Think spring

Hat 29 is spring greens. The yarn is LEADER, 100% acrylic.

The cuff was knit extra long and then brought up to make a hem, making the cuff double-thick and cushion-like. Yum.

The hat body itself is a combination of mosaic knitting and carrying-n-trapping. The rows that have both light green and dark green are mosaic knit with slip stitches. The rows that are all dark green are just knit with dark green, no slipping stitches, and carrying-n-trapping the light green behind. I wanted to do it all in mosaic but the two greens didn't have enough contrast and I didn't have any pattern with me. I can't mosaic design in my head, and I didn't want to do something so simple that I ended up with corrugation or no stretch. So, I made blocks of light green in alternating positions, then had non-mosaic rows in between. It makes for an overall effect that makes me think of a forest in spring, wherein every tree's leaves are a slightly different shade of green, a different shape, and a different size. I like it.

I started it Friday night but had only done a few rows of the cuff. On Saturday I had several hours of waiting time. (KIDS!) I was glad I had some knitting with me even though I didn't have any mosaic pattern with me.

I will do another mosaic hat soon.

Presently on my crochet hook is Caron's Peruvian Ear Flap Hat. However, the store at which I had coupons (Joann's) didn't have Caron's Simply Soft Quick (or I couldn't find it). I ended up buying Lion's Hometown USA (which I figured was comparable). However, the piece I have made so far hasn't made gauge, and is already thick as armor. The specified gauge is 12 sc/4", and I only get 10.5-11 sc/4". Therefore, I think I didn't quite pick the right yarn. I cannot imagine working the Hometown any tighter than I am now with an "I" (5.5mm) hook. I guess I'll have to keep seeking the Caron Simply Soft Quick.

I'm also wondering why the pattern calls for a slip-stitch and ch1 at each round's end. What's the point of that? Maybe I'm doing it wrong, but I think it makes a sloppy-looking seam at the back of the hat. What disadvantage is there in simply doing the hat in rounds that spiral up? If any one has any insight for me, please comment.

If I end up liking this pattern, and it gets the "thumbs up" from my test audience, I think I'll do it again in some Webs yarn of comparable gauge. But first I have to figure out precisely what the comparable gauge should be! What's the best way to do yarn interchange when you're standing in a store and don't have the specified yarn in your hand for touch-n-feel comparison? Is it meters/gram or yards/ounce? Any insight there left in comments are gratefully received.

-E2

PS - Here's why I thought Simply Soft Quick was comparable to Hometown USA:

- Both '6' Super Bulky
- SSQ = 3oz/50yds or 85g/46m which is 0.06oz/yd or 16.6yd/oz or 0.54m/g or 1.84g/m
= HU = 5oz/81yds or 140g/74m which is 0.06oz/yd or 16.2yd/oz or 0.52m/g or 1.89g/m

Don't those look comparable????

I'm looking at Web's Berroco Sundae which is listed as 100 grams/ 62 yards ... UGH! What's that called "Mimperial"? "Emptric"?

Or "Aspire" which is listed as (again Emptric/Mimperial) 200g/145 yards.

Or Aspen (again Emptric/Mimperial) 100g/50 yards.

Which would YOU think is comparable to Simply Soft Quick, if you can see or feel none of them?

28 - burgundy and gray

Another hat made of LEADER yarn (100% acrylic). The cuff is 2x2x2 stitch... is that "double seed" stitch? k2p2 for 2 rows, then p2k2 for 2 rows.

kkppkk
kkppkk
ppkkpp
ppkkpp

The twenty four rows of burgundy (doubled) finished off that skein. Then the rows and decreases in gray finished off that skein. Don't fret; I have plenty more!

Taking a break from burgundy and gray. On my needles is a pretty spring-like light green. (Kind of an antidote for 2 degrees Fahrenheit temps with a -20 degrees Fahrenheit wind chill!)

[Aside - Spring is good. Spring is my best time. I'm glad to notice that the days are getting longer. (I can still see my own nose at 5 PM.) I'm also noticing that the birds, particularly chickadees, are starting to sing and chase. I've also been hearing woodpeckers. Yes, it's mid-winter but Spring is on the way!]

flat football (hat 27) - orig Fri., 1/29/2010 - updated 10/14/2013

I learned a double-hat method from one of the ladies at Saint Francis Knitters. She brought in a double hat that every one loves. When you pull the layers apart, it looks like a flattened football or something alien. Push one hat into the other and you have a double-layered, reversible hat.

