Ravelympics

I joined some knitting pals in Ravelry's Ravelympic challenge of completing one or more projects during the Olympics, with the following success:

Competing simultaneously in the Hat Halfpipe and also the Stash Compulsory Dance, I have turned yarn purchased at least 18 months ago into a hat:

And in the WIPs (Works in Progress) Dancing I have finally completed a languishing pair of socks:

 

Snowmageddon Happy Hat

The snow inspired me to get out some yarn that had been waiting for a project and use it to make this hat. The yarn is hand spun patchwork cotton from Folktale Fibers. The photo doesn't do justice to the happy colors! The hat is based on Cathy Carron's top down pattern Pat from her book Hip Knit Hats but obviously I didn't bother with a contrasting color for the brim.

Photos at last

Here is the comfortable and cozy Emerald Cardigan at last:



I made the collar bigger, added a second button, and skipped the eyelets (yarn overs) along the raglan shaping. The yarn (an unlabeled acrylic as far as I can tell) shaded nicely.

And here is my version of Jared Flood's Turn a Square hat:


The colors are off. The green is too yellow and the blue is too bright. I used Lion Brand Vanna's Choice Sweet Pea and Dusty Blue. Not Mr. Flood's style as to color or choice of yarn, but fun to knit and nice to wear under the hood of my similarly green parka on extra cold days.

Starting 2009

In the spirit of the little stash down contest going on with some knitting pals, I'm starting the new year on a productive note of projects completed or decisively abandoned. This will be the year of finishing things, I think.
I'm way behind on photos, but here's an update:

• My Emerald cardigan is finished! I made the collar wider with extra short rows, and I gave it 2 buttons instead of just 1.


• My turquoise hat (using Creamy) was just too frustrating, so I gave up. It's nice yarn for something--lace, perhaps--but not for a hat. Knitting with it doubled was like knitting with 2 strands of crochet cotton--no give, no loft, and ready to slip off the needles at a moment's notice. It's a nice enough pattern, but not for that yarn.


• I just finished my take on Jared Flood's Turn a Square hat, only instead of using a classic wool I used Vanna's Choice acrylic in a sort of lime-to-pea-soup green with muted blue stripes.I did it partly to learn how to do the Jogless Join when knitting stripes in the round, so as to be able to apply this approach to my striped pullover, which was not looking the way I had hoped. It worked out well! There was a difficult moment when I realized I had made the hat an inch too long, but by (gasp) cutting off 2 inches, bravely picking up and ribbing down for an inch, I rescued it. It's in the washing machine now so I can see how VC washes before I whip up a baby blanket.

Almost finished

Knitting update: I've completed the first round of short rows for the Emerald cardigan's shawl collar, as well as the button holes (I made 2 instead of just one). Yesterday I went to G Street Fabrics and found 2 nice big buttons in a compatible rusty shade. (I had put off finishing the collar until I was sure of getting buttons to fit the buttonholes.) The size has turned out well. I'm liking the shawl collar, but may make it wider than the pattern calls for.
I've also started a hat, using yarn (Kollage Creamy--milk and cotton!--in turquoise) and pattern purchased as a kit from Paradise Fibers. Except for being a bit softer, the yarn reminds me of crochet cotton. It's used double for the hat. It's a bit of a chore to knit--no elasticity, quick to slip off the needles and to unravel stitches down a row or two immediately--but makes a nice soft fabric. I'm just not sure it's going to be much of a hat. It seems too thin to be warm.

Stopping and starting

Here is the completed red baby hat:


I have a good bit of yarn left, so I've started booties. The difficulty is having no idea if the booties and the hat will fit the same baby at the same time.
I've started--several times!--a striped raglan based on the pattern in the new Color Style book. I'm using TLC Cotton plus, which is a crisper yarn than the original, so I'm afraid the jog at the color change will always be more obvious than I would like, but I like the colors: yellowish green called "kiwi", a medium, slightly periwinkle blue, and a variegated blend of these 2 colors and related shades.

