Baby Fan Mitts

I love these Baby Fan Mitts so much I'm on my third pair. Enough said.

The pattern is available here on Ravelry. 

Yarn Along

Joining in with Ginny over at Small Things for this week's Yarn Along.

As usual, I have several things on the needles, and several books on the go: one fiction, one non-fiction.

On the needles are some nifty legwarmers, a gift for my friend over at Wabi Sabi Wanderings. They're made with Tahki's "Donegal Tweed". You may recognize the yarn; I bought 11 skeins of it to make a sweater for myself, and instead use it for all kinds of small things (like baby sweaters, hats, and legwarmers). The other ball of yarn is Fame Trend's "Party", which will hopefully enjoy its new incarnation as rainbow socks before winter is out (I finished my Noro Kureyon socks and have worn them daily ever since. They are officially my favourite socks ever). If you're a knitter intimidated by the idea of making socks, please find someone who can help you with the tricky bits. There is really nothing like them! If you are a local friend and want to learn, you know who to call...

My sweet friend Rachel sent me Haruki Murakami's The Wind Up Bird Chronicle in the mail. Isn't it delightful to receive a book in the mail from a friend who knows your tastes in such things? This is unlike anything I've read and has me thinking about all kinds of philosophical concepts that I haven't thought about before. This is fun for my brain!

Non-fiction is a bit harder to get through. Gut and Psychology Syndrome by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride describes a natural, diet-based treatment for all kinds of conditions (autism, schizophrenia, ADHD, ADD, Dyspraxia, depression, etc.) It's fascinating to explore the idea that by changing your diet, you can actually heal from many conditions that experts consider incurable. It's controversial because it flies in the face of research that suggest the MMR vaccine has nothing to do with autism, and draws a very clear connection between digestive and mental health. I'm considering following the GAPS diet in order to heal Jude's digestive system, but need to read the whole book first. It is a costly book; if you want more information before buying it, do send me an email and I can give you more background.

(Thanks to my sister Julie for getting this one for me!)

What are you reading/knitting these days?

Thrifty: Repairing My Favourite Sweater

My favourite sweater was purchased in August 1997, just before I headed up North to teach for a year. I was twenty-three years old, and just embarking on my teaching career. I loved this sweater. Blue, rust, chocolate brown, gold, all in a classic pattern. Plus, it was a cardigan. I wore it with jeans, I wore it with dresses, I wore it with skirts, I wore it with nightgowns.

The trouble is, this sweater was 100% wool. Warm, yes. Durable? Not so much. Wool tends to wear through wherever there's any steady rubbing or pressure. So, with time, the elbows gave out. A moth or a mouse nibbled a small hole near a button.

There were times when I thought I'd just felt the thing in the washer and make slippers out of it. But I just couldn't bring myself to do it. It's everything I want in a cardigan: nice fit, not too thick, beautiful colours, classic design. I just couldn't do it.

Today was what we call a "Two Fire Day" (fires in both the wood furnace and the kitchen woodstove); it was that cold. It was the day to fix my sweater.

 First I had to choose a fabric that would be both complimentary and quirky!

 Next, I created a pattern for a patch large enough to generously cover the holes.

 A small book inserted inside the sleeve offered a good flat surface on which to stitch (and ensured that I don't catch the other side of the sleeve). Peter Rabbit is the perfect size!

 Using an iron, I pressed a rolled hem around the edges of the patch, then used embroidery floss to stitch it onto the elbow of the sweater.

While sewing, I noticed a few stitches that were beginning to "ladder", so used a crochet hook to pick them back up, then secured them with a stitch.

Not so scholarly as leather patches on tweed, this dear sweater of mine feels even more mine with the addition of pretty patches.

The patch over the hole in front wanted to be a heart-shape. Now, instead of looking ragged and worn, this beautiful garment has years of life in it, and will be worn proudly until I wear through the patches.

Sweet Rainbow Sweater

It's finished...aside from the perfect buttons (I have yet to find them)...

