Vogue’s Ribbed Hat

I celebrated my tenth year knitting last month and I only realized it just now.  I looked back to see when I made the last two Vogue ribbed hats and discovered that the very first piece I made was in January 2006.

Ha.

Ten years.

Wow.

I made these simple Vogue ribbed hats in 2009 with Noro Kureyon and gave one to my sister and the other to my sister-in-law.

I always wanted one for myself as the color changes in Noro [as we all know] are addicting.

I traveled a few weekends ago and knocked out this hat on the trip.

 Funny thing is I’ve made this hat three times and made it wrong all three times.  The deceptively simple 4 stitch ribbing has a slight twist to the stitch pattern and I never took the time to really read it.  I thought it was a plain 4 stitch rib.  Rookie mistake made three times!

Now I’ll have to make another one.  THE RIGHT WAY.  Good thing I wouldn’t mind at all.

 

 

 

Purl Soho’s Granny Stripe Scarf

Purl Soho has some amazing free patterns.

I want to knit them all and, believe it or not, the first one I picked was a crochet pattern.  The Granny Stripe Scarf.

 Oh boy….

My grandmother knit and crochet and she taught me how to make the basic crochet stitch when I was 7.  Not sure I can call myself a crocheter with that limited knowledge, but the author of the pattern said I could do it, so I was going to try.

Good thing my Purl Jam buddies can crochet and YouTube has plenty of videos.

This pattern was the perfect start for a beginner crocheter.  The pattern has some compassion written in it for a first timer and it was very easy to follow.  It just takes awhile to complete all the rows.

I substituted Knit Picks Palette yarn in the same colors as the pattern, but I bet it would be amazing in Purl Soho’s Line Weight yarn as noted in the pattern.  I was trying to make it more affordable.

I decided to add fringe instead of weaving in all those ends.

I love it and I find out of all my scarves – I grab this one first on my way out the door.

Baby Booties

A good friend of mine is having a baby boy and that baby needs some baby booties!

I chose Madder’s Lovebug Booties pattern by Carrie Bostick Hoge.  I thought they were beyond cute.  I ordered the Chickadee yarn from Quince & Company in the colors noted in the pattern.

I knit the first bootie and found the striping to be a bit challenging.  Getting the stripes to line up in the round was difficult.  I searched and found several tips on YouTube, but the stripes were still a bit fussier than I expected.

The photographs in the pattern show the second bootie in a contrasting color combination, but when I started on the second bootie I forgot to switch the colors.  Bummer.

So the booties I made are the same colorway and are just as cute.

I stuffed them with fiberfill, so they would stay in perfect shape.

Here is the new little guy sporting his new baby booties.  I love that his mama dressed him in orange for the photo!

Looks like they fit ok and he is absolutely adorable…

Herbivore

The year was 2010, I walked into Fibrespace [the old space] to meet my knitting bud, Kate, and saw the owner, Danielle Romanetti, was wearing a shawlette bandana style and she looked like she just flipped that shawl on effortlessly and moved through her day.  She made a shawlette look cool and I just had to make one.

I said, “Kate, what shawl is Danielle wearing?”

“Herbivore Stephen West“, she replied.

How does she do that?  How does she just know what the name of a random shawlette someone is wearing?  Maybe someday I will know these things too.

I found the pattern online and purchased the yarn that day.  Stephen’s pattern showed the scarf in a variegated green color, so I chose a variegated green and blue Malabrigo Sock yarn in the color Solis as well.  No chance I was  messing this up.

The pattern at the time was a bit challenging for me as there was a center spine with yarn overs on each side and I could swear I had the wrong stitch count, because the stitch marker kept moving over the yarn over, but I keep going and eventually finished it.

I still flip the ends around my neck like Danielle did that day.  I can’t wait for it to cool off, so I can wear it on a chilly day.

Baby Sweater and Hat

Over the past four years, I’ve pursued an Associates Degree in Construction Project Management.  It was interesting to go back to college in my mid forties to get another degree.  The classroom has changed since I was in college in the late 80’s and, since this was a local community college the students were as varied as can be.  There were kids right out of high school, adult professionals taking a brush up class, students from other universities needing a few extra credits, tons of international students from all over the world, and many other types.  It was an invaluable experience and I met a lot of great people.  Two of which work with me now – how’s that for networking!

When Ms. J. came to work with me she was a few months pregnant and had an interest in learning to knit.  Bonus!!  I would have a kindred spirit sitting right next to me.  Lunchtime could be filled with trips to the LYS, or discussing the next pattern we were going to tackle.  Ms. J took to knitting like a baby duck to water.  I think I vaguely showed her the knit stitch and she was off and running.  She consulted YouTube when she needed to learn a new stitch or technique.  Even taught me a thing or two.  She whipped out blankets and scarves while waiting for the baby to arrive.

I started on a sweater and matching hat for the expected baby boy.  I found the pattern for the sweater in 60 Quick Baby Knits.  I choose the 55 Preppy Cardigan and 6 Striped Hat.  I had to get started or that baby would be here before I was done.  I finished the hat and sweater in time for the baby shower and Ms. J was able to open the gift in front of her family and friends.

How cute is that sweater?

Precious

I loved the contrasting trim.

Matching hat.

Stripes in the round were a bit challenging.  I YouTubed many videos to find the right technique to hide the jog.  I think I was successful.

I cord top.  Love it.

