Santa Hat

Still in a very festive mood, I decided to knit up a Santa hat with some left over wool.  I'm pretty pleased with out it turned out, though if I had more yarn I might have made it a bit longer.

Santa Hat

5mm circular knitting needles, 32cm long
set of 5mm DPN's
darning needle
acrylic yarn and eyelash yarn.  I'm not sure of the quantities, I probably had 60g of red and not much of the white!

With the 5mm circular needle and one strand white held with one strand of white eyelash, CO 90 stitches.  Join in the round, taking care not to twist the stitches.  Add a stitch marker to mark end of row.

K1 round
P1 round
Repeat these two rounds until you have 8 completed rounds.

Change to red yarn.
K every round until piece measures 4" from the start.  Start decreases

K8, K2 tog, repeat until end
Knit 3 rounds

K7, K2 tog, repeat until end
Knit 3 rounds

K6, K2 tog, repeat until end
Knit 3 rounds

K5, K2 tog, repeat until end
Knit 4 rounds

K4, K2 tog, repeat until end
Knit 5 rounds

K3, K2 tog, repeat until end
K5 rounds

K2, K2 tog, repeat until end
K5 rounds

K1, K2 tog, repeat until end
K5 rounds

K2 tog, repeat until end
K5 rounds

Continue knitting 2 together until you get 1 stitch.  Break thread and run through last stitch.  Tie off.

Make a pom-pom with the white yarn and white eyelash.  Fasten to end of hat.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Gift Boxes

As usual I agonized over what to get my girls nursery teachers for Christmas.  Some people say give a teacher a small something, others say not to bother, as they are just doing their job.  Well it is a job I couldn't or wouldn't want to do, so I like to show my appreciation,  Here is what the girls (age 4) and I came up with.

First we bought 4 plain plastic food containers.  Then after a trip to Poundstretcher (like a Dollar Store) I came away with some plastic bow ornaments (.99p for two) and some gift tags (.99p for 30).  With the help of my hot glue gun I glued a ribbon ornament onto each box.

Then we made up a list of baked goods to fill the boxes with, and set about making them.

First was peppermint bark (though I think I'll change the name to peppermint rounds).  I melted a 200g bar of dark chocolate and put a heaping teaspoon into each cup in a mini-cupcake tray (silicone is a must or they won't pop out, but you can use mini cupcake papers as well).  Then we let it cool until it was hard.  You can put it in the freezer if you want.  Next I melted a 200g bar of white chocolate with a bit of canola oil (keeps it from clumping) and the girls filled the cups this time.

While I was melting chocolate Isla and Rori had a great time smashing a couple of candy canes to bits.  I recommend a ziplock and rolling pin, however it was still messy.  Then they sprinkled the crushed up candy on top of the melted white chocolate.  We let them cool until they were hard, then popped them out and viola!  Some will go into the tupperware, and the rest are going to be bundled up in plastic wrap for the other staff at the nursery. 

I know, they look messy, right?  But they pop out clean and lovely.  We also made a few in mini-cupcake papers.

After that it was time to make fudge.  Using a recipe I found online I combined 765g of chocolate.  I used 200g milk chocolate and the rest dark chocolate.  To that I added 55g butter and 14oz condensed milk.  I melted everything on the stove and then poured into an 8x8 in pan.  I sprayed the pan with oil, then I lined it with foil and sprayed the foil with oil.  Then I put it in the fridge and crossed my fingers.  I've never made fudge before......

 It tastes great! 

While we were on a roll, we made candy cane reindeer.  A couple of pipe cleaners, some beads, pom-poms, a hot glue gun, and a lot of fun!

The gift boxes are for each of my girls teachers, but I also wanted to make the rest of the staff (there are 10 in total) a little something too.  So we took three of the chocolate peppermints, and wrapped them up in cling wrap, and tied them with a ribbon.  Then we added the reindeer and a gift tag.  I think they are nice, unique, edible, and made by the girls!

The very last thing needed were cookies!  We made two different kinds, cranberry white chocolate chip, and soft ginger snaps.

 I used this recipe White-Chocolate-Macadamia-Cranberry-Dreams
minus the macadamia nuts.

 And this recipe Soft Gingernsnaps

After they were done, we were ready to get the boxes filled and delivered!

Some went on plates (for the neighbours)

Some went in the tupperware

Finished present

SQUARES!

