Knit Meter

Monday, May 11, 2015

Two Hats

My friend very kindly sent me a photo of the hat I made for her. She likes it and I am really pleased that it fits. The hat is squishy garter stitch so not tight at all.



And I have crocheted a hat for Operation Gratitude. This month the suggestions were both from bulky yarn and I have some in my stash so it was not hard to choose the crochet option - it is called Area Code Beanie and is available on Ravelry. It was a really quick project that should have been finished in an evening, except the extra round of double crocheted that I finished with became single crochet half way around.

The yarn is Charisma by Loops and Threads and I used a 8.0mm hook.

Tuesday, May 5, 2015

I Can Show Some Gifts

except I don't have photos of one of them.

One of my friends is moving across the country so yesterday her and another friend and I went to lunch as a sort of goodbye lunch. Sort of as in the sale of her house fell through so she does not know when she will be moving. We decided we would just keep having lunches until the day actually arrives.

But as this was her "official" goodbye lunch, we had gifts for her. The other friend gave her different yarns with colours to remind her of different parts of California. I thought that was a really good idea, memories when she knits them.

I made her a couple of things. As she is moving to the east, she will need cold weather clothing, so I knitted a hat. I have made loads of hats but I wanted it to be a pattern I hadn't knitted before. You think it would be easy to find a pattern but for some reason it wasn't. I finally settled on a pattern from a book I happened to have checked out from the library - Circular Knitting Workshop: Essential Techniques to Master Knitting in the Round by Margaret Radcliffe.
The pattern is Jogless Garter Stitch Hat, which is knit in the round from the top down, in a helix pattern, so that there is no obvious seam. And I don't have a photo of it. The best I can do is a photo of the yarn. I used Baby Alpaca Grande by Plymouth Yarn, bought especially as I did not have anything suitable in my stash.



I loved the joglessness (love that word too) of this method of knitting and will try to remember for other patterns in the round that are other than one colour stocking stitch.

I also made her a project bag. She enjoys watching Downton Abbey and I found some special fabric on line with Downton Abbey on it. Rather than buy a set of five fat quarters where I would only use three, I bought 3 half-yards of fabric and made a slightly bigger bag. The third fabric had a stocking stitch knitted print.


Saturday, May 2, 2015

The Needles Are Occupied

The problem with having too many projects on the go is that you can spend all your time knitting and still not have a completed project to show off.

I did finish three things in April but one is a gift so no photos yet, one is the black shawl show at the end of this post, which leaves one item to show today.

My completed hat for Operation Gratitude.



The pattern was free on Ravelry when we started the knitalong but now costs $4.00. I used yarn thicker than the pattern so used the appropriate size needles and cast on 8 fewer stitches; I also worked way fewer rows and did not work the eyelet rows at the top.

I am pleased that I finished a charity project despite too much not finished. We went away for a week in the middle of the month and I started a new project; I am not sure if I am happy with it so it has been set aside for now as I am not sure what I would make with the yarn anyway. I am casting off a shawl but as I am beading the edge it is a slow process; I have started to seam another project and my straight forward project gets worked on periodically.

I had picked yarn and pattern for the Sock Knitters Challenge in April but they didn't get cast on until the end of the month but as they are entered in the challenge it is incentive to finish them. I took them to knit group yesterday and they were hard going but I realised that they are easier to work on when I don't have my contact lenses in as there is a lot of cabling. They went much faster this morning. Also I have been looking at the mystery sock pattern for this month. I have some yarn that I have not been able to match with a pattern and it looks like the mystery will be perfect. Yes that will create more thinks on the needles (and I started an Operation Gratitude item) but they will be finished eventually.