Trish Knits.com

Tag: hat

  • Yes, I’ve Been Knitting, Too…

    It’s been a long time since I’ve actually posted here. I’ve been in a knitting (and thus, blogging) funk. But this year I have decided to try to fix both of those things. But, none of my knitting of late has been making me, well, happy. And what’s the point of knitting if not for the zen and happiness of it?

    So I’ve been struggling along for weeks, trying to find the perfect project. And then my husband said that he thought he should buy himself a Jayne Hat. To which, I said, “I can knit that!” And so I am. In all the years I’ve been knitting, he’s only affected a mild interest (to keep me happy) and has never asked me to make him anything. So, he finally asked for something, and I said I could do it. And I can, really… except this particular hat has been subject to much opinion and debate as to how it’s made. I am following this pattern, but am finding the analysis of the hat on this site to be most helpful.

    Of course there is some debate about the actual color of the hat, because it is often seen in deep shadow. But I see it as a sort of pumpkin-orange and goldenrod, with brick red earflaps. With two strands held together and a combination of colors from the stash, and adding a couple of other shades with the help of a store credit from The Loopy Ewe, I think I will be good to go. What do you Firefly knitters think of my color choices?

    five shades of orange and yellow yarn
    Jayne Hat yarn

    As you can also see, if you’re visiting this blog, I’ve done a bit of work here, too. I’ve decided that this is the year I’m going to really focus on my photography skills, so I wanted a blog format that would allow me to easily build photo pages. And this one called out to me. I’ll be building my photo galleries over time, but you can check them out, here: Photo Galleries.

    For tonight’s photo of the yarn I experimented with my flash. I generally hate flash photography because of the washed out colors and harsh shadows I usually get. But, since my whole house now is full of energy saving (but ugly as sin) fluorescent light bulbs, I figured I’d better start making friends with the flash. So for this photo I mounted the flash on the camera, but added a Gary Fong Universal Lightsphere diffuser, to cut down on the harsh shadows. Not bad, eh? And the yarn colors are accurate and vivid. Of course I am a bigger fan of natural light, but when none is available, this setup might just do.

    As I was writing this post, my kids were behind me, laughing. And this is why:

    Clyde the grey tabby peeking out from under a sheet
    Clyde is hiding

    Clyde had run under the chair where I had set up for photos, and got himself draped in the sheet I use for a backdrop. And stayed there, at least long enough for my daughter to snap a few kitty selfies. Never a dull moment around here, I’m tellin’ ya.

    We’re expecting a boatload of snow tomorrow so I’m hoping that means lots of knitting. Stay tuned for Jayne Hat updates.

  • FO Report: Going in Circles Hat

    FO Report: Going in Circles Hat

    Going in Circles Hat, Completed
    Going in Circles Hat, Completed
    Project Name: Going in Circles Hat
    Source: My Own Improvisation
    Yarn Used: Vanna’s Choice Worsted
    Needle Size: G,E crochet Hooks
    Date Started: January 20, 2012
    Date Completed: February 18, 2012

    Notes:
    It took me something like 10 years, but I finally created the hat I’ve been seeing in my head all that time. I once bought a hat at a craft fair. It was simple, crocheted with basic acrylic yarn. At the time I hadn’t yet discovered any other fiber so this didn’t seem unusual to me. What I liked about the hat was its shape, and how it was stiff enough to hold its shape, despite ridiculous amounts of abuse and years of being balled up in the hat and scarf box at the bottom of the coat closet.

    I tried, over the years, to emulate that hat, but never succeeded. Until now. It is crocheted, with two strands of worsted weight yarn held together, with a hook I would normally have used for only one strand of that same yarn. It was hard on my hands, but my goal was to create stitches so stiff that the hat would hold its shape on its own. And I did it.

    My mother-in-law chose the velvet ribbon and flower bow and helped me by sewing them on. For that I am grateful, because I am so terrible at sewing!

    And now I am making a second one, so I can be sure that the idea for this hat wasn’t luck, but logic, so that I can write up the recipe and share it. Look for that soon, I hope. (Yes, it’s a recipe and not a true pattern; I made it up as I went and can be made to fit by taking measurements and then crocheting until the right size has been achieved. Therefore, a typical pattern with exact sizing and numbers of rounds and stitches just won’t work in this case.

    Either way, stay tuned. It’ll be soon.

    Bye for now!

