Hot Child in the City

 

• Project Name: Hot Child in the City
• Pattern Name: Cabled Hot Water Bottle Cosy by Alexis Layton. 
• {This is a Free pattern on Ravelry found HERE.}
• Yarn:125 yards of  Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Bulky in the color Wine. 
• Needles: Size 10 double point needles and a cable needle 

My Ravelry project page can be found HERE for anyone interested in greater detail.

I have been wanting to knit a hot water bottle cozy for many years. What could be more comforting then a hot water bottle with a hand knit cozy? So I dug through patterns on Ravelry and came across this one. The pattern is written to have a tie at the top to keep the cozy secure on the bottle, but I preferred the ribbed turtle neck look to the tie down look. I also think having no tie is just more practical for us. Nothing to get lost or separated.

 

The pattern calls for 5 repeats of the cable pattern, but I had a smaller hot water bottle than the one in the pattern, so I did the cable pattern 3.5 times which brought me to the top of the bottle's body. Then I did the k2,p2 ribbing until I was to the to the top of the spout of the bottle, did a knit row as a kind of turn row, and then switched my ribbing to p2,k2 so it would lay nice.

 

I kept ribbing until I had the length of the neck/spout area covered and was back to the body of the bottle, then bound off in the ribbing to keep it nice and neat. 

I am really happy with how it turned out. The yarn is a ball of Knit Picks that was was in my stash for years, so I was able to Stash Bust to make this as well - so that felt good too. 

And I think I may be giving my bottle a test run today. It's so cold out that all the schools in the state are shut down and my boss called me last night and told me I could stay home if I wanted too today. (Uh, yeah I want to stay home!) So it's nearly 11:00 and I am still in my jammies playing on the Internet. Not a bad day after all!

Rainy Days and Mondays

Project Name: Rainy Days and Mondays
Pattern Name: Sock Recipe: A Good, Plain Sock by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee
Yarn Used: Lion Brand Sock-Ease Prints in 201 Rock Candy and I used 284.7 yards (260.3m)
Needle Size: US 1 - 2.25 mm
Project  love: ♥♥♥♥ out of 5 ♥

 
See my notes on my Ravelry Project Page HERE.

This was my first time using Size one needles. My first time with this pattern. My first time with this yarn. The needles were easier to manage than I would have thought. When you are a bulky knit girl the thought of working on these small DPNs can be intimidating, but I think I am over my small needle fear now.

I took gauge after I started knitting and found I was getting 9 stitches to an inch - not 8. But the socks ended up fitting me well in the end. I did soak them and block them on my sock blockers, but I tried them on before that and found they were fitting just fine.

My goal was to have these finished before school started and I didn't think I would make it - but I did! I finished the knitting and the end weaving with 23½ hours to spare! LOL. Cutting it close! But I did it. It killed me not to immediatly rince them and block them out, but I had school, so yeah.

The pattern was great. It's in Stephanie's book Knitting Rules!: The Yarn Harlot's Bag of Knitting Tricks and part of what I loved about this pattern was that she spend pages and pages explaining what each part of the sock construction is, how to personalize it to get it to really fit your foot, and then there is a two page "cheat sheet" where the pattern for a good, plain sock is just written out. If you get yourself a little stuck, you can look back in the book and read about the construction of the area you are working on and get an explanation of what you are really doing when you are on that area. Really nice! I would recommend the book just for that alone.

As for the yarn, I admit I pulled it out of my stash because it was clearance yarn and I wanted my first time working on fingering weight yarn to NOT be some expensive Indy died yarn. It would break my heart to mess up on that kind of yum. I find the yarn to be very attractive, and my hubby said they are his favorite of my socks so far, but the yarn itself is rather scratchy and I found areas to be a little inconsistent in weight when I was working on my socks. I had a spot where the yarn just seemed to be a bit thinner. Still, I suspect I will get a lot of wear out of these, and with how rough they are they will probably last for a long time. Would never give these as a gift though. I suspect the recipient would not be pleased with the scratchy factor. 

