I take my hat off to teachers

I haven't posted a lot of the things I've made over the last several months because I've been a bit distracted (studying for the boards, playing with my game-obsessed son, cutting up all the veg in my CSA, etc etc).  I'll try to get back into it so we have something to talk about when you visit, Win :)

This is a hat that I made for one of E's teachers.  I ran out of time in the Christmas rush and gave her this:

And so we worked out that she wanted a thick warm hat with a brim that she could wear while standing out in the carpool line ushering kids into cars.  And she's all about the color RED.  So here it is.

Pattern:  Anja's hat

Yarn:  Berroco Vintage Chunky

Love the pattern so much that I think I'll make one for myself :)  but in a different color.  Perhaps a brown tweed?

American gothic revisited

Another stunning work in progress by my mother-in-law.  She loves these Santas and has made a different Santa for all the children.  This is her latest.

A new Angle for 2013

This week I have been madly knitting ... got a late start on my Christmas present (on the plane on Christmas day ...) to my favorite niece, who is also visiting here in Virginia.

A week and a half of steady knitting, and it is done!  Love the colors!  I found them at Stitches Midwest at Tucker Woods.  They offered "BB Cakes", small cake-like skeins of yarn in lovely saturated colors.  

I love this pattern for many reasons.  One, it is ribbing, so it will fit for a long time.  If you pull the ribbing apart, the valleys are a different color!  Very clever design.  Two, it is knitted in all one piece!  Just a little kitchener for the sleeves at the end, plus the border, is all the finishing it needs.  I like the punch of color in the front flap.

The button is also super cute.  I reinforced it with some sewing thread to ensure it never falls off.

Pattern:  Angle

Yarn:  Tucker Woods Molly's Toes, superwash sock  yarn

These are a few of my favorite buttons

Arielle inspired me to try my hand at felt ornaments... Thought it might make a fun hanging-out-with-baby-in-Montreal-winter sort of craft, so I brought a little supply kit with me and surfed Pinterest for ideas.  A perfect accompaniment to watching Downton Abbey.

The buttons are from my neighbor - she has inherited a store's worth of jewelry, scarves, knickknacks, and buttons that she has been trying to sell. She lets me take all the buttons I want, so I made her a little tree made entirely of buttons.

Great instructions and template from this blog

too small

One of E's christmas gifts:  Socks.  

Yarn:  Regia bamboo color

Pattern:  "Waffle weave," from Charlotte Schurch

Size:  Already too small!  :O

easy ornaments

Michaels has started selling clear plastic ornaments finally - a boon for us folks with young kids in the house.  I made these in a minute with some leftover weaving ends.  The blue one has remnants of the shawl I made for Paris, and the pink/brown one has remnants of a scarf I made for my friend Thuy in Victoria.

My MIL said that her stitching group used all their embroidery thread ends to make ornaments like these to decorate a tree for a hospital.  What a great idea!  Has anyone heard of a similar need locally?

Elving

Finished just in time for a certain little boy's stocking!

Pattern:  The Mean Red Bird

Yarn:  Cascade 220 (red), Simply soft acrylic (beige belly, orange beak, black eyebrows)

The Green Pig

Yarn:  Simply soft (green)

Edited to add:  Christmas day photo:

oh, the structures we can build!

Happy holidays!

Look!  A knitted Christmas tree!

French beaded Christmas Tree

I went shopping with my mother-in-law on the Charlottesville downtown mall, a cute strip of local stores that has just about everything I could want - an awesome yarn shop, a bead shop, a couple of paper stores, an eco store, several local artisan stores, a gelato store, and more.  What more could you ask for?

In the bead shop, she fell in love with this.  Next thing I knew, she had purchased the directions and beads and wire to make it.  

I think it is a daunting project even if you just bead.  But she has so many wonderful needlepoint and knitting projects already underway (not to mention the new puppy).  But she does like Christmas ... So if you see any miniature ornaments, like those to decorate dollhouses, let me know!

The ultimate knitter's ornament

Seen on etsy here:  

Quick and easy holiday ornaments » Knit Picks Blog

Quick and easy holiday ornaments » Knit Picks Blog

so cute! and so easy!