Trish Knits.com

Tag: noro kureyon

  • I’ve Finally Found My Head!

    cantaloupe hat completed and displayed on mannequin head
    cantaloupe hat completed and displayed on mannequin head

    Project Name: Cantaloupe Hat
    Source: Lifestyle Top Down Hats, No Swatch Needed, by Charisa Martin-Cairn
    Yarn Used: Noro Kureyon
    Needle Size: 4!
    Date Started: September 5, 2008
    Date Completed: September 17, 2008

    Notes: This experiment with Charisa’s pattern yielded something on the continuum between Rastafarian and circus clown. Guess which end of the spectrum I think it’s closest to? Heh. Definitely the hat I’m wearing when my primary aim in life is to embarrass my children. Yes, this will do the job nicely, thankyouverymuch. That and I also like to wear weird hats on very stressful days in the office. At least they allow people to question my sanity for a bit instead of their own. But, I kinda like it! Guess I’m weird, too.

    Hat Model Naming Help Needed!

    Meet my new hat model, Hattie. For lack of a better name, let’s call her that for now. I think she’s a cousin of the models on Charisa’s site, because I broke down finally and asked her which ones she bought. She kindly pointed me to a seller on eBay who had just the thing. She’s actual plastic, rather than styrofoam, which is a good thing since I have cats.

    But ok, she needs a real name! Help me think of something befitting of her usual role, modeling hats of all sorts from the elegant felted ones I make to the totally weird ones I somehow come out with but love them just as much. Oh wow. I just thought of a doozie. But I’ll keep quiet and see if one of you comes up with it, too. Leave me your thoughts in the comments, k?

    Ciao for now,

    The Crazy Hat Lady

  • Cantaloupe Hat?

    top of hat in progress with orange and green colors
    top of hat in progress with orange and green colors

    Sometimes I think you just never know what you’re gonna end up with when you knit with Noro Kureyon yarn. I started my do-over of the top down, no swatch hat, and I’m using a different rainbow-y colorway. Well, wouldn’t you know, the oranges came out first, followed by the greens. Someone in the Noro dyeing department must have some kind of sense of humor, because now I know that I will be forever wearing the Cantaloupe Hat.

    Lucky me.

    In other knitting disaster news, my terminally pissed off 16-year-old grump cat PEED in the middle of my dining room table yesterday. What was in the middle of the dining room table, you ask? A pile of papers that I was dreading going through anyway, and the Ravelry Tote containing the BROWN RIPPLE AFGHAN! AAAARRRRRGH! By some amount of good grace only the bag itself got wet (and a ball of yarn that was in the very bottom soaked up the rest) and NONE of the offense wound up on the blanket itself.

    Before you go on wondering what in the heck I’m doing to my cat, or what might be wrong with her that she would do such a thing, let me say right off that she’s been to the vet LOTS and we can’t find anything medically wrong with her. She’s just mad at me for I don’t know what reason. She is anxiety prone and it is getting worse in her old age. And for the life of me, we’re trying to figure out what is setting her off. And we can’t. We’ve tried pheremone spray and anti anxiety meds. I don’t know if she’s having a territorial squabble with the other cat, or if something in the laundry room where her litterbox has always been is now scaring her. I’m going to have to try another litter pan, but that means putting it out in the open where company can see. My house is a completely open floorplan except for the bedrooms, which the cat is not allowed in because peeing in our beds is definitely a deal breaker for us.

    We’ve had this cat since she was about 6 weeks old. On the very first night, she snuggled up in our bed with us to go to sleep. In the middle of the night we were awakened by a really foul smell, and the sight of our teeny kitten dragging our blankets with all her might so she could cover up the poop she just made. I should have known then that someday the litterbox thing might come back to haunt us.

    Zoe the Cat
    Zoe the Cat
    Sorry for the kitty potty talk! I’m sure Miss Zoe would really love it that I am discussing her personal business with you. But hey. I’m at my wits end here. Cut me some slack, cat.

  • If at First You Don’t Succeed…

    flat top hat, first attempt
    flat top hat, first attempt

    Ok, so on the surface, this hat looks like it should be pretty dang cute. Here’s the thing. I was impatient. It is too small! At least that’s how I’m interpreting the shaping as it sits on my actual head. I should have made the top circle larger than my actual head size so that when I put the hat on it would be more likely to keep its shape. Also if I had made the hat body longer, the top would not have had to come down over my head so much as I wear it. Lastly, I would make the brim lots larger.

    Moral of the story? The hat I’m dreaming of making for myself cannot be done with just a single skein of Noro Kureyon. It was silly of me to even try, as I have two skeins of every color that I bought. Doh.

    So, on to round two. I’ve started again, this time with smaller needles for a firmer fabric, and I’m not going to be in such a hurry to get done or to try to force it all out of one skein. Since this one took a bit less than a week I’m not too worried about the second one. I’ll let you know what happens, good or bad.

    sigh…

  • New on the Needles: Instant Gratification Hat

    new hat in progress
    new hat in progress

    So, after the long ordeal with the baby sweater, I was sure in the mood for some instant gratification (get your mind out of the gutter–I mean instant knitting gratification!). What does this mean for a totally slow knitter like me who can’t do a scarf in a day or mittens in a week? Not much. But I can do a bulky knit hat on big yarn and big (for me) needles in about a week.

    So, I am taking the plunge with Charisa Martin’s No Swatch Hat Recipe with some Noro Kureyon I got for my birthday. I decided to make a flat top, and I’m still working my way down the crown, then I will flare out the brim a bit and then do a decrease at the very end so it will roll in nice and firm.

    This is turning out to be quick and very satisfying to make. My next one will be on slightly smaller needles, so that the fabric feels firmer. Yes, I’m planning my next one already. Can’t wait.