Overall I am very pleased with these socks and can't wait to wear them this fall/winter.

Getting my groove back

Trying to get my Blogging mojo back!

It's finally Spring here and that means we are all racing outdoors to get our gardens in shape quickly. We have a very short season here in Minnesota - so we really have to get our plants in as quickly as we can so they can have some grow time. I have decided not to grow veggies this year - and instead we are turning into more fruit growing. This is largely because we have a good farmer's market locally where I can get large quantities of wonderful veggies inexpensively.

We have a lot of projects to do here over the summer - and I find myself already looking at the calendar and frowning about how we are going to fit all the projects in we want to fit in and OH yeah - enjoy the summer too!

Part of my summer wish list is to clean up my WIP piles with my knitting. I have a LOT of projects that are half baked, so I really want to get those finished or frogged. I have been kind of obsessing over socks a lot lately - I think because I find myself buying more and more sock yarn and frankly - I have ENOUGH hats and scarves. You can ALWAYS use more socks. And the one's my mom makes me every year for my birthday I just love and they are so warm. It's like wearing a hug on your feet. So I would love to start making socks.

So about two months ago I purchased 9728 Beginner Socks (Cuff Down) sock pattern by Diane Soucy on Patternfish. (The pattern is on Ravelry but it redirects you to Patternfish for the pattern.) I thought for a first time out - starting on a worsted weight yarn would be less intimidating, so even though the pattern was $7.00 (ouch!) I went ahead thinking I would make a fleet of socks with this pattern and it would pay for itself with all the use I got out of it.

Sadly this is not the case. The pattern is two pages long and there really is not detailed instruction. To me a beginner pattern should really spell out the process and direct you. I found myself flailing about a lot and feeling frustrated. So after I made it through my first heal turning, I put it back in it's project bag and there it sat for two months. 

Yesterday I picked the bag back up and finished Sock #1.

I ♥love♥ the yarn (Classic Elite Yarns Liberty Wool - color 7869) but the pattern itself is just lacking. I know this is my first sock - and I wanted to make a classic sock - with heal flap construction - cuff down.... so I could really work my way through my first pair of socks in a classic fashion. But I am really dreading that second sock. It's the heal construction. I don't like my execution of it and I don't like the actual pattern of it.

 This is where I feel my execution failed - the stitches I picked up are a little too much like lace work. I am not thrilled with that - but find it livable. It's my first sock after all - there IS a learning curve.

It's a little hard to see in the photo - but there is a ridge line under my heal. To me that means I will get blisters or at least be uncomfortable if I ever try and wear these socks out in shoes. Bummer!

So I will dutifully cast on for sock number 2, but boy am I not excited about it! I am going to pay very close attention to the heal construction this time - and try to understand it better. I am thinking ahead to "NEXT" and I think two at a time toe up construction - perhaps with an afterthought heal?!?! Sound pretty good!

Number 2 in Rosewood

Project Name: Number 2 in Rosewood
Pattern Name: This is pattern #2 from The Complete Book of Crochet Stitch Designs by Linda P. Schapper
Yarn: Patons Classic Wool Merino in the color Rosewood, 1 skeins = 223.0 yards (203.9m)
Hook: 5.0 mm (H)
Size: 5 inches by 48 inches
Love: ♥♥♥♥

You can find my Ravelry Project Notes HERE.

I finally have a finished project and thought this would be a good chance to get back into blogging! I took a bit of a break there while I finished studying for, taking and PASSING my A+ certification exams. Yup. I am now officially A+ certified! Yay me!

So I have been starting a ton of projects, and finally finished SOMETHING. I picked up this book...

and have been slowly teaching myself some new crochet stitches. I have to admit, as a knitter I find the language and the pattern writing of crochet books (patterns, etc...) a little baffling. So I started on pattern 2, which is really simple. You pretty much just cast on an even amount of stitches and then you single crochet twice in every other stitch. Easy peasy. I grabbed a ball of yarn out of my stash and went to town.

