double sighhhhhh.

On a positive note, I posted a picture of Irene's monster on Facebook and received many compliments on it. Once person even wanted me to make 4 of them for gifts. Of course, the amount of time and yarn, eyes, stuffing, etc. makes it a somewhat costly gift. I think she changed her mind! Still, the compliments made me feel better :-)

Well, it is time to work on Irene's hat. I will post pictures as soon as it is done. Until then, Happy Knitting!