Showing posts with label hats. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hats. Show all posts

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Time to Return

Well hello there! 

I was gone for quite a while.  Many things have happened... Since a year ago March, my little cat, my companion for 18 years, finally passed away.  Then - as I mentioned here, in my post on hospice quilts - I spent some time at Houston Hospice, as we said goodbye to my grandfather.  I may write more on both of those topics at some point...

On a much more positive note - and the main reason I took time away from blogging - we had a baby!


She's a nice baby - Monkey Baby, we call her. (Hat available in my Etsy shop.)

She's much nicer out than in... pregnancy did not agree with me at all.  (Benefit to that - if you're sick the entire nine months, you don't have any baby weight to lose!)

I spend a lot of time just watching her make silly faces. 

The first month she was here was just spent getting to know her, so I didn't get to too much crafty work.  She's a good sleeper, though, so over the past three months I've had opportunity to make her lots of clothes - and make several more Monkey Baby hats for the shop (but not photograph them, so it's still just the generic listing) - which I hope to show you all soon!

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Christmas List

Oooh, stuff to make!

-Mother: (she might someday come here, so it's a secret!)

-Father: that's always one I'm stuck on, as he's sometimes difficult and doesn't pretend well if he's not sure he likes something.  He may get a hat, like the rest of the men.  Or a last-minute book buy, as has sometimes happened.  I normally come across something great for him (old scouting book from the used book store, or, one year, a gizmo that turns your Nalgene bottle into a French press coffee maker!), so we'll wait and see.

-Grandmother: Sewing caddy, from pattern here.  And, as she's got fragile skin, lotion, like every year.  Perhaps someone's handmade lotion off of Etsy -- I can make lotion myself, but, well, I'm not very good yet, and... see fragility of skin, as mentioned.  Not good.

-Grandfather: Perhaps some of these.  He loves Churchill.

-Sister: (she might actually check this blog, so it's a secret!  But at least two homemade things.)

-Brother: Shaving kit (from pattern here) and perhaps also skull hat (from pattern here)

-Aunt who likes things made for her: Sewing caddy, as well.  And perhaps a tea wallet, as she's always on the go.  There's a zillion patterns out there, and I've got tons of scraps.

-Aunt who doesn't appreciate most things made for her: something purchased (perhaps purchased from someone else who's made something?)  (I'd skip her altogether, but she *gives* very nice gifts -- that's my only "obligation"-style gift.  Everyone else is a joy; last year I made her a little pillow, though, which did please her and was a joy to make.)

-Uncle who likes food: food :)

-Uncle who likes things made for him: oooh don't know yet -- perhaps another book, although I did make him a day planner last year.  But he's always super-appreciative of any homemade gifts, no matter how awful (he's a schoolteacher, which might help!), so he's a joy to give things to.

-Girl cousins, and the teacher uncle's girlfriend: Rae's Buttercup Bag, in various colors (there are 4 girl cousins)

-Boy cousins: skull hat, as above

-Perfect sister-in-law: coptic-bound book with map of Rome on the covers, as she's going to Italy with her family (may toss in one similar for perfect sister-in-law's little sister)

-Sister's husband (for some reason, I think of him that way, and think of my husband's brother as the brother-in-law): a secret, purchased from the Small Object (we get each other tiny things each year -- last year I made him a head cover for a golf club, and they got Himself a Texans hat)

-Brother-in-law: Don't know, but I got some lovely brownish variegated yarn that I may make into a hat.

-In-laws: no idea.  Worked for years on their last present -- think I'll just leave it to their son to buy them something this year! 

-Himself: perhaps a sweater (the back's done!), perhaps a gym membership -- we'll see.  And, if I can figure it out, a scrub hat with the Texans logo on it.

And some of my melt and pour soap for everyone (Himself won't let me play with lye, so all I can do is melt and pour or refashioned "hand-milled" soaps).  In flower shapes and floral scents for the girls, in herbal or otherwise manly cubes for the guys.

