Tag Archive | beanies

Successful Snow Day

We got the snow as promised, all day yesterday and more overnight. But only 3-4 inches, so I can’t complain too much. The puppies are loving it, spending half the day outside and wearing each other out. I spent the day with a Twilight marathon and knitting, and it was delightful. I pulled out the yarn from a bag I’d frogged three months ago, determined to make progress.

I had one skein of Kathmandu silk in blue and fuchsia, and one skein of Cascade 220 in a coordinating indigo blue. I’d started a bucket bag way back in early December, got it about halfway knit and decided I didn’t like it. No real reason, it just didn’t seem right for the yarn. I frogged it, picked out another pattern, and then the yarn sat there for ages. So yesterday I started knitting that second pattern, and it was going swimmingly, until I realized my silk yarn was diminishing quickly and I wasn’t close the end. I looked again at the yarn requirements. What the heck was I thinking? I didn’t have enough yarn for this. Sigh. Back to the drawing board. Thanks to Ravelry and my own library, I decided I’d try another Vintage Bubble Bag. No, I didn’t have enough to make a full-size bag, but that was okay because the bag was too big anyway. Time to improvise and modify! I merrily knit along during my movies and this morning I finished up the decreases and bind-off. All my notes are Ravelled here. Now I just have to decide what to do for handles. The pattern calls for i-cord handles, which is what I did the first time I made this bag. But I used up all the silk, so the handles would be solid blue. I’m tempted to buy some handles, wood or plastic or something. I like how they hold up without stretching. But I have to decide before I felt the bag, and I want to felt the bag soon, so I need to figure it out. Anyone want to weigh in?

And no blog post of mine is complete without a hat, so here’s the Swirl hat I finished on Friday. It used almost the whole skein, and the brim is nice and snug on my head. I do enjoy this pattern! Not too bad for two days’ knitting, eh? Today I might work on my gradient cowl. We’re all going for haircuts so I’ll have plenty of sitting & knitting time. How about you? Making good crafting progress during this stupid snowy winter?

Back to the knitting

Feb28

I’m getting back into my knitting groove, but it’s slow going. I’m still not feeling the same constant urge to knit that I used to feel; I’m willing to read or play games on my phone or just watch TV. But at least the knitting is coming back to me. It helps when I finish something and really like it. Like yesterday, when I made another Vermonter.I seriously love this pattern. It uses super bulky yarn so it works up so darn quickly. I started it yesterday morning, worked on it on and off throughout the day, and finished it in the afternoon. This time I used the recommended needle size. I haven’t tried it on yet because it’s just so cute before it gets stretched.

Since that was done, I decided I’d work on another hat I’d started the other day. This is the hot pink Simpliworsted and it’s going to be another Swirl hat, like the TARDIS blue one I made. (And if you go in to look at that pattern, you might notice that three of the photos on her project page…yeah, they’re mine. So happy!) Since it’s for me, I used smaller needles to make a slightly smaller hat. It’s going more slowly than the Vermonter but I still love the yarn and the color.The most encouraging sign of recovery, though, is that I’ve got ideas swirling around in my brain again. I want to make another Vermonter, maybe two, with different color combinations. I want to get back to the bag I was making with recycled silk yarn, though I am a little irritated with felting right now.

I started felting the peach/green clutch and it’s not going well. I kind of hate my washer for that reason. But the bag has already shrunk shorter than I wanted it to be, and it still has way too much stitch definition. I think I’m going to take it to my sister’s house and borrow her washer, since it has a center agitator and that seems to make a huge difference. It’s so frustrating, because I love felting. I love seeing something go from a huge, floppy mess to a neat, tidy FO. I need to find a reliable felting process. I’ve tried it in the sink with a wooden spoon, but maybe I need to buy a clean bucket and new plunger and try that. If my sister’s washer fails, that’ll be my next step.

We’re expecting snow this weekend, maybe 4-5 inches, so I’m expecting to have plenty of knitting time. Might be a great time to cast on some fun new projects! What are you working on this weekend?

