Whats on my needles & hooks

My main project lately has been my king size afghan.  I'm using my size 8 Knit Picks circulates (60") and Cascade Yarn.  I cast on 420 stitches, and I'm knitting it stockinette.  Every other stripe is a solid color, and the other ones use a multicolored yarn.  There are 2 rows of black in-between each stripe.  Each color stripe is a whole skein of yarn.  The reason why this is my main project right now is because it is mindless knitting.  I can work on it during movie nights, while watching a really good t.v. show, while reading, or while talking to a friend.  It is also an ode to my childhood.  I can remember my mom crocheting a striped afghan for her bed, and even recently she made a striped lap-afghan on her knitting loom using random skeins of yarn.  This afghan makes me think of home and comfort, plus its made using my current favorite yarn. 

I started making another knitted ninja for my youngest son recently.  I made one for his friend's birthday last year.  I had started making one for him last year as well, but that became a ufo (unfinished object).  He asked me about it recently, so this project began.  I am not sure where the ufo has gone, but this one is better since it will be his favorite color (navy blue).  The book is checked out from my library.  It has a lot of cute knitted amigurumi patterns in it.

I am also crocheting another V Stitch Bag (my pattern) and Tunisian crocheting a garment from the Civil War era.  I don't have any pictures of these projects yet.

Easter Basket

This small but sturdy basket took about 2 hours to make.  Here is the free pattern for it.  I used Schachenmayer SMC Northern yarn and an I hook to make it.  Two strands of the yarn was held together to make this a thick and sturdy basket.  It can hold about 3 eggs in it.  

Purple Crying Caps - Baby Hats for Charity

I have been making more hats for Click for Babies: Period of Purple Crying Caps.

I felt like knitting one of the baby hats instead of crocheting one.  I used Plymouth Encore Colorspun and size 5 dpns to make it.  Many people don't think that it is 50% purple, which is what the charity is asking for, but it looks like it to me. Where there isn't purple it is pink and blue, which when combined would make purple.  Maybe it's a stretch, but I really wanted to make some baby hats with this yarn.

• Long tail cast on of 72 sts, 24 on 3 dpns.
• 4x4 rib
• slowly make the first 12 sts knit stitches
• decrease by ssk first 2, k2tog the 11th and 12th sts, and repeat around until 6 stitches are left.

With the remaining yarn I crochet these 2 crochet ribbed hats. Here is the free pattern for them (and several of the hats below).  This pattern is very easy to make, and after making several I now have the pattern memorized.

This hat was made using Schachenmayer SMC Northern yarn and a size H hook.

This hat used Plymouth Dreambaby DK yarn and a size G hook.  I made some tweaks to the pattern so that it would work using DK weight yarn.

I did not have enough purple yarn left to make a whole other hat, so I added some gray yarn to create this striped baby hat.  Can you believe that I still have some of the purple leftover?  I used Cascade Pacific yarn and a size G hook to make it.  Here is the free pattern for it.

These 2 hats makes 11 hats that I've made so far for this charity.  I used Cascade yarns Bentley color #12  and an I hook to make them.  This yarn was fun to use.  I have some left over, so expect to see at least one more hat made with it.

Here are some pictures of the collection basket at my job.  The charity has already picked up the ones on the bottom already.  It is great seeing how many people are making hats for this charity.