gift knitting

I've been doing a LOT of knitting lately. I finished 4 hats and two cowls in the month of December. I knit them so quickly I wasn't even able to take pictures of them all. Now that I'm done with Christmas knitting, I'll finally be able to get to work on my WIPs, which include an in Ishbel that was giving me a headache in November and I was glad to get a break from.

I did have one minor knitting emergency the day after Christmas in the form of a 3 week early baby. Luckily, baby is fine, momma is fine, and I was able to knit a tiny hat for the tiny fellow in just a few hours. A matching hat for daddy is to come.

Emergency knits

My dad decided last month to go to New York with one of his friends because they met someone at Burning Man (yeah, he's an old hippy) who would lend them her empty NYC apartment, across the street from Central Park, for free. Awesome, right?

Well, last Wednesday I noticed he had no hat. Seriously, a knitting daughter and he has not a single knit cap that isn't dirty/greasy/for work. Considering he left Friday morning, I had to hurry it up, but I was able to knit him a hat and a matching set of fingerless mits for his trip. Can't have my dad with cold ears or hands running around Manhattan! I talked to him on the phone today and he reports that they are working splendidly, so I'm giving myself a pat on the back for job well done.

UPDATE: I forgot to include pattern information! The mits were mostly contrived but loosely based on this pattern, made larger and longer, and the hat is my go to hurricane hat pattern, which I have now made 5 times.

A whole new world

What world might that be? Dying yarn. I had no idea the process could be so involved or so interesting. Over the long (hot) summer, I've done less knitting that I anticipated. Only a few finished projects, a few in progress, but not much knitting time because, honestly, wool is just no fun in 90 degree weather. Now that its getting cooler out I anticipate much more knitting time, but over the summer it wasn't so easy to get motivated about having woolly yarn in a big hot pile on my lap and causing my hands to clam up. But this yarn dying thing is something that is entirely appropriate for warm summer (or early autumn) days. Jessica graciously invited me to her house along with Melinda and Christine to watch and participate in the yarn dying process. It was so much fun, and I can easily see myself becoming addicted.

Improvement

Much better than the first attempt, right? This one is a little larger than the first, I cast on 88 (still fewer than the turn-a-square pattern calls for) and it fits a large adult size head.

help me choose

Which one should I start for my next project?

Plus side of option one is that it is 4 row repeat, whereas option two is a 7 row repeat, but all wrong side rows are the same.

What do you think?

pattern doesn't always know best

And here's the proof. Last Wednesday at Close Knit knit night I invested in some Noro Silk Garden (worth it, thees two hats have only used about 2/3 of one ball). I didn't want to start a big project because I'm ready to start a full-sized cardigan for myself, so I thought a hat would be a good way to use this yarn. The turn-a-square pattern by Brooklyn Tweed would showcase the pretty color variation of the yarn as well as present me the challenge of doing my first knitted color work.

Anyway, the first hat was done following the pattern almost exactly. There are increases after the ribbing, and the top is done in the prescribed way which results in a top with almost corners (as per the pattern name). It also continues the striping pattern all the way through the top. The result is too wide, even for my large head, and a little short as well. The decrease technique that creates the corners makes the hat have basically a flat top. All in all, not so great. Hat #1 will be frogged and re-knit to follow my modifications that I made on hat #2.

Those modifications include: casting on 80 instead of 96, no increases after the ribbing, stopping the contrasting colored stripes after the first row of decreases, and decreasing by k2tog every few stitches every other row.

The colors of both hats a great, I can't believe there's so many different colors in one ball of yarn. I'm going to redo the first one to match the mods of the second and I'm sure I'll love it.

The cutest thing I ever knit

My cousin Phaedra had a baby on Friday the 10th. Her name is Sirene Ava.The first girl on my dad's side since my little sister was born 16 years ago. Since then there have been 5 great-grandsons in a row for my grandma. We were all quite excited, and me especially because I wanted to make her something girly.

The result is not only my first complete clothing item, but also by far the cutest thing I've knit to date. This tiny little cardigan (deceptively titled the Five Hour Baby Sweater) took me about 2 and a half days to complete, and I got it done the same day I got the news that Sirene had arrived. It's cotton (another first for me, man is cotton yarn stiff) and delightfully berry colored. As a matter of chance it came out to be spot on 3M size, and since they will be visiting for a month in June I might even get to see my newest little cousin wearing it.

This pattern was great to knit, it's all in once piece. Starting from the top, the ridges of garter rows add some simple design flair. The only seaming that had to be done was under the arms. I didn't exactly follow the directions with the sleeves because they seemed too long, instead I did about 4 inches without any decreases and stopped at that. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who wants to knit a sweater but isn't ready to commit to adult size. It took less than one ball of yarn and gave me a boost of knitting confidence.