Baby Hats

A little about me: My name is Jennifer and I have a store on Etsy.com called KNITTINGQUEEN2, selling hand knit baby hats and other adorable things.

I have been married for 17 years to a very sweet man named Mike and I have an almost 7 year old boy, Ryan, and a 4 year old, Eric. We live in a Christian, non-smoking, one elderly cat household. I am a stay at home mom and I do try to maintain my house, but with 3 boys, I'm having a hard time seeing the point. I do keep up with the laundry because, well, I have to. But unless company is coming, I'd rather spend time knitting than dusting. Knitting is more fun and no matter how often you dust, you'll just get more dust.

I learned to knit 11 years ago and took to it immediately. I don't know why--no one in my family knits. I was inspired by no one and whenever I need help, I am left to my own devices. And I have never considered myself an artistic or creative person. But for some reason I wanted to learn to knit. So I took a class and after the first session I knew it was meant to be.

Fast forward 4 years and I am pregnant with my first child. Suddenly a real reason to knit! An itty bitty thing to make itty bitty things for. I made him a sweater. I made the same sweater for my best friend who was also pregnant with her first son. The sweaters were cute, but something was missing.... and then I started making baby hats. Fruit caps, stripes, snowmen--I was getting crazy with the hats. I was giving them away. I was selling them at craft bazaars. I was knitting them for the sake of knitting them (you know you're a true knitter when you knit for the shear love of knitting and the fact that it will actually become a useful garment is really not a factor at all. When you are done you have this completely adorable cupcake hat and then it suddenly dawns on you--what am I going to do with this? I have two boys. And your husband just rolls his eyes because he tried to understand this years ago and knows it's better to just smile and nod. So you put it on the shelf behind your computer, and start rumaging through stacks of books and magazines because you remember that somewhere in your "office" there is a completely adorable pattern for a daisy hat...).

So here I am, 11 years later, trying to go public with my creations. I have yarn and patterns all over my house. All over. My family of boys just steps over it. When I get after my husband, for the love of all that is holy, to please clean up his clutter (!), he does it without ever mentioning my double standard. I think he knows I could use my knitting needles as a weapon. I did impale my hand the other day with a sock needle and made myself bleed, so he knows the danger is real. My 4 year old has asked on a number of occasions "why are you making more baby hats?". And I don't really have a good answer for him. But I am hoping that by getting my services "out there", I will delight someone to the point of actually wanting to buy one of my hats.

I am running out of shelf space, so I am begging anyone who reads this to help me clear out my inventory--I have more ideas just itching to be knit!