Skip to main content

Why we like owls.

This whole owl trend of the past few years is quite convenient for my family. See, my grandma had a bit of an owl obsession. “Obsession” might even be an understatement. Her avocado fridge was cluttered with owl magnets – felt, ceramic, you name it. Owl figurines jockeyed for space on crowded window sills; cross stitch owl cushions adorned her couches. You get the picture. When she passed away in 2003, I could think of no better way to preserve her memory than by snagging one of her countless sets of owl salt and pepper shakers and a pair of owl mugs for my house.

I always chalked the owls up to a fondness for a 1970s trend that wouldn’t quit. That was until a couple weekends ago when I shared my theory with my mom, who laughed and informed me that the owl was my grandparents’ college mascot. I guess that makes sense, although I can’t image a day where my house would be decorated with a myriad of royal bulldogs.

Even though it’s been awhile since my grandma has gone, she seems to have passed her owl affinity on to us all. When Alice was born, my cousin, Kris, bought Alice a little owl outfit with a note enclosed about my grandma. My sister admitted this past weekend that she always reaches for the owl mugs first when she’s visiting. Whenever we see anything owl-related, we’re inexplicably drawn to it. It helps that owls are everywhere these days.

So while it’s a shame Alice never got to meet her great-grandmother, it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy that Alice can help carry on my grandma’s tradition. So, when I saw this hat I knew I had to make it. It didn’t hurt that it’s one of the cutest new knits of the season.


Project Details.
Pattern: Hoot Hat, Spud & Chloe Pattern by Susan B. Anderson
Yarn: Mirasol Miski in Wine held double, Mirasol Sulka in Horseradish + scraps of cascade, lamb’s pride, and berocco ultra alpaca for face.
Needles: I’m pretty sure I used size 10 Addis. Maybe size 9, but I think 10…
Time to knit: 5 seconds. Okay, more like a couple hours.
Comments:
-The real effort with this hat is in the finishing. The extra time spent seaming the hat flap to the main section and the time knitting the face will make or break this hat.

- I didn’t feel like dropping a ton of money on a baby hat for a baby who hates hats, so I went to knitters bargain basement aka my stash. I doubled up the miski to match the gauge of the sulka, but my gauge was still smaller than the pattern yarn. I read a number of people found the hat to be HUGE, so I knit the 6-12 month size for my 11 month old daughter. Even with the smaller gauge, it fits her but won’t for long.
- I would like to line all of my clothing with Mirasol Miski. Or at the very least, buy a bunch of baby llamas just so I can pet them.

Comments

Jodi said…
Super cute! And I love the story about your grandma and her owls. It's really neat how certain things can evoke memories right away.

BTW, great inventive stashbusting, too. Color me impressed.
Sue said…
How cute is that hat, and your daughter is just adorable. I would be happy to have someone who loved owls like that and how nice that you always think of her when you see them too.
Anonymous said…
So cute!
Elizabeth said…
What a sweetie she is! Love her cute hat - and her pink Chuck Taylors.

Popular posts from this blog

Box Bag Tutorial

A couple of you inquired whether I made this pouch based on a tutorial or pattern and if not, if I could provide one. Ask and you shall receive! I've learned so much from tutorials out on the internets, I'm happy I can give back for once. Bear with me, though. This is my first tutorial and creating one is much tougher than I imagined. I give anyone who's created a tutorial tons of credit! I feel obligated to preface this by admitting I'm a trial and error sewer. I make things up as I go along and test things during the sewing process to see if I'm achieving my desired results. Also, I taught myself to sew just playing around on a sewing machine, so I don't always use text book methods. Just wanted come clean before you all jump into this and so you have a little understanding if I did something in a backass way. The pattern works, which is all that matters to me! Because of the versatility of this pattern, my instructions can be used more as guidelines. You can

Done: Weekender Bag

Happy 2007! I hope you all had a good time ringing in the new year. I have some lofty goals for this upcoming year and some musings on last year, but that's for another post because-- Finally! (the top looks kind of bumpy. I think it looks crisper when I'm holding it.) Pattern. Weekender Bag by Amy Butler Exterior Fabric. Amy Butler, Sunbloom Collection Cording Fabric. Amy Bulter, Charm Collection Lining. Khaki Fabric from Joann's I relied a lot on the tips from other bloggers who made this bag and wanted to give something back to the blogging community, so here are my.... 10 THOUGHTS & TIPS ON THE WEEKENDER 1. Dominating the cording. As the layers increased in the sewing, keeping the cording sandwiched in place became challenging. I had the best luck pinning the fabric together parallel to the fabric edge, rather than perpendicular. Stopping so often to remove pins got a little annoying, but was better than ripping and resewing. 2. Topstitching = Enemy number 1. I d

Granola.

In all my years of baking, I don’t think there’s any one food I’ve tinkered with more than granola.  Actually, that’s a lie. Let me try again. Besides chocolate chip cookies, there's no food I've tinkered with more than granola.   But granola! The goal: delicious, crunchy yet chunky enough to eat on its own, and not just dessert masquerading as a healthy snack. Doesn’t sound too hard.  But… the best tasting is inevitably the worst for you (not to name names...Panera copycat recipe). Consistency should not be a trail mix of sugared oats and nuts and fruit. There should be chunks you can hold without crumbling.   So, when I stumbled upon a granola so good the restaurant sends guests home with their own little prepackaged personal sized portion, I had to give it a try. And to document my trials so when I inevitably forget the recipe, I'm writing this post so it’s here waiting and ready. (And maybe, you, too, have been seeking that perfect granola recipe??)