Elephant, elephant!

I'm not in the mood to crochet often, but I saw some cute elephant amigurumi patterns on Ravelry and just had to make one!

Messy workstation. Tsk, tsk!

This one is free from Red Heart and is supposed to have a baby bonnet. I'm leaving that out in favor of a bow. Or maybe nothing. I haven't decided. 

I just need to make the arms, attach them to the body, and sew on the head. 

I'll definitely post pictures of the elephant when it's done! 

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Update!

It's finished!

I positioned the legs a little awkwardly, so it doesn't sit up as nicely as I wanted it to, but I haven't done any amigurumi in a couple of years, so I'm OK with that. I'll just improvise a tail and use that as a balance. 

It's so cute!

Free Knitting Pattern: CLICK Cabled Baby Beanie

Here it is! My CLICK for Babies Click Cable Beanie is finished!

I had so much fun designing this pattern. It can be sized up by adding pattern repeats both horizontally and vertically. I even have a few modification ideas, so be sure to read through the whole pattern!

I had CLICK's request for more "boy-friendly" beanies in mind when I wrote this, and I think it will look great in a dark purple on a little man's head. 

I think the slightly pointed tip is pretty cute, too. 

So, in celebration of my 150th post, here's my free CLICK Cabled Baby Beanie Pattern!

April 2016 Update: Errata fixed, Pattern now available as a Google PDF 

Front view

Let's get started!

Materials: 

100-120 yards of worsted weight yarn (I used Caron Simply Soft in Purple. It was leftover yarn, but I think it is the "Passion" colorway.)

Cable Needle or Double-Pointed Needle for cables

Size 9 circular needles*

*I generally use the Magic Loop method. If you prefer another technique, I suggest using two sets of size 9 circular needles or one size 9 circular needle and a set of size 9 double-pointed needles

Gauge: 

Gauge isn't really vital to this project. My hat was about 4" = 23 stitches (row). 

Side view

Instructions: 

(Instructions are for a newborn/infant sized beanie. For sizing and other modification ideas, see the bottom of the page.)

Long-tail CO 60 stitches. PM. Join. 

Base ribbing: [(P1K1)x6, K2, (P1K1)x8] twice

Repeat for 5-8 rows, depending on how much ribbing you want. 

Cable Pattern:

Row 1:  [(K1, P2), K6, C4B, C4F, K6, (P2, K1), K4] twice

Row 2:  [(P1, K1, P1), K20, (P1, K1, P1), K4] twice

Row 3:  [(K1, P2) K4, C4B, K4, C4F, K4, (P2, K1), K4] twice

Row 4:  [(P1, K1, P1), K20, (P1, K1, P1), C4F] twice 

Row 5:  [(K1, P2) K2, C4B, K8, C4F, K2, (P2, K1), K4] twice

Row 6:  [(P1, K1, P1), K20, (P1, K1, P1), K4] twice

Row 7:  [(K1, P2), C4B, K12, C4F, (P2, K1), K4] twice

Row 8:  [(P1, K1, P1), K20, (P1, K1, P1), C4F] twice

Repeat Cable Pattern 3 times. 

Decrease close-up

Decrease Section:

Row 1:  [P2tog, P1, K6, C4B, C4F, K6, P1, P2tog, K4] twice (56 stitches)

Row 2:  [P2, K20, P2, K4] twice

Row 3:  [P2tog, K4, C4B, SSK, K2tog, C4F, K4, P2tog, K4] twice (48 stitches)

Row 4:  [P1, K18, P1, C4F] twice

Row 5:  [P1, SSK, C4B, K1, SSK, K2tog, K1, C4F, K2tog, P1, K4] twice (40)

Row 6:  [P1, K14, P1, K4] twice

Row 7:  [P1, SSK, K3, SSK, K2tog, K3, K2tog, P1, K4] twice (32)

Row 8:  [P1, K10, P1, C4F] twice

Row 9:  [P1, SSK, K1, SSK, K2tog, K1, K2tog, P1, K4] twice (24)

Row 10:  [P2tog, SSK, K2tog, P2tog, K2tog, SSK] (12)

Row 11:  K2tog around (6)

Row 12: Cut yarn and thread through last 6 stitches 

Sizing Suggestions:

Note: I haven't tried these yet, but I plan on making one of these in adult size for myself. 

