Glenfidditch Hat

I needed a quick project that was challenging, cute and quick. The Glenfidditch Hat kit by Barrett Wool Company fit the bill.

Alaska Hat

I fell in love with this hat pattern the second I saw it!  It knit up fairly quickly and fits my head perfectly, although it is not a snug hat.  Depending on how it wears over the next couple months I might consider adding a fleece liner to make it beautiful and windproof.

The dark purple is a lovely accent, but it does obscure the tree line a bit.  If I were to knit it up again, I would start just after or at the end of the dark color.

Hats: Flower + Moose

Somehow Daughter #3 lucked out with two new hats this summer - the first is the Wildflowers Cap.  This was made from a cute kit by Barrett Wool Co. The hat knit up small, but fits my 10yo perfectly. 

The other hat pattern was the Moose Hat by Sisu Designs that I purchased during a quick stop at Sisu Designs Yarn Shop while on vacation in Ely, MN.  What a fantastic store and owner.

The hat fits me quite well, but it was made for my 10yo (she picked it out at the store, along with the yarn and colors), so we'll block it and line it with a bit of polar fleece.  What a great trip memory and project.

More Hats...

By my count, I am about three years into about 8 years of helping to sew hats as a fundraiser for our elementary schools.  The fleece selection this winter is exceptionally colorful!

Pussy Hat

My Mom really reprsented for our family this winter as we embarked on the solidarity women's march in Madison, WI.  Over 100,000 people gathered to demonstrate their commitment to opposing the new administration.  She sewed pink pussy hats for all of us - and family friends.  Craftivism at its finest. 

As a knitter I did feel pulled to knit a hat, but was unable to find any pink yarn in Madison or online with enough time to actually knit one.  My yarn is on backorder and should arrive sometime in February.  I have a feeling that we'll be wearing pussy hats for a couple more years yet, so there's still plenty of time to knit one up!

Baa-ble Hat

Each holiday season we spend time with my husbands family during the days following Christmas.  This year I started a hat kit that I purchased at the WI Sheep and Wool Festival.  My nieces watched me cast on for the project and challenged me to knit it on one day.  And I almost made it!  I didn't in a million years think that I would knit as much as I did so I didn't bring my double-points along with me.  The last bit of the top of the hat had to wait, but I got about 90% finished in one day.  Yeah for some selfish holiday knitting time!

I left the babble off the hat for now.  I've never been very good at making pom-poms so thought I would leave this one be for now.  Pretty cute, huh?

The Hat Ladies

I think that we are up to 9 by now.  That is 9 fleece hats that have been custom sewn for our girls through a school fundraiser by The Hat Ladies.

I am a proud member of The Hat Ladies team for Franklin and Randall school and have likely sewn close to 100 hats - for other kids - by now.  Each one is so unique and fun and it is great to see them worn around Madison in the winter months.  Our team sews hats at two of our community building/fundraising events each year - the school dance and the school carnival.  There is an entire team of parent volunteers that supports this effort - fabric cutters, sewers, table volunteers and people that help kids choose their panels and pieces.

I love that the kids get to select their own colors and patterns and they always pick exactly what they want -- and the hats turn out great no matter the combinations.

One of these days I will line up all the fleece hats in our house to share - but until then if you are interested in kicking off a hat fundraiser of your own you can check out this link.

This entire Hat Lady project was started by my former preschool teacher Nancy Daly - what an amazingly small world that I now get to spend time with her again at the sewing table making hats for kids in our own public school community.  Her program volunteers in multiple schools, community organizations and all over Dane County.  They are making a difference for so many kids!

FO: A hat and a pillow

I finished up the selbu modern hat, just in time for the last dip in the temperatures this spring in Wisconsin.  We are slowly starting the climb into warm temperatures and it has now been a few days since I've worn a hat.  I'm excited for summer to arrive!

I modified the pattern slightly in that I used a different cast-on.  This second photo is a close-up of that work.  The tubular cast-on is fantastic - a nice stretchy rib to keep the look uniform and fit snug.

I also wanted to more close fitting hat (less tam and more toque) so I dropped one pattern repeat around.  Thus I only did seven repeats around instead of the recommended eight.  I have not yet blocked the hat, instead opting to let it stretch on it's own.  I think the fit is just perfect right now and I don't see any puckering in the stranded knitting that I am concerned about.

The other object I recently finished was a quick pillow.  This is a practice pillow - to learn how to make piping and put together a folded pillow cover that was relatively snug fitting.  I just sort of winged the construction but used this incredibly detailed and informative tutorial to make the piping.  All the material is left over from a project my Mom recently completed for our girls that I will post about next.  DH is not thrilled with the bird, or bright turquoise color and says it looks like something that could belong in our non-existent vacation home in Florida (haha).  It is bright, I admit, but it is growing on me.  I think I'll keep it around for awhile.

