I really want to write about our trip to Taiwan but I wanted to share a project that I just finished! I made a beret based on the Urban Jungle pattern I found on Ravelry. I didn’t go as deep as they recommended and it looks more like a beret than a slouchy hat. (Which I also love).

I made a similar hat for my friend S before I left for Shanghai. It’s a heavy beret, hopefully to keep a loved one’s head warm for the fall and winter. It isn’t too difficult of a pattern if you’re good at puff/shell stitches and since crochet is very forgiving, it should be a lot of fun to make!

Now my question to you is:

Yay or Nay?

I think it’s absolutely a YAY and I probably would wear it all the time if a friend made it for me. I actually made this one for my Chinese teacher and I’ll have to get a pic of her wearing it today. 

I used yarn that my friend Serena bought me from Soho and it’s just gorgeous! The colors are incredible and makes for a cute hat, especially when you’re wearing something simple. 

Thinking about making these for a few close girlfriends for Christmas but I’m not sure they’ll like it.

What do you think? Would you wear something like this? And if so… what color/colors?

Oh, hello there!

This is my brand new blog courtesy of my awesome SIL! She designed this whole blog, look at how cute it is!! Ahh! I love how she made my husband and I taking a self pic…. cuz we actually do that all the time. The flowers, clouds and hearts… oh my goodness, seriously… she knows me SO WELL! I just noticed the background is a little lacey too, I love it. Ugh, Jenny I miss you and thank you for making this for me!

I was thinking about bringing all my old blog entries to this blog. But I decided not to. Why you ask? Well, mostly because I’m lazy… And the fact that I kind of like starting my new blog, fresh. Since we moved to China it’s been extremely difficult to update my old blog since WordPress is blocked in China. We have a VPN which gains us access to blocked sites but it’s so unstable. It usually took me a whole day or two to update one blog entry. It was frustrating….

But now that’s all over! Thanks to my SIL I don’t need a VPN to update my blog! Yay! Though, if you have a blog and it is using blogger, wordpress or anything that’s blocked in China. That might explain why I haven’t been commenting on your blogs as much because it’s so difficult to.

So now we’re Expats. I always thought that W and I would be in NYC for some reason. I thought if we were to move out of the country it would be Paris. I love Paris, plus the hubs works for a Parisian company. But we’re in Shanghai, I thought that I might have a difficult time adjusting to life here but I honestly feel like I’m on a long vacation. Eating out every day, living out of hotels… traveling back and forth from Shanghai to Hangzhou. Yeah, I suppose it hasn’t hit me yet.

I had a few moments where I felt a little lonely. I think it was mostly because I was sick, don’t have many friends here (yet) and I really miss my piano, cello and other instruments which are in a sea shipment. I did some research and found the yarn district in Shanghai! I bought some yarn that was crazy cheap… 500g wool for 68RMB. (((LOVE))) 

So I spent my free time making a hat for W’s coworker’s boy. He looks so cute in it and both his parents loved it! Ahhhhh! Look at how adorable he is:

 
Seriously. How cute is this kid? I used my owl hat pattern to make his hat and stuck a pom pom on top of it.  I wish I had another colored yarn to make the border of the hat and add some cute braided tassels like my owl hats. Is that weird to have that for boys? I don’t know how cold it gets here in Hangzhou but I hope he gets some good use out of it!

I can’t wait for us to move into our apartment. I think we’re actually moving in next week if all goes well. Apartment hunting is a pain, just like it is in the states. But we found an amazing place and know that we’ll be happy there while we live in China. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving yesterday… I know we did. Dinner with my husband and we talked about all the things we were grateful for: each other, family, friends, health, having food in our bellies everyday and most of all… love. 

My niece, Claire , was born last year and I fell in love with her immediately. I made her a simple hat with ears that resembled a bear with the same yarn I used to make her baby blanket.

It was a simple sc in the size I wanted and then I crocheted some ears and it was perfect! She looked so adorable in it.

I got back into crochet after Claire was born. The excitement of being an Auntie for the first time brought me a lot of joy. I never made anything other than a scarf so these were very easy. The blanket was dbl crochet all the way with a puff edging that I learned on line. It was really soft and I was so proud to give this to Claire.

See how proud I am? Sigh, I love this little girl so much. She was the real inspiration for me to get back into crochet and do something other than blankets or scarves. I’ve come a long way since and I’ll post more as I get time. But a baby blanket that is just a simple crochet pattern makes an excellent gift for any novice crafter. So go get your needles and some super soft yarn and make some for the babies in your life.