I would offer to share this pattern with you, but I'm afraid I can't! I used the pattern for the adult Tea Leaves Cardigan for the top yoke, adjusted to fit Margot, then took it from there on my own. You can purchase a pattern for the official Tiny Tea Leaves Cardigan here! I think Madeleine Tosh's version uses less repeats of the yoke bands, but I added them till they reached close to the underarm.

I like the three-quarter length sleeves (which make sense for a toddler, don't you think?), and the beautiful soft colours. It should last a few seasons, and the great thing about top-down knitting is that the hem and cuffs are easily ravelled to add inches to the bottom and the sleeves.

This isn't my first attempt at patching together several patterns to create something new, but I think perhaps it's my favourite...so far. Margot has given it a stamp of approval (by wearing it, then discarding it in a heap on the floor, then wearing it again), so I'd call it a success. I look forward to cool autumn days so she can wear it every day.

I used Fleece Artist's Scotian Silk in Jamaica, purchased at Janie H. Knits in Perth, Ontario.

Yarn Along

Knitters and book-lovers are an obsessive lot. We collect and hoard yarn and favourite books like treasure, skulk around yarn sales and second-hand bookstores, and once we're into a great project or a great book, the world could fall down around our ears and we would see nothing but that stitch we dropped a few rows back or an author's clever turn of phrase.

Or is that just me?

I started this adaptation of the Tea Leaves Cardigan; I had purchased the pattern years ago, but haven't made it for myself. In searching for a pattern for Margot's autumn sweater, I came across the Tiny Tea Leaves, and it was just what I was looking for. However, I couldn't seem to purchase it.

So, I took my adult Tea Leaves pattern and have been adapting it as I go...it seems to be working alright! This yarn (Fleece Artist's Scotian Silk in Jamaica) is a dream to work with: a constant pastel rainbow of silky soft wool slipping through my fingers, the endless fun of watching the next colour building on the colour below it. It is creating a dense, warm fabric that will work as a coat for Margot this Fall and next Spring.

Having just finished Nick Crowe's "A Cold Night for Alligators" (an excellent read), I'm now into "The Woefield Poultry Collective" by Susan Juby. It's laugh-out-loud hilarious, narrated by four different, quirky characters that are reluctantly trying to bring an old, hard-scrabble farm on Vancouver Island back to productivity.

I've just purchased paint for my kitchen; I may have to get my husband to hide both book and knitting so I can get started on that monumental task! But not today...today, I'll be knitting, with a bit of reading on the side.

The Waterhorse Sweater

If you've ever spent time in Ireland, England, or Scotland, you'll know that the only things keeping you from dying of consumption are:

• peat fires
• whiskey or Guinness
• a densely knit wool sweater

It's wet in this part of the world. That famous green comes with a price: rain, fog, and mist, and lots of all three. There's a reason sheep thrive in the British Isles: their wool is warm, even when wet.

My husband's grandfather, in England, 1940s? The resemblance between this man and mine is astonishing. Note his beautiful sweater!

When I watch movies set in any of these places, I enjoy the scenery, the accents, the ruddy-cheeked men in tweed caps...but mostly, I enjoy the handknits. Think Molly Weasley's Christmas gifts to Harry and Ron, or the little wool caps and scarves Hermione wears. Think of Lucy's little cardigan when she meets Mr. Tumnus for the first time in Narnia. Think Nanny McPhee's charges during that beach picnic.

I have a fantasy of being an on-set knitter, recreating period knits for actors to wear.
So I practically drooled while watching "The Waterhorse" (based on the novel by Dick King Smith of "Babe" fame), set on Loch Ness during the Second World War. Forget that it stars Ben Chaplin (squee!), or that the little boy in it resembles my son with his dark hair, pale skin, and freckles.

Yarn posing with some wartime-era player piano rolls...

This little boy wears handknits! Lots of them, in varying shades of wartime grey. Sweaters and vests, in nearly every scene.

