Well, this will be brief because I have to be out shortly and we’re going to be gone most of the day.  We’re off up to Maine to see the hairdresser.  Myria will actually get her hair cut while I just do the heavy looking on as I don’t have enough hair left to bother with :) That, however, gives me an excuse to wear some of these nifty hats I’ve been turning out for the last 6 weeks or so!  Not all at once, Dobby-style, you understand - one at a time :) Even I have some discretion…

I made another Republic hat, this time casting on fewer stitches which worked out very nicely.  There are two yarns there, a strand of Classic Elite Wings and a strand of Knitpicks Merino Style (this is the Drake Mallard that I dyed a while back) and let me tell you, this thing is as soft and cushy as a bag of marshmallows.  Well, it’s not as sticky as that, fortunately :)

I also made this rose to act as the button…

...and I think it came out really nicely!  I used Classic Elite Flash cotton and a size G hook.





I also think it came out really big and heavy!  Oh well - I’ll make another flower out of thinner and lighter material and try to think of some way I can use this one - it’s too pretty to take apart :)

Also, the second dishtowel got underway with more Spotlight cotton (Geez, I’m just a Classic Elite warehouse here!) in a kind of dried blood color.  Honestly, I don’t know what I was thinking when I bought this but I must have been having a bad color day because I bought about 10 balls of the stuff.  Oh well, I’ll use various bits of Flash to liven things up a bit.

The pattern is simple, but attractive way beyond the ease of the working.  It’s what I think of as a thermal stitch because to me, it looks like the weave of a cotton thermal blanket.

On an odd number of stitches:

Row 1:  *1sc, 1hdc*; repeat - end 1 sc.  Ch2, turn.
Row 2:  *1hdc, 1sc*; repeat - end 1 hdc.  Ch1, turn.

Repeat rows 1 and two for pattern.

Chatters is definitely on for tomorrow night!
Happy Wednesday folks! 

Technologically, we had a banner weekend here :) A couple of special circumstances (read: sales) that we had been watching for, both occurred this weekend and we were ready to take advantage.  First, CompUSA had a loss-leader type sale on memory and we have both needed to upgrade the memory in our laptops for some time.  So, holding our breath (because you know they probably only had five pieces they were offering at that price) we headed up and lo and behold, there was actually memory in stock!  Back home, it was a matter of moments before Myria had upgraded both systems.  The difference is remarkable and more than welcome.  It was, if you’ll forgive an absurdly stretched metaphor, like getting Addi turbos for the laptops - whoosh!

The second instance of fortuitous, technological happenstance occurred when a chain game store offered a $50 trade-in on an older hand-held game system.  We happened to have one of those which we hadn’t bothered to trade in because the usual compensation is only about $10.  The caveat here is that the trade-in credit had to be applied to the purchase of a new Nintendo DS.  Well, Myria has a DS - but it’s a standard style (what I understand is called the “phat” DS) and she wanted one of the newer, slimmer models (called “Lite").  And she wanted a pink one.

This special turn-in price was only good through this weekend and the problem was that none of the stores in our area had any units - at all.  I asked one young man (pleasantly - after all, it wasn’t his fault that his employer was running a special deal without any stock to back it up) if that wasn’t pretty silly?  He agreed that it was very silly indeed.  However, yesterday we found a store quite a bit of a ways north of us that said they had two left - both in pink.  So out we went and, after a couple of wrong turns, finally found the place.  Myria turned in the old hand-held plus her phat DS and was able to get $90 to apply to the new hand-held which reduced its retail price from extortionary to negligible.

