Tomorrow I have a birthday party for a 16 year old boy and I don't know why, but I immediately thought, beanie... then I thought, camo beanie. So here is what I made.
I was really happy with the result, the camo yarn is 100% cotton... because it is for a 16 year old boy and well.... it needs to be washable. I couldn't find cotton in the hunter's orange, so I settled for acrylic and since it is just the trim I am o.k. with that. I will say that this is the first time that I did a provisional cast on and I LOVED it. It took me a little longer than I think it should have because I was using double points and not circulars (because I didn't have circulars in that size) but it worked out fine.
I didn't think that one hat was quite enough so I made him a fun/silly hat too. This this is an ear flap hat that I found in this book.
I used the same 100% cotton yarn as the beanie but because the pattern called for bulky weight (and I had worsted), I doubled the yarn. Not only did it turn out great but I actually like the color pattern better because it looks more "camo" and less "striped". I also crocheted a trim in the hunter's orange color and added a pompom at the top. I thought that the pompom might be a little too over the top, so I attached it with a safety pin. :-) Hope he likes it. [both hats: camo yarn-Lily Sugar 'n Cream, orange yarn-Caron Wintuk]
I have a baby shower to go to next weekend for my husband's cousin... she is having a boy. Since I knitted these booties and hat last year for my son, it has become my staple baby shower gift. These patterns are from this book: 
and they are sooo easy and quick to make! [blue yarn- Queensland Collection Bebe Cotsoy, beige yarn-Plymouth Earth Oceanside Organic]
One of my first projects when I started back at Urban was this knitted (then felted) bag from this book: 
The pattern was great but it was just a bag with no lining or pockets. So I made my own pattern for the lining with TONS of pockets. I love the bag! [yarn- Plymouth Tweed, fabric- Amy Butler]
We just started carrying Namaste bags at Urban, which of course I had to pick one out before the order was even placed... (this style in this color)
and since I now have a traveling knit bag, I needed a knitting needle case to go inside. I saw a few patterns in knitting books that I checked out from the library, but I wasn't too thrilled about any of them....... so I made my own pattern. I thought that this was a great project to get rid of some of my old scrap yarn so I took the smallest balls of leftover yarn, tied them end to end and wound them into a gigantic ball. This was a great solution so I didn't have to stop at each color change, I just kept on knitting. I made sure to position the knot on the wrong side of the piece so that it wasn't visible and I LOVE how it turned out. At the last minute I decided to add a crocheted trim in a contrasting color and I think that just MADE the needle case! [yarn-random scrap yarn from my stash]
I am also working on a pair of felted sock slippers from this book:
I have one done and had to put it down to make some of these other things. But I think they are going to be really cute when I am done I picked pink and green and I am going to do one foot in each color. I am still toying around with the idea of sewing a lining for the inside, but I think I will just have to see how they felt up first and how they feel when I am wearing them. [yarn-Plymouth Tweed]
I was looking through this month's Country Living magazine and I saw a picture of the cutest Beer Bottle cozy. So I went to the website (Edge of Urge) and they are made by an artist in North Carolina who makes them out of old sweaters. I think these are super cute but I think I might be able to come up with a pattern on how to make one of these.... now I am on a mission!
Aside from all this knitting, I threw my son his 4th birthday party... (invitations on the previous post). Well here is how the thank you cards turned out.
I have also been working on some jewelry. I was at JoAnn's today buying fabric for my son's Halloween costume and I found a set of charms in the jewelry section that I purchased. There were 3 in the package, the first one was a turtle which my son adopted as his new zipper pull for his winter jacket :-). The 2nd one was a slightly folded leaf that I thought would work perfect for a "2 peas in the pod" charm. So I put 2 green Jasper beads on a head pin and attached it to the front. I think it is a little abstract but I think it turned out great!
The 3rd charm that came in that package was this flower. I thought that it would look good on a strand of beads and when I was looking through my jewelry making supplies, I found this strand of beads that I thought that it would look great with.
I also wanted to be able to charge out the strand of beads and wear the pendant with a strand of just about anything so I attached a lobster clasp at the top of the charm so that it was interchangeable.
Something else that I found in my supplies were these green "links" that I bought a while back in the clearance isle at JoAnn's. I think the package only cost me a few dollars and there had to have been 50 different links in there, half were a small size and half were a bigger size. So I picked one of the small sizes and made another "2 peas in a pod" necklace... this pendant is much more abstract. I had these bone beads in my supplies so I used them, although I am pretty sure that they only look like bone and are not actually made of bone. I think it turned out pretty neat. I used a leather cord that I bought for something else. 
Well, I think that sums up the last month. There are a few things that I have on my to do list, like make both of my sons their Halloween costumes. My 4 year old wants to be a tornado this year so I purchased some micro fleece and tulle and I have to get to the drawing board to see exactly how I am going to pull this one off. I was planning on making my little one into a cow, to go a long with the tornado, but my husband suggested making him the tin man or cowardly lion or something from the Wizard of OZ. I don't know if people would really see the 2 linked that closely, especially since there is no Dorothy... and then my husband told me that I should dress up like Dorothy. HA!!! I think I might just stick with the cow idea. :-)
I have also been seriously thinking about taking up quilting (as if I need another hobby). I should probably take a class on it, though.... I know how to sew, hand stitch and applique but I think that there are definitely some shortcuts and tricks to learn that would make the quilt making process a lot easier and tear-free!!
The last thing that I have been thinking about is a long term knitting project, like a sweater. I usually run away from long term projects because I don't seem to have the attention span for them... but since I can knit at work when it is slow, it might give my hands something to do without causing me to inspire myself to do tons of other projects? We will see... I have a constantly revolving to do list, so that isn't anything new :-)
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