FO: Scrollwork Hat

After my last blog post, I totally shamed myself into finishing this hat:

The Scrollwork, a classy little number from Wool People Vol 4. It sat crammed on a shelf (a former CD tower, now useful as a place to put all the odds and ends of life when you live in a 1 bedroom flat- flashlights, stationary, pens, pocketknives, sunglasses, a button jar, scissors, and odd balls of yarn and anything you want off the table when you sit down for dinner) with just the brim done for more than a month, waiting for me to just put a couple of hours in to turn it into something more useful.

And finally:

The color is much more accurate in the first photo: a lovely, dusty pink with bits of tweed (as it is still permanently nighttime here, it's hard to get knitwear photos during good light, especially if one might be a desk jockey for pay all day).  The yarn is Classic Elite Portland Tweed, now discontinued.  Why?  Because it's weird, most likely.  It's a blend of 50% wool, 25% alpaca and 25% rayon, which is just...odd.   While I didn't curse it and hate it, it was not my favorite to work with- very little give and spring and life to it.  It's not terribly soft, and the alpaca/rayon makes it drape really nice, but I was warned up and down the internet that it would grow terribly huge and lose shape right away.  Also:  it is labeled aran weight, and it is nowhere near that chunky- it knit up DK.  So I knit it down 3 needle sizes for a very tight fabric, and the moment the heat from my head warmed it up during my victory lap (I always don whatever knitwear I just finish, at least for a couple hours when I finish) it started to relax and grow slouchy and loose and start to creep down my forehead and splay out where it hit the back of my neck, threatening to eventually suffocate me and perhaps even eat my brains.  

What to do?  I washed it and threw it in the dryer, tightening it up quite a lot, and with these puny Euro energy efficient driers, it was nowhere near enough heat or agitation to felt the fabric into a stuff, unyielding mass .  It's better now.  I would never normally do that- knitwear gets washed by hand in a bucket and dried flat in world.  I just recently started using the spin cycle on the dryer to wring it out to expedite the drying.  

But looksie, it fits perfect!  At least my head, which it is not intended for.  

FO: Beaufort Hat

My, my. I do make a lot of hats.

They seem to be my chosen way to use up odd skeins leftover from sweaters. I can usually turn one out in a few hours if it's a worsted weight yarn, and it's no problem sizing it up or down depending on your yardage. I give them away as freely as a fireship gives away herpes, but you know. Most people think of me fondly for the hats.

Beaufort is a lovely lace cap.

Easy to make, easy to adjust. This yarn will not die and I'm so sick of it but I can't let that ruin a perfectly nice hat. Cascade 200 tweed in Stone Beige.

FO: Owlet Hat

Oye! I crocheted something!

While I've taught and re-taught myself the basics time and time again, only to never use the skills and have to re-teach myself....this time it's different, I swear. While I think crochet lace is beautiful, and crochet is greatly useful for when you need structure like for all the amigurumi toys, I much prefer the look and drape of knit fabric. What the world doesn't need is another acrylic granny square blanket to collect dust on the back of the sofa. Haters gonna hate.

A couple we know are expecting. She's American, he's British. They live in Brooklyn, but they are in Paris for some time. She is very bravely going to have le bebe at the American Hospital here in Paris before they move back to Brooklyn in January. Anyway, I sat down with this pattern and whipped up a cute little hat for them in just a couple of hours. Crocheters always wax on and on about how much faster it is than knitting, and yup. They don't lie. Even with my learning curve getting in the way, I spent very little time that (but don't tell the recipients. I toiled, I really did!) I made it the 6 month size since a warm wool hat won't be needed until the child is at least that age. I hope anyway...the weather here is rather manic at times. We did get a bit of frost in mid-May.

Even if you don't Crochet, it's easy enough to follow the pattern, and I just looked up videos on You Tube when I got stuck on something. It's just double crochet, half-double crochet, and single crochet. It used up scraps from other hats I had made...you can get really creative with colors and textures with this.

So there. I made something. It's terribly cute, even without a wee one peering out from underneath the button eyes.

FO: Bluebell Boatneck Pullover

Another sweater, complete. I am hoping that I will get to put this away now for a few months now that it's finished, but alas. Paris. Optimistically, I will hope to keep it out of wintertime clothes storage for a trip to the arctic, pessimistically, I will keep it out because it's Paris and I'll probably need it on a freak day in July.

Actually, this is a gift, so I won't be wearing it at all. Oh, and the recipient is a bit smaller than me, so the sleeves will be more likely to hit their wristbone, and I'm wearing it with negative ease.

It's a really simple sweater- From the "Fitted Knits" book. The columns of waist ribbing gives it structure and shape without too much fuss. I made a couple of small mods in the sleeves (like working them in the round and not letting the sleeve flare too much at the end) and it's just a cute, functional sweater. I might tinker with the neck a bit, as even after blocking it rolls out and just looks unfinished.

It only used 4.5 skeins of my beloved Cascade 200 Tweed- 990 yards for the 36" size. I can not get this yarn to die, as this is the second sweater I've gotten out of a bag of this yarn, plus a hat. I am so sick of it, but I'm really honestly trying to use up what I've got instead of having odd skeins of leftovers uninspringly take up room in my stash for eternity.

I'm totally laughing at this guy helplessly crashing his boat against the side of the pond. Which I considered him doing okay, granted I've seen a ton of people rowing their boat backwards in this lake. The pointy end of the boat is meant to slice through the water, and somewhere in their nautical training, they failed to notice this design feature.

FO: Binary Cable Hat

Another quick gift hat for a friend:

It's the Binary Cable Hat- a functional cabled beanie with a fibonacci sequence of cables for the nerdlings who love these sorts of things. It used a bit less of a skein of Cascade 220 Tweed and FOR THE LOVE OF PETE, WHY CAN'T I EVER GET RID OF THIS YEARN FROM MY STASH. There's always an odd half skein lying around.

