Wednesday, December 31, 2008

A bit more for 2008

Well, I figured I should at least post one knitting related item before 2008 is long gone. I have actually been knitting behind the scenes, but I just haven't gotten around to posting about them. I have at the least kept my Ravelry page up to date.

First up is the Turn a Square hat from BrooklynTweed. I fell in love with the stripes when I first saw it and finally got the second skein of yarn I needed on my first trip to the Knitting Nest. Great store by the way!

Turn A Square Hat
pattern: Turn A Square hat by BrooklynTweed
Yarn: Cascade 220 Heathers and Noro Kureyon
Needles: Knitpicks size 5 and 7

It was a fairly quick knit and I enjoyed seeing the colors change from the Noro. I didn't have any problems with the pattern and found the jogless stripes tutorial that he mentions really helpful. Some of the stripes did come out a big wonky, but nothing too noticeable. A knitter is always her toughest critic!

Next in line is an ear flap hat. I had promised N an earflap hat some months ago and found a great pattern by Minty of Pepperknit. Her pattern, Roman Earflap hat, is lovely and well written and all that... but dudes me and it just didn't get along. I tried several times to cast on for the project, but could never get past the first row. I don't know if it was me or the yarn, but it never worked out. Guess it just happens that way. Me and the pattern were not playing nice, so I had to move on. No hard feelings of course, we just agreed to disagree! I may revisit it, but not anytime soon. Oh well.

While I tried to appease N with his fancy new striped hat, he still reminded me that he wanted an earflap hat so I went looking for one on Ravelry. I found a few good candidates, but nothing that jumped off the page. I really wanted to make him a hat, but couldn't bring myself to knit him something that I myself wasn't going to enjoy. Call me selfish! But seriously, if I am not enjoying the knitting I think that it will show up in the final product. So, I kind of pushed it to the side until one day when I was trolling Ravelry I found it! The pattern!!

Fair Isle Earflap Hat for hubby
pattern: Ear Flap Hat by Leef Bloomenstiel (Ravelry link)
yarn: Beaverslide Dry Goods Fishermen Weight in Mountain Mahogany and Natural Heather
needles: size 9 circular

I love it because it's simpe, but the fair isle pattern is interesting enough (at least for me) to make the knitting enjoyable. In fact, this is only my second attempt at Fair Isle and I was pretty pleased with how it turned out. The strands weren't too loose and had enough give to get around N's noggin.

I did have to do some modifications because the pattern is sized for a woman's head and the yarn I used was a bit bulkier. I cast on a total of 80 stitches. For each earflap, I only increased to 16 stitches instead of the 20 called for in the pattern. I also only used two colors versus the three called for in the pattern.

N is super pleased with the hat and wears it whenever it actually gets cold enough around here, which is every 5 days or so. Down here the temperature can be in the 70s one day and in the 40s another. It's crazy I know.

I think I'm done with hats for now. I may whip up a quick baby hat next month, because I have a friend that's due pretty soon. She's having a girl and I will probably make another Berry Hat since I have yarn leftover from the first one.

Anyhoo, I hope you have a safe and fun time this New Year's Eve. We still don't know what we're doing, but eh I'm just gonna try and flow with whatever. May your 2009 be awesome, filled with laughs, knitting, and all kinds of crazy good things!

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