Totoro Card

Totoro Card, a photo by acornbud on Flickr.

Embellished Totoro calendar cutout. Commercial cupcake sticker and printed card. Martha Stewart umbrella punch.

Chemo Hat

Chemo Hat, a photo by acornbud on Flickr.

Pattern: Noro hat by Saartje de Bruijn
Yarn: Cascade Luna. I used a little more then one skein of the turquoise an a little less then one skein of the aqua. I enjoyed this yarn. I've read that some skeins of many knots. I encountered 2 in 3 balls.
Needles: Size 6 and 5.
Mods: I knit this top down and went down a needle size for the last 8 rows before binding off. To avoid changing color on the purl row, I knit the last row of each knit set in the new color before doing the 4 purl rows.

This hat was to be for a 14 yo girl who will be going through chemo. I'm a bit worried it's too large, because we all know how cotton stretches and does not spring back like the wonderful wool. I'm going to knit another one with smaller needles, just because I really enjoyed the very soft yarn, and the pattern goes by so quickly.

Ornamental Pineapple

Ornamental Pineapple, a photo by acornbud on Flickr.

It's that time of year again. My little pineapples are pretty but struggling. I suspect some of the colors that make this one look so colorful are a result of not enough dirt and fertilizer in the pot. There has been a lot more rain lately, also.

It's almost time for the Golden Plover to return to the North. They have donned their breeding plummage.

I finished watching Sharpe's Rifles with Sean Bean and was sad as I enjoyed the series. Surprise surprise, I found there were two more later episodes, 15 and 16 and one is now in the mail! Yay!

I'm almost done with the credentialing for my part time job. Yup. I signed up to work as a contractor at the Navy Clinic again. My last hoorah! Well I've said that before.

Deep Blue Slouch

Project: Hat with hand spun, improvised top down beanie.
Yarn: My hand spun from Corgi Hill Farms Superwash BFL.
Needles: 3 and mostly 4
Comments: I have no yet figured out the wraps/inch and going by yardage estimates and weight I thought this yarn was worsted weight, although it looked more sport/fingering to me by the eyeball test. I tried various needle sizes and noted that the yarn did not have much elasticity, perhaps due to the superwashing? Based on yardage I had enough for some kind of neck warmers, fingerless mitts or a hat. The ribbing for the mitts never looked right, so it became a hat. I pretty much improved as I went. The gauge swatch lied so I ended up with a 24 in diameter hat. Loving the colors I just kept kntting until I hit 9 inches, then decreased gradually, changed to size 3 needles, and did and twisted rib. This seemed to tight, so I changed back to size 4 needles and did a regular 2x1 rib to finish out. It actually fits pretty well.
I loved the colors being a blue lover and all.
Hmm, I have just enough left over for a tassle or pom pom...what to do.

Cabled Hat with Ear Flaps

Cabled Hat with Ear Flaps, a photo by acornbud on Flickr.

Pattern: Urban Trekker
by Vladimir Teriokhin
from Lion Brand Yarn: Just Hats

Yarn: Aurora Bulky by Karabella
Bulky / 12 ply
100% Wool
4 skeins. Last ball was used for pom poms.

Needles: Size 10.5

Mods: none

Comments. This was one of those "gotta knit" knits. Now it's done and I'm quite happy with it. I'm not sure it will see much action this summer in Hawaii, lol.
I read that some people found a lot of knots in the yarn, but I only found one in the last ball.
I love that there were no seams or stitches to pick up.