"Hey, have I mentioned that I make awesome hats?"

That title there is my new favorite phrase; I say it quite frequently. I have been saying it so much that I am pushing my younger sister, "Faz," to the point of anger and mild acts of violence. She took my hat away and wouldn't give it back until she was sick of me doing a loud car alarm impression.

But really, have I mentioned it? I DO. I make some seriously awesome hats.
In the last day and a half I created this SCHWEET beret out of some fuzzy red yarn [Sensations,SUMPTUOUS, 100% Acrylic, if you care] that Emikel bought be for Christmas last year (I tend to cherish and save my creative supplies until I think of the perfect project for them.).
I really wanted to use it to make a beret, but I couldn't find a pattern that I liked. I have previously done 2 berets, and even followed real people patterns, but they came out too small and not at all like I wanted them too. By the way, I have a new favorite resource site, for those of you who like to knit- http://www.ravelry.com/ - it might change your life. I spent an hour on there looking through patterns, getting inspired, but not quite finding what I was envisioning for usage of my red hot yarn. Then I looked at berets at Target; a normal person would have at that point bought one of the fine hats at Target for around 15 bucks and given up.

But I am not normal and I do not give up.

So, because I couldn't find a pattern, I made one up, stitch by stitch. Things always work out best for me that way...
And let me just tell you, it is uber fantastic.

If I can remember how I did it (in an understandable, and pattern-like way) I might type it up and put it on here. I think I will have to make a couple more before I have it that precise though...

Anyway, here it be, in all its glorious beauty;

(this is G.I Jaimie, if you care. Normally this monkey serves as a rack for my tie and my fedora, but today she started a modeling career...)

Now, I dare you to accuse me and my hobbies of being "grandmotherly" (apparently that is what knitting is...? according to some people...). Bring it. But really now, how many awesome hats have you made lately? Grandmotherly or not, I am happy with my past times. I like knitting. I also like grandmothers. And by the way, knitting is an up and coming art form; get in the loop.

Next I am going to attempt making a sweater. And no, it's not dorky or ugly. It's really cool and you (those of you of the female gender who wear sweaters) will be most jealous. I've found the pattern (not too scary, only 2 pages long...but looks are sometimes deceiving), picked out the yarn with the help of my sister T, and now only have to get brave enough to start...

I dub thee "creative beast"...

Yup. I'm a self-proclaimed "Creative beast." I make awesome stuff! Can't lie...

I have been creating things my whole life. In our old house the only area I had to do my 'art' was a closet next to our furnace, big enough to hold a hutch with all my little kid craft supplies. I would get up at 5:00 AM (I now, in my great maturity, do not get up at such insane hours of the day) and create things until the rest of my family got up. Doll dresses. Clay beads. Little beds for funny colored bears who lived in a cardboard box apartment complex I made. I made whatever came to mind in those dark, quite, ridiculously early morning hours.

Creativity runs deep in my Hungarian blood. Blame the gypsies....

My mom (overthemoonwithjoy.blogspot.com) is rather beastly creative as well; she taught me to sew (as well as several zillion other things). Her mom is also very creative; she taught me when I was seven to knit on those little things you use to pick nuts apart with because my hands were too small to make the knitting needles behave.

While creativity runs in my blood, it also runs in my making. I am the daughter of a very creative God, and I guess I have been gifted with a similar ability. I can't make a platypus, an aurora borealis, an okapi, a waterfall or a sea cucumber (nor have I tried to make these.)...but I can make some other pretty sweet things!
In the span of my life I have attempted a good many creative mediums; sewing, knitting, painting, scrapbooking, stamping, jewelry making, drawing, crocheting....pretty much everything....
One of my absolute favorite things to make are purses with unusual appliques on them. I don't use a pattern ( another thing that runs in my Kiss blood is rebellion against all forms of patterns) so each bag comes out unique to itself. I started making them because I liked having a purse that no one else had. I began selling my one-of-a-kinds when people were becoming envious; I used the money I made off purses last year to help get me to Costa Rica on a summer missions trip. This year I am expanding. I'm opening up shop....sort of. I started an Etsy shop (see side bar link) a couple of days ago that I hope will help to bring in some extra moola (some of it will be going towards a return trip to Costa Rica in July). In addition to bags I plan to put up knitted things (hats, hand warmers, etc) some jewelry items, and whatever else I can think up.