My young man has grown since I last knit him a sweater, so I have set out to make him what I've been calling his "Waterhorse Sweater". I'm making it up as I go, recording what I'm doing, so if it turns out, I'll share the pattern here.

I'm making it with a really rustic Canadian yarn, Briggs and Little "Heritage" (processed in New Brunswick), in a grey and white twist. Jude declares it a "little bit itchy", but I expect it will soften up with washing. The price is right, and I can buy it at our local feed and farm supply store!

Using Elizabeth Zimmerman's "Knitting Without Tears" as a guide, I've made the body from the bottom up, and have one sleeve done (from the cuff up). Once the second sleeve is done, I'll join them all in the round to create a raglan sleeve; the collar is something I'm picturing but have no name for. You'll see it when it's done. It buttons on an angle (along one raglan seam) with a split turtleneck collar that flips down...anyone? What is this called?

The appeal of knitting this way (checking your gauge, taking bits and pieces that you like from various sweaters, measuring your child as well as a favourite garment that fits about the way you hope your sweater will fit!) ensures that you'll get what you're hoping for. I try it on Jude as I go, and can decide to add a few inches here or there to accommodate his rapidly growing limbs. Note the tall drink of water that his great-grandfather is...his dad is the same way. Chances are, as the years go by, I'll just have to add inches to the cuffs and hem, and the width will fit just fine!

*Some of you may be wondering about Jude's Scrap Cardigan, started so many months ago. I started having visions of him becoming a social pariah at school, a la Dolly Parton in "Coat of Many Colours". I know. I should let him be an individual. But on the way to school, he asks me, "Do I look cool today, mom?" (with his Batman socks pulled up to his knees, his astronaut t-shirt tucked into his shorts, his sticky-uppy hair...) I always answer, "Of course!" If he was begging me for the sweater, I'd do it without hesitation. But as it grows more stripey and colourful and outrageous, he seems less and less willing to try it on for fittings. I'm not going to be one of those moms that says, "I slaved over this and you're going to WEAR IT!!", thus condemning my child to being known forevermore as "that geek in the itchy rainbow sweater". Yes, if I'd scrounged the yarn from ravelled old sweaters and he depended on the sweater for warmth, he might have to suck it up and wear it, like it or not. But we're not THAT broke. I'd rather make him something he'll wear and love. Enough said.

Spring Whispers

I've been busily creating these sweet little eggs from this Rhythm of the Home (be sure to check out the designer's blog), in preparation for a birthday celebration in April, as well as a seasonal exchange with friends. They're quick to make, and so darn delightful, especially when stored in a carton. They make me smile.

(The good old webcam comes through for me again, with some help from Picnik!)

Yarn Along!

I am not organised enough, generally, to participate in any blog-hop type things...I always think of it the day after, then remind myself to do it the next week, then I forget...my blogging habits are sporadic, at best. But this week I'm doing it! I'm joining in on the Yarn Along (visit Small Things!)...I know I did more than the indicated one photo. But I just had to give y'all a closer look at my Scrap Cardigan.

I must say I am absolutely delighted with how it is coming along; I started it less than a week ago and am already at the point where I'll set the sleeve stitches on some waste yarn in order to work on the body. It's quick and stimulating (all those changes in colour, texture, and stitch patterns!), and quite easy, actually. I'm using bits from my stash: Studio Donegal, Tahki's Donegal Tweed, Briggs and Little, and lots of unnamed stuff that has collected over the years! This sweater is a great stash-buster...you can find the pattern on Ravelry.

If you haven't read "The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie" by Alan Bradley, get thee to a bookstore! I've just finished the sequel, "The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag", and Flavia DeLuce is among my top 10 favourite book characters of all time. I've just started "The Outlander" by Gil Adamson (not to be confused with Diana Gabaldon's "Outlander", which I've read several times!)...it kept me up later than usual last night, and I only put it down when I realised I'd read a whole page with well....my eyes closed. Ahem.