The scarf worked up quickly, was portable and I like how the yarn worked up in this pattern. Bonus that this was a loan ball of yarn that was just hanging out in my stash for years and is now GONE. Yay!

I really like the idea of working all the odd balls of yarn out of my stash while learning some new crochet skills. Win win!

And the photo with Emma on the deck modeling the scarf was taken just minutes ago. We really have that much snow left. It's just disgusting. Winter will not go away.

Square Pegs

Project Name: Square Pegs

Pattern Name: Turn a Square by Jared Flood (Free Ravelry Pattern also free on the Brooklyn Tweed Website HERE)
Yarn: Patons Classic Wool Worsted 0.45 skeins = 94.5 yards (86.4m) in Colorway Dark Grey Mix for Main color and Plymouth Yarn Boku 0.4 skeins = 39.6 yards (36.2m) in colorway 20 (purples)

Needle: 16" US 6, 16" US 7, and Size 7 Double Points to finish it off
Size: Adult Large
Love: ♥♥♥♥♥ SO MUCH LOVE! Have worn it every day since I finished it!

You can find my Ravelry Project Notes HERE.

I love this hat! I cast on when I was down with the flu and found it was a very well written pattern and a really quick knit. It's a great stash buster and wonderful to use up those odd bits of Noro or (as I used here Boku) for the CC. I think because the stripes are small it keeps you trucking along quickly. You don't knit a single color long enough to get bored with it, and then add to that I used a color changing yarn for the CC, so it was different every time I got to that stripe row. Loved seeing how the colors progressed and I really could not put this hat down!

This is the first time I have worked with Boku and it will not be the last! Love the colors, it's cheaper than Noro, and unlike Noro I didn't have a single break in the yarn! WIN!

Here is my only trouble spot with this hat. It gives directions (and yes - I watched the video too!) on how to make a jogless jog. Sadly mine turned out pretty rough and it makes it look like I knit the hat flat and seamed it up! Well, I love this hat so much that I immediately cast on another and am working on this "Jogless Jog" thing. Hopefully the next hat I post I will have an update on an improved method!

The Halloween/Autumn Cowl - FINISHED!

 I finally got a few pictures of my finished Halloween/Autumn Cowl. I started this in October and had a false start, ripped it out, and then went a completely different direction with it.

Yarn: Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Worsted in Limeaid (137 yards or .72 of a skein) AND Gnomeacres 100% Superwash Merino Wool Worsted in colorway "Smell My Feet" (198 yards or .90 of the skein)
Needle:  US 8
Pattern: Barbara G. Walker's Hexagon Pattern from the book A Treasury of Knitting Patterns.
Size: 7.5 inches by 23 inches
Love: ♥♥♥♥ I rate this 4 hearts out of 5 - only because I would have done a few things different if I made it again.
My Ravelry Project notes can be found HERE.

It sits nicely on my neck and I can fold it down or where it tented up for added wind protection. (I am picturing gassing up the car in a nasty winter wind when I say that.) It actually goes around my shoulders under my jacket and I can zip up so that I get no wind on my neck. (Which means no snow down my neck too!)

What Would I change? I think it would have looked better with a picot edge on both sides.When I started this version of the cowl I didn't know I was going to do a picot edge - I just got toward the end and thought it would look good. In hind site I would have done it on both sides.

I also would have liked it better with the inside liner being the multi-colored yarn all the way through. I didn't think I had enough, so I decided it would be better to have a center stripe of the green rather than a row or two at the very end when I ran out of yarn. I am fine with it like this - but I think it would have been just a notch better if it were all the way across. The liner is single crochet which probably ate up more yarn than if I had knit the liner as well. Didn't think of that until just now.

