Taking the Wraps

After the challenges of the Marius pullover, I was ready to work on something a bit more calming and mindless. Nothing for that like knitting quadrilaterals.

First up was the Sommerbrise Schal, the yarn and pattern for which I got from Heidi, the proprietor of Maschenwerke in Frankfurt last summer. Andrea from The Fruit Knitting Podcast had graciously taken us there to see her beautiful shop, and while there I saw a beautiful scarf that Heidi had knit using two kinds of Ito yarn, Gima 8.5 which is a sort of cotton ribbon, and Sensai, a mohair/silk blend. So out of my wheelhouse, yet so light and airy that I thought I'd give it a try. Of course, I went for some darker colors than Heidi, but she helped me select a dark navy Gima and an electric blue Sensai that worked well together.

I cast on for this in November, but I didn't really get started until a month or so ago. It's a relatively easy pattern, with the two different yarns held together for much of the project, but then using only the dark color for stripes that gain in frequency toward one end. It was beautiful to knit with, and a real lesson in working with fibers and yarns outside one's comfort zone. It was a fantastic exercise. It's only 50 inches long, but can be bunched up around the neck nicely. Not exactly my cup of tea fashionwise, but I'm thinking of taking it to a silent auction that a professional group I work with runs in the fall. I'm hoping it will raise some money for student scholarships.

Then, after knitting with friends on Saturday a few weeks ago, my friend Jene and I headed over to Hill Country Weavers' new location and talked each other into knitting their free A Biased Scarf pattern with some Freia Handpaints Ombre lace yarn. I choose a dark gray that slowly morphs into a bright acid yelllow/green. It's a pretty easy pattern - cast on 80 stitches, increase and decrease one at the ends of each right side row, and purl the wrong side rows until you run out of yarn. I started with the dark end. Although the pattern was simple, I enjoyed the slow gradient shift toward the brighter end. Since it's knit on rather large needles for a laceweight yarn (US 6, 4mm), it has almost no curl after blocking. It really is quite beautiful and drapey. Again, though, not really my style.

That's why I'm giving it to our friend Rhonda. She and her husband David have become such good friends in the last few years and I wanted to do something to show my appreciation for all they've done for me and Jeff. I think she likes it and it looks great on her.

Up next in the world of things you wouldn't imagine I'd want to make -- a lace table runner. Weird, huh? I've always thought they were beautiful, and I've lately become obsessed with the intricate designs of Herbert Niebling, many of which are named after plants and flowers. I'm particularly enamored of one called "Georg" which is oval shaped. I think an oval-shape would require less "fitting" around a table. Also, it wouldn't cover the whole piece of furniture. I've never done anything quite this intricate before, and I have the feeling I'm not fully aware of what I'm getting into. First of all, there's tracking this pattern down. It's been reprinted in at least one book since it was produced in various pamphlets in the mid 1900s, but that book is hard to come by. I'm trying to get it through interlibrary loan at the moment. If that fails, I may have to bite the bullet and see if I can get a copy from an online auction, although they are rather expensive.

On top of that, there is the fact that this requires very thin cotton crochet thread, and very tiny needles. I'm not really scared of either of these things, but I'm aware the potential for frustration is quite high. Then there is the issue of translation, although other people who have knit this say the German isn't too difficult and the charts are pretty easy to figure out. Here's hoping.

So that's on the back burner for now. In the meantime, I've ditched the socks I'd had on the needles forever. I'd gotten started on them, got uncharacteristically distracted by something else, and then set them aside and the mojo was lost. So instead, inspired by Janelle, I'm using the sock yarn to make a Sockhead Slouch Hat. I've wanted to do one of these for years and it's the perfect placeholder to keep me busy until I can track down Georg. I know he's out there somewhere...

Skål!

Blog posting has been on hiatus while I worked on some super secret projects. One is now out of the bag -- so I can finally write something about it!

My good friend from college, Tom, wanted to have a Viking-themed birthday this weekend. When I first heard about it, I started planning a little something for some of us guests to wear. Viking helmets! There were plenty of free patterns on Ravelry, but I settled on one by Becky Veverka. Inspired by some of the pictures on Ravelry, I followed modified instructions by Ruth (KnitNannyRuth).

