A Hat For a Neighbor

Project Name: Hat for Bruce
Pattern Name: Ed's Hat by Michelle Edwards (Free Pattern on Ravelry)
Yarn: 75 yards of Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick in color 110 Navy
Needle: Size 13, 36" circular needle
Size: Adult
Love: ♥♥♥♥♥ - Love it!

You can find my Ravelry Project Notes HERE

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This is a hat for my neighbor Bruce. He brought us over nice neighbor Christmas gifts BEFORE Christmas. (Begin guilt meter here....) And here I am mid February finally finished with his hat. I actually had a box of locally made fancy chocolate to give him - and managed to deliver my "Christmas Neighbor Gift" to all my neighbors except him. I think he ran away for the holidays, and then we had the flu over in our house. It seemed wrong to deliver a belated gift of food from the house of flu, so I decided to knit him a hat instead. 

Well I had to find a pattern and buy the yarn. And then I messed up the pattern, so I had to frog it out and start over. This actually got me to knit this hat on a long circular instead of double point needles. I have never knit a hat on one long circular - so it was fun to figure that out while working on the inches of ribbing.

The pattern itself was really simple and well written. It makes a nice "Manly" hat and I think I will keep this one around to give as gifts to my brother and male relatives. 

Where I force my brother to be matchy matchy

Project Name: Soldier, Brother, Packer Fan - The Scarf (Crochet)
Pattern Name: N/A
Yarn: Red Heart Team Spirit, 0.98 skeins = 239.1 yards (218.7m)
Hook: 5.5mm ( I )
Size: 6.5 inches x 50 inches
Love: ♥♥♥♥

You can find my Ravelry Project Notes HERE.

After I made The Packer Hat I still had over a skein of this yarn left. Obvious solution was to hook up a scarf. I made a chain of 20 and then worked the entire thing in extended single crochet until the length was just about right for my brother. He loved the length of the last scarf and I wanted this to be about the same. I finished this in 2012, but we had the flu hit my hubby and then me, so it's been tough to take the time to take pictures. Today was my first full day of work in a week, and I feel less Zombie than I have in some time, so I thought I would snap a quick pic and get this posted.

Hope everyone else is avoiding the flu and feeling fit and fine!

Packer hat - FINISHED!

Project Name: Soldier, Brother, Packer Fan
Pattern Name: Ribbed Watchman's Hat by Channah Koppel (Free Pattern on Ravelry)
Yarn: 147 yards of Red Heart Team Spirit in the Green/Gold colorway
Needle: Size 7 16" circular and double point needles
Size: One Size (very stretchy!)
Love: ♥♥♥♥

You can find my Ravelry Project Notes HERE.

 

This was a great hat pattern to work on my last few weeks of class and during finals. I didn't think when I started it that I would finish in time to give it to my brother for Christmas - but I did! YAY!

I had a few mishaps while knitting this and finally taught myself the proper way to Tink. I had been doing it wrong for years and it caused my stitches to twist when I would do it - so generally I would just start over whenever I made a mistake. (No pressure, right?) 

In case anyone else has this problem, you can watch this video on uTube to learn how to knit and purl back to correct your mistakes. It saved this hat! I was almost 9 inches into the ribbing when I saw a flubbed up row where I messed up. I was able to back up and redo it and now you can't even tell I messed up!

I found this yarn pretty abrasive. When you are used to working with Brown Sheep and Malabrigo.... well it's a very different tactical experience! Still, my brother will probably love it. He is a HUGE packer fan! I am hoping to get a picture of him wearing it when I see him at Christmas. 

The pattern was great. I recommend it! It took under 150 yards of worsted weight yarn. Still not sure what I think of the decrease section. I prefer a spoked decrease aesthetically, but I think for a basic watch cap style cap this decrease is probably more appropriate.

I am thrilled with the hat and cannot wait to present it to my brother at Christmas!

IEEE 802.15.1 Bluetooth Cap

 

Project Name: IEEE 802.15.1 Bluetooth Cap

Pattern Name: Snow Day Cap (Free Pattern on LionBrand.com)
Yarn: Lion Brand Hometown USA. 44 yards of Main Color - MPLS Purple & 11 yards of Seattle Sea Mist for the Snowflakes
Needle: US 13
Size: Small Woman's or Large Childs
Love: ♥♥♥♥ Well written free pattern. Uses a minimum of yarn and the end result is quite nice!

You can find my Ravelry Project Notes HERE.

 

I really had to stretch this to fit on my mannequin head to take pictures - and you can tell the snowflakes are distorted when I place it on the head.  Laying flat you can see the snow flake pattern more clearly - and I have to think some young gal (Pre-tween I think) would rock this out wonderfully.

