Dead Fish Hat

It's a craze on Ravelry as the hat is sure to bring a smile to the face of young and young at heart alike.  I finally knit the Fish Hat after joining the KAL in the Namaste Farms Ravelry group.  And can you say LOVE!  

It is an easy, fun and quirky knit.  Once over the idea that stripes do not need to necessarily be the ones in the original pattern, knitting was a breeze.  Just wasn't very fish like in my opinion, unless you were in love with Clown Fish or African Cichlids.  I'm more of a Striped Bass or Rainbow Trout kind of girl;)

Enjoyed it so much that we started a KAL on my shop's Ravelry page:  A Tangled Yarn.

Want to know what I did different with my Fish Hat? Well, here you go:

After doing the short row lips…..

K3 from ball A, K3 from ball B Repeat to end of round. Repeat for all rounds.

When it came to the decreases, I either K2tog or SSK depending on which stripe I wanted to decrease on that round. On the knit rounds, I made sure that if I decreased a stripe from 3 stitches to 2 , that I only knit 2 on the knit only rounds when I came to that section of stranded knitting…. and so on and so forth:)

Let me tell you, I would not recommend using all of the same color way for the striped like I did. At one point, the stripes were VERY similar in color during the last couple of decrease rounds and it was pretty hard to keep up with the strands.

The eyes were easy peasey even from someone like me who can crochet, but would never claim to be more than able to follow only the very simplest of crochet directions.  Using worsted weight (#4) black wool yarn, I did a slip ring and crocheted about 9 single crochets into the slip ring and joined using a slip stitch.  On the next round change to  white worsted weight yarn chain 1, do a single crochet in the previous round's single crochet, do 2 single crochet into the next single crochet of the previous round, repeat to end and join with a slip stitch.  Very sorry if these directions are not very easy to follow, I'm a Knitwit not a fabulous hooker:)

FINISHED... FINALLY!

This is a long over due project that was finally finished. Took me way too long, but the results were worth it!

Crocheted Cloche Hat with Knit I-cord Trim

Hand dyed alpaca blended with firestar. Handspun into a fingering weight single then crocheted into the cloche hat. White knit I-cord trim is hand blended merino/silk and also spun as fingering weight thick and thin.

Ta-dah! Finished Finally!

What have I been up to..

With the holiday season fast approaching, things are hectic around here as always.  Thankfully, today was Granny's last Doctor's appointment until the new year.  Lately we have been very fortunate that the Dr's Offices seem to have a pretty darn good flow and the wait time has been minimal.  Today was a 2 hour wait.....  Not at all fun.....

I did get all of my Christmas shopping done today with Granny in tow.  And picked up the over priced, ill-fitted dress I will be wearing in my cousins wedding on the 27th (yes, she picked 2 days after x-mas and it's across country, so I'll not even go there..grrr).  Dropped off two packages at the post office.  Took Granny for lunch and to the book store.

Went to pick up Ace from the Vet's home (my bro & sis in law).  He was snip-snipped today (neutered) and also had his front claws laser-ed out.  I know, it sounds cruel, but you haven't had the joy of an air-born kitten take a flying leap latching on with very sharp claws to the center of your back either.  Nor have you had the joy of seeing the scratch marks upon, my legs, arms, hands, chest and luckily not face.  Really it's not that he is mean or wild.  In fact, he is very sweet and affectionate, unless he is in play mode.  And lets face it, that is all the time.  When we are sitting in the basement, the ground floor sounds like the Kentucky Derby is being run or a herd of elephants is running through.  He has become rather fond of climbing the curtains and pushing as many buttons as he can.

Bill and I went for sushi.  This of course reminds me that we have left overs in the fridge!  .....yum.....late night snack..........  Then we went and picked out a guitar chair for his x-mas pressie and an inexpensive (costs less than the damn dress) elliptical machine for my x-mas pressie.  It took stopping at 3 different places to find one that was reasonably priced.

Below is the swatch I knit up for a pair of gloves I have been commissioned to knit in handspun superwash merino, silk, firestar and glitz.  Have to say the colors and blend is to die for.  Was done last night.  Really, there is only so much I can do in one day....lol

Above, is another project I have been working on. This was commissioned to be spun and made into a hat and matching accessory. I am almost done with the hat which, will then be embellished. I will make sure to post a pic after it is done;)

Now, I'm tired and ready to dig into a fresh pint of lager before I nod off to the land of the zzzz's.  Oh, and if you are wondering, Bill has been told not to wake me in the morning upon penalty of death!

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Tomorrow, Granny needs to go to the grocery and restock her daily pill organizer for this coming week.  I need to get her an extra pill organizer that Dad can swap out for the one I fill up tomorrow because I will be in San Diego for my cousins wedding that day.   I'm going to try(key word) and run the sweeper and do a bit of dusting at Granny's.  AFter that....  I am going home and going back to bed for the rest of the week end......................