Baby Rory all decked out in the sweater and hat.  Too bad this little guy can’t stand to wear clothes!!

cabinfour’s Pure

Karen over at Fringe Association just had to feature this clean lined, crisp, white shawl and I just had to fall in love with it.

cabinfour’s pure shawl‘s clean lines were achieved by a section of stockinette, a section of twisted stitches and then a cruise into a section of good ‘ole garter stitch.

Easy peasy, although the twisted stitch section slowed my knitting to a crawl and almost had me rip out the whole shawl…that and one lousy mis-stitch right in the middle of the shawl.  Darn it!!

I used Cascade 220 Superwash in white.

Love it!

Jared Flood Scarf

In 2006, when I first learned to knit, I met a great group of girls [Eva, Kate, Ashley B, Ashley G and then Jenna] who were far more advanced in their knitting skills than I was.  I marveled when they knit barely looking at the knitting and no pattern in sight.

 Knitting dominated the conversation each time we met and I just absorbed what I could and googled the rest, just so I could keep up with them each week.

They told me to get on the waiting list for Ravelry – it was a new website for knitters and there was a long waiting list to be added to the site.  I had no idea what Ravelry was, but I signed up right away.  Now all these years later, I can’t imagine knitting anything without signing on to Ravelry first.

Early on, there was a scarf that the girl’s were making.  It sorta became our signature group scarf – it was a scarf by Jared Flood [back when he wasn’t knitteratti].

It apparently was an “easy” scarf to make.  It was a pattern that was as old as knitting, but Jared knit the pattern with Noro and the girls just had to knit it.  And if they knitted it – I knit it.

I logged on to Jared’s blog and found the post.  Knitting with two balls of yarn?  I’m out.  There was no way I could figure that out, but the girls calmed me down and got me started and it was instant love….it was so cool watching the colors unfold in that simple rib pattern.

I knit mine in Noro Silk Garden [just like Jared did] in colors 264 and 84.

Loved it.

Loved it so much I knit another one in 2014.  This one was in 326 and 338.  A bit more pink, because pink makes me happy.

Totally love it.

My niece modeling the first color combo.

Both scarves draped together.

And when you have a bit of Noro left over, well you make a Jared Flood scarf for your  favorite Goodwill finds ever.  My birds.

 So what if the big one is cracked a bit.  Still love her.  And now she has a her very own Jared Flood scarf.

Felted Bucket Bag

The ladies who own Solitude Wool happen to live in Loudoun County [where I live] and last summer they had a “visit the farm” series of events.  My mom and I were able to attend two of them.  The Solitude Wool yarns were displayed at the events  and they have a great selection of patterns.

The events were a great way to see how the farms take care of the animals, actually see them sheared and learn about everything that goes into running a farm and creating a line of yarn.

I was interested in the felted bags on display and the author of the bag pattern, Sue Burke, convinced me to give one a try.  She helped me selected a multi-colored Tunis/Romney yarn and a pink and teal Karakul yarn to blend with the Tunis, since two yarns are held together for this felted bag pattern.

The bag is knitted in seed stitch which creates a texture once felted.   Seed stitch is v-e-r-y slow for me, but I persevered and finally finished the bag.

 

Now to felt it.

Sue gave excellent instructions on how to felt the bag by hand and I considered this a viable option, because I have a front loading washing machine and had no idea how to check the bag while felting it, without the fear of water jetting out from the front door of the machine.  So, after much debate with my mom of the pros and cons of trying it, I decided to felt it by hand.

It took about 30 minutes of kneading the bag in hot and cold water rinses to get the knitting to felt into a thick, sturdy fabric.

I added the Cindy’s Button Company handles I purchased online I think it came out great!

 I love catching a glimpse of the pink and teal bag as I pass by.

I stuffed it full of the yarn my BFF, Sherri, brought back for me from her recent trip to Ireland.  I can’t wait to get started on something with that yarn!

Wonky Cowl

The Wonky Cowl.  I found this pattern on knitty.com back in 2009.  I had been knitting about three years by then and thought maybe I could extend my pattern choices beyond scarves.  I still love to knit scarves, but this pattern seemed doable.

I had a skein of Debbie Bliss’ Cashmerino Superbulky which was the perfect yarn for this pattern.  It knit up quick and had great stitch definition.

 

The basketweave pattern was a bit of a knitting challenge for me  back then.

Alex, my niece, modeled it for me last summer.

Since this was such a snowy winter, this cowl was in heavy rotation in my house.  It seemed as though it was the perfect piece to keep your neck warm without having to deal with the scarf tails.

I’ve always felt that once I knit a pattern I wouldn’t want to knit it again.  Kinda like reading a book twice, but this pattern I would knit again.

Now I just need to search for the perfect yarn.

 

Tiny Sweater

Sometimes something cute is just the thing you need to get you through a long workday.

For me, its my calming lava lamps and my tiny knit sweaters.  Nothing seems as bad as I might think it is when I am surrounded by the things that calm me.

So, when you have a bit of this left over.

Just turn it into one of these.

Add a tiny hanger fashioned from wire.

And you have instant happiness.

Add it to your collection of tiny sweaters on your pin-up board at work.  Just a glance, and you’re back in knitting nirvana.

Want to knit one?  Check out this pattern on Ravelry.

How do you get through a workday when you’d rather be knitting or painting or crafting in some way?