Complete:
One skull hat
most/all of the Buttercup Bags
book for perfect sister-in-law (well, nearly complete - just needs to be sewn, which takes no time at all)
part (each) of what mother and sister are getting
Sister's husband's gift
as mentioned, back of Himself's sweater
soap :)

And to think, some people want my family to go to a one-gift-for-someone-out-of-a-hat scheme (and I *know* I'll draw the difficult aunt!).  They can do it if they want (they usually complain about having to spend money (because they feel bad if they haven't spent a certain amount per person), or feeling guilty when other people give them things), but I get such joy out of making things for other people that I'm not going to let their psychological hangups or financial guilt trips deprive me of that!

One easy solution for someone who's anti-materialism (but unwilling or unable to make things for everyone), financially straightened, and also feeling obligated to have something for everyone, is to do what one good woman I know did once with "teacher gifts" for her child's school -- gave a donation to the Heifer Project in the name of the teachers of the school (all together) and then gave each teacher a card (which she prints herself, using Greetings Workshop) saying, "a gift has been made in your name to the Heifer Project," etc.  I see no reason why it couldn't similarly be done for "The Smith Family," with cards for each.  Print them yourself, costs no more than the cost of the ink and paper, and with good enough paper you'd never know the difference.  (I'm always surprised at the stores -- $4.50 for a simple card?)  Then you've done something good for someone else, haven't spent more than you could afford to ($50 for many charities will do much more good and bring more joy than $15 each to a dozen family members!), haven't given things they probably wouldn't like very much to people who don't need anything, and got rid of gift-giving obligations in a way that the people you give the cards to are obliged to act pleased about!  (And many of them would be, in fact.) Also, if you're making things but stuck for ideas, there are other one-size-fits-all ideas -- cookie-mix- or tea-mix-in-a-jar all around, or (like me with the cousins) one gift for all the girls, one for all the boys, or (as my mother used to do when there was a bumper crop of berries, which there hasn't been for a few years) a jar or two of homemade jelly all around.  If your friends don't appreciate it, your friends don't need gifts.  If your family doesn't appreciate it, too bad.  They're your family, and they know you and your views on things, so they should be happy that you think they're worth any effort at all!  (Well, minor hypocrisy here: if there's someone in your family who doesn't appreciate it, but is a REALLY good gift giver (like the aunt above), it might be worth it to buy something for that person!  But, in general, rule holds.)

As for me, I have to make things, and don't have much success selling the things, so it's good for me to have the opportunity to give them away!  I'm easily pleased, so I love everything I get in return (and usually my favorite gift ends up being something a teenage cousin picked up for fifty cents at a flea market), but I don't keep a tally on who gives and who doesn't, and I don't mind at all if you don't give me anything -- so long as you allow me to give you something!

What's on your list?

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Brief notes

Oddly unable to find time to post lately, although I can find time for other things...

But just wanted to say:

This skull hat is awesome, totally making one for my teenage cousin.

And, See Mommy Sew is giving away fun scrappy bits -- and Between the Lines has cards! and beautiful things!

That's all -- the husband's on the night shift for a week, so I should be able to get stuff done, photograph it, and publish it!  (Now my 15 mins are up, so back to work!)

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Beard Hat!

I don't like buying things I can make myself, so when I saw the beard hat / beard toque for sale at various places, I figured I just needed to make one myself. I looked for patterns online, most of which were Ctulhu or crazy loosely-knit or loosely-crocheted things. My kid brother's going off to college in Colorado, and he's a good sport and also a big hat wearer, so I wanted to make him something that would be warm and hold up to a bit of wear. He's got great red hair and has in the past cultivated some very nice mutton chops, ones that make him look not like a belated hippy but like something out of Dickens, and I want him to go full-out lumberjack and get a big beard. I figured this might convince him, so I made up my own pattern, and here's the result (posed with an authentic Norwegian climbing pick):



I used a basic spiral single crochet hat pattern, then just made it the desired shape. For a moustache, I used Drea's pattern, and it was absolutely perfect. The beard, rather than being a flap, is a pocket that hooks over your chin and keeps your neck warm as well.

Does that shirt pattern look familiar? It's from a tutorial I couldn't find anywhere just now, but I know came through my blog reader sometime last fall (the best I can find is here, but the link afterwards is dead). I wasn't doing freezer paper stenciling, so I just used an iron-on transfer, which was fine.

I made four; they were Christmas presents for Himself, my brother, and both brothers-in-law.

This one's also gotten too small for the beard-wearer, as you can see, so it's mine now.
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