Possessed to Knit

New Year's Eve

Here are my current works in progress.  On the left is the Dahlia hat by Alice Starmore for my patient mother.  On the right are my Ice, Ice Baby socks clevery designed by Patrick and beautifully dyed by Sheila of Wullenstudio yarns.  The icicle pattern is so much fun to knit and Patrick has hidden gentle increases giving the sock a wonderful fit.  My North Pole socks turned out to be not very soft.  Perhaps knitting sock yarn with a metallic thread on size 0 needles was not such a good idea.  These Ice, Ice Baby socks are incredibly soft and I look forward to wearing them in the New Year.

In 2009, I have completed 15 pairs of socks, three scarves (1 handspun),  six hats (1 handspun), two dog sweaters, one baby sweater, two child-sized top-down raglan sweaters, one Aguona Laptop Bag, one Hanami shawl, and one Carmen Banana doll and her red dress. 

Happy New Year!  Thank you for reading my blog.

Wollmeise Hat for Al

Here is the hat I knitted for Al.  I managed to snag a Gemischt (mixed) bag of Wollmeise during one of Claudia's daytime updates which included a skein of 100% merino in the Merlot colorway.  Cream Fortissima sock yarn is the contrasting yarn.  It has 25% nylon and is a bit fuzzier than the Wollmeise.

I started with a provision crochet cast-on of 88 sts using a size F hook and a 3.5 mm 16" circular needle.  I knitted 4 rounds then picked up the provisional sts every other stitch creating a k1, p1 rib on size 2.25 mm 16" circular needles.  I worked the k1, p1 rib for an inch and switched to 2.75 mm 16" Addi Lace needles following the Lusekofte Cap pattern from Hats On! by Charlene Schurch with 2 additional pattern repeats for a total of 176 sts.  I also added some plain rounds to the upper and lower Fair Isle bands, but I could have left them out as the hat is just a little bit longer than I wanted it to be.  The pattern stitches were coming out too tight with my knitting thimble.  I achieved much better results with the Wollmeise in my right hand and the Fortissima in my left hand.  I divided the hat into 11 sixteen stitch sections, decreasing every other round down to 11 sts for the crown.  The gauge is about 8.5 sts and 9 rows to the inch.

Ethan's Fair Isle Hat

Our neighbors' son, Ethan, recently celebrated his third birthday and I offered to knit him a new hat.  It turns out that he had outgrown the hat I made for him last year.  I was a little puzzled by this as my nephews are 4 & 6 and their hats still fit them (I think) and I made them the same medium sized hats from Charlene Schurch's Hats On!  book.  

I measured Ethan's head and found it is 19.5 inches in circumference.  I could either go up a needle size and knit another medium hat or I could just knit a hat in the large size.  I decided to go with knitting the large size hat and I'm glad I did.  My gauge for this pattern is about 6.5 sts and 7.5 rows to the inch instead of 6 sts and 7.25 rows to the inch as required by the pattern.  I completed his hat before our winter weather arrived and it fits him very nicely.

I used Knit Picks Swish Worsted in the Deep Ocean & White colorways and size 6 Addi Turbo needles (16" for most of the hat and 32" to work the Magic Loop on the crown).  I knitted the hat with my knitting thimble, carrying the blue (background) color in the right loop and the white yarn in the left loop.  The "jog" starts in the middle of the hat.  I minimized it by starting the design in the best place to hide the jog and by moving the beginning of each round 1 stitch to the left then tweaking the stitches accordingly.

Dahlia Hat

I started the Dahlia hat from Alice Starmore's Hat Trick kit for my mother.  It came with ten colors of Hebridean 2-ply yarn which feels a bit softer than the Jamieson & Smith 2-ply jumper weight yarn.  I'm almost through the corrugated ribbing using 3.00 mm Addi Lace 16" circular needles.  I will work the rest of the hat with 3.50 mm Addi Lace 16" needles, using a 40" Addi Lace needle and the Magic Loop to complete the crown. 

I'm keeping the knitting yarn in my right hand and the purling yarn in my left hand as I knit this k2, p2 rib.  I will use my knitting thimble for the rest of the hat and will see how it works for the Magic Loop.  I prefer to use dpns for Fair Isle socks and gloves when I use my knitting thimble as my tension looks more even.  I'm not sure what I will do about the jog.  This hat is a bit dark so it might not be too noticeable on these small needles.

Hat Trick Kit

I received my Hat Trick Kit from Alice & Jade Starmore's Virtual Yarns.  There are three patterns included in the kit and are shown on the website here.  The top hat is Hebe, the middle hat is Dahlia, and the bottom hat is Snowdrop.  Alice found the inspiration for these designs from her garden.  The ten shades of her Herbridean 2-ply wool are enough to knit all three hats.  My mother will have first pick as the King Harald hat I sent her is not very soft, though it is warm.  These yarns are a bit softer than the Jamieson & Smith 2-ply and the gauge is a little looser at 7 sts per inch vs. 8 sts per inch for King Harald.  I will have to do a little needle research as I am loath to do a gauge square for knitting in the round.  I'm not convinced it will work for me and breaking the yarn at the end of each row (to imitate knitting in the round) is a waste of this precious yarn.  The pattern calls for 2.75 mm & 3.25 mm needles and I am tempted just to give 3.00 mm and 3.50 mm needles a try as I usually need to go up a needle size. 

