Baby hat love

Recently some very close friends on the East Coast had a lovely baby girl. Very soon after that, another friend  who also owns an Etsy business had her baby and ordered hats for the little darling. What did this mean? Lots and lots of baby hats to knit! Luckily for me, I have a large stash of KnitPicks Swish Worsted yarn in child-friendly colors, just waiting to be knit up! It sure felt odd knitting with such thin yarn, since I've been living in superbulky land for the past 6 months or so. Challenge accepted!

I had been eyeing the Golden Pear pattern by Melissa Thomson, and jumped on the opportunity to knit it up in bright green and rouge pink, toned down by a light dove grey. This hat went to my little East Coast lovie.

A few days after sending this off, I heard from my friend Melissa that she had had her baby and wanted a baby hat in this same pattern! Oh there was no hesitation on my part, as I was already in love with the pattern. Hers was shades of purple, with a little grey thrown in.

Now since I was on a roll, I figured, why stop now? I pulled out another new love, the Little Scallops hat pattern by Maria Carlander, and whipped up another hat in the same dove grey and Rouge Pink (those baby hats are addictive!!).

Full disclosure - I think this year's knitting might be full of baby hats, because they are fast, super cute, and you get to try out so many color combinations and yarns. My knitter hat is jumping for joy at the thought! Hope you'll join me for this next "level" in my knitting journey. :)

A QUICK NOTE

If you received or saw the spam post last weekend, I sincerely apologize for that, and reassure you that no user information was exposed, as the blog is separate from where your email addresses for the newsletter is stored and sent from. Once again, I'm so very sorry for the inconvenience caused.

Gifts Ahoy! Part Deux

Of all my family members, I think my sister has the most handknit items from me. This holiday season was no different. I had knit one of my newest loves, a bulky slouchy striped hat (oh yes! I forgot to mention that I fell in love with hats this holiday season) in light grey and bubblegum pink. This hat right here. (I modified the Ushya Hat pattern by Jane Ellison to knit my hats.)

Missy said she wanted this very hat, and a scarf to go with it. I started a striped scarf to match the hat, but she wasn't digging the stripes, so we decided to just knit half the scarf in grey and the other half in pink.

However, after I'd finished knitting with the grey, I thought I'd add a touch of something, so I knit two rows in white before joining with the other color. Then I thought, why not add a bit more color? So in went some charcoal grey and a darker pink to round it out.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to take photos of my finished experiment before she left, but the gods of winter made her town so cold (3 degrees Fahrenheit) that she had to bust out these big guns. Here she is enjoying her gifts. :)

Enjoy the rest of your week, and stay warm!

An unexpected gift

I'm so blown away by what this knitter did that I just had to share! A few weeks ago, a knitter on Ravelry called Selbyin sent me a message asking for help with her Moody Kerchief (pattern by Kirsten Kapur) project. I don't know if you remember, but I knit 4 moody shawls because I just love the pattern so. I made a Twig & Peacock Moody, a Tan Moody, an All-black Moody, and a Sunset Moody(the one that started it all). Selbyin wanted help mixing her colors for her Kerchief, and thankfully I was able to offer some suggestions.

She finished the shawl sometime back, and I only recently went to check on her project. It's stunning!! And she used my favorite color (green, in case y'all hadn't figured that out by now). It was a green and blue combo, and I love, love, LOVE it!! Check it out!

I suggested using alternating stripes as a way to transition between the colors, so she wouldn't have to double up her yarn and end up with a heavy shawl. Turned out pretty cool, right?

So this morning, I'm getting ready for the day and checking my inbox when I received a notification that Selbyin had sent me a gift pattern! WHAAAAAAAAAAT!!! I quickly logged into my Ravelry account, to discover that she had gifted me this beauty: Weathervane hat pattern by Sara Gresbach!

I had been eyeing this pattern for a while now, because I wanted to make one for my son and his friends so they would have matching hats (matching in style, but in different colors). I now have the pattern! Woohoo!!

The original design was knit in Malabrigo Worsted, and I just happen to have a few skeins of Mal Worsted hanging around (ok, a lot of skeins, because that stuff is addictive!). I think you KNOW what I'm going to be knitting this weekend! Can you imagine how ecstatic I am right now?

Thank you so much Selbyin! Your work is beautiful, and I'm glad I was able to help you with it.

Enjoy the rest of the week, and thank you all for reading my super-excited expression of thanks. :)

Cuviatrix (a cutie in an Aviatrix)

This week I finally put the finishing touches on another Aviatrix hat (by Justine Turner) that my friend Gina ordered for her daughter. I crocheted two flowers using this Crochet Flowers pattern from Mollie Makes (such pretty flowers, right?). I just love this hat pattern! And Gina's daughter looks so cute in the hat doesn't she?

