Two Kids, Two Days, Two Hats

Okay, not two consecutive days but check out the hats I made for the kids!

I'm so proud of myself!  I ended up altering this teo hat pattern for both, although that wasn't the intention with Owen's.  After I whipped Owen's out in one night (because I was so excited to see the final product once I got started), Zoe requested a rainbow hat (she's wearing hers in the picture and holding a store-bought rainbow hat of mine).  I looked and looked online for a basic beanie hat pattern, because she specifically said she wanted it "flat, flat, flat" on her head.  There were tons of options, but for some reason I couldn't find the exact right one so I decided to just figure it out myself.  I knew the measurements were exactly right for Owen's and the pattern gives the option for a bigger size so I just fiddled around with it a bit to make it what I wanted.  I did that one in a day too, but worked on it here and there all day instead of cranking it out in one sitting.  I was worried she wouldn't like the purple sticking up off the top, and sure enough it was the first thing she noticed.  After I explained that you couldn't see the purple otherwise (her favorite color), she seemed okay with it.  We'll see...she seems to be better at placating me these days, so only time (and cold weather) will tell.  I want to make another one for Owen and do it right the next time, because I want to see that cute little round head of his in a hat like that but I'm happy with this one too.

You may or may not remember the gnome babies from the other day, but I made another one after those:

 This one's hat was what prompted Zoe to ask for a rainbow hat, actually...anyway, some good friends of ours are going to be moving to South Africa at the end of the week, and will be doing a lot of traveling on the way there.  We wanted to give them a little something to remember us by, and since we are also excited to hear about all of their travels and about their new home (where they have family waiting for them) we gave them this little guy.  We told them we can't go on the plane with them but he can, so it'll be like we are with them after all.  We also asked them to take pictures of him at all of the places they visit and send us the pictures so we can follow along and learn about the cool places they experience.  I'll be sure to share the photos here as we get them so you can follow along on the adventure too!

So yes, this phase of my knitting life has definitely been the most successful and enjoyable so far....granted I JUST got motivated to pick it up again so we'll see...I have a terrible habit of...um...quitting things but for the first time since I learned from my sister Emily (who learned from our grandmother) years ago, I actually want to find more and more patterns and keep wishing I had unlimited funds for the yarn store.  It would be so awesome to just knit to my heart's content and not have to search for patterns I can accomplish with the fairly small collection of needles and yarn I have.  I suppose that before too long, I will accumulate enough so that I don't have to run out to the store (or mooch off my knitter friends and sister) every single time I feel inspired, but in the meantime I always have my little gnome babies.