Knitting

I'm accustomed to knitting with pretty small needles most of the time, US size 10 is pretty standard around here, but with one week to make three knit hats, I had to figure out a different plan of attack.
I searched Ravelry and to my delight found the perfect pattern for a chunky knit hat.


Yarn: Cascade, magnum. 1 skein will make one small and one large.
Needles: size US 15 circular
Gauge: 2 stitches per 1”
Size: small (large)
Measurement: 20” (22”) round

Cast on 44 (48) stitches.
Knit in garter stitch for 6 (10) rows.
Change to stockinette and knit until piece measures 5 1/2 (6 1/2 ) inches, ending with a wrong side row.

Next row: (RS) knit 2 together until end. 22 (24) stitches.
Next row: (WS) Purl 2 together until end. 11 (12) stitches.
Next row: (RS) Knit 2 tog to end. {on this row, on the small size, you will
knit 2 tog 5x, and have 1 stitch remaining for 6 stitches total} 6 stitches also remain for
large size. Cut yarn and run through remaining 6 stitches.

Finishing: Sew together seam, being careful to line up garter rows.

NOTES: This can also be knit on 4 double point, size 15 needles, to avoid seaming.
Large size in parentheses.
Play around with the length of the garter stitch depending on your liking.
Garter stitch: Knit every row.
Stockinette stitch: Knit on the right side, purl on the wrong side. Both hats shown are
knit with the 44 stitch cast on (I like a tight hat, and have a smallish head.) I then
followed the large pattern, knitting 10 rows of garter, changing to stockinette and knitting
for 6 1/2 inches.

I deviated from the pattern just slightly.
I used two US 15 straight needles because after going to one craft store and calling two others, that's all I could find. I'm sure an actual yarn store would have been more helpful, but I was pressed for time, like I said.
I knit garter stitch for 8 rows (not 6) and knit stockinette until the piece measured 7 1/2 to 8 inches (not 6 1/2).
I decided on these changes after I read some of the reviews on Ravelry and am happy I made the hat longer than the pattern suggested.

I love this pattern. I can't wait to make more of these hats!
Do you use Ravelry?
What are some of your favorite patterns?

What a day

Saturday morning we were both up early so we decided to dive into some Christmas shopping.
The first stop was the donut shop to get our less than practical fuel for this adventure. My donut was delicious, but I dealt with a belly ache later in the afternoon. Lesson learned? Probably not.

Then the shopping began.

We made about five different stops, and were having a great time shopping for others and shopping for ourselves. At one store, Zeb happened upon the Forever Lazy pajamas that he's been talking about for a couple of months and got pretty excited.

Every time Zeb and I shop together, I am surprised by how distracted he gets. I forget that he doesn't really go shopping all that often so when he gets in a store, he takes a lot of detours to whatever may catch his eye. At one time, I looked back to find him studying his face in a magnifying mirror. In an other store, he was talking about some cute baby hats (we have no babies to shop for).

It was a fun morning, but we're still not finished.

Currently

It's December and that can mean only one thing. I am in the middle of making gifts for Christmas. I am currently in the middle of knitting two hats, making a few scrapbook pages, collecting cookie recipes and looking up sewing tutorials online.

Do you make or buy most of your gifts?

Our Tree

I was against putting up the tree last year. I was a bit of a scrooge I'll admit. I didn't get the point really. You take all this time to put up the tree and then 30 days later you just have to take it down. Who really has time for all that?

This year, however, I made the decision to enjoy the holidays and that includes putting up the Christmas tree.

I am proud to say we have condensed all of our Christmas decor into one Rubbermaid container, and though I toy with the idea of starting some sort of Christmas collection, I am really happy to only get one box down from the attic every year. When I was growing up we would lug about 10 boxes (big boxes) up from the basement year after year. The house looked beautiful, but that was hard work. So although when I see collections of nutcrackers or snowmen and I think about how much fun it would be to start a collection, I remember my one single box of Christmas decor, and am determined to maintain that.

So we (Zeb) got the one box down yesterday, put on some music, and got to decorating. Zeb and I were both lucky enough to get one ornament a year while we were growing up, and continue to get one every year from his mom, so we have quite an assortment.

The tree looks so pretty sparkling at night. I love it!
Have you decorated yet?

Halloween 2011

At about 5:00pm yesterday, I walked over to my neighbor's house because they had some scary music playing and it looked like they were setting up for trick or treaters. After a little bit of talking and a very slight guarantee that I would get trick or treaters, I decided to get involved in the holiday. I went to the store and picked up two bags of candy and then came home to get the porch ready.
We didn't get any pumpkins this year so I got out a lot of tea lights for the front porch. I turned Pandora to a scary Halloween station and got some costumes gathered together.

I decided on a Luchador mask and Zeb went as a crazy person: crazy black wig, dark circles under the eyes, and a long robe.
We thought trick or treaters were supposed to be coming by at 6:00pm, but I don't think we got our first one until 7:00pm. So in that hour we had a lot of fun practicing how we were going to scare kids: lot's of moaning and running around. Kids or not, we were entertaining ourselves for sure.

When the kids started showing up, we had a lot of fun seeing the costumes and giving out candy. I only scared some of them because I didn't want their parents to get mad at me....also, some of them weren't scared of this little person in a Luchador mask running at them....?


We had so much fun all night and are convinced to participate year after year.


Zeb summed it up best on Facebook:



"I am truly amazed at how much Cheryl has gotten into Halloween in the last half hour."




It's funny 'cause it's true.