First I want to share two of my favorite things I brought home from Stitches West. (And next my new favorite hat!) I saw the Chicken Boots booth for the first time while I was there and they had so many clever containers for organizing knitting projects and tools. I’m always in need of more organization in my life! And when it comes to my knitting. I shared here before a bit about organizing my knitting (and also about organizing the house and downsizing, it’s a work in progress.) These new treasures I brought home with me have further helped me with my organization venture.

I loved so many things from Chicken Boots, but chose the two things I thought I would use the most. (I’m starting a wishlist with their other wonderful offerings.) I picked a case to hold my double pointed needles, along with a few crochet hooks. (In the Field Swallow fabric.) It works better than the pencil-holder-turned-knitting-needle-holder that only held some of my needles before (but I still like that for my longest needles.) I have my straight knitting needles organized separately. My new case for my double pointed knitting needles helps me find the needles so much more quickly and easily, which makes me happy. It also zips up, not taking up much space, and is so handy for bringing along when I need to.

And the other thing I got from Chicken Boots that I just love? My pattern holder! (In the Molly print. Look at those adorable foxes!) Before I was using a clear page protector to put my patterns in, which was alright when I was at home, but wasn’t the handiest thing to bring along with me places. The Chicken Boots pattern holder folds up to easily bring along with you. Plus it has a place-holder to slide down to keep track of where you’re at in your pattern. (I use highlighter tape regularly to know where I’m at in my pattern, but I’ve had highlighter tape fall off on occasion, and I don’t have to worry about that with the place -holder.) It also has a tri-fold design with a magnetic closure so your pattern can stay upright on a table (and won’t be upside down as you turn it.) I didn’t show that in the picture above and rather than trying to describe it here, the best way to see the design features is to watch the short video here.

I loved my new treasures enough that I wanted to share about them with you here. I got to meet the maker, Saremy, at the show, and I love how well made and thoughtfully designed all her products are. I also love all the adorable fabrics she uses. (If you try out any of the Chicken Boots products for yourself, tell Saremy hello from WoolyMossRoots!)

Secondly, I want to share my new hat! I’m in love with this hat. Jeff snapped a few pictures of me wearing it when we stopped at the beach on his birthday. I saw the yarn at Stitches West as well, in the Sincere Sheep booth. You all know by now how much I love Brooke’s naturally dyed yarn! Each skein is a work of art and I love them all. I was drawn to a skein of purple yarn in particular, and couldn’t seem to set it back down and out of my hands. Purple is not a color that I wear very often, but this shade of purple was so incredibly beautiful to me, earthy yet vibrant. (The yarn was dyed with quebracho and logwood.)

I had been wanting to knit the Jane hat by Jane Richmond for a long while, and when the perfect skein for the project was found, I got started. I don’t knit for myself very often, I mostly knit for other people. As I was knitting this hat, I was thinking I should gift it to someone (and then I could later knit another Jane hat for myself), but I felt reluctant to part with it because it really felt like the hat was most definitely meant for me. Once I tried it on there was no way I could gift it- it was so incredibly comfortable and felt so good on my head that I never wanted to take it off. I’ve been wearing it nonstop. One day I even wore it around our house, when a hat was not needed, because I love it so much. (I adjusted the pattern so the hat wouldn’t be slouchy, and my other Ravelry notes can be found here.)

I have a grey hat that goes with everything, but I’ve seen enough grey this winter and my spirit is craving some color. I’ve been happily surprised by how many colors in my wardrobe go well with my new hat, which is good news because I want to wear it every day!