Pompoms are a pain to make. I made two for one of the hats last night, but I'm not thrilled with how they turned out. I need some really sharp scissors to trim them up a bit I think.

I pulled out my Wheat Ears Baby Afghan I started ages ago. It's a nice project, fairly mindless, but with some lacey bits to keep it interesting. I don't have enough to make it square I can tell already, but that's ok. Who says baby blankets should be square?! It's in a pretty sunshine yellow cotton, and I'm keeping it for my baby!

Well the ties on my hat weren't working, so I'm going to just make them pompom hats. That's still really cute I think, and will be much easier. Given there is only one month left to christmas, I need to do easy when I can!!

My overflowing yarn stash was depressing me severely, not to mention taking over what will be the baby's space, so something had to be done. I took stock of all the yarn I have that I do not like and I've started giving/trading it away. Whatever is left (that I don't like) will be sent to a thrift shop, and I will be able to enjoy the yarn that pleases me, and have space for more as needed. I have more yarn I hate than most people own alltogether and that is just not right! I will be happy to send this stuff off to happier homes......

I found a really cute hat I'd like to make for my cousins. The girl is almost 7 and the boy is just over 1, so I was having trouble finding a cute pattern that would suit both of them, but I think this will do the trick:

From what I can see it is one of those flat square hats, with an I-cord coming from each peak leading to a pompom, then the I-cords are tied over the top. I think it's really cute and would suit both kids. The girl's favorite colour is apparently blue, so I might do hers blue with white stripes and the boy's in white with blue, or something. They should knit up pretty fast!

I'm also working on designing a cap for my husband. He wants a seaman's cap in black with blue lightening bolts on the brim. Sounds simple enough, except that I'll have to do the brim in stockingknit instead of ribbing to make the pattern show. This means that the top of hte hat will have to be purled, or something to make it work out. Also I'm not sure how to keep the brim from rolling as it will be all stockingknit...........I'll have to think on this for a while.

Lots of photos to share today. First a pair of socks for my aunt. She sent me the yarn from a bunch of stuff she had of my grandmothers and went on about how it was the most gorgeous shade of green, so I had to make her something. They look short but they're just thick, they should fit her well:

I finished the multidirectional scarf for my mother-in-law. I'm still dissapointed that the patterning doesn't show a lot but it is very nice and SO soft. One skein of Red Heart Plush made this whole scarf, with a couple yards left over:

Two baby hats I made recently. The yellow one is sort of shimmery, and the pink one is a nice fluffy mohair blend:

and finally, the pink and white baby mitts I made yesterday. They knit up super quick, I think I will make a few more pairs of these! The pattern is HERE :

I finished the multidirectional scarf on the weekend. It's quite nice, I really like that Red Heart Plus yarn. I may have to find other projects to make up in it. The scarf needs blocking I think, which I'm nervous about. My dirty little knitting secret is that I have never blocked anything! Bst I start though, the sweater I'm making for my sister will need blocking to make it look nice, so I'd rather practice on something easy and forgiving like a scarf.

I have to get back to working on the stuffed monkey, but I realized I misplaced the pattern. The book is not in the library at the moment, so I have to wait until it comes back in. I'm still working on baby hats, as gifts and ways to use up stash yarn. They are so fast and fun, the perfect projects for when I get bored of whatever I am currently working on.

I couldn't resist, I stopped by Walmart yesterday and bought yarn to make the multidirectional scarf. I choose Red Heart Plush, which is a soft, plushy acrylic/nylon that comes in veregated colours. I have already finished 2 feet, this pattern moves so fast. I am a little dissapointed that the close colour repeats and plushiness of the yarn hide the diagonal pattern a lot. You can barely see it in the closeup photo:



Still it looks nice and feels really nice, and I think my mother-in-law will like it. I hope so!