Huffy Hat

I made this "huffy hat" in about 3 hours, which is probably a record for me. I call it the huffy hat as that is the childhood nickname for my stepdad, Richard, who this hat (and scarf when complete) will be for.

He is probably one of the few males in my life that will appreciate a hand made gift like this as he's got his own artsy side as well. My stepfather, Rich, has been a great father-figure in my life, and I say figure as I do have a Dad that is wonderful also, although I'm not sure he'd wear a hat that I knit. Huffy would. I am also known to him endearingly as "muffy"... so the name seemed appropriate.

I used a city tweed in chocolate that I bought on sale at knitpicks.com for about 3.99 a ball. I used size 7 circulars and cast on 72 stitches. After joining in the round, I followed the ribbing pattern of K2, P2 for about 9 inches. I have found that making really long hats works well as they can be folded over and can still cover the tops of ears.

I used a new decrease pattern I found and it turned out pretty cool, which is why I wanted to share this new design. The scarf will follow, at some point...

Any type/color of worsted-weight yarn (try several colors, and do stripes if you like!), cast on 72 st, and do the rib stitch (described above) for desired length (again, I like them long). To start decrease:

First: (This is the beginning of the cast off): k.2, k2 tog, repeat to end of row
Next row: purl
Next row: * k.1, k2 tog to end of row
Next row: purl*
Continue * *until there are 7-10 stitches left on the needle.

Sew in a circular pattern picking up all leftover stitches and wind through top of design to hide the end. That's all she wrote.

The Boss's Wife Wine Coozie

My mom raised me to never show up at someone’s house empty-handed (especially someone you’d like to make a good impression on, like your boyfriend’s parents or your boss’s wife…). It just so happens I was invited to my boss’s wife's home jewelry party and wanted to make something nice to show that I’m not only the best employee in the office but am amazingly creative, thoughtful and talented. HA. In my dreams. Let’s just say everyone loves wine and who doesn’t want to oooh and aaaahh over a little wine coozie.

I kind of did a variation on several wine coozie patterns that I found online to make one that worked for me. The whole thing from cast on to the bow tie finish on the cord took me about 10-15 hours over 3 days, so all in all, it was a pretty quick project. Since I’m still suffering from pain from the back surgery, I have been the loser of all losers and doing absolutely nothing on the weekends. The finishing of this little bobble made me feel like I was half-way productive this particular Friday and Saturday night!

To make the coozie- I used Lionbrand’s homespun beige yarn on size 9 double pointed needles:
Cast on 36 stitches and divide onto 3 dpn's. Place marker and join to begin working in the round.

Work 9 rows K3, P3 ribbing around.
Row 10: K3 *P1, yo, P2tog, K1, yo, K2tog* repeat between *'s around to last 6 stitches, K1, yo, K2tog, P3
Work 9 more rows K3, P3 ribbing around.
Knit all stitches on next and all following rows until work measures 12 1/2 ".
Purl 1 row.
Knit 2 rows and begin decreases.

Decrease rows:
Row 1: *K2, K2tog* repeat between *'s around
Row 2: Knit
Row 3: *K1, K2tog* repeat between*'s around
Row 4: Knit
Row 5: *K2tog* repeat between *'s around

Cut yarn and thread through stitches remaining on needles. Weave in ends.
To create the “berries and leaves” (they were supposed to be grapes but I got sick of making the little round balls after three, so thus, they are berries) I used a sock weight yarn called “Matsuri Lime/Purple”. Oddly enough I ripped out the purple part for the berries and the Lime for the leaves, but that’s why you can see flecks of all colors in each.

I used size 2 straight needles for both:
To make the Leaves:
CO 5 sts.
Row 1 [RS]: K2, YO, k1, YO, k2. 7 sts.
Row 2 and All WS Rows: P all sts.
Row 3 [RS]: K3, YO, k1, YO, k3. 9 sts.
Row 5 [RS]: K4, YO, k1, YO, k4. 11 sts.
Row 7 [RS]: K5, YO, k1, YO, k5. 13 sts.
Row 9 [RS]: Ssk, k9, k2tog. 11 sts.
Row 11 [RS]: Ssk, k7, k2tog. 9 sts.
Row 13 [RS]: Ssk, k5, k2tog. 7 sts.
Row 15 [RS]: Ssk, k3, k2tog. 5 sts.
Row 17 [RS]: Ssk, k1, k2tog. 3 sts.
Row 19 [RS]: Sl 1, k2tog, psso. 1 st rem. Bind off.

To make the berries:
CO 3 sts
Row 1: P3
Row 2: K1, YO, K1, YO, K1 (5 stitches)
Row 3: P5
Row 4: K5
Row 5:P5
Row 6: K2tog through the back, K1, K2tog (3 stitches)
Row 7: Slip 1, P2 tog through the back pass slip stitch over, thread end through to cast off

Tie both cast on and cast off ends together and use one end to sew base together and make a small ball

I used a twisted cord to finish and looped it through the ridge on the coozie while it was on a wine bottle to make sure it fell in the correct places. Tied in a bow and “ta-da”.

broken rib stitch scarf and ribbed hat

The Broken Rib Stitch scarf and hat set is made out of my new favorite yarn by Lion Brand called "thick n quick". It's super chunky and knits up really fast which is obviously satisfying that you can start a project and finish it so quickly.

The hat is a very basic pattern that I follow all the time for most of my hats. It's a simple rib stitch that I made extra long so there was room to fold over a brim.

