yay! a new hat !!! let it snow !!!!

snow is in the forecast. SNOW! i love snow. i live in the south. snow will always be an under appreciated novelty. but me, ... i love knitting and wool, and snow !

with snow, comes the opportunity to wear all the knitties. i won't dare pile up too many knits. and, if it does snow, i won't wear this (maybe).

it's a bit "airy" with the lace. and it's not all wool (hello caron's country 75% acrylic 25% merino). but, it's cute !

i found this pattern on and then had to go out and buy the magazine (before it disappears from the newsstands!). i didn't have anything readily available in stash, so i hit the local craft store for some cheap thrills.

this cheap was very rewarding. though the yarn is splitty, it is quite pretty and has a wonderful color palette. i don't know how it will hold up, pill, or otherwise wash. time will tell, as will i .....

specs:
yarn - caron's country in shade peacock.
needles - US 4 for twisted rib, US 6 (4mm) for rest of hat.
pattern - Vogue Knitting Holiday 2008, bobbled tam (#31), size M/L.

would i use this yarn again? i don't know ... depends on how the hat wears ....

YAY !!!

astare came today !!! click on photo for details .....

thank you ms. amanda !!!!

it didn't happen ...

the short row heel. i tried. the first time, i lost track of where i was, and had to rip back. the second time, i just decided it was ugly. i'm just not patient enough to search the web for knitting the perfect short row heel. so, i fell back on my old faithful heelflappen.


sing praise to the heelflap! it always fits. it's always pretty. it takes a little longer, but it's worth the time. and i love picking up the stitches along the side of the flap !

i sometimes think the heel is my favorite part of the sock. the beginning and end though ... bring on anxiety. yeah. bizarre. i know.

with this cold snap, i have been wearing my hats. today i am wearing my amanda hat, yesterday i wore my cassidy's cap, and the day before i think i was wearing my jacques cousteau hat. of course, all my versions are scattered here in the blog, and in ravelry.

my lastest cast on is from the 2008 holiday issue of VK magazine. it's called the bobbled tam (#31).


i cannot believe i am knitting bobbles. but, there's something about these bobbles (besides i don't enjoy knitting them) ... they make the hat look like an underwater sea creature. this hat is crazy with texture ... twisted stitch ribbing, lace, and bobbles.

it's a bit of a love/hate thing though. i love the pattern, love the color, hate 16" circs (makes my hands ache), like the yarn (caron's country ... a 75% acrylique 25% merino blend) ... and the color. i LOVE the color. it's peacock blue.

so, i knit. of course i knit. i cannot stop knitting. why would i want to (stop) ?!

shawls shawls shawls SOCKS

you'd have to imagine, that with all that shawl knitting, that my brain (and movie watching) would crave something different.

hence ... the sock. the basic sock. the no brainer sock. plain jane.

this is patons kroy socks stripes (colorway burnished sierra stripes). the kroy sock yarn is a little thicker than most fingering wt. sock yarns. its yardage is only 166yd/50gr. when i made mom's socks, there wasn't much yarn leftover. i did think, that if i knit these like mom's, that if i run out, i'll just use her leftovers on my toe.

and then i thought (not always the best plan of action) ... that perhaps i'll try the same short row heel from my pgr socks.

so, that's where i am now ... wrapping and turning .....

of course, the back up plan is to do my traditional heelflap. but, if i don't like the short row heel feel, i will rip and go searching for the other leftovers.

more lace

... but never too much lace. i have had the lace bug lately, and it's not yet gone away. a couple of months ago, i bought evelyn clark's _knitting lace triangles_ . i spent a lot of time reading the book, trying to understand the process, and knit a shawl in my head.

well, that doesn't work exactly. the best way to do it is to do it.


i roughly decided which lace patterns i liked in the book. i picked three, plus the border. the first pattern i chose was the flower lace motif.


it was the most open, airy, lace pattern in the book. i wanted the shawl to transition from transparent to opaque (in a knitterly sense). this lace pattern i used for the majority of the shawl. that was not an intensional design choice, as much as it was a "hmmm ... not really sure how much of this i should knit or how big the shawl will end up".

then i transitioned to the medallion lace motif. the lines were very similar, but heavier.


i then decided that my 2nd ball of yarn was dwindling, so it was probably time to switch again ... to the leaf lace motif.


i chose the leaf lace because it was the perfect transition to the border.

and how could i resist putting beads on the border? this time, i tried something different, one of the options in the book ... 3 beads on each point. i really like how this came out. i will use this option again.


overall, i am very pleased with the finished shawl.


i do have some wishes about the book though. i wish it had more options, like the sensational socks books or even the 1000 sweaters. i wish the lace options were more organic vs. geometric. but those are just wishful thinking.

you can certainly plan a shawl with this book, or just jump in loosely like i did. there are tons of possibilities with combinations of the lace patterns offered in the book. and then consider all the different looks depending on the yarn and needles used!

so, i do see myself using this book again and again ... it was fun to kinda make up a design as you go along, but within guidelines.

specs:
yarn - knitpicks 'palette' in blue, 2 balls plus a few yards of a 3rd.
needles - knitpicks options 4mm circs
beads - 8/0 (info faded on sticker)

one down, one to go ....

i sorta made a knitterly resolution for 2009. i thought, wouldn't it be great to not add to my socken orphanage, and actually knit mates ?!

click on photo for details
so, here i am, contemplating casting on for the mate. what the heck! okay ... short post ... gonna cast on.

and she ... finished !

yay! first FO of 2009! i am presenting the Jacques Cousteau Hat by typy.



i LOVE this hat. it's nice and snug with the ribbing, and very warm with the double layer around the ears and 100% wool. i'd like to make a pair of matching gloves, but i don't have time to revisit the store where i purchased the yarn. this means i'll either 1)forget it, 2)call and have it shipped, 3)ask mom to go by the next time she's in gastonia. hmmm .....

of course, it's hard to take a picture of the back of your own head, so i had mom model for me (thanks mom!).

a little outing

a couple of days ago, we went in search of a 'yarn store' in the next county. it was a bright and beautiful day ... a good day for a drive.


stuart dragged along his christmas present, the still unnamed socken creature, in blue.


we did have success. but calling the place we visited a 'yarn store' is quite a stretch. it was a cross stitch, gift shop, frame shop, with some yarn in the corner store. to this store's credit, what she had wasn't crap. the selection was just tiny.


she had a small stash of some cascade 220. and she had this red & black mix, which i'd not seen before in cascade 220 (col. 9544). it's knitting up like a ragg yarn, which i like the look of.


i couldn't decide between gloves or a hat. i settled on a hat ... Jacques Cousteau Hat. it's something i had queued awhile back on ravelry. i am a big fan of hats with the watchman's cap style, and a big folded over hem that can be pulled down to cover the ears. you can see all the knitted versions over on . i am about to finish, doing my decreases at the top.

i am knitting the women's size on US 5 needles.