Christmas Hats

Our new little one is here!  And the holidays is nearly upon us!🎄 Since I know that one of the traditions that my lil' bro and his wife has is to go to our local City & County Christmas tree festival, I thought it'd be cute to make a baby Santa Hat for her! 😍 Using my leftover yarn from her blanket and my Denise US 7 (4.5mm) needles, here's what I did:

1. Cast on 80 sts
2. Do a 1x1 rib for 6 rows
3. Alternate red and white (every other stitch) in stockinette for 17 rows
4. Knit 1 row using the white yarn only
5. Switch to US 5 (3.75mm) needles, decrease 9 sts (decreasing every 8 sts), total 71 sts
6. Continue stockinette st for 12 rows using white yarn
7. Start decreasing the hat in pattern by 9 sts (decrease every 6 or 7 sts to the last 3 sts), total 62 sts
8. Knit 2 rows
9. Decrease 7 sts (decrease every 8 sts), total 55 sts
10. Knit 2 rows
11. Decrease 5 sts (decrease 1st, 24th, 26th, 36th and last sts), total 50 sts
12. Knit 2 rows
13. Decrease 5 sts (decrease every 8 sts to the last 5 sts, k), total 45 sts
14. Knit 2 rows
15. Decrease 5 sts (decrease every 9 sts to the last 5 sts, k2, k2tog, k), total 40 sts
16. Knit
17.  Decrease 8 sts (decrease 1st, 8th, 12th, 16th, 17th, 24th, 28th, and last sts ), total 32 sts
18. Knit
19. Decrease 8 sts (decrease 2nd, 4th, 8th, 11th, 14th, 17th, 20th, and 23rd sts), total 24 sts
20. Decrease 5 sts (decrease every 4th sts), total 19 sts
21. Decrease 7 sts (*k2tog, k*, repeat 4 times, k2tog twice), total 12 sts
22. Decrease 6 sts (k2tog six times), total 6 sts
23. Bind off
24. Make a pom pom

Man, for such a little hat, it was not that easy to make.  First of all, the red and white portion was a lot harder to switch colours than I thought it would be.  Perhaps my next accessory will be a yarn guide/stranded ring (like this) for myself.  That might've made it easier.  Then, making the top portion of the hat was another endeavor in and of itself!  First, I thought I'd be all fancy and use a seed stitch pattern but, it bulged out like a b-i-g puff.  So I thought it was my needle size; so, I ripped it out and started again using smaller needles.  To no avail, it was still funky looking since I just couldn't get the same gauge as the red and white portion.  So, I ripped it out again!  This time, I used even smaller needles and tried again using a double seed stitch pattern this time (I thought it would help if the pattern wasn't so tight).  It was better but as I was ready to decrease, the bulge became apparent (again).  Soooooo, I ripped it out (again!) and (finally) conceded that I needed to make the top portion in a regular boring stockinette stitch.  Thinking that the original needle size I used for the red and white portion would suffice, I went round and round until ... The bulge came back.  More ripping ensued.  I finally figured it out (as such the pattern above). 😅

Here's her very first Christmas hat:

I hope it fits her and that my lil' bro and sissy find it cute on our lil' one! 🐣

And not to leave my lil' bro and sissy out, I made them a pair of matching hats:

For my lil' bro

For my lil' sissy

Pattern: Spoke

Happy Christmas!🎄

Update:. Here's my all my kiddos in their Christmas hats! 😍

I Love Yarn Day 2019

Today is I Love Yarn Day and while I didn't actually buy yarn today, I did receive something yarn related: knitting needles! (Plus, I've already had my yarn sprees earlier in the year so, it was kinda hard to justify getting more yarn today 😒). I've been drooling over getting a complete (like FULL and c-o-m-p-l-e-t-e) set of Chiaogoo Twist needles for a very long time; however, our budget never seemed to really allow for it (choices, choices, choices 😒😭).  This year, Hubby insisted that we make it a priority that I (finally) get a full set and (that amazing guy) actually made it happen (this is a feat in and of itself since he almost never does any of our financials!) 😍 So, (drum roll .....🥁) here it is!

 

I ordered everything from Handsomefibers.com (a recommendation from my friend, D!  Thanks, D!! 😍😍). They're a great online shop that sells Chiaogoo needles (and other knitting needle brands) at great prices and offers free shipping (which is a big deal since where I live you have to ship everything)! 🙌. They package everything super well so, your package is damage free and it's virtually like getting it from the store! (I've ordered from them before when I was getting just a single set of needles here and there so, I knew my complete set would come packed nice and tight.)

Here's what my complete set looks like!! 😍😍😍🙌 As you can see, I have an initial 5" (S) Spin set of needles when that was all they had at that time and the 5" sock set; then I picked up the 4" sock set and now(!!) I have the 4" and the 3" needles in all the needles sizes available!! 😍🙌  The 4" & 3" needles fits better for me as the 5" ones felt like I was knitting with straight needles!😒😣🤦 (I discovered this while using my Denise Needles; they're very short tipped and are about 4" (they're standard needle length) and 3" (short sharp tips) and I find that I prefer to use those needles more than my 5" needles simply because they're more comfortable to knit with.)  And, if you're wondering how I use 'em, I use a 3" on the right side and a 4" on the left side; I find that combination works best for me and, it's a helpful reminder (for me) on which way I'm knitting, especially in the round.

And this is where they're all going to live: in my original Chiaogoo Spin case (my very first set of Chiaogoo needles (this was my very first splurge when I got into knitting) and my custom made sock needle bag (made by my mom 😍😍😍).

