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.

Progress in spite of myself

Continuing on with my Emerald Cardigan, I started the cuff of the first sleeve on Thursday and knitted my way through it in the course of an evening get together with some fellow knitters. Since then, somehow I've kept knitting steadily enough that the sleeve is now complete. This is in spite of various digressions, including a Friday yoga session and a couple of hours of serious attention to the much-neglected yard.

Yarn!

When I got home last night the Amy-friendly Lorna's Laces yarn had arrived from Jimmy Beans. (pix later). It's beautiful. !!

Sweater progress

I've made a good start on the Emerald Cardigan:



The color in the photo is a bit off but it shows how the yarn is shading. This is certainly a good pattern for that kind of yarn. The body (fronts and back) is knit in one piece. I've begun increasing above the waist while decreasing for the v neck. It takes a bit of concentration (and some notes) to keep it straight, but it's coming along well. We're having the kind of damp, windy weather that makes me want to finish this right away and put it on!

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...