Quick Beanie Break

I decided to take a break from another project so that I could make a hat for Mike.  I was beginning to worry that by the time I finally had time to make a hat to match his fingerless mitts that it’d be too warm.

Also I knew that knitting up a hat in the middle of the other projects that are on my needles would be quick and satisfying. I chose the Regular Guy Beanie because I knew I needed something simple for the yarn.

It turned out great.

I cast on 8 extra stitches because after reading some notes on Ravelry.  Knowing what I do now, I’d probably do 12 although it fits Mike perfectly.  It would have made the decreases make more sense even though I think it turned out good.

I’m pretty pleased with this project.  It only took a couple nights and Mike already wore it today.

 

2012 Knitting Recap

It’s really fun for me to look at all my projects from this past year.  Compared to 2011, I knit a few less items, but as a whole, I’m impressed with what I accomplished.

Starting from the top left here are the links to their project pages.

1. Super Simple Baby Tunic  2. DNA Scarf  3. Honey Cowl  4. Bow Headband  5. Cozy Cap  6. Augustine Shawlette  7. Owlie Hat  8. Nittany Lion Hat  9. Short and Sweet Earflap Hat  10.  Sunday Market Shawl  11. Inspira Cowl  12. My So Called Scarf  13. Dolores Park Cowl  14. Knitted Reading Glasses Lanyard  15. Dolores Park Cowl  16. Owlie Sleep Sack  17. Lady Godiva Cowl

As for those goals I set up last year, I’m never doing that again.  Two of the three things on my needles are still on my needles but I am not ready to frog them just yet.  And of the four items I wanted to knit, I managed to do one of them twice. I’m much better at deciding as I go because what I want and who gets gifts sort of gets decided along the way.

Finished an Owlie Gift Set

My friend Jenna has a baby due to arrive on Christmas day.  Later this week, this adorable set will be arriving in the mail at her house so she has it ready for her new baby.

I knit both the Owlie Sleep Sack and a matching Owlie Cable Hat in Cascade 220 Superwash.

I stuck with the pattern for the most part for the sleep sack, except I knit the body to fourteen inches.  Here it is before blocking.  The cables needed to be better defined but otherwise, it was great.

And here it is finished.

With the hat, I made a few more modifications. Because I wanted it to match the sack exactly, I used a US 7 needle and changed to four purls between each owl. I think it turned out great too and as you can see, it just need a little blocking to make it perfect.

And here it is finished.  It’s definitely a bigger than newborn sized hat, but this way one gift will be able to be used for a little bit longer.

I’m so excited for my friend to get it and then see it on her new baby!

1.5 Finished Projects

I say 1.5 because one of them really didn’t turn out how it’s supposed to and it’s not going to be able to be used for it’s intended purpose.

The first project turned out great and it’s recipient is a secret.  So if the person who will be getting it (a secret gift exchange among my friends) reads this, they’ll get a sneak preview.

This is My So Called Scarf made in Austermann Murano.  It was a quick knit which produced a nice, heavy fabric.  I love how the colors stripe in this yarn.

Here is my disaster.  It was supposed to be for a silent auction to raise money for scholarships for Penn State students but I can’t really expect that anyone would pay money for this hat.

I was so pleased with how it looked until I finished and both Mike and I tried it on.  It did something like this on both of our heads.

So I gave it a nice cold soak and tried to stretch it.  Which sort of worked on some of it but it’s still much too tight at the very top.

The wraps look nice inside.  It’s a shame they are too tight.

But I know it will fit a small kid head so it will get some use.

That’s okay but this is a learning experience.  I just think to raise money for scholarships, this would be a nice way for me to contribute, so I’ll try again for the future. Things I’ll do differently would include making the hat top so the decreases aren’t in the middle of the logo.  I might also try knitting it flat.

A hat for a peanunt

My friend has a baby on the way and tomorrow I will be seeing her so I thought I would give a her a couple things that I made for the baby.  I just need buttons to finish the one item.  But this two night, quick baby hat is finished.

I mostly followed the pattern which is called Cozy Cap. I did the first increase row wrong because I wasn’t fully paying attention so I wound up with seven stitches on my needles at the end. I’d wanted to do the knotted i-cord on top but instead I did this i-cord decreasing until I had three stitches.  I wasn’t even sure if you could decrease while doing an i-cord, but I like the way it turned out.  It sort of reminds me of the Lullaby League hats in the Wizard of Oz.

The yarn is Louisa Harding Millais and it is so shiny and soft.  It will need hand washing but for such a tiny item for such a little head, I hope that isn’t too big of a deal.  Maybe by the time she grows out of it, it won’t even need to be washed that much.

