Icelandic Fish Hat

One of our last stops before leaving Iceland was the Blue Lagoon, which was not only a fantastic experience to complete our trip, but it was also a great location for a last minute photo shoot.

I had some trouble figuring out what to pack for knitting on the plane leaving Boston. It wanted something and relatively mindless, but I was worried about losing a half done pair of socks to the TSA, especially as I was knitting them on 2mm metal needles magic loop. Whether they were considered more deadly through someone's eye or a a garrote, I wasn't sure, so I left them in my checked luggage.

So the afternoon of our flight out I was fussing at home indecisive about what to bring that I wouldn't be too upset to lose, when I settled on using a bunch of easy care leftovers to make something I had wanted to knit for years: a fish hat!

Pattern: Fish Hat [Dead or Alive?]
Pattern Source: Knitty Winter 2008
Needles: US 8 / 5.0 mm
Yarn: leftovers of Lion Brand Vanna's Choice Solids, Berroco Vintage and Encore Worsted Solids
Yarn Leftover From: Wedding Afghan #1, a Droplet Hat, a Jayne Hat and coordinating Mitts, and a few other small projects which apparently I still need to blog
Mods: just replaced the eyes with embroidered yarn due to lack of other resources

This was our friendly tour guide, who was fantastic, holding the hat like a trophy fish. The bus driver was really funny as well and pointed out that the shape when held this way was very like a dried fish, something I saw more of there than I have anywhere else.

I knit this hat basically wherever we went when we were on a transportation. It was a fun knit wit some really clever details! As I got close to finishing this hat, I thought a lot about what to do with it. It is a hat with a big personality, and it needed someone to match. I had cast it on at the airport leaving to Iceland, and I was weaving the final ends on the way to the airport back to Boston. Somehow it just seemed like the right thing to let it go to someone else who might love it from this trip.

So I stuck up my courage and asked one of the brightest and full of life people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. She was also part of the tour group we were with, and she and her travelling companion were both incredibly funny and passionate. Afterwards Salvbard asked me how I knew that she would take it. If anyone might not only being willing to accept this hat but possibly even really wear it, I thought it might be her. Just intuition I guess.

It was totally not planned, but I love that it goes surprisingly well with her coat!

My plan was just sort of vaguely to hope that it would find a home with someone who might appreciate such a fun and silly hat with a good story. So I would have been thrilled enough at the enthusiastic response that it received, but it turns out there was more. I was told that her mom has a great love of crazy hats, and it sounded like it would go to her.

Sure enough a while after I got back from my trip I received email with a picture of the fish hat in use:

Love it! There were also thoughtfully included several photos of her mom in other crazy hats from the years so that I would know that her love of crazy hats was well established. What a fun woman! Seriously this is my goal, people: to fully enjoy the things that make me happy, no matter what it looks like to anyone else. I can absolutely see where her daughter gets her joie de vivre from. They are both beautiful, and I am so glad that I was fortunate enough to have our paths cross.

Chiquita at 14

Today the Chiquita turns 14. I can't believe we have both made it this far! Everyday she becomes more of the self-confident woman that she is growing into. I have delighted in her creativity and problem-solving skills. She has a clever mind that not only will serve her well, but that actually makes her very witty and funny too.

Just a reminder of what she looked like on the early days of the blog. Remember those long curls?

Remember the the her first spotlight on my blog? She has long outgrown both the first and second sweater I made her. It is weird to think that there was a time when scootering was a simply a way of life. Time has flown!

And there have been all of her own creative adventures! There was her first sewing project, her first dyeing adventures, letterboxing with handmade stamps, the Cimorene costume we made for her in 2009 and the Dragon Queen in 2011. Duct tape roses have come and gone in popularity regularly.

Love you Chiquita! May you always find the beauty in the world around you, and the world always have just the right amount of challenge. I look forward to seeing what you put your mind to next.

Welcome Baby J!

It has been really crazy here between the Spring semester coming to a close and everything else. An amazing part of that everything else was my newest nephew, Mr J, who I had hinted about previously and was born last weekend.

The above picture was taken by my sister, who clearly has a lot of love for the subject and and an excellent sense of composition and light.

Yesterday: Hallgrimskirkja

My plan was to do a sketch of the Boston city skyline last night for my "yesterday" prompt, as we had spent our first day in Reykjavik, Iceland. Turns out after not much sleep on our red-eye flight and then running around town all day I crashed out as soon as I showered after dinner.

 

So instead you get a quick loose pen sketch of Hallgrimskirkja, a large Lutheran church near the center of Reykjavik. Yes technically on Friday, but I am hoping to take advantage of being in GST for this one.

Pi Day: Reykjavik edition

So after searching Reykjavik for pie yesterday, we came up mostly empty. This was the closest thing we found:

We were hopeful to at least find someplace with meat pies after running across Iceland's unique twist on the tainted beef scandal story. And our guide suggested that the locals will call pie "cake" sometimes, which we tried investigating. (Nope we just found cake, although it seemed like it would have been tasty too.) Fear not though, tomorrow is another epicurean day, and we are planning on more interesting meals. We had to celebrate pi day somehow though!

IF: Stormtrooper

This week's Illustration Friday prompt was "Storm." You would think, given the recent New England weather, I would have lots of inspiration in that direction. It turns out not so much.

No 2 pencil on Moleskine

Yes this is a bit of a regression in that I abandoned color. Honestly I am just grateful I finished anything at all. It turns out that the extra time stuck at home has just lead to a lot of discovering how much I can get done when I am not being interrupted at work all the time, rather than the crafting I thought I might do. But despite that, this sketch is still out before deadline!

Grey Steps - Baby Booties

Despite all the blog content recently, there actually has been some knitting going on. There are a number of babies expected among my family and friends recently, so I have been on the lookout for great baby patterns. (Got any great recommendations for boys? I am not huge on dressing children along gender lines, but I recognize that people do often have preferences in this regard.)

In my poking around on Ravelry, I was super excited to find this baby booties pattern as a great gender neutral pattern *that I think might even stay on little feet for more than 20 seconds*. Crazy! The pattern has half brioche stitch around, with garter stitch soles, resulting in a lovely thick, squishy fabric with good elasticity.

 

Yarn: Jaeger Matchmaker Merino DK

Yarn Supplier: WEBS

Needles: US 1.5 / 2.5 mm

Pattern: Blue Steps - Baby Booties by Regina Willer

Modifications: none! (well other than using a DK weight...)

Oh winter, why do you make it so hard to manage to find decent light for knit photography? In trying to make sure this shot got in before we lost the light, I totally missed that the cuff of of one was not quite lying flat. The cuffs are the same length, I promise!

I did the soles with a magic cast on, since I was already comfortable with it. The whole pattern is super clever though, and in the end that meant no seaming and only two ends to weave in. Nifty! They were a really fun, quick knit, and by the time I finished the first one I had memorized the pattern for the most part. And the result is super cute. I think this may become my new standby pattern for this sort of thing.

Meanwhile I have been flipping through my library looking for more baby boy acceptable knits. Anyone got some great suggestions to point me in the direction of?