Charity Hat Knitting

I have more yarn than I feel comfortable having in my stash. It's only about four cloth shopping tote bags but for me that's too much. I don't like having yarn or fabric just sitting in my stash and not being used. I know. I'm weird. Anyways...There are many generous people collecting hats for kids, cancer patients, homeless, and so many other people in need. I've made hats for a few of these collections but I never really felt drawn to them. Clare, from The Big Family Homestead  is collecting hats for Vets in her area of Wisconsin. I felt drawn to this hat collection so I'm going through my stash and knitting some hats.

My go to hat pattern is the Bankhead . It was originally and adult hat but the designer has updated it so it fits baby to XL adult heads. I like that it has a little ribbing so it does have some stretch but mostly it's just a fun knit. Because I don't knit steadily on these hats it takes me about a week or two to make one hat. Depending on how much time and motivation I have for these hats. 

I've gone ahead and cast on my second hat using the discontinued Bernat Mosaics yarn. I really enjoy knitting with this yarn but this is my last skein. I'm going to have to mix it up a bit and alternate some plain hats with the fun to knit colorful hats. Otherwise I may never make any simple one color hats. 

Do you do any charity knitting?

Twin Elf Hats

My Daughter Miranda has a friend/employee who had twin boys earlier this year. Gia, the boys momma, asked if I would make them some hats for Christmas. Of course I can. I don't remember if Gia asked for the long stocking caps or I just decided the boys would be adorable in stocking caps but that's what I went with. They are the Not Only Christmas Hat which is a free pattern I found on Ravelry a few years ago. I was going to make Santa hats but then I figured the boys would only be able to wear them for a couple weeks before Christmas was here and gone. Down here in my part of Florida it does randomly get cold in December but our colder months tend to be January and February. This way the boys can get their Christmas pics done because they are elf hats and then after Christmas they can just be fun striped hats. Perfect. Plus, they have a nice amount of stretch so they might even be able to wear them next Winter. If not, I can make more.

Knit Worthy

Cold weather has come early for us this year. I was up a bit before 6 am this morning and the temperature was 50 degrees. Now I get that 50 isn't really cold to many areas of the country but down here in Southwest Florida it's pretty chilly especially with the strong winds out of the North. Even at 2 pm it's only 66 degrees.

My youngest Robbie (18) loves my knit hats. He's also a huge fan of my hand knit socks too which is why he's getting three pairs for Christmas. With the cold weather I thought he might like a new hat. He loves a simple black hat so it's not very easy to get a good picture. I made some alterations to a pattern I found on Ravelry but it no longer exists because it was on a blog that no longer exists.  It seems many people are no longer blogging and I find that a bit sad but I totally understand. We all go through our phases in life.

Flamingo Love

I've always loved Flamingos. My facebook picture is a stuffed flamingo I crocheted a couple years back. When I saw that Heidi had a new hat pattern I had to buy it.  As usual I had most of it done but I needed to sew the wings on and make the earflaps. It sat like that for a couple weeks before I got tired of seeing it sitting there and finished it.  I think she looks cute sitting in our lemon/orange tree.

This tree was here when we bought our house 10 years ago. Each year it looked like it was dying and Hubby wanted to chop it down but I wouldn't let him. Every few years it would produce 1 or two fruits. They looked like oranges but they tasted sour like lemons. Last year it poofed out with all this foliage and think it looks cute. Last year it produced 8 fruits but most of them fell off before they ripened. Some birds made a nest in it 5 or 6 years ago and we see different birds use it each year. When I put the hat in there to take pictures I saw a second nest. I love watching the birds work on the nests and seeing the new babies.



*** I just saw an episode of Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives and they were using a sour orange that looked just like the fruit that grows on our tree. It sounds right. ***

Another round of Viking hats

How I spent the month of January

Back in January of 2010 I had a custom order for 34 blue and grey Viking hats. The hats were for a group of high school cheerleaders from Staten Island, NY that were going to a cheerleading competition down here in Florida. This year the same school (different girls) ordered another set of 19 Viking hats because they once again were going to a competition down here.

I haven't been in the sewing room much lately and I sure do miss it. I think I will need to spend some quality time with my sewing machine very soon. I have a couple projects that need to be finished soon.

A hat and a quilt

 

I've had a few more orders for Viking Hats. Here is a toddler size in the original colors.

I also quilted the mini I spy quilt. It's just a bit over 30" square. Just a little something for the little kiddos to play with.

 

The house fabric is the one that Suzi was going nuts over. I think it's cute and works well with this little quilt. I also used it for the binding.

Busy, Busy, Busy

A couple days ago I received an order for 35 crocheted Viking Hats from a cheer leading team in New York. They need them for the 5th of February. That's alot of crocheting!

Maybe I can get Suzi to help out a little?

I will be busy working on these hats so you may not hear from me too often. I'll pop in as often as I can and of course I will still be checking in on what everyone else is making. There is alot of fun things going on now that the holidays are over. I've joined a few swaps and have been looking at a couple sew alongs that are starting up soon. So much fun out there!