This week is all about squares!!  I've finished all my home-made Christmas presents, but my hands cannot be idle for long.  I've throw myself back into knitting (and now crocheting) blanket squares for my favourite charity, KAS.  The squares need to be 8x8" and can be in any design or colour.  I like to mix it up, and since my Mother-in-law gave me a blanket square book for my birthday this year, I've quite a few to choose from.  If you are interested in knitting for charity, then click on the link below and look around. Or email me and I'll have a chat about it.  The blankets go to children in South Africa, often left orphaned by AIDS.  A truly worthwhile cause!

Knit A Square

First I knit this one:

It is called mollusks

Then I knit this one:

called fishing net

Then I decided I would give crocheting a try.  A while back I was given all of my Grandma's crochet hooks, and they've been languishing unused while I got my head around knitting. Now, with the help of a very useful link, I crochet my first blanket square.  Here is the site I used: 

Land's End Crochet Video

Here is picture of my first square (yes, I know it is full of errors and sort of squint, but I am proud non-the-less).

After that I used a prettier yarn and made another, which I am much more
pleased with.

Then I crocheted a few more, because it is fast and really addictive.  I would like to try a granny square next, but I can't get my head around it.  Let me know if you have any tips!

Chickpea Saag

If you like Indian food, then you should love this recipe.  I'm not even sure where the original recipe came from, I've been making it for years and years.  I think it was originally for a lamb saag, but I went ahead and made it vegetarian.  Now, I'm not vegetarian, but I do recognize that I need to eat my greens.  So, here goes:

Chickpea Saag

Ingredients

1	tbsp olive oil
1/4	tsp black pepper
1/8	tsp ground cloves
2	bay leaves
6	cardamom pods
3	cloves garlic
1	onion, chopped
1	inch fresh ginger, peeled and diced
5	tbsp plain yogurt
200	g baby spinach (I just buy a bag of the baby spinach, wash it, and throw it into the pot)
1	can chickpeas, rinsed
2	tsp ground cumin
1/2	tsp ground coriander
1/4	tsp cayenne pepper
1	tsp salt
200	g button mushrooms (1 container) cleaned and chopped
1	cup dry brown rice

Directions

Heat the oil in a large pot over medium-high heat.  When hot, put in the pepper, cloves, bay leaves, and cardamom pods (I actually put the pods in a tea ball, so I don't have to pick them out later).  Now put in the onions, garlic and ginger.  Stir and cook until the onions are soft.  Now add the ground cumin, ground coriander, cayenne pepper, mushrooms chickpeas, and 1/2 tsp salt.  Stir and cook for about a minute.  Add the yogurt, stir to combine.  Add the spinach and remaining 1/2 tsp salt.  I use a fairly big pot and usually have to add the spinach in two batches.  I wilt the first 1/2, then add the rest and wilt that down too.  Cover tightly and simmer on low heat until ready to eat.  Remove bay leaves and cardamom pods and serve over rice.

Pixie Hat

Apparently I just love hats!  This one was fast and easy and I love the flower decoration.  I'm not sure whose pattern this originally was, it isn't mine, though I wish I could take credit for it. I bought a CD on EBay of knitting patterns, and it turned out it was just a bunch of patterns someone had scanned.  Not sure of the legality of it all, but since it is already out there I'm going to share it.  This one I've named the Pixie Hat.

Pixie hat

I'm really not sure on the size, I'm thinking 6-9 months.  It should fit a baby with head about 15" around.

With a 4mm needle cast on 65 stitches in color A.  Work in garter stitch for 6 rows.  Cut thread

With a 5mm needle and color B knit in stockinette stitch until hat measures 11 cm, ending with a WS row.

Shape top:
(K6, K2tog) 8 times, K1 (57 stitches)
(K5, K2tog) 8 times, K1 (49)
(K4, K2tog) 8 times, K1 (41)
(K3, K2tog) 8 times, K1 (33)
(K2, K2tog) 8 times, K1, (25)
(K1, K2tog) 8 times, KI (17)
(K2tog) 8 times, K1 (9)
work 1 row

Cut yarn and thread through remaining 9 stitches.  Pull tight and sew up back.

