Ooo Baby Knits:

I'm having blog withdrawal symptoms. I can't wait to show what I've been working on, but alas, I can't get a new camera for a few days. So for now, I'll share my old hat pattern. My goal is to make 50 for our homeless shelter by November (did I tell you that?). So far I've knit 7. Got to get busy, busy, busy!

Picture coming soon- the trusty ol' puter has decided the old one is no longer readable.

Basic Hat

Sizes: baby (child, adult)

Materials: worsted yarn, #8 16” circular needle, yarn needle

Directions:
Cast on 60 (70, 80) stitches (use smaller needle if desired- sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t). Work in k1p1 rib for 4 (5, 6) inches.

Work in St st for 2 (2 ½, 3) inches.

Begin decreases:
R 1: K2 tog, k8 around.
R 2: Knit.
R 3: K2 tog, k7 around.
R 4: Knit.
Continue decreases in above manner until K2 tog around. Cut yarn, pull though live loops twice. Weave in ends.

To make a beanie style cap, rib a few rows and knit in St st until 4 (5, 6) inches from beginning, then begin decreases. To make a roll brimmed hat, skip the rib and just knit. Play with colors and patterns, put pom-poms on top, make a fur cuff, whatever. Just try not to make any two the same. :)

Click here for more hat patterns. It's my old site (too slow and not enough room). There are a couple of bulky hat patterns under Nov. 2003 and another under Daily Log. You can also see my nephew's Worm Hat using the above pattern.

More new projects! I knit a sock yesterday and started a Rambling Rows Afghan. It's a 5 color afghan, but I just threw all my acrylic worsted-weight leftovers into a trash bag and I'm pulling it out at random.

Oh, and I started a striped dishcloth baby blanket for car knitting. We drove to Eden, about 30 minutes away, to eat at our favorite pizzeria- Kings Inn Pizza. As always, we plugged all our quarters in the jukebox. After we scarfed our pizza, DD#1 was jamming on her air guitar to the Eagles, DH was singing, and of course I was knitting. DD#2, claimed we were an embarrassment and entreated us to "act normal". When she realized we weren't, she stood up and declared, "Y’all are embarrassing. I'm going to the car to color!" And she did. We laughed.

Warning! Venting ahead!

It’s been one of those days- you know the ones I’m talking about. One of those the alarm doesn’t go off, you wake up with a headache for no reason, nothing but bills in the mail, your dog digs up your incredible bed of 4’ zinnias to bury a bone, your digital camera that the warranty just expired on won’t work, and the computer freezes after an hour of writing (doesn’t it know it’s summer?) and not saving this blog days. At least I have my knitting.

And speaking of knitting… I did take a picture of my sister’s purse knit with the Kool-Aid dyed yarn before DD#2 took the camera with her to camp last week without my permission and returned it late Friday night not working unbeknownst to me before leaving at 4:00 Saturday morning to go to Canada on a mission trip. (She better be glad she's out of the country.)

My sister has put in an order for another purse in navy, white and black cherry. I don’t need the Magic 8 Ball to know that I see more dying in my future. No, not my daughter- yarn. I'll forgive her by the time she gets home. Just wait till she sees her chore list. (Do I sound hostile?)

I also finished the yellow cotton purse- just need to line it, a bunch of dishcloths for a gift, several hats, baby hat and bootie sets, and a vest for my nephew. And I started 3 sweaters and a scarf.

Two of the sweaters are based on EZ’s Tomten pattern. One me-sized in pink and purple bulky wool in a slip-stitch pattern. The design is from Slip-Stitch Knitting by Roxana Bartlett. Of course, as soon as I got the book I had to try it out.

The other Tomten is preemie sized in stockinette with a cable and seed stitch border. Just need to knit the sleeves. I love patterns you can play with.

The third sweater I started from necessity- really. I needed something mindless to knit while movie watching. (If you haven’t seen The Usual Suspects, it’s a good one.) I’ve been itchin’ to use the GGN Boboli I bought super cheep from Knit Picks a while back. I’m using the Meringue Yolk Cardigan pattern on p. 68 of the winter 2003 Interweave Knits. This is really cool yarn. I'm using color 10, but in real life it's a paler, softer color.

And speaking of Interweave Knits, my fall issue came yesterday, and I want to knit them all. Also got my fall FCEK. Double luck- I was in major sensory overload. Between the two, there are 15 must haves. Hmm, that’s 3.75 sweaters a month until the winter issues come out plus the other knitting that’ll jump in my basket, no problem!

Think I’ll put on some Michael Franks and get started.