There was another pleasant surprise this weekend.  Yesterday, as I was working on something simple, my eye wandered over to my work basket and lit on the unfinished Summer Garden Sock (based on this pattern).  I wondered if maybe, if I went out into the kitchen and sat in the direct sunlight, maybe I could work a few rows on this?  Even if it wasn’t much, a few rounds a day would still complete it in time.  As it happened…

...I finished it!  Woo hoo!  Now, the heel is a bit shallow and the diameter is a bit larger than necessary so I will probably make some adaptations to the second sock which I hope to cast on later this week.  I just love the colors of this wool - so cheerful and vivid - and I can’t wait to actually be able to wear these.  Honestly, I’m practically giddy :)





It seems as though, while there may be periods where I can’t focus well enough to manage finer work, they aren’t going to be permanent and I may have as much as a week and a half where I can successfully manage things like socks and maybe even lace!  So I am very much looking forward to incorporating these things back into my knitting schedule and am thinking about - surprise! - more socks :)

The simple thing I was working on is a dishtowel which is almost finished.

The ones we have are cheap, thin cotton, old, stained and beyond disreputable.  It occurred to me as I was looking at them, that I have nearly a cabinet full of cotton that has been languishing as I carry on shamelessly with wool :) And that cotton could be put to practical and almost immediate use as dish towels.  So I measured one of the old ones - 16” x 22”, dug out some cotton and a size G/6 (4.25mm) hook and went to work.





The basis of this is this washcloth pattern.  Really, it’s exactly the same except for the size, though I’ll probably put an edging on this.  The Sedge stitch is very attractive and very simple - every row is worked the same.  I suspect that I’m working this towel a little too tightly - not a big problem though since this fabric isn’t intended to be worn and doesn’t really need to drape nicely :) However, I think I will use a larger hook for the next effort and see how things look and feel. 

I’d like to make three of four of these all together and will probably look to do each one in a different stitch.  The colors are going to be somewhat random as my cotton stash seems to run to random colors - but I don’t see that as any particular problem.  These are dishtowels, not decorator items :)

And, for the times when socks and lace aren’t possible, they’re perfect :)

A friend gave me a copy Alexander McCall Smith’s The Sunday Philosophy Club.  Though I had heard of The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series, I hadn’t read this author before.  I started the book late last Friday and essentially read it straight through to the end.

Isabel Dalhousie is a well off, single, middle-aged Scotswoman.  She edits a philosophical review and, from time to time, hosts the title club at her home.  She has strong, fond relationships with her niece Cat (who owns and runs a delicatessen) and her housekeeper Grace (the quintessential dour Scot), is half in love with one of Cat’s former suitors, ponders the moral dilemmas of the contemporary world and cannot mind her own business.

The novel opens with Isabel witnessing a young man falling from a high tier of seats in a concert hall to his death on the floor below.  Most of the book is concerned with finding out who this young man is and how he met his untimely demise. 

In all honesty, the story is pretty slight and is really less about solving a mystery than about showing us who and what Isabel is; it is a character study in a mystery framework and, in all fairness, it is a good one.  We wind up liking Isabel, not because she is fearless, perfect or particularly brave, but because she sees and acknowledges her own imperfections and refuses to gloss them over or turn away from them until she has come to an understanding about them and, therefore, herself.

The tone is veddy British and, on the surface at least, placid and serious.  However, there’s a great deal going on below the understatement, matters that are both grave and hilarious, offensive and touching.

I really enjoyed this book and highly recommend it.  I also can’t wait to get my hands on more of Smith’s writing :)

I did finally finish my Republic hat thanks to Laura’s comment to Monday’s post.  As silly as it sounds, it just hadn’t occurred to me to start with fewer stitches.  I only frogged back far enough though, to get back to the bind-off point and then, after measuring, bound off enough more stitches to make the hat more...hat-sized.  You know, as opposed to its previously all-enveloping nature :)

I also decided to crochet a flower (an adaptation of this Aster pattern) rather than use a big button. 