I knit this exactly as the pattern stated. I found the chart was too much for me when I was tired and didn't want to think too much - so I saved it for more alert and less distracted knitting times. I really like how it looks from the top. A pretty decrease sequence. 

A welcome addition to my Knit Hat Donation pile.

A hat for my brother

 I haven't had much time to knit lately, but when my mom got this yarn for me I knew I had to make something for my Brother toot sweet. My brother is a HUGE Green Bay Packer Fan and this yarn is perfect for making a Packer hat. The yarn is Red Heart Team Spirit and it's pretty rough acrylic. I have read it softens a bit when washed - so we will hope that is true.

I cast on after class this week and have been working on it in bed at night after I have studied to the point my brain is mush. Simple ribbing is really soothing to me right now. It feels like working worry beads. It's rhythmic and it's not real easy to screw up - A big bonus!

I like that the color changes every few rows. It keeps the boredom at bay a bit. I love a solid colored item - but I do get bored with the monotonous visual factor. So exciting when the yarn is about to change and you knit knit knit to get that color change onto your needle. I think I knit faster when there are color changes just because I need to see what is "next".

I don't think I will get it done for Christmas, but his B-day is in February and that is very do-able. The hat looks really small to me - but it IS ribbed so I guess it will really stretch. We will see.

Lovely (?) Lavender Hat

Project Name: Lovely Lavender Hat
Pattern Name: Big Chunky Comfy Hat by Erica Kempf on Ravelry (Free Pattern)
Yarn: Hometown USA in Seattle Sea Mist (66.4 Yards used)
Needle: 11
Size: adult-ish (may fit a child better)
Love: ♥♥♥ Only 3 out of 5 loves on this.

You can find my Ravelry Project Notes HERE.

I thought it would be fun to try a different pattern so I gave this one a go. It turned out a little awkward in length for me. It's a little too long all the way down unless I have a ponytail on under the hat. Then it's perfect. It's too short if I roll the brim up. So yeah.  A little off.

The other thing I am not in love with is the decrease section. I thought the ribs would just thin out - but it ended up looking really sloppy. Not sure if that was my execution or the pattern. I followed the pattern exactly so I could see how it turned out, and I would make this again but modified. I would add length to the body and rim area so you could get a nice flip over, and I would change the decrease section so it looked smoother.

I think this is hat three for the charity box I am making. A LOOOOOONG way to go to get it filled up - but it's fun to do!

♦ That's my cat Izzi that made it into most of the photo's this time.♦

Azalea Hat

Project Name: Azalea Hat
Pattern Name: Erich's A&F Knockoff Hat

Yarn: 50 yards of Lion Brand Hometown USA Tweeds in Phoenix Azalea
Needle: US 15 (16" circ) for the body and US 13 Double Points for the last bit
Size: Adult
Love: ♥♥♥♥♥ Hard to donate this one - TOO Cute!

You can find my Ravelry Project Notes HERE.

 

I know my blog is turning into a hat parade! But this pattern is really easy to knit in bed at night and since I am donating most of them to the Pine Ridge Reservation I feel like it's ok to hog up my blog with the same hat over and over. Also - It's about all I am knitting these days. All my other time is spent studying for the A+ certification and trying to figure out Ohm's Law and fun stuff like that. **Yawn**

This hat is so cute I had a hard time putting it in the donation box. It really tried to make it's way into my hat drawer! But I was firm and told it NO. I can't tell you how warm and wonderful this pattern is. Easy as pie, cheap yarn, and machine washable and dry-able. Love it!

Ain't No Grinch! The Hat!

Project Name: Ain't No Grinch
Pattern Name: Erich's A&F Knockoff Hat
Yarn: Lion Brand Hometown USA leftovers in Tampa Spice (Red) and Lime. Hat weighed in at 98 grams so about 57 yards of yarn total.
Needle: US 15 for the bulk of the hat and then Size US 13 Double points for the last two rows of the decrease and bind off.
Size: Adult
Love: ♥♥♥♥♥ - Love this so much! SQUEEEE!

You can find my Ravelry Project Notes HERE.

I saw these two left over balls of yarn in my scrap bin and KNEW I had to make them into a crazy striped Christmas Hat for me! I thought it would be a wacky tacky - but the end product is quite pretty actually! Love the every other row stripe look on the ribbing. And I am happy I cast on in red and then did row one in red too. It gives the hat a kind of finished look or something. Don't know - Just like it!

