One Day Beret

The One Day Beret, by Kirsten Kapur, is now finished, though it's not blocked.  It took a total of about four hours to complete.  Maybe.  It's difficult to tell when you're starting and stopping over and over.  Taking pictures of it by myself was much more difficult. 

But I did get a shot where you can see both front and back:

Told you I look like a dork when I wear hats on top of my curly hair:

Sorry for the godawful pics.  They're not very sharp.  Best I could do in a tiny bathroom on a cloudy day with poor lighting.  Self photos are not my strong suit anyway.  But don't you like the towel rack in the background of the second shot?  I should win an award for creative backgrounds, really.

Not the Best Day

It's been an utterly frustrating day.  We found out today that the hubby has been given his two weeks notice which is, frankly, terrifying.

In the not quite so bad category, but still frustrating.  I ran out of yellow yarn for my son's Quidditch Sweater.  I only need about six more rows worth of it too.  I am now pleading with various and sundry people on Ravelry for their leftover yarn, but I think I'm going to have to suck it up and purchase another skein to be able to finish this sweater. I am about 95% finished with the sweater and it's now come to a halt.

Better news, I started a different knitting project to fill in the time.  This is a slouchy beret that is being made from my own handspun yarn:

This was spun from fiber that I dyed with Kool-Aid and then mixed using my homemade hackle.  I love the coral and turquoise in the yarn.  The only problem with this hat is that in order to wear it I'll have to start straightening my hair again.  Curly hair has memory.  What ever shape you put it in, it keeps.  So when my hat makes hat hair.  It's there until I wash it out.  It also sticks out in about a billion directions from under the hat.  It's not particularly attractive.  I'll have to take a picture and show you sometime.

So, that's it for today.  It could have been better.

Jack O'Lantern Door Wreath

Halloween's here!  At least in my tiny little corner of the world.

The Youngest and I spent our morning decorating for Halloween.  This is hands down my favorite holiday of the year.  My house is filled with Halloween goodies.  But, when all was said and done, there was something missing.  My front door needed a wreath.  So here's how I went about fixing that little problem (as always, click to enlarge the pics):


1.  Gathered a few things together that would come in handy.  I didn't have a wire wreath form on hand, so I used the next best thing.  A wire basket from a canner!  This is a temporary wreath since I'm sure that sooner or later I'm going to want that basket back for it's proper use.

Supplies used:  Canner basket (any wreath form will do, this is what I had on hand), scissors, Halloween Garland, Neon orange micro-glitter (*see closing remarks), cardboard, black sharpie, black craftpaint, small paint brush, spray adhesive (any glue can be used), paper plates to catch the glitter.


2.  I wrapped a Halloween garland loosely around the canner basket and then I got a friend to make sure it looked okay.  The friend decided it needed more work.

3.  I needed a centerpiece.  Mr. Jack O'Lantern was designated to be the center of our door wreath, but I needed to make him first.

4.  So, I grabbed a piece of cardboard and a sharpie and got to work:

[Create a mental pic of me drawing a pumpkin since I forgot to take a pic of this step.  okay?]

5.  Next, I used painter's tape to cover the mouth and eyes.

6.  This is where I strongly, no wait minute;  Make that STRONGLY suggest you take this project outside.  Spray your adhesive onto Jack, covering every inch.  You can use any glue for this really, this was just faster for me.

Shake the glitter over Jack.  I then resprayed him with the glue and shook the glitter over him again.  (I might have also glued a bunch to the deck as well.  Oopsie.  Note to self:  Do this out in the grass next time.)

Once it's dry, gently peel off the painter's tape.

Don't worry if the edges are a little wonky.  Black craft paint will fix that up in a hurry:

7.  Attach Jack, I used tape, to the center of the wreath.

8,  The wreath still looked a bit odd due to some of the wire showing around the outside.  I dug into the craft supplies and got out some black pipe cleaners and wrapped them around the outside parts of the wreath where the wire was exposed.  You can still see some of the wire, but it broke it up somewhat and disguised it nicely.  Add a pretty orange bow, just for fun when you're finished!

*Closing remarks:  This would be a fun craft to do with kids.  However, if you do so,  Please, for the love of God, please use regular sized glitter and not neon micro-glitter as I did.  Micro-glitter, while really pretty, is incredibly messy.  If you mix a child and neon micro-glitter, don't blame me for the fact that everything you own for the next 1000 years will sparkle and shine without ceasing!