Overall I call it a win. I am happy with the way it wears and think it's interesting and different. My hubby said it would generate a lot of comments when I wear it out. I am anxious to wear it out and see if it's true! ☺

A Cuppa Joe

 

 

 

Our local Target has a Starbucks in it, so after a shopping haul I will occasionally indulge in a nice big cuppa Joe. This last time I pulled out a cozy I knit to wrap around my coffee and it was so icky. You know how stuff gets when it's been in the bottom of your purse too long and even though your pets don't go in your purse somehow (magic?) their hair does go in your purse and will collect on any knit item you carry. So I was a little embarrassed by my hand knit cozy covered in paper scraps and dog hair and decided to make myself some new ones.

 

The Pattern: It is a free pattern on Ravelry called "Woven Cable Coffee Cup Sleeve" by Linda Thach.

The Yarn: I used left over worsted weight Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride 100% wool. I used 21 grams which is about 36 yards (33m) of yarn.

The Needle: I knit this on Size 5 needles, and I used double points. I just thought it would be easier with the cables to have the double points. When I make this again I will do it on straight needles instead of double points, but I will probably keep the dp's handy for the cables and for the provisional cast on.

The results: I really like it. I learned how to do a provisional cast on and then kitchnered the two sides together in the end, although you can cast on anyway you like and then just stitch it together as well. I had never done a cable like this before either, so it was fun to learn a new cable. I almost always hold my stitches the wrong way when I cable, and this was no exception. I had to rip out after a pattern repeat and start over. (Why do I find Front and Back so confusing?) Anyway - now that I have made this once I am eyeing other left over balls of yarn and thinking about how many coffee cozies I could have in a week or two! What else can you make with 40 yards of left overs?

 

My project notes on this can be found on my project page on Ravelry "Pretty Pink Cable Cozy".

 

 

Day 4 of the Ravellenic Games

PROGRESS! I am making it! I have hopes of finishing this gray panel tonight (knock on wood!) and then I will be onto the yellow lace portion again. I spent some quality time in my jammies watching the Men's gymnastics last night and knitting away. Uffda. USA really struggled on that pommel horse and the vault.

Ok - Less typing! More knitting!

Day 3 of the Ravellenic Games

I had to RIP! The further I got in my shawl the more I realized it just wasn't looking right. I tried to rip out just the yellow lace work - pulled it all out and picked back up all the stitches (not fun), but upon closed inspection I realized there were some mistakes in the first section as well, and since I was already ripping....

I recast on and saw that I had missed the Knit 3 rows line at the very beginning of the pattern which would have prevented the neck from rolling. So already I am happy that I ripped the whole thing out and am starting over. (I wondered why the neck was so unstructured! DOH!) I think my next go at this will be much better!

Ravellenic Games 2012

The Olympics opening Ceremony was last night and I was finally able to cast on my project! I am making the Colonnade Shawl by Stephen West. It was supposed to be my first Stephen West project, but as I researched this for the games I got swept into the Westknits Mystery Kal. These things happen.

I am very happy with my first days work. I had been up for 14 hours by the time I could cast on and was already pretty tuckered out from a long work week, but I was very exited about the games and the new project. I am knitting this in Sun Valley Fibers MCN Worsted which is just HEAVEN! Very soft and lush. I would work with this again in a heartbeat!

I knit until my hands were clawed and I was so tired I could hardly stand it. Then I set my knitting aside and watched Sir Paul McCartney sing Hey Jude. An interesting opening ceremonies. I wish it had been broadcast without commercials as I know they cut a lot of stuff out. (Although the commercials were good bathroom and stretch points, so they had their value I guess.)

Progress on my Westknits Mystery Kal will pretty much stop while the games are on. Clue 3 was released yesterday and although I read it and looked at the boards on Ravelry about it, it will be a while until I get to it. I am not quite half way through Clue 2 at this point.