Enjoy the rest of the week, and have a lovely weekend!

PS: I would love to make you your own Aviatrix hat if you ever need/want one for the little cuties in your life. Just send me an email (niseyknits@gmail.com) with the age of the child, and the color/colors you want for the hat.

Designer Spotlight: Circles + Dots by Olga Buraya-Kefelian

I have wanted to feature this pattern collection on my blog since it came out, but it never seemed like the right time. Well I think this week's post is just the right time to highlight Olga Buraya-Kefelian's "Circles + Dots" pattern collection from Quince & Co. (who make such beautiful yarns! Oh, and I have a crush on their website!). The designs are classic and stunning, and all those circles and dots make me giddy with joy. There are 5 patterns in this collection: a pullover, a cardigan, a hat, a scarf and a pair of mitts. Just a little of everything for every kind of knitter, right? First up is the Effervescence Cardigan, which is the first of the collection that caught my eye. I love the front detail in this pattern and can very well see myself knitting this cardigan.

The Compass Pullover is my second favorite in this collection. (For someone who rarely knits clothing, it's interesting that I was drawn to these pieces in the collection. Maybe it's a sign to take a step of faith and start knitting some sweaters? Hmmm.) This top is just sleek and eye-catching, and I could immediately see myself rocking it with some fun jewelry and a pair of jeans during the fall.

Next up are the accessories!! Woohoo!! You all know how much I love my accessories. The Cowry Hat is a sexy, little slouchy hat that makes me so happy. I'm slowly but surely venturing into hat knitting and design, and the level of detail on this hat makes my little knitterly heart sing. The ebb and flow of the design as it snakes along the hat is quite hypnotic. I'm going to stop talking now, and show you the hat. :)

Then there's the Gyre Scarf, a simple, straight-to-the-point stockinette stitch scarf that has some garter chevron action and little open "dots" at the edges to add a little spice. I love, love, love it!

And last but definitely not least, the Flotilla Mitts. Who doesn't love some flirty little mitts covering up their hands and wrists? These mitts are a little longer than usual, with a few dots breaking up the stockinette stitch used.

I love Olga's design style, and I think this collection is just stunning. Which of these is your favorite? Which of these would you wear? Do let me know in the comment sections, and have a wonderful weekend!

Happy Birthday my little poopoola!

Today is my son's birthday! I can't believe it's been a few years already. This boy is now talking, singing, dancing and sharing his opinions, likes and dislikes, and even throwing tantrums for good measure! Now I've not knitted many things for him (poor boy!), but what I have knitted for him are hats. I think most of the hats I've knit belong to him. The first hat was the Simple Baby Hat by Alison Williams. I worked a 2x2 rib for the brim, but as you can see, that hat was too big for him. I hadn't yet understood what gauge was for, and didn't even think to check for it. Anyway, I thought he would grow into it so I made him wear it anyway. :P

For his second hat, I chose the Presto! Preemie Hat by Katherine Vaughan because it looked fun and quick. I had also gotten some mystery funky blue yarn from my manager Anna at FVPF (now Futures without Violence), so I whipped this hat up quickly for him. It was pretty tight on him. I still hadn't learned my lesson about gauge. :P

But, you know how quickly little kids grow. Since the Funky Andy hat was small to begin with, he outgrew it pretty quickly and I needed a new hat for him. I turned to the Aviatrix baby hat by Justine Turner. This has got to be one of my favorite hat patterns. It is simple, intuitive, and the finished product is just stunning. For this hat, I actually paid attention to gauge and it fit him much better compared to the other ones.

He wore the Aviatrix hat until he was almost 2 years old, and that got too small for him. It was winter time so I thought he needed a thicker hat. I cast on for the Chunky Dean Street Hat by Nina Machlin Dayton. I forgot all the gauge issues I had had with the first two hats and cast on for this one without checking gauge. Big mistake! Huge! As in, the hat was huge enough to fit my head. LOL! It was still cute, and he got a lot of attention whenever he wore it. Sadly, this hat is almost at the end of it's life too. I have to find a new hat pattern to knit for this fast-growing boy.

I've learnt one thing from all my no-gauge-taking hat-knitting travails - when it comes to knitting in the round, I'm such a loose knitter that I need to go two needles smaller than the recommended size on the pattern. That seems to work well for me. Hopefully I'll have another hat finished for this little one. He told me that he wants a purple and yellow hat. Maybe I'll try the Turn-A-Square hat by Jared Flood?

Or maybe it's time for me to try out a fair isle or intarsia pattern? There are so many to choose from though! The Sheep & Wool hat by Emily Spence is pretty tempting...

as is the Cheesehead hat by Julia Mueller.