I got some Berocco Vintage yarn at the newly moved and re-opened Hill Country Weavers. My original plan was to make three hats with three different-colored detachable braided beards. In the middle of last week, I'd realized I'd been a bit too ambitious and ditched the beard idea. I did make one prototype, but it was too heavy, too hot, used to much yarn and ended up looking like a dead muppet. It was just wrong. So hats only it was.

The hats were pretty easy to knit up. One hank of gray yarn made exactly two hats with just a little left over. Then one each for the gold and ivory on the horns -- I could make a whole herd's-worth more of those. I did one fewer series of 9-row repeats up the front of the hat, so that the decreasing started after two bobbles/rivets instead of after three. I wanted to these to look more helmet-like than hat-like and didn't want them to come down too far down the side of the head. I found the circumference worked well for a big melon like mine. The horns were pretty easy and quite clever, using the natural curl of the stockinette stitch to make the gold rings that attached the horns to the head. Short-row shaping made the horns curve naturally. It's really a pretty simple design with a lot of wow factor. So fun to make!

They were a big hit last night. We met at the Ship & Shield in Houston, played some games, and feasted on all kinds of tasty things like pickled herring, wild boar and, of course, drinkables. Tom had a good time and guests enjoyed passing the hats around for photos. In the above photo, Jeff, Shelly and myself model all three. I hope the staff at the pub wasn't too offended. As many of you may know, there is little evidence that Vikings actually wore horned helmets. But really, when you picture a Viking, what comes to mind?

If you're looking for something fun and easy to knit, I can recommend this highly. Perfect for the young and the young at heart. Happy birthday, Tom!

Warm Head, Warm Heart

After getting some big projects finished, I've been able to focus on some smaller, more quickly completed projects lately. Since last posting, I've made two hats. The first, above, is the Fimmel Hat, part of a kit (#2) from Dale Garn North America that was gifted to me. It's 100% alpaca, so it's quite warm, but it has a bit of a mohair-fuzzy halo to it, something you don't usually get when using regular sheep's wool. The stitch definition has a bit of a haze to it as well, although that might have has much to do with the tension issue I had with this as with anything else. There is a matching set of fingerless mitts that compliments that hat and uses many of the same motifs. I have enough yarn to knit them, so I might give them a try. But what is the one size of DPNs I need for this project? US Size 4. And what is the one size I don't have. Jeff doesn't believe me when I tell him this.

While this is a really cool hat, it's not for me. I'm thinking of donating it and the accompanying mitts to my family's summer reunion silent auction.

    

The second hat was also from some gifted yarn. It's the Mendia Hat by Ambah O'Brien, made with Madelinetosh Tosh Merino DK in the Whiskey Barrel colorway. This yarn makes knitter look so good! It's a fun fast knit, with a lace chevron pattern through the middle -- which I had to do over three times to get right. If you follow the pattern thoughtfully, you get a chevron pattern. If you think, "meh -- I know what I'm doing," you get diamonds. I did this twice.

I worried that my pale, bald head would look weird through the lace holes, but the fabric is pretty thick due to the twisted stitch ribbing, and it doesn't look bad at all. I made the large size in the slouchy version. Not sure if I can carry that off, but I really do like it and it is super warm. I'm wearing it right now in my house, hoping it will bring on the cooler weather.

And now for the warm hearts.

Jeff and I have been out of town for the last several Christmases, so we haven't bothered putting up a tree. Which means this is only the second time I've gotten to use the julekuler ornaments that I made in the summer of 2012.

We usually put up our tree (yes, it's artificial) on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. We had a great time with his family in Fort Worth and Dallas this weekend, but were eager to get home to start getting our house in shape for Christmas. We spent the morning listening to jazzy yuletide tunes, setting up the tree and getting things decorated in general. It was a relaxing end to a fun weekend. As usual, getting ready for Christmas brings back a lot of happy memories, and has it's therapeutic properties, too. I'm really looking forward to all the friends that will be visiting us this year.

