I Went on a Bender...

I have been really well behaved this month (or at least I was well behaved). I've only bought one skein of yarn since Lent began. I've been knitting hats for the Optimist Challege out of stash. Lots and lots of stash baby! I probably should have kept track....

Hmm... 13 hats and I get about 2 hats per skein so roughly 6 skeins of yarn. Not bad in one month! The sad thing is, I'm not sure that it really made a dent in my stash.

So today I went to the LYS to (get out of the house) get some uninterrupted knitting time. I finished up one hat and made another in the time that I was there! As I was sitting there, being tempted by all the new yarns, I realized that I have hardly any blue yarn in my stash. And since our friends just had a baby boy, I will have to knit something blue. I have to, it's not even an option, it's a compulsion. I picked up 2 skeins of Malabrigo (are you shocked? I think it's my absolute fav of all time) and 2 skeins of Kidsilk Haze. The Malabrigo is chocolate brown with aqua and will be a baby surprise jacket and the kidsilk (one skein of aqua, one of brown) will be booties.

I was also drooling over this hard core... it's Malabrigo silky marino. Maybe after Lent.

Back to knitting hats... I haven't really made any progress on my list of things to knit that I posted back in February. Hats, hats, everywhere hats.

Are You Sick of Baby Hats Too?

I'm getting kind of sick of baby hats. Yes, they are instant gratification, but knitting a hat a day or one every day and a half is getting a little old. I'd like to intersperse them with other knitting, but I just can't take the time. Not when the other team is pulling so far ahead! Does anyone have any good speedy hat patterns that they would like to share? Mostly I'm using up my supply of worsted weight yarn. I seem to have a lot of single skeins and those hats go pretty fast.

Are you ready for a bit of random? I promised some photos of my spinning a while back. Here it is.... The Sandstone from Ashland Bay Co. - it's 70/30 merino and silk. It was also my first attempt at Navajo plying. Overall I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. I have a few sections that are overspun, but mostly it came out very nice. It's thicker than I had intended it to be, but that was because I forgot that Navajo plying gives you 3 plys instead of 2. Extreme close up.

I'm really happy with the colors in this yarn. I was worried about them becoming too muddy, but I think the pastels really held up well.

More random... someone from work was getting rid of 21 skeins of Debbie Bliss merino aran in a mossy green color and a very light tan. Theoretically it should be enough to make Adam a sweater. I'm having a hard time finding a pattern that he likes and that I would enjoy making. He saw a zip up cabled cardigan in Elizabeth Zimmerman's Opinionated Knitter that he thinks he might like. I am a little worried about
1. whether there is enough yarn in the green since I think that a 2 color cabled cardigan might look a little odd and
2. if I can follow the pattern. I did a swatchcap as EZ recommends and that worked out well enough. I like that there is very little seaming involved in her patterns. The problem, of course, is that she is just so darn vague. The women in the yarn shop assure me that if I can do cabeling (which I can) and if I've done a baby surprise sweater without issues (which I have) I can do any EZ pattern. And of course that I can always go in and ask for help if it's needed.

The stomach flu has hit both girls this week (we cancelled Lily's birthday party that was scheduled for this afternoon). So I'm going to enjoy the fact that my house is fairly clean and just sit and knit and maybe even nap. Happy Random Saturday.

More Hats

I finished another 4 hats over the last week. When I brought them into the Optimist club, I found out that one of the men had knit 7 over the last week. Another man had knit 13! Apparently he had been knitting on the loom while watching the state hockey tournaments. I've recruited a couple of women with looms to be on my team so that I might have a fighting chance! I'm telling everyone that Slow and Steady might just win this race. I figure I have staying power.

I found this great pattern on Ravelry. It's free from WoollyWormHead. It goes very quickly, I've finished 2 1/2 so far.

And another squash hat from 101 Designer One Skein Wonders.

Even if I don't win the hat knitting contest for my team, it's really been interesting to see how many hats our little club can knit.

Knittin' for Britain

(My own made up pattern)

There's an older gentleman in my Optimist club (he was one of the founding members 61 years ago) who often comments on my knitting during meetings. He always says that I remind him of the saying, "knittin' for Britain," during WWII. Well, I haven't been knitting for Britain, but I have been knitting for babies. This is part of the Optimist Club knitting challenge. So far I've made 4 hats that qualify during the month of March.

(Free Ravelry Download - Jester Hat)


It's been a busy day here in the Big Blue House. I got our taxes done, did a short workout, made a pie for hubby's birthday tomorrow, and worked on hats. Yesterday I finished plying the Sandstone yarn - photos to follow once it's dry.

(Free Ravelry Download - Cabled Baby Hat)

I like this little cabled hat so much that I'm doing a second in sparkly white yarn. It's a great stash buster for all of the worsted weight yarn odds and ends I have sitting around. Our friends are going to have a baby at the end of March. If it's a girl, she'll get the white hat. If it's a boy, he'll get this blue one. I hope it's a girl, I have enough yarn to do a Baby Surprise Jacket with a bit of sparkly pink as accent.

Now, I'm off to fold laundry and work on the hat.

Whee!

Iapologize, I've got nothing witty or slightly clever to say today. I've got a nasty cold and just can't seem to sleep (which is what I think I need in order to kick this). Plus, I found out on Friday that my job description is going to change drastically. Instead of working on special projects, I've been handed a very busy territory to work (I work for a newspaper company). I was thrown into the fire on Friday and I'm just struggling to get my feet under me. Sorry for the mixed metaphors, it's just that sort of day.

I've been working on this very full bobbin lately. By lately, I mean the last 3 weeks. It's merino and silk, 80/20 I believe. The color is Sandstone and it's from Ashland Bay Co.

I watched a Joy of Handspinning navajo plying video about 30 times and practiced on some waste fiber. I think I'm getting it. It seems to be going very well, except my plyed yarn seems rather thick. I hesitate to call it "rope" since at most it is Worsted Weight, however, it's feeling pretty substantial. I think I need to figure out how much spin to put into everything. More photos, including some of plyed yarn soon I hope. I still don't have a camera (just haven't had time to bargin shop) but that's going to be high on the list of priorities this week.