A Quick Baby Shower Hat

One of my staff at work recently found out she is going to be a 1st time grandma to a little baby girl. She is BURSTING with excitement. The staff are going to throw a staff “grandparent sprinkle” so I needed to whip up a little hat.

I had some leftovers of worsted in my hat stash. The pink is some Woof Worsted from Lilliput Yarns and the silver is from K-Zip knits. I think the two tones work really well together. It’s 64 stitches on a US8 needle.

I did a 2×2 rib until it looked like enough and then switched to stockinette. And then I made up the crown decreases as I went. And it felt super great to eek out this hat and completely use up these scraps. Now I just need to make at least two more hats for other new grandparent coworkers.

Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: Punch Bug Beanie

Before I jump into sweater surgery with both feet, I decided to take up something more mindless as a palette cleanser.

This skein of Felici Worsted is the companion skein to my Punch Bug Vanilla Socks. I couldn’t find my US 8 needles and I was impatient so I grabbed 10.5US needles. This meant I needed to take my standard 88 stitch worsted hat down to 80 stiches.

I got the brim cast on and the ribbing established. I can’t decide if I am going to do a standard ribbed brim or a folded ribbed brim for extra cushy factor. I think I will knit a little longer and decide later.

Happy Knitting!!

FO Friday: Connections Beanie (Dark)

My Connections Beanie (Dark) is off the needles, washed and blocked. It turned out not too shabby!

Pattern: Connections Beanie by Susan Lobos Garcia (Rav Link)

Yarn: The Shepherd’s Mill 2-ply sport in Light Yellow and Aqua

Needles: US 4 and 5

Mods: One accidental error in the colorwork chart that I consciously chose not to go back and fix.

The crown decreases went fairly well. I had a few tension problems around the centered decreases. But after all the trials around this hat I just wanted to be done. This dark version of the pattern is the smaller size so this hat technically fits me it is definitely better suited for PB or Jellybean.

I would knit this pattern again, but I think I need a break to get over my frustrations around this version. Totally on me as the knitter and not an issue of the pattern. Happy Friday and Happy Knitting!!

A Second Trip To The Frog Pond

I think I may be slightly cursed…..my Connections Beanie (Dark) is taking a second trip to the frog pond…sigh.

I was recovering from my previous mistakes and doing SO well. And then I thought I was done with the colorwork and started working the crown. Nope….I was missing the last bit of yellow to finish off the colorwork. So I pulled out the needles a second time to rip back to the mistake.

The stitches were not to bad to get back on the needles and I added the last two missing rows of color work. I am truly now ready to work the crown and decreases. This hat is really trying my patience.

And yes, my original mistake is still there and I’m leaving it as an unintended design feature! Happy Knitting!!

The Hat and The Frog Pond

Whelp, my knitting while drinking did end in disaster. I made not one but TWO mistakes in the charts. Sigh.

The first one towards the beginning of the chart wasn’t so bad. Stuff is lining up where it shouldn’t but doesn’t look horrible, just now how the designer planned for. But the wheels REALLY fell off towards the top. That shit just doesn’t eve make sense, sigh.

I got REAL brave and pulled the needles completely out. I used a DPN to catch the first stitch of the round where I wanted to rip back to. And then to the frog pond I went! I have all the stitches back on the needles and nothing ran too badly. Just don’t have the energy restart and redo today.

This is a future Rachelle task! Happy Knitting!!

Yet Another Bad Idea

My Connections Beanie (Dark) is FINALLY past the ribbing of the brim. It felt like that took forever and I was never so happy to get to the colorwork section.

Last night I chose to poor myself a lovely glass of red wine and sit down with my beanie after the children crashed for the day. I sent a Snap to my friends that surely this would be a recipe for disaster. What can go wrong with reading charts while consuming alcohol?!

I haven’t checked my hat yet this morning to see how I did. I’ll let that be a little surprise to myself later! Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: Connections Beanie (Dark)

So as not to lose to steam, I got my second Connection Beanie on the needles right away. This time the dark version.

I managed to get the long tail cast on on the second try and get it joined in the round without twisting it on the first try. It’s just slow going with the designers choice in ribbing. It’s beautiful but it requires me to pay attention and I don’t have a lot of that right now. It’s all a mental game and I’m doing my best not to get stalled out.

Happy Knitting!!

FO Friday: Connections Beanie (Light)

As predicted my Connections Beanie (Light) quite literally fell off my needles. I even managed to wash and dry the beanie to even out the stitches!

Pattern: Connections Beanie (Light) – Ravelry link

Yarn: The Shepherd’s Mill 3 ply Sport in yellow and blue

Needles: US 4 and 5s

Mods: none

The slip stitch colorwork was a dream and I finished in one night. The decreases caused me a little more grief. I ended up with more stiches than I was supposed to in one of the sections. In my true fashion, I just fudged some extra decreases and made it work. You literally cannot tell!

I have quite a bit of yarn leftover so my plan is to cast on the second version in the pattern, the dark version. I just have to hype myself up for the 20 rounds of special ribbing first…

Happy Friday and Happy Knitting!!

Can’t Put It Down

My Connections Beanie is absolutely cruising along. I am working on reading the chart and not using the written directions. It is taking my brain a minute to click in but I’m getting there.

The main body of this hat is worked on a larger needle than the brim. I actually remembered to switch! I am also being careful to not pull the slipped stitches too hard to keep the overall tension the same.

I am finding that I don’t want to put this project down. ‘Just one more chart row’ has run through my mind many times. I have hopes that this hat will be done quickly….

Happy Knitting!!

At The Patterned Section!

I have powered through all the 1×1 ribbing and the setup for the main body of the Connections Beanie!

I thought this would be my first time working colorwork….it’s not. I got out the chart and this is just slipped stiches so its more mosaic than anything. Oh well, it will still be pretty! I am working the larger of the Connections Beanie.

I am not super great at reading charts so I am very glad there are really good pattern photos so I can tell if I’m staying on track, lol. Happy Knitting!!