Hats

And it came to pass that Stitch N' Bitch taught Erin (girlwhoknits) and Erin taught Kara (knittinglemonade) and Kara taught Heidi (stixandstring)... thus the knitting continued.  Now Erin and Kara are uberknitters and I'm just beginning but let me show you some of my proudest achievements so far.  The "Jon Merrick" was made under Kara's ever vigilant eye.  She taught me how to knit in the round, decrease, and pick up stitches all in one night.  Genius.  It is called Jon Merrick because before it was felted, it could have fit atop the Elephant Man's head and covered it entirely.  It is just the cutest thing.  It doesn't look so great on me right now since my hair is short but it was sooo cute before I cut it off.

Pattern: Brooklyn Cap from Interweave Knits Summer 2006

Yarn: terribly sorry-no idea but some kind of feltable wool

Needles: #11 16 inch circulars and #11 dpns

These two are my favorite and my best.  They were the first thing besides a scarf that I did completely on my own after being abandoned by Kara who callously moved to London!  

Pattern: The Crown from Just Hats

  Yarn: Lion's Brand cotton-ease 50% cotton 50% acrylic 

  Needles: size 8 16 inch circulars and size 8 dpns

Adjustments: I just left the petals off of Will's hat to make it more fitting for a boy.  I must say, they wear these things everywhere and get so many compliments!  Yay me!

Okay, these are the cutest things ever invented.  They take me about 3 hours and I've been making them as the most special baby gifts ever given (except the booties Erin gave my kids when they were born).  People just about die when they get a hand knit item as a gift (I should know... booties) and these are so simple I've even taught friends and family how to do them (yes, me!).  

          Pattern: Children's Cotton Hats from Last Minute Knitted Gifts

           Yarn: Mission Falls 1824 100% cotton or Suss Yarn 100% cotton (Suss is a bit softer)

          Needles: size 7 circular and size 7 dpns

         Adjustments: the only thing I've done is to shorten the i-cord for boy hats 

      so I can just tie them in a knot instead of a bow.  Or you can 

       just skip the eyelet round and  forget the i-cord.  I also did one 

       with two half skeins I had left and made it yellow and green 

      stripey.  SOOO stinkin' cute.  I gave that one to my nephew 

Asher but I'll try to get a photo on here. 

So-I'm working on two shrugs right now (yes, I know I'm a multiple knitter-I'm still scared!) and I will post those photo's as soon as I can.  Mostly this post is for my girls Erin and Kara (especially Kara who did the actual hands-on teaching of me).  Thank you both so much for introducing me to something that has become such a thrill in my life!  All my love!