And finally, when Jeff's cousin invited us up to Thanksgiving at her house (which was amazing, of course), she sent this photo of her daughter, wrapped up in the Tamarix Quilt (really a blanket) that I knit for her when she was born. I can't believe that she's nearly six years old now. I also can't believe that this is still one of her favorite things -- and that it has held together so well. Apparently, it's a nap-time essential for her. It was so great to see her this weekend playing with her little cousins and seeing how much she's grown up.

I'm really enjoying this holiday season so far, and it's only just getting underway. Here's hoping we all have a wonderful end of the year, full of hope, beauty, and the promise of good things to come.

Grayscale Hat

Still jetlagging a bit from the trip home. I didn't have anything on the needles for the second half of our journey after finishing the cowl for my sister-in-law, but that was okay. We were so busy. But on the flight home I got fidgety. I felt stupid carrying knitting needles on a plane without any actual project on them
So when I got home, I got to digging through some odds and ends of yarn. I remembered that I had some leftover Shelter from the sweater I made for my brother last year (proudly, I can say that he wore it while I was there!) and figured I had enough to make a hat.

I found this four-stitch colorwork motif that I liked in Ravelry and figured I could adapt it. I've seen something similar in vintage ski sweater patterns from the 60s. I added an extra color change from the second color back to the original and had just enough. I'll put details in the notes at Ravelry later, but here are the basics:
I cast on 100 stitches. Originally, I tried 112, but that turned out too big -- you were right, Staci! She helped me unwind the colorwork I'd knit up so far. Which I think is the knitting equivalent of the sorority girl holding her sisters's hair back while she yaks. Or something like that. In any case, I appreciated the help.

I did eight rounds of 2x2 ribbing on size 6 needles, then switched to size 7 and knit two more rounds. Then I did the colorwork section, knitted two rounds plain, and then started the decreases. According to this neat hat decrease calculator I found, I needed 102 stitches to get six even sections of 17 stitches each, so I increased two stitches randomly just before decreasing. That kind of bugged me, but I'm trying to let that go.

The first time I tried the decreases, I neglected to note that I had to decrease on each side of the 6 markers. I only did it once. And despite my years of knitting experience, I didn't think it was weird that I had to draw the yarn through 54 stitches (!) to close the hat. But I sure thought it was weird when I had finished pulling the yarn all the way through. Plus the yarn snapped, which probably wouldn't surprise anyone who has worked with Shelter. It looked like the ribs on the top of a pumpkin. A quick instructional re-read set me straight, and I ripped it back and fixed it. Much better the second time around -- only 6 stitches to pull through! And it was perfect for the chilly dog walk this evening.
I like that I repurposed and re-used these scrap ends. I wonder what other little treasures might be lurking in bins, bags and boxes around here?

In the Winter, When It Drizzles

Greetings, from the City of Light! Germany and France have been beautiful, and thankfully, the only wet weather we're likely to have is tonight. We had a soggy walk back and forth to dinner this evening, but it was well worth it. Things will be a bit drier, if colder, for the rest of our stay here in Paris.

My mad dash of Christmas knitting was well worth it and seemed to have paid off. I've been enjoying the blue seamless hybrid sweater that I finished just before we left and have gotten to wear it a few times. I'm still cold much of the time, though. I'm amazed that in a sweater I can only wear comfortably for a few days each year in Texas, I'm shivering in Germany in France. I should have brought some long underwear, I think. Still, it has helped some, and I hate to think what shape I'd be in without it.

The day before we left I cast on for a gift for my sister-in-law, an active duty colonel in the US Army who works so hard when we come to visit. She deserves something nice, if anyone does. I saw the Cosi Cosa cowl in the latest edition of Knitty and thought it would be perfect for her. I even had some heathered dark green yarn that was just right for it. I just worked on it during the evenings like it was no big deal, and I think she was really surprised when it turned out to be for her! I had a bit of a challenge blocking it in a damp German winter, and it might have been a tad moist when I gave it to her, but I think it looks great and once it's dry, should keep her neck nice and warm. And it's quite modest, size-wise, compared to some of the king-sized neckwear popular amongst European women.

