A decision has been made considering the flower on the Basque cap. I asked for advice here in the blog and in some hobbyforums, in the end I got as many opinions voting for using the flower as those voting for not to. But I also got a clever suggestion, why not make a pin with the flower, and leave it to the one wearing the cap to decide wether to use the flower or not. It will also make a nice accessory if one chooses to wear it on a coat additionally to the cap. I thought the idea was very smart, so that's what I'm going to do, keeping the options open. I will also do this considering the flower on the Newsboy cap which also is finished. I'm pleased with this result as well, and I will definitely crochet some more of these for sale.

I finished the Basque cap last night, almost, I ended up with a dilemma which I'm not able to decide on by myself. Flower or no flower? The crocheted flowers have someway developed to a part of my "brand", and I include them in most of my designs. But now on this cap I'm wondering if it's too much together with the ponpon. What do you think? Some pictures with the flower:





And some pictures without the flower:

I've finished the gloves this evening, and I think they turned out great. I also got the yarn I was missing to finish the caps today, so after completing the gloves I continued on the Basque cap which I believe will be done by tomorrow. I'm trying to get as much as possible done before December, and hopefully sell some products before Christmas. And because of this I also hope to update the blog more often, as you can see I allready had a good start posting a lot of entries lately, hopefully this wave of creativity will last.

I had a very nice day to day. I met up with Lise, who I've had some contact with on Hobbyforum. We went to Loop, which is one of the few yarnstores in London. After shopping a little and looking around we went to Starbucks and had something to drink and a chat. The best thing was that Lise just got some Norwegian chocolate from Virtuella (another Hobbyforum member), and she shared some of this with me. It was a very nice meeting. The shopping resulted in two sets of bamboo sticks. My shoulders and arms have been acing a little, so now I'm gonna put these sticks to the test and see if it gets better. I've been reluctant to buy these before because I don't like spending extra money on things just because they are trendy, and I felt like my cheap metal sticks did the same good job as the others would. But now we'll see, I'll let you know what I think about them. I also got some babypink yarn for edging and details on some projects I'm working with, starting with yet another "tube". This tube is going to be transformed to fingerless gloves, and as soon I've finished blogging I will sit down, switch to the bamboo sticks and continue knitting.

With all these half finished projects it's good to finally have completed one. And so the mystery is solved, my "tube" was a turtleneck and I'm quite pleased with the result. This is yet another project inspired by different patterns I found on the Net and which I turned into my own version. As I'm trying to build a collection for sale this winter I'm sure this will be one of the pieces I'll make more of.

I just came home from a short trip to Norway, and look what was waiting for me in the mail. A gift from my secret friend! Four balls of "Happy" which I haven't worked with before, and a very sweet card. Now I just have to find a fun new project for this yarn, I really like the colours. I didn't have time to do much knitting in Norway, but I made some progress on my "tube". Anyone who want to guess what it is?

The Maya Hat turned out as a total failure. I had chosen a type of yarn which weren't fit for felting at all, even if it was 100% wool. I guess I didn't read the washing instructions very carefully. So it went straight from the washer and into the bin. Then I went on to start another project which I've planned: A newsboy cap, I made the pattern myself by combining different patterns I found on the Internet. But then almost finished I ran out of yarn and had to put it aside. It turns out that I ordered a ball less than what I needed. So I started yet another project to wear on your head in wintertime, a Basque cap. But history repeated itself and I ran out of yarn once more, again because I ordered just one single ball less than needed. So this one also had to be put aside awaiting my order for more yarn to be delivered.



So then ... of course I started yet another project, but this time I counted the balls of yarn and I'm sure there's enough to finish. To get some variation between the different projects I now wanted to do some knitting since both of the caps are crocheted. As you see it still goes around in a sircle, but it's not a cap. Can you guess what it is? I can give a small hint, this is a Scandinavian garment, ment to be used in the winter.

I finished Hedda's overall, and I'm happy to say that I feel that I've done my duty as a good mom at least for a year ahead. I'm not particularly pleased with the result though, and I guess that is because of the lack of enthusiasm working with this last piece of doll clothes. The seams didn't come out very well and the collar isn't as big as it should be. But again, my daughter is overjoyed and thankfully she doesn't have my critically eyes.



Anyway I'm much more pleased with The Maya Hat which also is done, with the rose which will be attached to it. I'm going to felt it in the machine tomorrow and then we'll see the result. Untill then, here's a picture before felting.

This is my knitting bag, made by Felisi! You can find a link to her site further down at the right, unfortunately her site is only in Norwegian, but I guess you could leave her a message in English. I think the bag is so cool, and practical too. It contains two pockets, one for the yarn, and one for the project, with an eyelet in between so the tread can run smoothly while you're knitting. The lining is in the same colour as the handle. Thank you Felisi for coming up with this great idea!

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