Bolton

I recently found some more chunky yarn. Well... more like the yarn found it's way to me. Yarn magic is even better than jewelry magic in my humble opinion! (H&A reference. Go with it.) So what to do with this free yarn? I've seen some awesome fun cowls around and wanted to make myself another one. Maybe cowls are my new go to knit. So easy to make, so fun to wear. 

Well, since it was only had one ball of the stash yarn my cowl came out a little small. 

One thing I love about chunky yarn? It works up so quickly. I made this cowl during the first half of the ManU vs Bolton game. Look at the difference in size between my key coy hook, and the one I used for this cowl. Slight difference, eh?

I just sort of made up the pattern as I went along. I cast on the number of stitches that would make the cowl the right size. Then working in the round did a 3 row pattern of:

R1: SC
R2: SC
R3: 2 DC, slip stitch and skip next stitch.

Easy! And by the time Bolton (English Premier soccer) was losing (sad) the cowl was done.

Capucine

I love this hat.

Seriously. I loved this hat before I finished it. And ever since I sewed the ends in, I've been wearing it. Inside even! Tassels and all!

It's surprising how that happens sometime. I didn't think much about this hat when I started it. The pattern has been in my queue for over a year. But I was looking for a new project the other day, and when I went up to my yarn stash, this is the yarn I decided needed to be used. That in and of itself is surprising too. I've had this yarn for a long time. In fact, if you've been around the blog awhile you may remember that I used this yarn for a hat in 2009 and a cardigan in 2010.

And the only reason this yarn got used is because my stash is getting low. I know!

For years I worked on busting my stash, and getting it down to a reasonable amount of yarn. It's finally happened!! It happened without me realizing it. How?? I stopped going to yarn stores. Surprising that worked. ...
No really. It's because I stopped making specific gifts for people. That meant I went to the yarn store to get specific yarn. And then every time I went I would leave with at least two or ten other balls of yarn I just fell in love with and had to have. (Please tell me I'm not the only one who this has happened to!)

Long story shortened: This yarn, this pattern. Perfect. Now I just have to decide if I want to add the tassels forever. Right now they are pinned on. Thoughts?

Also, in case you care, I made lots of minor modifications to the pattern. Here's what I did:
CO 92sts.
R1: K4, P2, (K2, P2)*, K4  (all odd rows R1-7)
R2: P4, K2, (P2, K2)*, P4   (all even rows R2-8)
For decreasing I used ssk on one side. For example:
R11: k1, ssk, k1, ssk, k80, k2tog, k1, k2tog, k1

With 92 stitches there was also one row where I had to decrease only once on each side to get down to 64 stitches. 
Otherwise, awesome pattern that's totally easy to follow.
Make one!

I'm with the band

I think sometimes the best sort of craft is the one you come up with on the spur of the moment. Like yesterday, when I was hanging out with my niece and nephew, they decided we should do a show for mom and dad. This isn't a new occurrence. What little kid doesn't love performing and having their parents full attention?
This time the song they wanted to sing was the itsy bitsy spider. And of course we needed props! Luckily there was an empty egg carton and some pipe cleaners on hand.  And voila! Spiders for our song.

My nephew didn't so much like that my spider looked friendly. He wanted pincers on mine! (Which totally reminded me of one of my favourite HP scenes. click click click.)

The craft was a big hit - both making them and during "the show". Sometimes it's great to be part of the band.

Blogiversary 4

Today, it pretty much snowed all day. It is January in Ottawa. I probably shouldn't be surprised. Yet even after all that snow, somehow there was only a thin layer of snow for me to brush off my car at going home time. So, all in all, not too shabby.
Plus, it gave me a chance to try out the new cowl.

Yes. I have a weird facial expression here, and a weird camera setting going on...

Is it any better in B&W? (Thnx Steph.)

Anyways, I got the pattern here, and really like it the look of the cowl. But if I was going to do it again, I'd do it with much thicker wool. The pattern is mostly SC which means it doesn't grow quickly. I could have made this cowl wider, but just got bored and decided - good enough. 

Right? Hope so. I'm already looking forward to the next project.

Speaking of projects... it's time for the 2011 round up, because, earlier this week was my 4th blogiversary. Crazy. I tallied the numbers, and as I thought, I didn't nearly knit as much in 2011 as I did in 2010 or 2009. This year I knit:

Sweaters: 3
Hats: 16
Scarves: 5
Mittens: 3

That's it. That's all.
But I've felt it's been a good year for doing the crafts I really want to do.  Hopefully that trend will continue in 2012.