Burton Bear Cowl

They are finally finished!! The cowls knit up so fast but then you get the fun task of "finishing" them. I hate weaving in ends. I'm ashamed to admit this but I have a pair of striped socks that have at least 10 tails inside them that I pretend don't exist. :x I made a cowl for both myself and my daughter...and with my leftover yarn I made her a wristlet that she loves. I must point out the crochet work along the front of the cowl and the ears. ;) I'm learning a bit. It goes so fast, I can see why people crochet. On this cowl, I used a bind off method that my friend Jeremy taught me. The pattern calls for casting off and then stitching together but I cast off by using a three-needle bind off.

Linking up to: I Heart Naptime . My 1929 Charmer . Craft-o-Maniac . Making the Scene . Making the World Cuter . Sewing Barefoot . Ninth Street Notions . The Dedicated House . Mad In Crafts . DIY Showoff . Brassy Apple . Homemaker On a Dime . Not Just A Housewife . My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia . Sugar Bee Crafts . Mercy Ink Blog . VWB Blog . Home Stories A to Z . The Winthrop Chronicles . Just Us Four . Sugar and Dots . Gingersnap Crafts . Someday Crafts . White Lights on Wednesday . The Well Crafted Home . Fine Craft Guild . The Gunny Sack . House of Hepworths . A Glimpse Inside . Two Yellow Birds . 30 Handmade Days . The Shabby Nest . Naptime Crafters . Whipper Berries .

Convertibles!

I'm ready to play. :) I had a nice interweb hiatus over my winter break. I took a break from my usual job with kiddos to work with some old folks and really refreshed my batteries. What else? I haven't really been crafting too much. I've been on an organization kick. I feel like my entire family has a hoarding problem, which leads to insane amounts of container purchasing. *sigh* We're getting there.

What else have I been doing? Knitting. I'm working on the Burton Bear Cowl and I can't wait to post my completed photos. Before Christmas I completed a few of these hat/beard combos. How do I look with a beard? Not so hot! lol I have a confession. Every hat that I've ever made is too small for the recipient. Why? I don't know. They look cute but the recipients should consider it a decoration and not feel obliged to wear them. Back to the story...

I looked all over Ravelry for bearded hats and then I realized no one will really wear a fake beard more than once so I made these convertible. When knitting your hat, make a button hole on each side. I used a pattern, mostly made up and definitely forgotten similar to this:

Cast-on 40 

Rows 1-3  Sl st pearl wise, *K* 

Row 4-  Sl st pearl wise, K14, Cast off 10, K15

Row 5-  Sl st pearl wise, K14, cast on 10, K15

Row 6-  Sl st pearl wise, K2tog, *K*, K2tog, K1

Row 7-14   Sl st pearl wise, *K*

Row 15-20 Sl st pearl wise, K2tog, K2tog, K2tog, *K*,  last 7 stitches, K2tog, K2tog, K2tog, K1

Cast off.

Then I stretched my beard out over my face to see how much I needed to add in length to reach the button holes. I did a simple garter stitch side burn to connect the two pieces. I sewed them together and added the button. 

Linking up to: I Heart Naptime . My 1929 Charmer . Craft-o-Maniac . Making the Scene . Making the World Cuter . Sewing Barefoot . Ninth Street Notions . The Dedicated House . Mad In Crafts . DIY Showoff . Brassy Apple . Homemaker On a Dime . Not Just A Housewife . My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia . Sugar Bee Crafts . Mercy Ink Blog . VWB Blog . Home Stories A to Z . The Winthrop Chronicles . Just Us Four . Sugar and Dots . Gingersnap Crafts . Someday Crafts . White Lights on Wednesday . The Well Crafted Home . Fine Craft Guild . The Gunny Sack . House of Hepworths . A Glimpse Inside . Two Yellow Birds . 30 Handmade Days . The Shabby Nest . Naptime Crafters . Whipper Berries .

Boot Cuffs

My sister has EVERYTHING. And by everything, I mean everything. Literally, I don't think she can cram one more thing into her room. Did I mention she lives with my parents and she's 25? Crosses my fingers for her moving out one day. But she did, however, mention well...text me a photo of boot cuffs that she wanted. Unfortunately, they were crocheted. I know, crocheting is supposedly really easy but I just don't want to learn. My wife thinks it would be really cool to be able to say "I knit AND crochet." I just don't really want to. Laziness I guess. SO I knit my sister a pair of boot cuffs and with the extra yarn, I made some for my grandma. We'll see where she wears hers! ha. I tried two different patterns. The first pattern is from here. Very simple but the effect didn't show up as well on this fluffy yarn.
Pattern:
row 1: *k2, p1*
row 2: *k2, p1*
row 3: *RT, p1*

The second pattern is just your basic k2, p2. I think it looks much cleaner with the yarn choice.

Linking up to: I Heart Naptime . My 1929 Charmer . Craft-o-Maniac . Making the Scene . Making the World Cuter . Sewing Barefoot . Ninth Street Notions . The Dedicated House . Mad In Crafts . DIY Showoff . Brassy Apple . Homemaker On a Dime . Not Just A Housewife . My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia . Sugar Bee Crafts . Mercy Ink Blog . VWB Blog . Home Stories A to Z . The Winthrop Chronicles . Just Us Four . Sugar and Dots . Gingersnap Crafts . Someday Crafts . White Lights on Wednesday . The Well Crafted Home . Fine Craft Guild . The Gunny Sack . House of Hepworths . A Glimpse Inside . Two Yellow Birds . 30 Handmade Days . The Shabby Nest . Naptime Crafters . Whipper Berries .

Chunky Wrap

Oh hi there. I recently finished this scarf/wrap/shawl monstrosity and I've gotten so many compliments on it so I thought I would post it here. I have a friend who loves to make shawls and I've always envied his patience. I knew I wanted something warm for the winter that would match everything and this is my perfect piece. :) I searched all over Ravelry but didn't find a pattern that would fit my needs so I improvised this. The yarn is Berroco Sundae yarn in Marmalade. I used 3 skeins on size 15 needles. In retrospect, I should have cast on at a corner and worked my way up but instead I cast on 160 stitches which meant I was stuck with a big 5 feet triangle. Had I started small and worked my way up in stitches, I could have had more flexibility with the size. The pattern is a simple lace pattern: knit 1 row and then knit 1, yarn over, knit two together on the next row... repeat. To make the fringe, I cut pieces 10" long and folded in half and then looped them through the edges (ever 3rd stitch).