We're reading lots of winter-inspired stories with the kids; two of our favourites, being Canadian and all, are "The Hockey Sweater" by Roch Carrier, and "The Lonely Inukshuk" which was written by the students at Inuglak School. My wee ones love learning the Inuktittut names of the animals in the story! Of course, "The Snowy Day" by Ezra Jack Keats is getting lots of read-time these days, too...

What better way to pass the winter, than by knitting and reading?

GratiTuesday

When the temperature drops to -20 degrees Celsius (that is just ridiculously cold), I find myself feeling grateful for all kinds of things.

::the joy of indoor cats

::the joy of outdoor cats

::after a day apart, siblings cuddling under a mama-made quilt

::the promise of a bag of yarn, and a new project on the needles

::endless cups of tea, and my shiny, whistly kettle

::the games of Hollywood Rummy with my husband that help pass the evenings

::the little love tokens my husband leaves: kindling, bundled newspaper, and wood

::and the fire I can create so quickly and effortlessly when I get home from work

::the signs of indoor play when the risk of frostbite is too great

::Jude's first taste of ice cream in years (this one is made from coconut milk!)

::and the promise of another sunny day in the snow with my chicklets.

My time on the computer is severely curtailed by the ever-presence of my children; the toddler who slams the laptop shut as I work, the preschooler who clambers up and kicks the internet stick out of the computer, the son who needs a drink, the husband who masks his irritation that I'm trying to blog now?

I'm trying to figure out how to add a Magical Widgety thingy. It's not going well. I just don't have time to fiddle around with the fancy stuff, as much as I'd like to and admire everyone else's ability to do so.

So, please share a link in your comment, or just a few words about what you're feeling grateful about today! GratiTuesday! Love it!

Baby, Remember My Name

I have an auto knitter. It’s a hand-cranked, designed-during-the-industrial-revolution sock-knitting machine. By machine, I don’t mean something with a plug that does all the work for you. I mean a heavy cast-iron thing with gears and screws and needles and a carriage. You sit and crank, carefully counting rows, create a heel, crank some more, and create a toe. It takes all of an hour to make a pair of socks, once you factor in picking up dropped stitches and grafting the toe. These were my go-to gift for several years. After our move to the homestead, the pieces got divided amongst boxes, the needles stored somewhere safe. The place I chose was so safe that I’ve been unable to find them. So, the Autoknitter is sitting idle, patiently awaiting my return.
All the socks I made on it have worn through at the ball of the foot, but I haven’t had the heart to just throw them out. I don’t want to waste the time and yarn I used just because the toes have worn through. So I kept them in a pile for years.

The other day I got a notion to cut the toes off. And I’m thrilled with the result! I like to be barefoot, but our wood floors are chilly in the winter. These little babies keep my ankles and legs warm, but give my toes freedom!

Plus, I feel like a dancer from Fame, all calloused feet and slouchy legwarmers. I’m gonna live forever!

Pilgrim's Progress

I feel like a pilgrim, on a journey towards the unknown but assuredly blessed destination: a pair of handmade socks! Not just any socks, but a pair made just for me, she of the eternally cold feet. When learning a new skill or concentrating very hard, the human face contorts. My husband's mouth moves unconsciously when he drums, lips pulling in, pushing out, popping open and closed with the beats. Michael Jordan used to stick out his tongue when going in for a dunk. My bellydance students laugh at themselves when I gently suggest they practice facial expressions in the mirror, as their fierce frowns of concentration kind of detract from the beauty of the dance.

As I began my socks, trying to remember how to do the magic-loop cast on while calculating in my mind exactly how to do TWO at a time (with no instruction on this last bit), I knew I was making the face. My husband captured it: proof that those two lines between my brows are not from frowning in a bad mood, but from extreme concentration!

Note the wee face peeking over my left shoulder.

The aha! moment of delight..."I did it wrong," (and had to frog it), "but now, By George, I think I've got it!"

Margot shares in my joy. She still says "cheese"!