Knitting along

I've just about finished another hat:

It's based on a Raveler's take on a Banana Republic design, somewhat modified (mostly on purpose) by me.
I’ll like this when I’m done but it hasn’t been as much fun to make as I had hoped. The unelastic yarn is tiring to knit with, and a bit rough for my winter-dry fingers, though it will be fine as a hat. I thought the band was snug, but after blocking the hat the band was very loose and the upper part of the hat was maybe one row too long overall. Rather than start over I cut off the band (too tiresome to unknit), picked up and reknit the band downward, decreasing 5 stitches evenly placed in the last round before the band. (I’m still learning the right amount of negative ease for a hat made for my larger than average head.) Another issue was the big difference in gauge between seed stitch and stockinette at this weight of yarn. And for some reason I did 5 decreases per round at the top, instead of 6. But it’s turned out well anyway. All I need now is to sew on the button, now that I've found one I like, and work in the ends. It's such a surprise to find how much I enjoy hats when they fit!
In other knitting news: the Emerald Cardigan is coming along well. I've joined the sleeves and body and am starting up the yoke. I took a small detour with the white hat and also to start a solid red version of the Bundle of Joy hat for another upcoming baby.

Baby knitting

Here's a photo of my 2-day baby hat for a friend's upcoming infant:


Ravelry pattern Bundle of Joy
It's a nice easy knit, with spiraling decreases and a little icord knot on top. The cell phone photo doesn't show it to best advantage. (Unfortunately, my camera battery is dead and I've misplaced the charger.) I aimed for a larger than newborn size and may have ended up with something larger than intended. I'm hoping that it will fit well in some cold season, rather than July.

More about the hat, and a new project

I've cast on for a new sweater project. This time I'm making a cardigan, using the Knitty pattern called Emerald. I'm using a rusty tweedy boucle acrylic that I got in trade for some of my wool. It's unlabeled and wound into balls, so I'm not sure what it is or exactly how much I have, but I'm told it was originally purchased for a large sweater for someone larger than I am, so I should have plenty of yarn. The pattern is written for 5 sizes (XS, S, M, etc.) and I'm combining the directions for the small and medium sizes. I want it nicely loose but not too long. It has big stretches of stockinette, so I'm hoping it can be a mindless subway knit, in spite of the bulk.

As for the hat: I solved the hole-in-the-head issue by casting on only 4 stitches and increasing briskly. But I experimented with seed stitch and don't like it with this yarn, so I'm going to begin yet again--stockinette or reverse stockinette will be better, I think.

Top-down hats

I'm trying to start a hat, using the top down no swatch method. With very bulky yarn, it seems that the difficulty lies in getting off to a good start without a hole in the top. Supposedly, if you use Emily Oecker's method of casting on, you end up with a loop of yarn whose tail can be pulled to tighten everything up. It hasn't worked for me so far. Maybe I should practice with something other than a double strand of slightly lumpy cotton...

Baby Geometry

While traveling, of course I started another knitting project: the cloyingly-named Heartbreakingly Cute Pilot Cap from the new Mason-Dixon book. It's cleverly knit as a flat piece with zigzagging edges:



By sewing the zigs and zags together along the edge that's on the bottom in this photo, you get something head-shaped. Then you attach i-cord ties.
The original yarn was something subtly shaded in wool. This is Plymouth Dreambaby in, obviously, solid red.

So now I'm wondering if I could use the sewed-up zigzag method for the crown of an adult-sized hat with a ribbed cuff. I think I need to start with paper and scissors...

Another view of The Hat

I really like it! What a surprise to find how much I enjoy having a hat that fits, in a color I picked. Most of my hats have been things I "settled for" because most hats are too small for me.

Hat!

The cellphone photo doesn't do justice to the overall soft lime green color of this yarn. The hat used almost all of 1 skein.

Not quite a pattern, but here's what I did:
1. Measured my head
2. Knit a swatch (using handspun bamboo, hemp, and sparkle yarn from Folktale Fibers) in k2p2 rib to check gauge
3. Based on results, cast on 64 stitches (the closest multiple of 4 that would equal the size of my head, based on the gauge), using a larger needle so as not to cast on too tightly)
4. Joined and worked k2p2 ribbing in round for 2.5 inches
5. Knit 1 round for fold line
6. Worked p2k2 ribbing for 5 inches. This change means that the ribs on the turned up brim match the ribs on the crown of the hat.
7. Maintaining pattern, decreased 4 sts evenly spaced every row until 8 sts remained. I placed the decs so as to feed them into 4 ribs.
8. Cut yarn and drew tail through remaining stitches.
9. Worked ends of yarn into inside of hat
10. Turned up the brim on the fold line, put on the hat, and smiled.