Week 11: Time for another contest!

Hello Faithful Readers! Easter is on its way and I am hard at work on a perfect hat for the occasion. Actually I have a couple of Easter-themed hats in mind. The prize for this contest will be next week's hat!  I already know what it will be and trust me, it's adorable.

So, in order to win a fabulous hat for a sweet little baby in your life, I would like you to write me an Easter-themed haiku and put it in the comments section. For those of you who don't remember, a haiku is a 3 lined poem with a total of 17 syllables--5 in the first line, 7 in the second, and 5 in the third. Hey, I had to look it up on wikipedia--my English teacher Mrs. Kuntz would be so disappointed.


Here's an example:

Little bunny bun
Tail of the softest grey fur
Stay away from hawks

Be creative!  The winner will be the haiku I like best. And really, don't get too hung up on the syllable rules, just have fun!

Kate

Week 10: Jiggity, Jig, Hee Haw, Hee Haw

One of my favorite Christmas songs of all times is "Dominick the Italian Christmas Donkey." I didn't even know of its existence until I met JM and found it on one of his Christmas cds. I highly recommend it.

 I'm back to what I knit best--animal hats!  This hat wasn't even on my list, but my friend Sara guessed I was making a donkey hat last week and I loved the idea. This one is a basic hat, with ears......

 a tail......

 and a forelock!

 Squeaker's 6 month birthday present. Well, no, that's just a coincidence. Actually, we didn't even realize that's what day it was--his day care teacher pointed it out!

 To coin a phrase from my friend Anna, mom to Mr. Boy, recipient of the eyeball hat, Squeaker is: "So cute it makes your ovaries hurt."

Here's the pattern, if you're interested: http://www.etsy.com/listing/70962603/baby-donkey-hat-pattern-knit

Have a lovely sunny day!
Kate

Week 10: Cutting it close...

 

One of the nice things about this project is how much of my "stash" yarn I have been able to use up. Baby hats don't take a ton of yarn, so it's been great for all those bits I can't seem to bring myself to throw away.  This hat, however, cut it a bit close. This is a picture of how much yarn I had left. Yikes. I was holding my breath through the last stitches.....

What is this week's hat you may be asking? Why, it's a super, super, super cute donkey hat!  I did complete it in plenty of time--and by plenty of time I mean at 7:30 tonight--but the Squeaker was already in bed so I'll have to take pictures in the morning!

Until tomorrow,

Kate

Week 10: Dedicated Readers

Last night my good friends, Robin and Sara, parents to 4 month old MJ, watched Squeaker for me for a few hours while I was at book group.  Squeaker was wearing his "I Heart Unions" hat and this was the following conversation:
Robin: I like that hat, did you make it?
Me: Yup.
Sara: You obviously haven't been keeping up on her blog, she has pictures of it on there.
Robin: That was not the hat that was on it when I checked it last week.

I love that I have such dedicated followers!

Take Care,
Kate

Week 9: I heart unions

Super cute. It looks like the Squeaker is wearing a firecracker.

This one is a small variation from the previous patterns.
Instead of decreasing at the top to make a rounded hat, I ended it so it has a seam running along the top.
Perfect place to attach a couple of patriotic tassels.

I had a hard time deciding what "slogan" to put on the hat--"Son of a Union Thug" was my favorite, but it was too long; so was "My Mom is a Union Thug" and "I Heart Union Thugs." I'm sort of obsessed with being referred to as a thug. That's a new one on me.  Squeaker thinks it's pretty funny too.

My good little model, hard at work.

 

 The pattern, if you're interested:
http://www.etsy.com/listing/70355014/baby-union-lovers-hat-pattern-knit

Take care!
Kate

Week 9: Clues

Holy cow! I am on week 9!  Only 43 hats to go....

Some clues on the theme of this week's hat:

I know the vote is already in and Wee Walker Wienie has won this round, but I truly believe the fight isn't over yet.

It may be a politically based hat, but durn, is it cute.

Take care and enjoy the glorious weather!
Kate

Week 8: So cute it made me swear.

