Hurricane Hat

My friend Mollie churns out about three hats a week. I don’t know how she does it. Nobody in her family or friend circle (or in the entire Twin Cities metro area) will ever have cold ears. Check out the fish hat she recently knat for Waylon.

A couple weeks ago, she showed off a hat she had knat using this Hurricane Hat pattern from String in Motion. I decided to give hat knitting another go-round. This time I used natural fibers (the wool and silk Mushishi from my recent checkerboard lace scarf) so that if it stretches out like Amanda’s hat did, I have a chance at re-shaping it through blocking. I also tried out a double-stranded hat for extra warmth, since Amanda’s wasn’t very warm. I had some baby weight laying around in green, so I’m using that as my second strand. I think the colors work very nicely together.

I’ve worn it a couple of times now, and so far so good: I don’t think it’s stretching out!

Oh, and I forgot the most important part. Since my gauge is so wide, I cast on the requierd 81 stitches, but I used size six double-pointed needles instead of the called-for size sevens to bring it down a notch.

Checkerboard Lace Scarf

Mollie, the queen of knitting hats, recently alerted me to the presence of a new yarn store in the neighborhood: Steven Be. I promptly made a visit, and wow! What a place! I have yet to meet the store’s namesake, but those who have met him describe him in such a way that he’s become a mythical magical being in my mind. Kind of like a unicorn with knitting needles. And glitter. Apparently, he calls himself the Glitter Knitter. Abby says he’s like the Carson Kressley of knitting (in a good way), lighting up the room and calling cute little old lady knitters “divas.”

Anyway, I went to Steven Be without a solid project in mind, just looking for a yarn to inspire me. I found many, but ended up taking home a green wool and silk Mushishi. So beautiful!

After a few failures in the past couple years, I decided I better just focus on some leisurely knitting for myself. I had plans for lots of baby gifts that I never finished -- baby Shae’s hot pink sweater, Baby Adrian’s blue sweater, Baby Bennett’s blocks... All got to about 75% complete and then I just quit. I got knitter’s block. So this winter, I’m starting by just knitting for myself.

I used the Mushishi for a scarf for myself. I really liked the checkerboard lace pattern I had used on Henry’s blanket, so I returned to it. For this scarf, I used size 8 needles and cast on 27 stitches.

Here’s the finished project.



I think I need to learn how to block my work. You can't really see the lace pattern with all the curled edges!

Crayon Rolls

You may think that there has been no crafting at Aunt Lola's house since there have been no posts. How wrong you'd be! As a matter of fact, I've created a new craft room to house all the crafting! When Amanda moved in, she took over my old craft room, and now the basement guest room has become a guest room/craft room. Interestingly, I've actually used it more than I did when it was upstairs. It's a little bigger and feels like my own little studio apartment. Plus it's close to the ironing board, which I pulled in for this recent craft project.



Two of my little munchkins turned three this fall, so I made crayon rolls for birthday gifts. I got the idea from Skip to My Lou. I was delighted to find that Skip has experimented quite a bit and has posted several variations of the project:

http://www.skiptomylou.org/2009/12/18/felt-crayon-holder/
http://www.skiptomylou.org/2008/09/09/keep-on-rollin/
http://www.skiptomylou.org/2008/08/06/felt-crayon-roll/
http://www.skiptomylou.org/2007/04/25/on-a-roll/

I copied the project, and put my own stamp on it. My biggest difference was that I used a magnetic snap closure instead of using one of Lou's options. I thought the magnet would be easiest for tiny fingers.

This was my first foray into piping, and it doesn't look like my most professional work. As I often do, I found myself cursing the fact that I only took sewing in 4-H for two years. I think Grandma Lo should give Aunt Lola some more lessons.

You can imagine how huge my big beaming smile was when Ava stopped opening her birthday presents after she opened mine. She immediately pulled out the crayons and started coloring.

I asked the moms for feedback a few weeks later, and one suggested a flap to keep the crayons in place. Apparently they fall out when the roll is turned upside down. Duly noted.

Cold Computer

It's so cold in my office, I had to give my computer a sweater!



Thanks to leethal wallpapers for the graphic!