Deep Breaths

So,  a wrench was thrown in my life and the daily one minute vlog got thrown to the side. Everything is fine but I had some very normal things to do with my elderly mother. As plugged into technology as we all are, it's good to focus on real life and family.

So I will catch you up on other things with my Instagram photos and mix it up. I'm sure my followers won't mind..all 4-5 of them!

I’ve been inching toward something different hair-wise and @jean_randall_stylist delivered. So happy! 😍

A post shared by Debbie T (@moodybq) on Feb 20, 2018 at 7:51pm PST

Did I show you my new hair?? I wanted to do something a little different but didn't know exactly...so I let my niece figure it out to surprise me. The picture doesn't really show the exact color but my hair is a darkish chocolate brown with little pops of bright red. You get the idea.

I didn’t make my blanket deadline for #ravellenics2018 but I’m still working on it. One more strip! #justkeepknitting

The Winter Olympics are over...I finished a cowl and  Hector's Shiny Magikarp hat and more of my 10-stitch blanket. I decided the blanket is big enough for my lap and naps so the final strip is in progress. The yarn I'm using is the green, brown blend so stay tuned if I have enough yarn.

I'll end this post with my two kitties!

My sweet #Philthecat

A post shared by Debbie T (@moodybq) on Feb 23, 2018 at 8:38pm PST

Black cat chooses to sleep on my black purse and laptop bag. #camoflauge #shadowthecat

A post shared by Debbie T (@moodybq) on Mar 8, 2018 at 11:09am PST

Shiny Magikarp

I'm not sure if I mentioned our Pokemon Go fun but this is one of the ways Hector and I spend our time together. We have fun hunting Pokemon and we can get some walking done too.

Hector has been pretty lucky in finding Magikarp at Redondo Beach especially shiny ones. These are really hard to find/catch and he's managed to catch two while I have zero. Sad trombone.

Back in October I set out to knit him a Shiny Magikarp hat using the Fish Hat pattern. Turns out several other knitters have done the same thing which is great for me since they leave notes and links to modifications. 

I mentioned in my last post that I have set goals for myself and decided to add in Hector's hat. There is a WIP (work in progress) category so I can medal in that too!! Win/win. 

It's FINISHED and it's pretty awesome. 

Shiny Magikarp hat! #teampuckthis2018 #ravellenics2018 #wipdancing #knit #pokemongo

A post shared by Debbie T (@moodybq) on Feb 19, 2018 at 1:36pm PST

January Hat Trick

January is zipping by but this month is the annual Puck This! hat trick challenge. We knit 3 hats for the month to get our hat trick! No prizes or awards just the great satisfaction of knitting hats! It's always a fun time since I'm introduced to hat patterns that I haven't seen before and there are probably thousands out  there.. or close to it. 

Miki hat is done! #hattrick2018

A post shared by Debbie T (@moodybq) on Jan 3, 2018 at 10:23pm PST

This is hat 1, the Miki pattern that a fellow raveler introduced to the group. It's a free pattern and it looks great on everyone. I really enjoyed knitting this one and plan on knitting more especially for my male peeps.

Messy Bun hat. That’s 2 down. #puckthishattrick2018

A post shared by Debbie T (@moodybq) on Jan 11, 2018 at 11:13am PST

Hat number 2...the Messy Bun Hat. My hair is too short for a nice full bun, messy or not. It's a nice coral/hot pink color and is perfect for people with really long hair that want a hat to keep their head warm but don't want the misshapened head look. This is already mailed to my friend in Sacramento. 

Mollie Mae hat. #puckthishattrick2018

A post shared by Debbie T (@moodybq) on Jan 18, 2018 at 11:01pm PST

Hat number 3 is Mollie Mae. All these patterns are free since I usually can't see myself paying for a hat pattern. 
This is helpful using up those little leftovers that gather so I tried to find a good contrast. I followed the pattern as written and to me, the hat can be a bit longer. That's just my preference...some like their hats snug to the head while others, like me prefer some room in the hat. 

Found a WIP so I had to finish it up. No idea what pattern it is. Not counting it for our hat trick.