Flat football or alien
Gray, cuff down
Gray with burgundy cuff
Burgundy, cuff down
Burgundy with gray cuff

Yarn: LEADER, 100% acrylic
(I have a LOT of this yarn in 5 or 6 colors.) I bought it for a song for a project that never came to fruition. So, I'll be making a LOT of hats from the LEADER yarn. It's good yarn and I'm happy to be able to use up a HUNDRED skeins of it or so! :-)
[OK, maybe that's the tiniest bit of exaggeration. But not much!]

To do: Cast on with waste yarn and make one knit-a-cap type hat.
When it is complete, turn it over, take out the waste yarn, and pick up the stitches. Make a second knit-a-cap hat in the opposite direction. All KNITS are on the outside; all purls are hidden away on the inside. Do any darning of ends before doing the decreases on the top of the second hat. Once you close up the top of the second hat, there is no going back!

Here's another take on this same kind of hat by Dawn Adcock. LINK

I think Elizabeth Zimmermann's book "Knitting Around" has A Very Warm Hat that is also a double-layer hat. I haven't looked at that book in a long time so don't hold it against me if I don't have the details quite right.

Check out this link (link) to see someone else's "Very Warm Hat" with a really pretty design! I'd love to do that, but not when I'm striving to do a hat a day!

update 10/14/2013:
Here's a way to do a double-layered hat with merely stockinette stitch in a tube. Nothing fancy. Nothing difficult. Just a whole bunch'o'stockinette stitch. Probably best done on a machine, or in front of a really riveting long movie! Maybe even in front of a "Big Bang Theory" marathon. :-)
http://www.vam.ac.uk/users/sites/default/files/2006ac6462_fatigue_cap.jpg
That hat can also serve as a scarf. Interesting, eh? Ingenuity and simplicity. Very clever indeed.

Hat 26 is reversible

Hat 26 is made of burgundy and gray LEADER yarn (acrylic). I made the burgundy hat first, but threw in a lifeline at last row of ribbing. When the burgundy hat was done, I turned it inside out. I picked up the stitches knit-wise with the gray yarn where the life line revealed each one perfectly as can be. Then I knit the second hat (gray, no ribbing). When finished, I have a reversible hat. One side can be burgundy with the ribbing down, or burgundy with the ribbing up. The other side is gray with burgundy ribbing down or cuffed up.

I have changed my MO for pictures and don't know yet how well the new MO will work. So, there may or may not be pictures of hat 26 any time soon. I may end up reverting to the old MO because I'm never very patient with myself when it comes to "learning curves"! (The old MO? Make my daughter do it!)

Hat specifications

E1 just pointed me to the specification diagram for the Knit-a-cap program (the ancestor of our 310 Hats effort). If those of you who are making hats with us could pretty much keep to this basic set of measurements, that would be great. I think I tend to make my hats a bit on the big side. I have big kids. They all fit my youngest, although some (especially the crochet ones), may be a little big on her. Remember, if the fabric you make isn't stretchy (lots of crochet stitches aren't very stretchy), then you have to add in enough ease to fit a kid's head comfortably. For crochet hats, I use my own head as the test: it should be snug on me.

specifications: http://knit-a-cap.org/images/diagram1.gif

-E2

landmark - E2's 25th hat

Wow, 25. Collectively we're nearing 1/3 of the way done and it's only January!
My regular knitting group misses me. Maybe if we finish 310 by May or June then I can get back to knitting for my home group.

25 is burgundy LEADER yarn (100% acrylic). Spiral rib cuff. Stockinette top. Pie wedge reduces.

-E2

this new closeout...

This new close-out at Webs would make really yummy hats, fast and quick in either knit or crochet.

http://tinyurl.com/YummyNewWebsClsOut-Duchess or http://shorterlink.org/7719


[Either link will equate to
http://www.yarn.com/webs-knitting-crochet-yarns-classic-elite/webs-knitting-yarns-classic-elite-duchess ]

Someone please tell me that I DO NOT NEED MORE YARN!!

67, 68, 69

Look what came in today's mail from E3! It was worth getting drenched in the rain to go to the mailbox!!! (As usual, the phone camera does NOT do justice to the wonderful colors of the yarn.)

[Here's another picture of them, but the colors aren't right here, either. The darker picture is more close to the true-life colors. Maybe E3 will have a minute to tell us the color names for this yarn per the Cascade 220 Superwash web link. If so, I can link to the color cards.]

