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! :)