A pair of socks, a pair of hats, and a glitzy cowl

My needles have been busy the past few months making two hats, a cowl and a pair of socks for my teenage son.  It's funny how kids feet won't stay one size.  My son's feet grew four shoe sizes this year.  We cleaned out his closet and drawers over summer break and realized all his hand-knitted socks were too small.  His younger sister was happy to get them as hand-me-downs.  I'm glad my kids get excited about hand-knitted items.

These socks were knit for my son with yarn that he gave me for Christmas that he selected from the Smoky Mountain Spinnery. It is a wonderful yarn that reminds me of autumn and is a super-wash merino wool that is perfect for socks. The pattern is a free download from Ravelry, Basket Weave Rib Socks by Sarah Ronchetti.

Hikoo makes a wonderful yarn with beautiful beads and sequins randomly placed among the yarn called Tiara.  I picked this up on the East Tennessee Yarn Crawl at the Yarn Patch in Crossville, Tenn.  The girl in the store said it reminded her of Elsa's hair in Frozen.  I couldn't agree more.  I used it to make the pattern they were giving out during the yarn crawl, Little Bit of Glitz. It's a nice cowl in a versatile color.  

I knitted two hats recently.  One was the Everdeen Beanie from the book Weekend Hats by Cecily Glowik Macdonald and Melissa Labarre.  I made it with some beautiful alpaca yarn that my mother-in-law was nice enough to bring me back from her recent trip to San Francisco, Calif. 

It's a nice lacy pattern.  I guess the name of the pattern is referring to Katniss from Hunger Games, which makes sense because the lace pattern resembles a bow for archery.

Last but not least, a knit a hat called SYN-ergy by SWTC Design Team. I picked up the yarn and pattern while visiting Pawleys Island, South Carolina this summer.  It is a sophisticated little hat many lovingly have nicknamed the "Downton Abbey Hat".  It is a vintage styled hat with beautiful buttons and i-cord details.  I finally found buttons and will be sewing them on soon.  In the meantime I'll give you a sneak peak of the hat by showing you part of the brim in it's early stages.