Sandy's Art Yarn Hat from Orange Kitten Yarns and Homestead Wool and Gift Farm

Crazy...

How can you not enjoy knitting yarn from a sheep named “Cosmo”?  No doubt about it, “Cosmo’s Crazy Quilt” yarn is a one-of-a-kind fiber.  While Sandy's Crazy Quilt Art Yarn comes in a variety of colors, Cosmo's version is a simple white with all kinds of goodies mixed in.  I found silk flowers, ribbon, sparkly tinsel-like fiber, silky sari-like fiber, pearls, as well as a variety of colored wool fibers.  A veritable carnival on my needles!

 The New York City Handspun Bouquet scarf was the last time I got to enjoy a “one night” project, where I sat down with a ball of yarn and ended the night with a finished product.  There’s something wonderful about the “I made something from nothing” feeling a quick project like that gives you.  It makes me feel like some kind of wool wizard.

Quick, however, didn’t mean completely easy.  Wrangling all those textures made for some tricky knitting and times, particularly the ribbon.  I admit to some worry as to how comfortable something with all those “additives” will be on the young head that gets this hat.  

I do take pride in finally managing a respectable pom-pom.  I’ve made some mangy ones in the past, but this one turned out rather nicely.  It might be a little large, but since the rest of this hat is over-the-top, why not the pom-pom as well?

Right now, I don’t have anyone in my life the right size to wear this.  Size aside, this hat has to go to some child with the personality to match--a loud and lively little lady.  So I’m going to tuck it away and trust that the right head will present itself sometime in the future.  Every time I have done that, the perfect moment to give it away has always come along.  It’s part of the wonder of handcrafting, don’t you think?

Next up, the Nordic cozy from The Sow’s Ear.

Knit Along: Cupcake Cutie Hat from Needles 'n Pins - Day Who Knows What?

Cupcake closure...

Talk about long overdue endings!

I started this project in March, before life exploded into a ball of medical chaos. There’s something wonderful, however, in having this be the project that awaited completion. Babies are a good antidote to just about anything (except sleep deprivation, perhaps). It feels good to make a baby hat...no matter for whom our out of what or when. Cuteness knows no season.

The section of this hat where you switch colors, a clever purl row that lets you pick up stitches for the little frosting ripple in the most ingenious way, is a gem. I think it’s my favorite part of the hat.

My least favorite part: I still rot at pom-poms. It’s not the pattern’s fault. You’d think a woman with a college degree capable of penning over a dozen published novels could make a pom-pom, but you’d be horribly wrong. My pom-poms alway look mangey (harken on back to the DC’s cabled scarf in case you’ve forgotten). Next time I’ll either purchase them pre-made (don’t sneer, it’s senseless to ruin a good project with a mangey pom-pom) or skip it in favor of another adornment. A little i-cord bow or something.

This week I get to plant this confection on the tiny head for which it was made. The baby has long since been born, and she’s a beauty. There’s just something poetic about marking my endurance through a life-threatening disease by honoring a new life. I’ve decided I don’t celebrate birthdays nearly enough. They deserve more attention.

Or maybe, who needs to wait until a birthday. I hear a real cupcake calling my name....