The scarf is broken rib stitch which is just a version of ribbing in a K2, P2 pattern. So to cast on it is an even number (I did 20) and then add an extra 3 stitches (so I had 23). Follow the K2, P2 pattern till the last three, then do K2, P1. Follow this for every row. The extra purl stitch is what makes the "broken" rib for the next row. I added tassels on and... ta da!

This is a great yarn and an easy pattern for a warm set for cold Chicago winters!

Isaiah's Knits

Isaiah is the son of my best friend Erin, who with me is known as the other half of the "Urns". Isaiah is our love child and I absolutely adore him like my own. He has, however, gotten some of the the firsts that I've ever knitted including this wreck of a baby blanket...

This is the first thing I ever tried to make other than a scarf- and let's just say it's is more "cape" like rather than the symmetrical square size it should be. Whatever, it's soft and it's the thought that counts, right? Okay okay, he's got another one in the works that will be much nicer and fancier. For now, he's got a blankey that can be stuffed in the stroller or car seat to keep his little feeties warm on night-time walks around their Wilmington NC neighborhood.

I used a soft baby alpaca yarn (2.5 skeins) and with size 15 circular needles did a simple garter stitch for the whole thing. Then I used the slim knowledge of tassles to tie on some uneven ones as the finishing touch. It's not my best work, but I wanted Isaiah to have the first blanket I had ever made.

Erin and I also like to call him "pumpkin head" so he of course got one of those little caps too. He's too cute for words and I miss him (and his mommy!) everyday.

Baby Patrick Baby Blankey

This blankey was made for my Mom's Cousin Kelly's Son, Patrick... so that makes him my, uh, 3rd cousin once removed? I have no clue. Anyway, Kelly is one of my favorites and when she had a baby, I arranged a trip to see her while I was also in North Carolina visiting my friend Erin. It worked out great as I got to spend some quality time with her three sons, Tyler, Ryan and Patrick (and husband Shawn). This was probably my best knitting project to date just because it was fun to knit, the yarn was soft and easy to work with, and it came out really nice.

I cast on 110 stitches on size 11 straight needles. Work in a garter stitch for about 2.5 inches ending on a wrong side row.

The Pattern:
Row 1: K13, place marker, *yo, K1; Repeat from * to last 13 sts, place marker, K13 (you will have 168 sts between markers at this point)
Row 2: K13, purl to marker, K13
Row 3: K13, K2tog to marker, K13 (back to 110 sts)
Row 4 and Row 5: K13, *yo, K2tog, rep from * to marker, K13
Rows 6, 7, 8: Knit across

Repeat rows 1-8 until blanket measures approximately 32.5 inches, finish with another 2.5 inches of garter stich and bind off purlwise.

I used a worsted weight yarn in a soft cotten blend for this yarn in a color called "silver sage". It's washable and easy to work with!

Check out the cutest pics of Babby Patrick cuddling with his handmade gift from Cousin Erin :-)

Thick-Thin Scarf and Hat Set

This is a very simple garter knit scarf using something called "thick/thin" yarn which is basically exactly what the name implies! It is very thin in places and very thick and fluffy in others. I cast on 20 stitches and knit in garter stitch for about two feet.

For the hat I did 10 rows of knitting after casting on 56 stitches and then 1 row of purl bumps so that it gave the hat a little texture and it didn't curl in on the ends. I followed this so that there are three distinct rows of purl bumps prior to decreasing. The whole set together took me about 15 hours over the course of a few weeks. Simple, warm, and cute!

Rib Stitch "Princess Taylor Scarf"

This hat and scarf set was made for my boyfriend's (at the time) little niece Taylor. Obviously coming up with sentimental gifts for guys is a difficult task, and after I had a wonderful man by my side through my major back surgery, I thought one of the ways I could thank him was to make something for his niece who means the world to him. I was also thrilled to have an adorable little princess to have a project to work on for.

I wanted to create a light fabric as Taylor lives in Destin, Florida and probably won't be needing anything heavy. I also wanted something durable and washable as lets face it, she's four. I used a pink cotton/acrylic blend pom-popm yarn. Each skein was 50 grams and although I used three, I had tons left over.

I cast on with size 4 needles 35 stitches and made the scarf with a simple rib stitch in multiples of 5. Literally 5K 5P for about 2 feet. For the hat I used circular size 4 needles and cast on 70 and continued to use the 5K 5P rib stitch. I kind of winged it when decreasing for the top and simply used a calculator to decrease every 10, every 7, every 5, etc until I had closed up the top with a darting needle.

I knew I wanted to add a pom-pom on the hat but had no idea how to do that. I just googled "knitting pom-pom patterns" and found one that was easy looking. Basically I used the side of a cardboard box and cut out 2 circles about 2" across and with a donut hole in the middle. After wrapping the yarn around again and again and again (use a darting needle, it made this easier!) I cut in between the two cardboard holes and tied the middle very tightly and "fluffed" the pom-pom out. Here is an example of a site I used: http://www.craftown.com/knitpat6.htm

It turned out pretty cute and got some great compliments on a very simple project. Unfortunately, the recipient of this never even acknowledged that I sent something to her (or her mom actually) which bums me only because I never got to see a picture of Taylor in it! Oh well... it was fun to make regardless. The boy is out of the picture too so we'll just say the next "Princess Scarf" will have to be made with an actual Prince in my life ;-)