On Christmas Eve, the kids got to open their ManU hats. I think thy liked them. Gracie had been worried about how she would "represent " at the big game, so she was very excited. Hers was a bit big, but she'll grow into it. Michael didn't take his off the whole evening! This afternoon, my brother sent me this photo of his family watching Manchester United playing Chelsea in their Boxing Day match. I'm eager to hear if they got any comments from any of the local fans.

It's been a great trip, and we still have a few days to go. If you want to hit me up to see some more photos from the trip, I'm sevenlefts on Instagram. Send me a request and I'll add you. I haven't stumbled into a yarn shop yet, but hope to find the time soon. I hope all of you are enjoying this holiday season and that we all have a fabulous new year.

 

Der Blaue Pullover

I did it! Twenty-one days from start to finish. Looks like I'll be cozy while in Germany after all.

Evenings this past week were mostly consumed with working out the shirt yoke and collar details, grafting the underarms, weaving in ends and blocking. I decided to go with the 34 stitches across the yoke. I was totally overthinking the whole thing -- 32, 33, 34 -- it really didn't matter. It all came together the way it was supposed to.

I found that the grafted line on the back of the left shoulder is more visible in this one than on the one I made for Jeff several years ago. But I still ended up with that expected little leftover half stitch at the end of the grafting that Elizabeth Zimmerman calls the Schönheitsfehler, or "little mistake of beauty." I like that I was able to fudge it away, but I also kind of like knowing that it's there.

And I also like how the hems and cuffs calmed down and flattened a bit with blocking. Now the lighter Marine color just barely peaks through. I've always liked a photo that Caro posted showing the contrast color when she made a version years ago. In fact, her sweater inspired my first attempt, and thus this one. You can see a bit of the contrast peeking out at the cuff. The colors go so well together. I'm not always confident on my ability to match or contrast colors effectively, but I think I made some good choices this time around. Speaking of cuffs, you might think that the sleeves are a bit long and I wouldn't argue. But I did that on purpose as I have rather long arms and just hate having to pull sleeves down all the time. Not as long as those as of Charlotte Greenwood who played Aunt Eller in Oklahoma!, but still, I have to be careful.

So the sweater is ready to go. And so are the ManU hats that I made for my niece and nephew to wear at the Boxing Day game in Manchester. Here they are side by side so that you can see most of the motif that goes around the circumference. I pointed them out to my brother a few days ago, and he said they would be perfect. In fact, my niece had been worrying about how to "represent" at the game, so she'll be pleased to have something like this. I hope to get some pictures of them at the game.

Glad to have this finished in time. I was skeptical at first. It was one of those "It's so crazy, it just might work" moments. Luckily, it did. Hah -- maybe I should have patched together one of those 80s movie montages with some sort of power ballad playing in the background.

All I need to do now is get some packing done before we go. And some house cleaning. And maybe a bit of yard work. And a bit more shopping. And get some gifts over to my sister's house. And one more chorus performance. Oh, and I need to get something on the needles to work on while I'm "over there." I sort of have something in mind...

 

 

Footy

Lots of knitting wrapped up this week, having to do with feet and foot-intensive sports.

First, I finished the Inlay Socks I'd been working on in fits and starts since this summer. I used some yarn I bought at a shop in Idar-Oberstein, Germany last winter while visiting my brother and his family. This pattern features diagonal traveling twisted stitches that give the illusion of weaving. And best of all, the cabling aspect is done without a cable needle or dropping stitches precariously off the main needles. Very fiddly and a bit difficult to get used to. I never could memorize the flow of it, but I still enjoyed the process.

These are a bit snug on me, but I imagine that's due to the lack of ribbing. They're 76 stitches in circumference, which is a tad bigger than I usually make, but the traveling of the stitches pulls the fabric in and makes it a bit inflexible. I made the largest size, but if you ever make these, consider looking at the next size up. Can't wait to wear them this week. The weather has turned chilly, making for some brisk mornings on my bicycle. My hands and face have been frozen, but my toes have been warm in my handknit socks, though now I'm faced with a pile I need to wash today.

