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.

santa hat

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.

scarf

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.

bread

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.

custom

i think i need to knit a square or something

I’m not sure what else to do. The shootings in Omaha have knocked the wind out of our sails. Knitting squares seemed to help last time. How about I just post some pictures of last Sunday in the gallery and call it a day?

tree