If you, like my husband, are mind-boggled at the idea of knitting two socks simultaneously, I assure you: it's not magic (although it's pretty darn close!). You can see the toe of the sock taking shape, and the two balls I'm working with. Basically, I knit across the sole of one sock, then switch yarn and knit across the sole of the other. Then I turn it all around, pull the needle through, and knit across the instep of the second sock, and then across the instep of the first. Easy, right?

These lines on my face will be deeper by the time these babies are done. I'm aiming to wear them on my 37th birthday. Hand knit socks bring the same pleasure as wearing fancy lingerie under jeans and a t-shirt. No one can see them, no one knows they're handmade (and no one cares)...but YOU know. It's a decadent pleasure, a bit of luxury on the least luxurious part of our bodies, our feet. They fit delightfully, look gorgeous (when you pull up your pantleg to show them to people who don't really care), and are something practical and just for you.

Find someone to teach you, and get knitting!

Sock Bliss

Having been thoroughly intimidated by the 'knit lists' of other bloggers, where they chronicled the things they knit in the past year (fourteen sweaters? twelve pairs of socks AND seven shawls?), I have set a new goal for myself. I am going to knit ONE pair of socks (for myself) AND a sweater for each of my children this year. If I accomplish these tasks, then I'll maybe knit something for my husband before 2012 rolls around.

For the kids, I'm thinking I'll crank out a few of these Scrap Cardigans (pattern is available for free on Ravelry!)...looks like a fun knit (from the neck down), and a great way to bust my stash of worsted weight yarn!

Today I attended a sock-knitting workshop taught by the knowledgeable, humourous, and infinitely patient Nancy of Log Cabin Yarns. I finally learned the Magic Loop cast-on, and actually completed a child's sock (knit from the toe-up) in about 3 hours!

We were all excited by our success, and the thrill of learning a few new techniques (including various binding-off methods). Is there anything more exciting for a knitter (besides a handful of cash and a yarn sale, that is), than learning something new? Whether it's accomplishing your first purl stitch, casting on by yourself, learning to knit in the round, or trying a cable, there's always something more you can add to your knitting repertoire.

I had to use the flash to demonstrate the lovely shades in this Noro yarn I picked up today. The title of that sheet of paper is "The Dreaded Sock Math" which allows one to calculate the exact measurements to create a sock that fits just so. After preparing food to begin a cleanse tomorrow, making lunches, and laying out school/work clothes this evening, I hope to cast on TWO socks to be knit simultaneously. My husband is suitably impressed by this prospect, although he's having trouble wrapping his mind around exactly how I plan to do it...ah, the mysterious knowledge of knitters!

In your comment, tell me one thing YOU hope to learn or accomplish in this brand new year!

Yarn Along!

I'm loving this Yarn-Along blog-share idea from Ginny at Small Things! It seems there is a whole  community of biblio-and-lanaphiles out there...lovers of books and all things woolly! The two go hand in hand: both are redolent of woodstoves, warm socks, comfy chairs, and that cozy nestling-in feeling that just speaks of winter-on-its-way.

In preparation for an annual exchange of items in celebration of Advent, I've been knitting these little red mitten ornaments. They were fun to make, and quick! They're done now, and I'm at a bit of a loss as to what to make next. I've just frogged a sweater that I started this summer, and once again am faced with skeins and skeins of Donegal Tweed in a lovely celery green. I bought it 4 years ago to make a sweater for myself, but bit by bit I'm using it up in other small projects. I just can't seem to find a pattern I like enough to spend the time on it! Sigh.

One book we're loving right now is The Troll by Julia Donaldson (we've read this almost daily for a year...there are lots of possibilities for adding hilarious voices, if this is something you like to do). It has a troll, pirates, and the most belly-laugh-inducing illustrations! It's a family favourite, along with other books by the same author: The Gruffalo, The Gruffalo's Child, What the Ladybird Heard, and Stickman.Add Donalson's books to your Christmas list; the children in your life will love her wonderful rhymes and charming stories.

From the local library we borrowed Library Lion by Michelle Knudsen. This is a sweet tale about how a lion learns to follow, then bend, the rules in the library in order to help the librarian that loves him!

