All Spelled Out

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The Raiders Beanie aka Dee’s Retirement Hat now has all the letters.

The colorwork on this was intriguing. I had only been doing the Swiftie and Chiefs version up to now. These are just many iterations of the Touchdown Beanie by Katie Carlson. The Raiders chart was actually kind of nice as the letters were very straight and close together. Meaning I rarely had to trap my floats. Which was very nice

I did choose to carry my main color across the back and I’ll just snip the long tails to weave in. I can’t tell from this stage how my tension is, so fingers crossed..

Happy Knitting!!

Ripping Back The Sweater

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I decided I was unhappy with the Cozy Classic Raglan. I hated how my increases looked an I wanted to start over.

So I have ripped back to the collar ribbing and wound up the yarn. I need to count and make sure my stitch markers are in the right place as a first course of business. Next up I need to watch the videos on her increases to make sure I am doing them right. If I am not, I can learn to do better. If I am…..I might choose my own increases.

But for now this is going into timeout out. And I may put my sweater mojo back into the Bibliophile 2 sweater….

Happy Knitting!!

Starting The Raiders Chart

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The Raiders Hat is all done with the ribbing and set up to be ready for the colorwork.

I am working with hand dyed yarn and this skein of “black” is highly variegated. I’m not hating it but it’s also maybe not the aesthetic I was hoping for. I am going to continue regardless as I am on the deadline of the retirement party. I do have enough yarn that I could switch the colors and make the light grey the main color again. It appears to be more solid.

Why am I like this? I do not know….but at least I might use up the yarn! 🙂

Happy Knitting!!

Finished: Handspun Sparkly Hat

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I was successful at finishing my Sparkly Handspun Hat during my all day work training. I even have it washed and ready for glamour shots

Pattern: My own basic beanie recipe. I think I used 76 stitches?

Needles: US 10s

Yarn: My own bulky handspun here and here

All finished this hat weighed almost 120 grams and used 163 yards of my handspun. I mixed two different spins together and you would never tell. The fabric is quite dense as you can see in the first photo with zero drape. But it is soft and VERY WARM with the alpaca content.

I plan to keep these and the mitts in my hat stash. I like that I made the whole project from soup to nuts so to speak. And it feels good to “clear out” a 2024 WIP from my bag of WIPs…

Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: Retirement Hat

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Dee’s Retirement Hat has hit the needles!

I visited a dear friend last night and snoodled in front of a fake fire and talked for hours. I’m working the ribbing in the black aka Gunpowder color. I will do a the regular and non folded brim. My recipient has A LOT of hair.

This is also the medium size so it should be a generous hat. The person I was visiting thinks knitting is magic so it was fun to watch her watching me ❤️

Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: In The Light (Blues)

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I finally had some cozy time to set up and start my blue In The Light

I did some math based on total rows, taking out the rows for transition and then backing into how to do a four color version. Basically at my gauge, I need 23 garter bumps for each “section” in between fades.

I want to do the lace at the end so I might stop early with color number four. And it will be okay. Close enough is perfect enough for me. I will definitely have a lot of leftovers on this one!

Happy Knitting!!

A Retirement Hat

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I have a dear former colleague who is retiring after 35+ years of service to the organization. And we have seen SOME SHIT. So I feel like want to make something special as she was kind to me as a peer and a boss.

This leads me to her favorites. She LOVES the LV Raiders and my Touchdown Beanie pattern just so happens to have that colorwork option. AND TreasureGoddess Yarns sells a Raiders kit. SOOOOO, I bought more yarn.

I got the Raiders kit which is the Pieces of Eight (grey), White Sand Beaches (white) and Gunpowder (black) to make the hat. I even lucked out because she didn’t have a half skein of the light grey and threw in a full one instead. She really is the best.

I also picked up an extra skein of the Ruby Daggers in Warmth Worsted so I would have Chiefs colors on hand again in case I need to whip up more of those hats.

Now I need to get knitting before her party on March 20th!! Happy Knitting!!

Leadership Knitting

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Really dusting off the old WIPs with this one. This is my Sparkly Handspun Hat from 2024…..

I was back in the ribbing when I dug this back out ahead of some Leadership retreat knitting time. I got all the Shiny Black 2-ply incorporated that I had left after the fingerless gloves I made from handspun. I am now working in the Alpaca Firestar Blend 2-ply that was made to match the original fiber.

Looking at it, it looks pretty seamless. And I have like a 7 hour day to knit this hat while I have to pay attention and talk but not do a lot of typing. I think I can clear this very old WIP!

Happy Knitting!!

Finished: Swiftie Beanie #2

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The Second Swiftie Beanie is complete. And it fits much better than the last one, lol.

Pattern: Touchdown Beanie by Katie Carlson (Rav Link)

Needles: US 5s

Mods: I changed how the colors fell in the colorwork to match the yarn I had on hand.

This was an adult medium and finished out nicely with blocking. I used 64 grams of yarn across all three colors. I really liked switching up the colorwork from pattern instructions. I think white letters would not have popped as much.

It makes a slouchier hat with the ribbing folded down and tight beanie with the ribbing doubled up. I hope the recipient really enjoys it. And I completed well in advance of the March birthday!!

Happy Knitting!!

Blue Cakes

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My next In The Light shawl is taking small steps.

I hand wound each skein into a ball during a long work meeting on my WFH day. And then I sat down with a Sallie Goldenbaum audio book/knitting mystery and use my yarn winder to make cakes. This pattern uses two ends of the yarn so they have to be cakes OR wound into separate balls. I chose the former because I’m altering the patterns and I don’t know how much of each color I will need.

I have the pattern on my computer and have some time planned to cast on. I just need to dig out some needles now! Happy Winding!!