I, for absolutely legitimate work related reasons, simply had to make a tiny version of the hat. So I could take instructional photos of it for the pattern you understand. Completely reasonable. Which of course means I need to embroider on it. Again, for completely legitimate educational purposes. Yup, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. Now I just need to pick which color to use...

I, for reasons having largely to do with 'it's stockinette, I got distracted, my hands were on auto pilot' ended up doing something a bit unexpected at the brim of this hat. And I think I sort of like it? In that 'oooh, I should play with this more so I can figure out how it behaves and do something with it' sort of way. It looks nifty on both sides, and it's usefully stretchy in a way that makes it suitable for the bottoms of hats, and I'm pretty sure I can play with it in such a way [...]

I am, in the finest holiday tradition, about to hibernate for the next two weeks or so. You may imagine me slightly dazed, speckled with inexplicable glitter, cookie sprinkles stuck to my hair, pillow creases on my face, blinking at the sparkly lights, completely devoid of vegetables, completely unsure of what day of the week it is, and headed off to find the nearest kitten and mug of hot chocolate. Or, if I've napped and snacked as much as my middle aged self can manage, I'll be off to continue the holiday tradition of folding these to bring the light [...]

Look, in my defense, I was left unsupervised with a pile of buttons, an icord machine, and an as-of-yet-not-fully-decked Christmas tree. Shenanigans were bound to ensue. Because you can put anything on your tree if you do it with sufficient conviction. Y'all are an astonishingly clever bunch. Having seen this, you can, without a doubt, recreate it yourself. And I think you should! Because I have it on good authority (see, the comment section over the last few months) that many of you have a button jar (or bag, or drawer, or jug) kicking around somewhere in the depths of [...]

If you combine the inexplicable urge to fill my whole tree with stuff I've made this year, the box of buttons I found on the side of the road this fall, and an icord machine you get...a button garland. I'm tickled. Absolutely tickled. Should you wish to do such a thing yourself, there's a little walk through over here.

Hearts (they're called Palpitation) are done, so it's time to stuff them. Stuffing (or roving), rice, and plastic pellets are the three materials I've used most often to fill projects like this. And my absolute favorite is the plastic pellets.* They're heavier than polyester or wool stuffing, and they don't run the risk of going moldy or attracting bugs like rice might. Now, someone, somewhere, is currently warming up their fingers to explain, at length, why plastic is evil and they don't want to use it. To which I say cool, then please don't use it! I absolutely promise not [...]

Operation Treequest continues! These are Palpitation (in Ontheround's gorgeous yarn and hanging out in a beautiful bowl from Scout + Bean, because damn if I don’t know the coolest people who make the neatest stuff), and they’re heading out later this morning to Rampant Nonsense folks & folks who got this yarn from me earlier this year. I’m filling these with plastic pellets because I like the heft of them, but I’ll talk a bit about different ways to stuff your knit and what I like about various options over the next couple of days (and I've got a section [...]

We've been talking about blocking, and it's one of those topics that lends itself to before and after pics. So I want to show you two sets. The first pair you saw last time, and it shows the bits from Shiversome. Start with before: Then after: I'm going to assume you can all see the differences and don't need me to belabor the point too much. I want to show you what they looked like on the snowmen before and after blocking as well, but I preface this by saying it absolutely is a bit more subtle. But take a [...]