More hats?

 

I have made yet another hat, and yes, this one is also a gift.  I feel like a hat machine!

This is a super easy close fitting cap made from some nice Berrocco Ultra Alpaca (color 6277-peat mix).  The Ultra Alpaca is put up in 215 yard hanks and I used about a half a skein.  The pattern is a good one, it’s Ribbed Beanie by Wooly Wormhead.  Easy and adaptable to any yarn or head size, which works for me.

Also, these should be the last of the awful camera phone pics, I should be home tonight and, fingers-crossed, a replacement camera has arrived.

Hope you’re having a good Saturday!

 

Sister Birthday Alert!

Iggy wanted to make sure we celebrate Claudia’s birthday today!  He’s good like that.

I’ve got the best sister in the world,  so go wish Claudia a happy and wonderful day!  Thanks!

Claudia and I will be celebrating together and there may be shopping and good food.  Nice.

iggy says hi, originally uploaded by redsilvia.

 

Thanksgiving

My day of baking is over and I’m enjoying my zinfandel.  What did I make?  Apple pie, pumpkin cheesecake and pecan praline morsels.  I’m thankful that’s over.  But now I want to eat everthing I made…steady on.

What am I thankful for?

A holdiay off from work; a job that I like.

People I love; people who love me.

Friends made through this blog; friends.

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Kool choco hat

The  other day I got a hot burning hair up my a*s to make a quick gift.  I’ve liked the Koolhaas Hat pattern and had two skeins of Karabella Aurora 8 (LOVE it) in a chocolate brown in the stash.  I swatched with my morning coffee and a hat was born.  Granted, I had to go to work (after 20 days off – yikes) and took the project with me and got about 7 rows done in 4 days because I was on the TRIP FROM HELL.  (Oh holidays, how you suck.)

No worries, the trip ended and the hat is done today.  The hat is lovely and I don’t want to give it away, but you already knew I was a bad ‘un.  No mods to Jared’s pattern, not really – just different yarn, gauge and needle size.  My row gauge was off so I converted all “repeat chart 5x” to lengths based upon the pattern’s gauge.  Therefore, I knit until the hat was 6.625″ long and then decreased.  It fits my human head, so I think the math worked out ok.

Tomorrow is baking day so all pictures will be of cake/pie.  They will be bad pictures as my trusty, faithful orange tiny camera has died.  I’m sad because orange camera has been all over the world with me, but we had a good run.  RIP orange friend.

 

Should I leave the house?

I finished a dress that took way longer than it should have and I now need to decide whether I can leave the house in it.  See, it’s about 3″ shorter than I thought it would be after not measuring or reading the finished dimensions.  I know!  With that kind of attention to detail it should have come out perfect.

Also know, that I may just wear it proudly in some unsuspecting location even if y’all email me in horror begging me to burn this.  See I kinda like it, but the short thing is bugging.  I’m mitigating the shortness by wearing THICK leggings (not tights, mind) and low boots.  Nothing slutty about a mumu and leggings, right?

So is it MILF or sad?

Pattern is McCalls 5925 if you’d like to see what it actually looks like.  Boots are years old kids size from Target.  Right?

 

Paris pix

My Paris pictures are few and of dubious quality, but if you’re in the mood to procrastinate, I hope you enjoy!

 

More yarn?!

I’m back from Paris and it was great!  Well of course it was, it’s Paris – it’s always a good time.  Too bad my pictures suck, you’ll have to take my word for it.

The food was yummy, the art was amazing/overwhelming and the dollar is in the crapper against the euro.  I’d do it all over again right now if my jetlag weren’t giving me the bedtime of a three year old.

My souvenier to myself was some Phildar Givre (colorway anthracite) to make this crazy cardigan from the Autumn magazine.  I’ll have to scan in the crazy schematic so you can see how bizarre the construction is.  Imagine a rectangle with triangles jutting out at the sides and top.

Ok, the dinnertime news is on so it must be bedtime!

 

Winter break*

Proof that I’ve left the house on my vacation, Tuileries Garden with lots of jetlag.  The Vionnet exhibit got me motivated to come to Paris and that was the first stop.  Two floors of dresses and only about two that I’d seen before in New York.  Freaking amazing, if that sort of thing floats your boat.  I shall certainly go back to see it again before I leave this weekend.  So good!

No knitting so far, and that probably won’t change.  I do plan on going to the Phildar store on Rue du Rivoli because you never know what you may find.

*I know it’s autumn but you see I’m wearing a coat, so that’s winter enough for me.

 

Unearthing a project

I am on vacation.  Twenty days off thanks for asking.  Time to knit (and sew)!

I unearthed my Phildar Cable Cross sweater and have made significant progress.  I’ve finished the back and one of the side front pieces.  Turns out just doing it works so much better than ignoring it in the knitting bag.

Because these plain old stockinette pieces are pretty dull to behold I shall exploit the cuteness of fake niece Zoe and you may now behold her cuteness here.  I believe she was the cutest girl in California that Halloween night.  (P.S. her hair is not usually green…)

Back to lounging.

 

Halloweenie!

Every year when Halloween rolls around I think this may be the year that fake niece Zoe will be too old and mature for me to make her a costume.  I really did think I’d passed my time of use for her costume aspirations, I mean she’s in her last year of grammer school!

So when I received a fab note with sketch enclosed, I knew my calculations had been a bit off.  I love making her costumes, so I was thrilled to be living on borrowed time.  This year my sketch was for a “Mother Nature” dress.  She wanted a white dress, green bodice and a leafy vine motif.  Check.

I used Simplicity 4255 as a starting point, made a few mods and lengthened the skirt to ankle length.  The material is white cotton, the “branches” are brown leaf print calico and the leaves are felt.  Freeform cutting of shapes and quick applique and costume came together.  I added a few falling leaves by sewing felt leaves onto grosgrain ribbon so they’ll move and stream out when she runs.

I think it’s stinking cute and she’s going to take in quite a haul of candy.  I’ll try and get the full costume wearing shot – I hear green hair and leafy flipflops are planned.  Love that Halloween!