FO: Architect's Hat

Last Sunday morning, a bit of a chill was in the air. I sat down with a cup of coffee, a pile of scraps of Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Bulky, and The Knitter's Book of Yarn. In a couple hours I had this:



It's the Architect's Hat. It's a top-down hat: it has a short-row cap, then stitches are picked up around the edge and the rest of the hat is knitted. It has a fun slip-stitch pattern and really took no time at all. It was quite useful when it came to using up odd lengths of yarn. I think this Lamb's Pride Bulky has been in my stash for at least 7 years now, and I was going to throw it in the garbage if I couldn't come up with a project soon.



B is for Brown Sheep...this is part of my A-Z Stashdown Challenge.



It looks a little lumpy, but I took these pics pre-blocking. A bath really evened out the slip-stitch sections.

I will totally call upon this pattern again. It would be great in quieter or natural fleece colors, or even solid colors.

The Specs:
I used US 10 needles. I'm guessing my yardage is about 130 for the whole hat, but since I was just grabbing random scraps, I have no real idea. Lamb's Pride Bulky is a bulky weight single that is a 85/15 blend of wool and mohair.

FO- Norweigan Snail Mitts

I've always had a fondness for snails.

I grew up near a big, sandy beach that had areas of rocks and tidepools. This was the perfect location for plucking snails off rocks and watching their rubbery bodies retreat far into their nautilus shells.





It doesn't hurt that they are also delicious in a butter and/or cream sauce.





I love these mittens. They took some time to complete but I kept plugging away at them. They seemed like they were about 4" long for about a month, and then I got determined and completed them in three days.



I made these two at a time on two size US 1 circs. I had to stop and untangle every few rows- having four balls of yarn to keep track of seemed exponentially more difficult than two. I kept telling myself that if it got too hairy, I would put one aside and finish one at a time.



I used two skeins of Artyarns Ultramerino 4. They both started out light blue, but I threw one in the dyepot and got a deep marine blue. The green on the cuffs and the duplicate stitch is some Shibui sock yarn in "Seaweed" that I had leftover from a pair of socks I made last year.



I love these and I'm keeping them. They are tucked away waiting for the first icy arctic blast to hit, or perhaps a trip to Patagonia. The stranding makes them double-thick and quite warm.

The specs: The pattern is by Adrian Bizilia from "The Knitters Book of Yarn". I used two skeins of Artyarns Ultramerino 4 (Color 121), which is a 4-ply fingering weight 100% merino sock yarn. It was 380 yards total, and I had just a little bit of each color leftover. They were done two at a time on two circs- I used size 1. No pattern modifications except that I did a provisional cast on so I could line up the first welt smoothly. They weren't difficult, just a bit fiddly with the cuffs, and the colorwork requires constant attention.

These are also part of my ongoing A-Z stashdown challenge.

FO- A child in sheep's clothing

A friend of mine, Ta, has this habit of spawning children that cause anyone with a beating heart to seize up and die from their cuteness.



I'm not one to fawn over babies but I can't help but wanting to steal one of hers just to blow raspberries on their tummies. Look at her Sophia Loren lashes!



I'm pretty sure that cuteness on this level should not be allowed. Plus, my friend is a rocking mom who sends me pictures of her spawn wearing knits that I made. I'm always curious as to whether things I make and give will get some use, so it is really nice and appreciated to have a bit of evidence that it did.

Anyway, I got a birth announcement from Ta in the mail the other day as she outdoes herself once again with another round of smooshy cute awesomeness. I right away made this:



It's the Baby Sheep Hat by Melissa Burt. This caused me some confusion at first as I was wondering how a baby sheep was to wear a hat. Oh, I see...it's a hat with sheep on it meant to be worn by a baby human! That explains everything.

I cast on Monday morning on the bus, and finished during my ride home on the subway. Vrrooom. Naturally, I didn't read the instructions....the black parts of the sheep are supposed to be duplicated stitched at the end, but I just triple-stranded and kept my floats loose in back.



The specs:
I used less than a half skein of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino DK (which may or may not have actual cashmere in it) for the main taupe color, a tiny bit of Cashmereino DK in black for the face and feet (I would have used even less if I would have duplicate stitched). The white yarn is some merino handspun that I had leftover from another project. It's soft and lofty and loosely spun, giving it a fluffy sheep texture.



I did one modification, which was I added a couple rows of 2x1 ribbing at the bottom so that the brim wouldn't flip up. It hasn't been washed or blocked yet (and I'm hiding the ends that need to be sewn in) but I'll do that tonight and send it out tomorrow.

