Little hat, cont.

Despite a doctoral recital this past weekend, and decent progress on the Top Secret gift projects, I managed to get some work done on Daniel's hat:


I had originally intended to shape the top like any other hat, with regular decreases to make it round like the head of the intended wearer. However, by the time I'm done with the color design, there might be too much hat for that, and it would look a little goofy. Perhaps I should have done a smaller hem? Should I rip it out and start over? Nope, I've got a better idea: Do the whole thing in an un-shaped tube and then do a three-needle bind-off across the top so it looks like a flat seam, stick a couple tassles in the corners and voila! Another design a little too cute for an adult but mighty cute on a babe.

Unfortunately, when I set it on my son's head, it looks like it might be a little small. The stockinette hem and two-color pattern probably won't stretch as well as ribbing would, so this hat may be gifted to a younger baby in a cold climate. I'm not enough of a perfectionist to frog a hat if there aren't mistakes in the actual knitting. Not to worry. I have plenty of hat-appropriate yarn in the stash to try something else for my little boy, and in the meantime he does have hats, just not any extra-warm ones.

Inspired

Have you seen Stephanie's latest masterpiece? It's so breath-takingly beautiful, and inspiring as well.

Don't just admire the pictures, lovely as they are. Read what she has to say about the art of knitting, and what she "doesn't" say about the work and art done mostly by women and its under-appreciation in society. Think about it. I'm certainly going to think about it, and write about it later.*

I want to be a better knitter.

I want to be a better artist.

I want to take more care in everything I create.

*(But I have a doctoral recital this weekend and prelims soon after, so please forgive me if my posts are infrequent and show puny progress for the next few weeks...just don't give up on me, okay?)

Another little hat

My baby boy (the model for Little Elf) needs something to keep his own noggin warm. Despite these two major gift knitting projects that are getting most of my attention these days, the nippy Wisconin fall weather set the wheels a-turnin' for a new hat.

And not just any hat. I know I said hats are boring, but come on! That was two weeks ago. Fickle? Me? Why, yes.

Besides, while it's true that I find some hats boring (re: plain old stockinette stitch from bottom to top), hats can be wonderful ways to try out a new yarn or a new technique or stitch pattern. This project, for instance, is going to be an exercise in two-color stranded knitting. I've done this before, but I'm not very good at it, plus I just learned about the concept of color dominance and am eager to try out the theory.
It took a couple tries (re: false starts) to work out my plan, so I'm afraid this is all I have to show you:



The yarn: Dale of Norway Heilo in heathery blue and creamy white. I don't know the official names of the colors and the labels are long gone. Stash-buster--whoohoo!
The needles: Size US3/3.25mm Takumi bamboo 16" circular.
The plan: I want this hat to be extra warm for the coming Wisconsin winter, so I'm knitting a fairly dense guage (26st=4" in st st, 28-29st=4" in color pattern), making a turned-under hem for double-thickness around the bottom, and working a fair-isle type pattern (two colors=double the yarn=double the warmth) above the hem.

Little Elf

Here's a little something I whipped up for a friend whose daughter was born about a month ago. I call it Little Elf, and it's being modeled by my own babe. Surprisingly enough, he didn't tug it off of his head right after I put it on him. The hat turned out a wee bit bigger than I anticipated, but babies grow, so it's all good. I actually finished this over a week ago, but I wanted to give it time to arrive there before posting pictures.




Yarn: RYC CashSoft DK in "Sweet" (light pink) and Kingfisher (teal).
Guage: ? Probably what's on the label: 22st/4", though I'm sure it stretched some after blocking.
Pattern: My own, though I took the idea from the latest Debbie Bliss book, which includes a pointed hat she calls "Pixie." Sorry there's no link, but the book isn't on Amazon or her website. Odd.

Now, I have a few things to say about this yarn. The Rowan/RYC/Debbie Bliss yarn empire have so many yarns with this blend: merino/microfibre/cashmere - in aran, DK and sport weight. This yarn is so soft that it's a dream to knit with. But it's expensive and it pills and I'll be darned if it doesn't always stretch width-wise after blocking. I've made several things with Debbie Bliss casherino aran, I did this here hat in Cash Soft DK, I have a few more skeins of the latter waiting to be made into some baby thing or other, and I have a single skein of Baby Cashmerino (sport weight) that I'm planning to do a beaded hat with. So I'm obviously a total sucker. Plus, babies grow out of things so quickly there isn't time for garments to get seriously deformed and stretched to the size of a baby tent. But I am done buying any version of this yarn. There is no way I would knit an adult sweater out of any of these; I'm sure it wouldn't hold up.

