The cobbler's children...

... or in this case, my husband, rarely gets handknit gifts. I did make him a lovely Botanic Hat, but it is too itchy for him, and so he wears it off his forehead - not a great way to keep a guy warm.  So, I was determined to make him a warm hat with something much softer. Much MUCH softer.

Last year (2011) at NY Sheep & Wool I purchased a ball of Briar Rose 100% cashmere - a dk weight and about 200 yards. Dyed in dark greens, browns, and a little bit of dark mustard, I thought it would be perfect for my dark-eyed, dark-haired husband.

I started the hat in September? October? And knit the brim on size 7s, until it was abandoned in a panic over getting class samples knit.  Upon reflection I realized I really should go down a needle. And what if I made it too short? My husband has a large head.  Time passed, and the little project remained in its bag until Christmas Eve. When I had an epiphany.  I took it out of the bag, ripped it out, cast-on again, and away I went.

So, yes. I did give P a hat that was still on the needles. Being a knitter's husband, he took it all in stride, and handed it back to me so I could continue to work on it.

I love buying a luxury skein now-and-again, especially if the project intended will use up almost every precious inch of yarn, and so I designed the hat as I went.  It is knit top-down, in 1x1 ribbing, a little tedious, yes, but quite attractive, very stretchy, and it looks tidy. Plus, it works beautifully with my favorite finishing technique - the tubular bind-off.

I put the hat on him around lunch time, and he hasn't taken it off yet.  No complaints of itchiness one bit. Problem solved!

And my leftovers?

Approximately 19 inches of yarn. That is a good use of luxury yarn!  

Now I hope to write it up into a pattern, and because it is knit top-down, it can be knit with just about any gauge - one continues to increase until the proper number of stitches are obtained and then knit for length.

I am so happy I managed to crank this out for him.  He is a worthy knitting recipient.

Lima i-cord scarf

I would never consider myself a "designer" by any stretch of the imagination - I don't try to make my living out of my little creative endeavors. But I love to get an idea, mull it over, play with colors and work out the details.

The Lima i-cord scarf has been banging around in my brain since June, and I am glad I finally committed it to paper. My prototype was made up of (discontinued) alpaca blends I had in my stash. It is always frustrating to design in a yarn that is no longer available, but it can be really useful for working out ideas....

... such as the length of a scarf.... how to make stitches line up when you *really* should have been paying attention a bit better.... and the little fiddly bits.

Pattern: Lima i-cord scarf prototype

Yarn: Pink: Alpaca Fiber Exchange Baby Alpaca merino, in pink babe. Light blue: The Fibre Company Babe in spearmint. Teal: The Fibre Company Khroma WW in Aegean.

Needles: US 9 (5.5 mm) dpns and 32-inch circular, and a size US 2 32-inch needle.

But when it is time to knit the sample it is time to find a yarn that will hopefully be on the market for a few years, and if you are REALLY lucky, they won't discontinue one of the colors on you.

Pattern: Rowan Lima i-cord scarf

Yarn: Rowan Lima (84% alpaca, 8% merino, 8% nylon. 109 yards/50 g) in Argentina (dark grey), Ecuador (pink), and Andes (light grey). 1 skein of each.

Needles: US 9 (5.5 mm) dpns and 32-inch circular, and a size US 2 32-inch needle

Super luxurious in worsted weight alpaca - this yarn is seriously soft and the chain construction allows you to knit air into your project, making it very warm and extra squishy.  

It took me one week to knit two scarves and write the pattern.  Not bad, if you don't factor in the four months it was an elusive, amorphous idea.

I am so glad that this scarf is now a corporeal knitted object.  It is living at Woven Art, and you can pick up the pattern for free if you buy the yarn. But if you have your own yarn, or just want the pattern...

... it is available for $5.

... the only thing is, I think it spawned another idea.

Autumn inspiration

Trail Walk, October 2010

I hope to get out on the trail again soon.  It has been a busy busy month so far, and won't quiet down again until November, at the soonest.  I want to do everything, and I want to do nothing. I need to get so many things done before winter really begins, but I also want to be able to enjoy the sensation of the seasons changing and slow down time for just a little while.  

I am now trying to plan out my last classes for the year.  It is always hard to predict what knitters may want to learn or explore.  I have some fun ideas brewing, and I can't wait to try them out.

Two Millend Hats

In Northern Michigan you can find Stonehedge Fiber Mill, a wonderful mill that produces three types of commercial yarn: Shepherd's Wool, Shepherd's Wool DK, and Shepherd's Wool fingering. They also process for ranchers and spinners.  When Deb doesn't have enough yarn on one cone to complete a skein for a dyelot she makes millends skeins. Like snowflakes, no two are alike.  These crazy and unique skeins are a lot of fun to work with.

For the Mid-Mitten Shop Hop this year I designed two millend hats that use two simple color techniques; striping and slip-stitches.  For added interest I cast-on with the Channel Island Cast-on. If you know how to do a long-tail cast-on you should have no trouble picking up the Channel Island.  The technique gives you a picot edge that is great to use with knit 1, purl 1 ribbing.

L: Multi Stripe Hat R: Dashes Hat

For each hat you will need a skein of Classic Elite Lush and a single Stonehedge Fiber Mill millend. The millend will make several hats, but you will need a new skein of Lush for each hat you do, unless like me you make a bunch of them, in which case you will eventually be able to put all your Lush scraps together into another hat. (!!!)

The pattern is $5 and includes written instructions, a chart for the Dashes Hat, and the instructions for the Channel Island Cast-on.

Bramble Stitch Scarf

Bramble Stitch Scarf

Many years ago I wrote up a little scarf pattern that is still available over at Nepenthe's Misadventures.  This scarf was a Christmas present for my sister.

I still get hundreds of hits a week for that pattern, but because I can't update all the links that head my way, and because Blog-city will be disappearing in 2011, I have a handy-dandy link to the new pdf!

download now

Enjoy!

Little Acorn Hat

Autumn is my favorite time of year. Where I live in mid-Michigan acorn nuts start falling from the trees in late August, often coming down still green and then ripen into dark red brown nuts.  Our back yard is full of squirrels trying to store away their winter supplies, and the dog is beside himself trying to chase every last squirrel out of our yard.  Last Monday I got a bee in my bonnet to knit an acorn hat.  So I bought the yarn, cast on, did some calculations and ta-DA!

Great Oaks from Little Acorns Grow

This adorable little acorn hat is available in preemie, newborn, baby, and toddler sizes.

It takes two balls of Mission Falls 1824 wool in different colors.

The leaf embellisment is not included in the pattern, but can be found in Lesley Stanfield's book, 100 Flowers to Knit & Crochet, St. Martin's Press, p. 56

Pattern: Little Acorn Hat, a meg croft design

Yarn: 2 balls Mission Falls 1824 wool. 1 ball color 008, Earth (cap color) and 1 ball 014, Dijon (nut color). 

Needles: US 6 DPNS

Gauge: 5 stitches per inch in stockinette stitch

Available for purchase now on Ravelry.


I made my acorn with a greenish nut, but you can also choose a reddish brown - Mission Falls 1824 wool in Russett, color 010 would be perfect.