Think of a Happy Thought, Any Happy Little Thought

Where did the week go?  I've been concentrating hard on my project list that I've barely noticed the individual days go by.  All in all, it has been a pretty good week. :)

Yes, I researched, prayed, cried, and voted.  I have been avoiding the nasty social media war.  

Please, lets not talk about it here.  Happy thoughts only!

Last Saturday I put the finishing touches on the hats my aunt commissioned me to make for Christmas gifts.  I would recommend both these patterns and the yarn I used.  

The Flower Stripe Beanie is a free pattern.  It is written in Russian and charted.  If you need some help translating the chart, you can follow my notes on my project page.

The Purple Crochet Hat with Flowers has a really pretty texture and cute flowers.  It is sized a bit small, but the author gives suggestions for resizing.  If you want to know what I did, take a look at my notes. 

For both hats I used Premier Yarns: Cotton Fair, a cotton and acrylic blend.  It is a very soft yarn and lovely to work with.  It wasn't very splitty as many 100% cotton yarns are, and has a decent amount of stretch.  I found it at Michael's Craft store and would happily work with this yarn again.

Later that evening I started swatching for my daughter's Christmas gift.  I want to make her a coat with a hood and I have this gorgeous Istex Bulky Lopi wool that I'd like to use.  I was given it during a swap and I want to use it for something special.  This type of yarn excels as outerwear and I only have 400 yards.  I decided to use a worsted wool 3-stranded to accompany it.  Using 10.5 needles, my test swatch came up with the perfect gauge for the pattern I want to use.  It's hard to catch in a photo but the lopi yarn is a gorgeously deep wine-red.

Yes, sometimes swatching can be boring and *feels* useless, but it really isn't bad.  I knit this while watching Gold Rush with my husband.  It had been a long day and it was good to just relax and mindlessly knit for a while.

I have to share this picture with you, it is too darn cute not to share.  This isn't my work, obviously (I hope).  It was part of the Sunday school lesson for Thomas' class; he did the high-heel shoe.  I just helped assemble the pieces on the board.  I did add the midsection in about 15 second as I had nothing to attach the legs to.  They were supposed to be drawing a friend and discussing good qualities in people. :)  We named her Kiki Rainbow-Star.    :D

Later I was messing around with Siri on my iPhone just for giggles.  I totally wasn't expecting this answer, but I'll take it! 

 At last I cast on Anna's coat; Phoebe Coat by Nikol Lohr.  I've knit this pattern twice before and I love it.  The first time was for Anna about three years ago, and the second was for a LYS sample.  She loves it so much that she wants the same coat again.  This time I'm going to omit the collar though and add a hood, and make the sleeves longer.  Her old coat would still fit her if the sleeves were longer.  I'll probably make a fold-able cuff, and then she can lengthen the sleeves as she grows. 

Just a note on how I do this; I usually include my kiddos in on the project that I make for their holiday gift.  I like for them to have a sense of control with their special gift as well as an understanding of how much effort goes into it.  When it calls for it, I'll even take them shopping for notions (i.e. buttons) with me for some quality parent-kiddo time..  Typically they appreciate it more and it is used far more than if I went solely for the "big reveal."  I still wrap it up and have them open it on December 25th.  When I have done the surprises, they weren't loved and appreciated as much.

Meanwhile, I'm working on another commission.  This one is taking longer as I have to design it and I'm writing it as I go.  It will eventually be part of my customizable Alien Hat collection.  I've redone the eyes several times now.  The hard part is getting them to match in reverse.  I hope to crack it by the end of the weekend.  The trouble is that the kids are out of school for both Thursday and Friday this week and I keep getting interrupted...

I'm also watching kiddos!  Yesterday I had the two regular kiddos that I watch after school (except this was all day), and today I have my friend's two kids.  I'm trying to control the chaos with activities.  Yesterday we did rubber band looms and kumihimo.  It was quite fun!  I looked up patterns other than the basic ones.  This one was quite easy, yet really interesting.  The Spirella Spiral.  I need to get the peg loom, now, as I really really want to make these superhero flingers!  haha  If you want to see my small collection of rubber band craft ideas, you can check out my Pinterest board.  I'm sure I'll be adding to it over time.