Hooter Hat

The playfully named hooter hat was inspired by the gorgeous owl sweater I ran across on the needled blog. Since then, I haven't been able to get enough of these little owl knits. I intended to knit this hat to fit my 2 1/2 year old nephew, only to find (after completing 3/4 of it) that it will be much too small (more like an infant sized hat). 2 year olds have surprisingly big heads and I come from a family of extra large headed folks which requires that I make the hat just that much bigger. Since I was running low on yarn anyway and was a bit nervous about having enough to add a pom pom on top, I decided that I will hold off on knitting this hat until I receive some yarn that I ordered online, but stay tuned I have recently started a new knitting project that should make it's debut here any day now!

Missin' Mission Neck Warmer

I realized that it's somewhat strange that my first crafting article on a knitting focused blog was not about knitting. So, I thought I'd follow up with a recently completed knitting project of mine; a neck warmer in my favorite brand of yard, mission falls, which I am sad to say, recently went out business. (I do have plans to take advantage of this unfortunate news however, and stock up on yarn at closeout prices.) This was my first pursuit into the world of cables and I must say I was delighted to find that this was not nearly as complicated as I had initially anticipated.

Sadly, I cant remember the exact pattern I came up with for the scarf but I'll tell you what I can remember:

Materials: 2 Skeins Mission Falls 136 Merino Superwash (color 022)
                One colorful button
The edges and ends are a moss stitch and I used three eight-stitch cables with three or four garter stitches between them.

I am writing the pattern from memory so I could be a bit off, but this should get you close:

Stitches used:
moss stitch
garter stitch
eight-stitch cable

Cast on 53 stitches
Row 1-12: moss stitch row
Row 13: K1,*P1, K1 repeat from * 8 sts, K3, C8F, K4, C8F, K4, C8F, K4, P1,*K1,P1, repeat from * 8 sts
Row 14: K1,*P1, K1 repeat from * 8 sts, K3, P8, K4, P8, K4, P8, K4, P1,*K1,P1, repeat from * 8 sts
Row 15: K1,*P1, K1 repeat from * 8 sts, K35, P1,*K1,P1, repeat from * 8 sts
Row 16-17: Repeat rows 10 & 11
Repeat rows 13-17 as many times as necessary until the scarf is about 24"-26" long and then add a button hole. There are a number of videos online that can help you if you don't know how to add a button hole. Make sure to size the hole for whatever button you plan to add at the end.
I located my button hole just inside the moss stitches on the edge but it can really be located anywhere between moss stitch edging.
Once the button hole is added, repeat rows 13-17 four or five more times and then finish the neck warmer by repeating rows 1-8 and bind off.

Sew on your button with an extra bit of yarn and you're all set to enjoy your new neck warmer!

Some Wedding Bits

A little over a year ago I had the blessing of marrying my wonderful husband. The wedding planning unleashed a hayday of crafting projects. While it proved to be a lot of work, it made my "special" day that much more personal.

One of my first projects was to make earrings and hair clips for my bridesmaids. I initially bought feather pads to make the clips but found that they were too large so I just made my own from individual feathers and a decorative brad.

No, I didn't make the shoes...or the flowers, but I did glue the flowers onto the shoes. I know, it's not much of a craft but those little touches made the wedding mine.

I did use use a purchased feather pad for my hair piece and pinned a silver broach with blue stones that was my great grandmothers onto it. I made the veil which was initially supposed to go over my head and face but once my hair was done, I found that the veil did not fit so my fantastic bridesmaids ad libbed what you see here.

The centerpieces were a practice in price control. I uses candy dishes as the centerpieces and created bags with names on them for placecards tying the the centerpieces and gifts into one. The table numbers are canvas with ironed on numbers a silver grommet and twine tying them onto the vase.

I initially had a place to do a wire basket and hanger for these antique ball jars but found that my wire skills are not quite what I anticipated. Instead, I wired hooks around lip of the jar used the twine to hang it on tall shepherds hooks to with tulle between them to make a beautiful "altar" to get married in front of.


In addition to these, my husband and I also made the invitations which I will try add a picture of later.

All the wedding photos were provided by the fantastical talented Meg Fenton

Welcome to KnitKnots

As an armature knitter and crafter I have been lavishing my friends and family with mediocre homemade gifts for years. As I slowly begin to develop my still novice skills, I thought that a blog would be a good avenue to document my progress and maybe remind some other aspiring crafters out there that you have to start somewhere.

I grew up in a creative family with a mother gifted in every aspect creativity. A master seamstress (who hand-made my wedding dress), a knitter (who spins her own yarn) and blesses us with home-made wool socks each year for Christmas, and a painter who specializes in watercolors. As such, I have naturally dabbled in my fair share of crafting and artistry. After years of making knit stitch scarves, I picked up the knitting directory on a whim in the clearance section of Barnes and Nobles.  Let me just say, it may have been the best $6 I've ever spent. While I am still knitting on a relatively small scale (scarves, hats, gloves etc..) my knitting knowledge has exploded and I am growing dangerously close to pursuing a lager endeavor such as a sweater.

Sadly, since most of my previous work was made as gifts I don't have many pictures to share but I recently made a neck warmer and just started on a hat for my nephew so pictures are on their way....