E1 checks in...

E1 is up to 38 hats! Oh my goodness... I feel fast at about a hat every other day until I get E1's count.

E1 writes:

I just finished hat #38. How many does that give us now, including the ones sent to you? I had taken a break and finished an unfinished sweater ...I had put ... away for later. The yarn was a fantastic superwash and I wanted to use the remainder to make hats, but lo and behold, I'd calculated the sweater down to the last few yards. Enough left for a stripe, but no hat. Then I got some great wool/microfiber chenille at the Hospice thrift shop. The balls are small, 60 yards (!), but I got 5. I just looked it up on line, and they sell for $18-20 a ball. Sixty yards! It makes a delightful hat.

The total of hats-in-hand is 66 now. My 24 + 3 from Angela + 1 from E3 + E1's 38 = 66.

There are more coming from D in California, but they aren't in my hands or E1's hands so they're not included in the count yet. If they were here, that would make 86.

There are promised hats coming from D (Toastmasters D) and LT (from NMSL).

Maybe we can make it to 310 hats before it gets too hot to knit??? (Is it ever *REALLY* too hot to knit?)

24 - Triangles and Squares

See Hat 24.

I would have done more to edge it with the green, but I ran out. I have a little of the white left and will use that as contrast in some other hat. I didn't want to go get another skein of the green. It's a happy spring color but I'm not overly fond of it. Can't explain why. It's entirely irrational, I'm sure.

Yarn: Vanna's Choice in Fern and White
Hook: 5.5 mm
Stitches: single crochet, half double crochet, slip stitch.

This is a decent yarn as acrylic yarn goes. I originally bought it to enter a contest by 2/1, but the Muses are not with me and I'm completely uninspired.

Not about hats. Only about knitting. Rated PG (L, CM, MH, PN)

The friend who sent me this link can't put it on his/her blog. But I can put it here!

It's a knitting video. Quite funny, will make you laugh aloud. But will also make you say "EWWWWWWWWWWWWW!"

Intrigued?

Click: Pringle of Scotland / How we make jumpers

23 - "You are getting sleepy...."

Here's a side view, and top view, of Hat 23. I'll call this hat "You are getting sleepy. Very sleepy." It reminds me of a black and white wheel used for hypnotism in a class I took once. After I looked at the rotating black and white wheel for a while, and then looked at a plant, the plant grew HUGE suddenly. (Kind of like "Audrey, Jr." did. (Little Shop of Horrors)) When the wheel was rotated in the other direction, the plant would shrink away like the folks in "Fantastic Voyage". It was a fascinating optical illusion, but I can't say it did much for me in terms of hypnotism, nor the reason I took the class. (For one thing, if the hypnotist is going to link something you'd see to a helpful suggestion, the something you see can't be as commonplace as "the color red". I mean, if you're driving down the highway at night and you see a sea of tail-lights, should you really be messing around with your hypnotism class ideas?) But I digress.

I call this hat "You are getting sleepy. Very sleepy." because of the spiral. It starts at top center and continues all the way down the hat. However, you can't really see that by looking at the hat from a side view, as it just looks like stripes. Therefore, I gave you a top view, too.

Yarn: Vanna's Choice in Fern and White
Hook: 5.5 mm

Pattern is simply a mosaic crochet spiral version of the basic roll brim crochet hat.

It's a little bit big on my littlest Little (first grade), but kids come in all sizes so I'm sure it'll fit SOMEBODY.

Hat 22 and Netflix downloads

Saturday PM. Wild things need calming. "Put on your PJs and we'll watch a movie together." "What movie?" "Oh, I'm thinking Muppets From Space." "YEAH, YEAH!" The PJs are on young people faster than you can say 'Gonzo is lonely'. So, we three watched Muppets From Space via Netflix download while I started Hat 22 with the ball ends of Wool-Ease Chunky in colors Redwood and W****. (Next time I think I'd like to find some Nantucket or Bluebell or Orchid.)

On the first try I made the hat too small. So I let Littlest unstitch. (Unstitching crochet is far more fun than unstitching knitting. For crochet, you grab the yarn and PULL. Watch the stitches go pop pop pop pop pop. What 7 year old can resist THAT fun?) So, when the Littles went to bed I had another Netflix download I wanted to watch, Through Deaf Eyes. I was surprised, and delighted, to finally see faces of two people with whom I used to have an email correspondence! There were others in the program whom I'd met in passing or seen perform live. But two with whom I've "chatted" without ever meeting -- that moved me! I really enjoyed that program and I'm so glad I watched it.

