Just Too Cute

This has been a decidedly weird week -- not work or school on Monday, plus a two-hour delay for Rainbow (and thus me) yesterday -- so I am having trouble remembering what day it is without checking the calendar, but thankfully my crafting has not suffered. After finishing up Rainbow's projects over the weekend, I was feeling like I was on a roll, so I promptly cast on and finished a little hat in a matter of two evenings.

Pre-blocking FO shot

Pattern: Happy Happy Birthday Hat by NellKnits
Yarn: scraps of Knit Picks Swish Worsted (the cake and flame), Cascade 220 Superwash (the icing), and Cascade 220 Superwash Paints (the candle)
Needles: US 6 (4.0 mm) Addi Turbos, magic loop
Started/Completed: January 15/January 16
Mods: did an alternate decrease method for the bobbles

This was a fun, quick little knit, albeit a bit fiddly at times (bobbles, I'm looking at you). It's destined to be a gift for a family friend who will turn 1 next month. I was a little concerned that it was too small, but I was able to block it out much larger than it looks here and I think it will be okay for fit. As noted above, the one very minor modification I made was to change the way the bobbles are decreased. They're created by increasing from one stitch to five, and the pattern calls for decreasing back to one by knitting the five stitches together. My needles were just blunt enough to preclude such a maneuver, however, so I figured out an alternate way to achieve the same effect: I slipped the first two stitches (separately) from the left to the right needle so that the center stitch of the bobble was the first one on the left needle. Then I passed the stitch to the left of that stitch over it and off the needle. I transferred the stitch to the right needle and passed the stitch to the right of it over and off the needle. I transferred the stitch back to the left needle and repeated these two steps once more, essentially binding off the two stitches on either side of the center stitch of the bobble, and then knit the remaining stitch. I'm sure this is a legitimate decrease that someone has already thought up, but I kind of made it up in the moment and it seemed to work well.

Though there's still yarn remaining from this little hat, it feels really good to have done an entire project using only stash yarn (especially considering I ordered some new yarn online yesterday -- but more on that when it arrives).

Meanwhile, my lunchtime knitting has become my handspun brioche cowl, which is moving along slowly but steadily. I think that if it were in a single color it might become a bit of a slog, but the frequent color changes due to the small amounts of fiber that were combined is making for an interesting knit. It's somewhat akin to knitting with self-striping yarn; there's definitely an urge to keep going to get to the next color.

Yes, that is sunshine on my knitting!

I'm also continuing to work on my giant crocheted bag, though I don't have a photo to share (I'll need to get one this weekend when I can get it in decent natural light). I've noticed that as I work on it more, my speed is increasing, which is a good sign. Ideally, I'd like to get it done by the end of the month, though we'll see if that actually happens.

The weekend ahead looks pretty calm; we've got nothing on the calendar other than a birthday lunch for my father-in-law on Saturday. Though of course there will be the usual errands and chores to get done, that means extra crafting time for me!