A post shared by Debbie T (@moodybq) on Jan 11, 2018 at 11:47pm PST

And I have an extra hat for the books...a project that was laying around for a year or two so I picked it up and finished it. I forget the pattern right now but it's in my projects so I must've created a project page for it. It's cute, cotton fingering weight yarn held doubled and I'm putting it in the gift pile. 

So that's it! Hats are are a fun and usually quick project to break up some of my other bigger projects and I need the satisfaction of finishing something. They make practical and fun gifts. 

Sockhead 5(?)

Sockhead is blocked. Look for it at #LAKings season opener.

A photo posted by Debbie T (@moodybq) on Jun 13, 2016 at 8:18am PDT

I had this project sitting around for a long time which is actually normal for this particular project. I love using fingering weight for hats but it just takes me soooooo long to complete. But when I finish one, I'm totally in love with it and want to knit more. So I cast on another one which will probably take me a year to finish but it's so easy to pick up when I feel the moment.

Noro always lures me in with their colors and I actually ran out of yarn and found another Noro yarn in a slightly thinner weight but I don't think anyone can tell...can you see where I switched yarns?

Latest Knits

This is from last month and I couldn't post it since I didn't want my niece to see it before the baby shower. Her boyfriend really loves owls so I thought this would be perfect for them. It just so happens that my cousin has an Etsy shop called Tilbyen. I ordered the owl bib and blanket. So adorable and my niece/boyfriend love it!!

Unforunately I wasn't able to get photos of it so you'll have to believe me.




Here is a pretty hat with lots of texture to show off the yarn. The pattern is called Petal Showers Hat available on Ravelry.  I have since added a pompom because I think hats look better with a topper of some sort but that's just me.

Crank It up

I'm on fi-yaaaaah! But I'm going to slow down a bit to give my wrists a break. 




This is Globular Hat which is another free pattern on Ravelry.  Gotta love those talented people on Rav to come up with some great patterns.

My friend Matt works outside a lot so he always appreciates my hats that I knit for him. I usually knit with acrylic or wool blend but this time I splurged on some Malabrigo Rios for him which is so soft and machine washable. It's hard to see the different tones/shades of colors in this hat but it's really gorgeous. Sort of a dark gray with bronze in it. The pattern has good texture which highlights the yarn too.

I even had enough for some fingerless mitts. 



Here is a better view of the yarn. As a knitter it really helps me keep going when the colors are so interesting. Actually I enjoyed this pattern more than I thought I would,  here in LA area we don't need super cold weather gear but these are perfect for our chilly mornings/nights.  Like I said before, the yarn is so soft that it feels great on the hands.


Monday was a holiday so the kids and I went to the Redondo Beach pier and then we walked to the Hermosa Pier. It was a nice walk while Josh rode his new longboard, Tyler & I discussed the different architecture of the beach houses. 





We couldn't ask for better weather because the next day was foggy/overcast.




This beach shot is at Hermosa and it's deceiving from this angle. We were standing on top of the pier and this is a huge sand berm where people/kids were hanging out on. Kids brought their snow gliders to slide down this sand hill.

From where we were standing, we could have climbed over the railing and stepped onto the sand. Josh wanted to come back with our snow sled. :)

Hats keep on coming

Since I'm on a roll with the hats, here are  some more that I've finished....




 Scoops Hat that I'm keeping for myself. Josh looks all bored and wants to finish his breakfast. Free pattern on Rav.




A Slouchy beanie pattern inspired by the movie/book The Fault in Our Stars. Free pattern on Ravelry.

I'm using some leftovers trying to make a dent in the pile. Sort of working. Hats don't use up a lot of yarn.

Sanpo hat featuring Totoro...also free on Ravelry. It came out huge even on my big noggin so the verdict isn't fully decided on this to rip it all out or see if I can fit this over Josh's snowboard helmet.

January Hats

This year I'm really trying to work down my yarn stash. I have a couple of projects going but nothing is faster than knitting some hats. We have had some really cold temps here in SoCal so I think hats will be useful this year plus they make great gifts.

In the Puck This group on Ravelry, we have a challenge of knitting 3 hats in January for a hat trick. Not very hard to do since we have an entire month. I have completed 2 already but one doesn't count since its been on the needles for quite a while. No official prizes are offered but its fun to cheer one another on and see all the different hats.