Toddler suggestion: Repeat the cable panel 3 times around and 4-5 times before decreasing. Add rows of K2tog at the end of the decrease before pulling yarn through last stitches.

Child suggestion: Repeat the cable panel 4 times around and 5-6 times before decreasing. Add rows of K2tog at the end of the decrease before pulling yarn through last stitches.

Adult suggestion: Repeat the cable panel 6 times around and 6-8 times before decreasing. Add rows of K2tog at the end of the decrease before pulling yarn through last stitches.

To add more width to the hat, add more stitches in the moss stitch section, which is denoted in the cable pattern by parentheses (). 

Pattern Modification Suggestions: 

Instead of moss stitch, replace the section in the parentheses with "P3" or "P1, K1, P1" for a purl filler or a ribbed filler, respectively.

You could even do a double moss filler section!

There are so many possibilities! I hope to see pictures of your projects on Ravelry!

Thank you Ravelry user sandeleh for pointing out the errors in the decrease section!

Happy knitting!

If you have trouble with the pattern or find any errors, please let me know! I will correct them as soon as possible.

This pattern is free for personal and charity use. You may sell items made from this pattern as long as you give me credit as the designer by linking to this post. If you wish to share my pattern, please link to this post. Do not copy this pattern in part or in whole.Please feel free to ask any questions you may have regarding the pattern in the comments. I will do my best to help you out!

Thank you for checking out my pattern! 

Tomatoes! Tomatoes everywhere!

It rained all weekend. Yay!!

The grass is greening up, the rain barrel is overflowing, and the garden has exploded!

Left: south plot
Right: north plot
Acting innocent after he just tried to walk through the north plot: Pete

The tomatoes are as big now as they ever got last year! 

Here's another angle of the north plot: 

There are peppers in there somewhere. 

Peppers?

I didn't have much luck with peppers at all last year, and this year looks like it might be only slightly better, but for different reasons. This year, the tomatoes have grown so much that they're going to choke the peppers out! They were nowhere near doing that last time. 

I've been training the tomatoes to grow up the lattices, but they seem to keep sprouting extra limbs overnight and spreading over the peppers. They must have something against peppers. 

Last year we had yellow, red, orange, and banana peppers. This year we have cubanelle, jalapeno, serrano, and banana peppers. No more bell peppers for us. I think it was just too hot for them last time. 

But I am glad about the tomatoes! We have so many green tomatoes already! 

The big green tomatoes are hiding. 

We have tons of blooms, too! I think we may have more blooms now than we ever did last summer. 

Of course, we also have cherry tomatoes that didn't get stunted with a freak mid-May frost. Last frost was in April this year, and it stayed in April where it belonged. Because it knew what was good for it. 

Mmmmmm, tomatoes... I can already taste them

Also, most of my tomato plants are also from an in-state nursery or a local grower. Only two are from Home Depot this year. That's probably a huge part of the growth difference, too. I have no clue where Home Depot gets their plants, but they were a great option for less-expensive plants for a first-time gardener. 

Also, because my husband insists, does anyone need any cilantro? We had some volunteer from last year, and it's kind of taken over the south plot. I didn't want to pull it out earlier and "punish" it for volunteering, and then it kind of went haywire over the last week. 

Bellybutton-height Cilantro and green beans with leaves the size of my hand

I've been putting a lot more effort into my garden this year, and I think it's showing. I learned a lot from last year's garden and its meager success.

I hope to be as good at gardening as all of my grandparents someday!

I'm really proud of where my garden is now, but I need to temper that a bit since most of the growing season is still ahead of us and tons of things could happen!

But let's not think of that.

Here's to a great garden!