For your viewing pleasure, here are some of my bags;

This on is my purse. A combination of my love for England (British flag colors) and my love for Converse.

This was a bag I sold via my mom's blog last summer as part of my missions fund raising.

This one was another fundraiser bag, custom requested by a friend.

A bookbag for one of my little sisters.

This was a birthday gift for my best friend (coloring-theworld.blogspot.com) who will be starting cosmetology (hairdressing and such) school in December.

And this one is the fabulous bag that could be yours, as it is listed on my Etsy right at this very moment. Waiting. For you.



All that being said, GO CHECK OUT MY ETSY!

HandmadeChunkyFunky Hat

See that big red ball of chunkiness over in the right corner of my yarn stash? ^^^
Well, last night, after finishing off some fingerless gloves, I decided to make something out of it.

I did. All in one sitting, I knit another red hat. Lately I have been really inspired by other people's chunky, saggy beanies (Such as the ones on these lovely ladies here and here!) and one of the best things about fall is that I can wear ALL THE HATS I WANT! Which also enables me to MAKE lots of 'em. (After this one I want to get some more chunky yarn, maybe in a dark purple or a gray and crochet one with spaces and holes in it).

 But anyway, yesterday's hat. Unfortunately,  I cannot remember what the brand of yarn was. I bought it at Joann's a couple months back, rolled it into a ball, and through away the paper around it. Learned from that mistake... All I can tell you is that it is RED and super, super chunky. Really sort too. I took some circular needles (I think a size 12? Left over from my sweater.) and went at it.

I cast on 46 stitches. I did 4 rows of Rib Stitching (Knit, Purl, Knit Purl).

 *bad shot of the Rib stitching*

Then I switched to a seed stitch (you do the rib stitch for an entire row, then you reverse it, aka purl on the knits and knit on the purls on the next row. Repeat.), only I did a double rib/seed. I knit2, purled2 for a row, then I would purl2, knit2 on the next row.

 

*double seed stitch*

I did that for... a long time... until it was sorta hat length (I wanted it long, loose and saggy in the back.) Then I just started decreasing (by knitting 2 together) every 5 stitches or so, until it was narrow enough at the top to sew up with a darning needle. (Warning, with my method of decreasing I had to be very careful and pay attention to my seed stitch pattern. It got more complicated as stitches disappeared.)

That was it. Easy peasy. One huge ball of yarn, size 12 circs, a darning needle, and under 2 hours.

I am wearing it today. It is awesome.

It was so awesome I wanted to take pictures and post it for you. Normally I would have had my mom or sister snap some shorts of me in it but I ran into a problem: my family is away at our cabin for the weekend and I am the only one here besides my dog and 3 cats.Seeing as my golden retriever isn't very good with a camera, I tried every possible method of self photography, from arm shots to Web cams, but it was quite the struggle (also, the yarn was so vibrantly red that it was card for the camera to deal with).

So the pictures aren't the best, but you'll get the idea.

 *front view*

 *side views*

 *blurry shot where I, behind the hat, am yelling at my Web Cam*

 

*me giving up on photo-shooting myself.*

When my mom (and her Nikon) get back tomorrow I am going to do a *more proper* photo shoot of another project --a reallllly cool dress remake!-- that I worked on yesterday. Post about it coming soon!


Anybody else out there knitting/crocheting/sewing/making/(or *gasp* buying) any fun fall stuff? I am always looking for new inspiration for projects!