Slouchy Beanie 1: Taupe Hat

I tried the Lemongrass Slouchy hat pattern again, in a more pleasing color, but I put this aside for a bit while I worked on my son's acorn hat. I wanted a slouchy beanie, and this suffices, but the decreases still throw me, and the top looks just "off" somehow. Still, it slouches and it's warm so it's great for bad hair days. Still Little Bear won't give up the acorn hat, I'm keeping this one. 

METHOD:
Done in LionBrand Wook Ease Thick and Quick yarn in taupe, one skein. From the pattern "Lemongrass Slouchy Hat" on Ravely. Did it on circulars this time instead of dpns, and it's still weird. 

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?
1. This is a good pattern for stash busting this particular yarn, but I'm not uber crazy about the look of the hat, even if I love the texture.

2. When I read "slouchy," this is not the look I really picture. 

Acorn Costume and Hat

"Make me an acorn costume for Halloween, Mommy!" 

Who can say no to that? I mean, how cute, right? An acorn costume. Now how to go about it...

After three hours wandering around in Joann Fabric, trying to find a way to achieve the "roundness" needed for an acorn but still allow movement and play, I came up with the idea of the sandwich board. It's not perfect, and I'm not sure it's exactly what he had in mind, but after he won "Most Original" at the library costume contest, he was sold. 

The hat actually came first (or the idea for it) since I had been eyeing the Lemongrass hat and wondering what it would look like in the other stash colors I had. I made a taupe one, but that wasn't brown enough (although the texture was perfect for an acorn cap) so I picked up a couple of skeins of a browner variety, knitted an i-cord "stem" and voila. (Little Bear has refused to remove the cap and surrender the hat, so I guess it's his now for good.) 

METHOD:
Done in LionBrand Wool Ease Thick and Quick, from the Lemongrass Slouchy Hat pattern on Ravelry, in a dark brown tweed colorway. One skein. Used it all. 

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?
1. Kids are cute. 

2. Eleventh hour Halloween costumes are the best. 

3. The entire costume came together with fabric glue, and no sewing machine. I'm amazed. 

Lemongrass Hat and Cowl (Bluprint Class)

The Hat was a project I sort of randomly came across on Ravelry as I was pondering getting back to knitting. (Actually what spawned the renewed interest was cleaning out the fabric closet and realizing I had a lot of yarn I needed to get rid of.) I had purchased a lot of this Wool Ease Thick and Quick, imagining I might someday make these little cardigans, but with that fantasy over, I had to figure out something else to do with them. 

Enter the Lemongrass hat. 

Now to be fair, the color of this yarn alternates between being a rather stylish off-green, like a lightly grilled spear of asparagus, to a true baby-shit green that nobody looks good in. Under store lighting, it's pretty. At home .... yeah, baby poop. 

So I found the pattern and thought why not. The instructions for the decreases are very confusing, and I should have been alerted to the weirdness by the fact that other people were commenting with questions, but I pushed on, thinking I'd figure it out. The main fabric is I think seed stitch, which gives this yarn a great texture, but the decreases at the top look weird and the color is just ... blech. 

So of course I had to make a cowl to match.

Now to be fair, the cowl was the second project from the Bluprint class, and I wanted to at least try it. I had two skeins left of the nasty Lemongrass color, so I made the cowl and it was pretty but gave me claustrophobia when I tried to wear it. So I frogged it, and made one twice as wide, which didn't really work either. Probably one that is about 1.5 skeins would work properly.

METHOD:
Done in LionBrand Wool Ease Thick and Quick Lemongrass (aka Babyshit Green)

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?
1. This is a horrendous color.

2. Frog what doesn't work, but you can only do it a few times before the yarn becomes worn. 

3. Don't stash yarn. Only buy what you actually have a legit plan for using. 

Traffic Hat and Scarf

I found this on LionBrand's website and the pattern looked so cute! I made both of them for Little Bear and he said he wanted the matching sweater! He's very into "transportation" right now, but I'm afraid he'll be in college by the time I get a sweater finished. 

METHOD:
Done in LionBrand Vanna's Choice, in the recommended colors, with the recommended needles. I did change the garter stitch road to stockinette because it looked weird in garter stitch. Bear wanted a red pom pom for the hat, which looked great until the dog ate it. 

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?
1. This was my first experience with Intarsia, and it was a mess. When they say use spools, do it! Don't leave the strings hanging.

2. The scarf is a bit shorter than I like and it curls like mad, but Bear seems to like the "tube" shape it wants to take. 

3. I have the coolest kid.

Baby Hats - Oh My Stars!

