Tuesday, September 25, 2007

The Great Pumpkin



This is the hat where all of the contest entries will go. I was originally going to use the Short One's cowboy hat that his grandfather bought for him, but then I came to my senses. Like many first time mothers, I stuffed as many cute knit hats on my progeny's head as I could while he was young and helpless and not yet coordinated enough to pull them off. (Maybe it's just me, but I feel it's every mother's prerogative to dress their helpless infants in as many cute outfits as possible before they're old enough to complain about looking "dorky". I mean, if you can't take advantage of your own children, whom can you take advantage of?) This is one of them. Although there are several pumpkin hat patterns floating around the 'net, I didn't care for how any of them shaped the crown, so I ended up writing my own. I knit the hat with Patricia Roberts' Cashmere THAT I BOUGHT AT CLOSEOUT (I can hear all of you U.K. knitters gasping with horror) from String Yarns when they were getting rid of the line. I figured it out, the hat cost about $10 to knit, okay?? Okay? Not that I'm feeling defensive about this, or anything.

Actually, I am actually quite fiendishly good at sniffing out deals on cashmere yarn (I know of two sources at the moment for sale Italian-milled cashmere - if anyone's interested, just leave me a comment) - I love knitting with luxury fibers when I can, and I live in an area of the country where I can make good use of garments knit with them. I knit several items for the Short One when he was an infant with cashmere or cashmere-blend yarns, and only one item was really costly. It was a receiving blanket - I made the one from the Debbie Bliss Workbook - out of the recommended Jaeger Cashmina - even on sale, it was really pretty costly. It had been the prize of my stash for several years, but it made a truly wonderful blanket and was well-used - the Short One slept in it every night for the first months of his life and then it turned into a stroller blanket - so I don't even feel very guilty about it.

Anyway, where was I? Oh, yes. I actually have a cute photo of the Short One wearing the hat, but I'm afraid I just don't feel comfortable posting it. Somebody put up a link to my blog from a porn site over the weekend, so I've been getting some odd traffic lately. If any veteran bloggers have any suggestions on how to handle this type of situation, I'd welcome input.

The Little Something Wicked Contest is still open! Please go here to enter.

Thanks for stopping by!

7 comments:

Monkee Maker said...

Oh how terrible! The porn, not the hat. Although your little chap may not agree when he grows up and sees the pumpkin hat photos :)

Are you sure it was a direct link? The spam I get in my inbox is usually rude but I just assumed that everyone must have the same problem.

Good luck with it anyway.

Melissa J. Lee said...

Mmm, no-one left a comment - I discovered the problem through my stat counter. I went and read the entry myself (perhaps this wasn't a smart idea, but I couldn't figure out how else to find out what was going on). The admin for the site said he found my blog through a Google search and, while it wasn't what he expected, it was still an "interesting read". Not really sure what to make of that.

Well, really, if I don't take plenty of compromising photos of the S.O. in cute bunny costumes etc. now, what am I going to blackmail him with when he's a teenager? I feel that I have to look ahead about these things.

the vicious chicken said...

Ooh, sorry to hear about your porn site problems. I do hope you manage to get it sorted out ok.

I've only just seen your comment on my LWH post - and yes! The model is indeed a Jellycat Junglie Monkey. It was a Christmas present from a friend, years ago. However, I also have a larger version, which was a present from my Ex (who wasn't my Ex at the time, obviously) - so it looks like it's a popular gift for buying a girlfriend!
VCx

Anonymous said...

You are right it is every mother's perogative and I did the same with my son when he was such an adorable little child. The hat is verrrry cute! I love using the eco-friendly yarns even tho they are more costly and I have to do a lot of budget-adjusting because that is all I will work with now when I crochet.

Melissa J. Lee said...

Ah, I love the Jellycat Junglie Monkey (and so does the current short owner of ours)! He makes a good model for your LWH, VC.

Vickie, have you ever tried Henry's Attic organic cotton? So soft and the completely natural colors are wonderful.

Mama said...

This hat is adorable!

Okay, it is not official - TLG's newest hat will never be seen on the internet - it is just to "average" (though the yarn - which was a gift from The Stash Basket herself - is wonderful!)

Anonymous said...

I'm still researching on the natural colors bit; thanks for the great tip!!