School is back in session!

I'm so happy that school has started back up again. My son, Aiden is a senior this year and I'm overjoyed at the thought of him graduating, but at the same time anxious and nervous over him moving even more toward his independence and adulthood.  Where did my little guy go? He's almost all grown up and it feels like yesterday that he was going off to Kindergarten.

All his school pictures from kindergarten to now

I keep thinking that I have all this time to spend with him, but more and more lately he's off doing his thing with his friends or at work. Yep, you heard right, he got a job this summer and now is earning his own money to buy what he wants. Again, another milestone toward his independence, all he needs now is his driver's license and I don't think I will ever see him! Well we will cross that bridge when we get there I guess.  This year is going to be a fun year with all the preparation that goes into getting ready for graduation, senior prom, and all the senior activities. I'm so happy for him, it brings back many happy memories of when I was a senior - but we won't talk about what year that was.

Now that school is back in session and the kids are wearing their new duds, some knitting projects that you could make to add to their school wardrobe this year, like team spirit hats, beanies, and scarves.  Some I found on Ravelry: School Colors Hat that is a free download on Lion Brand, for purchase on Ravelry there is the School Spirit Headband by Angela J. Baker, School Cardigan by Georgie Hallam. A free download on Ravelry is the crochet School Spirit Afghan for your college bound student designed by Bobbi Anderson. For those that aren't into wearing scarves there is the School Time Cowl by Isabeau Knits, knit it in your students school colors and they can show their school spirit during all the winter sports without ever having to worry about losing their scarf. Or if your student prefers a scarf, crochet this quick and easy scarf a free download from Lion Brand, School Colors Scarf.

Gently remind your college student to keep their studies in the forefront with these Back to School washcloths that have STUDY duplicate stitched on the front that they would use for the five days and PARTY can be saved for the weekends!

You get the idea, there are hundreds of patterns to choose from for your returning student or your college bound student. Ravelry is a great place to start.  Have fun getting those school projects going and happy knitting!

Got my first custom request!

I received a tweet from a guy who saw my UW Team Spirit Hat on Twitter and wanted to know if I could make one for the Ducks?  Well, I thought, sure why not?! I tweeted him back to verify the team - University of Oregon Ducks? He said yes, and so I got to work on a design for them (see below), sent it to him and he tweeted back saying, "That looks great!" And he wants to place a custom order at my Etsy Shop!

Go Ducks!

Finished Ducks earflap hat - added
as a custom order to my Etsy Shop

Close-up of "O" using duplicate stitch

Wow, I was just having some fun with colorwork and making hats for my son to wear to school. Since he has been graciously allowing me to use his head to gauge the fit of my finished hats; I made him one in his favorite basketball team colors - Chicago Bulls - red and black. He's been wearing it to school in the mornings because its a bit nippy out there at 7 a.m. standing at the bus stop.  And he keeps getting questions from his friends on where he bought his hat, he just laughs and says, "my mom made it for me!" They of course are amazed and want to know can I make them one too?!

The red & black on the right is the one my
son likes to wear to school

A co-worker saw the WSU hat I was working on and she told me not to even bother posting it to my online shop, that she wanted to buy it for her son's girlfriend - and I wasn't even done with it yet!  It seems I can't make them fast enough!

Team Spirit Hats

I've been having so much fun with colorwork these days! I've been inspired to create team spirit hats. You saw from my previous post the Pittsburgh Steelers team color inspired hat - my son was crazy about it, so I had a thought - what if I made more of these kinds of hats?  My son gives me the ideas and I try to create a hat from the color scheme of the team.

For instance I came up with my own colored chart to create a hat for the UW Huskies:

Go Huskies!!!

Reminiscent of the early football helmets of the 1900's
Earflaps are knitted double-stranded for warmth

Made with Lion Brand Wool-Ease in Oxford Grey,
Violet, and Gold 

Learning colorwork has been challenging yet fun and its opening up more design ideas. Also, now when I come across colored charts I'm not so intimidated. In the past I have steered away from patterns that require me to read a chart and especially any that had colorwork designs!  Now that I've designed a few of my own colorwork patterns, I say, "bring on the colored charts - I'm not afraid of you!!!"

I am currently working on of course UW's rival team - Washington State University Cougars, for which I have also designed a colorwork pattern for and of course I can't leave out the Seattle Seahawks - I designed a really cool pattern for the team color scheme for them. I will post pictures of the hats when I'm done, but in the meantime here is a sneak peek at the design I created for the Seahawks team spirit hat: 

Have you started your holiday knitting?  Have you decided on patterns and designs for the colder weather yet?  Would love to hear from you, come on and drop me a comment.  Happy knitting!!

Update: Finished September 28, 2011

As promised here is the women's WSU beanie with pom pom that I designed and below is the colorwork pattern for it:

Model: Vanessa, a friend at work

Update: Finished September 30, 2011

Seahawks, Sounders FC, or Thunderbirds Team Spirit Beanie

Close-up of colorwork design