16 June 2005

My first hat

I knitted my first hat the other day! I'm pretty impressed with myself. I finished a surprise project last week and needed a break for a little bit before starting another surprise project (the same as the first surprise project, but with different yarn). So, I decided to make a hat to match a scarf I made. The scarf is just garter stitch, made with Lion's Brand brown yarn. The hat is a very simple knit 2 purl 2 pattern, using the same yarn as the scarf, but working with 2 strands at a time. As I was getting toward the end I realized that I didn't have enough yarn to do the crown. So, I just stopped where I was and decided to pull the yarn through the last row and pull it tight to make the top instead of shaping the crown. I think it turned out pretty good, it just doesn't turn up so much on the bottom as it was supposed to. But that's ok, a small sacrifice to avoid having partially used skeins in my house. Normally I wouldn't have a problem with it, but the hat project was to use up the leftovers from the scarf. Plus the only place I have to store craft stuff is filled with quilting fabric. I'll have ot start using up some of my stash before I buy much more.
I'm placing a limit on the number of projects I can be working on at one time. Three! Right now I'm working on surprise project #2 and I'm about to begin a felted bag. It's a kit I got from kaleidoscope yarns (www.kyarns.com). That store is going to become very dangerous for me. But the kit is for their my little companion bag. This will be my first felted project and I can't wait to get started on it. Of course it requires the same needles I'm using for surprise project #2. But I can get started on the handles, which are done on double pointed needles. My third project is going to be an attempt at a lace scarf using the leftover yarn from surprise project #1.
Of course there's always quilting projects going on too. I've got a craft barter going on with a friend. I'm making her a quilt and she's knitting me a sweater. That project is my first priority in my quilting projects. Then there's a quilt I'm making for me and my husband. It's the first one I'll have that actually fits on the bed. The other two I've made just about cover the top of a queen size bed, but are not big enough for 2 people to sleep under. So, I made a nice quilt top out of all blues. It's been layered with the backing and batting and is halfway basted. I hate basting though and I don't think that I even do it right, I don't use a hoop or anything. I still haven't decided on how to quilt it. That's all I've got started in the quilting world. But I've got fabric for another 5 or 6 quilts (I know all you quilters are thinking that's not much, but I'm only 26 and have only been quilting for a few years, so it's a lot for me!)
I've got to figure out how to put pictures on this thing and take pictures of my projects for everyone to see. And I have to write more often so each entry isn't a novel!
Happy Crafting!

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