New knitted hat for the little one

Here in the Netherlands most kids go to school at age 4. My son has started school on Dec 17, went for 4 days until the holiday break and over the course of these 4 days has lost two hats...
To replace them I found this lovely pattern on Ravelry: I Heart Cables provided for free by Justyna Lorkowska.
Unfortunately Jakob doesn't like the pompom so I had to omit it but knit a tiny little point instead.

Since there were many comments that the pattern runs very large I figured I can try knitting it in DK weight yarn instead of worsted. In terms of width this worked well but the hat turned out way too short. So I tore back to the ribbing and added two of the first cable repeat sections. Now it's a tiny bit high but he loves it and I think he looks very cute - but of course I am his mom :-)
For the point I decreased to 6 sts (vs 12 in the original pattern) and knitted about 6 rows, then pulled the yarn through the sts and wove in the end.
I used selvedge sts on the ear flaps to give them a finished look.

 And with his new hat he didn't even mind the bicycling helmet too much.

Ravelry notes here.

Homemade Lip Balm

I wanted to give family and friends a tiny something for Christmas and remembered a tutorial that iMake has generously posted a while back on her awesome crafting blog at www.imake.gg.

She made lip balm and filled it in beautiful little tins, decorated with round labels. The blog post provides detailed instruction, and makes the process very easy. I searched for the supplies in the Netherlands, and found all the ingredients I needed at www.hekserij.nl. Unfortunately they only had small plastic containers - I would have preferred the tins. And I didn't have the time to make or order round labels, and cut square ones, but all in all I like the result:

I chose peppermint as the main flavor and just a few drops of orange to spice it up.

Very Sheepy Lazy Kate

My brother-in-law made the cutest Lazy Kates!
I got one and, of course, my sister has one, but he enjoyed himself so much making these that there are 3 more available for purchase.

Dimensions: length 37cm from nose to tail, width 15cm clearance between the sides, height 26cm
Accommodates bobbins up to 15cm long and 15cm diameter.
This one is made of untreated wood.
There is a little bag with the stuff needed to tension the bobbins.

Price €35 plus shipping (6,75 within the Netherlands, please ask me for other countries, can also be shipped within Germany)

There are two more, one is treated with oil and one with beeswax. I will post or send pictures of these upon request. These are €40.

If you are interested you can email me at usch at uschengelmann dot com.Or go to my Etsy shop.

Another Reversible Moebius Cowl

I love cowls and I love Moebius!
This time I tried knitting the Reversible Cable Moebius Cowl in a DK yarn to see what the fit would be if I followed the pattern without modifications .
I chose some lovely Malabrigo Silky Merino I had in my stash, and here is the result:

The cowl hugs my neck a little closer than the Aran/worsted weight version - just what I wanted. Using this exceptionally soft yarn was the perfect choice.
Since my 42" needle cable is used in a different project I tried a 47" cable. I was quite wary whether this would work, adding a Magic Loop into the double circle Moebius mix, but it turned out to work just fine!

Now I am wondering whether I can knit a much smaller Moebius using magic Loop. I will keep you posted.