Pattern: Montera Hat Designer: Pam Allen Materials: Elsebeth Lavold Silky Flammé Amount: (1.5) 50g ball Needles: US7 and US10 16" circular Addi Turbo Cost: $10.00/ball approx. $20.00 Size: one size Start Date: Dec. 3, 2009 Finish Date: Dec. 9, 2009 Ravelry Project Link This was a fun hat to knit. A little like the Koolhaas pattern; but easier since you don't have to hold stitches. That's not to say I didn't screw up the pattern several times anyway. Some of the rows are more confusing than others, but there are detailed instructions as well as a chart. The yarn was pretty luxurious for what I usually use. No mail order this time. It's a 10 ply aran weight, 50% Peruvian Wool, 30% Super Fine Alpaca, and 20% Silk. It has a thick and thin consistency (I don't know what this is called), which makes it very forgiving and I like the way the leaves ended up looking kind of rounded instead of triangle shape like the pattern picture. On the other ...

I only managed to churn out two out of four pajama pants by Christmas Eve, but even that was enough to surprise myself.  I don't have a small enough pajama pant pattern for my little guy that is just two years old and I wasn't up to the task of drawing one out again this year.  I tried in vain to find a free toddler pajama pant pattern online and finally had to go to my nearest Walmart on Christmas Eve to get one.  I hate paying full price for a pattern --I'm quite frugal when it comes to certain things.  I usually only buy them when they're on sale for $1.99 so even the special Walmart price of $7-8 seemed steep for a pajama pattern, but I actually managed to find a cute one that I'll be able to re-use for both kids for quite a few years, it's New Look 6861 size 3-8.  It was less than $4.  I still had to size down the smallest size but it was fairly simple to do.  I  like this one over the miriad of other pajama ...

I finally got around to using my $20 credit at Quilthome for the link of the week winner.  They also had a 25% coupon on Heather Bailey's Nicey Jane fabric line.  I remembered, only too late, about my last Christmas resolution to begin a new family tradition of making pajamas for everyone.  I figured it was probably a bit too late, but I was so happy to get my delivery yesterday that I may actually be able to make a couple pajama pants at least for the little ones.  I also got some extra fabric for some future projects.  I'm thinking another Emmeline apron for a February birthday, a cute smock for monkey pants, and maybe an Amy Butler pattern down the line for Mother's Day. The fabric on top is an Amy Butler print from   Midwest Modern line I think.

For one of my last Christmas gift projects I needed a color of yarn I couldn't get from the Knit Picks selection of merino wool so I was forced to get off the couch and make a trip to the yarn store. There aren't any yarn stores too close to where I live so I wasn't really looking forward to this. Not to mention, going to the yarn store kind of makes me feel overwhelmed, like I don't know what the hell I'm doing there. My mind starts to get lost in all the candy like qualities of the yarns, picking out ones that I like, trying to think of what I could make with them, how much I would need, is it even the right weight, and soon my brains gets overloaded and I feel like leaving and coming back when I know what I'm doing. Of course, that never happens, the going there, knowing what I'm doing part. Cascade 220 Pastaza This time, all I needed was a pleasant duck egg blue/aqua type color in merino wool DK. That seemed like something I might be able to handle. ...

Pattern: Cigar Gloves  free pattern from Knitty.com Designer: Keri Cadd Materials: Knit Picks City Tweed DK Amount: (1) 50g ball Orca' plus a tiny bit more to finish the pinky and thumb Needles: US4 bamboo DPNs Cost: $3.99/ball Size: Small -changed length for medium Start Date: Nov. 10, 2009 Finish Date: Dec. 20, 2009 These knit up pretty quickly, specially compared to the fingerless mittens I finished a little while ago that are double sided. I just didn't get around to finishing them until last night. I made these for a Christmas gift so I don't have any pictures of them on male hands for which they are meant. My husband kept eyeing them and wanting to try them on --and he does not get excited about knitwear by any means-- but I didn't want him to model them because his hands are much to big and I made these a small size for my brother. If you stick to the instructions for the small size, then you should be able to knit these just from one ba...

Being this is the third time around with the baby making and everything, enthusiasm hasn't been quite as high as the first two times. And I have to admit, I was wanting the third, and most likely last addition to the family to be a girl, maybe even a real girl (monkey pants is quite the tom boy). So, being told this was another boy after just having a boy in a relative short time wasn't as exciting as I would have liked. I've gotten over it though and I'm moving on, picturing sweet scenes of two little boys causing havoc, playing and conducting experiments by flushing things down the toilet together. Anyway, when I was still delusionally hoping to have another girl, I was already starting to make a collage of colors, fabrics and decorating nick nacks in my mind for the new baby's room. After the ultrasound, I had to abruptly purge those images from my head and wipe the slate clean. But I haven't really come up with anything new for a baby boy. I just did a bab...