Actually, it made me swear more than once. It was that cute.The hat itself wasn't too hard,but the cable was a pain in the butt.Mind you, the cable wasn't hard to knit, it was just coming up with a design that looked like what I wanted it to look like that was difficult.

 

 It does look like a buck, though I didn't do the greatest job photographing it.

 

 I used a seed stitch for the body of the hat and put a sweet little pageboy/newsboy brim on it. Love it.

 Squeaker looked so flippin' adorable in it, I couldn't even believe it.

 It gave me an idea for another hat down the line; it will have to wait a few weeks--I already have next week's hat in the planning!  

 

 I will be mailing this hat to my nephew (Ky-Guy, watch your mailbox!!)--I made my brother swear to send me pictures...We'll see. I think Ky will love it, he's one of those rare kids who appreciates handmade gifts. Every year I knit him something for Christmas--he has quite a collection at this point: a penguin, 2 pigs (I made him one and he loved it so much I had to make an emergency replacement pig for when the first one was in the wash), a donkey, a lego man, and some other random animals--and every time I see him, he brings out the whole collection and says, "Aunt Kate, I still have all the things you made me!" It makes my heart burst.

Here's the pattern link: http://www.etsy.com/listing/70005426/baby-deer-cable-hat-pattern-knit

Take care!

Kate

Week 8: Doe, a deer

Okay, actually it's a buck. This week I am working on a hat for my nephew. His birthday is coming up soon and this hat will be perfect for him. Ky is going to be 7(!!) which I just can't believe. All my family members are devoted John Deere fans, we all have sweatshirts, t-shirts, hats, and of, course, some kind of John Deere tractor. I planned to make some kind of fair isle pattern with the Deere logo, but dropped that in favor of something more original. I found a lovely beige yarn and I'm working on a cable pattern that looks like a deer, complete with antlers. I think I want to put a brim on it too, page-boy style. So far so good.....I'll keep you posted!. Ky has recently started bow hunting with my dad, which I think is fabulous for both of them. I love that they get to spend such quality time with each other. I hope he likes the hat, it will keep his head warm next winter and maybe it will bring good luck on the hunt!

 

Take care!

Kate

Week 7: Eye did it!

Right, enough with the bad puns.  Well here it is!  I have to say, I'm a little disappointed. In my head this hat was much more "eyeball" like. 

. 

This one is a little more subtle than say, the giraffe hat. I'm not sure anyone would know it's an eye if they didn't know it was an eye. Luckily, it's going to a very imaginative 4 year old. If he can't tell what it is, no one will. Mr. Boy, it's coming to you soon!

 

The blue-eyed inspiration.  

Here's the pattern link:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/69476683/baby-eyeball-hat-pattern-knit 

Take care!

Kate

Giraffe-a-rama

Pictures of Little Violet in her giraffe hat!

 We met her and her mom at the Verona library for some play time.

 Little V is just now a year old, so she can motor all over the place.

Can we all just say "Awwwww."

Take care!
Kate

Week 7: The Eyes Have It

Well, it's been a busy week. I can't believe it's Friday already. The week went so fast I'm a little scared. I had my first 2 days back at work and Squeaker had his first day care experience. Things went well on both fronts, I had mixed feelings about being back--I truly love my job, but I sure missed my baby. Squeaker did fine too, though he wanted to be held the whole afternoon both days after I picked him up from his center. I didn't mind.

I have been working on this week's hat, bit by little bit. What I have in mind is an eyeball. Sounds weird right?  I think it's going to be awesome. The vision I have is a white eye with a blue iris and a black pupil--it would only look like the eye when viewed from the top. Perfect for a kid who is always on ground level! 

I didn't realize it, but I had the "leave a comment" setting such that it was pretty complicated to leave a remark. I have changed that to make it easier to leave me a note. You know. If you want to.

Take care!
Kate

Week 6: The reveal

I delivered baby MJ's tomato hat yesterday and by evening I had these photos in my inbox!  Super cute.  Thanks Sara, Robin and the ever sweet MJ!

Take care,
Kate