As written, the pattern is a little shallower than I’d like, so the next hat will have a few more rounds to increase the depth.  Also, the garter stitch edge is only just over an inch when it should be 2 inches.  I don’t think it looks bad as it is, but I can’t figure out what went wrong there - was I looking at the centimeter side of my tape measure that day when I decided that was enough?  Sheesh… Some days I can’t count my fingers and come up with the same answer twice :)

A further note:  The link to the pattern in Monday’s post only brings you to a page where the pattern may be downloaded.  There are no pictures and the file cannot be viewed on line - you have to download it.  Not difficult at all, but certainly an odd way to set things up…

I completed another Long Band Hat.  This one is for me though and will go with my crocheted jacket.  I had just enough yarn left over from the jacket to make the hat - nice how that worked out, eh?

It’s just seed stitch with a big, fat cable running down the middle, but I like it; it’s comfortable and covers everything nicely.  Do you remember the series 3rd Rock From the Sun?  I keep thinking this hat is something the Solomons’ landlady, Mrs. Dubcek, might have worn in her heyday :) Maybe I should sprinkle it with a few sequins?  Heheh....

I believe I’m up for a crochet project and I spent yesterday swatching…

Unfortunately, I didn’t find anything that screamed Make me NOW! at me, but I did find a few possibilities - things that with a little tweaking, might turn into something fun.  There are a couple of shawl swatches in that picture.  One of them shapes up nicely - essentially it’s just hdcs - but would be boring to work while another would be fun to work and creates a lovely stitch pattern but would make a shawl that is longer than it is wide (narrow triangle) and which would look very silly on wider-than-long me :) So I’ll keep pooting around; there’s got to be something out there I can fudge, fiddle or manipulate into shape!

Have a great weekend folks :)

We’re on!  Bring your handwork and come on in - it’s a good time :)

I decided, based on Marcia’s success and Laura’s splendid example (scroll down a little) that I had to have - or at least try to make - The Republic Hat.  Remember that yarn I dyed last week?  I thought that would be perfect so I whipped out a ball of that and my trusty size 10 Addis and went to work.

This picture was taken just after the flap bind-off and join to work in the round.  The circumference of the hat at this point, according to the pattern, should be 22”.  Mine didn’t look quite right, so I measured it.

26 inches…

Even on my oversized noggin, that puppy’s going to float.  And since it isn’t transparent and I can’t use it as a quick, warm substitute for sunglasses, something’s got to change :)

Did I swatch?  Unh-unh - so I only have my loose-knitting self to blame.  Now I’m trying to decide whether to rip it out and start over (which really wouldn’t be a big deal) or extend the bind off stitches so that the hat approaches a wearable circumference (wearable, that is, without the necessity of cutting eye-holes in it!) and yields an extra long button flap.  I also think I will fasten the flap with a crocheted flower (or several maybe) rather than a button - though I must admit, the button is very smart :)

I also started another blanket with the idea of using up some stash and giving me something to work on that I can actually cope with right now (i.e.: that isn’t either fussy or tiny).  Therefore this:

This is just the old Van Dyke lace panel upscaled in heavier yarn and bigger needles (moose lace, if you will) with an added 5 stocking stitches on either side to give it a bit more width.  I’m not entirely sure where this is going yet, but I’ll probably try for something more symmetrical than my Mohair Lace Blanket.  It’s still pretty much the same idea though - find a bunch of patterns that appeal, knit panels using those patterns in coordinating colors and sew/crochet/knit them together into a blanket.

Remember that second salvage sweater?  The red/cream marl?  I did a Heroes marathon this weekend and decided that unraveling a sweater was just about my speed :) Let me tell you, this thing was put together with a nail gun, seems like!  Though I don’t believe I’ve ever had an article of Eddie Bauer clothing, I can tell you this stuff is constructed to last through the next ice age!  After three hours, all I had succeeded in doing was removing and unraveling the funnel neck collar.

I know winding this stuff into a ball is probably not the best thing for it, but it won’t stay that way for long.  I wanted to try to get a few of the kinks out of it.  In a couple of days, this (and whatever else I have managed to free up in the interim!) will get skeined on the swift, soaked/washed, and hung to dry.  Do you think that red is going to be colorfast?  Heheh - I guess we’ll find out!