Above is a photo of me using a crochet hook to pick up stitches on the icord edge. I tried over and over to pick up the stitches with my knitting needles, as the moderators for the KAL insisted that this was the easiest way, but it just didn't work for me. I need to remember that not everything works for everyone and I have to find the path that works for me with my work rather than trying to force myself to do something the way someone else tells me to. Honestly I felt a bit bullied by the attitude of the moderators and like there was something wrong with me for not being able to pick up the stitches the way they said too. I think it was just a very simple skill for them and they were a bit surprised at even needing to explain it to people.  There is a bit of snobbery on this Kal - it's not terrible, but there is a bit of an attitude that people with a lower skill set are needing a lot of help. I am still really happy I am doing this and my skill level is much higher than it was before I started it, but I can't help but feel a little feather ruffling at the snobbery.

Anyone else participating in the Ravellenic Games?

FINISHED! Noro Shawlette!

I finished another project I have had on my needles for a few months. My Noro Shawlette which I started back in March. This is a free pattern on Ravelry that i have made several times called 22.5 Degrees by Martina Behm. Very simple, very functional and just wonderful!

I knit this from most of two balls of Noro Silk Garden Lite I had in my stash. This yarn had SO many bad splits and joins in it that I actually cut out a color join at one point. It made me a little hostile at Noro, but it's hard to be pissed off when the results are so pretty.

A shawl in the bush is worth????

Here it is blocking out. I soak it in Eucalan for about 20-30 minutes, squeeze it, roll it in a towel and then pin it to the mat to air dry. I only used about a dozen pins on this one - I wasn't trying to aggressively block it - I just wanted it to dry in a nice shape.

I love this pattern and am very happy with my finished product!

Kal Shawl Complete!

GLORY!

I have finally finished my Kal Shawl!

This was the Knit A Long put on by Vickie Howell in the Stitch.Rock.Love. group on Ravelry and with Knit Simple Magazine and Caron Yarns. A very simple shawl knit from the top down and then we got to chose one of three edging types. I decided to use the crochet edge and am really happy with the results.

Of course the day I finished the shawl it was 92F (33.3C) and 30 mile an hour winds. It made blocking a cinch though as I just tied it to my fence and sprayed it with water. It was dry in no time at all!

I really love the shawl. It took 4 skeins of Sheep(ish) yarn in Magenta(ish). Just over three skeins in the body and the bulk of the 4th went into the border. The border was really easy and I whipped it out in less than a day!

The shawl was supposed to be completed in one week. Seriously? I don't know how fast other people knit, but there was no way this was getting done in a week. I haven't done many KALS, so I have to wonder how they are run compared to the ones Vickie Howell has been hosting. I feel like there is room for improvement. The patterns for the two I have done are only available if you purchase the magazine. I think they should make them available for download for either free or for a minimal fee. Some people really struggle to find the magazine. The yarn (Vickie Howell's Sheep(ish) yarn has very limited availability. It's getting more available - but right now many people write that they cannot find the yarn. And this pattern in particular should have had a minimum of two weeks to finish.

I also have to say I felt like Vickie was not really there for us much. She didn't knit along with us. She complained of having guests at her house during the week she was running the Kal so she was having a hard time getting on the boards. (And she forgot to subscribe to the board where she posted the KAL for awhile - so people were asking questions about how much yarn to purchase for the shawl because two different amounts were given (oops!) and were met by silence.) And the last day of the KAL she flew out of town and was basically like "Help each other - I am out of here!" I kind of felt like she was happy to pimp her stuff at us and to use our photos and comments to promote her products, but she wasn't there all that much for us. Do I have unrealistic expectations? Should the host of a KAL actually be knitting a long with the group and there to answer questions? Maybe I expect too much.

The community on the other hand was wonderful! There were many great people I "met" on Ravelry and we all supported each other and encouraged each other. I would do another KAL through Vickie/Knit Simple/Caron yarns just for the wonderful community of people that it draws. I shouldn't be surprised about the community of wonderful people on Ravelry though, should I?

I have a ton of pictures on my Project page on Ravelry if anyone wants to see more of them or wants the details on the shawl. I really love the Sheep(ish) yarn and am tickled with my shawl.

YAY FOR Finished Objects!

