baby shower gift

my cousin is expecting her second child. her daughter is about 18 months, and for her i knit the tulip sweater. this time i wanted to do something different. i was undecided what route to take until i talked to her mom. it seems she was reluctant to have another shower so soon after having baby #1. i'm pretty firm on the notion that every baby needs their own celebration. a chance to be talked about, wished well, cooed and ahhhhed over.... all in the comfort of the womb. i was looking for something unique, and came apon the notion of themed baby hats.
his birthday is october, so what better to start with than the pumpkin...

this should get him through thanksgiving. so for the christmas holiday i needed something unique. i found a pattern for a reindeer antler hat. it looked charming! the perfect compliment to the season. the basic hat was a snap. then i started the antlers. i can't even begin to describe how much this $%^@*(# challenged me. the pattern was fine. the knitter? she stunk had issues. i decided to attach the antlers directly to the hat. first one? no problem. second one i completed two times.... and in a fit a temper snipped it off!

my family stood there dumbfounded! they've seen me execute some pretty creative fiber tricks.... but loping off an innocent antler was a first. i took several deep breaths..... walked away from the hat..... then started. again.

this time i fared better. they matched in size and placement. i was at peace. then i did the ears. four times.
these i did not hack off  need to remove so aggressively. there were only a few stitches, so it became a game of 'how many times am i going to do this wrong'

there was a huge sigh of relief when i  was done. as i basked in a job well done, my perseverance paying off..... i realized that those antler will be the first thing he chews on. and that's okay. they do look devine :)

tour wrap up

they had to turn the lights on as i spun my way into Paris, but i made it. meeting my tour goals was a gentle challenge. spinning every day is not hard to do, being mindful as i do it is. i appreciated the bumps in the road..... fiber that wasn't what i expected, added knitting projects that needed to be finished and flirting with new techniques. here's the outcome....

two very different skeins. on the left is the ITW faux-romney in 'the bird girl'. i love the colors and the skein is lovely. the hiccough is the fiber content. it was coarse to the touch, definitely not a next-to-skin garment. i kept rolling project ideas around in my brain as i toured along. slippers? boot toppers? felted bag? hmmmmm, going with the felted bag. i often admire joan's booga bag, should that be the pattern? i dug out my copy and just wasn't feeling it. i wanted to do something unique, that would really showcase this yarn. i tossed the stash and found my answer....

 colors that compliment the skien and will increase my yardage. i've got a pattern in my brain using mitered squares.....
the other skein is also ITW fiber. it's my last bag of 'odds & ends' i just had the best time with these little bits of fiber. they push my out of my comfort zone... not completely matching, different fibers....really fun. i spun the single super thin to keep my option open to navajo ply. after mulling other options in my head, i kept with the original plan. i had a LOT of single, hence the lights on to finish the tour! when i had this done, i searched for the skein i had done last year. i had entered it in the FLFF skein competition so it took some hunting to find it.
how cool is this.....

i adore how the colorways compliment each other. last year's skein is  two ply, weight. this year i have a three ply (navajo) dk weight. there is an upcoming KAL that i may just use this yarn to do.