I started chemotherapy again last week and it’s kicking my butt this time :) I have had to set aside the Madeira Lace Scarf and the Summer Garden Socks because I don’t seem to be able to summon the necessary focus for fine work right now.  I will not frog either project though and am hoping to be able to pick them up again sometime in the future.  Things may be a little more relaxed here at the Yarnpath as regular posting times occasionally yield to appointments or sometimes fatigue and Chatters may be postponed once in a while.  That said, I will try to keep things as they have been as much as I possibly can.

Hope your weekends were wonderful and your Monday tolerable :)

Tuesday when I got home, this was waiting for me:

This is from Laura over at Frog is a Four Letter Word.  She had a contest and I was one of the fortunate winners.  That’s a ball of Reynold’s Saucy and a ball of Gedifra Distrato there at the bottom - won’t those make a luscious, little spring bag?  The tube in the center contains lavender bath salts (oh baby!) and the lovely little pouch (lined and zippered - this girl does amazing work!) holds a little clear glass “kiss” (like a Hershey’s kiss) with a green swirl inside it.  A very sweet combination of things and it arrived at exactly the right time :) Thanks Laura!

I dyed the rest of the salvaged-sweater yarn this week:

It’s called Green Tease and you can read about it over at The Dye Pot.

On to the hat pattern :)

This pattern/formula evolved when, in the attempt to make a scarf, I came up way too short on the yarn requirement.  In order to avoid frogging what I’d already done, I turned what I had into a hat.

What follows is a formula for doing this using the yarn weight and needle size I used.  A couple of specific patterns will follow that for those who would like to have a more detailed way of seeing how this works, but I recommend reading through the general formula anyway because the techniques used are all detailed there.

The Chunky, Long-band Hat - General Formula

Materials

Chunky yarn (about 7wpi): Adult - 3 oz., Child - 2oz.
Size 9 US (5.5 mm) straight or double-pointed needles.
1 stitch marker, if desired

Gauge

3 stitches per inch

Measurements, Note:  The depth measurement is simply the width of the long band and does not include any height added by the decrease rows at the crown.

Adult:  Depth - 6.5”, Circumference - 20”
Child:  Depth - 5”, Circumference - 16”

Formula given for child’s size with adult requirements in ( ) parentheses.

Formula

Provisionally cast on 16 (20) stitches.

Work your pattern of choice for 16 (20) inches.  I like to slip the first stitch of every row for a chain slevege (see Stupid Knitting Tricks - The Chain Selvedge for instructions), but that’s entirely a matter of choice and not at all necessary :)

Release your provisional cast on onto a new needle and join the edges by doing a Goofy Grafting or regular Kitchener Stitch grafting.

Now, pick up the stitches around the crown.  You’re aiming for a multiple of 8 stitches (8, 16, 24, 32, 40, 48, 56, 64, etc...).

Place marker if desired and knit one round. I always think of this as the get-acquainted round.  On socks, this is round that immediately follows the one where you pick up all the gusset stitches :)

Decrease 8 stitches evenly over the next round.  If you started with 64 stitches, you have 8 segments of 8 stitches each, since 8 x 8 = 64.  In each of those segments, you need to make a decrease, so:

Example 1 *K2 tog, K6* - repeat around

If you started with 40 stitches, you would have 8 segments of 5 stitches each, since 8 x 5 = 40.  Again, you need to make a decrease in each of those segments, so:

Example 2 *K2tog, K3* - repeat around.

See how that works?

On the following round, simply knit.

Continue alternating decrease rounds with knit rounds (remembering that you will have one less stitch in each of the 8 segments for each decrease round you do so in Example 1, the seocond decrease round would be *K2tog, K5*,repeat around.  In Example 2, the second decrease round would be *K2tog, K2*, repeat around.

When you have decreased down to a single digit number of stitches (8 or less), you can cut the yarn (leaving a goodish tail - 6 inches or so) and thread the cut end into a tapestry needle.  Draw the yarn through the remaining stitches on your needles, cinch tightly, thread through to the inside of the hat, tie off and weave in the end.

