
Oh, my. This has been a busy couple weeks around here. My holiday projects always need to be finished before actual Christmas (since we do our gift exchanges with my family 1-3 weeks before Christmas Day). This year I had a few additional holiday gifts to finish up, making it seem really chaotic!
No fear, I have finishes!!
I finished the Unassuming Kate and Ben hats last week. I blocked them and put the pom-poms on. They were such fun knits! I have made 6 of those hats now. Yes, 6. I’ve only kept one! Here is a link to the Ravelry Pattern, its free! The yarn is Shepherd’s Wool Worsted from Stonehedge Fiber Mill in White. Each hat used less than 1 skein, even with 30 rows of 1×1 ribbing! The pom-poms were purchased from The Flying Needles in Williamsburg, Va.

My son’s bestie asked for a red knit hat with a yarn pom-pom on top, so I couldn’t NOT make him one. I had 6 balls leftover in red from the stocking project, so this was the perfect opportunity to use some up! How can you say no to a 5 year old little boy asking you to make him a hat for Christmas?? You can’t! No pattern. But the color and the fold-up brim make me think of Steve Zissou from the Life Aquatic. I’m likely to make this into an easy free pattern (which I am backlogged in writing currently), who doesn’t need a SUPER STRETCHY, chunky weight ribbed watch cap?? I used less than one skein of Stylecraft Special Chunky, in Lipstick. I’m 100% sure this is big enough, it fits very snugly on my head un-cuffed.
The big finish was my Hexie Blanket for my brother. It is finish #13 of my YOP initial list!! The pattern is Grandmother’s Flower Garden “Quilt” by Jess Coppom. I used 6-7 skeins of Mainstays Basic Acrylic in Medium Gray Heather and 5 skeins of Lion Brand Yarnado in Windstorm and a size K hook. I started the project back in March of 2019, and had all of the full hexagons worked and put together. I had some extra hexagons tacked on that I didn’t like and was unsure of how I wanted to proceed. I also hated the join I used but didn’t want to rip it out. That’s when it went into hibernation, for almost a year and a half. I pulled it out last week, ripped out the extra hexagons, worked the half-hexagons, and put on the border. I turned 2 of the 3 extra pieces into a pillow cover by adding some extra rows and single crocheting the front and back together over a round pillow form I had laying around. I finished up the border and weaving in the (over 100 ends) aon Friday night. I neglected to wash it before wrapping and gifting to my brother. I am un-perturbed that it is imperfect; its checked off the list and given to someone who doesn’t care what it looks like. The pattern is good, I love the idea. My execution is lackluster, my yarn made for weird transitions without a LOT of management. I would make this again with different yarn choices.





Today is also my mom’s birthday. Yesterday we saw my parents and my brother, the ONLY people we will be seeing until after Christmas. I made my mom a birthday cake, as I always do as part of her gift. A homemade birthday cake is something special, and I scratch make it every year. This year was the “Go Shorty, It’s your birthday” Cake from the Snoop Dogg cookbook. I made some modifications, like buttermilk powder and coffee in place of the buttermilk. The batter was really fluid and I was a bit suspicious that the cake wasn’t going to set up. Well, it did. It was really good. Maybe the best chocolate cake I’ve ever made. It didn’t stick to the pan. It was springy, durable (and didn’t break apart easily), that “M” word people hate, and super chocolaty. I topped it with a Chocolate Pudding Frosting and Unicorn Sprinkles (because we had them and they aren’t Christmas).
And thats some of what I’ve been up to the past couple weeks. I’m happy that my crunch time is OVER and I can focus on relaxing for the forthcoming holiday week: AT HOME.