Cozy

Due to a whole bunch of recent stomach aches, I've been using my hot water bottle a lot. And the thing about a hot water bottle without a cozy is that sometimes it burns you if you fall asleep with it on your belly. So I decided to knit what will probably be my last knitting project of the season (cause who wants to knit when it's sunny outside?), a hot water bottle cozy. I found the project here, via domestic affair (which, I must say, is one of my favorite blogs). This was my first time trying the cable stitch, and I was pleasantly surprised by how super easy it is.



I figured out what was causing the belly aches (I'm allergic to cooked tomatoes? What?) but I'll still be using this when the menses come.

If it weren't for Katie, this project might not have happened. It's good to have a crafting buddy again.

Hat!

I made this hat and gave it to Joel for our 4th anniversary (yes, it's really been that long). I somehow managed to knit the whole thing without him knowing -- which can be tricky when you live with the person you're knitting for.


I knit him a hat using this very same pattern awhile back and it's still on his head a few days a week, so it's obviously worked out well. I dug the pattern out of a bag of yarn that I hadn't touched in over a year and got to work. This pattern is called the Simple Soldier's Hat -- they recommend this pattern for people knitting hats to send to soldiers since it's warm, easily washable, and easy to ship. It's also a really straightforward pattern, so if you're new to knitting you'll have no problem knitting this one.

Source Code

"Knitting gives me a lot of respect for my ancestors as hackers. Knitting is source code - you look at a knitting pattern - that's the code for a sweater. As we industrialize, more and more of the world we experience comes in a black box. We know how to use things but we don't know how they work. I've been de-black boxing my wardrobe." -Lisa Williams

My second hat!

Annie was knitting this hat when she came to visit me over New Years weekend, and she made it look like a cinch. My first time knitting cables. So easy! I guess a lot of these things are once you just try them out.


I knit this hat for my sister, who isn't allowed to wear it to school because apparently if you wear a hat at Camas High School you might be in a gang... But she did say she'd wear it to the bus stop and over the weekends.


The pattern is available for free on ravelry.

a basket-weave hat and a patricipatory democracy

This basket-weave hat has spent most of its life post-knitting needles on my head. It's the first hat I've ever made for myself and I'm pretty into it. It took me a couple of weeks to make (it would have taken longer if it weren't for Jill as well as the women at NW Handspun Yarn). It's an easy pattern, but I'm still pretty new to serious knitting. I've known how to kit for about five years, but haven't made much more than drop-knit scarves for Christmas presents. It's too bad that I'm just now getting so excited about knitting, seeing as the sun is just starting to show its face around these parts. Oh well. I guess I can just spend the summer working on gloves and socks.

Or maybe I'll put knitting with yarn on hold for awhile and dive head first into crocheting with plastic bags. (I tried knitting with plastic bags and it stretched the plastic out too much. Crocheting doesn't manipulate the plastic as much, so I'm going with that instead.) I'm really looking forward to finishing my first plastic bag tote! Hopefully I can distribute them and collect donations for this really cool thing my friends and I are doing...What's that, you ask? We're writing a petition to implement a plastic bag fee in Bellingham! It's been really fun and challenging. I think it's going to be really fun once we start collecting signatures...and a whole lot more challenging, but I'm ready for it.