First up is the Garter Ear Flap Hat which is free on Ravelry. Multiple sizes available and this is the toddler size. I think one of my nephews can use this.

Next is The Vermonter...another free pattern on Rav. I've made this several times and it's super fast and easy. I remember knitting this last year and the recipient didn't like the huge pom pom on it so I detached it for her & gave her the pom separate. Then later after she spoke with some others that really supported the pompom, she asked for me to put one back on but she had either thrown away the pom or took it apart. So I didn't have the same yarn and had to use another similar yarn. That's the lesson...RESPECT the POM POM!!! :)

I really should knit one up for me, resisting buying new yarn. Although I did receive a yarn store certificate so technically that's not new if it's a gift. :)





I'm working on finishing up a third hat that I started in December or earlier, so that'll be nice to use up more yarn.




Another comfy hat with chunky yarn. Thanks to Josh for being my ever cooperative model.

Hats Galore

On the Puck This group on Ravelry we have a Hat Trick month in January and it's all for fun but the goal is to knit 3 hats in the month. I do love knitting hats since they're usually fast and fun.

My usual goal is to use up my current stash but that does not always work out as planned. I'm not sure if I blogged about my personal hat trick but I did continue knitting on hats through February. Also if you watched the winter Olympics in Sochi, you may noticed the really cool knit hats that many athletes wore.

Luckily there are plenty of talented people to reverse engineer the designs and share them with fellow knitters. One of my first hats was the 2014 USA hat, of course. I only have one photo of the hat which features colorwork moose, designs of USA and 2014.



Quite large for the average person and I stopped the chart soon after the moose as the hat was getting very tall. I'm sure I can find someone who will claim this cool hat.

Then I was in a patriotic mood, so I continued with the same yarn and made a Scrappy Ski Hat. This is a super pattern for using all those odd and ends of yarn laying around. I keep saying I need to knit up my existing stash but somehow I keep buying more yarn. Its a vicious cycle.





Oh, I'm not finished! I was telling you I was on some sort of hat knitting frenzy...



This cool pattern, Slovakian Folklore Hat takes its inspiration from the winter Olympics where the Slovakia had these super fab hats. A talented person took her time to chart it out and I was lucky enough to find it/knit it. This hat is really tall and slouchy which is how it's supposed to be but I did have to leave out the last chart before it was too long. Yes, I bought more yarn but these colors are great and wintery. And it looks complete with a pom pom. :)



I'm definitely wearing this hat when I take off to the great white north next month. :)





One more hat and I think that's it for now. I knit another Sockhead hat. This hat is great because it uses sock yarn which is thinner/lighter which is more suitable for SoCal weather. We are supposed to get 2 rainstorms and I'm currently wearing it as I type.

It's a great mindless project because I don't have to think about it. Just lots of ribbing and then miles of knitting. I might use up some leftover sock yarn and make a scrappy one.

Phew! That's the hats although I didn't show the 3 I knit for January. I don't want to overload everyone more than I have. Now to prepare for rain!

Off the Needles

I'm definitely knitting but way behind in photographing them. My mom's car was acting up for the past 2 weeks so we finally put it in the shop for repairs where it has been for the past week. That means my mom needs transportation and I'm the chauffeur which is good and bad. I'm learning patience, haven't got it but trying... So this week has been daily trips to grocery store and the doctor's office since this was the week where my mom had scheduled eye surgery. The good news is that her car is ready although we want to limit her driving so we shall see how this goes.

Okay, back to knitting. I'm currently working on a sock project from the Cookie A sock yarn club which is fantastic. The December pattern Arrow has jump started my sock knitting again and I'm at the foot so almost complete. The club yarn is by Tanis Fiber which is fabulous. It's kind of funny how much I've learned over these years about sock yarn. Words/terms like MCN (merino, cashmere, nylon blend) & twist all contribute to the fabric of the sock. This yarn is MCN which I read some knitters do not like to use for socks because some do not hold up well but here is where the twist part comes in. I can't get all technical because I won't describe it accurately but I know enough that this yarn will be durable and extra soft/squishy. I can't stop petting it. I do know that I want to buy more and see how it all comes out. Maybe a scarf...