We are loading up on hats! Although I'm not super crazy about the envelope look. I started these on September 20, 2011 but didn't finish them until after DS was born. 

METHOD:
Done in extra stash yarn and from a pattern in Knit It! Spring 2007 magazine.

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?
1. The patterns overestimated how many stars each hat needed.
2. These are impractical, and the jersey hats that come with the onesies are much better.
3. I sort of learned how to make French knots, I guess?

Christmas Baby Hat

Precious!! The perfect little Christmas Hat for my little guy :)

METHOD:
This was from "Little Snowflakes," a pattern in my 2011 Knitting Pattern a Day calendar. I used Cascade 220 in Christmas Red, Green, and White.

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?
1. I sort of learned how to catch floats in the (fake) Fair Isle strands.
2. Elizabeth Zimmerman warns of fake Fair Isle that has more than 5 stitches between color changes. She's absolutely right. The extra floats make for weirdness inside the hat.
3. The decreases show up pretty obviously but I'm wondering if that's the nature of real wool, and can it be blasted out with a steam iron? Baby doesn't seem to care.

Baby Hat

Stash busting. Made a hat for baby to match Daddy's scarf!

METHOD:
I made this from leftover yarn from Daddy's Dr. Who scarf. I couldn't find dpns in the size I needed, so I sort of rigged up two circulars to do what I needed. It was not an elegant solution, but it worked.

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?
1. Babies grow like crazy fast, so I don't think he got to wear this but once.

Knitting Workshop: Color Pattern Hat

Destashing and learning at the same time. This is another project from the Knitting Workshop book by Elizabeth Zimmerman. The white key pattern I took from the book "Here There Be Wyverns," and its a Swedish border design from the 11th-14th century. 

METHOD:
Done on size 10 circulars, with leftover Brown Cascade 220 and leftover Cashmerino from the Nautical Hats.

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?
1. This is a fun and easy hat.
2. I probably should have made the ribbing white. Oh well.

Knitting Workshop: Knit Cap

I bought Elizabeth Zimmerman's Book "Knitting Workshop" with the intention of going through all the projects this winter. Or for the next few winters. Anyway, I had extra of the Cascade 220 Blue and Yellow from the Nautical Hats, so I thought I'd use up the yarn. 

METHOD:
Done in the round, as per the book.

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?
1. The decreases must have been too close together or something because the top was bunched and gathered in an unpleasant way. 
2. While showing it off to friends, Tracy said he liked it, so I gave it to him. 

A special gift for Captain Phil

Yeah, I'm a geek. So what. I love the show "Deadliest Catch" and for kicks I thought I would make my fave Cap'n a hat like the one I made father-in-law. So here 'tis.

METHOD:
Exactly the same as before. This is a pattern from Knitter's Magazine. It's garter stitch all through, with grafting so it's seamless. Or rather, it's supposed to be. I did this on #4 circular needles, just like before. I hope it fits! The base yarn is Debbie Bliss Cashmerino, and the flags are done in what I had leftover of the Cascade Wool.

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?
1. To slip the darn first stitch on short rows!!!!! I didn't notice I had forgotten this until the hat was like halfway done.
2. There is definately a right and wrong side to garter stitch, when you're putting two colors together. Starting on the wrong side will give you a thin line of color before you're supposed to have it. Starting on the right side eliminates the line.
3. My floats are too tight. The flag for "P" is pulling in so much, but there's not a lot I can do.
4. Grafting in garter stitch. Looks good!
5. Each one of these I make still look amateurish, but they're getting better.

Here's hoping you like it, Phil!

Semaphore Hat

Another late Christmas present, but I just couldn't figure out how to do intarsia in garter stitch. I tried SO many times, and frankly I'm still not happy with how it turned out. I'm hoping to get a pic of him wearing it soon. I chose this design because he goes fishing in the Ozarks and since he's bald, I figure this would keep his head warm.

METHOD:
The pattern was in the Knitter's Magazine Spring 2006 issue. The semaphore spells out MIKE for my pop-in-law. The base is Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Chunky (YUM!) and the flags are done in Cascade Yarns 128. The whole thing was knit on #4 circular needles.

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?:
How to do intarsia in garter stitch, that Cashmerino is FUN to knit with, and that I really really need to pay attention when I'm counting. Also, this was my first experience with short-row shaping. The hat itself looks good, it's the flag (actually the first one) that needs work.

Hood with Scarf -- and ties. Huh?

I'm beginning to wonder about LionBrand's patterns. Especially when they don't give you a good view of what the finished product is supposed to look like.