Flowers

Cast on 57 sts on 4mm needles and yarn A.
Row 1: purl
Break yarn and join in yarn C (a third color, or whatever you would like.  I just used the two colours I had used in the hat)
Row 2: K2 *K1 and slip this st back onto left needle, lift the next 8 sts on left needle over this stitch and off needle, (yfwd) twice, K first stitch again, K2, rep from * to end.
Row 3: K1 *P2tog, (K1, K1 tbl) into double (yfwd) of previous row, P1, rep from * to last stitch, K1
Row 4: knit
Break yarn and thread through remaining stitches.  Pull of tight and fasten off securely.  Join row end and edges.

Make another flower using yarn A throughout.  Lay this on top of other flower and attach centre of both flowers to hat as in photograph.

Chai Tea

I love, I mean really LOVE Chai tea.  I found a tasty Chai tea mix at Tesco, but with the terrible weather I haven't been able to make it back there to buy more.  None of my local shops carry it, which only compounds my sadness.  Then today it occurred to me to try to make it myself.  I'll admit, sometimes I'm a little slow in that regard.  I found a recipe for the crock pot, and since things couldn't get much easier I gave it a go.  Let me just say, it is divine!  I'll post the recipe as I made it, and link to the original one.

Chai Tea Slow Cooker Style

7 cups water
1/2 tbsp ground ginger (or slice up some fresh, keep the cold at bay)
5 green cardomon pods, split open
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
2 black peppercorns
couple of dashes white pepper (this added a nice kick)
couple of dashes of nutmeg
4 black tea bags (I used decaf)
1/3 cup sugar
1 to 1 1/2 cup milk

1)  Add water and spices to the slow cooker/crockpot.  Cook for 8 hours.
2)  Add the tea bags and the sugar, steep for 5 minutes.  Remove tea bags and then strain liquid through a sieve.  Add milk.  Enjoy!  Store in the fridge, I use an old milk jug.  It is also very nice cold over ice.

I know, it looks like a regular cup of tea.....but it is so much more!

Ryan's Hat

I'm still plugging away, making Christmas presents for the family.  I am glad to say the end is in sight.  I wanted to post the hat I just finished for my nephew, who turned 15 a few days ago.  He loves all thing Scottish, so I went with that for the hat.  Really it was a basic hat, and was only delayed in that I didn't have enough wool and had to wait for more to be delivered.

Ryan's Hat

Materials:
5mm circular needles (33cm long I believe), a set of 4, 5mm DPN's
The wool I used is Jarol Heritage DK.  It is 55% wool, 25% acrylic and 20% nylon. I used a double strand so the tension would be right, and to make it that much warmer.  Speaking of tension, I didn't do one I just started knitting and it worked out ok.  I'll do a tension square and add it later on.

Directions:
On the 5mm circular needle cast on 92. Add a row marker.

1) K2, P2, repeat these 4 stitches until the end of the row.  Then work the 2x2 rib for as many rows as you like.  I didn't keep track, just stopped when it looked right to me,  about 1.5".

2) Knit until measures 17cm (5.5in).  Knitting in the round will produce a stockinette stitch.  If you wanted a garter stitch then K 1 row, and P the next.  I like the look of stockinette for a hat.

For decrease:
1) K1 K2tog, repeat until end.

2) Knit one row.

Repeat these two rows until there are only a few stitches left, say around 10 or 12.  At some point you are going to have to switch to a set of 5mm DPN's.  Just do it whenever is comfortable to you.

Cut wool leaving a tail, and thread through the stitches.  Draw tight, turn inside out and weave end it.  Viola!

Decoration:
For the Scotland badge I turned to my ever trusty Ebay.  I was able to get this Scotland badge for only a few pounds, and it seemed teenage boyish to me.  I sewed it onto the hat with clear thread.  I like the idea of a badge so much I think I might try others with different decals.

Eyelet Baby Hats

I made my first Etsy sale!!  The customer is a really lovely woman that wanted to buy two baby hats for her the upcoming arrival of two baby boy grandchildren!  They aren't twins either--both her daughter and her daughter-in-law are pregnant.  The hat I had for sale she loved, but wanted it in a blue or green colour.  Here is what I came up with:

I think they are gorgeous colours, and not just because I made them!  Here is the pattern if you are interested in making on yourself.

Gauge:

20 sts=4" over pat st with smaller needles

Materials:

Size 6 US (4.25 mm) needles

Size 8 US (5 mm) needles

Worsted weight yarn

Instructions:

CO 73 sts with smaller needles.