Pattern: Crazy Easy Textured Newsboy Cap Designer: Ele - Nutella Dreams Late Night Crafts Materials: Knit Picks (a) Comfy Worsted ; (b) Shine Worsted cotton blends Amount: (2) 50g ball (a) October; (b) Caution Needles: J 6mm (US10), E 3.5mm (US4), D 3.25mm (US3) Cost: (a) $2.79/ball approx. $5.60; (b) $2.49/ball $5.50 Size: Adult size to fit 2 year old average head Start Date: Nov. 15, 2009 Finish Date: Nov. 17, 2009 I saw this cute cap at a yarn store and immediately knew I wanted to make it for my little boy who could still use a couple more hats. Unfortunately, I was told it was crocheted which I don't know how to do. But I got the pattern and figured there was no reason I couldn't learn. After all, who hasn't made a long crochet chain when they were seven, right. So I did. I learned how to crochet -a little, just enough to make this cap. The first attempts were pretty ugly as I didn't have a clue what I was doing. First, I thought it was suppo...

Pattern:  Koolhaas Designer:  Jared Flood Materials: Knit Picks  Wool of the Andes (worsted) Amount: (1) 50g ball  'Lake Ice' Heathered plus a tiny bit more Needles: US5 Options Zephyr Acrylics 24" circulars and US7 16" Addi Turbo circulars Cost: $2.19/ball approx. $4.40 Size: Knit per instructions (4 pattern repeats) except with one size smaller needles and lighter weight yarn.  Finished size fit a 2 year old average head Start Date: Oct. 29, 2009 Finish Date: Nov. 7, 2009 I really wanted to knit a little winter cap for my little boy.  He's out of hats that fit and the one new one I bought for him through the Land's End catalog was too big and immediately snatched up by monkey pants .  I thought Jared's Koolhaas pattern would be perfect.  I thoughtfully looked for a color that would go with his navy winter jacket as well as other outerwear.  I wanted to stay neutral, so he could wear whatever colo...

Pattern: Reversible Fingerless Gloves Designer: Cotton & Cloud Materials: Knit Picks Merino Style Amount: (1) 50g ball 'Nutmeg', (1) 'Fedora' (dark brown) and assorted colors Needles: US6 bamboo DPNS Cost: $2.79/ball approx. $5.60 plus assorted colors for stripes Size: small Start Date: Oct. 21, 2009 Finish Date: Nov. 4, 2009 I would have been done much sooner, but started on the Koolhaas pattern when I had the second mitt completely knit minus the thumb and grafting. I was too excited to get started and I really should have finished the mitts first. This was a fun project. You knit up two mitts that are stuck together at the wrist and then turn one in so they are double sided and there are no seams. The pattern has an adorable flower embroidered on the solid side. Mine has nothing because these are going to be for a guy. I intend to make an accompanying girl's pair with the flower. The crochet cast on was a new technique fo...

With so many planned knitting projects, I finally had a justification to get this circular knitting needle set. I also finally set up an account on Ravelry ( LolaT ). What an organizational treat. I don't know why I've never gone on there before. It's going to take me a while to set up all my projects and things but I had no idea there were so many photos of finished projects. If you're new to knitting or just didn't know about this site, it's great. We are coming out of a bout with the flu, the infamous H1N1, but I plan to start posting some knitting soon.

[pattern photo from oliver + s] Because I really enjoyed the Jump Rope dress pattern from oliver + s, I decided to get another one, the Sailboat Top, Skirt & Pants pattern to complete an outfit I got at Gymboree for monkey pants . As monkey pants gets older, I'm not drawn to Gymboree's matchy-matchy lines as much but I couldn't resist this adorable panda top and black short sleeve cardigan. I was shopping with coupons so that was all I was going to get. The pants didn't appeal to me that much anyway. There was a cute black denim mini skirt but it also had a panda face on it and I thought that would be a bit much. [I have to admit, the panda looks a little scary in these pictures. My camera was spazzing out with all the white and black contrast and the white is overexposed and in your face.] Looking in monkey pants's closet, I realized she has nothing that is red or black so I figured I could make a couple of cute little skirts to go with the outfit. I picked...