Not much to say… Here’s a hat… 
I had this terrible handspun from when I could not figure out my drop spindle, and for the last 6 years I had no idea what to do with the ridiculously thick/thin stuff. Well! It works nicely as a contrast color for bulky hats! Win/win!
Month: October 2015
Ah-choo, take two!
Tonight I finished the hat that made me sneeze. You may or may not have noticed that I am not a big fan of the Pom Pom, but I made an exception in this case.
I think the Pom Pom really ties the hat together.
Ah-CHOO!
A few nights ago, I started knitting a new charity hat, but it was looking too big so I frogged it.
I started again, using a different gray than I had originally used. After a while, I started sneezing nonstop and my nose began to run.
I realized that the yarn (reclaimed from a thrift shop sweater back in 2006?) hadn’t been washed since I bought it (and maybe not even then! I don’t remember!). As soon as I switched to the purple yarn, I was ok. The offending yarn is currently taking a bath.
What an inelegant reminder to always wash thrifted sweaters before reclaiming the yarn!!! Ah-choo!
Phew!
We had three events today, which is a lot for our family on a Sunday.
For this and that reason, I only have one photo for the day:
fun with friends in Japantown!
And one for the post-bedtime luxury hour:
This is my latest hat for the Larkin Street Youth Services. Inching closer to 15 hats in 2015… And stash busting to boot!
Halloween event #1
One of the fun things about having kids is the number of Halloween-related events, well, assuming you like Halloween and costumes as much as I do! Today was our first event of many, and we were excited to debut our new, or in Leia’s case, slightly improved, duds.
I got carried away with adding more and more details- I was actually sewing things onto my outfit in the car to and from the Wee Girl’s soccer game this afternoon.
an important detail
The Boy’s costume is all DIY/regular clothes except for the mask and light saber, which I bought.
little vader
who’s scruffy-looking?
The Wee Girl’s outfit is from 2 years ago, but she insisted on being Leia again. But this time around I bought her some new boots.
I’m so pleased with how this turned out! I thrifted/up cycled/made the entire outfit, and was working on details up to an hour before our event. 
I came up with more details for the belt this morning. Hot glue gun to the rescue!
We met an Ewok at the party!
Darth Leia on the way home.
We have a Star Wars event tomorrow, so we’re excited to wear our outfits again and to see what getups others come up with!
Halloween sneak peek 3
Thanks to some sage advice from a reader of this blog, I revisited the pleather I was working on the other night. I had given up on the sewing machine in favor of the hot glue gun, but the result was mediocre at best. I undid a lot of the work and went back with needle and thread.
Of course this was the way to go! It took several hours, and I wouldn’t have been able to finish if the Wee Boy hadn’t taken a fluke nap (big fluke! He fell asleep in my arms!). At the risk of giving away too much information (I haven’t told you my costume, right? But if you know me even a tiny bit, I bet you’ve guessed!), here’s my result:
I think I’ll add just a few more details, but I’m very happy with it! It fits well and it’s even comfortable–I wore it all through dinner (hmmm, did I just prove what a geek I am??), and it didn’t shift or break, so I think I have a winner! Yeah!
An evening, a hat
Tonight I had to attend a 2-hour meeting at the boy’s preschool, so I prepared a hat project to keep myself awake. During the meeting, I made it to the decreases, which I finished at home with 2001: A Slace Odyssey to entertain me. Voila!
This is another for my pile of hats destined for homeless teens at the Larkin Street Youth Services. I’m moving towards my goal of 15 hats in 2015!
Halloween sneak peek 2
Today I had some frustration working with faux leather.
This is the back side- hemming didn’t work out, nor did just sewing the layers together with no finishing. The top layer tended to stretch, and the layers didn’t want to move forward in my sewing machine. I gave up and used my hot glue gun, but I’m not satisfied. Any ideas???
Felt is almost always good to me, however, and I was happy with my one last addition to the Wee Boy’s costume.
it’s upside down, though!
At least something worked out, right?
Ribbit/no regrets
Do you have those projects that you made a long time ago, which you enjoyed knitting but never, ever wear? I’ve finally decided to frog a few of mine!
On the right are some awkward flip-too mittens I made when I was such a new knitter that I thought I had to knit my way through Stitch n Bitch and Stitch n Bitch Nation. They never get worn.
On the left is a Pogona shawl made from the erstwhile Sanguine Gryphon’s Bugga yarn. I loved the skein of yarn, but knit up, it looks like camouflage to me. And I do not wear cammo. Also, the style isn’t particularly flattering for me, even taking into account that I was pregnant with the Wee Boy in these photos.
I’ve also decided to frog my (slightly singed) first sweater, rather than repair it, as it’s now too small anyway.
After the Wee Girl was born, I briefly went back to my pre-baby size, but I’m fairly positive that that size and shape are deeply in my past now.
How about you? Have you frogged anything lately?
Mother Bear Sighting!
Over the past few days, the Mother Bear Project has posted a few hundred new photos of the bears with their forever friends. Among them was one of mine, my Victor Bear.
All smiles
I only sent the bear to Minnesota in late July– I think this was my fastest sighting. Victor’s new friend looks pretty happy with him!
marissamadeit 