Men's Hat Pattern

Frugaldad does not have a small head, and he has a lot of hair, so if your man has a small noggin, this will be loose or else you should cast on fewer stitches.


Men's Hat Pattern

Almost 100 g worsted weight yarn (I used Paton's Classic Merino 223 yards/100g skein in Deep Olive)
size 7 16" circular needle and double points or size to make gauge
8 stitch markers

gauge: nearly 6 st/inch knit in St st in the round


Cast on 120 stitches. Join round and place marker to mark start of round. Work in k2p2 ribbing for 4 inches.

Work in St st until work measures 8 inches from CO edge. (K13 k2tog Place Marker) until end of round.

Knit one round.

Repeat decrease round by knitting each stitch until 2 stitches remain before marker, then k2tog.

Knit one round between each decrease round. Switch to dpns when too few stitches remain for circular.

When 8 stitches remain, break yarn, remove markers and thread tail through last 8 stitches. Pull tight and weave in ends.

Contrary to popular belief

I have not been buried in a snowdrift or fallen in a deep well. I am, however, finally recovered from the virus that would not die.

Tonight I took some pictures but they are not uploaded yet, so stay tuned. I finished the hat I was working on and since I made up the pattern, I'll post it and pictures soon too.

Spreading germs at an exponential rate...

The day after I posted last was Valentine's Day. That morning, as I was making lunches for the masses, I suggested to Frugaldad that I pick him up after I picked up Frugalgirl2 at preschool and we could go out to lunch. I even shaved my legs and painted my toenails red in honor of the day of love. We went to lunch, stopped at a couple stores, and I was home by 2:30. Not too much later, I came down with fever and chills and body aches.

A week later, I still get light-headed if I stand up for too long. It seemed to be a gender-biased virus at first, because over the weekend the three girls and I laid around in a fever-induced stupor. Then Tuesday morning, both the male residents of the household were on their backs.

I'll spare you the gory details. Just know that it involved dozens of loads of laundry, a Steam-vac, Bac-out, and Febreze. As I type, two of my children are asleep in their beds. During the day. The girls are getting well enough to be crabby instead of just lethargic, but I imagine Frugalboy will miss the whole week of school.

I can't wait for the day when I don't feel sick anymore. I haven't even been able to knit.

Like you really want to see more pictures of the bread

I tried the no-knead bread again. This time I ground up some rye and used 1 cup of rye flour with 2 cups of white flour. It probably needed some more white flour because it was very sticky and didn't rise as high. It still tasted delicious, though, and Frugaldad said he'd like even more rye flavor. So we'll try it with more rye and maybe add some vital wheat gluten, too.

Try it, you'll love it.

When the baby sleeps, sew shoes!

As promised

Pictures of some sewing. I finished these night-time pants one pair at a time so it was quite difficult to get a picture of all four of them together. I have tried to make cloth pull-ups like 4 times and have never really been successful. I had resigned myself to sposie pull-ups but Frugalgirl's bum has gotten really dry and chafed. So I tried again and these are working. Way, way bulky, but working. She wears them only because they have cute appliques. Made from the New Conceptions Training Pants pattern. Windpro fleece outers, microfleece and suedecloth inners. Soakers are snap-in, made of hemp fleece with a top layer of buttery soft bamboo/cotton velour.



Bed-wetting is a strange phenomenon. Frugalboy wet almost every night until he turned 5. Frugalgirl1 was dry at night from the day she turned 2, even though she wasn't potty trained. Frugalgirl2 was potty trained at 22 months but doesn't stay dry at night. Every child is so different no matter what other things stay the same.

Must...make...more...tiny...shoes...

The picture doesn't even do them justice, nor do they match her socks or clothes. But they will look adorable with her plaid jumper on Sunday. I'll snap a picture when she's all dolled up for church.

100th post!

This is my 100th post! I couldn't think of anything clever to write about, though, so you'll have to settle for pictures of what kept me busy this morning. My sister found out that she is expecting a baby boy so this cute pair of shoes is for her upcoming bundle.

Made from the free pattern by Heather Bailey.

I finished my 2nd Chemo Cap. This one is the Irish Hiking Hat from Nik's Knits. It's Red Heart Soft Yarn, which has a really nice sheen to it.

I committed to making 3 hats and the third one is on my needles, and I expect to make significant progress as I sit in the school parking lot for 20 minutes waiting in line to pick up my children, so that Frugalboy can be on time for Cub Scouts (versus being late and riding the bus). My knitting time usually consists of a stitch here, or a row there, so 20 uninterrupted minutes? Blissful. At any rate, I forgot to take a picture of the first hat before I handed it off to Heidi, who is organizing our charity knitting.

We expect that Frugalbaby and Tawny, the Frugaldog, will be fast friends their entire lives.

This message brought to you courtesy of Chubby Checker

C'mon baby, lets do the twist!

As per Heidi's instructions, I bring you bread.

messy sewing table

messy sewing table
Originally uploaded by frugalmom.

This is what happens when you have too many hobbies and too little time.


and look, I finally got me a flickr account! So long super-slow-to-upload-pictures-to-blogger!

The Bread of Life, or Everyone Else is Doing It, You Should Too

Back in December I saw a recipe for No-knead bread on Farmgirl's blog. I guess there was an article in the New York Times and everyone who's anyone is making this bread. Then I saw the creator of the recipe on the Martha Stewart show sometime in January (maybe it was a rerun?) and I knew I had to try it. But you have to think ahead 24 hours. But it's worth it. It is the most delicious crusty artisan-style bread. The bread itself is has a delightful chew and it's moist and oh.so.heavenly. We ate the whole loaf.