WIP's: Hat, socks, 2 sweaters

I have a pretty hefty backlog of knitting projects on the needles at the moment.  The oldest is probably my Hitofude cardigan which I am slowly making progress on.  I got stuck at the waist increases - and deciding whether I should modify the pattern at all or knit it as written.  I think that I have settled on a plan forward.

The hat you see above, Selbu Modern, is almost finished by now!  I only have the crown decreases to go and I'll post about my modifications and the final hat when I am done.

Also in the basket is an Icelandic-inspired sweater made with yarn brought back from Iceland from a family friend.  The color work and pattern are from Grettir (Jared Flood), but the shaping and final measurements are from CustomFit.

I also have completed one of these awesome green striped socks.  Just need to find the time for the second (and unfortunately I missed completing them in time for this St. Patrick's Day celebration). 

FO: La Flota Hat

Hospital Hat

It has been while since I did a baby knit - this adorable little hat is for a cousin that will become a father in just a few weeks time.  The baby shower is this coming weekend.

I received this yarn from a friend and I am happy to take this lovely, beautiful, organic cotton yarn (Blue Sky Alpaca) and transform it into a little hat for a new little baby.  What a magical time - the birth of a new baby - full of the unknown, hope and fear all rolled up into a little person.

My youngest is on the verge of being 3yo and we are out of the baby years for good.  No more little ones for me and my husband.  Our oldest are 8yo (twins) and we are so enjoying growing up as a family.  It does feel that the older kids are moving us all along: from Sesame Street to Harry Potter, from Mommy-and-me swim lessons to overnight summer camp.

I am sounding more nostalgic about all of this then I actually feel on a daily basis - mostly I am happy to have conversations around the dinner table (even though they are still punctuated by impromptu shouts of "shake my booty" and a tossed carrot or two by the 3yo) and moments of growth and sharing with my growing kids. 

It is starting to feel that the haze is wearing off, the hours of really intense, not-so-fun work from the early years are transforming into different kinds of child-rearing work.  But work where you can see the result more clearly and directly.  The kind of thing when your 6yo comes home and says with genuine pride, "Mom, I remembered what you said about not wearing my wet boots all day, so I put them in my locker and wore dry socks and my tennis shoes instead!"  Or the kind when you watch your child accomplish a new skill on the piano.

But this hat is not about me - or my kids, or my immediate family - it is about a new baby and new parents.  New life.

FO: Habitat

older daughter modeling the hat (a bit big on her, and a bit big on me too)

My first extended cable project!  My finger joints are sore, but only because it is more manipulation with needles than I am used to.  The hat turned out perfectly (no mistakes!) owing mostly to the pattern/charting which was spot on.  It's a very popular Jared Flood pattern - Habitat - and I highly recommend it.  With a 22-inch noggin + ponytail I decided to knit the size Large, but probably would have been fine with the small too.

The hat is knit from more of the left over Peace Fleece (2 other projects here and here) and the color is lovely, lovely, lovely.

cables!

Not sure what is coming up next; nothing but a few uninspiring, half-finished socks on my needles at the moment.  Lots to do and organize with a new school year arriving - my own kids, the PTO and teaching a class at the university this fall.  Maybe it's time to put down the needles and hit the books for a bit instead?!

FO's: Birthday knitting

colorway: peach melba

A couple months ago I agreed to help a friend teach 18 7-year-olds how to knit at a birthday party.  I am not sure how successful we were, but many of the girls seemed really happy with their introduction to knitting - my daughters included.

As a thank you my friend gifted me a very generous gift certificate to the store that hosted the party, a local yarn/fabric shop Stitcher's Crossing.  My girls, excited by their brief introduction to knitting, eagerly picked out a couple skeins of yarn for themselves.

And then the skeins sat.

I am not one to push knitting on my kids - it wouldn't end happily for any of us - but the lovely skeins they picked out (they have very good taste in yarn) were eating away at me.

As it turns out, their own birthday is coming up in a few short days and I convinced them each to let me knit up a quick project with their special yarn.  We talked it over and daughter #1 wanted a cowl and daughter #2 asked for a hat.  Easy peasy. 

colorway: royal

And, as I promised them, there is half a skein left to practice their knits and purls if they so choose.  Now if that yarn sits for another month I may try to convince them that they each need both a hat and cowl...they are such easy and gratifying projects I'd love to knit those up for them too.

