Push! Push!

Ten More Hats.




I am nearing the end, but I think there may be Ten More Yet.

I'm sneaking in a miter here and there, but otherwise I've managed to be fairly faithful.

And while part of me thinks I won't know what to do with myself (knitting-wise) once I'm done with the hats, another part of me is very much looking forward to putting the finishing touches on Posy, those Hokusai socks, the garter squares blanket . . . even the Rose Garden hat, with all of its fiddly bits and pieces!

Almost there . . .

Okay, Freaky . . .

So, I had these tomatoes.

Been in the kitchen . . . oh . . . a while.

Some were bad, and I tossed them.

But one looked okay.

Albeit a little different than the norm.

It looked like it might have a dark centre -- which you do get in some tomatoes, but I didn't remember these having dark centres when I bought them -- and there were a couple of bumps on the surface -- which I also didn't remember, but I hadn't been paying all that much attention, and they were "organic," so little defects are to be expected.

Still it looked basically fine, nice even, and I decided to use it up last night before it joined its brothers and bit the dust. Waste not, want not, and all.

Surprise!

My first reaction, as these little green things *sprung out* when I cut my poor tomato open, was approximately:

"BUGS! WORMS??? IN MY TOMATO? HOW????"

Only with way more swearing and even a high-pitched girly scream or two.

(Yes. I'm a little "high strung," and am entirely hostage to my imagination. In my defense, the kitchen was not well lit at the time.)

But then the wormy green things stopped writhing, and I decided it was probably safe to approach, no matter how disgusting chopped up green worms might be, and . . .

Not worms.

Sprouts.

The tomato seeds sprouted, in situ:




WTF?

You are too eager, my tomato, my friend!

Harbinger of the apocalypse?

Something to think about.

Also, more hats:




While these may not look any different or more exciting than the last batch, they represent a major milestone: I've fully slogged my way through the multicoloured mohair.

Only the blue remains.

Yee haw.

Are We There Yet?

(No.)

Five more hats . . .




Some of us are getting a little bored with this . . .




Some of us remain enigmatic . . .




And some of us are beginning to feel like that poor Mr. Cubbins.

At least there aren't 500 of them.

More Hats, Plus . . .

Six more hats . . . I think that brings us to twenty hats done? So maybe 1/3 of the way? I'm really not sure anymore -- although I once estimated that I had 66-hats-worth of the mohair, I've lost some to waste, fraud, abuse and experimentation.

Individually, these go very quickly. Like a little knitting snack. Maybe two hours per? I think probably less.

But on the whole . . . Well, I'm considering joining the Slogalong. For moral support.

For the green hats, I've used Cascade 220 Superwash. The yellow and red are in Lamb's Pride. I think that the Lamb's Pride will ultimately be warmer, but it has less yardage per skein, so there's always a danger of running out before the second hat is finished.

And here's the plus:




Posy?




Blocking?

Haaaaa! Take THAT, Japanese Lessons!!! (I should probably admit that I made no progress with the Japanese the entire weekend. The Japanese and the fancy knitting really do seem to be mutually exclusive.)

I'm still a little worried that I'll have a Freya Redux.

I'm pretty sure that I knit the right size this time. (Or at least chose the correct size to knit.)

But knitting Posy requires that you have a very special relationship with your tension. She is lace, so it is a little difficult to re-check your tension whilst knitting.

I did do a swatch, all those months ago, which was absolutely perfect.

And Posy's back looks to be just right.

But over time, I must have knit tighter and tighter, because the front is simply not as wide as the back.

Again, Lace. So there's perhaps more forgiveness in it than there otherwise would be.

But still . . .

If it doesn't fit me right, it will probably fit Mom perfectly.

Again.

I suppose blue is her favorite color . . .

Gah!

Hat!

I think this is #14?

Hat!

duck . . . duck . . .

duck . . .




duck . . .




duck . . .




duck . . .




GOOSE!




So that's 12 of 66 hats for Dulaan done, except for the washing, which I plan to do way later, en masse. Still unknown whether the scarf is for Dulaan or for the Doctor.

While You Were Drying

The blocking of Freya continues. She must be somewhat dryer than she started (she must, right???), but it sure doesn't feel that way. I had hoped to wear her to a party this coming Saturday, but that is seeming less and less likely.