We'll be going to Germany again this Christmas, and this time I'm planning on taking some handknits for our niece and nephew. They're quite the English Premier League fans, and their parents are treating them to see a Boxing Day match in Manchester, featuring their favorite team, Manchester United. I found a pattern in Ravelry that I thought might be a nice little something to keep,their heads warm during the match -- the ManU Hat.

I ordered the yarn, Knit Picks Brava Sport, a few weeks ago. It got here Wednesday and I immediately cast on. It's tougher than it looks. First of all, knitting with acrylic is always a challenge, but I wanted this to be durable. And there are some awfully long floats in the red and yellow sections, necessitating catching the unused color behind the work every few stitches. It pulled in a few places, but I think it mostly worked.

I made a few modifications. There were supposed to be additional Red Devils and a soccer ball motif in the black section up top. I couldn't get the floats to work around the corners without pulling. So I left them out with the idea of duplicate stitching them on later. But when I was done, I decided I like it better plain. And I added a tassel using all the colors and attached it with some i-cord. Overall, I think it looks pretty sharp, although I won't know until I see it on some little noggins.

Now -- to make another one. I'm playing with the idea of reversing the red and yellow in the pattern, but haven't decided for sure.

Tassels Hassle

I finished up the Polar Chullo today.

Yesterday, my niece was over. I had her in mind while making this. She tried it on, it fit her fine, and it looked great on her. So it's all hers. I finished up the I-cord border today and added the cords and tassels to the ear flaps. It's blocking right now.

This was a great project for going through some leftover yarn. It turned out okay -- except for the tassels. I don't feel I was quite doing them right, and they won't last forever. The tassel on top doesn't have any of the gray yarn because I was afraid of running out. As it turns out, I would have been fine. I had ideas of making more of these hats, perhaps with other animals, but not any more. I'm done. I need to make something with different yarn right now.

And that thing just might be Honey Baby. We have neighbors expecting in February and I've been admiring this pattern for a while. Problem is, I haven't planned ahead, and I'm going to have to go buy some yarn. Life's hard.

 

14 Bears

It's starting to look like the outskirts of Churchill, Manitoba around here, what with all the white bears prowling around.

I managed to sneak in a fair bit of knitting this week and closed up the top of the Polar Chullo today. All that's left to do is add the I-cords and tassels, and do a bit of applied I-cord edging. I may have to break with the color scheme and use other colors than the ones called for since I'm running low on yarn. And I need to think about how I might pin down the steek leftovers inside the ear flaps. I'm leaning toward sewing thread rather than yarn so as not to add any bulk. Oh, and some serious blocking needs to happen.

I originally thought I might line this with fleece, but now wondering whether I want to go through all that when I could be knitting on something else. I suppose I could always tackle that later.

Bears in the Mist

I've had some time to really knuckle down on the Polar Chullo this weekend., and have made quit a bit of progress. Recently, I finished a section that's really what this hat is all about -- Polar Bears!

The design features two rows of Polar Bears -- eight on the lower level, which I've just finished, and six on the upper level, lumbering in the opposite direction. The design is cleverly done -- each alternating bear on a level is walking with a different seal-mangling paw poised forward. I had a color scheme in mind which I think works great big-picture-wise, but I didn't think about the lack of contrast between the Granite and Natural White colors. So I used some unplied yarn to embroider on some eyes and noses. It seems to help enhance their bear-ness, plus it gives each one a little personality. I think the bear on the left above needs to lay off the eye liner a bit. Although they're more visible now, I'm imagining these bears walking through a misty polar landscape. That helps.

One of the tips in the pattern isn't working for me. It suggests working in the tail of both the new and old yarns working toward the left after the color change. This leaves a sloppy seam at the row change, or at least it does the way I'm doing it, so I'm shifting to my old school method of weaving in the new color before the change and weaving in the old color after the change. I'll try some sort of seaming trick to fix the part I've already done later.

Flaps Down

I started a new project this week -- the first one I've started in quite some time. I'm using leftover yarn from the Hillhead Slipover to make a Polar Chullo. I don't think this 40-something is going to be able to make a chullo work as a fashion accessory, but I'm hoping a niece or nephew likes it.