Woo-hoo!!🙌  Watch out, world, I'm armed with nearly all knitting needles sizes possible (at least in the Chiaogoo brand)! 😁 Knitting projects, here I come! ⚠️😉😆

The Little Wrap that Could

I've been oddly struggling with turning the heel of a sock project that I've been working on so, I decided to take a break and find a project that was "bigger" than using sock yarn. So, I took out my sweater box and found a project that I picked up on my Puget Sound LYS Tour back from 2016: The Guernsey Wrap.  All six hundred (600) yards yarn still needed to be wound into a ball and as I was reviewing the pattern to familiarize myself with it, I realized that I would need to figure out a way to make my paper pattern into an electronic pattern (especially if I was going to take this project out with me as I never leave home without a project).🤔

So, first thing first, I contacted Churchmouse Yarns & Teas to see if they had an electronic copy of it ... unfortunately, they didn't.😒  So, I contacted Brooklyn Tweed (the creator of the pattern) and they were kind enough to send me an electronic version! 😍

Now, it was off to the races! 🙌 I wound the yarn into balls and had indigo dust all over my floor. Then I took out my Denise US9 (5.5mm) needles and plunged in. The pattern was easy to read and charts were easy to follow ... I was merrily knitting away! 🙌  Until I reached Row 56 of the first chart and was nearly at the end of my first ball of yarn.😣 Why might this be an important thing to note, you ask?  Well, if you look at the pattern, there are three (3) charts: Chart A (76 rows) - this is repeated two and a half times (2.5x!); Chart B (24 rows) - this is done once; and Chart C (76 rows) - this is also repeated two and a half times (2.5x).  Do you see my dilemma? 😳 I was already near the end of my first (of three (3)!) ball of yarn and I still had twenty (20!) more rows to go.  How in ****'s name was I going to complete all those charts?! 😣🤔

So, what did you do, you ask? Well, I promptly freaked out, went on-line and called Churchmouse Yarns & Teas to see if they still carried the yarn.  They did not; they haven't carried that yarn in quite some time!  They did tell me that the yarn maker: Local Color Fiber Studio seems to sell their yarn on their own website.  So, I went to their (Local Color Fiber Studio's) website and emailed and called them.  I didn't get a response! (More freaking out ensued!)  I called Tolt Yarn & Wool since Local Color Fiber Studio said that their yarn was also sold there.  No luck!  They said that they did have a trunk show for them a l-o-n-g time ago but did have something that was similar although not quite the same twist and texture.  I then called Bazaar Girls, the last place that may have this yarn.  Again no luck; although they did recommend that I try the bigger box shops like Webs.com & JimmyBeansYarns.com.  I even went to the company that actually produced the yarn: Abundant Earth Fiber; they did not even have this yarn (Cascara Merino) on their website!  I was so freaked, that I even asked my sissy in Seattle if she goes to one of those farmer's market (yes, I was crazy at this point).  (Fortunately,) she said she didn't since I didn't even know if Local Color Fiber Studios were actually at those farmer's market.  Eventually, I found an e-mail address for Local Color Fiber Studio in which they did respond to.  They said that they could make a batch for me.  I was elated! 🙌  I asked how much it would cost as well as how much it would cost to ship it to me.  When they told me the cost, let's just say that Hubby had cartoon eyes when I told him how much it cost!😲 There went that idea! 🤦

Now, what, you ask?  Well, it was back to the drawing board.  Since it was clear that I would have not have enough yarn to follow the pattern exactly, I figured I should just figure out how to make a stole of it instead.  I studied the pattern once more, counted how many rows it would take to transition to Chart B and compared it to how many rows were in Chart A & C and checked my gauge.  I was already using the largest needle both the pattern and yarn recommended.  So, what else could I do?  I ripped out what I did, changed out my needle size to a US10.5 (6.5mm) and tried again.  This time, I managed to get all the way through Chart A and managed to had some left over yarn in my first ball.🙌 I decided that I would skip the repeats for Chart A & C and plunge ahead to the transition and Chart B.  I was able to get through half of the transition with my remaining yarn before needing to use my second ball of yarn.  From there, I paused and calculated a bit more since I now knew exactly how many rows I could get out of an entire ball of yarn.  I determined that I could complete the transitions and repeat Chart B twice before needing to use the last ball of yarn for the remainder of the transition and Chart C.  

So ... Did it work?!  Yes! 🙌 When I was done, it was just long enough to be a very short wrap.  I thought it would be fine.  It needed a bath (and a white vinegar wash to make sure the indigo didn't come off).  So, into the wash basin it went for a good soaking.  As it was starting to absorb all that water, it began to expand ... Here's what it looked like when I blocked it:

Gee - is it me or does it look kinda big?? 🤔

Here's what it looked like after it dried and I took off all the pins:

Hmmm ... It didn't shrink/bounce back ... 🤔

Here's what it looked like after I took off all my blocking wires:

My goodness!  It was H-U-G-E!  It was a full blown wrap and then some! 😲🙌😍

And ... drumroll 🥁... Here's what it looks like on me!

Front

Back

Right

Left

And here's what it looks like when I roll it up (so I know that I'll have a pillow/blanket when I take it traveling with me!😉):

This was some adventure I went on!😲  So, how long did it take me to start this from start to end?  Four (yes, count 'em 4!) whole days!🙌😍 It was the quickest most gratifying project I've done in a while.👍😍 I will be enjoying this wrap on my next trip!😉👍😍