Now the Arrow pattern is textured and easily memorized. Josh guessed the name of the pattern just by looking at my socks. :) I'm so close to finishing but I got a tad sidetracked with a hat. That was a great leftover stashbusting type project called Scrappy Gems Fair Isle hat.




I must stay focused on my socks so I can get to other projects waiting in the wings. 

Meanwhile, I'm obsessed with this T-shirt I thought Tyler might like (he does) and I love saying this because it cracks me up...





Have a great weekend!

Vikings

I almost forgot to share our Viking hats/beards that I made for Halloween. I didn't want to post beforehand because I wanted to keep everything on the DL. I thought Josh might want to wear the Viking hat as something different but he was really reluctant to give up his Link costume (he got his Master sword this summer). It worked out fine since Hector wanted the Viking hat along with Matt which resulted in me knitting another Viking hat to appease both of them. :) That will take care of that pattern for a while.

So since Josh wanted no part of the Viking hat, Hector and I took them out to the Kings hockey game on Oct. 30th. See? VI-KINGS! Anyway, we got lots of laughs/stares/shout outs with screen time on the Jumbotron at Staples center. The best part was posing in the StubHub photobooth and printing out our pictures. I guess we printed out about 3 in a row which resulted in us winning the Royal Fan experience which is a Meet n Greet with a Kings player. Woot!

Josh wearing the Viking hat .

Josh looks pretty meh about the whole idea of a Viking costume....maybe the beard bothered him but LOOK at how COOL this is! :)

Anyway, Halloween is over. Hector & Matt each get their very own Viking hat/beard and my work is done.

The manly beard.

Hat Hat Hat

Time to post my knit projects! I got an urge to knit some hats and use some stash yarn so I dove into my big stash hall cupboard, pulled out some yarn and found the perfect patterns.

First up is some Bernat Mosaic yarn in a rainbow colorway. So baby hats are in order to take advantage of this bright cheery yarn. This free pattern is called Double Pom Earflap Baby Hat (minus the earflaps). I think these can be unisex since the pink is not too dominant but I guess that depends on the beholder.


They are still super cute. Unfortunately, I don't have a baby handy to make sure they are too big/small/just right.



Babies will totally be able to pull off this adorable look. I have to keep this pattern in mind when/if I ever need to come up with a fast baby knit. I even got the 2 hats from the one skein of yarn!



So  while searching for the previous yarn, I dig through about many many other balls of yarn and even smaller balls of leftovers so this calls for the Slip Stitch Stash Hat.



It works extremely well with contrasting colors which I chose after seeing the blue/green combo at the beginning. The hat can be subtle or make an impact with pops of colors.

At first, I placed the hat on the bed for the usual photo op then remembered my glass head that I bought at Pier One.

Much better presentation.

Nice & colorful.

Dead Fish Hat

I really do love the finished result but really dislike knitting this. Sure it's great for mindless knitting but for some reason, I just can't seem to bring myself to work on this so it sits in a bag for far too long. I think this one took about 6 months to knit just because I didn't feel like it.

It is very funky and I know the recipient will love it. Just don't ask for this hat because I won't do requests except maybe one last one for Hector. It might be worth knitting this since he doesn't put any demands on me for knitting. I think this may be a handknit that he would actually use. :)







If you love this hat, it's a great project for a beginning knitter after you've mastered purls and knits. It has a little of techniques that will always be useful in your knitting repertoire.

Two baby hats

Some really quick baby hats for baby Aleksandra since it's been far too long gauging the size of baby heads. This time I tried some preemie hats because I tend to knit loose.

The hats fit just a tad small but still very cute and luckily very easy to whip up. :)

Little gnome.

The above is called Gezellig which is free on Ravelry.

Great for odds & ends of yarn.

And this one is called Presto Preemie Hat also free on Ravelry.

I'm off to find more baby hat patterns. Please feel free to recommend some of your favorite hat patterns in the comments. :)

Odds and Ends

I finished my little mini hat topper a while ago and finally got around to looking for embellishments. I went to Joanns armed with their latest flyer/coupons and spent lots of time looking at ribbons etc. I finally decided on a black elastic ribbon (?) that is more like a fancy elastic band but it looks nice. I also wanted some feathers or some visual interest and this hair clip is the best I could do. Plus it matched the ribbon/hat.

The hair piece has a alligator jaw style clasp and also a pin fastener so I used both to attach it to the hat which took me several tries to get it just the way I want. I didn't glue anything down so I can always change it later...





I just need to put something underneath so I can pin it to my hair with bobby pins. Pretty happy with it.

Still working on my steampunk outfit along with Joshua's for Wonder Con. :)

Knitting Frenzy

Not really in a frenzy but I do appear to be churning out quite a bit of knitting this last 2 weeks which is fine with me. I just have to remind myself to have fun and not think of as Christmas knitting.

I will start with the USC beanie that I knit for Hannah's BF Chad.

I found the perfect colors at Joanns, browsed the patterns on Ravelry and came up with this...



It fits a tad small on Tyler and me so it should be okay for Chad. I hope he likes it...I really like the argyle pattern and think I will eventually make more for the boy/men hats.

Otherwise, I'm just knitting what I want and if you like it, fine. Otherwise let someone else choose it.

Finished a sock challenge which qualifies for 2 entries in the November challenge. Pretty good for me too. Remember that yarn that just didn't seem to fit a pattern that I enjoyed? Well, I just became determined to make it work and it did.



Here are the Moodyb socks and I shall give them to whoever wants them and they fit that person. Probably a womens size 8.

And to end this post...a December challenge which involves stashbusting using up those little leftover balls of sock yarn to make a crazy pair of socks. 



The bigger amounts of yarn will be the main anchor color while I add in other colors that won't necessarily be the same color. As you can already tell, the socks are similar but not matching.



Nice, bright and cheery colors. After this pair is done, I think I can start on using up my sock yarn club stuff to add to the leftover pile. :)

Hat Duo

I got temporarily sidetracked last week by some super bulky yarn and whipped up a couple more hats. I found a very cute yet simple (easy) pattern called The Vermonter on Ravelry.

I don't mess around with gauge but I know I'm a loose knitter so I usually go down a needle size or so to get gauge. The first hat came out child size so that was a lesson learned but the pattern knits up quickly and the second one was sized for an adult.

The hat is really cute and I think they both will be nice gifts too.

Top view of child size.

Side view of child size.

Adult size on Josh.

On an adult sized head. :)

Adult hat:front

I suppose the hat can be unisex if the pom pom is left off. I didn't ask if my boys would wear the hat or not. ;)

Skull Hat

I wasn't planning on knitting specific items for family/friends this year because it's too much stress but that urge does always strike and I have to push that feeling down. This year I specifically knitted gifts for Josh's teachers and as I knit throughout the year I put some items into the grab bag for Christmas. It is a pretty small pile and I'm still not trying to panic because some people will not get something.

Our friend Matt has been the recipient of several hats over the years and I guess he hasn't got one in a couple of years because he texted me thanking me for all the hats I've knitted him. A gentle reminder. :)

So I knit him this hat yesterday. Yes, it only took me one day but that's a day of doing absolutely nothing but knit. It turned out fabulous and I think he'll love it whe he receives it for Christmas. Part of knitting is having the recipient love the item as much as I do. He/she will wear it and appreciate it.

I put a lot of time/effort into everything I knit and I want to think that it comes through. It's made to be worn/used and I know Matt will appreciate it. So here I present the Skull hat.





Matt will look really cool in his skull hat driving his Cobra around. :)

Sockhead hat

I finished another project that was begun several months ago. It's a Sockhead Hat. Super easy but can be ultra-boring with lots of stockinette. I made one before which was slow going but I found out that this type of hat looks good on me. Thinner fingering yarn doesn't add more bulk to my head and I really like the light weight warmth of the hat which is perfect for our SoCal winters. Don't laugh...it's been cold here this year! Frost and everything. :) I also use the hat a lot at hockey games and I go to a lot of hockey games.

So I decided I needed a slightly thicker hat so I went off to knit. I chose Socks That Rock Mediumweight in the colorway Drop Dead Sexy.

I finally finished the hat yesterday and had both kids model the hat.






As you can see. it is nice and stretchy and looks good on both boys. :)





I might have some conflict since all 3 of us will enjoy wearing the hat although I haven't tried it on Hector's head yet. That might be a problem!