Here is a collection of hats I made for the local Warm the Children.
The boys’ school has a “mitten tree” every year to collect warm items. I can’t believe how many of the items this year (other than mine) were handmade!
This is Cascade 200 Superwash Handpaint from Metaphor Yarns (random pattern out of my head).
This is an earflap hat made of Wool-Ease, a free pattern on the Lion Brand Yarn site.
Here’s another Wool-Ease hat, this one made out of “Thick & Quick” left over from my mom’s sweater (another random pattern).
The third random hat is made from Wool of the Andes Bulky.
This isn’t a great picture, but the hat is quite cute. It is made from Luisa Harding Kashmir Aran using the pattern A Hat Fit for a Fella (AKA Men’s Cabled Hat). This is one of my favorite yarns, very soft and sqooshy and extrememly warm.
In case you are wondering, the tags are care tags. All are machine washable except the Wool of the Andes hat.
Warm the Children
December 8, 2011
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Spring and Lambs in Western Massachusetts
April 21, 2011One of the things I like most about our new state is that we are only a few towns away from Sheepgal, the Shelburne Shepherd. Lambing season has just ended and she always shares lovely pictures and videos of the little ones on her blog.
Last fall, I had a chance to visit the farm for an open house, and got to meet several of her wonderful animals.
You should check out these pictures of the last 2011 lamb, Crispin (all the lambs were named after apple varieties this year) and while you are there, you can enter a giveaway for some wonderful Foxfire Fiber yarn.
You might just get addicted to her blog, like me.
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Sock Monkey for My Favorite Monkey
March 1, 2011I made this hat for my favorite little monkey, to keep his head warm this winter:
The pattern was the Sock Monkey Earflap hat from Trappings and Trinkets.
The brown and cream yarn was Cascade 220 Superwash; the red is Minnow Merino Superwash.
The only modification I made was to crochet round eyes and sew them on instead of using buttons.
This was a fun and fast knit and I may just have to make another one in my size!
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Winter Giveaway
February 17, 2011Head on over to Sheep Gal for a chance to enter this fabulous prize:
“The lucky winner will received 4 delectable skeins of Foxfire Fiber’s Wool Alpaca Twist in snowy white and a copy of my book: Teach Yourself Visually Hand-Dyeing (prize total value of +$72), so you can dye them any color you wish.”
But, do it right now, since the contest ends tomorrow.
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Marginally Knitting-Related
January 17, 2011Assuming the scarf is knitted:
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A Poem for Tomorrow Night
December 23, 2010Here’s a very funny version of The Night Before Christmas – knitter’s style from KnittingHelp.com
Happy Holidays, everyone!
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My 15 Minutes of “Fame”
December 3, 2010I just happened to be at knitting circle at Metaphor Yarns yesterday, when a photographer from The Recorder came in. He had noticed that there were a lot of cars in the parking lot, and he asked permission to take photos of us knitting.
And, I made it into the paper!
That is my sweetie’s lovely Malabrigo sock I’m working on. The pattern is Jules (Ravelry link). Of course, you can’t really see how pretty the yarn or the pattern is in this picture. You can see the waste yarn from my sloppy provisional cast-on (the provisional cast-on is not in the pattern – I did it that way so I can make the cuff longer if I have enough yarn).
I think it is ironic that the knitter who is newest to the area is the one who made the paper. I think some of the other members of the group should have also been photographed, but since they weren’t working on socks, I guess they would not have fit the “punny” headline.
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Go Mohawk!
October 3, 2010Ray at Knitivity shared a lovely but simple mosaic pattern called “Dots on the Half Drop.” I wanted to try it, and I wanted a break from my other projects. I picked these colors because I had forgotten to pack them with the rest of my yarn, therefore they are the only 2 colors of cotton that aren’t in our storage unit.
Partway through the dishcloth I realized they are Adidas’ school colors – Go Mohawk!
My selvages are a little wonky, but it’s just a dishcloth for us to use so I didn’t bother to fix them. Love the pattern. It would make a great wool hat because of the extra thickness due to the slipped stitches.
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Happy Birthday ES!
September 16, 2010My dear friend had a milestone birthday and I couldn’t be there. We used to live less than a mile away and now I live 200 miles away and I MISS HER. I wanted to make her something special and useful. I came across the fingerless gloves, Handed Yes, Fingered No. I discovered this pattern via the Rainey Sisters, one of the most-read blogs in my blog reader.
This pattern is great because 1) it comes in small, medium and large sizes, and 2) it is not symmetrical – the left and right hands are made to conform to one’s actual hand shape.
I used Louisa Harding Kashmir Aran which is merino wool, microfiber and cashmere and wow, do I love this yarn. It is squishy and warm and great to knit with. It only took 2 skeins (with leftovers). I see some more gloves out of this in my future.
I made the medium but they turned out to be a little big. It seemed like it would fit OK on the wrist but I didn’t want the hand part to be floppy, so I decreased about 4 stitches at the wrist to snug up the hand. I decreased every other rib, so that the hand part on the back of the hand has alternating K2 and K1 ribs (instead of only K2 ribs). I also used a regular rib instead of the broken rib, so they are very stretchy.
I added buttons which I got out of Grandma S.’s button box. Sending the love from generation to generation.
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Summer is for Ice Cream
August 25, 2010I was browsing Ravelry for baby hat patterns and when I came across “Soft Serve” (Ravelry link) I knew I had to make it:
Our former next-door neighbors will be parents in October so I hope their baby likes this whimsical hat!
It is knit from fingering weight acrylic (from my stash) on US 3’s. I had to modify the pattern because the 0-3 month size came out to be 10 inches – way too small. So I picked up stitches along the cast-on edge, increased 12 stitches evenly spaced, and did another band of stockinette and another band of seed stitch. Now it will easily fit a 12-14+ inch head. I also changed the “swirl” on the top to make it more ice-creamy.
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The Finish Line 