Hats for Christmas

Halloween's not even over and I've already been crocheting for Christmas. This year I want to make hand-made gifts for Christmas. That's my goal and hope. We'll see if I actually succeed at that. I've started by making a men's hat. I wanted to make a skull cap but didn't want to knit one. I looked for crochet patterns but some were too "fancy" and I knew none of the men I knew would like that. I found a nice crochet hat pattern at the Lion Brands website and downloaded the free pattern. It's pictured as a woman's hat but I saw a number of samples in a men's version of this hat. The pattern is called the Metropolitan Ave Hat and has a nice texture and is very quick to crochet.

The challenge with this is, the pattern called for a bulky weight yarn, which I've never worked with. I used Loops & Threads Cozy Wool in Granite. This yarn is 50% wool and 50% acrylic. Using a 9 mm crochet hook, as recommended, I was able to make the gauge sample but when I crocheted the hat it turned out too big...even for my hubby's head. This shouldn't have been a surprise to me (but it was), I have always needed needles in a size smaller whenever I've crocheted or knitted. The difficulty was, I couldn't find an 8 mm or 7 mm crochet hook anywhere. So, I made my second hat using the biggest needle I had - a 6.5 mm - and it turned out too small for my husband, but did fit my sons!

Younger son ...with thread still attached, in case it didn't fit and I had to unravel.

It fit him but was a little snug.

Older son...hat fit him perfectly and cozy - true to the yarn's name. 

Assuming this was an early Christmas surprise hat, he claimed ownership. 

Merry Early Christmas!

I'm determined to find the needle size I need and make a few more of this hat!

Inspirational!

Happier Than A Bird Quilts: Summer Sampler Series: Completed Quilt!: She is done! And I love her so! So the facts:  Fabrics: Various Moda Bella Solids and Kona Cottons. Batting: Warm & White I d...

Baby Sweater for Mathias

My niece had a sweet baby boy this past summer. I wanted to knit or crochet a sweater pattern that I hadn't tried before so after hours and hours and hours (not really that many hours, I like to be dramatic sometimes) of searching the web for something interesting to make I found this photo.

Hexagon Sweater Revisited

I followed the link to the image and found this instructions at Cozy's Corner. The instructions were easy to follow and from the comments I could see that there were no errors in the directions given. I used Loops & Threads - Snuggly Wuggly yarn, in Rain Drops (white with blue/green flecks) from Michael's. And here's what I made for our sweet little Mathias.

Mathias' Hex Sweater

I also crocheted a little hat from Alli Crafts and a blanket from a pattern on Lion Brand's website but can't upload link as you have to log into their site. Here's how the set looks...

Sweater, hat, blanket set

Crochet in Color: Effortless Cowl

Thanks to Liz of "Crochet in Color" for a fun, easy pattern with great results. Will post my version as soon as it's done!

Crochet in Color: Effortless Cowl: No, this is not my PIP. I am posting this cowl pattern by request. This is a wonderful cowl for beginners...or anyone who loves plushy and...

Power Walking

Ever since I turned 50, I committed myself to trying everything I've ever wanted to try. For my 50th I road 200 km on my bike in the Ride to Conquer Cancer. Since then, I've given myself permission to finally study art (which I'm doing at a local college), participated in a marathon, and studied belly dancing to name a few. This year, my goal is to learn to power walk and to improve my time in the Toronto Marathon! I've enlisted the help of WoW Power Walking and am looking forward to my first lesson on Friday. I think I'll enjoy it as I'm a fast walker to begin with, I'm hoping I will learn the proper form so I can go longer distances faster. Cheers!

Feeling good

It's been a couple or more months since I began eating clean. I was gun-ho about cooking the recipes from the Eat Clean cookbooks I bought, I went as far as photographing the different things I made. Well, all that great food went into my tummy and the photos are still on the camera waiting for upload.

A quick summary, I've "tested" a bunch of recipes, the ones from the Eat Clean Diet book haven't been so successful but the recipes from the Eat Clean Cookbook are far more consistent in their ingredient proportions and cook time. I will upload the photos of food I do have and talk about the recipes soon.

The diet itself is not a diet...as cliche as this sounds...it's a lifestyle...and it's working for me!

Clean eating or following WW plan?

Something's working...I was down 1.2 pounds, from last week, at my Weight Watcher's weigh-in yesterday morning! I like to think it's both the clean eating AND following the WW plan. I have been journalling for the last three weeks and been following the principles of clean eating for about 4 weeks (I think). I want this to be second nature. I was reading someone's blog regarding his journey into eat cleaning and the blogger commented that his wife clarified for him that clean eating was not a "diet" but a "lifestyle." This is exactly what I've been saying to my family and it's been pretty funny.

Last night we went to my cousin's house for a BBQ. Usually I take over a bottle of wine and some sort of sweet. On our way to her house, we stopped at a local grocery store. I told my family I was NOT buying a cake or a pie or any of the other desserts they suggested, but that I was buying fresh fruit!