Saturday, October 29, 2011

More Knitting

 I have been knitting like crazy lately trying to get some projects done for Christmas and Molly's birthday in December.  This hat that I'm wearing is Hermione's Cable and Eyelet hat from the third movie I believe.  I found the pattern here.  I had the whole thing done and then realized there was no way it was going to fit the first time.  I had to go up to a size 7 needle and redid it from the start!  This hat took me about a week and a half to do.  Cables are so simple but look so gorgeous don't they?  My ponytail is pulling it a bit weird in the photo but it sits great in real life.
 This hat is done in Griffindor colors for a friend's son at our karate school.  This one is done from the top down instead of the bottom so you can try it on while knitting to make sure the fit is perfect.  It starts with Judy's Magic Cast-On and used the same pattern I used in the hat I made for Jeff.  I like the way it turned out a lot.
This is my very first pair of mittens and my first time doing stripes, these got done before the hat.  I think they turned out really well and I got to make them nice and narrow for the boy they are going to be worn by.  
Now all I have left is his Griffindor scarf and Molly's Griffindor scarf and I'm done with red and yellow for a bit.  I have really enjoyed working on these projects but I'm quite ready to be finished.  Next week I start a class on how to make socks!  I can't wait for that!  Jeff went and looked at spinning wheels this week, we are hoping to get one when we get our tax return then I can do some fun homespun projects.  What are you guys working on now that the weather is turning cooler?  Any Christmas projects started up yet?

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Trying to Surface

    Oh My Goodness!!!  I always forget how insane fall gets around here.  We've had so much going on as a family I'm not sure which end is up some days.  This hat is a project that I've been working on for Jeff for a few weeks Jack is modeling it for me.  I don't have a pattern for it but it is just a basic beanie style.  One thing I do love about this is the way that the increases create this awesome spiral effect.  It's pretty neat. 
   I'm also working on another hat for Molly for her birthday.  The whole family loves the Harry Potter books and movies, she decided she needed a house scarf and we found a pattern for one of the knitted hats that Hermione wears in one of the movies to go with it.  I'll show you that later as it actually starts to look like a hat.
   We have 30 quarts of tomatoes put up and a ton of other stuff to.  30 quarts is not going to last us through the year but we have not been able to harvest as much from our own garden as we had hoped.  The weather turned really cold and most of our tomatoes have simply stayed green.  This last week we've had some gorgeous days in the high 70's so maybe we will get a few more jars but I'm not going to hold my breath.  What have you guys been doing?  Any good canning recipes I should try with all those green tomatoes?