Yarn, Hat, Cowl

Feb18

Don’t you just love getting new yarn? It’s even better when it’s being shipped because who doesn’t love getting mail? There’s the anticipation, the anxious tracking of the package, then finally getting to rip it open and see your new treasure! Ahhh. Love it. I won two skeins of Malabrigo Worsted on eBay recently, two skeins for the price of one, and they arrived yesterday.The brown will be another unisex hat, maybe another Barley! I’m not sure about the green yet. A hat, of course, but what pattern? It might get to be something new and different.

I did finish a hat last night, a nifty Swirl Hat. I have named it the Time Machine Hat, because the rich cobalt color reminds me of TARDIS blue and because the swirl is all timey-wimey wibbly-wobbly. It’s a unisex hat, beanie hat for a big/male head, slight slouch for smaller/female head. This is more HiKoo SimpliWorsted and it’s delicious yarn. Bouncy and soft and warm. I was wearing this last night (like you do whenever you finish something new) and I really think I need to make myself one in bright pink or purple. All I have left on my needles now is another swirly cowl. I’m using my Nerd Girl Yarns Smashing in Secretly Spiders and oh it’s so lovely. Rich, deep pinks and purples and black with a sparkly thread in there too. This will be mine to keep forever and ever.Okay, that’s not really ALL I have on needles right now. I have a cardigan from months and months ago that I don’t know if I’ll ever get back to, and I have a rainbow silk cowl in that’s driving me bonkers. It was marked worsted but there’s no way. It’s a Sport weight at most. Ooh, but I have my Quadratic shawl too! I need to get that back out and finish it before spring comes along. IF spring ever comes along.

No news on the puppy front. I’m still waiting to hear from the shelter about the two puppies, though my husband did come to his senses and decide that two more dogs was too many. Sadly, I will not have to puppy brothers that we can name Fred and George. Sighhhhh. But at this point, I would be happy if we could get even one of them. My fingers are still crossed.

It is bitterly cold here today and the kids finally went back to school after a 5-day weekend, so my plans include a couch, knitting, and catching up on my TV shows. I hope you can have a day equally relaxing!

Have a little Courage

Feb13

Who here is familiar with Courage the Cowardly Dog? I was not, so when my aunt asked me if I could make a Courage hat, I was a little unsure. My first instinct was to check Ravelry for patterns, and I found one, but we weren’t crazy about all of it. My aunt and I shared a few photos back and forth and I said I would do my best to replicate the image of Courage she liked the best. There was a lot of improvisation and modification going on! For fun, I decided to document each step of the process, so non-crafters could see what goes into making a detailed character hat.The basic beanie is the easiest part. It takes maybe an hour, 90 minutes tops.Now it’s time to start adding little bits. Each piece only takes a short time to make, but there’s a lot of them! I start with eyeballs.The black centers of the eyes are simple.A nice brown triangle noseNow some pink half-circles for Courage’s…what are those? Jowls?Brown eyebrowsDarker pink eyelidsBrown ears. They need to be stiff enough to stand up. Now I have all the pieces laid out, and it’s time to weave in all the extra ends and sew it all together. This is the most time-consuming part, since I work hard to make sure the placement is correct and everything is sewn securely. Each piece is sewn on individually.The final product. I may not be familiar with Courage but I sure like my version of him.I think I did a pretty good job of replicating the picture my aunt sent. What do you think? Her friend was pleased, and so was the daughter who ended up stealing the hat!

Guess what? I don’t like cables.

Feb12

Okay, they aren’t terrible. But they weren’t a lot of fun. See, I made a hat yesterday. And it had a cable zig zag, and I’ve avoided learning cables to this point but I really liked this pattern and I thought it would be perfect for my dark blue/black Dream in Color wool. A one-stitch cable? Fine, I can handle that. It was also my first time knitting from a chart, but I could handle that too. And I did! It wasn’t even that hard, but it was awkward and it slowed me down. I like my hat-knitting to zip along along but I kept having to stop and put a stupid stitch on a cable needle. I’m sure it’ll get easier with more practice, and I will try again because the result was really cool. This is the Wanderer Cap from the book Weekend Hats. It’s my first project from that book but I’ve got several others marked. This is a generous size, large enough to fit my big-headed husband, but the brim is snug enough for a woman to wear it as a slouch hat. It used about 155 yards of the Dream in Color, color Peacock Shadow. It was strange because this skein felt a little different than the grey Dream skein, which makes me think they changed it a bit at some point. It still had great stitch definition but it felt a little crisper, almost coarser. But it’s not itchy and it should be nice and warm!

