alpaca samples: hat for me!

finished this hat yesterday. consists of a natural alpaca/merino blend and a green alpaca yarn. with left-overs, i will knit a pair of matching mittens.

for some reason i tend to look a bit on the annoyed side in my photos. i felt relaxed when i was taking them.

alpaca samples: tiny hat

Continuing with the alpaca theme, I made a small beret with the left-over yarn from the fingerless mitts. Unfortunately I am incredibly bad at guessing how much yarn it will take to finish a project. Therefore, I ended up with a very tiny hat that doesn’t quite fit any of my stuffed animals. Too small for Flick and slightly too big for this other little monkey.

And guess what? I still have yarn left over from that ball!

what is that..?

Yes, what is that boring white thing? White and cotton and boring. Have I mentioned lately that I dislike cotton greatly? Well, I do. Interestingly enough, the last time I knit cotton was a project for my dad, something he requested. This current project is again a special request from my dad.

You see, he happens to have an SCA persona that puts him in the desert where wool is not a primary fiber. That means every time he asks me to make something for him, it’s probably going to be cotton. Lucky for him I love him more than I hate cotton.

This particular item is going to be a cap worn beneath his turban. So, if I am successful, no one will ever see it. I didn’t have a pattern to go on, which makes this dull white cotton WIP a little more interesting. The goal is to have it fit snuggly, ending right above his ears.

The real question is: will he wear it?

intergalactic flora

J’ai fini tricoter le chapeau! Is that correct? Probably not; it has been quite some time since last I took a French class. Anyway, I finally scribbled something onto my Berry Bramble and let it stay. It was not inspired by anything exactly, just a bit of meandering plant-life from another planet. The blue yarn is part of that recycled sweater I dyed a few weeks ago and the green was some handspun I had lying around. It’s interesting, eh?

no flaps today

Knitting has been finished on the Berry Bramble hat for a few days. I added one earflap, but reconsidered after trying it on. For whatever reason, it just looked silly on my head. Every time I try to make an earflap hat I decided not to put on the flaps!

I did enjoy working with the handspun yarn, though. I could definitely feel a difference in the evenness, this skein having been spun worsted-style. I was surprised to see the way the colors settled. The top, and second half of the skein, is much more blue than the bottom.

The next adventure is to add embroidery and embellishments. I’ve been stitching, unstitching, stitching, unstitching. I just don’t like ANYTHING I put on there! The yarn is too chunky and looks silly. Or the design is plain ugly. It’s still up in the air at this point.

last minute photos

Of last minute gifts! At least Rich’s hat got done relatively early. I worked on it the weekend I was in Cleveland with Cosy. Originally I had gone through my stash and was going to make it green and brown. Then I realized those are two colors he cannot see very well (they look very similar, I guess). So instead I made an emergency trip to Hobby Lobby, since I have no yarn shop, and bought the yarn right in front of him. I think it was store brand. He seems to be pleased regardless of my struggles.

For my Florida sister, I made this little zippered pouch. It’s from Weekend Knitting; the pattern is the Felted Stash Accessories Bag by Leigh Radford. I used stash yarn, mostly Brown Sheep Company Lamb’s Pride, which has always been a favorite yarn of mine. When I first saw it in my first real yarn shop, I fell in love with their colors. Ever since I’ve loved singles.

Putting the zipper into this was a challenge. In fact, my mother did it on Christmas Eve. I had never done it before and neither had she. Maybe in the future I will attempt a zipper again, but with fabric, not felt.

wooly weekend

This weekend I went to Pittsburgh to visit with Cosy and Lauren and celebrate with Knit One on their 3rd birthday. Apparently the yarn sale frenzy in combination with the first full-sized sweater euphoria infected me and I bought yarn for my next sweater. What will it be? I’m not entirely sure, but it won’t be a cardigan. I chose three colors in order to do stripes because knitting solid colors seems too monotonous to me (even though I have a generally monotonous style). Right now I’m considering a few different patterns including: (ravelry links) Tubey and Button Me Up Pullover. I really like the idea of top-down raglan seamless. The least amount of finishing and sewing the better.

Also finished the Pixie Hood by Cosy for the fashion show that took place at the yarn shop. It was a fun knit that I was able to complete on Friday. I think the 32 stitch kitchener down the back took longer than the entire hat. It’s a cute pattern. I love things that have a pointy top, so that’s my favorite part about this.

Pattern = Pixie Hood (ravelry link)
Yarn = Malabrigo Chunky in Snow Bird

baby items complete!

As the title indicates, the baby items are complete. I worked on the hat Saturday and Sunday, finishing it in the evening. I looked around for a hat pattern that I wanted to use, but I didn’t see any that I suited my needs. So, I started knitting and just went for it! It needed to be pointy and amusing on top, so I decreased very slowly. Not having much experience “designing as I go” (or whatever) it just became what it became. I wish I could see it on an actual infant, but I do not know any. 

The person who requested them is very pleased. I’m happy that I finally got to knit baby things for a real baby. And that I didn’t follow a pattern for the hat. All the pieces together: