Free Pattern: Cactaur!

All Final Fantasy fans are well familiar with this bouncy, lightening fast, prickly pal!  And now you can knit one of your own.  Except he won’t be so bouncy, fast, or prickly...  But he will be cute and snuggly!  Maybe you can knit this little guy so he can keep you company on your next battle!

Pattern: Dude Hat

Okay, so it doesn’t have to be a dude hat. Obviously ladies can rock this hat too, but we all know there is a lack of guy hats out there, so I thought why not throw my go-to dude hat into the mix?
This is a super simple hat that knits up pretty quickly. I finished mine in one day! If you’ve got a dude-ish guy on your Knit List, why not give this one a shot?

December-Due Knitting

December is here!  Like many other knitters, I am scrambling to wrap up my December-due knitting.  Not only do I have a few more Christmas knits to finish, but I had a fair number of friends with December birthdays and one Handmade in 2011 task to finish before the year is up.  With finals right around the corner (this week, actually), I have been stress-knitting away!

I showed pictures of this hat for Whitney in my last post, but I thought I would show just how cute it looks on her!  I gave it to her last night at our weekly Knit Night.  When I asked her to model the hat for me, I told her to "make a sexy pose!"  This is what I got:

She immediately put it on with the welts in the back.  I never would have thought of that, but it looks so super cute on her!

I also finished a hat for my friend Pinky whose birthday is December 20th.  It's made from Alex Tinsley's Maelstrom Beret out of Malabrigo Rios in the colorway Primavera.  The colors are just so fun!

This hat is for my friend Aaron who is in a band called Queens of the Galaxy.  I ordered a slew of Malabrigo Rios, and when I got the Zarzamora colorway in the mail, his band name jumped into my mind.  

I made up this pattern myself.  It's super simple.  I'm sure it's been done before, but I was quite pleased with how my decreases came out as a neat little star so I decided to write up the pattern.  (Of course Jonathan put the hat on crooked so the center of the star/hat seems off place, but whatever.)  Anyway, I'll have the pattern posted later tonight!

I am currently working on a pattern for a toy of a popular video game series.  Can you guess what it is before I finish it?  Hint:  He's definitely not a hugger!

Happy knitting, everyone!  I hope everyone can get this December-due knitting done without too much carpal tunnel!

♥ ashley

Knitting Holidays!

Did everyone have a good Thanksgiving holiday?  I certainly got a lot done on the break!

First, I wanted to show off this amazing yarn I bought from Twisted Fiber Art.  It's an Evolution yarn that starts off in one color, then it evolves into something else entirely:

When I got my happy skein in the mail, I couldn't decide what pattern would best showcase the colors.  I wound up turning it into a shawl:

The yarn was such a treat to work with!  Watching the colors change kept me from getting too bored, plus it looks so great wrapped up as a scarf around my neck.  I love the fall colors.  :)

I also finished two hats for friends of mine!  The first hat here is for my friend Tina whose birthday is in a few weeks.  I love this hat because the decreases make a star!  How cool is that?

And this hat (A hat For Eudora by Alex Tinsley) is for my friend Whitney.  Back in January I made a Facebook post claiming to make a handmade gift at somepoint in 2011 for the first five people who signed up.  This is the last of the Handmade in 2011 knits, just in time!

This pattern has a great hidden contrast hem that it kind of cool.  :)

Anyway, I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving full of food, family, and knitting!  

Happy knitting, everyone!

♥ ashley

Tutorial: Speckled Hexis

For those of you who want to add a little variety to your puffs, here's my mini-tutorial on how to make my speckled puffs:

So I'm going to try to do this without giving away the pattern!

CO and do your increase row as normal. 

On the first plain knit round, knit 1 in the MC, (k1 in CC, k3 in MC) repeat until 3 stitches remain, k1 CC, k2 MC. 

Do 3 rounds of the pattern in MC, then repeat speckled row.

It pretty much spaces itself out perfectly with the way the increases work.  I love how these speckled puffs just stand out:

These technique is nice for a little variety. I hope it makes sense!

♥ ashley