I was very pleasantly surprised at the nice buttons I found at JoAnn Fabrics.  They have a really nice new selection of modern buttons that worked great with the hats.  They are now winging their way East.  I would definitely make this pattern again.

Specs on these -

Knitpicks - Shine worsted in Grass and Crocus.  I made the green one a bit longer.

Needle size 5 for me - I always need to go down two needle sizes with cotton.

Pattern is a freebie found on Ravelry - Pi Topper Chemo Cap.

Well I have to give Knit Picks props… the yarn color matches exactly.  I can’t see a variation at all.  Yeah!

The two hats are done except for a nice button on the side, which I hope to pick up Friday or Saturday and will get a final pick up then before they get posted.  I hope she likes them.  I made the green a bit longer than the purple.  The purple is made right to the pattern specs, but I thought maybe one a bit longer would be nice.  I had a try on before washing and they both look nice.

Well, I have two hats half done.  Don’t worry I ordered more yarn on Monday, so it should be here soon.

We’re doing annual vet visits for the kitties right now.  Poor Shadow went in for his shots and had to stay the day.  Poor guy had what looked like a bad tooth.  Well it was acutally four bad teeth.  Poor guy.  He is however right as rain now.

At least it actually fits.

I get down to probably 6 more garter stitch rows and have run completely out of yarn.

I’m thinking two options.  Order one more ball or rip it back and knit a nice contrasting band.  I’m taking suggestions please, but I’m thinking about just ordering one more ball.  It won’t be the same dyelot, but I’ve had good success with Knitpicks in this area.  I ran out of yarn at the neck-band on a sweater for DH and it matched perfectly.  In the meantime I have two full balls of another color so that I can knit another one.  What do you all think?

Also - I checked Ravelry and only one person has this particular dyelot and since their knitting a big sweater with it and have been working on it recently, I’m thinking they don’t want to give up their stash.

I’m totally going to get through this - at least the fit is right and that was the big battle.

Since the beginning of my knittting career, it seems that hats have always thrown me for a loop.

This was going to be a hat for a friends mom, but it got sent to the frog pond.  It’s ok though because I found out her favorite colors and now will re-knit on smaller needles in those colors.  I seem to have quite the stash of cotton.

The combination of knitting cotton in the round seriously throws my gauge off.  Obviously it could fit the Jolly Green Giant. 

We are being drenched and drenched with rain right now and even though I shot this at dusk, it never really did get lighter all day.

However I don’t mind because rainy days and knitting go hand and hand.  During the bus rides I nearly lost a dpn and realized that it may be a bit too bumpy for me to be knitting with them.  With that said, I decided a nice scarf project was in order and I have been dying to cast this chevron scarf on from Last Minute Knitted Gifts for a while, so why not get it going?

The yarn is lightweight Socks that Rock - Farmhouse and Watermelon Tourmaline.

Also - did a update on Wordpress - so if things are wonky let me know - and I have a new theme so you may need to hit refresh a couple of times to clear out your cache.

Emma (aka Emmy Lou, Em’s, The Divine Miss EM) does not get enough blog time by far.  She is one of the most delightful kitties ever and came to our family with her brother Jack.  I saw her first and we decided to take her brother too, which in that moment, although we didn’t know at the time was genius.

Emma and Jack both stayed in the nursery, which was my office, while introductions were made.  In that time she would hide behind my filing cabinet.  She would run out to eat, play, and use the box when her brother did. She seemed to always be in his shadow.  She hated to be held - still does not care for it.  She will entice you to pat her though and seems to like a good pat each and every day now.

As time went by she became more secure and when we made a cross country move several years ago, on a lark we put her in with another skittish kitten.  Sunshine was a cryer and shook with fear.  After a few moments Emma had her calmed down and we found them cuddled up with Emma having her paw around Sunshine’s shoulders.  The rest of the trip went much better and now if they have to go they are riding buddies.

On the knitting front here is my Red Scarf and three garter scarves I knitted for charity.

Sometimes I just really love the simplicity of garter stitch.  I’m a huge fan of EZ and I think some of the most beautiful garments of hers are out of garter stitch.  I think I have at least an arms length worth of just garter stitch EZ items I want to make.

This year my knitting group is knitting for men at a homeless sheler.

I pulled out three balls from my stash when I made the Einstein coat (another garter stitch production) and just grabbed some big needles and casted on.  Before I knew it two were done and then I switched to the Red Scarf Project.

My friend Bev gave me this yarn and I’m just hoping this is random color design is cool enough for a young person.  We’ll see when I get it done.

So I picked out the beads today for Magic Carpet Ride. I knew 1400 beads sounded like a lot, but here they are more or less. There should be around 1600 here, but hey - 1400, 1600 - who’s counting really.

 

I love these beads and this yarn. I can’t wait to get to work on this scarf. Back to my needles first to finish up a few other projects.

I realize I must like this whole Moroccan theme and color. I just finished a fabulous mystery set in Morocco. This is a great series by the way. The heroin is like the female Indiana Jones. I can’t wait for her next installment.

Oh and today is nice clean doggie day.  Max wouldn’t sit still for a picture, but Sophie is such a good girl about it.  She looks pretty in pink.  Don’t you think?

This past weekend, I also had a chance to whip up a Urchin. This is a great pattern and a fun knit. I really love how it knitted up. I had a hard time getting gauge. I went up a size to large as I wanted it to be large and cushy on, plus I went up a needle size to an 11US on the pattern, but still was knitting less than gauge and it seemed to work out. I kept thinking it wouldn’t be deep enough but it is.

DH suggested the pom pom on back.

I would definitely knit this one again. This was made out of the singles handspun that I dyed the color blue and my verdict is singles for knitting are here to stay. Yeah! I think mine were a little more energized than would be called for, especially called for the shawl, so I will have to work on that, but really I loved the singles.

I seem to be on an EZ or what I would call functional knitting kick. I keep thinking these singles would be so useful for a EZ Bog jacket or an Adult Totem - anything in garter really. I could whip things up a little faster for gifts - total time for this project and I swatched to death was only about 3 hours including the spinning and dyeing portion. I don’t know about all of you, but I’m going to have to start my gift knitting for the holidays. I know sickening, but everyone wants everything handspun.