Doily-mobile Earrings (and Snowflakes)

My mom, she has a thing for doilies.  When we lived in Switzerland, she found these elongated doilies on sale and bought five, even though she had little to no use for them.  One ended up becoming the tablecloth for my American Girl Doll Felicity (who sadly does not exist anymore).

The other four, she put as antimacassars in her forest green mom van.

Dad's Cozy Gator

As you know by now if you follow this blog on anything like a regular basis, I make lots of gifts.  Lots.  Well, my Dad's birthday was this past Monday, and so, surprise surprise, I made him...a gift!

My Dad is always hard to shop for.  He doesn't really have a keen appreciation for the arts, doesn't particularly enjoy unique items of clothing, and really only will use something if it fits directly into his current routine or optimizes his life somehow.  Last year, I got away with Double Helix Socks, which he seemed to like, but socks again?  That was out of the question.

But, lucky for me, he does have a few hobbies, and most of them are outdoors.  A Miami boy transplanted to Boston, he's learned to love the cold without impinging his outdoor passion.  This means November through March, you can find him winter camping, skiing (cross-country and downhill), snowshoeing, or mountain biking in the snow.  It's certainly an invigorating set of activities!

When I moved to San Francisco, a place where 45 degrees is a chilly day, I found a plethora of people who used this newfangled item called a "gator."  As someone who always wore down coats and scarves, I hadn't ever considered this an item one would use, but upon further investigation, I saw its use.  It can be just that little extra warmth you need on a day between the seasons.  It can line your scarf-coat area where the wind sneaks through on a particularly blustery day.  And it can be pulled up to catch the bottom of your ears that never quite get covered by the hat.

You guessed it: I made my father a gator.

I followed a pattern I found on Ravelry, but used Bulky weight yarn, bigger needles,and fewer stitches.  It actually ended up being less stretchy because of that, which was somewhat sad, but it worked anyway.  Next time, I would make it longer by at least a few inches.

Ravelry Pattern | Ravelry Project

The Heartwarming Headache: HeadCrab Hat (PATTERN)

My brother-in-law's fantastic post about his hat.

I posted a few months ago about my brother-in-law's birthday gift from last year - cow slippers.  As you can imagine, I had trouble again this year, until my husband sent me this link.  Apparently, headcrab hats are all the rage this year, and he was convinced that Whitsun would love one.

The only problem was that I couldn't find a pattern.

And so, lo and behold,  bring you...the Headcrab Hat Pattern!

Materials:

• about 150 yards of a bulky, crab colored yarn (subject to change)
• scrap yarn for your leg-ends
• size 9 needles

Hat:

(note: this was made to go over dreadlocks)

• Cast on 66 stitches, join in round
• Knit in a (k2, p2) rib for one inch
• Knit stockinette stitch until hat measures 6-7"
• K2tog every 11 stitches for 9 rows.  12 stitches remain.
• Cut yarn, thread through, and bind off.

Short Legs:

(make 4)

• Cast on 5 stitches, join in round
• Knit for 10 rows
• Switch to contrasting color, knit 2 rows
• K2tog twice, knit 1
• Cut yarn, thread through, and bind off.

Medium Legs:

(make 2)

My hubby in the hat before we sent it out.

• Cast on 5 stitches, join in round
• Knit for 15 rows
• Switch to contrasting color, knit 2 rows
• K2tog twice, knit 1
• Cut yarn, thread through, and bind off.

Long Legs:

(make 4)

• Cast on 10 stitches, join in the round
• Knit for 15 rows
• K2tog 5 times
• Knit 20 roww
• Switch to contrasting color, knit 2 rows
• K2tog twice, knit 1
• Cut yarn, thread through, and bind off.

Finishing:

• Attach the four short legs across the "forehead" of the hat
• Attach the two medium legs on either side of the stretch of short legs
• Attach two long legs on the outside of the front stretch of legs
• Attach the other two long legs about 4 inches apart in the back
• Weave in the ends and be consumed!

Ravelry Pattern | Ravelry Project

Ben's Socks: Second time's the Charm

Those of you that have been following along know that in January, I made my husband a pair of socks that went around his heels!  Finally!  They still don't fit terribly well, so hopefully next time will be better.  Does anyone have any ideas?  Since his heels are so much wider than the rest of his legs, either they don't fit over his heels or they don't cling to his shins.  I've heard that a double forked heel might work.  Thoughts?

Well, anyway, I used that same pattern to make a pair of socks for my brother's birthday, and since he has a much more typical foot shape, they fit him perfectly.  Behold!

Ravelry Pattern | Ravelry Project

Cow Slippers

Last March, I made some slippers for my now brother-in-law for his birthday.  I was having a lot of trouble deciding what to make for him, since he's such a practical guy and wouldn't use much, but when I found these, I knew they were perfect!  He's had a thing for cows ever since he was a kid, and though these were little girl sized, I just adjusted using my fiance's foot as a guide, and wha-la!  The most appreciated gift I've ever given.  He uses them daily!

(The cats chewed the eyes off!)

Ravelry Pattern | Ravelry Project

Dad's Socks

I decided, after much deliberation, that my father's birthday gift was going to be a pair of double-heelix socks (Ravelry Pattern, Blog Pattern).  He did go to MIT, after all.

Well, his birthday isn't until March 31st, but I was working on them in February while I was home, and one day he came home from work a little early and saw them.

"Are you making socks?" he asked, reaching out to investigate my knitting.

"Yeah," I sheepishly handed it to him.

"That's so cool!  And oh look at the heel!  How did you do that?"

I explained the process to him, and he put his hand on my shoulder and said "you're definitely my daughter," laughing about how I could make anything complicated.

My mom walked in and wanted to know if he liked them.  He said he did, and she said "oh good," at which point I told my dad that they were for his birthday.

"Oh awesome!  Lil, I can't wait!" he said.  I took the opportunity to ask him if he wanted to socks to be matching or contra-positives, like the picture.  Glad I asked, cause I would have done it the other way!

And so, even though it's not his birthday yet, here they are!

I like how they came out.  They're a little different, but usually socks are.  These pictures are a little awful, but they're the best I could get.

Ravelry Pattern | Ravelry Project

Minion Hat!

My brother, Ben, turned 16 on March 3rd.  (Yay!).  Well, of course, I wanted to make him a birthday gift, and I searched for patterns for a long long time.  Finally, I found this one.  It was perfect!  He was obsessed with Despicable Me for a while and still thinks it's pretty cool, so I made him a Minion Hat (Blog Pattern).

I decided to nix the smile that the original pattern had on the hat and leave the goggles un-attached (turns out that was a good decision; he wears the goggles by themselves sometimes!).  I've had it done for a few weeks now, but he came to visit me at college this weekend and I was finally able to give it to him!  It was a great hit!

Ravelry Pattern | Ravelry Project