Year in Review

Looking back, I managed to knit less. It seems I completed 20 projects this year. I must confess to reading a whole lot more. I devoured read 113 books. The books varied in length from novellas to full length sagas, there were some classics in the mix along with brain candy (romances) and a few non-fiction works.

My recent projects were all gift items or commissions. I completed two hats this week, a pair of house shoes and one head band from Knitty.com.

Calorimetry was made with Lion Brand's wool-ease yarn.


The dog blanket/sweater was made with Caron's Simply Soft. Yes it's an inexpensive acrylic. A dog will be wearing it and the owner doesn't know how to care for good wool

She requested I include a horse shoe for luck. If you click on those images, you can view the larger sized photo.

Hat number one is a simple cover

No real pattern, just cast on and start knitting until it was done.

Hat number two is a version of something found in the Leisure Arts book: Slouchy Beanies.


This year I have also discovered taking pictures of hats in the mirror is a challenge when you have short arms.

November daze

How time flies. I looked at the calendar yesterday and couldn't believe it was already the middle of November. I need to check the stashed presents and see who in the family I still want to shop for.

Along with copious amounts of reading (at 98 books for the year and counting), I have been working on smaller projects. The pumpkin bag I made up for Halloween inspired me to make a slouchy hat. I followed the pattern until the decreases matched a hat opening, changed to a pale green yarn and worked a few rows of ribbing.


I am not only amused by the results, I think I now have a hat to wear while shoveling the end of our driveway. If oncoming traffic cannot see this hat, they are blind.

In other knitting news, I am so far behind on my pay it forward knitting it isn't funny. My only excuse is procrastination. I have finished another project off that list and am going to be shipping it out this week.
Say hello to Norberta


The pattern is from Knitty.com, one of my favorite online knitting newsletters. I like the slightly puzzled air this little dragon has. It's as if everything the humans around her do is a wonder to her.

Last night, the hound and did some volunteer work. If it weren't for my dog, I probably would never be able to stand or move after an hour in a metal folding chair. Arthritis, dampness, plus fibromyalgia = a not happy body.
My fun discovery of the night is that the dog can recognize my phone's new ring tone. One week, with minimal calls and she was able to alert me to the phone ringing in my purse where it was sitting under a mound of coats.

On to the next project.

Knit and Natter

I've been slow finishing up my last scarf for the Super Bowl project. The pattern is sweet. Knitting 325 stitch rows can be boring. I really miss having a television. One good Ghost Hunters marathon and the scarf would be done.


It's a pretty slip stitch pattern. Unfortunately the pattern is not fully reversible. My only other complaint, I do not have quite enough yarn to complete the last pattern repeat:


I may go ahead and bind off since the scarf is almost 6 inches wide.

The other experiment in color work was a knit hat. I recently finished this little gem and sent it off to a friend.


The pattern can be found in Quick Nordic Knits by Ann-Mari Nilsson. The book is very nice. Patterns are easy to read and there are a variety of skill levels to play with while knitting. I checked a copy out of the library and felt compelled to knit the above hat. Thus showing my fondness for slouchy hats and berets.

In other news, I've decided to deactivate my account on facebook. This is in response to repeated "updates" and new features which make chatting with the relatives more complicated instead of simple. Snail mail is much less stressful even if it does cost money. Seriously, having something update and move each time a contact sneezes let alone likes something or writes a comment is almost seizure inducing. It certainly is nausea inducing.

Blankets, Scarves and Hats, Oh My!

It's winter here in the Midwest which means the weather forecasters are predicting gloom, doom and end of the world scenarios. So far, it's been a normal winter.

With that in mind, and my resolution to knit more, I've dug in my stash and started to use yarns I bought with certain projects in mind. I am finally getting around to them.

I made one baby blanket and have two more on the needles


Then there is the blue and white insanity which is called the Super Bowl Scarf Project
This is my third contribution to the cause


I wanted to make something quick. I needed to see progress in my knitting and pulled out a partial skein of bright red wool along with a skein of mixed red, blue and purple wool blend.
When I cast on, I thought it would be nice to make a beret. I was too lazy to dig out a pattern and put 82 stitches on a US size 10 needle, closed the circle and managed not to twist the stitches. That is always cause for celebration.
After an inch of k2p2 ribbing, I began to knit plain. I decided to place markers every 21 stitches and increased one stitch before and after each marker on every fourth row. This gave me a nice shape. When I thought I had enough increases, I decreased one stitch front and back of each marker at every fourth row.
The decreases eventually made a need to switch to double point needles, and once I was down to 8 stitches, I cut the yarn, slipped the tail through those final stitches and tightened up the hat.
After two rounds in the wash with my darks (heavy agitation, lots of pounding) the hat was the right size for me to wear.


I love it when a plan comes together

This Hat Which is Completed

I did it, I finally got the hat down to normal hat size. There was great rejoicing at this achievement.


It sits a little high in this photo because of my hair clip. There is enough room to wear the hat with my hair pinned up, yet it is snug enough to not blow off if my hair is down.

Knit in the round on US size 9 needles with Fritisgarn wool. This is a bulky yarn from Iceland (I think the band is in Icelandic) and it knits up very nicely. The yarn does make a solid material when felted that has enough play in it to allow for shaping.



In other news, I'm currently listening to the sounds of rattan being loaded into the truck for tomorrow's Crown Tourney. The shop will be there rain or shine. I'm staying home with the guard pets and doing a bit of baking. The weather has been good for staying indoors and being productive in a warm environment.

This Hat Which Needs Felting

Last weekend, I went to the Corydon fiber festival. It's not Rhinebeck by any stretch of the imagination. However, there were some good bargains to be found. I also had nice visits with other textile fanatics.

I had planned on knitting in the car on the way there and back. Alas, I ran around the house like a mad woman looking for the right sized needle the night before and the morning of our trip and had no luck. I took along the yarn and pattern just in case I found the right sized circular needle and found zero circular knitting needles. Oh well. If I'd been knitting I may not have seen the deer, the fall leaves or the neat older homes along the way.

We got home safely and I found the blasted needle. It was hiding in my basket, laughing at me. I cast on red Fristisgarn:

and got to work. I knit a few times during the week. Then today came the big burst of "just another row" followed by, "I can see the end" and the inevitable "why don't you get larger?"


I did eventually have to switch to double points and an hour after that, I had the following:




I am not too sure of the brim. It may need to be a touch wider. Tomorrow this hat will be taking the big plunge into hot water with lots of beating and felting. If all goes well, it will be a person sized hat.