Slouchy Beehive Hat

I've been mulling over slouchy hat patterns for a long time.  It's so hard to predict what will fit, feel right and look ok.   I finally settled on the Slouchy Beehive Hat pattern I discovered on Ravelry.   Just had to wait for a break in the weather so I could get some yarn.  At long last,  I finally made a hat that basically fits.  It's a touch big, but it's supposed to be.  And I hate the vise-like grip my previous hats held on my head so I don't mind a loose fit. Started on Super-Bowl Sunday following a quick afternoon excursion to the new Joann's.  Finished on Wednesday evening.  And not much time spent on Tuesday evening at all.  I needed chunky/bulky yarn and there wasn't a big selection, but this Wool-ease chunky in Willow turned out to be a good choice.

Not much sun, so the photos aren't so great.  And I'm pretty weak in the selfie skills.  But I think you'll get the idea.  I have to go out in the cold tomorrow morning, so I'll debut it then.

 

A tribute to "Blurred Lines".  I'm not much for showing my face on the interwebs.

Valentine Stitchery and a Red Hat

Seems like everything old is new again. I've seen so many people doing what they call 'stitchery' lately. It's what I used to just call embroidery. I learned to do it in the third grade when my teacher, the marvelous Mrs. M., gave a tea towel to each student with a stamped design of fruit or flowers. Each one was different. She taught us all to embroider the design, and I don't ever remember a word that would imply this was only an activity for girls. In fact the best work was done by some of the boys in the class. My towel was stamped with cherries. This turned out to be one of the more difficult ones because the round cherries required very tiny stitches, and I never really understood that at the time. So my work was not all that great, but my Mom used that dish towel for years until it was too worn to be of any further use.

Today I see many cute whimsical designs that are just so appealing, often incorporated in patchwork quilts. In anticipation of trying this again, I bought a piece of muslin and a washable transfer embroidery pen. I was kind of nervous about my ability to transfer a design properly, but it worked out great. The muslin is almost see-through in the right light so tracing is pretty easy. And the pen markings come out easily with water if there are any mistakes. I found this snowman design here on Elin's blog. It's the perfect size for a trial and great for Valentine's Day or even the December holidays. I chose to use a stem stitch over the outline stitch or back stitch, but I'm not really sure why. The results aren't perfect (just like the tea towel!), but I think this little door hanger is pretty cute. I sent it to a stitcher who I think is in need of a bit of cheering up.




The last time I was at the craft store I saw this really pretty-colored yarn that reminded me of DMC 115, the old variegated red. It was Caron's Simply Soft Paints yarn, and I bought a skein to see how I would like knitting with acrylic these days since I hadn't done that for a long time. I made this hat after seeing it done in such pretty yarn on Karen's blog. It's the free pattern on Ravelry called "Magenta Cabled Hat". I had never knitted a hat in the round, but with my new found ability to use DPNS, I thought I'd give it a try. I changed the teeny 2 stitch cable to a mock cable (knit the second stitch and leave on the needle, knit the first and drop both stitches). And I added the extra knit rows that Karen did as well. I'm actually quite happy with the result. Don't know how it will hold up over time, but it feels soft and warm when I wear it. The first photo is not great, but does show the color well. Its in darker reds, not like the subsequent pictures.

Knit/Crochet Fingerless Gloves

My hands are freezing at the keyboard as I type this. It's a great winter for those trendy fingerless gloves, whether for texting on the subway, working at your desk or even for stitching. Before I dared try the double-pointed needles, I made this pair for Kirsten. These are a combination of knitting and crochet. They are stitched flat and seamed on the side leaving a space for the thumb to poke through. I first saw them while watching the Knit and Crochet Now tv show. You can find the pattern on the site, but you have to register. It's shown on Episode 222. The pattern as designed included beads at the cuff, but I omitted those.

They are done in Knit Picks DK weight Swish yarn in Marble Heather. This is a soft super-wash wool. I'm becoming quite a fan of Knit Picks.

They turned out a little large, but Kirsten has worn them already outside so I guess they stayed on! The hand in the photo is mine, not Kirsten's.




I sent them with this holiday card made from the Sweetheart Tree design in the JCS 2010 Ornament issue.



Yea for the international mail! This package took less than a week to go from DC to Germany.

Magic and a Knitted Owl Cup Cozy

I can't resist a cute fairy design so I had to stitch up the Magic ornament from Charlotte's Web Needlework in the JCS 2010 Ornament issue. The suggested DMC colors came out a little lighter than the model photo in the magazine so I modified them for a little more contrast. For 963, 3716, 3731, and 3733, I substituted 3716,3733,3831, and 3731 respectively. I'm not a fan of metallic threads, but the silver wings and smyrna x-stitches on the dress called for it, so I suffered through it. And I just used some embellishments I had in my stash.