Shepard's Harvest Festival 2012, Post 1

It was Mother's Day this past weekend which means it was also the annual Shepard's Harvest Wool and Sheep Festival in Lake Elmo, Minnesota. (YAY!) This year I went all by my lonesome since my hubby had an event of his own to attend. And this year the weather was amazing and the place was just A ZOO! I am happy it's so popular - but boy was it exhausting!

Instead of having a mile long post, I thought I would share a few pictures over several days. The web site has a wonderful description of what the festival is all about, so I will quote them here:

"Shepherd’s Harvest Festival is an opportunity for rural and urban people to meet and share information about sheep and sheep products and other fiber-producing animals. The Festival was started in order to provide a venue where wool producers, wool consumers and wool artisans could come together and share the excitement of working with sheep and their fantastic product – wool. Gradually, the Festival has grown to include other fiber animals such as angora rabbits, alpacas, and goats. The Festival strives to be a family oriented event that is not only fun but educational. Numerous classes are offered in the fiber arts — geared for all levels of experience — from the beginner to the expert. Each year, we offer some classes in the less well known fiber arts so students can expand their crafts expertise Many vendors of fiber and fiber animal related products show their wares at the Festival through a juried selection of vendors of unique products. If it’s fiber related, you probably will find a vendor with just what you have been looking for.
To add to the fun of the Festival, there is live entertainment each day. Demonstrations are ongoing for sheep shearing, herding dogs, spinning and knitting. Activities are planned to spark the interest of youngsters. Judging, showing and selling of fiber from sheep, angora rabbits and alpacas give you the opportunity to view some of the finest fleeces in the Upper Midwest and to compare your skills at selecting fleece with highly regarded fleece judges. There are many activities at the Festival. Feel free to peruse the activities listed in the right hand column of events at the Shepherd’s Harvest Festival. Then come and join in the fun at this year’s Festival! Thank you to the entire fiber community for making this event such a success!!"

This first photo is a view from the entrance of one of the buildings. These buildings are just HUGE and they were packed full of vendor's and music and demonstrations. It was just wonderful. I believe this was an area where you could go up and try different types of wheels. I am not a spinner, so I just admire all the doodads and doohickeys I see at the festival. There were so many ways to play with fiber being shown - it was mind blowing!

Here we have the same building but I aimed my camera down the other aisle. All the buildings had vendors down both sides of the buildings and then a row in the middle as well. I believe there were Four Primary buildings that were as full/busy as this and then other buildings with animals, classes, competitions, etc....

This was the food vendor area and they had sheep sheering here and a yurt set up and all kinds of cool stuff. I took this picture early on in the day - maybe 30 minutes after the gates opened. An hour later it was hard to walk around here there were so many people everywhere! The lines for the food were insane. I had promised myself this year I would get the Fried Walleye chunks with homemade tarter sauce - but alas. It twas not to be! I just couldn't bare waiting in the long long line on something that would blow my diet all to hell. I did get me some cheese curds though!  (DOH! So worth it though!)

I want to say these ladies were with a guild - but I can't remember now. You think you will remember all these details after you get home - but boy does it all dissolve into a colorful blur pretty quick! At any rate, these gals had several wheels set up and were spinning fiber. I know the lady in the red sweater was next to me in a line were I bought a whole bunch of stuff, and she said she was going to hit the booth owner up for donations - so I know they were with some non-profit type guild type thingy. (Oh boy - great memory Jen!)

And here we have Elmo the sheep. I didn't understand this when I read about it in the notes, but we could bring handmade decorations to "decorate" Elmo. I would have loved to have brought something for him to wear!

And here is one more view into a different building. I was standing in the doorway looking down - and you can make out the other entry way way down on the other end. I think I can safely say there wasn't much that was not sold here! It was just amazing. I spent about 4 hours here and I was just pooped when I left. But I also had a trunk loaded with goodies! Stay tuned and I will share my Stash Enhancement Photos in the very near future!

