Two Hats

I know I've said it before, but I am such a small accessories knitter. Cowls, hats, shawlettes, mittens, not-too-complicated scarves? I am so there, with bells on. Sweaters--ok, I'll give them a go once in a while just to keep it real. Please note that I DO NOT consider socks to be small accessories. They are the work of Satan himself their own category, mmkay? And I will never knit them again. Got it? Right.

These two hats were completed right before the Junior Texting Dream Team hit the skies on a flight to Dublin that when it left, was headed to an airport that was open but then closed like 5 minutes after it took off. Nothing like being told by a nonchalant, callous airline employee that your kids are on a flight that "...might be diverted to another European city, or circle the airport and land somewhere else." Commence plotzing in 3...2... [...]. Luckily the airport briefly reopened and their flight managed to land but not before I learned the joys of real time tracking of trans-Atlantic airline flights combined with copious amounts of vodka.

The Specs
Pattern: Star-Crossed Slouchy Beret by Natalie Larson
Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted in 'Pearl'
Needles: 10.5 + 11 addi turbos
Mods: None

Pattern: Hineri by Olga Jazzy
Yarn: Rowan Cocoon, 1 skein in 'Lavender Ice'. Perfect yarn of this project!
Needles: 8 + 9 addi turbos
Mods: None, but I ended up ripping it out at least three times due to my inability to read all the way through a pattern.

For all the colorwork knitting I do (and OH MAN do I have something to show you very soon), I still love a good solid colored hat as much as the next person. So stylish and easy to match with a variety of coats, right? Both of these hats were easy and can thus be classified in the 'knit while watching the idiot box' category. My only word of warning relates to the Hineri pattern--the cables are BEYOND tight, so if you have a larger head, this garment might be a tad too snug for your big Irish noggin'.



While the girls have been gone, we've taken to throwing their shit out rearranging. After an hour or two of gathering the family hand knits, I had amassed this gigantic box. I must say it was a thrill to see some of these again. Ufserud! December Lights tam! Such a pleasure to see you again, I hope your time behind the cookbook shelf wasn't too dusty and unpleasant, welcome back to permanent rotation. The large collection here requires desperate measures, so yesterday I went to Ikea (i.e. where previous lower back injuries are reactivated) and got a storage bench for these beauties. So this is what I'll be watching The Curmudgeon do on New Year's Eve. I hope you all have similarly thrilling plans!

Insert 'Terra' pun here: _____________.

As you might know, I never do anything by half-measures, especially when it comes to participating in land-rush style buying of new brands of yarn. I have a tendency to go, oh what is the expression....whole hog. So yes, a month or so ago, back before the Vikings hadn't thoroughly ripped out my heart and put it through the ritual wood chipper known as tanking on national television, I got a skein or two more of the Shelter than I initially let on. Like, at least four-more-colors-in-multiple-skeins more. See photo above.

After making Habitat, which I recently gave to my favorite Norwegian bachelor farmer, I knew that I was destined to have a long, protracted relationship with this yarn. I wanted to make something more substantial than a hat but not as commitment heavy and pocketbook unfriendly as a sweater, so I set about Ravelry to see what others in my situation had come up with. Several keystrokes later I had my answer: Terra!

The Specs

Pattern: Terra by Jared Flood

Yarn: 4 skeins of Shelter in the color 'Almanac'.

Needles: Size 9

Mods: see below

The main body of this shawl is done in a garter ridge pattern which is easy enough. You make a lot of progress in a short period of time and can easily do other things while knitting, like watch the team you've loved since your childhood implode before your very eyes on national television. Once you get to the lace portion, it's also smooth sailing, because it's easy and quite intuitive. It's only after you really get into it that you realize wow, one row is taking for-ev-er. Sadly once you realize this, you are then immediately obsessed with the fact that it's taking for-ev-er and can't shake the feeling that you're indeed not sitting on the couch watching your QB get a head injury on national television, instead you are in the Knitting Bermuda Triangle, a place where the normal laws of time and space are suspended, as several hours of knitting only seems to leave you back where you were when you started...

Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close up...

