The current Leethalknits KAL hat I’m working on is going very slowly. Every other row is a very cabley/twisted stitch-y row, and takes lots of concentration on top of the pattern AND stitch key. Not great for knit night or on-the-go knitting at all. So I only have twelve rows of the body done.
On the bright side, the non-cable rows are fairly fast, and I’m finally getting the hang of cabling without a needle. 😐
Confession: I had my doubts about this hat. I didn’t know if it would fit, if I was doing it right, if I’d like it…. Maybe that’s why I powered through it. I did about 50 rows tonight- half were plain purl, so it’s not exactly amazing, but it was enough to finish! Before the three needle bind off:
one still wonders, what is this!!??
cool!
really cool!
it fits! it fits WELL!
Today I had lots of unexpected knitting time, and made it more than half way through my Provocateur hat.
Obviously, this hat features unusual construction; a provisional cast-on, short rows… There will be a three needle bind off at the end. I’m very curious to see how this ends, which is what keeps me going!
A knitting friend convinced me to join a leethalknits hat series KAL. I’d never done anything quite like it, and it sounded fun. The first hat was a mystery, which sounded fun since I’d never done a mystery KAL before. But I got caught up in the crochet hats (deadline crafting comes first!), so I started late. After one frustrating false start, I changed yarn from a dark gray to one that’s easy to see, and which I hope will be less frustrating.
So far so good! I’ve managed to keep the right stitch count and I can see the pattern emerging.
I could have used a completely solid color to showcase the cables better, but I think this will be pretty, and it’s using up yarn from our stash exchange, always a bonus. Wish me luck!
A few minutes ago, I finished my Crazy Hat #5, made from a purple/gray crazy ball. It’s fun to reminisce about the various yarns: the brim was a thrift store sweater I unravelled (9 years ago!), the light gray was one of my first hand spun yarns, the plum is leftover Mad Tosh from the Wee Girl’s Tiny Tea Leaves cardigan, I have no idea about the purple, and the top was leftover from a Cairn hat.
Although this is Crazy Hat #5, it’s #7 overall in my hat knitting for the Larkin Street Youth Services. I added two hats that I thought I had knitted for myself, but never, ever wear, that someone else might be happy to own. This brings me to almost half of my goal of 15 hats in 2015! I think I’ll take a break for a bit and cast on some different projects to spice things up.
I may not have mentioned this next project, because it’s not that interesting. It’s a pair of socks for the Wee Girl. This is stash exchange yarn, and I’m not that thrilled with it (it’s splitty, the color isn’t fantastic), which keeps me from wanting to work on these. Therefore, they’re going pretty slowly! She’ll be happy with them, though, and that keeps me going– slowly, slowly, but surely.
The sunsets in San Francisco have been lovely these days. I saw so many different, amazing versions in my Facebook feed tonight that made me wish I had more of a western rather than northwestern view from my kitchen window! Although seeing the sun set behind the Golden Gate Bridge isn’t that bad. And check out that fog coming in! This view makes washing the dishes less painful, I’ll tell ya.
Today I picked up a few yarns to whip up some cowls for the Wee Boy’s school fundraiser. I chose BIG yarn, hoping that they’ll be really quick projects.
I also finished the Breaking Waves hat! Last night I finished the knitting and weaving in of ends, so all I had to do today was sew the brim under.
I was pleased withy floats, so I couldn’t resist a photo of the inside as well! The hat is blocking now. I hope it’ll stretch out somewhat with wear, because it’s kind of tight on me !
Having frogged my first attempt at this hat, I procrastinated starting again. Part of the reason was refiguring my numbers, the other was my lack of a 00 needle. I mentioned the latter at knit night tonight, and a friend whipped out a 00 circular needle for me to borrow. Sooooo I casted on at home and have a little progress. My carpal tunnel doesn’t really like this, so it might be very slow going. But at least I’ve started?
Today was very much one of those in which I imagine I’ll get so many crafty things done, and I even broke ground on the Wee Boy’s quilt during a tiny bit of spare time. Then all of a sudden it was 9:30pm when I emerged from the kids ‘ room, having gotten them to sleep at last (and having caught a few zzzzs myself). So a few rows of knitting is all for today.
If this looks a bit familiar, well done! Last week I made a rainbow baby hat among the trio of Magic Coffee Baby Hats that I knitted for some friends who are expecting a baby in May.
Well, my soon-to-be-mom friend was in town the other day, and we got to hang out for a while and do fun, touristy things.
“Barbary Lane”
I delivered the hats to my friend and she loved the rainbow one so much she asked for one for herself, which of course, is the best kind of flattery for a knitter! I was just about out of the dark gray, but luckily I had some light gray Cascade 220 superwash in the stash to come to the rescue. I think it’ll be cute. Rainbows are always cute.
But I now have to come up with something to knit for the other mom, pictured above with the tiniest hat. I have a good idea in mind for her… Something squishy and comfy and bright….
My Breaking the Waves hat isn’t going well. I need to rethink my needle size and cast-on number.
In the meantime, I finished the Turn a Square hat that I started yesterday. I used up every last bit of several tiny balls if yarn I had in my stash, which is always gratifying. I was not prepared for how much I like and want to keep the hat, though.
I’m pretty sure it’s mine forever. 🙂
Tonight I started in my Breaking the Waves hat. Using (what I thought were) the recommended needle size, US 1, I got gauge of 7 stitches per inch. My head is around 22″ in circumference, so I’d need about 154 stitches. However, the pattern calls for a multiple of 8, so I started with 152.
After not even an inch, my hands aren’t happy, and it’s really slow going. So I’m going to see what kind of gauge I get with size 3 or so.
In other hat news, I needed a project to knit on the go today, so I grabbed some worsted weight and started a Turn A Square. This is much faster!
I’m not giving up in the colorwork hat, though! Back to work!
