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...