Three Hats

Way back in October, I wrote that I would be taking a break from knitting hats for charity. I had good reasons for my decision but what I didn't take into account is that I always like to have what I call my handbag project. This is a project with no deadline for finishing and can be picked up and put down with ease. This is what my charity knitting used to be until I decided I needed to make an item each month. So a charity project was started in December for my "handbag project". And when I finished that another one was cast on. I have also finished that one as I made myself knit something when I was sick.

So although I declared that I was taking a break, it looks like charity knitting is still part of my work.

This is the hat I started in December and finished in January.



The pattern is Scarlet and is the second time I have knit it. I feel that this one came out bigger but I have no way to check as the first one was sent to Operation Gratitude last year. The blue is the same yarn as the first one but the brown is different so maybe just the brim is bigger.

And this is the hat I started in the middle of January and finished in the middle of February.



I was trying to use up bulky yarn but didn't succeed so I can probably work another exactly the same. The pattern is The Vermonter available free on Ravelry.

Looking at these two hats I wonder why I bother looking for patterns I could just knit a basic hat and add colour/pattern as my mood struck.

The third hat I have finished will be for a gift. Although it will be a Christmas gift I wanted to get it on the needles so that the yarn didn't languish in my stash.



I found the pattern by searching on Ravelry for other projects made with the yarn. It used the whole ball of yarn so I had a number of ends to sew in as I had cut the yarn when working another project plus there had been a knot early on in the yarn which I had undone. I really like the finished item. It is very stretchy and you can turn up a brim so will fit a lot of people. The pattern is by Plymouth Yarn Company, the distributors of the yarn and it can be found here.

My current handbag project is a simple child's hat that will be a gift.

I did buy yarn for the hat I wish to knit for my niece. I chose this yarn as I have quite a bit of cream colour in my stash and the pattern I am planning on making is two colour. I had intended to purchase turquoise but opted for the teal.



The timing was right as it was on sale at Michael's. I seriously debated buying more to use for charity hats but I have decided to wait until I have used up every last inch in my stash.

Some Works in Progress

I meant to throw in some photos of current projects into the last post but forgot.



This is the pi shawl I cast on on 22 July with the aim to finish on 14 March. This should have been easy to achieve but I didn't work on it at all in November so there was a lot of catch up needed. I am now on target and ready to bind off.



This is the hat I mentioned in the last post. I really want to finish this this weekend so that I have a finished item and skein of yarn out of the stash in February.



And this is a sock I am going to frog. I cast these on at the beginning of January but haven't really worked on them. The yarn is by Candy Skein and I wrote about it here. It is hard to choose a pattern that will go well with this yarn but now there are more projects on Ravelry in this colorway and I have decided that a pattern that is predominantly stocking stitch will work well. I have chosen another pattern but not started yet as it will be my March cast on.

Too Sick to Knit or Read

And I've wanted to write this post bemoaning this fact for quite a few days but I've been too sick to write.

I've been sick for two weeks. The first week was filled with me saying I'm getting better and I'd surround myself with books and knitting and laptop but all I'd end up doing was watching tutorials from The Missouri Star Quilt Company. A pretty brainless occupation. The second week was pretty much the same although I did push myself to work on my Pi shawl each day as the finishing date is very close.

The knitting on the Encore striped hat is finished but I cannot muster the energy to kitchener the seam. There are 70 stitches, so not a task to be undertaken lightly at the best of times. But once I have done that I just need to sew in ends (and there are a few as I had to use every inch of yarn) and the hat is finished. Maybe that needs to be my Sunday morning project as it would be nice to have it completely finished in February. My cardigan is also waiting for a bit of energy. I worked until it was the same length as the cardigan shown in this post and then put the stitches on waste yarn. I want to block it to see how the length/width changes before I bind off or work more rows but that requires too much thought right now.

I did manage to finish a hat for charity because I really put my mind to it. And now I find I need more yarn. I have plenty of scraps and a pattern designed for scraps but it will not work as a handbag project. I was going to make a hat for my niece with the navy yarn I originally purchased for this project. But I will use it for charity hats and buy a different yarn for the gift. Either way I have to purchase yarn.

Going back to being too sick to knit or read. It strikes that if one is lazing around the house doing nothing, one should still be able to do the things one loves. At least I could still drink coffee.

A Little Stash Enhancement

I started off writing that I had gone nearly a month without buying yarn and then I thought but I frequently do that. And just a quick look at my stash shows that I bought yarn at the beginning of October and then didn't buy again until the end of December. And that yarn was all for gifts. So it must be the beginning of the year that made me aware that no yarn buying had occurred.

Before I tell you what yarn I bought, let me tell you what yarn I didn't buy. My knitting friend that I meet once a week for knitting (at Starbucks - love it) told me that one of the local yarn stores had got in a shipment of Hedgehog Fibers and I should go quickly if I was interested. I seriously thought about it but decided not to, mainly because the Yarnover Truck was coming to town.

A couple of weekends ago it made an appearance at the brewery where my Tuesday night knitting group meets. I like to support the "truck" because I would like them to remain in business. They carry different yarns, none on the low end, and have many of the yarns knitted up into patterns.

This time rather than looking at patterns beforehand and then hoping to find yarn that would work with at least one, I decided to buy yarn that caught my eye and buy enough to knit something but I was to try to avoid fingering weight as I have quite a bit of that especially tonals and variegateds.

And this is what I got:



I have heard of Western Sky Knits but never seen it in person and the yarn was beautiful. I was very tempted by a deep blue that was available in different weights but decided that could be a purchase next time I visit the Truck.

The colours will be worked together into a shawl but I am not showing a photo of them together as the one I took gave a blue tinge to the grey yarn.