Concept Hat Complete

I just realized that I never did post pics of my finished project known as the Concept Hat. I was waiting to post pics until I was certain it would fit and whatnot. Well, I'm most pleased to announce that it fit and it worked! Yea! It looks so cute in person. I did chuckle when I tried it on because it looked a bit Rastafarian on me. Oh well. It looks great over my mom's hair rollers. She said it felt great too. It wasn't too loose or too snug and it stayed in place overnight without issue. Holla!

Pattern: Mine (aka "Made it up as I went along")
Yarn: Crystal Palace Panda Cotton, 1 skein, Colorway 0415, Roses
Needles: Size 7 16" circs
Size 9 16" circs

2 Projects at once

I've been making progress on both of my most recent projects. I'm just a little shy of the half-way mark for my Chapeau Marnier. The flash washed the color out a bit, but I think it still shows how far I've come with it. I just discovered that I may have been a stitch off on part of the pattern, but I'm not going to fix it. It's really not a big deal and when I run the ribbon through it, I'm almost certain it won't be noticeable. Plus, it's a design feature. Yeah, that's it. :)


I've also made progress on the Everlasting Bag. The picture doesn't show too much at first glance. But if you were to look closely, and really use your imagination, you might be able to see that I've finished the base of it and have picked up the stitches to complete the base. After another inch or 2, I'll be switching to size 11 needles and moving on to the body of the bag. Once I do that, it will be a lot quicker and easier. I feel like I'm struggling to keep all these stitches on size 7 16" circs, and well, I am! It's a lot of stitches for those needles, trust me. I didn't have any 24" length circs in a good size, so I made do with what I had. That means stuffing a lot of stitches on a smaller needle. Oh well. They are my Addi Turbos so I imagine they are up for the challenge.

So far, I'm quite pleased with my progress on both projects. I wonder which one I'll finish first. Normally, I'd say the hat would win, but there are a lot of rows when you're making a hat on size 2s. It's a tough call for sure!

Marnier Update

I'm on the super tricksy row 11 of this pattern and I'm doing okay. I had to take a moment to figure out where I was and what I needed to do, but after only 1 small mistake that was easy to fix, I've not had too many problems with it. It looks like it's going to be a big hat! This is a good thing for me because I have a big head. :) I'd love to just bust the rest of this hat out in a day, but I have to pay attention during the beginning and I just haven't had the attention span yet. Honestly, once I'm finished with the super cute brim, the hat will be a breeze.

In the meantime, however, don't be surprised if I cast on for an Everlasting Bag for a friend. She's been hinting, not too subtly, that she wants a bag she can take to the farmer's market. I pointed out this new pattern and said I could be convinced to make it for her. She seemed to really like it, so it's now in my queue. I need to print it out so that I can have it on hand when I'm ready to start.

Marnier hat for me!

I decided to do something drastically out of character today (yeah, right!) and cast on for a new project! My latest project is Knitty's Chapeau Marnier. I'm very excited by this pattern and I'm not sure why. I don't have much of a personal style but I fell in love the moment I saw this hat. The designer has directions for 2 different styles and I haven't totally decided which one to do. I think I'm going to go with the one on her website. I'll make my final decision in about 12 more rows. Hooray for casting on for a new project! :)

So far the only change I would make to the pattern is a very minor thing. She called for using size 6 needles to cast on, but then switching to size 2 needles to work the actual pattern. That ended up being quite the fiddly thing for me to conquer and so I would omit it. I generally don't have a problem with casting on tightly, so I really don't think it was necessary. But, seriously, how minor of a change is that?

And just in case you forgot, I'm using the Louet Gems yarn I balled the other day. I really like this yarn. The red is fabulous and I like the feel of it. I hope this hat turns out as great as I'm thinking it will. :)

Concept Hat is Finished!

Yea! Another finished object! I think the hat will work well for my mom and she really seemed to like it. I have a few pics, but I want to wait before posting them. I want to see it in action before I get too happy!

Knitting Hold

Sorry but I can't knit right now. I'm too busy reading the latest Harry Potter!!! hahahahaha!

