Keeping my knitting goals in mind, I have been very successful this month.  I wanted to knit one hat per month – I have managed two this month (this was a stretch goal, there needs to be one month this year where two hats get finished as I needed 13 for my gift bag).

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Off Grid, Storm Door hats.

The first hat I finished was Off Grid by The Plucky Knitter.  I knit this with yarn from my Plucky Knitter Classics Subscription – Primo Aran, in the colourway “Babysitting Blues” inspired by the film adventures in Babysitting.

Edit: Correction – The yarn colourway is Poet’s Corner Inspired by the film So I married an Axe Murderer. I was so convinced it was Babysitting blues, but I do have the yarn wrappers telling me otherwise. Oops.

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Off Grid

My Classics Subscription included 2 skeins of Primo aran, 3 of Bello (fingering weight) and one of feet. This year I have cut this back to just one skein of feet, in order to help me save up for a trip at the end of the year.  Cutting back was a tough decision.  I really like this yarn, but truthfully, I do have a plentiful stash of it.

I’ve photographed this hat with a pompom I purchased at M&J fabrics and Trimmings (happy memories of last years trip to NY).  Thankfully they are online so I can get some more of these lovelies for some of the rest of the gift hats this year – there are some on my gift list who would prefer me not to use the fox fur I suspect and I respect their feelings.

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Storm door hat

The other hat is another one designed by The Plucky Knitter, Storm Door.  This was fun to knit, but I ran out of yarn from my remaining skein of Primo Aran in Babysitting blues, luckily I had 7 grams left over from the other hat project and I was able to finish that hat.

Here it is with a fox fur pompom.  I have also tried it out with a tassel (see first photo) – not sure which I like best.  I do like the strong contrast between the white of the pompom with the grey blue of the yarn.

Moving on from that hats, my other knitting goal this month was to complete a pair of socks.  I have also completed this goal.

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Susan B Anderson’s How I make my socks

These are made using Susan B Anderson’s How I make my socks pattern.  They are the best fitting socks I have made so far.  I think this is pair number three all together.  I’m really happy with how they turned out, even though in my finished picture above I’ve managed to twist the toe around a bit on the left.  Please ignore the state of the floor.  Yarn is by Stray Cat Socks (Etsy seller) from New Zealand.

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Holiday in FL.  Poste yarn by Simply Socks Yarn Co.

I’ve cast on my next pair, using Holiday in FL Poste Yarn (75% superwash corriedale wool, 25% nylon – feels super wooly, I’m enjoying working these so much) by Simply Socks Yarn Company.

I also worked a little on Ropedance, by Melanie Berg (but I’m thinking of ripping this back again, the “knots” are much larger in my later work on this project).  No photo to share today of this one.

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Colette Sorbetto – Hello Kitty Liberty fabric

Lastly, here is a non-knitting project.  I’m trying to teach myself to sew and be less afraid of my sewing machine.  Here’s my first clothing project since my high school days, Colette patterns Sorbetto, made with some Hello Kitty Liberty of London Tana Lawn.  This is a wearable muslin – mainly because whilst I managed to ensure that the selvedges were matched before I cut into the fabric, I hadn’t taken into account the direction of the fabric.  I was so disappointed when she wasn’t orientated correctly.  Measure twice, cut once.  Otherwise, I had no major hurdles putting this together.

I hope you also had a successful and productive month.