I just finished Big Stone Gap by Adriana Trigiani. I HIGHLY recommend it. I plan on doing a post about my favourite rural-setting books in the next week or so, so stay tuned for details.

Big Stone Gap is a hard act to follow, but Colm Toibin's "The Blackwater Lightship" is not a bad read. I'm not distracted with wanting to read it and admit that my attention has wandered since I started it. Tomorrow is library exchange day, so we'll see what else I can find!

For the Love of Violet

If the (invented, admittedly, by me) word lanaphilia means "the love of wool", then I need to invent a new word. Synthetophobia  is the abhorrence of acrylic, and all yarns not derived from animal or plant fibre. I HATE acrylic. I know, it's a strong word, and I do not use it carelessly here. Sure, acrylic is cheap. It washes and dries without care, lasts for a million years without wearing, feels really soft, and is unappealing to moths.

These acrylo-virtues do not override several facts: the colours suck. It pills when you wash it. It makes you sweat, without really keeping you warm (unlike wool, that wonder fibre, which keeps you warm even when wet). And perhaps worst of all: it SQUEAKS when you knit with it. I LOATHE the squeak of acrylic as it grunts gracelessly across my needles.

I learned to knit with acrylic, way back in its glory days: the mid-eighties. Back in those days, before the internet, before fancy local yarn stores, before Knit Picks, Wool Time, Yarn Forward, before even Walmart*, my mom would take me "downtown" (which is being generous: my hometown has a population of 1100), to "Daphne's"...our version of a local yarn/fabric/general craft supply store. I remember going there with my mom before I even started school. They'd sit me up in this half-tube that ran along the side of the cutting table; this was a place to lay the bolt of cloth. I marvelled to see it again when I was an adult; that my ass could fit in that little space is a wonder to me now. But I digress.

Daphne sold acrylic yarn. All of my first projects were made with some version of Patons yarn. I still have the first fair isle sweater I knit (when I was 12!); the yoke pattern was of little boys and girls (resembling paper dolls) holding hands, with green fir trees for colour. It's a nice gender-neutral grey. My kids could wear it! I'm still proud of the accomplishment, proud of the determined little girl I was, learning to knit and purl, increase and decrease, do ribbing and even real raglan sleeves. But it's acrylic.

 When I was introduced to wool, my world changed. You could say I am a yarn snob, and I'm not ashamed to admit it. The way I see it, if it's worth making, it's worth the best wool you can afford.

Enter Violet. The child who thinks a bug is biting her every time she feels an itch. If I put a pea under her mattress (or 20 mattresses), she'd feel it. You know the kind...sock seams, shirt tags, and bunchy elastic waists drive her crazy. After several flat refusals to where anything woolish, I made her a sweet cardigan out of Cotton Fleece, a lovely, very soft cotton-merino blend. Here she is, modelling the cardigan, after I'd wrestled her into it:

She loves it! You just can't tell because she's screaming so loudly.

This is the last time she wore it. Next I tried to knit her a vest, the Cobblestone-Inspired "Pebble". I casually suggested she tried it on (lest I scare her off with my intense desire for her to wear SOMETHING knitted); nope, no can do, mommy.

Everytime she sees me knitting, she asks what I'm making. She always follows my reply with "For meeeee?" So I've finally surrendered to what this girl needs.

She needs a mama-made sweater. In acrylic. I'm 4 inches into the back (colours chosen by her), and hating every minute of it. I hate the colour. I hate the yarn (which, incidentally, cost me $9...for the whole sweater). The pattern is cute. And I hope she'll love it so much that I'll have to peel it off her at night, coax her to pass it on to Margot when she outgrows it, and promise to save it for her babies. Even if it isn't wool. And even if my descendents think I was just some tacky acrylic-knitting granny, with no sense of the value of natural materials.

Because if she doesn't, she's not getting another damned knitted thing from me, ever.