Rows 1-3: knit

Row 4: k2, *yo, k3, sl1, k2tog, psso, k3, yo, k1; rep from *, end k2 instead of k1

Row 5 purl

Row 6: k2, *k1, yo, k2, sl1, k2tog, psso, k2, yo, k2; rep from *, end k3 instead of k2

Row 7 purl

Row 8: k2, *k2, yo, k1, sl1, k2tog, psso, k1, yo, k3; rep from *, end k4 instead of k3

Row 9 purl

Row 10: k2, *k3, yo, sl1, k2tog, psso, yo, k4; rep from *, end k5 instead of k4

Row 11 purl

Change to larger needles.

Repeat Rows 4-11 until work measures approximately 5½ inches.

Decrease For Crown:

Row 1: k5, *sl1, k2tog, psso, k7; rep from *, end k5 instead of k7

Rows 2 purl

Row 3: k4, *sl1, k2tog, psso, k5; rep from *, end k4 instead of k5

Row 4 purl

Row 5: *k3, sl1, k2tog, psso; rep from *

Row 6 purl

Row 7: k2, *sl1, k2tog, psso, k1; rep from *, ending with k2 instead of k1

Cut yarn, thread through remaining stitches, draw together. Sew seam.

For preemies, CO 63 sts, repeat pattern 2 times (total of 3) and then decrease.

*****psso --pass slip stitch over

*****sl-- slip one—do not knit it

Tea Cosy Pattern

I am really excited about this--I've written my first pattern!  After I made the tea cosy for my tea pot my father started going on and on about how it wasn't an original Brown Betty teapot.  My Mother came up with the brilliant idea to get him his own Brown Betty for Christmas, and I would make a tea cozy for it.  Ordering the teapot was the easy part!  The original factory (Cauldon Ceramics) is still going, and you can order from their site, however the shipping was slow.  Communication was terrible and they never returned my email asking where my teapot was, I had to eventually call to get answers!  I think the problem might be they only make them as required, but they don't tell you a thing!  Regardless, it arrived in perfect condition, and I'm really pleased.

Now to the fun part--the pattern.  I wanted something manly, since it was for my Dad, and searching the web I didn't find anything to my taste.  Since I really want to start writing my own patterns I thought this would be a great way to start.  Here goes:

Dad's Tea Cosy

This tea cosy is to fit a 4 cup teapot (which I have learned translates into 2 mugs).  I used a colour change wool for added effect.  

5mm needles

Wool used, Patons Colour Works Aran

Gauge: 7 stitches and 7 rows = 1”

CO 43 stitches

Knit 4 rows

Add 5 stitches evenly along next row (48 stitches)

2x2 rib (knit 2, purl 2) until pieces measures 6.5”

Make Eyelet holes for drawstring:

k2 p2, (yfwd, k2tog, p2, k2, p2) repeat 5 times yfwd, k2tog, p2

2x2 rib for 4 rows

Knit 4 rows

cast off

Sew the pieces together for 4 cm at the top and bottom using yarn ends still attached to the pieces.

Make a plaited cord using 6 strands of wool, each about 60cm long. Weave the cord through the eyelets, pull up and tie in a bow.

Front side with drawstring cord

Back side of cosy

Comfort Food

Right now we all have colds.  Therefore not only do I have a head full of cotton wool, I do not want to cook.  At all.  However I do want to eat comfort food, and that means a bit of cooking whether I like it or not.  Today I am feeling a bit better, so I made creamy potato leek soup with scones, and caramelized pineapple for dessert. 

Creamy Potato Leek Soup

Ingredients

• 8 potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1 pound bacon, cut into 1 inch pieces
• 3 leeks, sliced
• 1 cup heavy cream (I used milk)

Directions

1. In a large saucepan or stockpot, bring potatoes and chicken broth to a boil. Cook until potatoes are tender. Meanwhile, place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown. Drain, reserving 3 tablespoons of grease and set aside. Sautee the leeks in the frying pan with the reserved bacon grease 8 to 10 minutes.
2. When the potatoes are tender, stir in the fried leeks, heavy cream and bacon. Stir to blend and remove from heat. Serve hot. 

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Creamy-Potato-Leek-Soup-II/Detail.aspx 

The only changes I made was to whiz up the potatos and broth with my stick blender before adding the rest of the ingredients.

To go with the soup I made bacon and cheese scones.  I know, bacon overload, but that IS comfort food to me.