Selbu Modern Hat

I completed this Selbu Modern hat for my friend, Denise.  She will be attending the Tartan Parade to celebrate her birthday, and I thought this hat would be fun for her to wear.  This pattern is free on Ravely by the talented and generous designer Kate Gagnon.  I used Knit Picks Palette yarn in Blush and Ivy with 2.25 mm and 3.00 mm Knit Picks 16" circular needles and a 32" size 3.00 mm circular for the crown with the Magic Loop.  The gauge came out a little on the small side (8 sts and 9.5 rows per inch instead the recommended gauge of 7.5 sts and 9 rows per inch).  I did not do my usual "jogless" join method as I could not figure out how to handle the crown decreases.  The jog is at the 6 o'clock position and not too noticeable.  This was a fun project to knit and I look forward to knitting more of Kate's patterns. 

Blue Streak Hat Completed

I've completed my Anna Zilboorg Toque #3 hat with my spindlespun Blue Streak and silk cap yarn.  I used size 7 (4.5 mm) Addi Turbo 16" and 32" needles, giving me a gauge of about 5.5 sts and 7.5 rows to the inch.  Anna recommends 5 sts and 7 rows to the inch, so this hat is a little bit small, even after blocking.  The toque style is a close-fitting cap and it feels fine on.  Going up to a size 8 (5.0 mm) needle would have exposed the thinner parts of my silk cap even more.  I did not like knitting the braid her way as she recommends changing direction to knit the braid from the inside instead of purling the braid from the front.  This change of direction creates holes at each point.  In the future, I will be glad to just purl the braid and have no holes.  I followed Lucy Neatby's suturing advice to close the holes at each point.  I still have a second skein of Blue Streak yarn and am looking at possibly making a pair of mittens to match.

Blue Streak Hat

I selected this toque hat from Anna Zilboorg's 45 Fine and Fanciful Hats to Knit book for my spindlespun Blue Streak Art Club batt.  The other yarn is a 2-ply spindlespun hand-dyed silk cap that I purchased from Ellen's 1/2 Pint Farm at the 2007 MSWF.  The thickness of the silk cap yarn varies quite a lot as found the silk cap a challenge to spin.  I like the look of the knitted braid at the edge and crown, it just takes a little getting used to as the yarns get twisted in one round and then untwisted in the next round.  The needles are size 7 Addi Turbo 16" circulars.  When the crown gets too small for them, I will switch to my 32" needles and use the Magic Loop method to complete this fun little hat project. 

Ethan's Hat

Here is the hat I knitted for Ethan, the 2-year old son of our neighbors, Nathalie and Nicolas.  They were very kind to deliver dog toys to Caitlin and Colin for Christmas, and I completed this hat for Ethan just after the holidays.  The pattern is from my favorite hat book, Hats On! by Charlene Schurch.  It is the Lusekofte pattern I knitted for my nephews, but with the zigzag design instead of the X design.  I used Knit Picks Swish Worsted in Red Pepper and Bare with size 6 Addi Turbo needles (16" and 32" for the crown using the Magic Loop).  I placed the jog in the middle and you can see the joining blip on the cast-on edge.  The jog moves from right to left starting in the white row above this blip.  I move the beginning of the round to the left one stitch after each round, even when there is a solid color round.  This technique leaves some stretched stitches in its wake and every few rounds I go back and adjust them accordingly.  It's a little extra effort and well worth it to eliminate the jog.

Fuscia Lace Rib Watch Cap

I knitted this hat for my sister, Teresa, over the weekend.  It turns out that someone at her son's basketball practice inadvertently picked up her hat with their things.  I had this Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran yarn in fuscia to make another pair of slippers for her.  It is very bright and will not likely meet the same fate as her other hat. 

I took this opportunity to improve my tubular cast-on.  I used a contrasting yarn and a size 4 needle and I worked the slip 1, work 1 stitch for 4 rounds.  I think the tubular cast-on is more challenging in the round.  I moved to the size 6 Addi Turbo 16 inch needles and knitted k1, p1 rib for 36 rounds.  I gave the Russian join another try in the last round of this ribbing and it turned out a little better this time.  I worked 28 rounds of the lace ribbing pattern before starting the crown decreases.  I used my size 6 Addi Turbo 32 inch needle and the magic loop when the crown became too small for the 16 inch needles.  This hat uses 120 sts for the large size and the pattern is from Hats On! by Charlene Schurch and it took two entire balls of the Cashmerino Aran yarn.