I stitched until I ran out of yarn but didn't finish a hat. So this morning I had to unstitch and finish the hat with fewer rows than what I had stitched last night while watching the wonderful program.

-E2

Hat 21 and restaurants

There is a restaurant where each person in the entire family has a meal he/she thoroughly enjoys. Even the two littlest ones have a meal they enjoy sharing. It's a half-hour's drive from home, but that's OK. We went there today, so I was able to finish HAT 21 on the way to, while waiting, and the way home. It's Wool-Ease Chunky in color W****. I used 55 stitches and did a 2x2 spiral rib for the cuff, then stockinette for the stand, and "pie wedge decreases" for the top.

What do I mean by "pie wedge decreases"? They make a straight-line, not swirly, hat top. It looks more like a commercially made cap than a hand-made cap. Why? Because a commercially made cap is usually sewn from knit yardage. You can't sew the swirly top. (At least you couldn't sew it easily. Or I haven't seen instructions/pattern for doing so.) Instead, you cut pieces that are like pie wedges with rounded sides. Then you sew them with a small seam allowance. The result is pie slices that curve to cover a head. Like darts. See photo. The very tip-top looks like a star instead of a pinwheel.

Some folks LOVE "Magic Loop" knitting. Some folks despise it. I despise DPNs and am SO HAPPY that I learned Magic Loop (ML). You can tell a ML junkie when you see one; it's the knitter who finds himself or herself doing ML even on a 16" or 9" needle. Been there, done that, didn't mind as it was only a few rows any way. Tonight, on the way home from the restaurant, I finished the hat top doing ML on a 16" needle. Who says you need a 27"+ needle for ML??? Only someone who doesn't appreciate wrist cramp!

To those who'd like to know how to do pie wedge decreases instead of swirly pinwheel decreases, I type it out.

Divide the number of stitches by the number of pie wedges you want.
I had 55 stitches, and that has few factors. So 5 wedges was my choice.
That means each wedge would be 11 stitches.
Here are how the 11 stitches are done:
k1, k2tog, k6, ssk. Repeat around.
Knit one row even.
Now your wedges are only 9 stitches wide, as you decreased two stitches above. So:
k1, k2tog, k4, ssk. Repeat around.
Knit one row even.
Now your wedges are only 7 stitches wide, as you decreased two stitches above. So:
k1, k2tog, k2, ssk. Repeat around.
Now your wedges are only 5 stitches wide, as you decreased two stitches above. So:
k1, k2tog, ssk. Repeat around.
Then I cut the yarn with a tail and drew through the remaining 15 stitches twice. Darned in ends.

Toastmasters and 310 Hats

This morning I had my Toastmasters meeting. I was one of the speakers. I am working from the advanced communication manual, "Storytelling". I was doing the second project, "Make it Personal". I told the story of the 310 hats. (Yes, I know I still haven't typed the story; I'm still hoping E1 will type the story.) Every one enjoyed the speech (yeah!). But even more importantly, another knitter will be pitching in, and one person came up to me and said "Let me help with the shipping costs when you have finished the hats." WOW! Thank you, fellow Toastmasters!! (You know who you are.)

On my needles: Wool-Ease Chunky cap in color W****, with diagonal ribbed cuff.

-E2

It took me a while...

It has been a few days since I finished a hat. I've been so busy and tired, that it seems like I could only do a stitch or two at a time. Hat 20 is an igloo cap made of Wool-Ease Chunky in color Redwood. Nice warm hat!

One good thing about Jack Bauer and "24"....

... is hat knitting time. See Hat 19 - an igloo cap made of Lion Brand's Wool-Ease Chunky yarn.

I'm not typing the name of the color, because if I'd known the name of the color before I picked the yarn then I wouldn't have bought it. Hint: five letters, starts with 'w' --- W _ _ _ _

It's not WASTE, WATCH, WATER, or WOMEN.

Another hint? If the yarn were truly made out of what the color is named for, then I wouldn't be able to knit it.

It's STILL not WASTE, WATCH, WATER, or WOMEN.

A third hint?
Gluten.

I don't think it looks much like the W word, do you? I guess it kind of looks like whole-w flour.

So that you don't think I can do a whole cap in an hour, I'll let you know it was a 2-hour episode of pure Jack, that I'd started the cap in the morning, and I had done a few rows during the day.