As soon as that hat was done I started on my next one. This will be a tam for St. Patrick’s Day, and I’m loving this yarn. It’s Stonehedge Fiber Mill Shepherd’s Wool Worsted in Lime Green and it’s super soft and squishy.Here’s hoping I can get this done before my craft show on Saturday!

I Fought the Yarn

Feb10

So I was making this hat. It’s an awesome hat. I was using the dark gray Dream in Color Classy yarn left over from the purl ridge cowl I made recently, and … Okay. Wait. I just went back and was looking for the post about this cowl so I could link it and couldn’t find it. How did I not share this cowl?? Well, we’ll just do that first.

A week or so ago, I went to my LYS for one specific skein of yarn and found some amazing yarns in their sale section, including Dream in Color at 50% off. I grabbed two skeins, a blue/black and a gorgeous Grey Tabby. (I won’t lie, I grabbed a few other skeins too.) I loved the grey so much I cast on the next day, and out came this fabulous Present cowl.This was my first time using the Dream yarn, and it’s fantastic. It flows smoothly on the needles and it’s soft but just crisp enough that it has marvelous stitch definition. I’m in love. It’s yarn like this that makes it hard for me to go back to cheaper yarns. So anyway, this cowl used a little over half the skein, leaving me with a tad over 100 yards. I decided that had to be enough for a hat.

After much perusing on Ravelry, I decided on the Thank You Hat by Purl Soho. Everything about it was right: weight, yardage, color. And you can’t go wrong with one of their patterns. I got most of it done yesterday, and then picked it up this morning after I got rid of all the extra people (kids, husband, who needs ’em?). I just had decreases left and my yarn was dwindling. It was time to play Chicken.Faster and faster I knit, eager to get to the end before the yarn was gone. And maybe you more experienced knitters are looking at that photo and laughing because you know what I didn’t but soon would…I had PLENTY of yarn left to finish this hat! I’ve got a good yard left over. And I am so in love with this hat. I want to find every skein of this yarn and buy it all for me. I just love all the subtle variations in the color, the different shades of gray…Oh god. No. Don’t say it. Don’t even think it. Pretend that didn’t happen. Just look at the hat. It’s pretty. So pretty.

My Dilemma is Resolved

Feb9

Thanks for the helpful comments on my troublesome hat post! After sleeping on it, I decided I had to make an effort to re-knit the brim since I love the yarn so much. I frogged and got the stitches back on the needle without too much trouble, then knit a round and decreased six stitches, and knit a new brim with needles two sizes smaller than the body of the hat. And it worked! I don’t love it, but I like it well enough, and I know it’s so much better than it was before. And this experience has taught me how to make pleats (me likey) and how to make hats from the top down (me no likey) so it wasn’t a waste of time. I’ll put it in my stash of things to sell this Saturday at the local craft show, and maybe someone will fall in love with it.

Farewell, Seed Stitch Hat

Feb2

Recently I posted about a seed stitch hat I was making with some HiKoo Simpliworsted in turquoise. I had a few issues with it from the beginning, but by the time I was ready for the decreases, I thought I’d worked them all out. I’d run out of yarn, though, so I ordered another skein and set it aside to wait. Well, the yarn came, and I immediately started the decreases. I had too many stitches. What? I kept going, thinking I could do more decreases per row than the pattern instructed. After I did that twice, it occurred to me to wonder WHY I had too many stitches. I went back and counted the stitches in the ribbed brim. I was supposed to have 94. Guess how many I had? 100! ARGH. Sure enough, I tried it on and it immediately slipped down my forehead. Stupid hat. I frogged it and couldn’t bring myself to start over. Now I have two lovely skeins of turquoise SimpliWorsted waiting for the right project.

Last night, I started a pink lacy slouchy hat. The yarn was bulky and the needles were big so it went fast, like halfway done in an hour. But I kept thinking it looked a little small. Finally, I decided I needed to check myself. I pulled it on. Yep. Too tight on my head, and I have a slightly small head. I’ve made this hat before so I went back and looked at my project notes on Ravelry, and realized I’d made the larger size last time. Oops. I could have kept going and made a large child size, since it’s just for sale and not for anyone in particular. But that’s not what I wanted so I frogged it this morning.