Cheese and Bacon Scones

Ingredients

250g self raising flour

pinch of salt

1/2 tsp garlic powder (optional)

55g butter

25g shredded cheese, I use cheddar

2 slices bacon, chopped and sautéed

150ml milk

Directions

Because I am a lazy cook, I use my Cuisinart mixer to blend everything.  First, sauté the bacon until cooked.  Then add the flour and butter to the Cuisinart and whiz that up, then add the rest of the ingredients and blend until dough forms.  On a floured board kneed the scone dough a bit, and then shape into a circle about 1 inch thick.  Cut into 8 triangles and then bake in a 220C oven for 12-14 minutes or until golden brown.  Lovely!

 

Carmelized Pineapple with Vanilla Ice Cream 

I should probably be ashamed to admit I've never bought a fresh pineapple before.  Before last week that is.  They were on sale, and looked so good, I couldn't resist.  Then I spent about a week trying to figure out what to do with it.  I found the answer here

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=10000001911318

So I cleaned the pineapple and cut it into chunks.  Then in a frying pan I heated 4 tbs butter.  When the butter melted I added 1/4 cup packed brown sugar and the pineapple.  Cook for a few minutes until well coated.

Remove from heat, I placed them directly into bowls.  Let cool for a bit and then add vanilla ice cream.  Delicious!  I had extra caramel sauce so I poured a bit of it over the ice cream. 

Doll's hat

In the hope of finishing off a few baby hats for friends, I decided to give a new pattern a try.  I found it here:

http://crotiques.com/babyfirsthat.htm

Having just finished it an hour ago, all I can say is it is pretty, and TINY!  It is supposed to be for a newborn, but it fits my daughters doll just right.  So that is what it is now, a dolls hat.  My other daughter Rori wants one for her doll--so I've been asked to get right on it and knit another one.  That's the problem with twins, I've got to do two of everything.  That said, I have been meaning to make them some clothing for their dolls, so the project wasn't in vain.  Here is a picture of it:

pale yellow acrylic yarn

So Good

I found this Greek style coconut yoghurt at Sainsbury's last weekend.  It was so good I had to go back on Wednesday and buy two more.  Can we say addiction??  If you like coconut things, you've got to try this.  It isn't too-sweet like most coconut treats, it is just-plain-divine!!

Banana Chocolate Chip Cake

What to do with old or bruised bananas?  I say make a cake!  Of course that is my answer to almost any situation in life.  So today after lunch, when I dropped the rather oldish bananas off the shelf and onto the floor---the answer was obvious.

Chocolate Chip Banana Cake

Ingredients

• 190 g all-purpose flour
• 135 g sugar
• 7 g baking powder
• 2 g salt
• 225 g mashed bananas (2 regular sized ones)
• 1 egg
• 100ml vegetable oil
• 60 ml milk
• 125 g semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a round cake pan.
2. In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
3. In a separate bowl, combine bananas, egg, melted butter and milk.
4. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture until blended. Be careful not to over mix.
5. Stir in chocolate chips.
6. Pour batter into pan. Bake 175 degrees C 30 to 35 minutes, or until a knife inserted into center of cake comes out clean. (It will have some melted chocolate, but no crumbs.)

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Banana-Chocolate-Chip-Cake/Detail.aspx

 

Earflaps

Today I am feeling very proud of myself, and satisfied with a project I just finished.  Continuing with my family Christmas present project, last night I finished a hat for my nephew Seth.  He turns 12 a few days before Christmas, so I tried to make something a pre-teen might like.  After consulting with his mother, it turns out his favourite colour is gold.  That is not an easy colour to find in yarn!  However thanks to Ebay and some time spent searching, I found a really nice one.

It is called Patons Zhivago and it is apparently a new type of yarn.  It is 50% tencel and 50% acrylic.  I had to look up what tencel was, because I had never heard of it.  Well, it is a biodegradable fabric made from wood pulp cellulose.  Very eco-friendly, which pleased me.  It is very soft and feels just wonderful.

Anyway, I made him an earflap hat, which was great because it only took one 50g ball of yarn.  Then here comes the part where I am proud--I had to crochet around the edge and for the tassles.  I was very lucky my Gram showed me how to do a single chain (sc) this summer, because that is really all I needed to do.  I think it looks great, and now I think I might want to give crocheting a go as well.....

close up of crocheted border

Whoopie!

