Malabrigo Cat Hat

Ooh, this yarn is luscious. I think it’s from Malabrigo’s Aquarella line, but honestly, I was so giddy as I put this baby on the ball-winder, that I cast away the ball band in haste without even looking! I went into Soul Spun looking for the perfect kidsilk haze or something like it to go with something else, and was helpless in the face of this beauty.

I took a huge series of photos trying to capture the hat’s texture and style just right, and trying not to capture any sheetrock, or pink insulation fluff, or water spots on the mirror. In looking at all these photos just now, I began to wonder when I started looking so…Mature…even in a cat hat.

Delaney’s Delight

My friend Jenn approached me last July about knitting a blanket for her little cousin’s birthday in September. A knitted blanket turned out to be prohibitively expensive (and time-intensive), so we agreed on the size/price/general color scheme (bright!) for a pieced quilt instead. Jenn’s taste seemed to lean toward geometrics and liberal use of stripes. She insisted that the quilt be feminine, but not little-girly, so that as Delaney grew, she wouldn’t think of it as her baby quilt.

I enlisted the help of my mom and sister to help with piecing and binding this twin-size beauty, and had it professionally quilted by Sue’s Machine Quilting in Roy, UT. I was so pleased with this quilter’s work and speed!! I highly recommend her if you’re looking to have something quilted. I embroidered the label and appliqued it to the soft flannel back.

By the time we had everything figured out, we had to push our date to xmas, instead, and Jenn says that Delaney sat in the box on xmas morning and really was delighted by the present. I was so pleased, because I know that sometimes little kids can be so non-chalant about blankets, socks, clothes, etc.

Here’s me laying it out at my mom’s apartment:

Fingerless Mittens

I made these super luxury soft fingerless mittens for my friend Jenn in Half Moon Bay for xmas. She got them late, though, after a back injury mid-December seriously slowed down my crafting. She and I have been friends since we worked together at a small cooking school in Los Angeles a few years ago.

Jenn is a kind soul with a no-nonsense attitude. I made her these downy mittens because she seemed like she needed something soft just now.

I used a lovely heathered oatmeal alpaca yarn called Baby Twist, in a stretchy, one-size-fits-all 1×1 rib. By some stroke of luck, she says they match her winter coat perfectly!

Finger-painting

Zach had a big piece of brown butcher paper left over from his kitchen-repainting project. (Pictures of the beautiful new kitchen soon! I’ve just been too busy actually using my kitchen and cooking foods that require more than one pot [mmm....green curry...] that I haven’t thought to photograph it.)

We gave the Boogedy a big piece of paper in his high chair and let him dip his finger in a little glass candle holder. He dipped and painted for a long time before Zach gave him a q-tip to try. This was successful for about 4 strokes, until this happened:

I may be a worry-wort about him falling off the bed, tumbling down the stairs, tripping on the jungle gym, eating solid food (yes, he is almost 2, and yes, he does have a whole mouth full of teeth), getting into the knife drawer, antagonizing the dog past that sweet soul’s endurance, and nearly everything else;

BUT… never let it be said that I’m squeamish about him drinking q-tip dunked scribble-water or eating week-old raisins from the playroom floor. Even those blanched almonds (that he still believes are COOKIES) from behind the tv. Zach and I were joking that the food would have to land IN the chicken poo before we’d get worried.

And then Zach admitted that he might still let the boy eat it, just to learn a lesson about eating things that fell in chicken poo.

The Happy Viking

Here Zach is in all his knitted xmas finery, plotting the next pillage. The hat is already his most complimented item of clothing ever.

The scarf is the Noro stripey fad that I first learned of through the Yarn Harlot. Kristin and I went shopping together, but used different colorways (her Ravelry link). We both made the mistake of reading “supplies: two balls”. She went back for more to match her first balls, but I decided to try a third colorway. It’s an interesting jog where the third ball meets, but I like it.

The hat is my own invention. I used Lamb’s Pride Bulky in dark gray for the beanie. The horns are crocheted from a skinny yarn Sonya gave me (koigu?) and stuffed firmly with fluff. I’m quite proud of the horns, especially that fact that I managed to make them the same size, when I never wrote down the pattern. Kristin and I spent ages cutting out napkins and thinking this thing through to get horns that curved this way! The braids are Cascade 220. The bolts are plastic buttons.

I’m working on writing up a pattern. Leave a comment if you’re interested!