Yarn Therapy

I did attempt to work on the concept hat today, but I did not get very far. Today was just a busy day of phone calls and surprise visits. I feel like I spent half the day on the phone, but I didn't chat with anyone for very long. Truthfully, I spent most of the day in a funk. Now that the wedding is over and every one is moving on with life again, I'm feeling a little down. I had a truly fantastic time and it's always really hard for me to return to life after seeing my old friends. So, after watching a particularly funny segment of the Daily Show today that did wonders for getting my mood up a bit, I decided to try some yarn therapy. I pulled out the Tiny Toes yarn I mentioned the other day and went to work. I balled both hanks and they look so pretty! Check them out!



Then I decided to attack the Louet Gems yarn that I have marked for making a Chapeau Marnier. It's almost funny that the 2 yarns I chose to wind today are earmarked for projects for me. I hardly ever make myself anything, but I guess I'm feeling it right now. :) I already own one red hat, but I can't wait to make another. It looks so pretty when it's all balled up.

See what I mean? Lovely yarn. Balling it up helped to relax me a bit. There's something meditative about letting the yarn run through your fingers while you ball it up. I don't know what it is, but it's relaxing. :)

Pics of Socks for Alicia

I went and updated my last post with a picture of the socks. But, I wanted to post additional shots and I figured it would be easier to just make a new post with them. :)

Pattern: Traveling Vine pattern from More Sensational Knitted Socks
Yarn: Louet Gems
Needles: Size 2 DPNs
Notes: I did these from the top down with an eye of partridge heel. I found picking up my gusset stitches went very well despite not having a slipped stitch edge. In fact, I'd say it was my neatest attempt at picking up stitches thus far. I wasn't thrilled with the pattern at first because it didn't look the same as in the book to me, but it grew on me over time. Now I love them and they appeared to fit Alicia's feet well.

the heel

Sock 1 complete

This ended up being a very fun project for me and I love the finished socks. The next pair of socks I make, however, will be for me. I've not made myself a pair of socks yet so I think it's the perfect time. :)

I Did It!

Yes! I finished them on time! They are currently hanging up to dry and I leave in about 12 hours. I had them off the needles, with the ends woven in, before 10 pm. I'm quite pleased with myself. I can't wait to give them to her. Lord do I hope they fit! lol!

Here they are just before I gave them a bath. Yea!

Impressive Progress Report

Well, I'm quite pleased to announce that I nearly finished the leg of sock number 2 today. In fact, I have only 10 rows to go before starting the heel and I might try to finish them before I head to bed tonight. There were multiple distractions today and yet I still made excellent progress. First up, an old friend from high school stopped by to chat for an hour or so. I tried calling Lisa 3 times between 2-4:30 pm because she owes me money that I need to pick up before I head out of town. Then I drove by her house to see if she was home (twice) and picked up dinner. I took a small nap by accident, watched Hell's Kitchen, took a few phone calls, and called my brother. Later, I caught up with a friend online. Given that I rarely knit for more than 20 minutes in one sitting, it's amazing I got so much done. I just took frequent breaks, moved around a lot, and knit off and on throughout the entire day. I know other knitters out there will sit for hours and knit, but I can't do that. My attention span isn't that great and I fear that if I knit for long periods of time that my wrist problems will come back. So, I only knit in short bursts, yet I occasionally get stuff done.

Oh and my mom bought me a present today when she went to her favorite sewing store. It just so happens that her favorite sewing store is about 2 store fronts away from a yarn store. So, she popped in to the yarn store to buy me a gift. She did a really excellent job! I was quite excited when I opened the bag and found a double hank of Tiny Toes in gorgeous shades of purple, turquoise, and green. It's quite lovely to be honest. This yarn will not be used to make a gift. Nope, it's all mine! I will be winding it and playing with it soon, I hope. I need a pair of gorgeous socks for myself despite my general aversion to wearing them. Thank the knitting Gods that I have both Sensational Knitted Socks and More Sensational Knitted Socks because I'm certain the perfect pattern is in one of them. I almost wish I could start playing with it now. But, first, Alicia's socks will be done before her wedding. They will! :)