Possible.

But not likely.

In the meantime, I am kicking around some ideas for other green washable yarn candidates. I swatched and washed the Rowan Felted Tweed, and found that when they say the "gentle" cycle, they really mean it. Probably the stuff should be called "Rowan Only Partially Felted Tweed." It doesn't shrink dramatically or anything like that (at least not on the "gentle" setting), but it clearly wants to be slightly more felted than it is. Which means that if the sweater accidentally went through the regular cycle with everything else . . . disaster. So. Anyone tried the Valley Superwash from Webs?

On another front, the Doctor asked me for a hat, um, a while ago. (Last January!)

I had cast on for a double-knitted hat like Alison's months ago, but the yarn (127 Print) just wasn't working very well with the double-knitting technique. Or at least not with my double-knitting technique, which admittedly is lacking. 127 Print is a single ply, and I kept snagging just a few fibers every time I slipped a stitch. And there's one slip for every single darn stitch. The hat (all one inch of it) was looking pretty ragged. Also note the yarn is not so nice after frogging.

I was so down about the whole thing that I wasn't even considering it to be a real project.

But here I have some time on my hands. (Not really!) So I picked it up again.

I still wanted the functionality of double-knitting -- although I didn't need the double-knit stripes; my yarn would do that for me. But I wanted the hat to be two layers thick, reversible, and I wanted my cast-on edge to have all the stitches (extra stretchy) rather than later picking up another set of stitches for the inner hat / lining.

I figured I would have just enough time to re-start and finish this in perfect time for Freya to dry.

But I'm already done.

Two hats in one!
The Doctor likes the teal side best, but I'm partial to the black.


And . . . Freya is still quite damp.

But she could be dry any time now. (Really, she could!)

So I really can't start working on anything too big.

I'm actually considering weaving in some of those ends on that pink and green mitered square baby blanket . . .

Anything, really to avoid working on that scarf for V.

(Most of our "Winter Gift Exchange 2006" is actually happening in early 2007, so I've got plenty of quality procrastination ahead.)

Modified Short-Row Hat

So . . . I think I mentioned, oh, a few years ago, that I was trying to make this hat by Véronik Avery for one "V" out of Noro Kureyon.

And I think I mentioned that I was having a leeeeetle trouble with the gauge.

Ya see, the fit of this hat depends on both the stitch and the row tension being just right.

Somehow, simultaneously, my stitch gauge was too loose and my row gauge too tight. (Ugh.)

Which meant I was going to end up with a hat that was too tight around and whose brim was too long.

In other words, a hat for a Conehead toddler.

V is neither that young nor a Conehead.

What to do, what to do?

Stubbornly didn't want to change needles. (And, really, in which direction would I go? My tension was both too loose AND too tight. Holy Headache, Batman!)

The compressed row gauge probably isn't too much trouble, really. To fix that, I suppose, I could just add one additional repeat. (Or possibly two . . .)

But the pattern is not easily modified to be shortened, lengthwise.

Only thing for it is to continue to deny the problem and "Knit On!" (I don't think that's quite what E.Z. meant . . . )

Good thing, too, because upon finishing the knitting . . . bolt of lightening.

FLIP UP THE STUPID BRIM, GIRL!

So, we have:





I have my fingers crossed that this will fit V, because I really don't see any way to make further modifications. It fits me perfectly, and my head is sized in the norm. (Physically, at least.) So there is some hope.

Yeah, yeah, I hear you, I hear you: "Okay, yeah, that side looks okay, but what about that seam issue?"

So here's the flip side:




Yeah, but where's the seam?

Right here:




WHERE?

HERE:




Required scissors. And possibly too much hubris.

In the original pattern, there are "set up" and "end" sections. They are what make the half-diamonds, etc., at the beginning and ending of the knitting. This makes seaming easy, because you can just use a straight three-needle bindoff. But if the colours of those half-diamonds don't match up perfectly, it looks a little wonky.

My colours definately did not line up. (Who has that kind of luck, I ask you?)

So . . .