I guess the good news is that I finished two headbands this weekend and have one more halfway done, so my time wasn’t completely wasted. Today I’m going to make some more Wonder Woman tiara headbands, and maybe even do a set of her wristbands too. Hopefully tomorrow I’ll have some yarn pictures to share. But today you just get a funny puppy picture.

Sharing the Secret Hats

Jan31

Finally! I can share some of the hats I had to keep a secret for SO LONG. I partnered with my aunt to make some hats for a special friend of hers, and we did a variety of patterns and colors to make her smile.White cotton crochet cap. This was super fast and I think I have enough yarn left in the skein to make a second one. Pattern: Chemo Sleep Cap Bulky Yellow Scalloped Hat. I loved making this one, especially the i-cord scallops. And since it was bulky yarn, it went quickly too. Pattern: Scalloped-Edge Hat Shelbi Hat. Crochet, so quick to make, and a lovely design too. This one wasn’t free but I think it was worth it! Pattern: Shelbi Hat Look! It’s Dumbo! I absolutely love this hat. When she asked for Dumbo, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to make one that looked good, but this little guy makes me smile, and I hope it does the same for her. This hat seemed to take forever: maybe an hour for the base hat, 2-3 hours for all the little pieces, maybe 2 hours for assembly? I’m not sure. It felt longer than that! Next time I should keep track. He was a mixture of patterns and improvisation, so you can check out my Ravelry notes here.

There are two more, but they have to stay secrets for now. Stay tuned!

Two Knitted Hats and a Cute Puppy

Jan7

Okay, shhhh, do you hear that? Yes, that! That, my friend, is silence. Something that has been hard to find in the last three weeks. The husband went back to to work on Monday and today the children went back to school. I have enjoyed having them all home with me (for the most part) but we had enough togetherness. Now it is time for the alone-ness. Okay, sure, the puppy is home and soon enough will be pestering me because I don’t want to take him for a walk in 5 degree weather with wind chills of 15 below. But right now he is sleeping and I am listening to just the wind blow outside and it’s delightful.

Right, so, knitting! Yesterday at this time I had two half-finished hats. This morning, I have two completed hats! Once we did our running around, I had nothing to do but knit. Of course, first I had to survive errands with two kids who were tired of each other and me. But we managed to get shoes at Target without ANY unplanned purchases. We went to Joann and left empty-handed because the yarn was all 25% off so I couldn’t use my coupons. I’m telling you, I was strong yesterday! It must have been because I was wearing my new “I Am Strong” necklace. I must wear that every time I go to Target.

Okay, seriously, hats. I am pleased as punch with them. First up, we have a Spring Beret knit in Misti Alpaca Pima Cotton & Silk. This yarn was heavenly to knit with: soft but strong. It didn’t slip around while I was doing the lace bits, which was nice. And it’s the prettiest baby blue color, my photos don’t do it justice. I think it will be perfect for those April days when we’re all tired of the brisk wind and eager for the return of warmer temperatures. I used this Spring Beret pattern and followed it exactly (except for when I made mistakes and had to maybe k2tog or m1 to get my stitch counts right) for the less slouchy version.

Secondly, I finished the swirly beanie for the boy. This was the easiest swirl pattern ever, and yet I made so many mistakes. I had to frog back several rows once, and then frog the whole thing and start over. But once I realized I had to work on it alone, it was fine. It’s called Odessa and written to include beads, but of course I left those off. My 11yo son might not appreciate beads. So he got some fantastic Nerd Girl Yarn in the Foxy line. The colorway is called #nofilter and the colors are so bright and vivid. I truly love this yarn and can’t wait to start knitting up more.

It felt good to get those done. I’m down to only 4 WIPs, which of course means I will be starting something new today. Our snow and cold, plus the peace and quiet, means I will be snuggling in with a blanket, yarn, tea, and some Grey’s Anatomy. I expect great progress today. For now, I will leave you with a photo of puppy, Captain Jack. He loves the cold and snow. He wants to smell all the smells and eat all the crunchy things.