There. I've said it. You've been warned.

(By the way--the bead/bamboo project has not been frogged, nor has it been forgotten. I think I've got the makings of a good idea, but I'm letting some ideas simmer in my brain first. I'll post more about that when I actually have something to show you.)

Sigh.

So remember how I started that project with bamboo yarn and beads? Because of a couple of large gift-knitting projects, I haven't made much progress, and I'm not so sure I like what I've got:

It's a 3x3 rib with fake cable twist every 4 rows, except I skip the cable-thingy on the rows with beads.



What I like:
-the yarn. Bamboo yarn is strong and crisp, not elastic and I doubt it will be a source of warmth for the wearer, but is nice for a decorative scarf.
-the beads. Shiny, yes, and cheap, true, but fun nonetheless. I'm totally digging knitting with beads. It keeps things interesting and was much easier than I thought.

What I don't like:
-I think the ribbed cable is too dense for this project. I should use a version of this pattern with a soft wool to make a scarf for warmth, not decoration. What I've got here is already kind of heavy and it's only about 8" long.
-the bead pattern. I'm not naturally gifted at design. I don't have a sophisticated sense of proportion or symmetry - not that this has stopped me from trying. Occasionally I hit the mark, but not this time. The bead pattern just isn't doing it for me.

What should I do?
-Frog it and start anew?
-Leave it to ponder for a while?
-Start a new beaded project that I naively assume will turn out better than this one?

Meantime, I'll try and post soon about something I'm working on that doesn't look like crap, because believe it or not, when it comes to knitting I'm more often successful than not...when I'm going with someone else's pattern, that is.

Beads and Bamboo

I've had this bamboo yarn sitting around for a while. I originally got it thinking I would make a tank top, but for some reason the Inspiration for the right pattern never came to me. Then I started a bag, which looked stoooopid, and then a lacy scarf, which also didn't look right. Then I got to thinking: beads! Bamboo yarn is sort of exotic, yes? And beaded knitting is uncharted territory for me. So I went to a craft store yesterday afternoon and picked up a few packages of shiny beads. (I had the baby with me, and BOY did he like all those shiny strings of beads. He kept wiggling out of my grasp trying to grab at them.) It was hard finding beads that had holes big enough to thread a tapestry needle through. Jo-Ann's is a big place -they actually call themselves a "Superstore" - and I felt a little dirty going in there, like I was going to Mal-Wart, but I wanted cheap beads for this first experiment.

I like what I've come up with so far, don't you?



I've learned that bamboo yarn holds up really well. After being knitted and frogged multiple times, not to mention having several dozen beads strung onto it, this yarn has yet to split, fray or show any signs of weakness.

You Must Use the Handknits

Remember the knitting disaster I described on my Mini-Meme? The one about the mouse-turdly scratchy sweater in a doomed relationship? It turns out the bf wore it, and wore it out! It's a great story, and I copied it below, editing only to eliminate names:

"I no longer have that sweater but only because it became worn out and dirty. When J and I were living in Florida, we were both very young and stupid. In north Florida it can get damn cold and neither of us brought proper clothes. However, I did have your sweater. Either, J or I wore the sweater almost every night for about three months that winter. Camping, canoeing, building bonfires, and everything else that we did down there, I usually had on either that sweater or my College sweatshirt. In fact, J would steal it and wear it himself if he thought I was not going to be around on a particular night or if I was wearing the College sweatshirt. Our friends used to make fun of us for exchanging the sweater like a couple of girls. Neither of us developed the Bubonic plaque, so I am pretty sure it was free from mouse turds, however I am not sure if the plaque could have survived the level of alcohol that was usually present in our system. It finally died at the end of the winter when J, our friend S and I unsuccessfully tried to build a rope bridge over the Suwannee river. The cable attached to my harness broke and I fell into the VERY cold river. Even then I didn't immediately throw it out, but tried to dry it, but after it started to stink really bad (and if it stunk to me then, it had to really stink), I gave it a proper funeral by placing it on a pyre and burning it. Maybe not quite the way you intended, but I did in fact get a lot of use out of that sweater."

And that's the best compliment you can give a knitter: wearing something she (or he) made until it can simply be worn no more and must be sacrificed on a funeral pyre. Thanks, R. I'm touched, really I am.

