First Project of 2008

This was one of the gifts planned for Christmas that just didn't happen. It ended up being a quick little project for January and will go to the recipient next week.



Pattern: Ann Norling Kid's Fruit Cap
Yarn: Cascade 220 Superwash
Needles: Clover bamboo US size 7

Mods: to make a hat for a 20 inch adult-sized head, I cast on 90 stitches. In addition, I spaced the seeds every 10 stitches instead of 8 to make them more proportional to the larger hat, and the leaves at the top were formed from 10 stitches instead of 8. This gave two more rows to decrease to the top stem and made leaves in a larger and more proportional size. (I thought the 8-stitch-wide leaves in the adult-size blueberry hat I made were too small.)

I've already washed it (love the superwash!) and let it dry flat. The yarn blooms a bit in the wash, giving it a nice softness, but my pictures from before turned out better.

If this hat looks familiar, that's probably because I made a baby-sized one last fall. In fact, I got both hats out of the same balls of yarn with plenty of green and a fair amount of red left over.

Baby Knits

I'm blessed to have many babies in my life to knit for. Aren't they cute?


Umbilical Cord Hat that I knit for little c, picture taken by his mama 10/7/2007
[aside for Wanderlust Lost Knits ... yes, this is R's baby! Can you believe it?]


Strawberry Hat I knit for my dear Peanut, at the pumpkin patch, 10/7/2007

I finished the 13th repeat of the kimono shawl and am temporarily putting aside while I push on through to the end of the chevron. But, in case I start to go crazy, I've also cast on for the stitch-sampler baby blocks in this gorgeous Cascade 220 rainbow:



I could just take pictures for hours. There are more on my Flickr too.



I started with the purple heather. OMG, I love this yarn (color, texture, knitting with it) so much I want to knit a sweater in it. Me, a sweater. I don't wear sweaters, especially ones made of wool. I live in the Pacific Northwest, sweaters are too hot here. I don't look particularly good in sweaters. And it would take a lot of yarn and stitches to knit a sweater that would fit me well. But wouldn't Rogue as a cardigan or Arwen look just lovely in this yarn?

Strawberry Hat

I'm glad to report I got by auntie knitting mojo back, and I've already completed the strawberry hat for my little nieceling. Since I'm in the middle of two projects that just keep going and going and going, it was really, really nice to do a quick little project and have a finished object already! This knit up so quickly I didn't have time to take pictures in progress.



Pattern: Ann Norling Kid's Fruit Cap
Yarn: Cascade 220 Superwash
Needles: Clover bamboo US size 7
Size: Six months (16 inches diameter)



This was my first stranded project and once I figured how to wrap the extra yarn when there was a long stretch of red in between the "seeds," it was easy going. It's a great little project. It's super cute and people love it! I've already had three friends ask me if I can make it in an adult size.

Pattern available for sale here. Similar pattern available for free online here.

I had a little falling down

I had a little falling down. Now, when I write those words, I assume you know what I mean, because I assume anyone reading knitting blogs is reading the Yarn Harlot and she writes fairly often about her fallings-down and, as far as I know, the term "falling down" as it applies to yarn comes from her. But I'm not sure she's ever technically defined it, so let me 'splain what I mean by "a little falling down."

First, this is not a falling down:

Cascade 220 Superwash Wool in color #809 (red) and color #801 (green)

You didn't think 2 skeins was a falling down anyway, did you? But here's why: I was recently at the half-birthday party for my favorite six-month old, whom I'll call Peanut. Her Nana had sent her a really cute pumpkin hat which she was wearing. But the pumpkin hat was store-bought and made from cotton jersey fabric. Now, if there is one thing that can be knit well, it's baby hats that look like fruit and vegetables. In fact, I purchased the pattern for such hats when my little Peanut was one month old. Seeing her in the little store-bought pumpkin hat made me realized how derelict I was in my aunterly duties. And I know how fond her mama is of the strawberry hat, and in fact, I've been promising a hat since Peanut was a month old. So, off to the LYS for yarn for a strawberry hat - which I've already cast on and am two inches in.

See, perfectly justifiable, overdue even - not a falling down. This isn't a falling down either:

Cascade 220 Heathered Wool in color #9454 (purple), #2447 (blue), and #9461 (green) and Cascade 220 Wool in #4147B (yellow), #9465B (orange), and #2413 (red).

It may look like a falling down because of the lascivious way in which the yarn is photographed. But again, it's a well-thought-out, overdue purchase. See, at this half-birthday party, little Peanut was holding court, sitting on the couch, playing with her many toys. Grabbing them, pulling them to her, chewing on them. And I thought back to a darling knitted baby block pattern that I've had in the back of my mind for probably a year now and realized that they should have been done already because six months is the perfect age for playing with them. So, on the same trip to the LYS I also got the yarn to make blocks.

See, not a falling down. Plus the yarn in such great colors will be good fodder for photographs, and that's a worthwhile cause too, especially since I've signed up for a photography certificate course that just started.

I have this rule that I only buy yarn with a project in mind. Technically, I've only broken that rule once (well, until yesterday, anyway), and that was handspun camel down and only one skein and it would have been a crime to pass that up, right? Then there is the yarn bought for projects that didn't work out and ended up making a home in the stash without a project attached that somehow don't count against my little rule. The truth is, I don't really like having a lot in my stash, because it stresses me out to have yarn nagging me from the closet and the closet really isn't that big. And I'm not big on consumerism (despite my falling down) and don't really want to present myself that way. But, beautiful yarn is beautiful yarn.

To me, a falling down is an impulsive purchase, most likely extravagant, and without a project in mind for that yarn. Not exactly blatant consumerism, but closer to that than I'm really comfortable with. Perhaps the Yarn Harlot's definition differs, but that's what it means to me. My falling down is that I signed up for Sundaras' new "Seasons" Yarn Club yesterday.

I occasionally flip through her "currently available" list and dream, but without a project in mind, I haven't been able justify the cost. I have no desire to get caught up in the drama of the competition for a limited yarn when she makes an update, so oftentimes the yarns I really like are gone when I go looking. I don't knit socks (yet) so the sock club hasn't appealed. But Tiennie posted yesterday about the new Seasons Club, so I clicked on the link to check it and bam! a falling down, and I had subscribed.

Somehow, it feels better to share the good news.

PS I chose Winter.