Forgotten Hat

So I knit this hat way back in October but just never took the pictures of it. It is just a simple slouchy hat with a cute pom pom on the back. Seeing this pom pom you can see why my sister got me a pom pom maker!

Nothing too out there or amazing. I forgot to mention above that this was yarn I dyed myself. I learned that I did not get all of the dye out when I rinsed it out after dying it. My wooden needles turned red... and so did my fingers! I love wearing this hat around campus (mainly since it's been like -20 here) Well I hope you guys all have an amazing week!!!!

Christmas Gifts Take Two

I really should start blogging at normal hours of the day! But even though Christmas is over my house is still in total chaos. My brother flew home from L.A. for the holidays and while it is great to see him it is causing endless drama about how much time he actually spends in my house. I am just peacefully dreaming up new ideas for batts in the corner. Today (yesterday?) My grandparents, step grandparents, and step-aunt and uncle came over for a huge dinner with the brother and his girlfriend and it was total chaos. I am exhausted but can't sleep so you are getting a blog, woo!

So this gorgeous gem was my mom's present. If we could flash back to last year you may recall that I never did knit my mom a present, I failed on that one. So this year I made sure to get her's done as soon as I got the yarn in. It is knit in Knit Pick's Biggo in Duchess Heather. Seriously guys this yarn is beyond soft, I almost did not want to give it to her. It was knit on size 13 needles and I made up the lacy pattern in the middle by myself. The fabric was still dense even though I sized up my needles so I wanted to break it up. She loves it and keeps wearing it... I may need to knit myself one.

This hat is the prize and joy of all of my Christmas knitting. This hat was for my dad (bless his huge head) and he being who he is (the guy that bought me my first needles and yarn, and spindle and fiber, and now my drum carder) wanted to push me and asked for a hat with fair isle skulls. He also wanted felted but that was just not going to happen. So I knit the normal size of this skull cap even though everyone said it would be huge.

Fair note it really is huge, my dad's head in enormous and it is still big length wise. I can not imagine knitting this for anyone else without eliminating one or more of the skull repeats.

Everyone keeps asking me how many tries it took me to get the whole fair isle knitting thing down and I am beyond proud to say that the first time was the charm. I didn't have to go back and fix anything. Just like learning to use dpns on that elephant this probably wasn't the easiest pattern to learn how to fair isle on but seeing his face when he opened it up was totally worth it.

Not to go on and on about one single hat (okay I do mean to go on and on about this hat). But the outside wasn't the only new thing for me. I also fully lined the hat in fleece. I had to fit it to my dad's head and then sew it by hand into almost like a fleece beanie and then sew it into the actual hat itself. It was worth he work though because it will be warm enough when he plows snow.

So those are all but two of my Christmas presents, you haven't seen one because my camera is dead and the other I still haven't knit (for shame I know). But whenever I feel bad I count all of the new things I learned to do for my dad's hat of doom; ear flaps, fair isle, sewing, creating a fleece lining, lining a hat....

... He really is high maintenance isn't he?

Ho Ho Holidays!

So today is the start of dead week, yay... I can't even pretend to be excited for this, granted I can't wait to be home for a whole month! I think it will feel kind of crazy not seeing my friends here for that long but honestly I can't wait to sleep in my own bed. So all of you posting your Christmas presents make me nervous! I ordered yarn for all of mine and it is yet to get here and I seriously am freaking out right now. I only have one person's present done and honestly there are so many more I need to do.

Even though I haven't done any "productive" Christmas knitting I have knitted something pretty Christmasy.

Yes I knit a Santa hat, but wait it gets better because I did not just knit one, I knit two!

My dad and step mom wanted a warm Santa hat to wear out on black Friday so in two days I knit two cute little Santa hats. I used Wendi Dunlap's 2 Hour Santa Hat pattern, it was a cute and fast knit. My dad's head is huge so it took me slightly more than two hours but even at that it is probably that fastest hat I have ever knit. Hopefully my yarn gets here soon so I can start knitting up a storm. I hope you all had the best Monday you could!

A Hat's Story

So this hat was ripped out way too many times and I personally am shocked this yarn even held up. I got mad and threw it in my hibernating bin way too many times before finely I finished it. Still nameless and slightly too big I am incredibly proud of it.

Guys I made my own pattern!

Crazy. It is just crazy. The body was easy once I decided how to get the look I wanted. The decreases were kind of a nightmare that made me want to rip my hair out. In the end though I love the look it actually turned out the way I wanted it to. 

 
Look at that wonderfulness guys! It is slightly big on me and really needs some tweaking, but it is my first real pattern! I actually knit it inside out and then you turn it back right and TADA fun pattern. I'm not sure if I am going to publish it or what I want to do other then stare at it with a strange look of pride on my face.

             On the college front almost nothing has been packed. I went through and packed all the things I have to take like books and underwear but I have no idea what else to do. I mean how many shirts and pants do I need? I just don't know what to pack my stuff is slowly taking over my sister's room since she is gone.

I hope you all are having a good Monday!

Polish, Hats, Friends! Oh my!

So I know after my whole posting for 23 days straight I have fallen off the earth yet again. (23 days! How crazy!) I have actually been doing quiet a bit. The Ravellenic Games have started and I am trying to participate but really I am a forgetful knitter. I always start something and get distracted and then start something new. Right now I am working on what I am calling the Wine Hat. It is going to be my own pattern which is kind of super exciting. If all turns out well I want to knit a few of them for a craft show in September. (More on that in a later post!)