It's not machine washable (I'm usually a big fan of washable cotton knitwear for children) but really, how dirty can an infant's hat get? Something tells me that I might be happiest remaining ignorant of that answer.

FO- Belle Cardigan

This might have been the fastest thing I've ever knit. I cast on sometime on a Friday morning and I was wearing it Saturday afternoon.



It's the Belle Cardigan from Interweave Knits Fall 2007. While not the most wearable garment, I'm happy with how it came out with some modifications.



Most Wenlan Chia patterns are notorious for their lack of pattern editing, mistakes and miserably vague instructions- they just don't seem like a real knitter sat down and worked things out. This one made much more sense...I'm thinking that the editors at Interweave went to work on it. The instructions were clear and concise.

I made the 29.5 inch size. That seems impossibly tiny, but this does stretch quite a bit and the two halves don't meet in the middle. It's meant to be a bit curve-hugging.

Some mods: The entire thing is written in reverse stockinette stitch (purl-side showing). I think that adds bulk, and I don't personally need that, so I reversed the whole garment. I also left the patch pockets out...I don't need more super-bulk yarn at the point of my waist where I need less bulk. Besides, I loathe useless pockets. The sleeves are supposed to be big and blousey. I just went down to the instructions for the small size to make them more fitted- yarn this chunky doesn't flow and drape, so the blousey looks more like arm-fat underhang. The only other thing I wish I would have done is to knit the sleeves in the round. The seams are grand-canyon big.



It fits kind of weird in the end...I keep trying to push my boobs down so they are covered by the edge of the cardi. It seems a bit odd to have something on that isn't covering you boobs. It will be a nice cover-up for a dress or a plain tight-fighting top. Since it's merino, there's no itch so it's comfortable on bare arms. I did have a rather epic struggle trying to put a coat over this- the sleeves ended up riding all the way up to my armpits and with the overcoat on, it looked like I was about to go out and play football.

The specs: I used all of 4 skeins (348 yards) of Rowan Big Wool in charcoal, which is too bad because I was trying to use up the 5 skeins that I owned. The body was knit on size US 17 needles, and the ribbing was done on US 15.

12 Sweaters. 12 Months. Or Not.

I hate setting goals for myself, especially when it comes to something that I do for fun in my spare time. I'm terrible at finding something realistic and yet challenging, so I tend to just ignore my fibery failings and shortcomings.

Even more than personal goals, I hate January 1-centric goals. Everyone always vows to do something life changing and fabulous to change what they hate about themselves. Everyone is an optimist on January 1st. This is all good, but the gym is usually empty by the third week into the year.

So here it is, the first day of the last month of the year. I am my usual scroogey self. I am going to take this opportunity to make the rather bold statement that I am ready to knit down my stash to scraps this coming year. I realize this could be a lost cause by the third week of January, but I am in love with the idea of having less yarn and more clothes. As much as I love knitting socks, they can take me as long as a sweater. Plus, sock yarn doesn't take up that much space. You would never even know I had a sock yarn stash if you came over.

So here is my tentative list, which I'm sure I'll be making modifications to as I go. I'm halfway ashamed that I share my living space with this much yarn, but for some odd reason the guilt does not apply to a gluttonous amount of knitwear.

1. Valley Yarns Northampton- 8 skeins. I'm using this for the Avast cardigan, which I started on the cable band last May but didn't pick it back up until now-ish.
2. 9 skeins of my Madder-dyed Alpaca. February Lady.
3. 12 skeins of Noro Silk Garden. Westland Sweater.
4. 2 giant skeins of my eucalyptus-dyed silk/merino/alpaca blend. Opulent Raglan.
5. 5 skeins Rowan soft chunky. Belle Cardigan maybe. I'm kind of at at a loss when it comes to yarn this chunky.
6. 5 skeins Rowan soft tweed that I overdyed in Alkanet. Yarn-Over Steek Vest. (what, a vest doesn't count?)
7. 7 skeins of wild apple hill farm Shetland yarn. I have no idea yet- it is needing a dye job. Then I'll decide.
8. 14 skeins of Elsebeth Lavold Silky Cashmere. It's only 612 yards- they are tiny skeins. Originally, I had a Norah Gaughn top picked out, but it would be more practical to do that one in a cottonish yarn. I was thinking a Hey Teach, but I'm open to suggestions.
9. 8oz Handspun merino. Thought I was making sock yarn. My sample lied. It's worsted.

10, 11, 12....I'm all out of sweater-stash yarn. I guess I'm going to have to start spinning up those fleeces that live under my bed.

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