Holiday Hot Water Bottle Cozy

It's not perfect, but it's done. I'm reminding myself that I can knit another one, and having this gift checked off my list is more important right now! Weaving in all the ends and washing this tonight, then getting it wrapped up for Mom.

Ravelry Project: Holiday Hot Water Bottle

Pattern: Rachael's ISBN Hot Water Bottle Cozy by Rachael Herron, modified to use stranded colorwork instead of the cable panel and with a shorter neck. The heart band at the bottom is from the chart in the Hearty-stripy sock pattern by Patty McEldowney.

Yarn: Plymouth Yarn, Galway, color 16 (red) and color 127 (light green)

More Rock Doilies

More crochet lace rock doilies:

...and what the undersides look like:

These are fun and a good, healthy way for me to relieve stress. These are all freehanded - I don't work from a pattern, just improvise motifs and then close the doily around the rocks with crocheted loops and decreases, using triple crochet, double crochet, and single crochet stitches. Margaret Oomen's crochet covered sea stones have been a huge inspiration for these; you can find a free pattern for Little Urchin Crochet Covered Sea Stones on the Purl Bee blog and photos of Margaret's work on her blog, Resurrection Fern

Slightly Slouchy Hat (Obnoxious Orange)

The Slightly Slouchy Hat pattern was written because a certain surly, sarcastic teenager that I adore enjoys wearing hats that actively annoy people (such as a pilly, linty old rag of a hat, worn to a wedding reception). This teenager is a fan of bright orange, and at the time that I was writing up the pattern, I didn't have any on hand. Bright stripes of Firefly butt were, fortunately, obnoxious enough, but I still wanted to make one in a bright orange. I asked for recommendations on Twitter, and Beverly of PoMo Golightly graciously passed along a skein of yarn that turned out to be just right. The shades of orange shift and flicker just a bit, giving it a little more interest than a flat monochrome would.

Slightly Slouchy Hat (Knit Picks Chroma Fingering)

A little while back I ordered 1 ball of Knit Picks Chroma Fingering in colorway "Mix Tape" so I could play with it and see how the long color changes would look. Since I wanted to try using a fingering weight yarn with my Slightly Slouchy crochet hat pattern, I picked up a size E hook and got started. I did wind up unraveling the beginning, snipping off the first color, and then starting again - because no matter what, a big pink circle at the top of a hat is going to make someone think of...something other than a hat.



The colors are wonderful, aren't they? I like the way the hot brights are balanced out by the dark grey.

This is part of my getting a jump on the winter holidays project list. The Slightly Slouchy Hat has been teen-approved - the Firefly stripes version was made 'specially for a smart, sarcastic teen who enjoys the added obnoxiousness potential of having the colors of a Lampyridae backside involved. Your mileage may vary.

Pattern: Slightly Slouchy Hat (free! - in US/Canada and UK/Antipodes versions)
Yarn: Knit Picks, Chroma Fingering Sock Yarn, colorway Mix Tape