I credit the above-described sensation as the reason for my early retreat from the full experience of Terra. Many intrepid knitters on Ravelry had indicated that they only dipped into the fifth skein of Shelter for the last few rows, and since I personally hate the idea of that, I decided to forego the final chart, thereby leaving off the final repeat. The FO is no worse for it as far as I can tell as it's a rather large shawl.

For this pattern I got to try a new technique. I know, another one! The directions would have you finishing the shawl by kitchener stitching the first 12 sts of the provisional cast-on, which for the life of me I couldn't figure out. To me, kitchener stitching had always been a way of joining two edges, so the idea of using the technique to join stitches in a row was about as crazy as a 40+ year old QB who hadn't practiced with his team for 2+ weeks starting a game in less-than-ideal weather conditions. Instead I consulted my Tweeps and the Hungry Knitter herself suggested that I do a sewn bind-off instead, which is actually the bind-off recommended for the main edge of the shawl. One excruciatingly boring Youtube video later and I was in business!

I must say that Shelter has other similar yarns beat, not just in regards to the twee names (Button Jar? Embers? Hayloft? Yes please...) but on the basis of the colors. 'Almanac' has got to be the most gorgeous shade of blue-that-is-almost-black I've ever seen, and I'm not even a blue person at all.

Needy Mom Alert

Something happened on Friday afternoon that hasn't happened in ages and ages and may never happen again, so I am choosing to view is at a star-crossed moment: one of my kids actually gave me a specific request for a hand knit. Not 'willing to wear around the house something I knit'. Not 'wear to bed a pair of socks I made'. But actually 'mom will you knit me a slouchy beret?'. Knock me over with a feather!

The Specs:

Pattern: Star-Crossed Slouchy Beret by Natalie Larson

Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted, .70 of a skein of 'Paris Night'

Needles: size 9 and 10 1/2. If I were making this for a full-grown adult, I'd certainly go up a needle size. This hat is slouchy beret on her but on me it's skull cap material!

Mods: none

Of course I jumped to and cast on in a fit of motherly neediness. Oh you want me to knit you something, you say? Yes right away, I'll try to have that done for you asap so you can show your friends. Maybe you could have them over and I'll make those little Totino pizza rolls and I can serve them to your gang, along with some hot chocolate maybe?

The above interlude brought to you by the needy, pathetic ramblings of a middle aged mom. Ahem.

This is indeed a nice one-day pattern. You know that feeling of blind rage when you see knitters comment on their projects listed on Ravelry and say "oh I finished this in an evening" and for you it ends up taking a week? Yeah, this is not one of those. It's actually a one-day knit. You can bank on it!

I haven't used my beloved Malabrigo in a while, and am pleased to note once again that it is ever the soft luscious fiber to knit with...although I am praying so hard that it won't end up pilling like a mofo like several other of my other Malabrigo knits. Yes, it's the dark underbelly of this yarn for sure, here's hoping that this one will be different because the Paris Night colorway is especially ooh là là magnifique.

This project is a milestone for me for another reason as well, as it represents the first time I have done a particular knitting technique that it likely old hat for most of you. Steeking, you wonder? Cabling-without-cable-needle? No, I am talking about the very pedestrian long tale cast-on. Hmm mmm, you read that correctly. I've never been able to do it before, but this time I was determined to learn how. So I scheduled some special alone time with me and my computer (YOUTUBE, let's keep it PG-13, please!) and after much pausing and replaying, I am now a full-fledged practitioner of the LTCO. And so proud! I'm amazed at what a superior cast on it is, the stitches are perfect and make such an impressive edge. So even if the momentary good will on the part of the junior set directed to me and my craft disappears and we return to 'you and your knitting are embarrassing', at least I'll have my LTCO!

Tantallon bis

Immediately after finishing Tantallon no. 1, I knew that a no. 2 would be in my future. Why? Because this is serious addiction knitting. Once those peerie bands take hold of you, you are powerless to stop. They are mind controllers!

The Specs

Pattern: Tantallon by Kate Davies (Needled)

Needles: size 2.5 addi turbo

Yarn: Shetland Spindrift: Merlin, Atlantic, Madder, Highland Mist, Ecology Pebble (!?) and Daffodil, about .25 of each skein. The lining is some bits and bobs of MadTosh laceweight.

