So here's the deal. I spend countless hours at the hockey rink, my husband probably spends more, but whatever. Anyway, since I can't sit and do nothing, I decided to take up knitting. But first, here is how that started.

I found this listing on Etsy.com for a Felted Tote Bag in a beautiful spring green by Little Projects. To my surprise it was a pattern and not a finished project. Since I had been intrigued by the whole knitting thing, I thought this was my nudge. So I went online to knittinghelp.com where they have videos that dummy proof it for you. Well at least enough to get you hooked. Then I needed help, so I went to our local yarn shop, Miss Elsie's Yarn, (by the way I see she finally got a web site up so I have to link it to make it easy for you. Not to mention, tons of yarn, quick to sit you down and help in any way which is where I came in.) There I received a practice ball of yarn and needles and a quick instruction to help me get out of the funk I had got myself in while practicing from the online video. There is only so much you can learn from a video.

Once I felt I mastered the knit and pearl and completed a couple of scarves, I was ready to order the pattern from Little Projects. Bamm, I order it, it downloads, and then I realized, which it said on the site but I was too much in awe of the bag that I didn't notice, that it was a pattern for CROCHET! Yes, it's true.

Now I hadn't crocheted since I was in college, so you guessed it, back to the internet where I found help on Lion Brand Yarn online. Half-double crochet the whole way so it shouldn't be that big of a deal. Actually, I think I restarted a few times since I was sassy and thought I knew what I was doing before I took the time to figure out what I was doing wrong. When actually, once it got felted down, my blunders were covered up anyway.

Weeks later, I finish the parts and get to piecing them together. Then felt them and add hardware. Which by the way I give myself a "star sticker" for since when it comes to finishing with a needle and thread, it's like work for me. Speaking of hardware, no that's a long story, I will save that for a later post. I love the way it turned out and ended up finding an outlet to post my project, Knitting Daily. Which I later got to a couple more bags and posted them also.



Which brings me back to the title of the longish entry, yarn addiction begins. Needle acquistion begins. Two years later I take on more than felted totes and scarves and try hats staying away from double point needles as long as I could. I found out they aren't so bad and whoolah! I start in on baby hats which I have the patterns from Susan B. Anderson's "Itty-Bitty Hats" book. (I think I have done a couple of cute cupcakes hats before this, but I forgot about them until now. ) I bought the "Itty-Bitty Toys" book at the same time because I loved the little elephant pattern in that but I have yet to start any of those projects.

Now I have a few of the ribbon hats under by belt which I show below. My first hat was given to a blessing of a baby girl, my friend Meg's daughter Charlotte. The other's I have waiting to pass along to a grand daughter of a my friend Dawn and another grand daughter of my friend Diane. I just need to meet up with them. Now, if I could only figure out how to make this a hat for boys. Maybe hockey laces and black yarn instead of ribbon and pink?