Today is very grey, coldish, and rainy.  All in all very autumnal, which makes sense in the middle of October.  October is my very favourite month, and not just because I was born at the end of it.  It means leaves changing colour, bundling up but not being too cold, warm dinners, and baking things with pumpkin.  It seems to me that for whatever reason there is a severe lack of pumpkins in the UK.  On this point my American roots go deep----I love pumpkin.  Last night I made Pumpkin Milkshakes (just like Dairy Queen's blizzard) and they were fantastic.  With that in mind, today (just now in fact) I made some Pumpkin Whoopie Pies.  I would love to know where the name comes from, but not enough to look it up.  They are from an Allrecipes recipe, but I tweaked it to suit me.  I would also say if you want to make this recipe but cannot find pumpkin, you can easily substitute cooked and puréed butternut squash or sweet potato.  They will also taste yummy.  Here is what I did:

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies   

• 250 g (2 cups) all-purpose flour
• 5 g (1 tsp) baking powder
• 5 g (1 tsp) baking soda
• 2 g (1 tsp) ground cinnamon
• 0.9 g (1/2 tsp) ground ginger, nutmeg, all spice
• 3 g (1/2 tsp) salt
• 115 ml vegetable oil
• 225 g (1 cup) granulated sugar, and half demerera
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten
• 300g (1 1/2)  LIBBY'S® 100% Pure Pumpkin
• 5 ml (1 tsp) vanilla extract

Cream Cheese Filling:

• 230 g 7/8 oz cream cheese (soft cheese), at room temperature
• 85 g (6 tbsp) butter, softened
• 3 ml (1/2 tsp) vanilla extract
• 100 g (1 cup) powdered (icing) sugar or more as needed to reach consistency

1. For cookies: Preheat oven to 350 (180C) degrees F. Lightly grease or line four baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, all spice and salt in medium bowl. Beat butter and sugar in large mixer bowl on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add pumpkin and vanilla extract; beat until smooth. Stir in flour mixture until combined. Drop by heaping measuring teaspoons onto prepared baking sheets. 
3. Bake for 10 to 13 minutes or until springy to the touch. Cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.
4. For cream cheese filling: Beat cream cheese, butter and vanilla extract in small mixer bowl on medium speed until fluffy. Gradually beat in powdered sugar until light and fluffy.
5. Spread a heaping teaspoon of filling onto flat side of one cookie; top with flat side of second cookie to make a sandwich. Repeat with remaining cookies and filling. Store in covered container in refrigerator.

The link to the original recipe is here:  

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Mini-Pumpkin-Whoopie-Pies/Detail.aspx

Some members of the family preferred theirs without the icing

And some with the icing, yum!

Christmas

While most people might think it is too early to start thinking about Christmas, I've been thinking about it for at least a month now.  My family is spread across both the US and now the UK, and this year we are having a family Christmas at my parents house.  I am looking forward to seeing everyone, enjoying the warm weather, and the food! 


With that in mind I've set myself the ambitious task of making everyone a homemade gift.  I know, not everyone likes a hand knitted hat or scarf, but tough luck for them, because that is what they are getting.


I've completed a few projects so far, but I just finished my very favorite hat of all time.  It is for my wee niece Kat, who will be 20 months at Christmas.  

Now I have to get started on one for her twin brother Archie.  I'm thinking a wee jesters hat, but time will tell!

I've also been busy making my poor dog embarrassed to belong to me.  She sometimes gets cold, so I whipped up a sweater for her.

  Surprisingly she she doesn't seem to mind it.

Old Style

I've done something I never thought I would do--I've knitted a tea cozy.  Not, it's true, really.  I was chatting with my sister on MSN Messenger (fantastic if you live across an ocean) and she was making fun of me for wanting to knit a mug cozy.  Ok, I thought, I'll keep looking.  Then I went and found a tea cozy pattern, and got straight to work.

I found a free pattern (of course!) and I used the yarn that came in my loom kit from Cost Co.  http://makeityourown.wordpress.com/free-patterns/ (you have to scroll down to find the pattern).  While my husband hates the colours, I LOVE THEM!  Here is what the first side looked like: 

I wasn't sure at this point if it would even fit, but I carried on anyway.  I have to say it was a fast and easy pattern, but there were way too many ends to weave in.  I hate that part.  When it was finished however, I thought it was worth it.

I'm a little too pleased that my tea pot now has its very own sweater.