I've stayed away from knitting patterns that use double-pointed needles after my one attempt on a dishcloth some time ago. But it made me mad that so many people seemed to do it so routinely, so I decided to tackle it again. The incentive was this super-cute owl coffee sleeve pattern. This was a test run for practice. I had read on Ravelry that a lot of people thought it turned out too large, so I knit one fewer owl than the pattern called for. The yarn is just some left-over Red Heart that I had hanging around. After a few false attempts, I kind of got the hang of it and I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. I added French knot eyes and duplicate stitch beaks. Now I can get some nicer yarn (maybe that Knit Picks Swish super-wash wool!) and make another. I finished it easily in one evening including all the frogging and re-starting. A nice quick gift. Here's a photo on a porcelain cup I bought as a gift that looks like the Starbucks take-out version.



The final bit of sweetness for today are two thank you notes I received on Friday. These came from the daughters of a co-worker to whom I sent the Day of the Dead ornament I made this year. These drawings are just too adorable. I like the way Cecilia turned me into a 60's hippie! This was quite the unexpected treat!

Spiral scrubbies & dish cloths

Crocheting and knitting are very relaxing, and if I pick small projects, I don't get bored before the end. So that's what I've been doing in addition to a stitched project that I can't show yet.

These cute little spiral scrubbies have always intrigued me. You can use them for your face or your dishes. The small one is knitted and the other two are crocheted. I much prefer the crocheted because you get those nice ridges by crocheting in the back loop only. I haven't figured out how to make them as neat in the end as all the tutorial photos, but how neat do they need to be really? But if anyone knows a trick they can share, I'd appreciate it. They are all done with worsted weight cotton yarn.

Click here for the crocheted tutorial.

Click here for the knitted version.



I haven't been keeping up with the Monthly Dishcloth Group, but I checked in and found a couple of designs to try.

The first is 'April Showers'. Supposed to look like raindrops I guess. Fun to knit.



The second cracks me up. The pattern is called Log Cabin, as if you couldn't guess. It's kind of hard to see the pattern in the photo. I could use a good lesson in photography I think.

Cable-stitched Neckwarmer

These neckwarmers are so quick to knit. I made this one in one evening of TV watching for a holiday gift. It's made with Wool-Ease chunky yarn, an 80% acrylic, 20% wool blend. Very soft feel on the sensitive neck area. The pattern is free on the Lion Brand site. You need to register to see it. Search for "Lion Brand chunky cable scarf" to find it. I just made a shorter version with two buttonholes just before the garter stitch border. I also made it slightly narrower, casting on a couple of fewer stitches that surround the cable. I really wanted to make a pink one, but A.C. Moore didn't have that color in stock and I didn't want to order just one skein online. But I like this berry color also.

Neck warmer/Pidge/Scarflet

The little mini-scarves seem to be all the rage on the knitting and crocheting internet sites. Makes sense since they are so quick to make. You can use up left over yarns and finish up the piece before you get bored with the pattern. And when you really just want to keep your neck warm without the baggage of a really long scarf, these work perfectly. Of course, unlike a full-length scarf, when you want to take it off, you can't just drape it around your coat collar. You need a pocket or bag to put it in so you don't lose it.

I'm particularly sensitive to wool, so I need to find soft yarns to make this work for me. I had a leftover skein of Lion Brand Homespun in Tudor from a sweater I made a few years ago. The sweater was supposed to be 'over-sized' and was true to the pattern. Except it turned out to be over-sized for a large elephant! So the sweater has been abandoned, but the 'pidge' remains as a memory.

I just made up the pattern after looking at a bunch on various sites and blogs. I used size 8 needles with about 23 stitches cast on. I knit a rectangle that turned about to be 7" x 24" long. The pattern is a 10-row repeat, 6 rows of stockinette (K1,P1) followed by 4 rows of garter stitch (knit every row). This helps to keep it flat since stockinette wants to curl up (good for roll neck collars). About an inch before the end, I made two buttonholes. After binding off, I added 2 buttons to the opposite end on the long side.

I think I might try this with some other soft yarns. They would make good gifts.

Here's a photo I took of myself wearing my new scarflet:

Revived UFO and one new technique

Once I started combining the internet with my stitching, I seem to have switched to only doing smalls. It started when I joined a lot of exchanges, and then it just seemed like more fun to get things finished quickly. So I have one neglected larger piece that was in progress at that time and has since fallen by the wayside into UFO-land. I picked it up recently and discovered that I really do like working on it, although I doubt that I would start something like it today. The stitching at the bottom with the bunnies is the latest addition. This is "Countryside Spring" from the Stoney Creek Magazine, April 2005. Its on 18 count Aida from Silkweaver.com (the first piece of hand-dyed fabric I ever bought!). It's clickable for more detail.



Once the knitting needles had been fired up, I couldn't put them down either. So I tried a new technique, knitting with double-pointed needles. I made a ton of errors in this dishcloth, and I can barely recognize some of the petals in the Double Flower pattern I used. I probably should have chosen something simpler to practice on, but this was the design that appealed to me. It kind of reminds me of a white pizza!