Le Bebe Bonnet

Tell a knitter you're having a baby and you know the first thing they're going to do. My hands hovered over the yarn to make baby booties for Holly's little bundle of joy but when common sense hit there was little else to do. I knit a hat instead.

You see, Holly is having a little girl who is due to arrive in April. Not exactly the wool booties or warm hat season. I remembered finding a pattern that used the same yarn I have left over from a shawl I knit last year. So, viola! An Emli Bonnet was cast on and knit in a few days time.


Pattern: Emli Bonnet by Alison Hansel
Yarn: Jager Trinity (a silk & cotton blend) in a soft pink

I think this baby hat looks like a flower fairy's hat with the embossed leaves pattern flowing down from the top and the picot bind-off gives it that little extra frilly. Absolutely perfect for a brand new baby girl.


I didn't make any modifications to Alison's pattern, I just stopped before all the increases were done because the hat looked plenty long to me. Here's hoping I'm right.

Holly's baby shower is tomorrow and I hope she thinks it's as adorable as I do. Thanks, Alison, for the cute pattern!

Happy Valentines Day

This year my husband and I decided not to buy each other things for Valentines Day. Sounds fine to me. I figured making a batch of heart-shaped cookies doesn't count as buying anything so that is my Valentine to him and Emma, too.


I thought this might be a quick project and as much as I like to pretend that all these things are effortless and just flow from my fingertips at whim, I have to admit the whole process took me about 2 hours. Good thing Emma takes one long nap in the afternoon!


I also managed to learn something new. You can paint color onto cookies either before or after baking by just diluting food coloring with water and brushing it on. Pretty cool. Next time I'll let Emma help with the painting but after she colored all over the couch with a pair of highlighters yesterday morning I wasn't too eager to give her more resources to color my house with.

May your Valentines Day be sweet and full of love.

Lots of Love!

Here's a link to Nick's family's blog and it has the cutest pictures of him with Mr. Monkey! Makes me so happy to see that he loves his new friend. :)

Monkey Love

The super-secret project unveiled!


May I present, Mr. Monkey. I am sure that someday the 1 1/2 year old boy, Nick, who now has him will give him a wonderful and suitable name but for our purposes today he is simply Mr. Monkey.


Pattern: Monkey by Fiona McTague from Knitted Toys
Yarn: Peaches & Cream 100% cotton, 2 balls of Chocolate and 1 ball of Army Tan. The pattern calls for worsted weight wool but this yarn was much cheaper and wonderfully washable. The only downside was that knitting with cotton is such a booger! That's probably part of why this project took me so long.
Mods: My mother-in-law makes sure that all her stuffed animals have hearts inside them so I took her idea one step further and stitched a heart on his chest. I just think it's too sweet! Also, I put magnets in Mr. Monkey's paws so that they will stick together. Much better for giving hugs that way. Oh, and every traveling monkey needs a scarf, too.


I started this little guy last July because he was supposed to be a 1st birthday present for Nick, then a Christmas present and now he's finally there for Valentines Day. I'm pitiful, I know. It's almost like once I put a project down I never pick it up again. *sigh* Either way, he's done now and I think he looks awesome.


Happy Valentines Day, Nick!

Monday, Monday

I woke up this morning feeling refreshed and ready to go! I have one secret knitting project done and a second to be finished tonight. In the works are slippers for my father-in-law, Rogerdad. At this point they've been knit and now they just need to be felted. They look like two ginormous oven mitts. No kidding.



After they are agitated in the washer they will be perfect! Nice and soft, warm and thick. Even better is that when he wears the soles out of these I can simply knit new ones to be sewn onto the bottoms. The last pair of slippers Rogerdad will ever need. :)

More crafting ahead: I'm thinking there will be a few more dresses in the works for Emma since she has decided she must wear a dress at all times. The best part is she only wants to wear the dresses I made for her. I can't tell you how proud this makes me.

Other new stuff: Emma has finally decided to introduce herself on her own. Little girl obviously knows what her name is, but if anyone ever asks her, "What's your name?" she just parrots the question back to them. No response from her. Maybe she was just being coy or playing hard to get. Either way, on Friday, she decided to tell a nice lady that her name is Emma. Now, if she ever manages to say her last name it will be a miracle.