and a matching hat!

So even though I thought I might run out of the last of the Wick skein I was given, I decided to give it a go and make a matching baby hat.

I cast on 54 stitches with size 9s and then used garter stitch for about an inch and a half. Then I switched to size 11s and stockinette stitched for about two inches before beginning the decrease.

Then I did K4 K2tog for a knit row, purled the next row, K3 K2tog the next row and then purled the next. K2 K2tog for the next row, purl again, K1 K2tog, purl, and K2tog all the way across. Then I purled again, and did the next row K2tog again, and ended up with just a few stitches. When I had only 3 or 4 stitches, I bound off. I stitched up the seam.

For the "doodly things," I used an H crochet hook and just freeformed tentacles of about 8-10 stitches using a single stitch, added more chain to start another one, sc'ed those, etc, until I had six tentacles of varying lengths (none longer than 2 in.) I anchored them on top using both ends of the yarn, by crocheting the last doodly thing back down toward the center where the other was.

The hat is nice and stretchy and would fit a child 2-8 months old, unless the baby was a pumpkin head. :^)

Like my vase as a hat form?

And amazingly, I still have a tiny bit of the Wick left!!

Tomorrow, foot surgery and then a long recuperation period that will require I sit and knit. Poor me!

Thank you, Secret Pal!

Look what my One Skein secret pal sent me--two skeins! Perhaps she has been noticing my extreme color pre- ferences.

And here are the finished booties that match the sweet card she included with the skeins. Wick is stretchy, and that seems just right for booties.

Lastly, in case it wasn't obvious just how much I love purple, green and blue, here is my newly embellished tattoo (I was suffering trying to figure out how to take a picture using the mirror) that truly proves the PGB thang I have. Each of those stars represents one of my daughters, and I of course am the crescent moon. :^)

One (half a) Skein for booties

Back from all my travels with things that I started and now need to finish. But I do have the baby booties I knitted from the one skein project here! They required a before-and- after shot, so there's one waiting to be stitched up, and the finished product. Good pattern, not too hard and not too easy. They are the Stay On Knit Booties from Bev's Country Cottage. I would have made the cuff part longer if I could have seen what I was going to be doing, but sadly, my brain don't work thataway, so I didn't get it until I was putting it together. Next pair, more initial stitches cast on! And the pattern is flexible as to sizing, but these are more like 6-12 month size, rather than newborn. I used size 7 needles, and I believe the Wick is worsted weight. That would account for them being a bit bigger. (Thank you, Secret Pal! I didn't even need a whole skein of the Wick, but I am now merrily plotting what to do with the remaining half of the skein.)

OT: Check this out: DD2 Molly is becoming famous in a small world of Harry Potter music lovers!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGpNl9zsayg