FO: Vincent's first baby hat.

The other day, I finished a hat I was making for my son. It's nothing exciting, just a plain, blue, crocheted hat worked in a spiral in single stitch and finished off with a duplicate stitch. I finished with the duplicate stitch because I hate the way that "skip a stitch and then slip stitch" finish looks.

Anyway, it's almost not even worth mentioning because it's such a simple, plain project, but the fact is that as exhausted as I am nowadays, I'm proud that I've accomplished anything at all.

Of course, my son hates anything on his head, so I couldn't get a picture of him in it!

FO: Boo the Bee

While I have more technical knowledge than the average person--I have an Associate degree in computer programming--I am unlucky when it comes to getting wireless routers working properly. So last summer, when my husband Jim and I bought our computer, Jim's best friend Phil and I worked out a deal: Phil would set up our wireless network, and I would crochet him an amigurumi bee to give his baby nephew, who was due in September.

Incidentally, one of Phil's hobbies is beekeeping, which is why he wanted to give a bee-related gift to his nephew. I mention this not because it's really relevant; it's just a cool hobby to have. For real, how many beekeepers do you know?

Anyway, I browsed patterns on Ravelry. Jim, Phil, and I decided that the Boo the Bee pattern was definitely the cutest. I modified the eyes to be more baby-friendly, as I was paranoid about the eyes coming off and becoming a choking hazard. Honestly, I was leaning towards not doing the bendable antennae either, but Jim and Phil won that round. I just made sure to tell Phil to let the parents know what was in the antennae--and I stitched those things on all mad-crazy tight.

Did I mention I'm paranoid?

At any rate, I did finish Boo in time. The pattern isn't too bad, but I got all tangled up making those eyes. To be fair, stitching/sewing isn't my thing.

You know what also isn't my thing? That stupid jog when you have stripes and you're trying to crochet in a spiral. I ended up using the invisible join to "level" the stripes out a bit. Check out this video on how to do it:

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It's more time-consuming, but the point is for it to look nice, not be finished in the quickest manner possible. And I have to say, it was worth the extra effort.

 

 

Without further ado, here's some (bad) pictures of the final product:

 

One day, I'll learn to take better pictures with this camera. Oh, well. At least I'm happy with the way the bee came out!