Olive oil bottle sleeve

When Mr. Aitch and I went to visit my brother and sister-in-law in New Hampshire last month, I took along some knitting.  We went on the Harley so it had to be small knitting.

That’s the knitting bag I won from Dyed in the Wool along with a pattern for a wine bottle sleeve, needles, notions bag, and yarn.

It all fitted in there quite nicely.  I knitted a wine bottle sleeve for them one evening after dinner.

And they actually use it!

My sister-in-law’s sister visited them last week and she remarked about how wonderful the wine bottle sleeve was for catching drips.  If it was a bit larger around and shorter, it would be perfect to catch the drips on a bottle of olive oil.

So I manipulated the pattern and came up with this:

It actually folds down so it’s got two layers to absorb the drips.  Plus it’s larger around.  And shorter.  And has a “fold” line knitted into it.  And the ribbing is different.  And uses less than 14 yards of sock yarn.

Do all those changes make it publishable?  As a free pattern?

Hippos

These are the newest additions to our knitting family.  Rebecca Danger’s Harriet the Haberdashery Hippo pattern in the 2011 Fall issue of Knit Simple.

 

 

Purple – Red Heart Super Saver, Lavender

Pink – Caron Simply Soft, Strawberry

Black felt for the eyes.  I just love the tails.

If everything goes according to plan, they should have a sister in Caron Simply Soft Orchid very, very soon.

Dartmouth hats

Dartmouth College Skiway is where my brother spends his working hours.  So I decided to knit some earflap hats in Dartmouth Green for him and his wife.

Other than substituting the yarn (I can’t get Spud & Chloe yarn locally and prefer to see it in person before I buy) and eliminating the ties, I followed to pattern exactly.  Cascade 220 in Jet and Forest Green. It’s not a perffect match to Dartmouth Green but it’s close enough.   Sometimes it’s hard to find the exact school colors in yarn.  Using less than one skein of each color for both hats, I still have some yarn leftover for another small project.  Maybe matching mitts?

Mr. Aitch and I sometimes have a hard time telling the front from the back on our hats so I wove in a small piece of yellow yarn along the back crocheted edge on these.

It’s not visible on the outside and should be bright enough to see in the dark days of winter.

Hostess gifts

Mr. Aitch and I rode the Harley to my brother’s in New Hampshire and I thought I’d post pictures of some of the gifts we are giving to our host and hostess.

These are a few of the Leafy Washcloths I knitted using these this pattern and this one.

I found these cute leaf-shaped soaps and thought they would be the perfect complement to the wash cloths.

My sister-in-law loved them!