The very first step in the process is knitting the ear flaps. The pattern calls for knitting them flat. I started doing that and quickly became frustrated after a few rows. I have such a hard time purling with my right hand, and although I've done it before, I had yarn dominance issues and I hated it. It felt so weird.

Then I realized I didn't have to strand flat! I started over, knitting in the round, and adding steeks between the two sides. It used more yarn, but it went faster. By this afternoon, I had both flaps done, and all I had to do was cut the steeks and over stitch the edges to stop unravelling -- not a major issue with this yarn, but the flaps are going to pass throigh my hands a lot in the upcoming knitting, and I wanted to play it safe. Plus, I plan to sew some fleece to the insides so tidiness is not a major concern.

Now on to the more interesting parts of the hat. One concern is that the two shades of blue aren't contrasted enough. But even in the called-for colors, the flaps aren't as visually interesting as the top paet of the hat, so I'm going to keep going with what I've got.

Claudio

On Sunday, I went to buy more silver beads, only to find that the shop owner wasn't planning on putting in an order for some time. But, she was nice enough to write down all the details so that I might order them online -- which I later did. So while I waited for beads and yarn to arrive to help me continue with Christmas balls and Faite Isle vests, I decided I would start something quick and easy as a diversionary tactic. I kind of forgot how satisfying it can be to start and finish a project in just a few days!

The pattern I chose was Claudia, a free Ravelry pattern which I gender-reassigned to Claudio. It's a unisex hat made from worsted yarn, the beginning of which reminds me a lot of Jared Flood's Koolhaas hat which I made a few years ago. Staci made several of these when my knitting group made hats "for the boys" a while back and I really admired them at the time.

I had some nondescript brown worsted, snagged in a yarn swap, that was halfway consumed by a scarf I started a few years back but had since lost interest in. It was sitting in a bag, not even on needles anymore. Kate had gotten into it at some point, so it was all kind of a mess. I unraveled, untangled and unsnarled it, and had plenty for a hat. I used Staci's video instructions for the German Twisted Cast-On for extra added stretchiness. I started it Monday night, worked on it Tuesday a bit, and finished it up last night. Very satisfying, and I'm quite happy withe snug fit.

The yarn for the vest has since arrived, though, so it'll be back to the big project soon enough.

Black is the Colour

I quickly whipped up a Windschief hat for myself with the yarn I bought in Louisiana last week. I cast on for this project Tuesday night, finished it Wednesday night, and got home today and took some pictures.

I made the medium size this time, but didn’t check for gauge. It’s still a tiny bit bigger than I wanted it to be – I wanted this thing to be very snug – but I’m still happy with how it turned out. Because it’s so fast and easy to knit, I can try again some time if I really want to. But for now, I’m good. This is such a great design, simple, but with that cool dramatic extension of the ribbing that slants diagonally across one quarter panel.

Jeff took this picture of me wearing my Geek Eyewear glasses that came free with my fancier ones. Sometimes, good guys wear black.

Oh, and remember the October Woodland Winter Mittens? I gave them to the woman who inspired me to take up knitting. Thanks, girlfriend!

Windschief

I didn’t think this would take long – and it didn’t. It’s pretty straightforward with easy-to-follow directions. I did manage to fake myself out and make myself think I’d made a mistake, but immediately after frogging back from the crown decreases to the ribbing, I realized I hadn’t made a mistake after all. Sigh. So I kind of made this hat 1.75 times.

I made the large version (didn’t even check gauge), and while it fits my melon head, I think, if it I were to make it for myself with this same yarn, I would make the medium version. I think I would want a more snug fit. It’s been handed of to Jene, and should soon be winging its way to Afghanistan. I hope it keeps some Marine over there nice and cozy.

This hat is angled in the photo so that you can clearly see the 1/4 panel of 1x1 twisted stitch that grows organically out of the edge ribbing. Most of the hat is in stockinette, as you can see behind my left ear. Again, thinking ahead to possible difference for a version for me, it might be fun to have two sections of 1x1 twisted stitch ribbing on opposite sides. But maybe not. A lot of the appeal of this design is the asymmetry and the different places you can move the panel around your head.

