Another birthday, another fish hat.....and a slipper

So these fish hats have become quite popular with my youngest son's friends. Makes birthday gifts easy (time intensive, but easy and because I knit them from odd skeins of yarn they are relatively cheap gifts). Now when I'm at the school his friends tell me when their birthdays are and what their favorite colors are. I should probably write down this information, but really I could more than likely just knit up several in whatever color combination entertains me and the kids wouldn't care. It was fun going on a field trip with his class and seeing my hats on several of the children. (well, several being three...counting my son).

My daughter has been hounding me for some slippers. She admires the ones she sees up town. You know, the big fluffy ones that make you think of the 1960's and the moccasin style that was so popular in the 70's. She likes the socks with the non-skiddy stuff on the bottoms of them. She doesn't discriminate....she wants any sort of slipper, any sort at all. So we were perusing Ravelry and we came across this pattern perfect. Lord knows I have enough yarn laying around and it's a quick knit. She all but stood over me waiting for them to come off the needle, then just about sat in my lap helping me to sew them together.


A friend of mine has gifted me with yarn. In some of the yarn I was gifted was some fluffy lace weight stuff that just said "knitted flowers" to me. I'm sure that to other people it would say "Shawl" or "lacy something", but really what I heard was "you'll have a nervous break down because this stuff grabs itself and knots like crazy" But I have a skein of it and I'd pull it out every now and again and pet it and think of how pretty it would be knitted up into something that wouldn't make your eye twitch. Perhaps something small, the yarn is pink it's got a nice halo action going for it.....I know!! A knitted rose!! Small, quick, a nice easy peasy way to discover that a big project with this yarn might drive your family crazy. Actually the rose was a quick easy knit, the yarn is not easy to work with, but not too too bad for this project. I'm actually thinking of making several more and donating them to our school's senior luncheon in November.

So, just to keep tabs on what I have knit (and finished) so far in 2011 (yes, I realize that we're only 2 weeks into the new year but the fish hats birthday recipients birthdays were Jan 9 and 15. Kinda made my year start out looking all ambitious like!) 2 dead fish hats, one pair of slippers and one brooch. (I finished a cowl for girl child that I started back in November, but other projects needed to be finished first, but it is still on the drying table)

Can we sit by the fire and knit

Husband left for a business trip this morning. So we were up just before 5 so that I could drive him on the snowy icy roads to meet his ride to the airport. The thermometer at the bank said it was 2 degrees. At home it tells me that it is 3 with a wind chill factor of 17 below. The thermometer in the house swears that it is 67, but my feet are so cold I'm sure they'd beg to differ. School has been canceled and it feels like a good day to hover around the pellet stove and knit. Of course I still have to take the trash out to the curb and I just noted that no one told me that we were low on dog food. I find myself looking into the bin and wondering if we have enough to last until Wednesday when I go into town again.

I'm nearly finished with another fish hat. This one if for a boy who is red/green deficient. Yes I have some rust in there, but I'm knitting from my stash and I'm not exactly sure of what he can see color-wise. I know that he'll enjoy the hat, regardless of the colors.

So my second project of this year is nearly finished.

knitting in the new year

So my new years resolution, such that it was, was to keep track of my knitting this year. I know people who catalog all of their knitting projects, the needles, the yarn, the gauge, etc. I knit whatever I fancy and when it comes off the needles often it goes to whoever it is knit for with nary a picture or thought about it. After forty odd years of knitting I have no clue as to how many things I've knitted. At the end of the year two friends mentioned that their sons birthdays were coming up and how the boys love my sons fish hat. So I begin my year with the fish hats.....just as I ended the year with the fish hat. As I type this I have several skeins of yarn sitting next to me because my second project for 2011 will also be a fish hat (done in blues this time). Then perhaps I'll break the fish hat streak and knit socks, or a sweater or.........