The yarn is Manos del Uruguay Maxima - the cowl is 75 sts in the round with single purl rows at 5 rows in from each end, and the hat is the Vanilla Twist Hat, substituting cables for a rib edging.

FO: Four Hats

 

Awhile back I was bitten by the hat bug.  I had 100 yds. of clearance-priced bulky wool and wasn't sure what to do with it.  About that same time one of my nieces asked me to knit her something, as in, "Aunt Beth, could you please, please, please knit me something?" and I couldn't resist.  I found the close knit waffle hat pattern and went to town on the first hat.  Then I went to my LYS and purchased two more skeins of locally-dyed bulky super wash yarn and made two more of the same hat. 

About that same time I was re-committing myself to working from my stash and this lovely dark gray/brown tweed was screaming to become a hat.  And the foliage hat was born.  It is not quite as close fitting as I envisioned, and the wool didn't do the cables justice, but it still looks great and goes with about any piece of outerwear you pair with it.
Overall I am really happy with these four hats.  I know that two of them will go to my nieces, but I am not sure of the final destination for the other two yet.

And I love that hats can move so quickly for me now: I can cast-on and complete a hat in two days if I really commit myself.  I never envisioned moving so quickly as a knitter, but I seem to be picking up speed for small projects like these over time.  Hooray!

WIP's and Local Yarns

 

Three of my current WIP's: a vest, mittens and shawl. 

 

The vest is the 18 mos. sized Milo - one of my truly favorite baby/toddler knits.  There are so many ways to customize it - I went back and forth on whether to include a stranded color pattern (elephants! flowers! polka dots!) but in the end decided on a simple cable.  I hope to have this one off the needles, on on daughter #4, by tonight.

 

The mittens are a work of art - Wintergreen by Kate Gilbert.  I am making a few modifications to the pattern, however.  Adding a thumb gusset on the side and I'm not twisting the leaf stitches.  I don't think it matters much with such contrasting colors (and makes the knitting go just a hair faster).  They are a labor of love and probably won't be complete for some time.  They are a concentration project - one that I need space and quiet to work on.  It is the second mitten pattern of Kate's that I've knit and I am pleased, yet again, with the intricate design details (first project here).

 

Last is another Simple Yet Effective Shawl, knit up with my own hand dyed yarn.  I have to confess that I had this shawl in mind when I dyed the yarn so I am excited to see it knit up.  I am happy with the colors/striping and hope that it will find just the right recipient this holiday season.

 

Note: the colors in the photo are not very true - it has been gray and rainy these past few days.  Perfect for knitting, but sucky for indoor photography.  That vest, while pink, is more a peachy-pink.  And the base color for those mittens is actually a deep purple.  The shawl colors you can see better in this post about yarn dying.

 

And speaking of WIP's, I just cast-on for a hat last night and owing to the bulky weight of the yarn, am already half-way done.  I am in love with it and will find it hard to part with.  But I know a lucky girl that will get this for a holiday gift (pictured next to it is the yarn to make a matching one for her sister!).  This is a superwash wool, hand-dyed by Liz Avery at The Sow's Ear. 

 

 

Lastly, I am REALLY, REALLY excited because this morning I placed an order for truly local yarn: Finewool Yarn by Five Green Acres.  Mary Jo stewarded this wool from pasture to skein, and has lived the entire process from shearing to cleaning to dying to spinning.  Her First Harvest: Backyard skeins have amazing colorways such as Sugar Maple, Blue Jay and the like.   Check out the yarn for yourself - it has an amazing story.  And Mary Jo?  She's an amazing woman. 

FO: Norwegian Baby Cap

sweet baby cap

I finished up this sweet little Norwegian Baby Cap last week.  I intended it for my youngest, but it looks that she will outgrow this size in the near future.  So another hat will need to be knit, and hopefully before the holidays come and go.  This fourth little one of mine - not forgotten - but sometimes overlooked.  The l-o-u-d voices, demands, wants and needs of her older sisters drown out her very, very rare cries.  But her smile lights up the family.  And she is finding her place among and within us - a calm presence indeed.  She needs a little something this holiday season I think and a new knit hat will do just fine.

top view

tie detail

I knit up this same pattern a bit over a year ago, but just got around to making the i-cord ties, so here is a photo of that hat as well.  I stopped the every-other-row decreases early on this one, making a more rounded head rather than pointy.  I'm sure this one is destined for a very special little boy or girl.

sweet baby cap - v1.0

FO: Eggplant + Pumpkin Hat (and a lesson learned)

A neighbor of mine is a retired Reverend from a dual-language church in our community. She is also an avid knitter. Over the past couple years she has organized volunteers - herself and friends - to make and sell fruit (and cupcake) hats at our downtown farmer's market and other local stores. They have raised a lot of money for the church and its educational scholarship funds.

