This is going to be a fairly epic FO post, so buckle up! First off, have you heard about the awesome Indie Designer’s #Giftalong?

Come join the group, find the list of over 170 participating designers, and choose which patterns you’d like to purchase for 25% off! The code ‘giftalong’ works for any pattern included in the promotion and the sale ends November 15th. Then join one of the many themed KALs that run through the end of December to be entered to win some fabulous prizes! All of my paid patterns are eligible for the KALs, I’ll post more details in tomorrow’s Inspiration Saturday post.

Onto the FOs! I finished this crazy hat last night at 10:00pm, just in time to have it be my final Malabrigo October Stockpile project and enter it into the Wing It! contest (feel free to hit the ‘love’ button on that post if you’re part of the group). It’s unblocked and these are terribly-lit photos but man, I love this hat.

I (nearly) dreamt up this hat while trying to sleep one night. I wanted something to feature those great little buttons that would also look good with the handspun skein of Nube that I loved so much. Garter stitch is great for that so I wanted a sideways-knit garter brim joined by buttons, but not just any old garter brim — I wanted one with a big swoop in it. I started the band thick on one end, then narrowed down to thin for most of it, then swooped back up to thick and ended with buttonholes and a pretty picot bindoff. That swoop took me forever to get right! Then I picked up stitches all around, knit short rows on the narrow side to fill in the missing fabric and even it out with the thick side, and proceeded with the crown. I made it a little slouchy and did double decreases at 4 points, just for fun. I took zero notes so can never reproduce it exactly and it’s a little bit funky, but I love it.

This next FO is not one of mine, it’s my mom’s. She has been crocheting a top-secret project for me for months. Every time I visited she would show everybody else the progress she’d made on it, except me. Do you know what it’s like when everyone comes out like “Man, you’re gonna love that”? It’s torture! Well, they were right, this thing is fabulous.

It’s huge, amazing, colorful, and perfect. I’m usually the one giving handmade things, not receiving them, and boy does it feel good to get them. This blanket is so beautiful and special and lovely and I’m so proud of my mom for making it. She “didn’t do” crafts for the longest time, she hated knitting when I tried to teach her, but she took to the crochet hook like a whiz and has been churning out blankets like a machine over the last year or so.

The colors just make me so happy! Thanks, Mom, I love it.

I’ll end this post with a parting shot of all of the FOs I finished for Stockpile (minus one, which I’ve already gifted).

I think 6 hats and 2 cowls is a pretty good turnout for one month of knitting! Now, to get back to those WIPs… Check out more FOs at Tamis Amis!