I skipped the "end sections" when I got to them. And then I SLASHED OUT the "set up" sections. (Tried unraveling, but you really can't unravel this from the bottom . . . probably a good thing, really, given how much trouble I had picking up stitches on this new edge.) Picked up what I hoped were the right number of stitches from where the "set up" sections used to be. THEN I did the seam, zig-zagging back and forth along the diamond edges.

The garter stitch part of the seam doesn't match exactly (the three-needle bindoff adds a row of knitting). And I wasn't able to perfectly fit the diamonds into eachother. But all in all, I think it is better than the alternative.

If I were to do this hat again (and I rather think I won't), I would skip the "set up" sections entirely. Maybe this would require fewer or additional stitches cast on, but since it is a provisional cast on, I think that it is probably possible to cast on way more stitches than one actually needs and just not use the extras.

I'll Bet You Were Beginning To Think . . .

. . . that I would never again finish a project! (I was beginning to think it.)

And although weaving in four ends barely counts, it does count. (Barely.)

Another Cloud Hat (A.K.A. Dulaan 2007 Item #9):





all the leaves are brown,
and the sky is grey . . .

Love is Irrational & Often in Poor Taste

What can I say?

I was in the store (buying that cotton) and someone new caught my eye.

Someone fuzzy.

And almost entirely fake.

But soooo soft . . .





(love)

(crush)

(giddy, giddy love)

Maybe no one else will understand.

But I don't care.





I'd keep the hat for myself (even though it is really not my color).

Only it isn't the right size.

So Dulaan 2007 it is. (Item #7.)

Soooo soft . . .

Recipe for a Lemon Hat

This Lemon hat is a variation on the Apple hat.



Here's what I did differently:

I used 1 by 1 ribbing instead of a rolled edge. I did this for two rounds, but the yarn I used did not have a strong tendency to curl. With a different yarn, you might wish to continue the ribbing for another few rows.

Then everything is the same until the crown decreases start. The basic idea is that, while an apple is sort of, kind of, round on top (bear with me), a lemon is sort of, kind of, well, pointy (for lack of a better word). So, instead of decreasing every row, I interspersed a few "knit around" rows here and there as I got closer to the top. Thus, to decrease:

Round 1: K6, K2tog. Repeat around. (63 sts left of the original 72)
Round 2: K5, K2tog. Repeat around. (54 sts)
Round 3: K4, K2tog. Repeat around. (45 sts)
Round 4: K3, K2tog. Repeat around. (36 sts)
Round 5: K2, K2tog. Repeat around. (27 sts)
Round 6: K around.
Round 7: K, K2tog. Repeat around. (18 sts)
Round 8: K around.
Round 9: K2tog. Repeat around. (9 sts)
Round 10: K around.
Round 11: K, K2tog. Repeat around. (6 sts)

Everything else I did just the same.

As for the yarn itself:

Cotton Licious. 100% cotton. I loved it in the skein. But I found it really unpleasant to work with.


It has one thick and one thin ply, and is plied pretty tightly so that it is bumpy. Looks neat, right?


And the texture of the knitted fabric has interest and a nice natural look.


But it does not handle smoothly at all.

I'll use up what I've got, but I won't be buying it again.

Do Not Try This At Home

Yesterday, I showed you a very messy watermelon. And I promised you that I had a plan.

Behold:

Here is a close-up of the inside.



Here is an even tighter shot of that first "seed," so that you may see all the details.



Step One: I pull on that black loop thingie just a bit to open everything up. Note that the black yarn goes through three loops of the red yarn. Note that it goes through the bottom red loop twice.



Step Two: I pull on the "free" end of the black yarn, starting from that black loop I loosened up. I pull it clean out of my knitting. (Don't worry. This doesn't cause it to unravel.)



Step Three: I stick a safety pin through the bottom red loop. (The one the black yarn previously went through twice, but now only goes through once.) This is the critical loop.



Step Four: I pull the rest of the black yarn out of the stitch.



Step Five: I repeat this process for each of the "seeds."



Here is a more artistic, but completely uninformative, picture of Step Five.



Step Six: I thread a darning needle with my black yarn. I put the needle through the bottom red loop and through one of the side red loops.



I pull the needle through, leaving a long enough tail of black yarn to knot off or weave in to prevent unraveling.