Finding myself at – well, not exactly loose ends; woven in ends? – I’ve decided to cast on for a pair of socks. I ran across a hank of Cascade Heritage sock yarn in a colorway called Walnut that I’d stuck in a drawer and forgotten about. I wanted to do something cable-y, so after digging around on Ravelry, I settled on a free pattern for Twisted Hourglass Socks. They look complicated, but really aren’t. Most of the cables are really Bavarian-style twisted stitches that can be maneuvered without a cable needle – with the exception of a few 7-stitch twists (see far left in the picture). There’s some calf shaping in this, which I haven’t done in a while. Should be fun!

October Leaves

Just a few days ago, I wrote that I was hoping to get these done before October. Um, well, they’re done!

I did modify the thumbs a bit to make them wider. I had a lady with lady thumbs try them on, and she reported that they fit fine. They’re still very snug on my meaty thumbs, but the stitches don’t distort like previous pairs did on me. I inserted four stitches evenly around the thumb in the midst of some even-numbered motifs, making them odd-numbered. I just had to remember where they were – which wasn’t as hard as it sounds – and had to deal with two extra stitches in the draw-through at the end.

 

There were fewer long floats in this pattern, so I didn’t have to catch the yarn as much. Consequently, the caught yarn doesn’t show through as much as the last pair. I did have a bit of a blocking issue – I’ve made the left glove slightly longer than the right. But another blocking should get that fixed. And a few places my gauge freaked out for a stitch or two, but overall, I’m very pleased with these.

My next project is a quick one, requested by my friend Jene. She has asked a bunch of her fellow knitters to make hats for the boys in her nephew’s unit in Afghanistan to keep their heads warm during the upcoming winter. I’m using some Berroco Vintage (a nice acrylic, wool, and nylon blend – washable!) in a color called Cracked Pepper to make a Stephen West design, Windschief. I’ve made a bit of progress already, and hope to have it done in a few days. So far, I like it. I may just have to make one for myself.

Look, I Made a Hat

Where there never was a hat!

Jeff and I watched an old PBS version of Sunday in the Park with George as I was, well, finishing the hat. Watch it if the first few words of this post don’t make any sense.

I made a chunkier version of Jared Flood’s Turn A Square Hat for myself out of the leftover bits of Berroco Vintage Chunky that was used for all the cowls, gaiters and neck warmers that I’ve been knitting over the past few weeks. A little something for me to enjoy. I’ve only taken it off to sleep and get a haircut since it came off the needles. I’m going to get a kick out of seeing whether anyone catches on that all of the colors in their various garments are in this hat. It just worked out that there was room for 7 two-round stripes on the basic background color.

I modified the pattern to a chunky yarn. I figured out the gauge and then came up with a number, divisible by four, that would get about the same circumference – 64 in this case, as opposed to the 96 in the original pattern. I also didn’t mess with changing needle sizes between the ribbing and the main body, nor did I do any increasing. I wanted this to be snug. Other hats I’ve made for myself have been to big – I think I overcompensated for what I perceive to be a larger-than-average melon – so I wanted to keep things on the small side. At the point where there were to be 26 stitches between the four decrease points, I had 16. Everything else pretty much followed the pattern.

I love it. Some commenters over at Flickr asked if I was going to knit something for Jeff from some of this yarn, but he took a pass. He generally thinks that handknit things are too scratchy for wearing next to the skin – and believe me, hats are touching a lot more skin than they used to for both of us. So this one is mine, all mine. I’ve started calling it The Precious.

Think about it. It has all the colors of the cowls and gaiters I’ve knit over the past few weeks, so it must have some sort of power over them, like Tolkien’s The One Ring:

Two cowls for the in-laws through sis and bro
Two for the siblings, younger of three
Four for niece/nephews on slopes of snow
A hat for the knitter – that would be me
In the land of mountains, where the skiers go
One hat to rule them all, one hat to bind them
One hat made from them all -- for him who entwined them

Boy Hat

I wanted to make me a boy hat, but I'm not a boy. My apologies to Book of Love -- I couldn't resist. That dang song was going through my head the whole time I was knitting this thing. Meg made one for her boy, and it looked so great I thought I'd try my hand. I think I like the striping of Meg's hat better than what I came up with, but overall I'm pleased.