-E2

New Hat Came In The Mail!

A LOVELY HAT came in today's mail! It's the Cascade 220 Superwash hat knit on the Addi Jumbo machine! Isn't it fantastic?! I won't let my kids see it for fear that they won't want to let it go in the Big Bag of Hats Bound for Oklahoma!

From 310 Hats

Thank You So Much, E3!!!

-E2

not much knitting on Monday

I only got a few rows of knitting done on Monday. No new hat finished. -E2

#18 - igloo cap in pumpkin orange Silenzio

I finished a pumpkin orange Silenzio igloo cap last night. I'm a little bit sad now that I no longer have enough Sileznio to make another cap. It's really yummy yarn. I have just a little bit of pink left, and even less orange. Maybe I'll make some "ear mittens" for myself. I hate having cold ears! The pattern is for sock or sport, so I'd have to recalculate it all for bulky yarn. We'll see. Maybe I'll just make a headband. How about a pink and orange striped hat? Nah, I'm not sure I'd like that.

Time to move on to other yarn, I guess.

blue with blue stripe and 2-blue pompom!

My precious friend in North Carolina, E (which must make her E3), has sent this lovely hat in the mail.

From 310 Hats

I am eager for its arrival!
Thank you so much!!!

The yarn is Cascade 220 Superwash, and it was knit on the Addi Superjumbo!

Saturday night stitching - 17

I didn't feel well so I took advantage of the way cool Netflix-enabled Blu-ray player that Santa brought at Christmas. The littles and I watched "Muppets Take Manhattan", and the oldest and I watched the 1960 B&W version of "Little Shop of Horrors". Finally, hubby and I watched "Corner Gas" (on disc). [Poor Lacey, Brett is way out of her league! HA HA!] While watching, I was stitching hat 17, pumpkin orange Silenzio with columns of stockinette and twisted stitch.

Sweet 16th hat - pumpkin Silenzio, crossed stitch

One good thing about sitting poolside for a while when the kids take swimming lessons is that it's knitting time. I had started hat 16 last night and finished it this afternoon. It's another hat of pumpkin colored yummy Silenzio yarn. I used the crossed stockinette stitch. It's subtle, but visible. Eked it out of one skein of Silenzio, too. It fits my third grader A-OK.

15th hat, pumpkin colored Silenzio

I wanted to see if I could eke out a cap from one skein of Silenzio. (If I could, then my five skeins of pumpkin orange Silenzio could be five hats.) With 12 rounds of diagonal ribbing, 22 rounds of plain stockinette, and aggressive decreasing for the top, I got a cap from one skein of Silenzio. It's a wee bit smaller than other caps because it doesn't have a turned-up cuff. But it'll keep a smaller child's head warm just fine. We all know that kids come in ALL sizes. My kids are on the big side; their daddy is tall. So most of my hats tend to run on the larger side. So, one smaller pumpkin hat is probably good. Five smaller pumpkin hats is probably good, too. See hat 15.

Cap with ripple cuff

Finished another pink Silenzio hat. It's a basic cap with a ripple Old Shale cuff border.

I bought five skeins of pink Silenzio and five of pumpkin orange Silenzio. Each cap has taken a little more than a skein. So, I don't have enough pink left for another cap. I don't think the pink and pumpkin will work well together. Maybe I'll try it when I only have a little pumpkin left.

To make this one, I made the Old Shale border and then thought "Uh oh, I have to do the rest of the cap in purl in order to make the cuff flip up and still look right." Ah, instead I turned the cap inside out and knit the rest of it. There's ONE little spot where I transition from cuff to cap that has a little hole from the turn. But no one is going to see it. The cuff is stitched to the cap at the three peaks of the ripples.

Next time I try this, however, I'll try doing the lace in purl instead of knit. Then I can just switch to knit for the cap without having to turn. Don't know if the lace will work well when it's purl-based but it's worth trying. I think I'll try it in less fuzzy yarn, however. In case it doesn't work, less fuzzy yarn will cooperate with the tedious "un-stitching" process.

I think the pumpkin colored yarn might make good hats for boys, so I don't know if I'll do any lace cuffs on the pumpkin hats.

Doodle hat done

I finished the doodle hat and it's going to stay this way this time. It's NOT reverting to two balls of yarn.

Why 310 Hats, or "E2, What have you gotten yourself into this time??"