You could also work I cord for a top-knot or add braids or tassels or both - it’s all up to you :)

And that’s really all there is to it.  All this is is a basic concept - the pattern and design are all yours to play with to your heart’s content!

Here are a couple of written out patterns, one child, one adult - just for fun - and to fortify the idea in case I haven’t been too clear in the above run down :)

Stocking Panel, Long Band hat with tasselled braid

See materials and gauge requirements for general formula above

Provisionally cast on 20 stitches.

Row 1:  (K1, P1) three times, K8, (P1, K1) three times
Row 2:  (K1, P1) three times, P8, (P1, K1) three times

Repeat these two rows until your piece measures about 20”.  Remember that this will have some stretch to it so if your adult’s head is small, you may only want to work 18 or 19 inches.

Undo your provisional cast on and slip these stitches to another needle.  Join your edges in whatever way you’re most comfortable with (see info in gneral formula above).  You can get away without the provisional cast on by just casting on in your normal fashsion and beginning to knit.  When you get to where you want to join the ends, simply pick up the first cast on stitch and knit it together with the first stitch on your needle.  Pick up the next cast-on stitch and knit it together with the next stitch on your needle, etc.  This makes a slightly bulkier seam, but is perfectly do-able.

Now, pick up 48 stitches around the crown of the hat. 

Round 1:  Knit
Round 2:  *K2tog, K4*, repeat around (40 stitches)
Round 3:  Knit
Round 4:  *K2tog, K3*, repeat around (32 stitches)
Round 5:  Knit
Round 6:  *K2tog, K2*, repeat around (24 stitches)
Round 7:  Knit
Round 8:  *K2tog, K1*, repeat around (16 stitches)
Round 9:  Knit
Round 10: K2tog, repeat around (8 stitches)

Finish off as described above in the general formula.

Make a braid using four strand of yarn for each section (12 strands all together).
Make a short, fat tassel and attach to the braid.
Thread a tapestry needle with yarn and attach the braid to the top of the hat, bring yarn ends to the inside, tie off and weave in.

Seed Diamond, Long Band Childs hat with braid

See materials and gauge requirements for general formula above

Provisionally cast on 16 stitches.

Row 1:  Knit
Row 2:  Purl
Row 3:  K2, P1, (K1, P1) across, end K1
Row 4:  Purl
Row 5:  (K1, P1, across, end K2
Row 6:  Purl

Repeat these 6 rows for pattern to a length of about 16 inches - a couple of rows more or less, depending on the head size of your target child, won’t be a problem :)

Undo your provisional cast on and slip these stitches to another needle.  Join your edges in whatever way you’re most comfortable with (see info in gneral formula above).  You can get away without the provisional cast on by just casting on in your normal fashsion and beginning to knit.  When you get to where you want to join the ends, simply pick up the first cast on stitch and knit it together with the first stitch on your needle.  Pick up the next cast-on stitch and knit it together with the next stitch on your needle, etc.  This makes a slightly bulkier seam, but is perfectly do-able.

Now, pick up 40 stitches around the crown of the hat.

Round 1:  Knit
Round 2:  *K2tog, K3*, repeat around (32 stitches)
Round 3:  Knit
Round 4:  *K2tog, K2*, repeat around (24)
Round 5:  Knit
Round 6:  *K2tog, K1*, repeat around (16 sts)
Round 7:  Knit
Round 8:  K2tog all around (8 sts)
Round 9:  Knit

Finish off as described above in the general formula.

Make a fat braid (I used 8 strands in each section) and tie off the bottom with another strand of yarn.  Trim ends to desired length and tack to top of hat.  Weave in the ends and you’re good to go!

Please enjoy :)

Come and chat - bring your knitting, sit and relax.  In keeping with many New Year’s resolutions, calorie free virtual snacks and drinks will be served :)