Your Knitting Or Crochet Hero (3KCBWDAY3)

I thought I would feature one designer here today that I really enjoy. Martina Behm (Maltina on Ravelry) is probably best known for her pattern Hitchhiker. (The pattern has been in my queue on Ravelry for a very long time!) But she has a bunch of wonderful patterns and one of my favorites is a free pattern on Ravelry called 22.5 Degrees. It's one of my go-to patterns and I am currently on my Fourth incarnation of it. Below are pictures of the two I made to completion (one went the way of the frog pond - and the Fourth is still on the needles.)

This first one I named Love Carnival and it is made from one skein of Rowan Colourscape Chunky in the color "Carnival". It is thick and warm and I just love the colors! This knit up quickly on size 11 needles and I loved it so much that I quickly cast on another one in the same brand of yarn but larger and a different colorway.

And that would be this guy -  made from 1.75 skeins of Rowan Colourscape Chunky and this one I called 2 Cherries Shawl as the it is made from 2 skeins of the colorway Cherry. (I am Soooo imaginative with the names!) Again on Size 11 needles and another fast knit.

The pattern calls for sock yarn but it's very adaptable to any yarn. It's really simple and I cast on my most recent version in Noro Silk Garden Lite for a car trip. (It's a wonderful travel pattern.) I have gotten a lot of wear out of both of these and suspect I will make oodles more.

Color me anything! (3KCBWDAY1)

Today is the kick off of the Third Annual Knitting and Crochet Blog Week and this will be my first year participating! What that means is that for the next 7 days I will be posting on a set topic that is posted over on Eskimimi's wonderful blog.

Today's Topic:

Colour LoversColour is one of our greatest expressions of ourselves when we choose to knit or crochet, so how do you choose what colours you buy and crochet or knit with. Have a look through your stash and see if there is a predominance of one colour. Do the same with your finished projects - do they match? Do you love a rainbow of bright hues, or more subdued tones. How much attention do you pay to the original colour that a garment is knit in when you see a pattern? Tell readers about your love or confusion over colour.

I found this topic overwhelming. My head swam with ideas. Should I look at my stash? Should I look at the last 6 balls of yarn I purchased in a yarn store and talk about why I was drawn to them? And then it came to me. I would look at my hat collection!

So I took my hat bin out to the deck and dumped it out and started to look at the hats that I had made (and I recently weeded this out of things I don't wear/like so this is the keeper pile!) and started to really look at what I have going on here. My first thought was "I am not afraid of color!" which I already knew so that wasn't all that revelatory. Then I started to separate a little to see what I saw.

The above two hats were made out of Knit Picks Bare yarn that I hand dyed and then knit up. Similar color range - different styles. I had more hats in this pile at one time - but for one reason or another they ended up felted into bowls. (I do that with wool hats that don't make the cut. I have wool bowls all over the place!)

And then I separated all the hats that I combined two or more colors of yarn:

• The skully hat has glow in the dark yarn and I really wanted an authentic pirate feel - so the colors kind of picked themselves on that one.
• The hat next to it I made with Lime as the body and forest green as the ribbing. I had this exact hat in the reverse as well - but I think I made it a size too small and it is now a felted bowl. (I told you I do that a lot!) And this was a stash busting decision.
• The two striped hats in the center are both stash busters as well and I knit both of them largely while away from home. I needed something really simple (which is why I knit so many hats!) that I didn't have to pay much attention to. I was able to knit and talk at a graduation party and the stripes kept me interested enough to not feel like the hat was a burden to knit.
• The orange/green/brown hat is from yarn my co-worker brought me from Scotland. It was one of my earliest color works and I still love this hat. It turned out perfect!
• And the last hat was me just loving the colors together and loving the squish of the Debbie Bliss Como yarn. Wonderful warm squish hat.

On to self striping yarn. Love it! Love the color combinations. Love the boldness. The hat above is knit with Adriafil Knitcol and the hat below is Online Linie 231. I love both of the yarns so much. (Although the Linie gets worn less as I decided to give it ear flaps and it turns out I am just not much for the ear flaps. Live and learn!)