Yesterday I was at Church waiting for two of my kids to rehearse with the choir. Along came a friend who asked what I was stitching. (I was working on the very stubborn Doodle Hat.) I said, "Oh this? It's one of the 310 Hats." (I said it as if every one on the planet knows about the 310 Hats project. Ha! I tend to forget what I've told to whom. Good thing I tell the truth or my life would be REALLY complicated!) My friend exclaimed incredulously, "Three Hundred Ten Hats?! What HAVE you gotten yourself into this time!?" So I told her the full story of the 310 Hats. I realize I haven't typed the story of the 310 Hats. [I'm kind of hoping E1, my sister and the instigator of this endeavor, will type the story and send it in the email so I can just copy and paste. (HINT HINT!)]

The SHORT story of why we're doing 310 Hats is here: click for short story

Those are last year's hats and last year's kids.

Now you can see why we want to do more!

On my needles and hooks:
- darn in the ends of the ribbed head wrap
- finish the stubborn doodle hat
- a pink Silenzio hat with a pretty Old Shale border

not a hat

You can have a glimpse at the prayer shawl I'm finishing for my neighbor if you click this link: prayer shawl. I have to darn in the ends, have it blessed, and get it to her. Her child had major surgery the other day and could use prayers. I won't tell you any names, but God knows who it is. If you pray for E2's neighbor's sick child, God will know precisely whom you mean.

fast knit a cap in totally yummy Silenzio

Last night I stitched a basic Knit-a-cap in totally yummy Silenzio. Two hats in one day! That's how yummy this yarn is! See hat 12. If I could design my perfect yarn, it would be this. Bulky without weight, soft, fuzzy halo, machine wash. Truly yummy. I think I'm going to have to snatch up a bag or two of the last colors before the yarn is gone forever. It would make a nice sweater for a first grade girl, or her mama.

Webs shipped; I stitched.

I got sick and tired of borrowing the Barbara Walker books from the library over and over and over again. I finally decided that I should just buy them. After all, if I'm constantly paying late fees on the library loan, eventually I would pay for the books but still not own them! (Yeah, yeah, I know my one and only New Year's resolution is NO LATE FEES AT THE LIBRARY. That's easier to do if you don't actually BORROW any books from the library!) I looked around for the best price on the BW books, and finally decided that the Webs discount on books was going to be the best I could do barring miracle. You see, I cannot get these books in any local store.

While I was putting BW books 1, 2, 3, and 4 into my e-cart, some yarn fell in there too. What fell in? Totally yummy Silenzio, some Sterling yarn for a prayer shawl, and some Misti Alpaca Sport for some Reykjavik mittens.

Webs shipped yesterday and the box came TODAY! Gosh, I couldn't get the package faster if I'd driven there and bought it in person!

The Silenzio yarn is even yummier in real life than it is in a web picture. The instant I saw it, I had to go fetch a needle and start stitching it. I mean IMMEDIATELY. Not a moment's delay. And thus, the Harris Tweed hat.

didn't finish a hat last night

I worked on a prayer shawl instead. For a neighbor whose son has been in the ICU since March 2009. Seriously. I finished the knitting on the shawl. Now I need to darn in the ends, get it blessed, and get it to her. It has been in the works for a while. I had started it once and had to start all over. Lots of prayers in that shawl. It's over 5 feet wide at the top, and probably 2 ½ feet deep, a big triangle. In a pretty color of Lion's Homespun, "Calypso". (Sadly, that color is discontinued.)

E2's Hat Ten

A burgundy hat with gray triangles should appear in the slide show at some point. "The Leader" acrylic yarn, 4.5 mm hook, mosaic crochet.

Oh my goodness... what a lovely picture!

My friend D of California will be sending delightful hats in the mail!!! She sent a photo today of 20 beautiful hats. I'm so excited! I gleefully look forward to their arrival. The photo is in the slide show. And, I'm so excited that I include it directly here as an extra special treat. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!

Now she MUST tell me the story! She tells me I will like the story. I'm eager to know it.

From 310 Hats

31 of 310

E1 has made 31 hats now. That's TEN PERCENT of the total goal. Already. All by herself.

I'm only on hat 9 or 10 or something so I feel like a stitching slug although I'm going as fast as I can.

