Slouchy Flower Hat

I just finished up this lovely slouchy flower hat:





This started as a travel knit - I wanted something small and portable to take back to the UK with me at the beginning of the year. I found the pattern online, printed it out, threw it in a project bag with the recommended needles and some deliciously soft alpaca yarn...

En route I read the pattern for the first time and realised that the flower is knit after the hat is completed. Boo.  I thought the flower would be knit into the design of the hat. You see, I do not love fiddly knitting where there are little bits and pieces to crank out and assemble later. So I knit the hat on my trip, started the first flower petal and then cast it aside. That is until Andi started the KAL that spurs folks to finish up their projects!

I'm soo thankful for the motivation. And the crazy part is that the petals really weren't a big deal and took me no time at all. (Although sewing them onto the hat kept me occupied during a good portion of a movie last night!!)

The hat was originally intended for me. But I asked Naomi to model for me, and wow it looks pretty on her! Aside from her being a prettier model :o))), I think that certain hats just look better when there are long locks cascading out from underneath. So sweet girl has a new winter hat!

Pattern: Flower Hat by Rebecca Lenox
Yarn: A handspun alapaca that I picked up at a local craft fair (good grief this stuff was lovely to work with)
Needles: As recommended in the pattern
Modifications: None

Ooh and Naomi started preschool this last week. What a bag of emotions that was for the pair of us. Nerves and excitement before starting and wondering how the transition would be. Relief and overwhelming joy to see her integrate soo well and love the new school!


Hope you are having a lovely weekend,
Sam xxx

Kid Silk Haze Airy Scarf

I am in love with this scarf. It is light, fluffy, cosy and fabulously PINK!
I shouldn't get too attached though - this is actually a gift knit.



The Airy Scarf pattern is a free one (always a bonus): http://www.cheekyattitude.com/free-pattern-kidsilk-haze-shawl/



It is an extremely straightforward pattern and was perfect plane knitting on a recent business trip.



I used the recommended Kid Silk Haze yarn and knit on size 10 needles. The pattern recommends knitting 1.5 balls, but I always think it's better for scarves to be super long and so I knit 2 complete balls of the kid silk haze. The resulting scarf is 74 inches long.

I'd read that some folks didn't enjoy knitting with the fine yarn on larger needles. I really didn't mind at all... but I do think it helped that I was using lightweight needles - the old-fashioned plastic kind.

Not a lot else to say about this one except that I want one too :o)))
Ooh and it also gets entered into Andi's KAL.

On an entirely different note, last weekend we all went to visit an alpaca farm. It was SOOOOO much fun. There were some yearlings and some that were only a month or 2 old.



I thoroughly enjoyed being able to be up close with the alpaca and pet them. (I don't think the alpaca were anywhere near as excited as I was :o)))



And Naomi enjoyed feeding them. Such a fun little outing.

Hope you are having a lovely weekend,
Sam xxx

My Sister's Knitter KAL - WIPS

Yesterday was the last day to cast on new projects that would be eligible for Andi's Kal.

The intent of the KAL is to finish up Works-In-Progress by end September. The caveat being that they had to have been started prior to August 1st. But, how did August 1st get here soo fast? You see, I had in the back of my mind that I was going to cast on some new projects before today :))

This is a good thing though. With my WIP project count in the double digits it is time to whittle some of these down! Now, which to choose:

 

For sure: Airy Kid Silk Haze Scarf:

 

And the Colour Block Mittens:

Anything after this is a bonus.

Maybe the Poinsettia hat because I only have the Poinsettia to go. It's a quick finish if I just knuckle down.

 

This is going to be fun :)

What plans do you have to finish works in progress?

Hope you are having a good week,

Sam xxx