Knitting...

yeah. this is a knitting and crocheting blog... yeah... I haven't posted much stuff lately.... here is some eye candy for you...

love this hat - it's soft, it's colorful... and it matches a lot in my wardrobe - a quick crochet - really all the details are on Rav...


this is a knit/crochet project that I was really excited to be able to test for the pattern designer. The center is knit and can either be a kerchief/scarf size, or a shawl size - which is my plan - it is still in progress... I am a much slower knitter than I thought - plus if I was to start over again I would have used a much larger needle to get a much airier look in the center. It doesn't matter, though, because I love the way it is coming out. Too bad it's totally not my colors as it will now end up being a wonderful gift for a wonderful friend.

in this detail you can see the crochet border... love how this is turning out. Normally one would knit the entire body then crochet the entire border on, but since I was testing the pattern, I had a deadline and needed to just get it done, so I will now finish the ball of yarn on the center to increase the size of the shawl (and have already begun using a larger needle, so it will gradually get airier) and then I will go back and figure out how to best add on the crochet edge. Because the designer did such a great job writing it, I should have no trouble... again, this will be a gift, but it inspires me to think about the shawl I want to make for myself.... Multnomah which I will not be doing in greens, although I do love what the designer used, I have a handpainted yarn that was a gift that I think will look amazing...

covering my head...

I plan on fully adding to this at a later date, and I have much more to say on the subject, however... since Erin has chosen to sleep for at least the moment... I will be brief. I cover my hair. It is for religious reasons which I will get into more later, but really what I wanted to say here was it's difficult once you have a child. B.E. (before Erin) I could put whatever I wanted to on my head and it didn't matter. There was no one pulling at my hair, no one pulling at my hat, no one trying to stuff my face/hair/head into their mouth and so it just didn't matter. I matched my head covering to my outfit (although that is clearly not the case with the one picture on this blog so far, but seeing as our daughter had just been born and the head covering in question there was chosen knowing we were going to the hospital, with contractions 6 minutes apart, and that I needed comfortable and something that would stay on.. well, I think that can be forgiven - plus I had no idea what color the hospital gown would be...that and probably 90% of my hats are either black or gray...

Anyway, now I have a new reality. I wear what little hair that sticks out below my hats in a ponytail that gets constantly pulled, so I am actually starting to stick the hair all up into the hats... but some of my hats don't fit with a ponytail, some don't fit with the hair stuck up inside... some are, well, a little dressier than staying at home to do laundry in. SO, I have been wearing a lot of bandanas... and been thinking that once I get through my list of WIPs that I should make myself some hats. Someone's up.... this is getting posted now.

and now a little addition - the hardest thing is that when I was teaching and moving around a lot in the classroom I was always warm with the wool/heavier hats... I am thinking perhaps the new reality is to make myself some berets... I have one I made, I will photograph it and post it here soon. Perhaps little beanie types hats, both crochet and knit with different yarns running through - coordinating colors - maybe I should branch out from black and gray... stop laughing.. it's possible!