Started a burgundy hat last night with gray triangles all around. The gray triangles use up the ball end from the gray spiral-rib cuffed hat. My youngest really liked the triangle hat and wanted me to tell, in detail, precisely how I did those triangles. Yup, as if I can teach mosaic crochet before school on a Monday without missing the bus. Well, we missed the bus any way but it had nothing to do with any efforts to teach mosaic crochet to a 7 year old.

WAS on my needles..., now DONE

Last night I started a spiral hat in a skein of Plymouth Encore that's a wild mix of colors: black aqua purple magenta/fuchsia. It's the same yarn as Hat 2. Hubby says, "It looks like a car's air filter." Ha. Ha. Funny guy.

This Spiral Hat: cast on 55 and join in round without twist. K3 P3 ... Haven't decided what the top will be yet. The spirals are much more pronounced this time than in the gray hat with the spiral rib cuff. Pictures when done. Promise.

See hat #9.

I used one whole skein of Plymouth Encore, size 6.5 mm needles, and the yarn was doubled. At round 46 or so I started decreasing. First I worked 4 stitches, keeping pattern, and then decreased stitches 5 &6 into one with a "work 2 tog" (whether it be K2tog or P2tog, depending on pattern). Did this for three rows or so. Then I worked P2tog all the way around for 3 or so more rounds until I was down to 7 remaining stitches and just a few inches of yarn. Drew the remaining yarn through the remaining stitches, and darned in the ends.

I took three or four pictures while trying to get the color to look realistic on my screen, but have pretty much abandoned hope of making cell phone pictures look good on my screen. (Sure, I could use a better camera but then it would be a LOT more work to put the pictures in this blog. The cell phone camera makes the blogging easy but the colors horrid. A real camera would make the colors better but the blogging harder. Six of one and half dozen of the other, I guess. Oh wait... 7 of one and 5 of the other. I'm going with "easy and horrid" rather than "hard and prettier".)

spiral rib cuffed cap

There's a new photo in the slide show of the cap I finished last night. It's a gray cap, made of Phildar's LEADER yarn (100% acrylic, quite soft / sadly, now discontinued). The cuff is spiral rib and the body of the cap is stockinette. The cap was done with doubled yarn on 6.5 mm needles. The top decreases are straight line "pie wedge" decreases (as opposed to spiraling round-top decreases).

Spiral-rib cuffed cap - to make:
6.5 mm needles, worsted yarn doubled
Cast on 55 and join in round without twist.
K2 P2 for 15 rounds. The odd number of stitches causes the spiral rib.
Switch to stockinette for about 30 rounds.
Then the decreases are on slices of 11: (K1, k2tog, k6, ssk) repeat 5 times
Knit a row or two even
Next set of decreases are on 9 stitches: (k1, k2tog, k4, ssk) repeat 5 times
Even for a row or two
Next set of decreases are on 7 stitches: (k1, k2tog, k2, ssk) repeat 5 times
Even for a row or two
Next set of decreases are on 5 stitches: (k1, k2tog, ssk) repeat 5 times.

You may end here by cutting yarn through and drawing through last stitches.

Or, you may work another row or two even and then do one last decrease set on 3 stitches: (k1, k2tog) repeat 5 times. Cut yarn. Draw through.

Darn in ends.
Done.

Wish I knew what makes the photos show up in the slide show.

I have added new photos to the album about an hour ago but they still haven't shown up on the blog. I sure wish I knew if there is some magic trick to make the slide show update.

Any way --- I added photos of a light purple igloo hat (made of Leader yarn by Phildar / now discontinued), and a cashmere chemo cap for a friend's daughter. It's tan.

The chemo cap doesn't count in the 310 program. But it's a hat, and I just finished it last night so I decided to put it in the slide show. It may actually even SHOW UP in the slide show at some point!

New Photos!

The careful observer or dedicated follower will note that there are THREE NEW PHOTOS in the slide show! Angela C, the beautiful and talented, of Blessed Designs has sent three wonderful hats for the project! See the tan moose hat with pom pom, the wonderfully colorful primary colored red-based hat, and the delightfully soft blue with yellow trim fleece hat! Thank you so much, Angela! They are LOVELY!!!!!

(The photos do NOT do them justice. Hey, it's a phone. Its primary job is talking, not pictures. And besides, the silly thing crashed about 5 times while I tried to take the pictures. I hope to retake better ones when I have more daylight. Fluorescent lighting makes for carpy pictures.)

Thank you again, Angela! What a delightful thing to find in my mailbox today!