I completely love the colors in this yarn! It is just Lion Brand Amazing from Micheals! Super cheap but so cute! I think that hate will look great once it's done, the only part I am a little nervous about is the decreases. I hope I will be able to kind of figure them out by myself, but there is always the LYS if I can't!

You may have noticed in my other picture some pretty snazzy nail polish. It is Pretty n' Polished's Jawbreaker. I saw it on pintrest ages ago and just knew that I would have to get some of if. She kept selling out right away so when she offered pre-orders I snatched it up like no other. I ordered a full jawbreaker, black swan, and a mini cheer camp. As I paint my nails with them I will totally post how they turn out. I love jaw breaker it is just as gorgeous as it looked in all those pictures.

And to top of this wonderful week my amazing friend Madison has come up for the weekend! We will be going to the Mall of America tomorrow and being typical girls and spending way too much time looking at cloths. She writes one of the yummiest cooking blogs ever! You can find her over at Baking with Abandon, she makes everything under the sun, and there may be some guest blogging for each other in the near future! So I hope you all are having the most amazing week and have a great weekend!

Guess what!

This is my 100th post!

I really can't believe that this is my 100th post, I feel like I just started blogging. I have been trying to think of a way to make this blog different. So that never happened so you are stuck with my normal blogs! So last night was not a good night for me plain as that, someone I thought was a friend turned out to not be one. So since I didn't know what else to do I just sat down and knitted. I finished my first two baby hats ever out of my own handspun art yarn!

 Okay so I used the Trendy Baby Hat pattern, it was super easy and still so cute. I was able to knit two hats out of my forty or so yards of art yarn. I also made my first ever bobble! It took a couple tries but eventually I got it right. I have no idea yet what I am actually going to do with these.

 I am leaning towards knitting a couple more cute baby hats and donating them to the hospital. My mom works there and told me how they usually only get very generic baby hats and would love something special. I also have actually been busy spinning. I am working on my light blue, merino/tussah mix that I bought at Beelighted.

I struggled with it at first, it kept slipping through my fingers. But now that I am almost done I am getting used to it. I plan to just do another two ply with it because I am now obsessed with plying. Last night I also started my first ever pair of mittens! Not much worth taking a picture of yet so those will come soon. I hope you all are having a great week!

The Grape Hat

 
I am in love with this pattern! It was such a fast simple knit that I can't help but want to knot more of them. At first it seemed tedious with the yarn overs and knit togethers. I got in the swing of it though and this hat just flew by. It turned out to be a tiny bit large on me which you can't tell when it's on. Though I worry about it slipping off and me loosing it. Other than that though I am completely in love with this hat and pattern.

Attack of The Snow

Out of no where it suddenly is very wintery here in Iowa.

I had a snow day on Friday and yet again today, which is exciting and yet terribly boring. I finished spinning all the fiber I have right now (waiting for some I ordered) and have no resorted to actually knitting from my stash. The craziness I know!  I am knitting this adorable slouch hat pattern with Caron Simply Soft Party yarn in purple. So far I am still on the ribbing but I feel (hope) this hat is a quick fun knit with this sparkly yarn. Hopefully next post that hat will be done!

Poor dog thinks we are evil, she tries to go outside and sinks in the snow.

There are steps down there somewhere.

A Hat Kind of Day

The chunky knit beanie was so cute the first time I had to knit another one. I thought I had enough yarn to knit the small. This size around this one turned out so much better but I ran out of yarn towards the end and it was a little short for me. My mother was  happy to steal the hat and I was happy to let her keep it. She truly is a wonderful model.

I think the key to this hat may just be knitting it flat like the pattern calls for. I hate the idea of having to seam a hat together. Maybe next time. Now back to Christmas knitting.

Christmas Knitting

I feel like the last week all I have done is knit. I had to restart my whole blanket for my brother because it was not turning out wide enough. I don't have any new pictures but to give an idea of what I am knitting here are some before I ripped it our pictures.

I started over adding another 40 stitches to the blanket. I am going to make it one of those square blankets. (Like the purple one I have completely ignored) On the new blanket I am a good fifth of the way done, so hopefully I will get it done soon. I got a little side tracked this weekend knitting part of my sister's present.

I used the cutest chunky knit hat pattern ever. It was so quick and cute I am now planning on making myself one. The one bad thing I have to say is the even on a smaller sized needle the large size was way to big. I am going to knit mine slightly smaller.

And finally I would like to wish all my American readers a late Happy thanksgiving!

First Hat Done!

So I just finished the Marshmallo had I have been working on for a few days. In the end it took four youtube videos, loads of cussing, and only part of a ball of yarn. Here are so pictures!

My Marshmallo Adventures

So still working on that amazing pattern I found, which you can find in my last blog. I am probably around half way done now and all seems well. There is one spot in the ribbing where I knitted instead of purled (Darn my lack of focus!) But other than that all seems to be going well. For the first hat I have ever knitted and my first time using circular knitting needles I think this was the perfect hat to start on. My only worry now is if I can finish it off properly.

Here it is so far:

Circle Needles!

So today I decided to just suck it up and face the facts that if I ever want to knit something cool I am going to need to use circular needles. So I went out to the local store and bought a pair. Looking around on ravelry I found a cute hat pattern that looked easy enough. Marshmallo hat is the pattern I am using. At first I couldn't find Vanna choice yarn and settled for Bernat Satin in snow. Only to get in on the needles and watch if fall apart. Finally I went back out and found that I already had one ball of Vanna Choice in white. Figures. So I am on row four now and already messed up my ribbing pattern.

Hopefully this all goes well, I will post pictures later. Wish me luck.