I bought the yarn Sunday, and that night I had it finished. Except it was a tad too short. I have one those heads on which tube-shaped object either fit fine around the back of the head and the brows, or around the ears, but not both at the same time. It was just too short to cover my ears, so I frogged it back to where the decreases started, added an inch, and then re-knit. I finished it last night.

And none too soon. I woke up to 64 degree weather, but it's since turned nasty. In typical Texas overreaction to frozen participation, I'm thinking the college might even be closed in the morning.

No worries. I'll be warm.

[Post scriptum 1/28/09 -- College open as usual. I was wrong!]

Koolhaas & Starbucks

A friend of mine turned 40 a few weeks ago, and I wanted to knit her something for her birthday celebration slated for New Year's Eve. I needed to do something fast and it needed to be out of yarn I had.

I dug around in my basket of leftovers and found a nearly complete hank of purple Cascade 220 (is there nothing it can't do?) that I'd used to finish up a pillow a few years back. I can't imagine I would use this for anything else, and I wanted to try another Koolhaas hat from the 2007 Interweave Knits holiday knitting issue. I made it in something like two days. Knitting into the back of those twisted knit stitches and trying to cross them without a cable needle takes a bit of deftness that I had trouble calling forth, but it's worth it. It looks nice if I say so myself, and I think Shannon will like it.

I tried it on myself and found that I liked the way this women's size fit on my head better than the men's version I knitted back in the spring. I might try this just one more time so that I can get one that fits a bit better. I have some leftover Cascade 220 (what else?!?) from yet another pillow in a nice rusty brown color...

Whilst running errands this afternoon, Jeff and I stopped by Starbucks to grab some joe and a treat. I saw these yarny decorations and I've been meaning to take a picture and post about them. What an interesting decorating idea -- wrapping Styrofoam balls with sparkly yarn and forming them into wreaths and such. They look kind of neat, and lord knows I'd never knit anything with yarn like that. Every Starbucks I've been in for the last few weeks has had these things -- even with the store closing they've been announcing, it must have taken tons of yarn to make these things for all the Starbucks in the country -- if not the world. Think of all the sparkly holiday sweaters that could have been made from this stuff!

Kool Haat

I finished the Koolhaas Hat this weekend. I can't believe I did this in only five days. It seems that most of my recent projects have languished interminably -- it was nice to be able to knock one out fairly quickly.

I loved this pattern. It looks complicated, but is fairly simple to follow. In fact, it looks way harder to make than it is.

The pattern called for a slightly smaller yarn than I used, the result being a hat this is almost too big for my ginormous head. The ribbing comes down a little further than I would like, making me look a bit like Tony Curtis dressed as Josephine in Some Like It Hot. I'm going to have to practice pursing my lips.

Note to self: Explore possible reasons why I knit things that look like pineapples.

Head Cold

I'm not one for doing spur-of-them moment projects. I need to dream, plan, agonize, and re-knit large sections of most projects. Part of the pleasure I take in knitting definitely takes place in the time when I'm "fixin' to knit" as we say in Texas.

I broke out of character yesterday and knit this. I cast on in the early evening and by 9:30, it was done. From LYS to finished product in less than 6 hours. No speed record, but not the way I usually do things.

Melissa, one of my knitting friends, put out an APB to get sleeping hats knit for soldiers in Iraq. Seems one of the things they have to deal with over there this time of year is sleeping with very chilly heads. Helmets don't work well for sleeping. So a friend of Melissa's is gathering hats together to send over. She shared a pattern with us and asked us all to chip in. I didn't think I would be able to get to it for a while, but once I got started, it happened fast.

I bought one more skein of yarn (good ol' Cascade 220) than I needed, and this took less than a skein. So I might make one for myself. I might even modify the pattern so that it decreases like the HalfDome hat I made a while back.

Glad to do it. And to the soldier who gets this: stay warm and stay safe.