Possessed to Knit

John's Cotton Habitat Hat Completed

Here is my completed cotton Habitat hat for John.  I had trouble selecting a pattern and a needle size.  I was almost to the crown decreases on Windschief and realized it was going to be too small.  Habitat's cables will cooridinate nicely with Dryad's cables.  I used my size 8 Addi Click Lace needles for the ribbing and changed to the size 9 tips for the body of the hat.  I worked Norwegian purls between the cables to even out the purl stitches.  I'm concerned about the pilling I noticed along the edge of the ribbing, but with cotton being such a short fiber, pilling is to be expected.  At least John will have a hat to go with his scarf and all before the end of winter.

Handspun Fair Isle Hat Completed

I have been having a lot of fun spindle spinning my Cormo/Possum roving.  I even plied it on my All-Day Lollipop spindle.  I used about two ounces of it with some handspun alpaca two-ply yarn to make this Fair Isle hat.  I casted on 84 sts and worked k1, p1 ribbing on size 7 Addi Turbo needles.  I changed needles to size 8 and worked two rounds plain before starting the Fair Isle pattern which I found in 1000 Great Knitting Motifs by Luise Roberts.  I minimized the jog which goes through the middle motif diagonally.  I worked two plain rounds after the motif and then decreased six 14 stitch sections every other round until the last few rows where I decreased every round.  This hat is about 19" around and it was a joy to knit with my spindle spun yarn. 

Rosebud Hat Completed

Here is the Rosebud Hat I knitted for Jared Flood's BT Fall 11 Collection.  He has two sizes for this hat, a small tam version and a larger slouchy version.  I knitted the slouchy version in Shelter's Nest colorway.  I used the Norwegian purl for the ribbing and that really tightened up the edging so I needed a size 6 (4.00 mm) needle for the ribbing.  I find the Norwegian purl makes my k2, p2 ribbing look much more even. 

I used a size 7 (4.5 mm) needle for the rest of the hat.  The cable design is very interesting to knit along with the small cables that frame it.  The garter stitch background was accomplished by knitting a row then purling a row as this hat was knit in the round.  This hat is yet another fun project designed by Jared.

Kittiwake Hat Completed

Here is my completed Kittiwake from Alice Starmore's Aran Knitting book.  I used 1 skein of Blue Sky's Royal 100% Alpaca yarn and size 3.25 mm Addi Lace needles.  I stopped Chart A at row 24 and then worked row 37, making the hat a little shorter and less slouchy.  I kept the cable twists in the same direction for Chart B, instead of reversing them as per the pattern, and I worked the purl 2 together decreases of row 24 in row 23.  Once I had 24 sts on the needles, I worked 1 more round of purl followed by a round of k2 tog and then I closed the top of the hat with 12 sts.  I left the tassel off and later sewed the folded edge down to make it more stable.  This alpaca yarn is very nice, but a bit drapey for this project.  At any rate, it will be a warm hat for winter. 

Droplet Hat Completed

Here is my completed handspun & handknit Droplet hat. The yarn is a 2-ply spindle spun yarn from my Sugar Coma Art Club Batt. The pattern is from Knitting Nature. I used my Addi Lace Clicks in sizes 6 and 8. It is a quick & fun hat to knit plus nothing beats knitting with handspun yarn.

I have donated this hat and my Four Corner Hat to my friend, Gina's, Kenya Calling Benefit to raise money for her upcoming trip to Kenya. Gina is a talented artist and she continually inspires and encourages me. One of the wisest things she shared with me is that one does not need to attend art school to be an artist, something which I found to be very profound for me on my path as a fiber artist.

Four Corner Hat Completed

I have completed this Four Corner Hat which I have wanted to knit it for a long time.  Our local library has Hats:  A Knitter's Dozen and that version of the pattern only has one size.  I used Knit Picks Telemark yarn in Columbine and Drift and my size 5 Addi Lace Clicks, going down a needle size as my yarn was thicker than what the pattern called for.  The hat is knit in four different sections and each section is joined to the previous section as it is knitted.  There are two inches of plain knitting followed by the Fair Isle band.  The original has three colors, but I just went with two colors.  It took nearly two skeins of the Columbine (purple) and just one skein of the Drift.  It was nice to use my 20" needles in my set of Addi Lace Clicks for the Fair Isle band, a bit roomier than 16" needles would have been.  I did my best to eliminated the jog (which starts between the middle diamonds).  Sewing the Fair Isle band neatly to the hat was a challenge, and overall it was a fun project to knit.

Fenimore Hat Completed

Here is the Fenimore hat (designed by Jared Flood) I knitted for Al's niece who recently graduated from high school.  I used Pinguin Jarre which is a textured cotton/wool/acrylic blend and size 7 Addi Lace Click needles.  This was a fun pattern to knit and Jared cleverly hid the crown decreases into the cabled pattern.  I went down a needle size as the yarn was a bit thicker than the Shelter yarn knitted in the sample.  I really like my Addi Lace Clicks, too.  It is so nice to have  a range of needles sizes in one kit (sizes 4 through 11) and a range of cable lengths to go with the needles.  I do notice the needle join when I move the stitches over it, but the yarn does not get snagged, it's just not as smooth as a fixed needle join.

New Year's Day

Here is my last finished object for 2010, a handspun handknit hat.  The yarn is a 2-ply I spun from one of my Art Club Batts.  I used the toque-shaped hat pattern from Anna Zilboorg's 45 Fanciful Hats and sizes 7 and 5 Addi Turbo needles with the Magic Loop for the crown.  The braid on the edge and at the crown was completed by working from the other end of my yarn as two strands are needed to knit it.

I took a look through my Completed Projects blogs to gather my stats for the year.  I did not blog about every completed project as sometimes I inadvertently sent a project off before I photographed it.  So here is the tally for 2010:  12 pairs of socks, 12 hats (two handspun), 2 sweaters, 4 shawls (one handspun), 3 scarves, 3 pairs of mittens, 2 pairs of mitts, and one handspun and felted bowl.

I hope everyone is having a Happy New Year.

Snowdrop Hat Completed

I have completed the second hat from Alice Starmore's Hat Trick kit, this one is Snowdrop.  I eliminated the jog in as it showed up quite prominently in the photo on the pattern instructions.  I used size 3.00 mm needles for the ribbing and 3.50 mm needles for the rest of the hat.  I inadvertently confused Bog Bean and Kittiwake in the ribbing and even added an extra round, not that anyone would really notice.  I switched to a 40" size 3.50 mm circular needle as I approached the crown and worked the Magic Loop.  Here, the hat is not blocked as the Rubbermaid container I need to block it is in the freezer.  I marked the center where I started the jogless join with a size 0 needle and the jog is not really visible which makes it worth all the extra effort.

Spiderman Hat Completed

Here is the Spiderman Hat I knitted for Joshua to go with his Spiderman costume for Halloween.  I think he has changed his mind and will now dress up as a hockey player, at least he will have a warm hat to wear.  The pattern is on Ravelry and there are matching mittens.  The yarn is Knit Picks Stroll Sport in Hollyberry, Winter's Night, and Black.  I used 3.25 mm Addi Turbo 16" needles, Crystal Palace 3.25 mm dpns, and my knitting thimble with a gauge of 6 sts and 9 rows to the inch.  For the bottom edge facing, I used 2.5 mm Addi Turbo 16" needles and bound off loosely before I sewed the facing down.  There is a little bit of a jog, but the pattern is set up nicely and it does not show up very prominently.  I will likely be knitting up the matching mittens one of these days before it gets too cold.