Completing The Trio

Hat number three,  off the needles. 

 

This is so much fun.  I'm sure I will get bored with it eventually - completing a FO every few days, frequently  having to search for new pattern, new yarn. Sigh!  But for now, after a season of several sweaters,  these quick and easy knits are so  much fun.

Today I have the 1898 Hat.  This one has often caught my eye on ravelry for its seemingly great fit.  And it did not disappoint. Although not as quick a knit as the 1920 Stripes, and not, perhaps, as stylish as either the Downton or the 1920s, it is nonetheless an excellent, warm hat that exudes pioneer practicality.

The unique construction begins with a garter stitch headband with built-in ear flaps.

 

 This piece is knit twice as wide as needed and folded in half to provide  double thickness over the ears.  The fold occurs along  a three-stitch, slip-stitch, line of stockinet stitches in the centre of the garter-stitch width.  Those three stitches, knit on the right side, slipped on the wrong side, form a  fold line  that is a bit tighter than the rest of the head band and therefore  rolls  inwards to hug the head when worn.  Great design.

Once the headband portion is complete, stitches are picked up around the edge and knit upwards to form the crown. Mine was knit with  Patons Classic Wool, left over from My Valentine and with 4.5mm needles.

It might not be the most fashionable but I love its no-nonsense, hats-are-meant- to- keep-your- head-warm style. 

1920 Stripes

Wow.  This   'year of the small'   is certainly motivating with its several-per-week FOs.

Sticking  with the same era as the Downtown Hat   I knit a 1920 Stripes.

A fairly new, Cabin Fever pattern, that  was such fun to knit.  Knit with chunky yarn on size 6mm needles, it flew by.  For me, fast almost always  equals  fun.

I used stash yarn for the entire hat.  The white for the stripes was leftover from my Moose Eh? sweater.  (You never saw that sweater as I ruined it so completely by thinking  I could design it better than the designer that I tossed it upon completion.) The yarn was a lovely, soft, chunky weight and its leftovers look great in this hat.  For the main colour, I used a doubled strand of Shelridge Yarns DK in blue.

With most Cabin Fever  designs, at first glance, a knitter might think - 'Oh yea.  Another sweater/hat/mitten pattern.'  Often though, there is  a technique or two of technical genius that makes the design a teaching tool within a pattern.  1920s Stripes is no exception.  Basically a toque it seems.  There are  some reverse stockinet ribs and short rows that create a longer-in-front-than-back style.

Reverse stockinet?? Short rows?? Been there done that, one might say.

BUT - the short rows are done with CF's latest, easy-peasy method - the Twinned Stitch Short Row.  Such an improvement  - easier to do and better results - than the wrap&turn type.Then there is the crown of this hat.  Four decrease points, two at the centre front and two at the centre back. When the stitches are decreased by 50% the opening is closed with a three needle bind off.  It looks like this.

 How cool is that?

Again, I say, Wow!   A big WOW! for the pattern - thanks, Deb.  And a lesser Wow! for my already growning list of FOs.  As of January 8, I have three pieces, all started and finished in the new year.  At this rate, I should see the end of my stash in 2016. Not many knitters can say that.

It's All About Small

In the wardrobe switchover this past fall,  when I switch out the fading season's clothing to make room for the upcoming season's duds, I realized I had lots of sweaters.  Some might say too many sweaters.  I said , 'enough!'

2016, then, will be a year of small knits.  Hats, cowls, slippers, shawls,  mittens and the like.  Which will give me a chance to use up more stash yarn. Those bits and bobs that are difficult to find a place for in sweater knitting.

First up, is another  Elizabeth McCarten pattern.  Elizabeth does great designing and pattern writing.  Last year, three times, I knit her patterns.  One   My Valentine and two Glenoras.  Now, I start 2016 with another McCarten. This one, Elizabeth offers for free and calls  the Neck Thingum.  My French grand children would call it  -  the 'Cache Cou.'  Literally - hide neck - how accurate is that?

A quick and easy knit, it is simply a turtle neck with a bottom flare that spreads out to cover the upper chest area inside a coat.   A very manly cowl, I'd say.  Mine is knit with Cascade 220 leftover from My Circular Yoke sweater.

Elizabeth calls her 'thingum' boring and unglamorous.  I call mine - a gift waiting to happen.

First Up For 2016

First up, for this year, was meant to be my final finish for last year. But it didn't happen.  I started it mid-December and tried, really tried, to finish it before the 25th.  I thought it would be so special to be able to deliver it in time for Christmas.  But it didn't happen.  Instead it became my first  new year finish.

This is the article in question.

A lovely, pale pink, weightless, bed throw.    It has a history.

Near Remembrance Day, our branch of the Royal Canadian Legion hosts a dinner for veterans and their families.  Fred always goes to the local Retirement Home and brings over any veterans able to attend.  Over the years we have gotten to know these fine people and they us.  This November, when Fred brought them into the hall, one of the female veterans came over to me and gave me a bag of yarn.
"I know you knit and I don't anymore, so I'd like you to have this," she said.

It was a bag, containing 12 balls, of this Italian loveliness.

You can see that even though each ball contains only 20 grams, there were nonetheless 200 metres per ball.  Fine, fine yarn.  Fine in quality too.  80 % Kid mohair and 20% Nylon.

What wonderous opportunities did this yarn hold for me?  What  should  I  knit with this?  Extremely fine mohair in a pastel pink.    An afghan, shawl or throw of sorts was the best use for it, I felt.  And who needs that more than someone in a retirement home.  I decided to knit a throw and gift it to the veteran who gave me the yarn. A win-win.  I would have the enjoyment of the knitting, she would have the enjoyment of the finished throw.

With the yarn held double, a simple garter stitch piece, I felt would be the best  to highlight the yarn.  I wasn't long into it though when I realized I had made a purl, turn-around row after the first 6 garter ridges and ended up with  4 rows of stockinet between garter ridges.  Change of plans.  I repeated my mistake to end up with a piece  even more interesting than planned.

Nearing the end,  I thought it needed something along the edges.  Trim of some sort.  I laid the throw down to wait for inspiration.  When next I walked by, I realized it was speaking to me. The lines that  changing from garter to stockinet had created looked much better turned on the vertical. I had knit them on the  horizontal and envisioned the throw laid out that way.  But the vertical look was much more interesting.   A trim on the vertical ends alone would do the trick.

But what kind of trim. Nothing that elderly fingers could get tangled in.  A ruffle, I decided.  So I picked up the stitches across each end, knit one row then purled back.  The next row, I doubled the stitches by a Kf&b in each stitch, purled back, and   knit a purl row for turning.  I then reversed the process back down to the original number of stitches.  After casting off, I  stitched the trim down to the cast on/cast off stitches of the throw.

It is  light and airy, yet warm and cozy.  Perfect for someone in a retirement home.  Delivered on Saturday, it was a big hit. For both the knitter and the veteran.