Author: Trish

Well I finished it! This is my Fiber Trends AC-01 hat with wide brim. I was afraid I wouldn’t get it done in time for its recipient’s retirement party on Thursday, but with a little luck (and staying up til 2:00 a.m. this morning over a hot sink!) I made it just under the wire. The dome of the hat wasn’t quite coming out the way I originally wanted to so I grabbed it around the edges at the top and pinched a crease in the wool to create the flat top. It kinda looks like a big blue bowl of flan, eh? Not really… I think it turned out cute. The wide brim is a bit much on my head but my friend wears “big hair” so I think it will go on her head really well. Of course these hats usually take most of a week to dry, so I set it out on the table over a bowl to hold the shape, with a towel and a trash bag underneath. When I woke up this morning the towel was quite soaked! Thankfully a lot of the water came out. But it was still wet enough to need to dry for days, and the party is Thursday! Then my smarty-farty DH says to me, “you know, our big, expensive dryer has a drying rack!” Ding Ding Ding! Give that man a prize! Two 45-minute cycles on medium-high heat and the hat is perfectly dry and ready for its debut.

And look at this cool hat box! I mentioned to my mother-in-law that I had been searching online in vain for an affordable hat box for my gift hat, and she said, “I saw these really pretty ones just the other day!” So she went and got me one, and it was only about $7.00 at Ross. I couldn’t believe my luck. Isn’t it pretty? Hopefully I’ll get a photo with the recipient wearing it on Thursday. Yay!

It seems like I’ve been knitting forever on the brim of this hat… and this morning I finally started working on the crown. It’s a good thing, too. because the time is growing short until I am due to give the hat away to its recipient. It is going well, and is fairly mindless knitting as usual, which is a good thing, because this time of year can be so stressful. I can’t believe the holidays are coming so fast! I hope to be completed with the knitting on the hat by this time next week so I can do the felting process. That in itself can take days! And I don’t have much time to get it right. Help!

And this is the pin I’ve selected to adorn the finished hat. I hope it has enough “Bling” to match the personality of the person who is receiving it!

Knitting DOES Rule!

I may be a latecomer to the party on this one, but I just bought Knitting Rules!: The Yarn Harlot’s Bag of Knitting Tricks yesterday, and WOW! As usual I am enjoying Stephanie’s wry wit, along with her “Pearl”s of wisom! It’s not a hugely solid knitting reference book in the way that “Kniting for Dummies” or “Vogue Knitting” is, but I’m definitely learning a few things along the way… while laughing at the same time! A home run, if you ask me! Be sure to add this one to your Santa list…

I just cast on a couple of days ago for my next hat project, and this one has a deadline! Oh no! Deadlines spell doom for sure, but I’m gonna give it a good effort to get done in time.

Once again I am using the Fiber Trends AC-01 Hat Pattern, but for an added twist I am doing the wide brim version. I’m also not sure yet how I’m going to embellish the finished hat, whether I’m going to knit a hat band or do something with fabric or flowers or jewelry. It’s the little embellishments I do at the end that I like best, and the things that make them unique and interesting. I certainly don’t have a long time to think about it, though, so hopefully I will decide soon!

I’m also working on a knitted long stocking cap, which I am doing in a colorway that will make it look like a Santa hat. I don’t have enough of it done yet to show, but when I do have some of the cabling done I’ll snap a photo! But of course I have to finish the blue snake first! December 7 is the big day when this needs to be done. Wish me luck!

Not much going on in my knitting world… I’ve been working on this simple two-color ribbed scarf for my four-year-old son. It’s a simple 2×2 rib. Originally I started it in Brioche Stitch, but I kept dropping stitches and found it impossible to re-seat them properly on the needles when that happened. I dozed off a couple of times while knitting, and would awake to dropped stitches, so rather than rip out and start over for a fifth time, I copped out and switched to simple ribbing. It’s ok, my little boy won’t notice the difference; he’ll be happy to finally have his mom-made scarf. (He’s been asking for one for a while, but I’ve felt he’s been too little for a scarf. Wouldn’t want it to get tangled up on the playground!

New Book!

I finally received the long awaited Melissa Leapman book,
Cables Untangled: An Exploration of Cable Knitting. Wow! What beautiful designs! There’s even a reversible cable scarf design in here, which is a concept I’ve been playing with.
I have a total fear of charted knitting patterns, and of course, this book is full of charts! I know my eyes will drive me nuts on this one. But I love cables so much that I’m willing to give it a try. This book has quite a few patterns in it, but it is also filled with stitch designs too…. plenty to keep the avid cabler quite busy! Love this book!

All for now…

I started working on a new scarf design recently and I thought I would report on my progress. I spent a couple of weeks playing with some new design ideas, and nothing much was working for me, until I stumbled on this stitch combination, and I love it.

Right to left (since that is the direction in which we knit, we have an eyelet, a left over right crossed cable, a 12-stitch panel in mistake rib, a right over left crossed cable, and another eyelet.

Here’s the pattern:

Cast On 36 stitches.

Knit 2 or 4 rows of garter stitch to make a firm edge.

Begin pattern:

Row 1, 3, 7: K2, yo, K2tog; P1, K6, P1; K2P1 (four times); P1, K6, P1; SSK, yo, k2.

Row 2, 4, 6, 8: K4; K1, P6, K1; K2P1 (four times); K1, P6, K1; K4.

Row 5: K2, yo, K2tog; RC Cable; K2P1 (four times); LC Cable; SSK, yo, k2.

Repeat Rows 1-8 until desired length is achieved. Finish with the same number of garter stitch rows that you chose to do in the beginning. BO loosely.

Notes:

RC Cable: Sl 3 stitches to cable needle and hold in back, K next 3 stitches and then K3 from cable needle.

LC Cable: Sl 3 stitches to cable needle and hold in front, K next 3 stitches and then K3 from cable needle.

Let me know if I can improve on these instructions. Hope you enjoy this pattern! I find it fun because I feel like I’m doing something different every row. I don’t get bored wtih this one! And for me, that’s a major plus.

That’s all for now!

I’m so excited that my hat is finished! So I asked my DH to snap this picture. Cool, huh?

Here are the details:

Pattern: Fiber Trends AC-02
Yarn: Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride Worsted (solid color); KnitPicks Wool of the Andes (stripes)
Needles: KnitPicks Options, Size 10 Circular
Random Stripe Generator
Magic Loop Method

I wore it to work yesterday and got lots of compliments! My mind is already spinning about my next hat, which will be a retirement gift for a friend at work who always admires my hats and offers to buy one every time. (No, I don’t make them for sale; with the amount of work it takes I could never recoup the investment! Therefore, they make a nice gift when I am so inclined.)