…and to all a good night.
merry christmas to all…
…and to all a good night.
mini santa hat pattern!
Last year I tried knitting a little stocking for our knitting group’s ornament exchange and it turned out really wonky. The night before the exchange, I whipped up this little Santa hat instead.
For this year’s exchange, I knit the stocking from Last Minute Knitted Gifts and it turned out MUCH better. Tana, who picked my Santa hat from last year, picked the stocking this year. I knit them both out of the same yarn. Too funny! I should see if I can complete her set with a mini sweater next season.
I’ve been thinking a lot about the little Santa hat ornament. It was so cute and easy! So the other night I decided to knit another one for our tree. I love it so much! Here’s the pattern so you can knit up some cuteness for your tree.
Knitted Santa Hat Ornament
Yarn: Lion Brand Micro Spun colors red and white
Needles: I used size 3 dpns
Gauge: 6 stitches = 1 inch
Time to complete: Less than two episodes of the Sopranos.
Hat
Using white yarn, cast on 30 stitches and divide evenly over 3 dpns.
Join and knit 8 rows in white (add rows if you need to so it forms a nice roll brim).
Change to red yarn and knit 12 rows.
Begin decreases:
Knit the first two stitches on each needle together.
Knit a plain round.
Repeat these two rows until you only have 3 stitches left. Tie them off.
Pom Pom
Start with a slip knot of white yarn on a single needle.
Knit in the front and back of the stitch, increasing to 2 stitches.
Knit in the front and back of both stitches, increasing to 4 stitches.
Repeat once more for a total of 8 stitches.
Begin decreases:
Knit two together across, decreasing to 4 stitches.
Repeat, decreasing to 2 stitches.
Repeat once more and tie off.
Pull the two ends together and shape a little ball. With a darning needle, thread the ends through the top of the hat and tie a knot.
If you want your hat to hang straight, string it up from the top. If you want it to have a little curl, like mine, string it up from the middle.
Hang on the tree and admire your craftiness. Merry Christmas!
getting ready for the holidays
I can’t believe it. As of today, I am all caught up on work. My newsletter project is finally at the printer and all of my other jobs are up to date. I might be able to finish up some holiday gifts today. I’m even going to make it to knitting tonight. Speaking of knitting, I know I said I was done with fuzzy scarves, but never say never.
more bread
The other day while we were iChatting with my parents, M pulled the bananas off of the counter and opened four of them. I’ve been itching to make something out of Deceptively Delicious because I love hiding good-for-you stuff in my cooking, so I decided to try the banana bread. It called for 1 1/2 cups banana and 1/2 cup cauliflower purees. Surprisingly, four bananas doesn’t make a lot of puree and I didn’t have any frozen cauliflower on hand, so I microwaved a sweet potato to make up the difference. I was a little worried being so adventurous, but it was sweet potato, after all.
The bread turned out fabulous. It smelled so good it was hard to wait for it too cool. I immediately ate two slices and could eat more. I’m not planning to tell T about the sweet potato until he tries it. We’ll see if he can tell. This one has 1/2 cup of sugar in it, so he should be happy. (My zucchini bread wasn’t sweet enough for him.) It also has a good bit of whole wheat flour in it. I’ll definitely be making this again, even if I am the only one who eats it.
UPDATE: T and M both LOVE the bread. T wasn’t even phased by the sweet potato. I’ve trained him well.
etsy shop was a little empty
My etsy items are at a craft open house today and are hopefully being sold. (Details on Christy’s blog.) The shop was looking a little bare, and I couldn’t figure out which sweater to sew up next, so I decided to let you pick your own. All the details can be found here.
