FO Friday: Baby Hats A-Go-Go!

So, a friend offered me a challenge-to come up with a stripey, toque-style baby hat for her to use as a photo prop when she photographs newborns. For all you non-Canadians, a toque is a triangular hat with a series of far-apart decreases that make the crown into an elongated shape. Think elf hat or Santa Claus. Fun times. Here are my experiments. These are all original designs, just for the record, and obviously one is not a toque. I did not look at any other patterns or closely examine any other hats. I got to use my mad Jogless Jog skills and make these hats quite seamless-looking. You can get some sense of the scale of each hat by its respective "model." The apple is a gigantic honey crisp that is larger than a grapefruit, so it is a little off, but you can hopefully imagine your average navel orange and acorn squash. Each of these is 12-13 inches around. The yarns I used were all from stash-some leftover Karabella Aurora 8 in a soft pinky lavendar from this project and a bit of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran from the Cream and White Yarn Cupboard. The bright pink and white is old Caron acrylic that came to me in a bag of cast-offs. Eew. But the color was right and the baby won't mind. Unless of course she also gets to try on the lovely soft wool version. Then if she had words, she would beg her mama never to let yucky acrylic touch her perfect skin again. Sorry, I'm not normally such an obnoxious yarn snob, but what a difference between the two yarns.

FEE FIE FO Friday

Yes, it's time again for a report from the land of acronyms. I'm gradually turning my UFO's into FO's. I'm trying to rescue myself from the condition known as SABLE, and I'm very sanctimoniously avoiding any SEX, which we all know causes SABLE, among other things.

So, this week's first feature has been aging in its partially done state for approximately 3 years. It is all from stash, no new yarn was purchased or harmed in the completion of this project. It was from the beginning intended for A4A, and I'm happy to say that I'm going to make the deadline with two blankets-the red one from last week and this one. I like this one very much. It became a bit of a color study for me, and I thoroughly enjoyed playing with the combinations to form a random blanket that had a certain amount of cohesiveness. Hopefully I've avoided any offensive cultural or religious combinations, and hopefully, it will make some baby both happy and warm. What a great program. Thanks Ann, for creating something inspiring enough to get me to finish big things.

PS. I know there are wonderful charities that help people here in the States, but this is the one that gets all my wool, plus the Afghan people just hold a special place in my heart for various reasons. I promise that I do donate to other organizations when I have other yarns to spare.

Next, we have the Origami Bear, a superlative design by Merike Saarniit, who I've had the pleasure of meeting at Stitches. This is for a class I'm teaching in December at Cloverhill Yarn Shop. I used Encore Mega on size 13's and was done in about an hour. The sewing up took another 30 minutes or so. This was also stash yarn, and I can't wait to use other yarn to make bears in all sizes and colors. The way it comes together is ingenious on the order of EZ's Surprise Jacket. You would never imagine during the knitting of it or even once it is complete that it could ever be a cute, cuddly bear. It is formed completely from squares and rectangles, all knitted in one piece, then seamed up in a wonderful organic progression. What a satisfying little thing to create.

PS. I know he needs eyes, but I kinda like him with his face left to the imagination. I think after the class is over, he'll go to my new little nephew in Arizona.

Now, I've got to get back to knitting other people's things. I have a biggie for Gwen that's due in December and one to finish for class this Saturday. Wish me luck.