bits and bobbins

keeping busy…trying to stay relaxed and inspired.

amen for my creative juices starting to flow again. amen for the second trimester. amen for baby kicks.

oh, life has been good lately. i can’t say exactly what i’ve been doing exactly (certainly not blogging tons, huh?), or why , but i’ve been in a deliciously good mood. and sometimes that’s all that really matters. blogging happens when it happens for me i guess. patience on the part of any interested parties is all that’s really needed. if there are interested parties! haha!

of course, i have obsessions, i always do!

-the little things in life.
-the passages of life.
-lots of long walks in the warm midday san francisco sun.
-little fruit salads. i’m all about green grapes and strawberries together at the moment. sometimes i toss in a pear or an orange. YUMMO.
-knitting stuff. knitting everything. reknitting, knitting more.

-my husband. he’s the best!
-the future bebe. i heard it’s little heartbeat the other day. pretty darn neat. i’ve been smiling ever since. here’s hoping everything’s going well in there. *points to belly questioningly*
-as far as colors, navy blue (like the color of dark, inky denim), paired with light sky blue and intense orange (see the orange on the pile of knits up there).
-the way the sky looks sometimes around sunset…the mix of violet, blue-violet, orange, and yellow. it’s of the most beautiful sights i think i have ever seen.

if you read my recent post over on the threadbanger blog, beret brained!…you know i’m all about the beret at the moment. it’s definitely a continuation of everything hat-centric i’ve been blabbering about for most of this year.

in recent weeks, i have been looking all around, high, low, here, and there for the perfect beret pattern. it has not been an easy task, for i wanted something easy, basic quick to make, pretty classic, not too slouchy, and worsted-weight yarn worthy. a tall order! though the lacy, oversized or chunky ones are lovely, they weren’t *exactly* what i had in mind in my mind’s eye.

i found some promising contenders around the ye olde world-wide-web (as evidenced by the round-up i linked to in the aforementioned post)…but like goldielocks and the three bears, none of them was quite right.

however, yesterday around 3pm a tiny crafty lightbulb flickered on on above my head, and shone brightly: i know where to find a pattern for the perfect beret! it’s a pattern contained within a vintage copy of the reader’s digest complete guide to needlework, a lovely classic craft tome i thrifted ages and ages ago.

i had attempted said beret yonks ago when i was first learning how to crochet (that would be way back in what, 2004??) but for some reason didn’t complete it. i’m pretty well-versed with the crocheting now, natch, and usually don’t use patterns, but now and again i like the ease of not having to work everything out myself. so armed with some super basic bright yellow wool yarn (cascade 220), i got to work. three short hours later, i had myself the beret of my “dreams”.

easy peasy.

love projects like this! nearly instant gratification.

(p.s. i am OBSESSED with yellow at the moment. orange still reigns supreme as my favorite color o’ the past several years, but yellow is a recent fling with which i am having a torrid color affair. anyone else similarly smitten with yellow??)