  • More Fun with Hats

    More Fun with Hats

    Well, I’m enjoying working on hats so much that I’ve decided to do another:

    Going in Circles Hat, the second
    Going in Circles Hat, the second

    This one is coming out better because I put markers into the circle very early on, ensuring that it was symmetrical. When it’s done this time, I’ll definitely be posting my “recipe” for this hat. It’s not really a pattern per se, because how many stitches, how wide one makes it, and how deep, etc., will depend largely on the size of the intended wearer’s head. But when the time comes, I’ll be explaining all that. So, stay tuned, and I’ll be crocheting happily for just a while longer.

    Bye for now!

  • Hat Progress

    Hat Progress

    I’m tired tonight, but I wanted to pop in quickly and show you what my blasted crocheted circle is growing up to be:

    Hat in Progress
    Hat in Progress

    I’m so happy so far. I love the shape, and I love that I made it big enough and deep enough to go down over my ears. I’m working on the brim now, and hope to be done by the end of the week. I am determined that 2012 is going to be a good year for finished projects. And I’m almost there with 2012 No. 1!

    See you soon.

  • Going in Circles

    crocheted circle in progress
    crocheted circle in progress
    Back before I was a knitter, I once attended a craft fair with my mom. There was a lady there who was selling crocheted hats. I bought this adorable little bowler style hat, with the idea in mind that I would replicate it. It’s sadly misshapen these days, but I still love it. In concept, it’s one of my favorites.

    Sadly, not long after this, I stopped crocheting in favor of knitting. I had hurt my hands badly with the twisting motion of crochet, and learned to knit instead. But for some reason, the desire to crochet has never left me. I’ve been trying multiple styles of “ergonomic” crochet hooks, and I’m finding that I can crochet, as long as I only do it in short bursts and take frequent breaks. So, yay for that!

    The original hat starts with a circle. Easy enough, right? Apparently that part of crochet wasn’t coming back to me so easily. I don’t know how many times I started this project, over and over, but the counts were wrong. Now, they’re finally on track. So, I think I’m on my way!

    The other thing about the original hat was that it was made from cheap acrylic yarn, held doubled, on a hook much smaller than usually required for that thickness of yarn. This is critical for the hat to keep it’s well-defined shape. So I’m using a worsted acrylic, double-stranded, on a size G hook. This hat will be able to stand up on its own.

    So, what you’re seeing here is just a beginning. But, I think I’m on my way. Hopefully this won’t take long! I want to wear this hat THIS winter. Wish me luck!

  • I’m Here…

    knit hat in progress
    knit hat in progress
    I’m back. I’ve probably lost all of my readers by now, but not even I imagined that I would be gone this long. So sorry about that! My computer died early in December. Not just a little bit. It died. Big Time. I lost my motherboard and hard drive, all in one fell swoop. Then there was the problem of the system restore disks not working, waiting for another set from the manufacturer, only to have those system restore disks also not work, etc. Turns out my computer came back to me with the hard drive unplugged. And nobody checked the guts of the computer before giving it back to me, just to make sure everything was plugged in. So, I took it back, and they fixed it, finally, but in the end I was without a computer for a whole month. Then there were the weeks involved in re-setting up the computer the way I like it, and we’re almost there, so I’m here. Here. Phew. At last.

    With all of that, there has been only minimal knitting going on here. I’m going back and forth between several small projects at the moment, and having a really hard time staying focused on just one thing. I’m working on a hat. It looks a lot like a hat I made more than two years ago and gave to a friend. That hat would have been too small for me and I knew my friend would like it, so it seemed to make sense at the time. Problem was, I really loved that yarn colorway (Noro Kureyon, #188, if you’re curious), so earlier this year I bought 10 skeins. Now I have enough for a hat, a matching scarf, and mittens. The hat is just a basic top down bowler hat. I want to knit it deep enough to cover the tops of my ears, and then flare out a bit with a rolled brim. Hopefully it will be cute!

    Of course, as I mentioned, I’ve been working on several small projects, which I will save for other blog posts, but that means a hat which should have taken me only a couple of weeks to complete has taken a couple of months instead. Hopefully by the time next winter comes, I’ll have a new hat, mitten and scarf set in my favorite colorway of Kureyon.

    The thing I found most interesting about my blogging hiatus is how intertwined with my knitting it actually is. There were days when I thought I can’t knit, because I can’t access my blog to write about it. Then, other days it was the opposite. I can’t blog, because I haven’t knit much and so it would be a slow news day. Wow. It seems like if one went south, both did. And so now, I’m trying to get back on track. I hope someone’s still out there reading, and will let me know that I’m not just writing in a vacuum. Not that I shouldn’t be happy to just write for myself, but to me, I guess that’s the difference between a journal and a blog. I wouldn’t be publishing if I weren’t hoping that someone is reading!

    Anyway, it’s good to be back. Now maybe I can get back to some mega-knitting adventures. Yippee!

    Until next time…