Or should I go to a different way and try the Howlcat by Alex Tinsley? It can be a hat or a cowl!

Aaaarghhh!! So many choices, so little time.  Happy Birthday my little love. May you grow up to become a man of integrity with a kind and generous heart. I love you!

One Day Flash Sale Happening Now!! - 40% off all items in the NiseyKnits Shop

I don't usually do this, but I thought this sale was too good not to share. All day today, all items in my NiseyKnits Etsy shop, as well as in over 55 other Etsy shops, is on sale for 40%  OFF using the coupon code XOXOSFETSY. Search for XOXOSFETSY and you will find all the shops that are participating in this sale.

I have quite a few of my chunky procragratification infinity scarves on there, as well as other chunky and lacy scarves on sale. You can also see all the other shops participating in this flash sale here: http://sfetsy.blogspot.com/2013/02/sfetsy-crush-40-off-one-day-only.html

The sale lasts all day today (Monday Feb 4th) till 11:59pm PST. You can visit my Etsy shop here. Hope you have a wonderful day!

The joy of gift knitting - Part 2

Last week I took an impromptu trip to Indiana to visit one of my BFFs. She just had a baby girl and had requested (more like demanded...hehehhe) that I knit the little cutie a hat, a sweater and a blanket. I bought the yarn (Lion Brand Vanna's Choice Solids & Twists) on my birthday and started on the awesome Moderne Baby Blanket by Kay Gardiner and Ann Shayne from the Mason-Dixon book. I love this blanket pattern and thought it would be perfect for this little girl. What I forgot was the fact that the stitch count go progressively larger as the knitting went along, and that I was also supposed to be preparing for a craft fair as well as working on a pattern submission. Eek!

Once the blanket was finished, I started on the sweater. The pattern I used was Lillie's Baby Cardigan by Laura Edwards. Would you believe this was my first time knitting a baby sweater? And it went so fast too! I don't even know why it took me so long to make one.

And finally, the hat(s). I knew from the get-go that I was going to knit another Aviatrix baby hat by Justine Turner (I made the first one for my son last year). It's such an awesome design and works so well for those little babies. Anyway, the first one I made was in just one color, so this time I decided to be more adventurous and do two colors. Since the baby has a small head, I only worked 3 repeats of the main pattern. Oh, I forgot to mention that I actually knit this while I was with mommy and baby in Indiana, and as I didn't have a button on me, I didn't technically finish the hat. Oh well! Mommy is better at sewing than me anyways. :)

Now since the baby couldn't technically wear the hat (due to the conspicuous absence of a button), I had to knit another hat during the trip. I found this super quick pattern by Woolly Wormhead, Baby Rollin' Beret, and whipped one up quickly before I left.

And one more just because...here's the whole set together.(Sorry about the weird angle).

It was too short a trip, but I'm so glad I was able to see my friend and her daughter, share in her joy and give to them from my craft. Happy Thanksgiving everyone, and see you all next week.

PS: If you are looking for a lovely holiday gift to give to friends and loved ones during Black Friday and Cyber Monday, visit my Etsy shop at http://NiseyKnits.etsy.com and use the coupon code SFETSYHOLIDAY2012 for 15% off your entire purchase!

Also, if you live in the Bay Area, please visit me at the Bazaar Bizarre Fair in San Francisco on Dec 1st and 2nd in Booth #156! http://www.bazaarbizarre.org/sanfrancisco/shows/holidayshow/

Saturday December 1st & Sunday December 2nd 2012 Concourse Exhibition Center EAST HALL 620 Seventh St. (at Brannan) San Francisco, CA 94103-4901 Saturday & Sunday 11-6PM – FREE TO ATTEND

A sneak peek, and fundraising for Hurricane Sandy survivors

I can't believe it's November already! Where is the year galloping off to? Frankly I'm a little frightened at the speed with which the years are passing by. Plus it means I have less time than I think I do for knitting. Oh well... For the past two weeks I've been super busy working on a pattern for a scarf and a matching hat. I have never designed a hat before, and it's been quite daunting. Figuring out the math for the hat was challenging, mainly because I wanted to keep the pattern on the hat even while shaping the top of the hat. Anyway, here's a sneak peek of this pattern. It should be out soon, just in time for Christmas gift knitting!

I hope you like it as much as I do.

Fundraising for Hurricane Sandy survivors

Please help me support those affected by Hurricane Sandy by purchasing something from the NiseyKnits shop. I will donate 25% of all proceeds from this month to the Red Cross and Samaritan's Purse to help in rebuilding affected places in New York and New Jersey.