Thursday, February 26, 2009

Success!!!!



I finished the hat!!!! I'm really happy with the 2nd try at it too. And though it looks really cute on my daughter Keelei (it does, doesn't it?) - I'm keeping it for myself;) I wore it all yesterday and got tons of compliments on it. Even several strangers came up to tell me what a cute hat it is. Anyways, like I said in a previous post - I did this up for part of a group I belong to on Ravelry, and I promised to post the finished pattern for all who wanted a cute ribbon hat of their own, so here goes:

A Perfect Holiday Ribbon Hat

Yarn: Karabella Aurora 8 (or another similar yarn)

Needles: Size 8

Cast on 99 stitches using the backward loop cast-on (or your favorite stretchy cast on)

Rows 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12: Work in a K2, P1 rib pattern placing a marker and joining in the round on the first row.

Rows 3 & 10: *K2, P1, y/o, K2tog, P1* repeat from star 15 more times, end in a K2, P1. (this will give you a wider space where the beginning and end of the round join - this is where you will have the "tie" in your bow on the completed hat)

Row 13: Purl Across to marker

Row 14: Knit around, continue in this manner until piece measures 5".

Now we start to decrease:

Row 1 *K9, K2tog* repeat until marker

Row 2 Knit around

Row 3 *K8, K2tog* repeat until marker

Row4 Knit around

Row 5 *K7, K2tog* repeat until marker

Row 6 Knit around

Row 7 *K6, K2tog* repeat until marker

Row 8 Knit around

Row 9 *K5, K2tog* repeat until marker

Row 10 Knit around

Row 11 *K4, K2tog* repeat until marker

Row 12 Knit around

Row 13 *K3, K2tog* repeat until marker

Row 14 Knit around

Row 15 *K2, K2tog* repeat until marker

Row 16 Knit around

Row 17 *K1, K2tog* repeat until marker

Row 18 *K2tog* repeat until marker

9 stitches remain, cut yarn leaving about 8" and weave thru remaining stitches pulling tight. Tie off and weave in all ends.

You will be left with holes towards the upper and lower ridges of the ribbing, take a nice soft flexible ribbon and starting at the widest point (near where your marker was on the ribbing you should have 2 rows of knit and 3 rows of purl between holes vs. the 1 row of knit between them around the rest of the hat - hope that makes sense). Weave your ribbon in and out of these holes making an "X" pattern in and out. When you get to the final hole, before tying off, try the hat on and adjust the ribbon as needed so that it will comfortably fit your head. I tyed mine while on my head and haven't had to readjust since.

Hope you enjoy this pattern - it is the first that I've ever written to share, so if you come across any errors in it or have any questions, please let me know.

Thanks so much!!!

Sunday, February 22, 2009

and inspiration hits..........


so, I belong to a group on Ravelry called "as seen in movies". Its a great group that is inspired by the knitwears in the many movies it is often highlighted in. Some just post about great knits from the movies, some try to find patterns that are similar to something they've seen, and some create their own versions of them. Well, someone posted this past week they saw in the movie "A Perfect Holiday". I instantly loved the hat!!! I'm no designer by any means, but the hat was a simple enough thing that I figured I could work something out like it. You can see a clip on YouTube of the hat here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9bqJJXgjMU&eurl=http://www.ravelry.com/discuss/as-seen-in-the-movies/533392/1-25

Anyways, so my first attempt, I had a couple of issues with. I started to run out of yarn, this was supposed to be all cream colored, but I had black in the same type of yarn, so I improvised and gave it some stripes towards the top. Then, the ribbon that I had bought was WAY too stiff to go thru it and look good (or feel good on the head), so I raided one of my many, MANY craft drawers for something that would not be so dense - insert pink ribbon instead of black decorative ribbon. Well, I also knit the hat too long (maybe I wouldn't have run out of cream if I hadn't, eh?), and I don't think the space between the rows of y/o's is wide enough to show the criss-crossing of the ribbon well. Sooooooo - I'm off to try again. Hoping that test run #2 I will be much happier with. I just raided my stash and found a yarn that I like, and have 3 skeins of, so I won't have to worry about running out at least this time! We'll see how it goes..........

Thursday, February 12, 2009


Well - I've been working on a baby sweater for a friend who just had a baby - was so excited about it, finished it and LOVE the way it turned out! Well, love everything except that its too small for the baby its for {{{{{{sigh}}}}}}} Oh-well, next sweet little thing thats born I'll have a gift all ready to go, right?!

