recipe for a hat

this is the 3rd project i finished in 1 week and by week i really do mean 7 days. i really was getting all the sleep i was supposed to. i was working at work (a novel idea) and i wasn't entirely ignoring my child at home. i was just being a very productive knitter.

back at the end of August i had knitted a hat for my boyfriend. black with ribbing and cables. very nice. unfortunately it couldn't be the only hat for the winter. the must, and should, be others. besides, it really wasn't the warmest pattern anyway. so upward and onward to the next glorious fabulous hat!

and here's the recipe for a hat:

1) measure boyfriend's gigantic head (23.5") and think to self "crap, i'm going to have to alter my hat pattern in order to make it fit that big noggin"

2) get some camo yarn and olive green yarn and knit a swatch (not my favorite part)

3) get out the abacus, calculator, and graph paper; then abandon all that in favor of pencil and paper and then realize you don't own a pencil so you grab a pen; perform some math calculations in your head and realize you're going to be casting on an extra 18 stitches then the pattern usually calls for (wow!)

4) knit happily away with a basic hat pattern

5) knit

6) knit

7) knit

8) get the hat nearly half-way done (4")

9) try hat on boyfriend's big noggin and realize it's too big

10) smack self in forehead because you've forgotten a basic rule "measure and then subtract 1-2" for a good fit"

11) take hat to work the next day and curse yourself as you rip, rip, rip out a whole weekend's worth of work

12) re-think swatch; re-figure math; re-alize you have no idea what you're doing

14) get hand cramps while knitting back almost 3" of work in 1 lunch hour (praise the knitting angels who must have heard my prayers)

13) finish jumbo camo hat that's actually still a little too big for Sugar's big cranium (but he'll never tell me because he's way too sweet for that)

i loved the way the camo and the olive worked with each other and the double strands of yarn will be extremely warm. i haven't seen him wear the hat yet though.

maybe he can't find it?

knitting like crazy

you can probably tell i've been knitting like a maniac. like i've been away at summer camp and i only had a choice of a few activities and i was no good at the bow & arrow and i certainly didn't want to make a leather wallet that was going to start to smell on the 3rd day.

i finished 3 knitting projects in 1 week. (seat cushie, and 1 wrist cuff, and a hat)

here's the 2nd project. i used the Lace Cuff with Beads pattern from the diynetwork except i left out the beads because who wants to deal with that pain. i also didn't have access to Crystal Palace Yarn, so i double stranded some thin fibered yarn (actually got the right gauge with the right needles, much to my great shock) and went for it. i hate the color combo, but i just wanted to try something fun because that's really what knitting is all about.

seat cushie

there comes a time in every girls life when she has to admit that :::sigh::: she's just a little to old to be riding around on the fender of a 1979 Honda motorcycle without feeling the effects the next day in her backside.

so I found a great scarf pattern online http://acunningplan.typepad.com/andsheknitstoo/files/skull_scarf.html

changed the colors to pink and cream (had some left over from the previous baby blanket project) and went for it. oh yeah! CUTE & INTIMIDATING! that's what it says. biker chic!

my friend nick said that looking at "bubble gum skulls" was like "looking at the Adams Family in pastels"

this is my very first Fair Isle knitting project. yep. there's puckering in some parts where i was first learning to carry my unused strands, but i was super pleased.

i only did 1 row of the skull pattern and then i closed up 1 side with mattress stitch. inserted 4 layers of regular batting.


we tried it out the weekend i finished it by taking the bike on a trip down to Hartsville (an hour long ride) it helped a whole lot. it looks great.

knit blanket

I meant to post this months ago, but I've been ill so whoever reads this will just have to get over the disappointment.

I knit my first HUGE project a few months ago. I don't mean "huge" as in "complicated" or "detailed" or anything glamorous like that. I mean I knit something BIG.

I knit a baby blanket for our Pastor's new granddaughter, who is now 9 months old.

(Technical Portion) I used sport weight yarn, held 2 strands together, and knit with size 11 circular needles. I used (what I've been told is basically a glorified dishcloth pattern) a pattern from Donna Kooler's Encyclopedia of Knitting.

It turned out great and the finished product was 50" by 50" in pink & cream.