Recently

Last weekend Mr. A's parents came visiting us, which was not only a great opportunity to eat a whole lot of yummy stuff, but also a nice chance to finally tidy up every corner of our apartment. Mr. A had work off a little earlier than usual but I started cleaning the living room without him anyway, although he said I should wait for him. I started with the first thing you see when you come from the hallway, which is my yarn-crate.

This thing was a hot mess! No wonder I stopped knitting or crocheting for a few months. Most of the yarns were all messed up, so I spent 2 good hours making this:

into this:

Ah, so much better! But there is one thing that worries me. I have far too many baby hats!!

Like seriously, all the people I know who are expecting a baby right now should better become girls, because I had another pile of boy hats a few months ago for all the people who just recently became parents and they all got little boys. Stock up on girls, people. I have at least 9 little hats to give away and two pairs of little booties.

And I don't think I have mentioned it yet here on the interweb, but I have a serious hat-problem (hint in the baby hats above). I'm addicted to them. I have around 80(!) now, but I won't stop till I have one for every single day of the year. My Mother and Grandmother are knitting like crazy and constantly buying new magazines from which I have to select new patterns whenever I visit them. Ever since I can remember those two have always knitted stuff. I was the only kid in school who would wear homemade knitted sweaters (and at that time it wasn't cool. Wish the hipster-times came earlier, haha) and when I grew out of a pair of jeans my mom would simply crochet some lace to the bottom to make it look longer again. Yeah. I was very stylish back then :D Around 7 or 8 years ago my grandma started knitting for a good cause. Every summer 50 kids from Chernobyl come visiting the village I grew up in, so my Grandma and the members of her knitting group knit one pair of socks, one hat, one scarf, one pair of mittens and one headband for each kid. Every year since then. They also collected stuff from local doctors like coloring books, pencils, toothbrushes, notebooks, little toys etc. 

When my grandma started doing this she put inserts in some local newspapers asking for free yarn for a good cause. Let me say, she received enough yarn to knit 10 pairs of socks everyday for the rest of her life. Every inch of my parents attic is stuffed with yarn, which is good for me, since there will always be enough for a hat or two for me. So my mom and grandma knit a lot. Naturally I started knitting too and even my sister, who has no talent what so ever when it comes to crafting something with her hand started knitting some scarfs for the kids using a loom-knitting-tool. When my grandma heard we both started knitting she was so proud she cried. And she gets excited every time I sent an E-Mail with my newest projects and finishes. 

Since my yarn-crate was so messy I haven't knit in a while. But now that all the yarn is rolled up again I pulled out my favorite yarn and casted on some stitches. I found this cute pattern on ravelry called Slouchy. It's free and so far it's great and easy to follow. I love knitting cables and the brim of the hat is full of that. My yarn is a bit thinner that it's recommended. I use Baby Merino yarn which I had left over from the far too many baby hats. It might turn out a bit smaller, but I already figured that and casted on a few more stitches.

Looks nice so far!