My stash of acrylic is getting kind of low, so I may have to do some stash expansion so I can keep knocking these out. Only 1100 stitches to make this hat, and it keeps me feeling like I am accomplishing things in the knitting world when I really only have time to knit a little here and there.

And now I am set for the holidays! Warm head and holiday spirit to boot!

Can you handle the lockdown? HAT

 

Project Name: Can you handle the lockdown?

Pattern Name: Erich's A&F Knockoff Hat

Yarn: Lion Brand Hometown USA in Dallas Gray 50.2 yards (45.9m)
Needle: 15 & 13
Size: Fit's me head
Love: ♥♥♥♥♥ 5 Hearts! Simple pattern and it looks good!

You can find my Ravelry Project Notes HERE.
 

A simple hat pattern out of some stash I had laying around. I saw Sassypants Knitter was collecting hats in honor of her Grandma who wants to collect 100 hats it give to the Homeless this winter. Wendy (Sassypants herself) is so awesome, and it seemed like the perfect thing that I knit this thinking I wanted it to be a charity hat, and then I saw on Ravelry that she is taking hats for donation.

This pattern is a breeze to work up and looks pretty fab if I do say so myself. I went through my leftovers last night and pulled out a bunch of left overs of this weight of yarn and think I will work up a bunch more charity hats. It's good to do a little charity knitting!

Oh - And the name comes from me knitting this up while watching Ghost Adventures on The Travel Channel.

Oops! I guess your a blanket now

 

You know how you grab a random ball of yarn out of your stash and think you will quick make a charity scarf? Well that's what I started here and it just sort of exploded on me and turned into a blanket I cannot part with. This is crocheted out of Paton's Divine and JoAnn's Angel Hair yarn (see more details on how much, etc on my Ravelry Project Page) and it is fluffy and light and just wonderful to curl up under. I have been rather obsessed with it and knocked this out in about 10 days. My wrist is none to happy with me, but I can curl up under my new blanket while I complain about it!

 

Bonus that I got 8 large balls of yarn out of my stash by making this as well. (Woot woot!) I crocheted this with a size (P) crochet hook and it was just under 1000 yards when I finished. I curled up under it last night while watching Bar Rescue and it was really warm but really light weight. Just love it!

 

Already I am looking at my stash and wondering what I can whip into a blanket next!

It's Just a Triangle - Shawl

I haven't been sharing my WIPS very much lately. Many of the projects I have been starting are me trying to find something portable I can take to work and do on my lunch hour. This usually means in the morning when I am frantic and tired I am looking at my yarn and at Ravelry and trying to find something FAST FAST FAST. And a girl can only knit or crochet so many wash clothes before she burns out on them.

About a week ago that morning dance translated into me grabbing a ball of pink yarn, a size I(5.5) crochet hook, and watching quick videos on

A) How to start a crochet project with an Adjustable Ring

B)What does DC mean again? Double Crochet? What is that again?

And BOOM I started on "It's just a triangle - Shawl". (A free pattern on Ravelry - very easy and addictive!) After working with the bubble gum pink for a day or two I thought - Wow. This is REALLY pink. huh. I had a bunch of scrap black yarn in a similar weight so I thought I would alternate pink and black. I am now almost out of pink yarn and will soon be finishing this up. I spent some quality time outside yesterday talking to my hubby and working on this in between projects. I got my tomato cages up, cleaned and refilled my Hummingbird feeder and my Finch Feeder, little jobs like that.

The colors are very bold - but I am really enjoying them! Once the black gets boring and eternal I throw some pink in and POP it wakes me up.

This will be great for throwing on my shoulders when I watch TV or when I get up in the morning and have to run outside to see what the dog is barking at. It's all scrap acrylic - so I can just throw it in the washer and dryer when It gets dirty. Easy Peasy.

Hopefully I will have some shots of this all finished up soon!

Cedar and Spice and Everything Nice for Emma

I finished my Cedar and Spice and Everything Nice Shawl finally. As you can guess from the title of this entry and the pictures that follow, this turned into a dog blanket for my girl Emma.

Emma sleeps on a little sleigh bed that my hubby made, and it's right next to my side of the bed in the corner of the room. Every night she curls up under various little blankets and looks super cute. So I am actually happy to give her a hand knit blanket. Bonus that it matches the curtains and rugs. Double bonus that it's machine washable and dryable.

When I finished knitting it I tried it on and it just looked weird. And it's because the ends are not symmetrical. As you can see on the picture below, the edge on the left is really skinny and pointed - where as the edge on the other side is more of a gentle slope over a larger surface. I wanted to wear this with a shawl pin and thought I could hide this better with a pin and overlapping the fabric rather than the button method the author intended. (The button method would be too much for me. It would have been too tight on my neck and just felt icky.) So after trying several things and talking to the hubby about it we decided it would be better suited for the dog bed.

