Christmas Hat-O-Rama Part I

Here's just 3 of the hats that I have made so far (I made 5, but one was for me and another I used my cell phone to take a picture and I haven't uploaded it yet!)

Ta-da:


Hat for Aubrey. I think it might be a little big for her, but she'll grow into it! This is basically the ear-flap hat pattern from Last Minute Knitted Gifts, but I decided to make it with a point on it! And I braided the tie strings instead of making i-cord. I. hate. i-cords. The yarn is Moda Dea Silk & Wool Blend. I highly recommend it!
















These are Slouchy berets. The pattern is free from Ravelry and it's called "Spring Beret." The person who designed the pattern did hers in cotton, but I think the pattern really looks good using winter-type yarn also! The deep red beret is with some cashmere I got on clearance a long time ago. The light-blue one is in Plymouth Baby Alpaca Worsted. Not the easiest yarn to work with, but the end result is nice! I used this pattern to make a hat for me in that cream cashmere. I will get a picture on here of that at some point!

I am knitting another Simon Tam for Donna (my sister) and then I think I am DONE with hat knitting. I might try to crank out another one just to have on hand as the "emergency" gift.

So that's what I've been up to! Sorry I've been distant from the blog. But this time of year is CRAY-GEE.

Just In Time...

For my sister and her family's visit up here for Halloween and the baby's baptism, I knit up not only the little sweater and bootie combo (see previous post), but also a jack-o-lantern hat for my niece, Aubrey and a cool, beanie hat for my nephew, Ethan. Here they are!



I am really happy with how this turned out! I used TLC Cotton Plus yarn, which is a 51% cotton/49% acrylic blend. It's a dream to work with and it's inexpensive and machine washable, which is really a nice feature. The face features were double-knit on after I completely finished the hat. I see more fruit-themed hats in the future!

And here's Ethan's hat:



So, apparently, it's all the rage in London for teens (especially guys) to wear these close-fitting, beanie-type, wool hats. Ethan is just recently in his teens, having turned 13 this past August. However, he's quite tall and broad for a 13-year old. He could pass for 16, if his voice changing wasn't obvious ;-). Anyway, I think this hat is suitable to meet that cool, non-dorky, urban, somewhat-trendy Londoner look, without looking either metrosexual or, as Marsha said, "like a thug." So I knit this in a chocolate brown washable merino wool that Marsha bought for me from the Netherlands when she went to visit her in-laws. Fancy! The green and gray stripe area is wool and alpaca yarn, respectively, which I had here in my stash. I think the stripe looks good too. Not overwhelming in color, but yet not a plain brown hat.

So that's what knitting I've been feverishly working on over the last week or two.