Both of these hats were just such fun to knit as the yarn was changing constantly and I would just knit and knit wanting to see what was around the next corner.

And then you find a pattern you love that helps you REALLY bust through all those single skeins of almost no yardage yarn that you HAD to buy and had no idea what to do with them. The yarns are: Colinette Point 5 (Which is 54 yards a skein), Malabrigo Yarn Aquarella (65 yards) or Malabrigo Gruesa (65 yards). INSTANT gratification projects! And this is actually two different hat patterns. One is the Handspun Beanie by Woolie Wormhead on Ravelry and is currently unavailable while it is being tweaked. The other is The Easy Malabrigo Hat and is available for free on Ravelry. Both wonderful patterns and I admit to running to my local yarn store and buying MORE of these yarns so I could make the hats again and again.

I told myself I might gift some of these hats - but I was a big liar and had to keep them all for my greedy self. I am keeping the patterns handy though for emergency gift knitting.

Sometimes the fiber content will influence my love of the color. Alpaca - I love you so much! When a yarn appeals to your eyes and then you touch it and your hands sink into a cloud of love, you pretty much HAVE to purchase it. This hat looks really busy - but it's heaven when worn and I love it. There is nothing bad about Misti Alpaca yarn. Yes it stretches. Yeah - it's a bit spendy. But it's so warm! And knitting with it is just a pleasure. Nothing makes me happier that I am one of those slow pokes who throws her yarn when I knit quite like Misti. Fabulous!

This is Reynold's Blizzard. Sadly this yarn is now discontinued - but it's another one of those where you think of jumping onto a giant marshmallow. How can that now be awesome to knit with?!?! And for some reason I needed this bold bold pink color. I am not sure why I would look at all the yarn and say - The Pink! The color is a little overwhelming. But I had to have it.

And more Alpaca. I lean toward the blues with Alpaca (with one pink exception...). Not sure if it's how the fiber takes the dye that makes me need to own it? But when I think Alpaca - I GENERALLY think the blue family.

So my study of my hat collection was fun. I don't think it revealed a whole lot - other than that there are a lot of factors that go into the decision I make when I decide to knit something. If I am stash busting, I will compromise my color desire for a project in order to walk the path of the righteous stash buster. If I am specifically purchasing a yarn to make "Project ____" I will look at the yarn options and the finished objects on Ravelry and decide based on what I see and what color makes me REALLY want to knit it.

I love the look of a solid color but hate to knit it. (Yawn.)

I love to knit wild colors and get excited by unusual combinations. The finished object doesn't always live up to my expectations though. Like my cowl I call my "Clown Vomit Cowl". I kinda have to be in the right frame of mind to pull that one off. (read: Drunk.)

 As I put my hats away I looked down and thought how pretty my sock color was against the wood with my beat up jeans. Color inspiration is just everywhere.

KAL progress, Fugly Blanket update

So I started a KAL yesterday and I am loving it so far. It's a very basic shawl pattern that will end with an edging I have never attempted before and I am a little nervous about. Vickie Howell is leading us in her usual wonderful fashion though, so I am fairly confident I will get er done. I didn't get lots of time to work on it on Day 1, but here is my first days work.

The flash on my camera bleached the color out of the yarn, but you can see it's taking shape. Love working with this yarn and love the color so much! I took it with me to work today and knit on my lunch hour. Would have loved to just knit the day away.

And here is my Fugly Blanket. I am almost out of scraps and will soon have to dig into my stash of cotton yarn and start working whole skeins. Maybe I will make myself take only balls with labels torn off so I can have a really clean stash bin. I have this laying across my Queen sized bed and it covers most of the width of the bed and about two fifths the length. Not sure if I am going for a square or a rectangle. Guess I will know when I get there.

Because I am working on this KAL shawl I will have to put my crochet hook down for the next week until the KAL if finished. It saddens me but conversely I think my wrists can use the break.