Lets start the list of signs this shoot would not bode well:
1. My boy did not get a good nap in that morning, most of his nap was on the 45min car ride over to Brandy’s place.
2. Brandy’s AC broke and the temperature was in the mid 90s that day.
3. Brandy’s eldest was just not having a good day. It is tough being a toddler.
4. I am still getting used to my new camera. I packed my 50mm lens because it is fast but it only had manual focus on my camera body.

Well the first thing you might need to know is that at least my half of the baby duo does not wear hats. Ever. That is why I developed my Harper’s Hood pattern after all. Brandy’s LG was more willing by a hair. So I did manage to get a single shot of LG in the hat. It was ripped off about .4 seconds later.

So we gave up on acutely having pictures of the kids wearing hats. Maybe it would be okay if we had them sitting near the hats or playing with them. Sounds good right? Well it would have been great if there were not much more interesting things in the room like say curtains and electrical outlets.

awww look how nicely they play.

Still playing nicely ignoring the hats until my son wanted to put his fingers in the same outlet as LG. Sigh. A loud smack followed by a crying LG later I am apologizing to Brandy while putting my kid in time out.

Brandy stayed cool the whole time despite the fact I think all 3 kids were crying at this point. Putting the hats on her older daughter stopped one set of tears.

And I even got brandy to put on a hat herself.

Maybe we would have better luck outside on a picnic blanket? Oh wait they can both crawl.

Brandy went all out and got a cake in Petite Purls colors for the kids to eat with the hats near by. Sounds nice right? While my kid did not appreciate the cake LG did. Wow.

So I do not think we got a good photo in the bunch. But it was fun, or at least funny, in a frustrating way.

A few months ago I sent co-editors Brandy and Allegra a goofy tweet saying they should knit party hats to celebrate. I almost immediately got an e-mail asking me if I would be willing to design the hat in Petite Purls colors. No problem!

Photo by Brandy Fortune

I had no problem envisioning how to make a crocheted hats – spots and a shell edge seemed like a must. But they wanted a knit hat too. So I spent far too much time trying to make the same crocheted hat into knit. Nothing looked right. I must have swatched 5-6 times. Then I remembered something I already knew. Knit and crochet are different. Trying to design the same way for both crafts just will not work.

Photo by Brandy Fortune

So out went the shells and spots and in came a ruffled edge and french knots to quilt the layers together (a step that the stiffer crocheted fabric did not need). The knit hat was also worked differently. For the crocheted hat you started at the tip of the hat and increased while for the knit it made more sense to start at the base of the hat and decrease on the way up.

Photo by Brandy Fortune

It was a fun challenge. I hope you guys enjoy the patterns. And they are free!

Celebrate – Knit | Celebrate – Crochet

Later I will share how this was the most redonkulous photo shoot ever.

It is done. Filled with imperfections and there are about 100 little things I wish I had done differently but overall I am happy.

While working on the quilt I decided a rag quilt is probably the equivalent of a scarf knitted with thick-n-thin yarn on large needles. It covers imperfections nicely but there is true beauty in a finished piece done by a skilled craftsperson.

And maybe one day I will become a skilled quilter. I do not see it taking the place of knitting or crocheting in my life by any means. The rhythm of quilting is so different. Sewing requires me to set up my machine, ironing stuff and pull out my fabric to work. The process is labor incentive but very rewarding. Knitting and crocheting is more relaxed and organic. I can sit on the sofa, watch tv and slowly feel the yarn growing into something in my hands. Both and great and appeal to different sides of my nature.

So I took some first steps to making my dream a reality. I wanted a simple quilt of a spring-summer-fall weight that would provide that touch of warmth you might need while vegging on the sofa in the early morning. One of the moms suggested a rag quilt. I liked the idea because the frayed edges would give extra thickness and weight without making it too warm.

So I cut 108 squares of quilters cotton and another 54 squares of diaper flannel in place of batting. That felt like it took forever. The quilting the squares together took a while but not near as long as the cutting.

After laying everything out sewing the blocks together is just flying along. I was able to get half the quilt together in one night. If my luck holds I will be washing it this weekend.

I picked the Prefect Pie Shall patten from Weekend Knitting because the lace pattern was simple and I have even done it before. The only modification was replacing the twisted m1 with a yo because I was working with cotton and I wanted the lace to look like lace unblocked.

Well it took quite a while to make the shall and it is full of mistakes, many of them due to knitting in low light at 2am. But I am now done and I have a lovely nursing shall just in time for weaning. Yay?

Available for $5.00 via ravelry.