Keeping people’s ears warm

My friend Marla has always been an admirer of my knitting and first requested a hat well over a year maybe even much longer.

A couple weeks ago when I was in Lancaster, I picked up two skeins of Noro Bonbori.

I was specifically planning to knit an earflap hat for Marla.  This is the fourth hat I’ve made in this pattern and it’s so simple and has a great result.

I’m loving the unseasonable weather we’ve been having but I hope that she gets some use out of this hat this winter.  I’ll send it out this week!

Grape Earflap Hat

Here is another finished project, my third Short & Sweet Earflap Hat. This was a present and I snuck into my year end projects for 2011 even though it hadn’t been gifted yet. I was hoping the recipient was too busy to notice it there and they wouldn’t have known it was for them anyway.

I love how easy this pattern is to work up and the finished result is warm and fun to wear.

This was a gift for Jenn for Christmas and I made it with Austermann Murano. This was the first time I used this yarn and I think it knit up really well and feels great. I really love the way it turned out and I hope that Jenn loves it too.

2011 Project Recap and 2012 Goals

2011 was a really satisfying year in knitting for me. I finished 20 projects.

From right to left starting at the top:

1. Star Crossed Slouchy Beret; 2. Short and Sweet Earflap Hat; 3. Killington Scarf; 4. Stitch DC Infinity Scarf; 5. “Spring” Baby Headband; 6. Sunday Market Shawl; 7. Cable Braided Necklace; 8. Pretty Twisted; 9. Saartje’s Bottees; 10. Quick Cable Slouch Hat;
11. Short and Sweet Earflap Hat; 12. Baktus Scarf; 13. Alice in Wonderland Gloves;
14. Boneyard Shawl; 15. Sun Kissed Neckwarmer; 16. Honeycomb Hat; 17. Easy Cable Headband; 18. Short and Sweet Earflap Hat; 19. Berry Baby Hat; 20. Lady Kina

I am almost finished with my Bow Headband and it should be my first finished project of 2012. I’d also like to finish a few projects that are currently on my needles:

1. Fishtail Lace Scarf; 2. One Row Lace Scarf; 3. DNA Scarf

And start (and finish) a few other projects from my Ravelry queue:

1. MC2; 2. $5 in Paris; 3. Shalom Cardigan; 4. Dolores Park Cowl

There will be other projects and hopefully this will be a prolific knitting year.

 

Finished: Honeycomb Hat

I thought this would be a quicker knit but I have not been knitting as much during the week these past three weeks.  I hope to change that as there are a lot of things I want to finish and new projects to start.

This hat is for a friend. She requested black and gray and when I found this Cascade 220, I knew it would be perfect. However, I didn’t want to knit the most simple hat so I chose the Honeycomb Hat.

I love the way this turned out. When I tried it on, I loved the way it hugged my head.  It feels warm and safe, and that’s just what I want for this specific hat.

At first I thought I’d try to block out the way it turns up at the bottom, but I don’t trust my amateur blocking skills and I’d be sad if it got loose. So it doesn’t look as pretty laying on it’s own.  But it looks great on a head and that’s what matters most.

What makes this hat special is the honeycomb pattern around the bottom. This yarn is not the best to showcase the cables that create a beautiful pattern. But it was more important that I met my friend’s color request. To achieve the pattern, I had to do sixty cables per row, every other row for a total of 14 rows. At first, I thought I made a bad decision. But I found my groove quickly.  And it’s so worth it.

I can’t wait to give this to my friend.

Finished: Quick Cable Slouch Hat

It wasn’t finished as quickly as I’d hoped but my Quick Cable Slouch Hat took me a little over two weeks to knit. But in all fairness, most of it was completed last Saturday.

I used a US 8 and a US 11 to make the hat like the notes suggest and it actually fits my head (which is abnormally big, I think) and has good slouch to it.  I blocked it on Sunday and I was out of town most of this week. So here it is finally.

I used a surprise ball of Patons Shetland Chunky Tweed.  There are two more where that came from and it was such a treat.  I was borrowing some things from Jenn and when I looked in the bag, I was surprised to find yarn!  It really did make my day.

Here is the hat as I blocked it on a dinner plate.

And this is the finished hat.  The pictures were horrible so this is as good as it gets.  The gloomy gray snowy day didn’t help.  But you get the idea.

This one is going to my mom who requested a hat like this a while ago and my first attempt didn’t fit the best.  We’re going to swap and I’ll take that first hat and give it to a deserving child or a woman with a really small head.