A week ago she invited me over to learn more about her process and methods. The hats they sell are loosely based on the Ann Norling Fruit Cap pattern, and they use - almost exclusively - inexpensive acrylic/wool blends.

She didn't try to recruit me to knit with her group.  Instead she encouraged and mentored me towards making a stock of hats to sell to local stores. She was inspirational, and she made it seem so...well...doable. So I went home, pulled some yarn from my stash and did something I've never done before.

I timed myself knitting.

Relying on the pattern, I first made an eggplant hat, size 3-6 mos. I used stash yarn. It took me two sessions to complete. The first lasted 2:40. The second (with lots of kiddo interruptions) lasted 1:20. That makes this little cutie a 4-hour hat. Giving myself $10/hour, not including materials, I would have to sell this little number for $40, double what the group sells their hats for.

Second I made a pumpkin hat (modifying the pattern to my taste and adding a spiral vine), size 2-4 yrs. I used newly purchased acrylic yarn. Across 6 knitting sessions, this hat took 4:35 to complete. Including material costs, I'll let you do the math for what this one would need to sell for.

I am not telling a knitter anything that s/he doesn't likely already know. You rarely, if ever, get your labor cost back if you sell an item. And for me this timing exercise affirmed that for me.

I did think - for a fleeting moment - that I might be able to squeeze out baby hats made with inexpensive yarn and sell them for a reasonable labor-to-retail cost ratio. But that doesn't seem possible.

So I continue down the evolutionary path of my knitting, knowing that I am a personal knitter, a gift knitter and and future knitwear designer (I have two ideas incubating for original patterns).

But I am not a retail knitter.

At least not right now.

I did come out of this little experiment with two adorable hats, one of which is loved beyond words by my 4 yo. The other will go to the parents of a little baby that is expected to arrive at the end of December. They actually grow eggplants, so I think it will be an extra special gift for them.

Oh fall...

Burberry cowl in organic cotton (colorway: almond)

I love you fall.

I love the way to make me feel about knitting.

I love the way you make my husband obsess about face cords.

I love the additional layers I get to wear.

I love the smell of slow-roasted food.

I love your gentle rains and wet leaves, even though they get tracked all the way through the house on tiny feet.

I love that you recall the birth of my middle daughter.

I love how you shed your layer of green in favor of more becoming colors.

I love the way you bring forth my instinct to prepare. And while the necessity of preparing for the barren months ahead has long-been dispensed with (thanks modernization), I love that you kindle the vestiges of this need deep within me.

I love the way you remind me that things change - life is dynamic - and that honoring the cycles in all parts of life is important.

Not-so-Noro hat at the WI River (rav link)



Baby shrug for friends' newborn daughter (rav link)



WIP: one sock done, one to go.  Pomatomus by Cookie A.



FO: Two Hats for Fall

Fall is in the air. It's back up into the high 80's today, but we had a few days of chilly weather come our way. Another round of lettuce and spinach have been planted, the kids are back into the routine of school and the baby is predictably napping. If I weren't fearful of jinxing it all, I'd would say life is hitting nice rhythm.

Over the past few weeks I've finished up two hats. The first is the hat pictured above. I had been coveting the the pattern for a few years already. It's the Noro Hat (free pattern) and I am so happy that I finally knit it. I'm not terribly thrilled with the final hat - it's a bit too bulky at the top for my taste, and let's face it Noro yarn is scratchy - but those colors! And the hat could be tailored with some modifications to the decrease rounds. And I love it enough that I've cast on for a second one with Cascade Eco Duo, a luscious blend of alpaca and wool in gray hues.



The second hat is Ride the Wave by Amy Anderson, a local knitwear designer. This hat was a store sample and I knew immediately I needed one myself. I love the patterning; those sharp angles set off by bright colors. The written pattern was easy too. There was a nice chart to follow, but the simple words, "every row is a repeat of four or two" was a the most helpful of all. Can you believe that counts of two and four make this gorgeous thing? Nature, in all her numerical wisdom, is an aesthetic genius.



The brim of the hat is too wide for me, so I just seamed it under and now it flares out just a bit, but I think, in a flattering way. I may also block the hat to see if I can squeeze a bit more ease out of it. If I were to re-knit this hat I'd go for a simple ribbed brim, using a smaller size needle.

Also, taking photos of yourself, wearing hats, in the bathroom mirror is a strange experience.