FO: Snowtracks Hat

Another gift hat!

By the time La Poste gets around to delivering it, there probably won't be much need for such a warm hat, but eh. There's another winter coming up soon.

This one worked up quick-as-a-bunny with another skein of Cascade 220 Tweed. I'm trying to knit my stash down to scraps, and then make a striped hat out of all the scraps. One can dream, no?

It's simple, it's very warm, and a bit oversized for a friend who has a lot of hair to tuck under.

It's called the Snowtracks hat. That made me think of cocaine, so I made it in an un-pure purple color. I made the ribbing at the bottom extra long so you could fold it over to keep the ears extra warm. I found it very much to be a caricature of a winter-hat shaped hat.

FO: Utopia Hat

A quick, simple gift hat for a friend that's been pestering asking for one for quite some time.

It's the Utopia Cable hat. Quick, simple beanie with nice results. It's a free pattern (and written in the style that fee patterns tend to be) but it's not difficult. It's perfectly unisex to downright manly, depending on your color choice.

I love meandering cables. I used a skein of Cascade 220 tweed in a very dark coffee brown shade. I actually like the tweedy bits in this shade- no more rainbows, just subtle flecks of lighter colors.

Spring has not made itself so known that this won't get worn a couple times before it's put away.

FO: Knotty But Nice Hat

I've been cranking out hats pretty regularly this winter. I'm finding, as always, they make great gifts, especially when I'm out making new-ish friends and don't want to commit to something crazy, like socks. You suffer for me, you cook for me or bring me ultra amazing chocolates, you bring me good booze. Then we will discuss socks. Until then, I am only devoting a couple hours of my time to keep your ears warm.

Hence, the Knotty But Nice hat from knitty.com. It's a simple, straightforward, very little brainpower knit that takes no time at all to whip up. I do love cables, especially when the pattern is intricate or woven-looking. Added bonus that the bunched up fabric makes any garment extra-thick and warm.

It's made for a man with a bigger, more oval head than myself, so it's a bit large one me. It would be much less pointy on the intended recipient.

I will vouch for its warmth. Any day that the sun is out, I will be out, walking around the city, exploring with my camera in tow. This day was windy and freezing cold and I totally got wind burned on my face, but it was lovely having a part of the city to myself that is normally packed with tourist and almost always unnavigable.

I made it from a single skein of Cascade 220 Tweed.

FO: Beagle Pullover

I have waxed on previous years about my obsession to knit men's sweaters. I love them so. And you have to love them, as you will be working on them for a really long time.

This one was another design from the Norah Gaughan Men collection. It's the second one I've made from this booklet- the first one being the Devon pullover- and I really love the designs. Rustic, not too fussy, totally wearable.

I knit the sleeves on this first, and then put it down to knit a couple of hats for friends. When I picked it back up to do the body, I was able to finish it in two weeks without bloodying my hands too much. That's a lot of stitches! Give me a deadline, and I will give you a sweater. The only modification I made was that I knit the body in the round and then split at the pits.

The yarn I choose was a discontinued bag of Cascade 220 Tweed in Stone color. It's good workhorse yarn like anything else 220. I was a bit sick of the tweedy bits by the end though. I don't often knit with tweed yarns but I now know that I much prefer a subtle, heathery tweed instead of flecks of ground-up crayola bits in the yarn.

It's warm. It fits. I love the textured stitches. It's pretty much perfect. While drop-sleeves aren't my favorite fit, they are the simplest, especially if you are working around a stitch pattern.

I used 6 skeins of yarn on this- 1320 yards. My trick to getting it done was to try to force myself to get through one skein every two days. A great strategy for getting through the dark days of winter as well. This is the 44" size, which gives the wearer a couple inches of ease without it being too bulky.

My only gripe is that the sleeves are a bit long and the cuffs need to be rolled. I want to fix it, he says he doesn't mind. Still. I might fix it.

The photoshoot was in the town of Amiens in Picardy. I'll have more about our outing there tomorrow, but it is home to the most massive cathedral in all of France, and it's cold and a good place to wear a good wool sweater.

The Great Indoors

I've been dodging quite a bit of hail lately, so basically I take this as the universe's way of saying, "stay inside! Make something warm." I will dart out in all sorts of weather in honor of my social calendar, but between the wool, the cloth, and a film class I'm taking, I'm happily popping Vitamin D supplements and crafting until my fingers are bloody. Hard core.

I'm ambitiously trying to finish up a big-ass men's sweater this week. I make one every year. This one isn't particularly technical, but it has a lovely stitch pattern and quite soothing to knit. I have been monogamous on it for the past week and a half, and I'm pleased to say that it's getting close to done.

Whooo! That's a ton of stitches. I'm using Cascade 220 tweed and size US 6 needles. I like it fine for the stitch definition and durability, but the tweedy bits are a bit crayonesque. I think I prefer a more subtle tweed. Too late for that though!

I've also been spinning a bit. Really!

I have a gorgeous little Bosworth spindle that's been working the wool lately. Above was a bad attempt at andean plying a really beautiful Ent batt of Corriedale. I'm still working out the logistics of trying to spin and ply with just one spindle, no niddy noddy, and a handful of TP rolls to roll the finished singles on. Next time, no andean. The beautiful lion-mane batt will be spun up and plied as well, and the two will be striped to make a really nice slouchy hat.

I currently have a really beautiful bit of indigo-dyed merino silk on the spindle from A Verb for Keeping Warm. It's so much fun to spin and it's turning my hands blue, as Indigo is want to do.

This is all made possible by all my kick-ass friends back in NYC who hooked me up with care packages and gave me the nudge to start spinning again.