Mods: None at all...

I wanted to make this another time as well because I wasn't 100% happy with the lining I chose for my first one--a dk cotton (?). What was I even thinking, by the way? It makes the brim stick out slightly too much. This lining is much more to my liking as it allows the hat to have a nice cloche shape, which is one of my favorite hat shapes.

Sullen Teen Alert! Sullen Teen Alert!

Shetland Spindrift is quite intriguing--on the skein is basically looks like twine, but it knits up into an unbelievably soft fabric. Luckily I am amassing QUITE the collection of odd skeins of the stuff. I see some sort of wrap in my future, maybe one like this one. However before I even think of such undertakings I have many other projects to finish. Hopefully I'll finish before the release of this tastiness...

Annabella's Cowl, or how boredom almost made me gouge my own eyes out

When I began this cowl, which is really just a giant knitted tube of laceweight + mohair blend held together, I thought 'Oh geez, this is so simple, I'll be done with it in a matter of days for sure'. Umm, no. It's 29 inches. Apparently you can add 'delusional' to the list of adjectives that describes me. But I'm so glad I stuck with it, because it's fookin' awesome!


The Specs:
Pattern: Annabella's Cowl by Churchmouse Yarns and Teas
Yarn: 3 skeins of Debbie Bliss Andes in 'Mustard' and .50 skein of Madeline Tosh Lace in 'Filigree'.
Needles: size 9
Mods: none. How would one go about making significant mods on a giant tube?



This project was tedious like WHOA. I mean like blinding-you-with-impotent-rage tedious. But now it's done and I do believe that owning it will be a special kind of joy. Why? Because it is versatile beyond belief. Are you checking all the different styles above? Sandrine is working it, is she not?



The pattern calls for Alchemy (yarns of transformation, whatever the hell that means) Silk Purse and Haiku, but since I couldn't get my act together and find any in time to begin, I made an appropriate enough sub I suppose. But me being who I am, I'll always wonder if not doing it in the called-for yarn was a mistake. I'll never know because I WILL NEVER MAKE THIS AGAIN. But I was jonesing for a scarf, and since blocking stretched it out to an impressive 41", I got my wish.

As you can see my Parisian Pal Sandrine has been called into modeling action for me once again. Reason you're glad I'm not your friend: she had a terrible sore throat and was getting over a nasty cold, yet I still made her trudge outside for our photo shoot. Added Gallic insult: the cowl was still semi-damp. Yes you read that correctly, I had a French person outside wearing a semi-damp garment wrapped around her neck while the wind was sort of blowing!! This is breaking so many rules that I kind of can't believe I did. But there you have it--it's all about me and my needs.

Tantallon

If I've learned one thing being the middle child, it's been how to pester and needle the living daylights of people. When I saw Kate's Tantallon on her blog and her mention on Ravelry that she 'might' be writing the pattern up, I joined the throng of clamoring knitters and added my voice to the chants of 'dooo eet dooo eet'. Luckily I didn't have to take it up a notch to a full on hector, because Kate sent me a version of the pattern and let me have a go at test knitting. Woo-hoo! I am leading a charmed life, am I not?

The Specs:
Pattern: Tentallon by Kate Davies (Needled i.e. a knitting force of nature that no health setback will ever derail)
Yarn: Jamieson's Shetland Spindrift: Cardinal, Eesit, Lichen, Moss, Yellow Ochre and Grouse, only .20 of each skein.
Needles: 3.0 and 3.5
Mods: AS IF!

Once I got my greedy hands on this pattern, I sent my personal third floor stash retriever (pictured below) up to bring down the perfectly organized by color ziploc bags of Shetland Spindrift (don't roll your eyes because I know you have your own version of this chez vous). Thankfully I had an embarrassment of riches from which to choose and cast on right away. Hoarding yarn: it occasionally works out in your favor.


