Hats, Hats and More Hats!

That seems to have been keeping me busy lately.  With several projects on my needles over Christmas, I've been working away as much as possible to dwindle down all my unfinished objects.  Just a couple days ago I finished another Modern Rib Hat for my dad.  This hat is brown and cream and made of a heavier weight yarn so that hat shaped up a little thicker and tighter than the hat I knit for my brother.  I really like the way the colors compliment one another.  Very earthy.  I think Dad will enjoy the hat. 

I finished (okay, almost finished) my son's Snowman hat.  It's soo cute! :)  I still need to add the carrot nose, but I think it knit up nicely.  I like the red I chose for the scarf.  It's not a bright red, more of a deep, saturated red that really adds some substance to the hat.  I tried it on X several times last night to see how it looked.  He didn't appreciate it since he was trying to play, but once I got it on him, it didn't bother him.  He'll be wearing it sans nose right now, but that shouldn't take me long to finish.

I also have a hat on the needles for my stepdad.  This one is about 1/3 of the way finished.  It's another modern rib hat and it's going to be in black and gold.  Go Hawks!  This hat is to accompany some basketball tickets we all gave him for Christmas to see the University of Iowa Hawkeyes play.  The first of 2 games is this Saturday, the 9th so I need to make sure the hat is finished by then.  This hat is knitting up great.  It's such a change from the last yarn I was working with for my dad's hat.  I think he'll really like it. 

After that, I need to start and finish a hat for my husband.  He was the original intended recipient of the modern rib hat.  I was looking for something to make him, and this pattern jumped out at me.  And the poor guy has had to wait to be last to recieve his hat. :(   I'll make it up to him in the future, maybe with a second hat so he has choices.  He did tell me he was okay with me doing the other projects first, I just feel bad that it's taking me so long to get to his hat.

I have a hat I'll be casting on very soon for a hat swap on Raverly.  I'm looking forward to the challenge of adding some crochet turtles to the hat.  I hope they turn out well.  This also gives me the excuse of buying orange fabric since that's what the pattern calls for - thus giving me yarn for the Snowman's carrot nose!

And finally, I have a couple projects I'm working on as a gift for a friend.  I can't disclose what they are yet, just in case said friend reads the blog.  I'm really excited about these projects and hopes she enjoys them. 

That's it for the knitting I'll be doing in the future.  That should keep my January busy. :)

Of course, I have other things I'd like to accomplish in that time as well.  I got a new Brother sewing machine for Christmas (yay!!!). So now I can work on a few projects I'd been scheming about in my head for the past couple months.  First on the list are a needle case and a project bag for my knitting.  The needle case will be the first because the case I have for my needles drives me crazy.  It fits my needles well and keeps them protected, but it's that clear plastic, it's not cute, and it doesn't fit my straight needles.  It fits my dpns, but I have to throw them into the big pocket since all the side slots are occupied.  I've seen a lot of cute cases on Etsy, but I'm not willing to spend the money on them when I know I could make them myself.