Ugly

Lame, lame, lame to be posting this on the blog as a current work in progress (WIP). The fact is, I'm working on a couple big projects right now that are intended as gifts for people that might be reading this, and I want to keep those on the hush-hush. You'll see them eventually, and I think it will be well worth the wait.

So, back to the ugly. What the heck IS that? A wound skein of varigated sport-weight yarn, 50% mohair, 50% hemp, purchased three or four years back. God only knows what my original intent was. It's been languishing in my stash ever since with its cousins -- the same blend in natural, teal and pinky mauve. Did Suze really buy that yarn? Yes, she did, and she must have been seriously tripped out on caffeine at the time because there's a lot of it, though thankfully only one skein of the fugly stuff you see before you. Those other colors wouldn't be half-bad used in the right context; some of the pinky mauve was made into a baby sweater and turned out nice and pretty.

This yarn has been bugging me for a while, popping up in cartoon form over my shoulder every time I buy yarn to say "Hey, what are you doing? Don't buy more! Knit me!" The problem is, I don't really know how it will behave in the long run. It's nice and soft, soft enough for a baby cardigan at any rate, and once upon a time I did a guage swatch so I know I get 6 stitches to 1" on #5 needles, but I don't know how it will hold up over time. The colors aren't right for a sweater, and I could always do hats for charity, but I have a pile of charity hats already and well, hats are kind of boring.

So of all things, I'm trying socks. Why socks? In a yarn that's soft but not particularly springy and may fall apart? Why, indeed. Well, socks go fast, socks are okay in variagated yarn, and if they fall apart after three wearings, then at least I know about the durability of the yarn. They may just end up being house slippers. I'm using #2 needles for a tighter guage and denser fabric than what the label (which I lost long ago) suggested.

This little project may be doomed from the start. I wouldn't be surprised if I didn't make it to the heel. But if I do finish the pair, given my attitude, perhaps I shall call them "Eeyore."

Now, what should I do with the rest?

Let's have a Mini-Meme to start things off!

I don't want to do a whole 100 Things About My Knitterly Self, so we'll start off with a baker's dozen to get things going.

1. I learned to knit from my mom at the age of 8 or 9. It was a 4-H class, and I was very impatient. I think that out of the four years I was a "4-H knitter," I finished my project the first year only. They were garish yellow slippers made out of Red Heart acrylic and I never wore them.

2. I don't really like most knitting blogs. Most of them are either frankly boring or too indulgent, like "Lookie! I bought a whole bunch of expensive yarn and this is what I'm making out of it for myself!" I'm not sure why I think mine will be any different...

3. I do, however, read the Yarn Harlot's blog, as does every knitter in the universe who's heard of the "internets"; currently, my favorite thing about her is that she refers to non-knitters as "muggles."

4. I always have about half a dozen projects going at the same time. It keeps me from getting bored.

5. I rarely knit for myself. I think this is mainly to assuage guilt I may have about the money I've spent on yarn.

6. Currently, my favorite things to knit are baby items because they go quickly, make great gifts, and sizing is flexible.

7. I go in and out of sock phases. I made some Gryffindor sox for my cousin's 30th birthday in May, but the well has been dry since.

8. I've never knit a "cozy" for anything - not a teapot, an iPod, a cell phone, a wine bottle - and I never will.

9. Even though I don't much like knitting blogs, I'm starting one anyway because I want to document the things I've made and share the stories behind them. Plus, on the off-chance other knitters in cyber-space actually read this blog (which they probably won't), maybe I'll get some good feedback and advice and that would be cool.

10. Favorite yarn: I've always like Baby Ull by Dale of Norway, even though it's teeny weeny, because it is SO soft and doesn't pill. I made a pair of socks once that went through a hot wash cycle and the dryer more than once and they held up beautifully. Those socks, as it happens, are one of the few projects I've made for myself.

11. Favorite needles: Meh. Except for socks, for which I use DPNs, I always knit with circulars, but I'm fairly indifferent to brand and what they're made of.

12. Biggest knitting disaster: sweater for a boyfriend in college. That was before I knew that knitting for a boyfriend is guaranteed to doom the relationship, or so they say. Sure 'nuff, we broke up soon after I finished it. I'm sure he never wore it. It was out of stiff, scratchy wool that my mom had in her stash, and I think she told me later she thought a mouse had gotten into it at one point (if chewed ends of yarn and mouse turds in the skeins are in any way an indicator). R, if you're reading this, rest assured I didn't find any mouse turds, and if I had, I would have picked them out, and anyway, like I said, I'm sure you didn't wear it.

13. My knitting hero is Elizabeth Zimmerman.