This picture was taken in 2020 because I forgot.

This is a hood with scarf. Neat enough, and wow is it warm and soft! I bought the white yarn for this ages ago, but held off until I could find the color "Ivory" instead of "Champagne." I like the off-white look.

The only thing I don't get is the tie concept. They're down too low to be effective in closing at the throat. Mom wants one of these in blue and black, and I think I'm going to leave the ties off of hers, and just make the scarf longer.


METHOD:
This was made holding two strands of fun fur together. I used White and Ivory. Done on #10 needles, you use a little over 3 balls of each color if you make the ties.

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?
To ditch the ties. Oh, and I'm pleased to add I didn't end up with more or less stitches on the needles, and I periodically checked for that! I'd like to think this means I'm getting better.

These might make interesting Christmas presents if I can get the eyelash yarn for $2.50 a skein again. That's about $15 for a hat without ties.

LAST Hat and Scarf set

METHOD:
This is a hat and scarf set from the LionBrand Boucle pattern in "Snowcone." I like this color, but for some odd reason, the yarn seemed to fuzz up more than usual. I DON'T like the scarf, which curled even though I added the garter stitch edge, and I don't particularly like having the "hole" design. I'd really like to give this set away.

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?
I must remember to NOT watch "Gladiator" while knitting. Joachin Phoenix is waaay too distracting. :) Can you see the whole line of incorrect stitching? Probably not, but it's there. Now every time I see this hat I will think of Joachin. Hmm, maybe I won't give this one away...

P.S. Dad came over for Christmas and was admiring my work, and he thought this was just the neatest design -- so I gave the set to him! Mom said he actually wears it! That's the highest compliment I could be given! :)

One hat to match

So I just HAD to make the matching hat to go with the Bernat Boa eyelash scarf.
(This was donated in 2019.)

METHOD:
Bernat Boa "Parrot" on #9 needles.

(edited to add, in January I made another one, out of "Tweety Bird" to match the first scarf I made.)

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?
I'm getting a little bored of hats.

I mean, I enjoy making them, but I've found that I'm very rarely wearing them, since I usually wear my hair in a ponytail all winter. So here's my brilliant idea: instead of sewing the seam all the way up, why not leave a little hole, to stick the ponytail through? Probably not an original idea, but a functional one. I don't know how easy this will be to do when knitting in the round, though. But that's a project for another day.

Oh, this one called for an increase by knitting into the back. One more trick in the knitting arsenal!

Really must get back to the ponchette thing.

Thanksgiving Projects 3 and 4: Moving on to Hats

Bored of boucle/fur scarves, I decided to try something different: matching hats.

METHOD:
I downloaded this pattern from the LionBrand yarn site. Each hat is made with one skein of Boucle and one skein of Fun Fur. I used the Lime Blue/Citrus combination and Rose/Fun Fur Prints "Fiji." The green hat was done on #10 needles, but I used #11 on the the pink one.

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?
The importance of Gauge in sizing.

The gauge was completely and utterly off on the green hat. It started out okay, I thought, but as I was making it, I began to realize it would NEVER fit me. I also had to add rows to get the length I needed. BUT (and this is the part which I consider pretty clever) I figured out I could MAKE it fit, if I created a triangular panel and sewed it into the hat. Which I did, and that solved the problem. I don't like the Fun Fur Pompon, though. This was amazingly hard on my hands because the knit was so tight I could barely get the needle through! Mental note: RELAX!

The pink hat went much better. I upped the needle size and relaxed the knit. It went quick, but I still had to add a couple of rows to get the depth I wanted. Maybe I just have a really big head?

Oh, and what I learned from making hats was decreasing with KTtog -- knitting two stitches together to decrease.

Thanksgiving Project 1: Self-Striping ROCKS!

(pictured here is both scarf and hat. Rather cunning, don't you think?)

I got a lot accomplished over my Thanksgiving vacation. Here's the first project:

I had no idea when I bought this Fun Fur that it was stripes. I thought it was just variegated yarn. Imagine my surprise (and pleasure) to watch it knit up in these cool stripes!

METHOD:
This is another one of those Lion Boucle and Fun Fur scarves, like the green ones. This time I used the boucle "Rose" and the Fun Fur Stripes "Cotton Candy." Which gave it a cool block/stripe pattern. Did this one also on big needles (#19) and it would have only taken a day to make, but I started it at night (Thanksgiving Eve) and fell asleep. I finished it off Thanksgiving Day. The whole piece is done in garter stitch.

AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?
Self-striping yarn is cool! And the boucle/fur combination yields a nice thick heavy piece.