-E2

why there are no new photos again

The doodle hat has reverted to two balls of yarn.
The ends are still not darned in for the ribbed head wrap.
The purple igloo hat is about 1/2 done.
The chemo cap is coming along.
There will be new pictures soon. Promise.
-E2

ribbed head wrap, again

Other than darning in the ends, I've finished the ribbed head wrap in bright green Plymouth Encore. I haven't decided whether I like it or not. It is a strange looking thing when not worn. (Reminds me of a stack of tires.) But worn, it's clearly a warm head covering that can also serve to cover mouth and nose of those of us who get cold-induced asthma! I will post pictures when it's entirely done.

Meanwhile, started an igloo hat in Phildar Leader yarn (purple), a chemo cap for a friend's daughter in Lion Brand cashmere blend, and a crochet "doodle" cap of white with purple "doodles". So far the doodles are pinwheel-like spokes, a stripe, and some triangles.
-E2

Monday morning updates

My friend D, who's pitching in on the project reports:

I broke out the Knifty Knitter and made 3 hats using 2 strands together.  They weigh almost the same amount as the size 6 needle hats(seriously, a few grams different), but my kids say the double stranded hats are warmer.  ... I have a bulky knitting machine that our local Project Linus folks gave me ... I expect I can make up whatever hat shortage exists with my machine in the summer. ...

Just wanted you to know how things are coming at my house.  I have 1 hat on needles and 1 on the loom right now.

And E1 (the originator of this project) sends word:

I think I'm up to 22 hats now. I haunt the Hospice thrift shop near my office for yarn, and I got some nice Lang washable wool the other day. Also got some great regular wool from Canada, but I may keep that for myself. I'm washing all my hats before I put them away... Then I'm separating them into one box for washing-dryer-ok and one box for air dry.

(At a mere 6 hats I'm starting to feel like a knitting slug.)

I have been using "string tags" on my hats to note what kind of yarn it is and the care instructions. I've had this habit for a long time and it works well for me. Besides, I also use the string tags for taking notes about a project in progress, especially if I'm not using a pattern or would like to duplicate the project (ie mittens, gloves, socks). 

Another friend (whom we'll call E3) is trying to tempt me into a Knit-a-long for a sweater that is gorgeous but would probably burn out my last few neurons (ie IT LOOKS COMPLICATED!). So, in the name of TEMPTATION to join a Knit-a-long, she sends this note:

I have the addi 46 needle Express.  i used it to make hats for many relatives for Christmas.  What I did was knit a double long tube with waste yarn at each end, then picked up the stitches, did a three needle bind off without binding off (like on my socks) and decreased over the next four rows.  Pompom on top, done. ...

If I sent you several feet of tubes, made from cascade 220 superwash, you could try it and time it.  The cranking time is insignificant.

If we can get the rest of the hats done by the end of February, you'd have time to do a KAL.

See what I mean? She's an evil temptress!

ribbed head wrap

Almost done with the ribbed head wrap.

Since it was going to take so long to make a ribbed head wrap...

... I decided to whip out another igloo hat. This one is in Bernat Roving, color cork (color 21). See hat #6 in the photo slide show. The ribbed head wrap is still in progress.

Why there's no new photo in the slide show

It takes a lot longer to knit a ribbed head wrap (© Morehouse Merino) on size 6 needles in worsted yarn than it takes to make an igloo hat (© Morehouse Merino) on size 10.5 needles in bulky yarn.

Happy New Year!

What can you do on New Year's Eve with just one lone skein of Lane Borgosesia Knitusa (bulky superwash wool) in navy blue?

This yarn must be long discontinued because I can't find any mention of this yarn on the web, save for one from 2005 (use your FIND key to jump to 'knitusa' to see a pretty sweater). [Later I found a photo of it. Click this link to see someone else's photo of the yarn.]

I recently pulled this skein out of storage thinking I could make a pair of Lovikka mittens with it. I knit one Lovikka mitten and then noticed the yarn label says "superlavable" on it. Drats. No fulling Lovikka mittens with THAT skein! So, instead the mitten was unknit and the whole skein became a slightly modified version of a Morehouse Merino igloo hat. (I did regular decreases at the top instead of severe decreases.) (I had only inches of yarn left at the end of the hat.)

Thus ends 2009 with five hats here at E2's house. I have committed to make 150 more by August. That's 18/month for these eight months. If all goes as planned, E1 and I should have a collection of 310 hats to ship to Oklahoma in late August.

Welcome 2010! Happy new year every one!