Rainy Saturday Tutorial

Things I love this morning:
.: seeing the little path through the wet grass, made by wee cat paws
.: the coffee-perk sound of rain hitting the summer kitchen's tin roof
.: my husband in his favourite faded jeans and an OLD leather belt
.: the smell of real coffee perking, my weekend treat
.: Margot still sleeping at 8:20 a.m.
.: a rainy Saturday of yard-sale road tours with the kids
.: Violet agreeing to model this new hat I've made!

This is a bonus post, as I usually take weekends off...but I'm officially on summer holidays now (wheee!) and I came up with this sweet hat pattern over the past few evenings. I thought that if you, like me, love a quick simple knit for a rainy weekend, you might appreciate a wee tutorial.

Rosie Posie Hat

Cascade 220 wool (or any worsted weight wool/yarn...cotton would be cute for a spring/summer cap!)
4.5 mm needles, 16" circular
Size: this hat fits Margot, who is 16 months and has a big head like her mother; it also fits Violet, who is 3 and has a more delicate bone structure! So it just depends on the child's head...email me if you need help with sizing for a smaller/larger child/adult!

For hat:
Cast on 80 stitches. Place marker to indicate beginning of row. Join in round and K1 row, P1 row; continue in this manner (garter stitch) until work measures 2 inches.

Change to stockinette stitch: Knit around and around until work measures 4 1/4"; place markers every 10 stitches. You should have 8 markers in all.

Now begin decreasing:
R1: Knit 8, K2 together. (basically, knit till there are 2 stitches left before the marker, then K these 2 together). Repeat around row.
R2 and all even rows from now on: Knit
R3: Knit 7, K2 together; repeat around row.
R5: Knit 6, K2 together
R7: Knit 5, K2 together

You see where this is going? You knit to two stitches before the marker, then knit these two together, slip the marker, and repeat around the row, then knit the rows in between. This will create a nice spiral/flower shape on top of your hat:

Keep going until you K2 together all the way around. On the next row, K2 together again all around (if you knit a row between these last two rows, you'll end up with a funny little "nipple" at the top of your hat!) You should have 4 stitches left; I use the word "should" loosely...you can be more flexible with hats so if you end up with 6, don't worry!

Break yarn off, leaving a 4" tail; thread through remaining stitches and sew in ends.

To make a rose:

Using another colour, cast on 10 stitches.

R1: K

R2: P

R3: Knit into front and back of each stitch, to end. (20 stitches)

R4: P

R5: Knit into front and back of each stitch, to end. (40 stitches)

R6: P

R7: Knit into front and back of each stitch, to end. (80 stitches)

R8: Bind off all stitches.

Shape into a spiral/rose form, and secure with a needle and yarn.

To make leaves: (make 2 or 3)

Using green, cast on 3 stitches.

R1: K

R2: K1, P1, K1

R3: K into front and back of first stitch, K 1, K into front and back of last stitch (5 stitches)

R4: K2, P1, K2

R5: K 1, Kfb, K 1, Kfb, K1 (7 stitches)

R6: K3, P1, K3

R7: K1, K2tog, K1, K2tog, K1 (5 stitches)

R8: K2, P1, K2

R9: K2tog, P1, K2tog (3 stitches)

R10: K

R11: K1, P1, K1

R 12: K2tog, K1

R13: P2tog

Break off yarn, thread through rem. stitch, and sew in end.

Now you can sew these leaves onto the hat:

Place the flower between the leaves, and sew on securely with yarn.

Ta da! Present at your next baby shower, birthday party, or just on any old day for a chorus of "Did you MAKE that??" Few feelings equal the gratification of gifting a handmade item to a loved one.

Please email me with any questions; I've been knitting since I was a child and take some things for granted! If you're a beginner and are totally scared away by the circular needles, take heart! Like driving a stick shift, they're only scary until you get used to them.

Now shut down your computer, and get knitting! I'd love to see photos of your finished product; please send a link in your comment to share your version of the Rosie Posie hat. Have a lovely, knitty, rainy weekend.