Monthly Archives: November 2023

Well Shoot….

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Last night at golf lessons (indoor, thank goodness) I finally set about looking at my Handspun hat gauge. Doesn’t it look great!

My gauge in this handspun is WILDLY too big. I mean this hat is almost two hand spans! So I pulled the needles out and took a big chug of water for courage.

By the end of the lesson I had the hat ripped back and the needles back into the decreases. This time around I took out 16 stitches and moved this hat down to an 80 stitch count.

So, time to persevere and redo this hat. The silver lining is that my handspun is holding up really well to the knitting and ripping back!

Happy Knitting!!

Maybe Musselburgh?

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I have managed a nice fair bit of my handspun hat. The crown decreases are complete and I have many inches hat. I think I might tempt fate and try to make this into a Mussleburgh hat. What better way to maximize this handspun?

I need to take some weight and gauge measurements to see if I can make this pattern idea work. But I’m honestly pretty excited about this idea. Happy Knitting!!

Prepping For Advent

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Advent season is almost upon on us and it’s time to prep. After several years of trying different advents I have found that the 24 stripe sock skeins work best for me. I LOVE the mini skein advents but I struggle to use them and I have still have two full sets sitting in my stash.

This is KirbyWirby’s 2023 advent self striping sock. She chose a Friends theme this year and each stripe comes with a coordinating quote from a Friends character. I also opted to buy the coordinating mini for toes and heels.

I am working toe up vanilla socks with an afterthought heel. I got two heels knit up and on my 9 inch circulars. Now come December 1st, I am ready to work the first stripe. The dyer was super organized and marked where my skeins started in the sequence. I am starting on Day 11 instead of Day 1. No matter to me as I will still work all 24 stripes.

I wound up the yarn into two balls so I can work both socks. The smaller ball has two full repeats in it. The larger one must have an extra repeat? We will see when we get there!

P.S……I have two sock advents this year! Whoops 🙂

Cast On: Blue And Gold Handspun Hat

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I know, I already have a hat on the needles. But this handspun has been caked up and waiting on my desk for months. I decided to start a hat but from the crown worked down so I can maximize the use of the yarn.

I am using 8US dpns and I cast on 8 stitches and started increases at the end of each needles. This will create four lines of increase. Based on the size large hat I just finished for my coworker, I am going to work up to 96 stitches.

Once this gets up to full stitch count I will switch to a 16 inch circular in the same needle size. I don’t know how I will finish the brim. That is a problem for future Rachelle!

Happy Knitting!!

FO Friday: A Toddler Hat

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I made it! My hat trio is complete with the finished tiny toddler hat. And it turned our adorable.

Pattern: A 64 stitch basic beanie “recipe” with a rolled 2×2 brim (Rav link)

Yarn: Lilliput Yarn Woof Worsted in Chocolate Lab and Chasing Cars

Needles: US 8s

This project was a great stash buster. I knit the brim and the start of the hat until I ran out of chocolate and then finished off with the teal. I didn’t want to guess at yarn chicken and play with the decreases. So I knit until I had enough yarn to do a 3 needle bind off.

I’m not sure it will fit the toddler for long but I think it’s the gesture that matters most. Before I pack up these in a gift bag I think I will snag a photo of all three hats together. A little memento of cuteness for me.

Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: A Cozy Hat

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It’s Thanksgiving Eve and I am starting a new hat! This is one of the skeins of Woof Worsted I purchased from Lilliput Yarn.

I’m really feeling another basis beanie recipe. I stared with 2×2 rib over 96 stiches on a US 8 needles. This color is called Sasha and I thought it looked glorious against the orange of my fireplace.

This will be my holiday knitting as we run from event to event. Let’s see what I can get done! Happy Knitting!!

Waiting and Knitting

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Knitting is a great tool for waiting in those long lines waiting for Thanksgiving grocery pickups. This is where my Emotional Support sock left off after my mandatory online training last week.

I really want to get this sock finished up quickly so that I can get the toes started for my Advent Socks. I have two Christmas advent sock sets coming this year. One from KirbyWirby that is Friends themed and the 2023 version from the Cozy knitter.

I want to get the toes done for all four socks so I can start with the sock knitting on December 1st. The other challenge is to find enough sock needles to get these all on at once!

Happy Knitting!!

Will It Toddlers Hat?

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We are screaming into Thanksgiving week and I have one tiny hat to finish before month end when my coworker is moving. So its GAME ON.

I have 20 grams each of the chocolate and teal left from the adult hats. I also have a tiny ball left from a previous hat. I cast on 64 stitches for a toddler sized hat and I plan on working a color blocked hat.

This really should only take a couple of hours but it’s a CRAZY week getting ready for the holiday. Let’s see what I can accomplish! Happy Knitting!!

FO Friday: The Other Coworker Hat

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I made it! The second hat is done and ready to move to the Pacific Northwest

Pattern: My own 96 stitch basic beanie “recipe” with a folded 2×2 brim (Rav link)

Yarn: Lilliput Yarn Woof Worsted in the Chasing Cars colorway

Needles: US 8s

This hat was made to be a large but somehow, magically, I used THE SAME amount of yardage as my medium hat. I don’t under the physics….but the scale does not lie. It could be this skein was a tid bit heavier/larger than the chocolate? Whatever, this hat is roughly 177 yards of yarn and 80 grams.

Happy Knitting!!