This is pattern is the Wee One Welcome Set pattern by Chris de Longpre, you can find the link for her pattern at http://www.knittingatknoon.com/ . Though I think it looks WAY cooler in the Zwerger Garn Opal yarn that does the self striping effect than what she shows it pictured in - just my opinion.
I'm trying to finish up a swap gift tonight - and then I'll have to do something else for the baby this was for, and I've got another baby gift to make as well (do I try to make this pattern again bigger????). Then it will be back to working on my UFO's again. Though I think I've made really good progress - I believe I only have 6 (almost down to 5) left. The couple of groups I joined on Ravelry have *really* made a difference with getting thru those 'ol projects. Gotta love Ravelry!!!

Sunday, February 8, 2009

What a week!!!


So, this last week consisted of trying to get things together for my daughters birthday on Thursday - I can't believe she is 15!!!! Where in the world did the time go? So we celebrated her birthday at my mom's house on Thursday with her wishes fulfilled - Stuffed Peppers for dinner and an Angel Food Cake with Whipped Cream for dessert. She has gotten so much grief for that - what a weird kid! But she doesn't even care that all her friends and much of her family think she's so weird - she was glad to have what she wanted.

Then we jumped into the weekend - driving Keelei over to Farmington Hills for a Spirituality Conference at the Universalist Unitarian Church there. She was the only one of the youth from our church who wanted to go to a more serious CON, so we had to do the transporting to get her there and back. We all drove over there on Friday and the boys were sooooo good for us. The watched old Superman Movies in the backseat and Keelei just rocked out on her ipod. Mike and I had some really nice conversations. I was so glad that we all ended up going as I had had a fairly emotional week for whatever reason. After we dropped Keelei off we took the boys out for dinner and we had a great dinner together. They were goofy and silly and several people stopped to tell us how beautiful they are. Then we started the trek home......got home late and put the boys to bed.

Liam was restless and feverish all night Friday night and then Gavin woke up on Saturday with a fever too. So thats pretty much been the weekend, taking care of sick boys. Liam is still pretty active, but Gavin is a little limp noodle on the couch. He still has a fever, so I probably won't get my usual Monday on my own here.....probably will keep Liam home from daycare if Gavin isn't going to school too. We'll see. The tough part will be that with them home I can't get as much done as needed to get ready for Keelei's Birthday Party with friends on Friday. She's having a Friday the 13th themed party:) So trying to get some fun stuff together around that theme. She's invited 4 girls and 3 boys, so we'll see what we end up with here on Friday.

Ohhhh! I almost forgot - the highlight of my week! I am in a couple of different swaps on Ravelry right now and earlier this week I got my package from the Color Swap I am in! It is sooooo awesome. My partner, figmentkim on Ravelry, sent me an awesome bunch of green goodies, 2 scarves, a shawl, 7 skeins of Crystal Palace Ribbon Yarn & 2 skeins of Crystal Palace Fizz, a beautiful wooden bookmark with a quote from Socrates that says "Wisdom begins in Wonder.", a journal, a gorgeous green bag, a package of frog magnets, a project bin that she made recycling a container and covered it with fabric. It was awesome. The best part though was the beautiful and touching letter she sent to me. It was a detailed little "diary" of her putting together the package. She did such an awesome job of researching thru my posts and my projects and I just want to send out some huge cyberhugs to Kim to thank her for all the lovely goodies she sent my way. I've posted a pic of my lovely Color Swap Swag above - thanks again Kim!!!!

Sunday, February 1, 2009

So tired of Winter........

I've been nothing but sick - bronchitus, reactive asthma, pneumonia - and now the stomach flu! I can't seem to get a break this year! Ready for spring to move in and the ability to let some fresh air in.
On the bright side - I've done nothing but sleep and knit all day. Gotta love that, right?!
I'm hoping to finish these fingerless mitts tonight. I'm really excited, I went to the yarn store yesterday and I picked up the yarn to make my daughters Birthday gift - the Bella Mittens! You can check the pattern out here:
http://subliminalrabbit.blogspot.com/2008/12/bellas-mittens-updated-pattern.html
They are so awesome and I have had them in my Ravelry queue for a month and a half.......and I'm so ready to start up on them:) I think I should be able to get thru them relatively quick - which is good because I have two things to make for new babies too. I always seem to have so many things that I want to get going, if only there were more hours in the day.
Well - off to finish up those fingerless mitts...........