This hat was nothing but pure joy to knit. First of there is a sweet little lining that makes for some interior softness. The pattern is designed to have contrast within and between the peerie bands, so the lines really pop on this baby. Once you get going you won't be able to stop because the pattern is magic and therefore completely mesmerizing. If you are new to stranded colorwork I see no reason at all to fear this pattern. It will likely be published quite soon!

Gimme Shelter

One of the big buzz yarns that all the knitter types were chattering about at Rhinebeck was Jared Flood's Shelter. I'll admit that I hadn't heard tell of it before then, but being the lemming that I am, once I heard 'unbelievable colors' and 'tweed that isn't as scratchy as it could be', I knew that Shelter and I had a date with destiny. So I ordered one lonely skein on a trial basis and I can say that I will definitely be back for more in the future. Once acquired, I trolled around Ravelry for the perfect one skein project, and came up with a pattern that I not only already owned but had specially colored coded with my handy colored pencils: Habitat!

The Specs
Pattern: Habitat by Brooklyn Tweed
Yarn: Shelter in 'Sap', one skein exactly
Needles: sizes 6 & 7
Size: S/M
Mods: None at all, although I did have a misstep. I knit the first 15 rows without realizing that I had neglected to do chart A. As my kids would say 'durrrr'...so yeah, instead of trying to wing it, I did the adult thing by frogging and starting over.

Right away I had the sense that I wouldn't have enough yarn for a size L so I decided to ding it down to S/M. Phew! So glad I did as I had less than 5 yards left. The result is a perfect snug little hat.

My first foray with this pattern was done with Shelter's polar opposite, Malabrigo. It made for a hat that was poofty and lofty whereas this iteration is quite the opposite. I have to say that both versions have their charms, but I am slightly partial to this one as the color is a mind-blower. Do you remember the most fabulously beloved but now discontinued color of Felted Tweed 'Pickle'? (what--you don't have all the Felted Tweed colors available in your mind for immediate recall?) It's reminiscent of that luscious green but with flecks of orange as well. Simply put, it's perfection.


I am so happy to have refound my knitting inspiration. I am back to that happy place where I think about knitting like it's my job and text back and forth with Babs about what out next (knitting) move is. Because of this increased activity and enthusiasm, I have more small accessories in the pipeline, so stay tuned because I am cranking. them. OUT!

Rhinebeck Sweater, 10 days later

After a series of miscalculations as to how long it actually takes to knit two sleeves and a collar [answer: longer than a car ride from PA to NY], this year's Rhinebeck sweater did not make its debut at the ball but instead languished in inchoate agony back in the hotel room. No matter, it's done now and is ready for cool weather action.

The Specs:

Pattern: Vine Lace Top-Down Cardigan by Sweaterbabe

Yarn: Rowan Cocoon, 7.5 skeins. The other .5 was sacrificed to my cat and his special libidinal needs [see below].

Needles: size 11

Size: 46

Mods: None really except for inadvertent mistakes...like getting it sopping wet during the blocking process and the sweater getting so stretched out and heavy that the stitches became deformed and resembled chain mail, so much so that you needed to put it in the dryer and it felted ever so slightly...yeah that.

I've made this pattern before and it's a complete winner. If you're looking for a big, giant cardigan, this is your next project. It basically took 10 days of on and off knitting, with time out for various other projects [hint: I got LOTS in the pipeline, YO].

My cat has confirmed what I thought I detected in him a year ago when I knitted my Heather Hoodie in Rowan Cocoon, and that is he takes a special shine to this yarn. Which is to say that he seems to like having private sexytimes with it as on more than one occasion I have caught him hugging and cuddling the skein as if it were a giant blow up doll. Yes, Mr. Kitten has been caught red handed trying to get it on with some Cocoon. Such a nasty little culprit.

Aww....sorry kitten, you're going to have to take your business elsewhere because this is a respectable family establishment! This sweater is not your own private pleasure pad, mkay?

Below you see a mosaic of Rhinebeck which as a truly epic event. Imagine a Star Wars convention of knitters but instead of people in Jedi costumes with light sabers, visualize folks wearing Tea Leaves cardigans holding Jennie the Potter mugs. Get it? Yeah, it's fun. Hope to see you there next year!