knitting hiatus...

...IT'S OVER!! Yaaaay!!!!

I'm so glad I decided to take the month off. I needed a break from knitting. It was getting redundant and almost boring for me. But now! Now after my month off I'm SO ready and excited to get back to it! And I'm feeling so inspired to try new patterns and broaden my knitting horizons!

But as always, there are plenty of projects that I've started and I'm determined to finish them first! So yesterday I got back to working on a hat that I had started in December for myself. I wanted to get it done by a certain deadline but wasn't able to so it got pushed to the back burner.

Unfortunately I spent so much time away from this hat that I don't remember what pattern I was using. Something online I think since there wasn't one in the bag I had it in. Regardless I'm not too worried about figuring it out. A hat is a hat is a hat.

And YES it's Miami Dolphins colors! I was trying to finish it in time for the game I went to back in December but I was only able to finish the fingerless gloves. But I'm still determined to get it finished this time around! That way I can wear it next year if I go in December again.

I'm also thoroughly inspired by the fact that all of my friends seem to be having babies lately!! Which means baby knitting for Sarah!! So far I've only made baby sized hats so I'm very very excited to dive into some new patterns!

And speaking of new patterns, I found this book at Joanns the other day!! Now usually when I flip through a pattern book I'm lucky if I find 2 or 3 patterns that I like. Well that was not the case with this book! I think I like atleast 55 of the 60 patterns. And the other 5 I'm sure I could modify to my liking too. I was thrilled when I found it.

So needless to say, I can't wait to start picking out patterns to make. I have 2 friends who are about to have baby girls so it will be so fun to make some cute stuff for both of them! Now I just need some friends to have boys so I can make cute boy stuff too!!

Yay for knitting again!! I also hope to learn how to crochet this month too. I've been wanting to learn and I tried it one night a while ago but I wasn't' exactly sure if I was doing anything right or not. I think I'll have better luck with someone else there to show me what the right and wrong way looks like. Regardless I'm very excited to learn!

hats upon hats

UPON HATS!! I feel like 2011 was the year of the hat! If I had to guess I'd say I probably knit over 20 hats last year. Maybe that's not a high number in the scheme of things but it's a lot to me. No complaints here though. When I look at the hats I made at the beginning of the year and the hats I made towards the end, I can see so much progress in my skills. My hats seems to have less errors and little slip ups. It's pretty exciting. Since most of the hats I made were gifts I wasn't able to put them on here. (Again...I just can't ruin Christmas...you never know who's reading these things!) So here they are, some of the swell hats I made in the last couple months of  2011!

Hats I made for some super sweet chef friends!

Mom's hat

Man hats for my cousins and me sisters BF

Swirly hat for Charklie

Baby Hat for an Etsy customer

A slouchy hat for a secret santa gift

So many hats!! And I know there were others that I didn't get to take pictures of. I don't know how my fingers kept up! So, after all that knitting, I've decided that a knitting sabbatical was in order. I needed some time off to reboot and re-energize my knitting. So for the month of January I have not been knitting in hopes that when February rolls around I will be ready to tackle new projects. I really want to start working on bigger items and challenging myself.....clothes maybe? I also want to learn how to crochet! The idea of only having 1 implement is kinda strange to me but from what I've hear it's waaaaay easier and quicker than knitting. So here's hoping.
My knitting hiatus has also given me some time and energy to work on some sewing projects too which has been very exciting. Again, they are gifts so noooo peeking just yet. One of these days I'm gonna work on something un-gift related!! I promise! Until then, there are still plenty of projects to show you from the holidays! :)

christmas pants 2011

Fabrics for this year!

I have SO much you show you all!! I actually started on Christmas crafts at a decent time this year so most of the projects I worked on I wasn't able to post on here. I hate it when Christmas gets ruined!! The project nearest and dearest to my heart are the Christmas pants for my family. If you recall from this post last year I decided to make pajama pants for my family to wear on Christmas eve when we open gifts. Last year I DID NOT give myself enough time to complete the pants in time so it was imperative that I fix that this year. Since Joanns gets their Christmas fabric in October I was able to get what I wanted in the beginning of Novemeber. I went with Christmas fabrics this year and got straight to work. Since I have most, if not all, of Wednesdays off from work it was the prime time to work on the pants while my parents were out of the house. Another little help to myself this time around....NO DRAWSTRINGS.Good Lord I never could have imagined the time and hassle it spared me by just using elastic in the waists. With God as my witness I'll never use drawstrings again! phew. Now, without the drawstrings I still wanted some way to tie all the pants together. Last year I used each persons drawstring in a different person's pants. This year the best option I had was switching the pockets. It added such a cute and unifying touch to the whole thing. So with the combination of time and elastic I was able to finish and wrap all the pants by the first week of December. What a relief it was.

The switched pockets

Come Christmas Eve eve I snuck around my dark house placing the wrapped pants outside my families doors with a note that said "Open ASAP. You know what to do!!". As predicted last year, my step-dad woke up early (he got called into work), kicked his gift, and didn't think much of it since their door was near the tree. He didn't have a clue haha. I woke up nice and early the next morning and stayed in my room, trying to listen for people as they woke up. When it seemed like they were all upstairs I went up, wearing my pants, and discovered them awake and in their pants as well! It was glorious. I hadn't said anything about the pants all year so they had forgotten all about it. And boy did they look swell. I was so pleased that the whole thing went as smoothly as it did. AND I even got proof this year!

our better sides!

Our traditional family "Capt'n" pose.

I'm so happy with how everything turned out. And even more happy with the smiles on my family's faces. They all loved their pants and wore them for the rest of the day and into the weekend. What a Merry Christmas for all!