I really like the look of this as a blanket - and I think it you tripled the amount of stitches and knit it about twice as long you would have a really warm blanket that you could snuggle into on the couch. I am quite happy with this as an Emma Blanket. I think it classes up her little bed and I like the thought of her having a hand knit blanket to curl up in. The one I made I ended up using 4 skeins of Hometown USA in Tampa Spice.

If anyone wants to look at the pattern on Ravelry it is a free pattern by the wonderful Susan B. Anderson. She looks really cute in the one she made! The pattern is called Cedar Wrap and it can also be found on the Spud and Chloe Blog if you aren't on Ravelry.

Day Off + Eye Dr. = Yarn!

I have been getting a lot of headaches at work lately. FINALLY figured out that it was probably my eyes. So today I took a day off from work and went to the eye Dr. and got my peepers looked at. I am getting new glasses and will order new contacts next week if the new prescription is working. (I am trying out a lower prescription on my contacts - so we will see if this works out.) If the new contacts don't work - We head to bifocals. Uffda.  Honestly I didn't know you could get a bi-focal in contacts. I find that amazing! Apparently they are rather spendy though - so the longer I can put them off the better for my pocket book!

So after my eye Dr. appointment I went next door to the yarn store and had fun blowing money on a few things. I am proud to say that I went in with two projects in mind and got all the supplies I need to make both of them. And I only bought two things that were not on my list.

The first was this Lotion Bar. I have been wanting to try one of these for quite some time and when I saw this on the counter I had to grab it. The company is Milk & Honey and I am loving this product! I already wish I had bought more than one bar.

 My other splurge was this ball of Noro Hitsuji. I went back to it over and over and then I just said "Screw it! YOU are coming home with me!" I really had no choice.

On my list of things to get was the yarn for a vest I found on Ravelry called George Sand. It is a $3.00 pattern and I knew I wanted to make it the minute I saw it. The Cascade 220 will be the main color and then I will work the pattern in the Noro Silk Garden. I ended up going with really bold Noro because I really want the pattern to pop out of the dark grey yarn. It will be my first vest so I am excited and nervous. I have the pattern, needles and yarn - so I just have to ball the yarn and then cast on! WOOT!

And finally I bought the yarn to make a little afghan to replace the one I use in the bedroom. Since I am always frozen I have a couple of blankets I throw on top of me every night in addition to our other blankets. One of them is an afghan that my mom crocheted in acrylic in the early 70's or maybe even the 60's? The colors are Hot pink, neon green, yellow.... it's just LOUD. Add to that it's scratchy as hell. My hubby calls it the Luffa blanket because it's so scratchy it can take the calluses off your feet. (Ouch!) So I decided I should probably knit a replacement.

This past spring I knit a baby blanket for our neighbors I called And the Bee goes Buzzzz and loved it so much I had a hard time giving it away. The pattern was simple and you just hold two strands of worsted together. It goes pretty fast and the yarn I used softened up a lot after a wash and dry. I found some blue and gray yarn (to go with the colors of our bedroom) and will soon be knitting my new blanket. The pattern can be found in a wonderful book called Plymouth Yarn 636, The Encore 8-Hour Baby Blanket...Revisited and although I have only made one blanket from it so far I have to say I see myself keeping this book forever. Perfect go-to for baby blanket gifts.

Black Friday Mittens

YAY for Finished Objects! I finished the thumb on my mitten last night and wove in all the ends on my second mitten and Walla! They are done!

This is a free pattern on Ravelry called Wool-Ease Mittens by Stephanie Taylor and this is the second set I have made. LOVE THEM! It took less than one skein of Lion Brand Wool Ease Thick and Quick yarn and they are so thick and so warm! I am just geeked out to have my own pair.

The first pair I made I gave to my niece for a Christmas gift and they were wonderful and I kind of had a hard time giving them up. :) You know how that goes. So since I had a lot of this yarn left over from my Capucine Hat I decided that I would go whole hog and make matching mittens. 

I did a few mods on the pattern to make them a little shorter and they are pretty close to perfect. They look a little big laying flat with my hand on them - but when I put them on they are pretty ideal.

They go up my arm far enough that when I go to scrape my car after work I know I won't end up with a frozen wrist. I could probably make a pair with crazy long arm length and go gauntlet on them if I had the desire - but for now I am just tickled pink with my Black Friday Mittens!