I remove the safety pin.



Step Seven: I thread the needle through the other side loop, then back through that bottom loop again.



I pull the black yarn through, but not too tightly.



I repair each of the seeds in this fashion, working diagonally rather than straight around. (If I worked straight around, I would have just redone what I spent all that time undoing. Major waste of effort. The whole point of this is to take advantage of the fact that the distance from seed to seed diagonally is much shorter than it is across. Hence a shorter float.)

I break the yarn wherever a longer float would be necessary. (I used a single length of yarn for each diagonal row. But I could have worked my way around the hat in a zig-zig fashion and would not have had to break the yarn nearly as many times. However, I did not realize this until I was already halfway done.)

End result:

Still pretty outside.



And now much prettier (and safer) inside.



BUT.

The thing is -- and I didn't time myself or anything -- I think I probably could have frogged and reknit most of the hat in the time it took me to effect the repair. Very fiddly.

So frogging was probably the "better" option.

But who among us could frog cute?

I Have Watermelon Issues

I present the Watermelon Hat, based on this pattern. Cute.





Until you look inside:





Aaaaahhhhhh!

Before embarking on this project, I also read the Yarn Harlot's pattern (scroll down a bit). The Harlot has you duplicate stitch on the seeds. Which does absolutely make more sense than stranding. But there's a pattern that says to strand, so it must be okay. And the stranded option would be way faster. (And some evil voice in my head whispered that duplicate stitch is for sissies.)

Doubt not the Harlot. For she is wise.

I convinced myself that the floats (although admittedly a little long) would be okay, because after all it is going on the baby's head, and therefore the floats are less likely to get little fingers tangled up in them. Good theory. But even if the fingers are safe (doubtful, really), the little ears most certainly are not.

So I really can't send this off in its present condition. The guilt would drive me to I don't know what.

I also don't want to frog it. (Who would?)

No worries.

I have a plan.

And it doesn't involve gymnastics.

Not literally, anyway.

The Blue Mohair Blues

It was a little daunting that that first Cloud Hat made no impression at all on that first ball of mohair. I thought I should find out what I was really up against. That is, just how many of these things would I need to knit in order to fully repair my mohair purchasing error?

So I knit and knit and knit and knit to determine how many Cloud Hats were in one of these balls.

The answer is 4.

I've already shown you the first one. Here are the other three (Dulaan 2007: Items 3-5*):





With four hats in each ball of mohair, with 15 balls of mohair to go, that comes to . . .

60 more hats???

Don't think I can do that.

(I thought that knowing the actual number of potential hats would be helpful somehow . . . but, somehow, it just isn't.)

Plus, it isn't as if I actually used that entire ball of mohair down to the last inch. There's still some left:





Which means there's probably two more hats hiding in the remainders of the 16 balls.

Um. Bonus?

*Unfortunately, I don't think I'm going to be able to take advantage of Ryan's news that F.I.R.E. is still accepting stragglers. These guys need a good washing before they're sent off, and there is no real chance that I'll get around to that in time. (Maybe I should make all 66 hats, and then wash them all in one go? That would make for an impressive blog entry . . . )

A is for Apple (Hat)

I'm interested in trying a couple of the different fruit hat patterns out there. The first is this Apple Hat. Turned out pretty well, although next time I might make it a little longer before decreasing. Much simpler pattern than one might imagine, looking at the end-product. I'm not sure I like the garter stitch leaves, but I also don't have any real idea what I would like better.





What I'm sure I like (love, really) is the Tahki Cotton Classic yarn I used for it. I've avoided this yarn in the past because it looked so, well, ropey. And a bit shiny. It didn't look like it would have any give at all. But (for cotton) it is actually pretty elastic. Sproingy. I'd use this yarn any day. (Probably will use it again shortly, as I have my eye on a watermelon baby hat next.)

In other news:





Can't claim the knitting is all done. There is a ribbed edge to be added on the v-neck. (And some crochet around the armholes, too. That doesn't really count, does it -- it's NOT KNITTING.) But the fact is that I've done all the knitting I can until the seaming is done.

So I'm basically done, except for the seaming.

Seaming.

Eh.