Tag: knitting hats

A Christmas hat for T.

~ Maggie ~ 4 Comments

I never really talk that much to T. about things related to crafting. He doesn’t really care apart from the fact that it makes me happy.
But sometimes he does take an interest in it. A few months ago, we were running a bunch of errands and he stopped at the Welcome Shop, just for me to browse around. I had been talking about wanting to go there, but in the midst of our moving, renovating and things like that, I never got the chance to do that.
“Go in, buy some yarn,” he said. Now, the Welcome Shop is not what you’d imagine if I say they sell yarn and fabric and notions. The Chinese people that own it also sell whatever they can lay their hands on and it’s quite messy. But they always have a bit of yarn (Red Heart yarn mostly).
So I found the yarn and stood there hesitating. I would have loved to just buy, buy, buy, but the paint, wood, concrete etc. we had bought and still needed to buy weighed heavily on my mind. So I tried to choose just one.
“That’s a fun color,” T. pointed at the Christmas (red, white, green) variegated I was holding in my hands at that moment. So I decided to buy that one and be done with it.

Then it sat in my bin for weeks and weeks, because I had no idea what to do with it. But after I finished all my other projects, I was talking out loud about how I liked that yarn, but I shouldn’t buy variegated anymore, because I never know what to do with it (I don’t like the color pooling).
And then T. said: “You can make a hat for me.”
I was really surprised because usually, he likes muted colors. But he explained: “I could wear it inside when we’re in Holland and I could say it’s to celebrate Christmas. But it would keep my head warm too.”
He was very specific about how it should look. Slouchy (he said that he wanted it to be too big and hang down a bit) and with a pompom on top. Okay. Well then. Why not?

It was actually really fun to make this hat. I kind of liked how the colors spiraled (not enough to buy more variegated yarn though) and T. loves his new hat. I bet we’ll see it a lot on family pictures this Christmas 😉

Oh, you expected a picture of T. modeling his new hat? Nope, that’s not how things work around here. He doesn’t mind me doing blogs and social media, but he likes to keep his face off the internet as much as possible. So another one of my awkward hat wearing selfies will have to do…

Goals for the week

~ Maggie ~ 4 Comments

Good morning! Hope you all had a great weekend. We did. I decided to shake things up a bit and move the weekly goals list to Monday (easier to prepare ahead, I’m all about making my blogging easier and more fun these days).
I did pretty well last week. I did underestimate the time it would take to shorten T.’s pants and resize my skirts, so I didn’t get to make a purse. I did make a bag for my knitting. Posts about the hats and the bag will follow later.

Last week’s list

✔ finish Christmas yarn hat
✔ finish dark gray hat
✔ work on cowl/showl (not finished yet, but I moved on to the shoulder part)
✔ make three skirts I bought at thrift shop smaller to fit into them (I liked them, but they are XXL – I’m S)
✔ shorten T.’s pants (three)
✔ make a bag/basket for my knitting (to hold current projects and bring them outside)
X make purse to use daily (bigger than the one I’m using now, smaller than the other one I have)
✔ organize fabric and yarn (The yarn wasn’t much to begin with, but I’ll show you the fabric tomorrow)

This week’s list:

Knitting
– cast on hat
– work on cowl/showl

Sewing
– make purse to use daily (bigger than the one I’m using now, smaller than the other one I have)

– start quilt? (I like this one – I have a lot of blue cotton and could use a sheet for the white)

Since these lists work so well for my knitting and sewing, I thought I’d add work, house, garden and life goals too.

Work
– work on novella (23.000 words, have to finish it this month, I am at 2.500 right now, hope to get to 10.000 this week)
– edit a new novel (just got that one in the mail – oh my, it’s going to be a busy month)
– monthly taxes

House
– declutter and organize entry room (it’s a mess!)

– paint (part of the) bigger bathroom (someone painted red over some graffiti, I have to paint it white before we can hang our medicine cupboard there).

Garden
– prepare chosen spots to plant shrubs and trees that are in containers now, but need to be planted
– work on clearing the part that one day will be my orchard/garden
– “sow” avocado (prepare the pit and hope for the best)
– sow kalbas (I hope the partly dried fruit I found has the right seeds)

Life
– stay away from sugar (had a hard time with that lately, even though I know I can’t handle it. Went through the whole detoxing thing last week -didn’t have any sugar since Tuesday-, not willing to do that again soon, oy!)
– go for a swim often (daily would be ideal, but at least a two times this week)
– limit screentime (both computer and phone)

Let’s see if I can get this list checked off. I try to remember that these are just goals, ideas, and plans. Fun to write them out, nothing lost if I don’t get them all done. What are your goals for this week?

Wishing you all a bon siman, a great week!

Just a fun little hat

~ Maggie ~ 4 Comments

I had so much fun knitting this little hat! It was a step up from the plain knitting I had done for the past few months, but not too hard for my brain to handle right now.
I did the ribbing* as a 1×1 rib with a twisted knit stitch to make it look a bit more interesting and then broke up the plain stockinette top with single purl rows to make those little lines. I really like how it turned out. It looks interesting but is simple enough to actually be wearable, even for men.

* is that the right word? I used to call it the brim, but it seems I was wrong about that. Ravelry made a note on one of my patterns because I said it was a brimmed hat, but it just had large ribbing. What is the word I should have used for that part that fits around your ears?

A hat that makes me happy

~ Maggie ~ 10 Comments

After weeks of not knitting one stitch, I suddenly got an itch to pick up my knitting last Monday. So I dug out the hat I started almost two months ago. I worked on it during the day and I had a nice window of uninterrupted knitting time at night when some mysterious orange lights in the distance inspired my husband to listen to Jeff Wayne’s War of the World. Yes, we’re nerds like that 😉
But it was nice. Just half an hour on Tuesday to finish it and then I was done.
It’s just a simple hat, actually, and it doesn’t even really fit me (it’s kind of big), but it makes me so happy.

When life is hard and stressful, knitting helps me to relax, but when I slip into a real depression (you know, the chemical imbalance in your head), I usually stop knitting. Being back at it definitely is a sign that I’m getting better.
And that’s why I love this simple, oversized hat.

Cheaper than therapy

~ Maggie ~ 8 Comments

Last week I was looking at my knitting projects and not feeling it at all. I didn’t like how the potholders were working out (more on that later this week) and the poncho was still in the phase of endless stockinette. I needed something a bit more fun and a bit more capable of taking my mind off things.
So I cast on for a hat. Reluctantly, I might add.
I finished my last hat in December, a few short of my goal of 52 in 2018. At that time I thought I was sick and tired of knitting hats and wouldn’t like to knit one for a long time. Also, I felt bad about dumping most of those hats at the thrift store in March, because my family was already drowning in hats. Such a waste of time and yarn. But the mad hat knitter inside me is stronger than my reasoning. I need to knit hats every once in a while. Or so it seems.
Because I happily knit the brim, alternated with the other two projects and finished it only two days later.
And now all is well in my world. Well, in my knitting world anyway. And I do feel a bit better overall too. So maybe I should be knitting hats, despite not knowing what to do with them. It’s cheaper (and more fun) than therapy.

Pattern: the Rosa Hat, a free pattern by Soulemama
Yarn: a thrift store find

linking up with Nicole’s Crafting On

52 hats :: 41 – 47 ~ I give up

~ Maggie ~ 1 Comment

I know, I know. I’m so close… But 5 hats in 4 days… Well, it is possible, if I could spend all my time knitting. And that’s the problem. There’s so much else I need to do.
So I decided to officially declare this challenge failed. It was fun, but I don’t think I’ll ever do something like this again. If there’s one thing I learned this year it’s that setting big goals like these for a whole year is just not realistic. I had all these ideas about getting creative, writing and selling patterns, setting up an Etsy shop and growing my knitting blog. But life got in the way in every way it could. This was an extremely ridiculous year of course, but I don’t think life will get any calmers soon, so no more challenges for me next year.

I think setting (and sharing) monthly goals could be fun, but I’m not even sure I’ll be able to do that. Not in January, that’s for sure. We’ll (probably – still no real dates set) be emptying out the house in the few days we’ve got left before we leave to Curaçao again. I also promised my parents to handle the catering for my father’s birthday on the 5th., meaning I’ll be cooking and baking for 25 people a few days before we leave (I know, bad timing, but this was one of those things that I couldn’t say no to). And then, once we’re back on the island, we’ll continue our search for that beautiful affordable home of our dreams and hopefully be moving into it.

So I think for 2019 I’ll just be choosing a simple bigger project like a shawl, a cowl or a scarf (or maybe even a blanket?) that I can pick up when I feel like knitting and put everything else on the back burner for a while.

So what does a pile of 45 hats (I gave 2 away for Christmas) look like?

And spread out:

I think I’ll bring them to that birthday for my family to chose the ones they like. The rest of them will be sent off to charity.

52 hats :: 40 – a simple beanie

~ Maggie ~ Leave a comment

So, last night I finished my first hat in two months. It felt good. Like I found back a part of myself that I lost along the way. I’m not sure if this means I’m back to it, but I’m extremely happy about this simple little beanie.

Things are still unclear here. We’re back in Holland now and I have mixed feelings about that. Glad to see the girls and my parents again, not feeling at home in my own house.
The house is still for sale, but there is a chance that a contract will be signed this week. Finally. The buyers want to be sure they can buy an adjoining piece of land, but that’s something we can’t control, so it’s been a waiting game for six weeks now.
We’ve been trying to buy a house on Curaçao, but none of the houses we liked worked out, so when we return in January, we’ll still be renting the tiny apartment. We are determined to find a real home soon though.

T.’s health is not too bad, though the cold and wet weather here are already wearing him out. I can’t stop worrying about him, but part of that is my problem (anxiety), not his. Well, I hope it is.

Anyway, I cast on another hat and will be knitting to soothe my nerves. And maybe to finish the challenge. Who knows?

52 hats :: 34 – this yarn

~ Maggie ~ Leave a comment

Oh, I love this yarn so much! This shade of blue is my favorite (like the sky on Curaçao) and combined with that greyish brown… oh my. Yes, I love it. I figured it just needed to shine on its own, so I made a very simple hat, that I love just as much as the yarn itself. I may have found myself a new keeper…

52 hats :: 33 – it really is my favorite pattern

~ Maggie ~ Leave a comment

Yes, it’s that pattern again. I’m not going to apologize for it, I just like knitting it. It’s like talking to an old friend or something like that.

I did something funny a few weeks ago. I have this beautiful notebook that the girls gave me for Sinterklaas years ago. I started using it as a knitting notebook after months of not knowing what to do with (didn’t want to ruin it, but most of my notebooks end up like a mess, tearing out sheets etc.). The first year of notes is 2015 and I sort of kept it up through the last years. But I thought it was a shame that the years before that were missing.
So one lazy Sunday I browsed through my blog archives and took notes of every knitting project I posted. Starting with the red cardigan and working my way through 12 years of blogging. Oh my.
I know there are some projects missing from the blog (like the hats I made for a friend and her family and my first shalom cardigan), but at least now I have a bit of an overview.
And at least now I was able to count how often I actually made this hat.
This is number 25.  Ahem. No wonder I can knit this without thinking about the pattern too much…