A Chiefs Brim

My Chiefs Hat has reached the brim stage!

Since this is my first non-solid color hat, I decided to use some math to keep stripes equal. I knit 20 rows (after cast on) in the red yarn. Then added 20 rows in the yellow before folding and attaching the brim. This makes a nice matching edge where the red and yellow meet at the “bottom” of the hat.

The stripes are fairly large. And I am starting with the next red section and I think I will make the hat body stipes 15 rows instead of 20. Rough math tells me that I will use each color twice in the hat body. (Tempting the match and knitting gods as I type)

Happy Knitting!!

FO Friday: 2024 Pigskin Party Hat

I leaned into the squared off hat and finished my 2024 Pigskin Party KAL Hat!

Pattern: My own 88 stitch beanie “recipe”

Needles: US 8s

Yarn: Whimzee Stitches Select Worsted in “Love My Tennessee”

The bind off perfectly capped off the zig zagging spirals that worked up the body of the hat. I used 78 grams of the skein or roughly 171 yards of yarn. The hat is wee bit short and I could/should have extended it for a more slouchy fit with better “ears”. But not enough to rip it out and redo. It will be fine!

I will have to decide if this is a gift pile hat or a keep at home hat. Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: Glazed Carrot Hat

I am gearing up for some travel and I needed a “safe” project to travel with. Something easy, on wooden needles and a project I wouldn’t mind if TSA made me pull the needles out.

I grabbed the skein of Malabrigo Worsted that I bought on my lunch walk. It’s a singles yarn, so no plies. It won’t be the hardest wearing hat but the softness is out of this world. It’s called Glazed Orange but my midwestern brain just reads “Blaze Orange” for hunting safety.

I pushed myself NOT to do a stockinette brim and work 2×2 rib for some variety. It’s my standard 88 stitch hat on US 8s. I will fold that 2×2 brim for extra warmth and for sure this one will go into my gift pile. Which is quite large by now!

Happy Knitting!!

Knitting Hats In The Wild

I am calling this hat made from Whimzee Stitches yarn my 2024 Pigskin Party Hat. And I took it along with me to a recent sporting event.

Turns our professional soccer games are SUPER long. So by the time we made it to the car, I had an almost finished hat!

The spirals did take a jog when I folded and attached the cast on edge for a brim. Everything shifted almost a full color and a half. It does make the brim stand out distinctly from the hat body.

I am loving these spirals so wonderfully that I think I might do a 3-needle bind off and square this hat off. A la the Pussy Hat style top. That way these spirals are not being broken up by the decreases.

Happy Knitting!!

Jellybean Knits Now

I may have lost my LSP Redo Hat to Jellybean. He got bored on a recent car trip to an event so I handed him my knitting and gave him like 10 minutes of instruction. Dang if that kid didn’t figure it out and just took off in stockinette in the round.

He knit through most of the event and would occasionally hand me the work to fix dropped stitches or double wraps. But this fingers and eyes were generally aware when he had a problem. I did have to fix roughly 10 additional dropped stitches when we got home that he didn’t catch.

Bonus? His gauge was not that far off from mine! So his stitches are going to stay in the hat and I don’t think any muggles will notice in the FO. I am being cautious to see if he is going to keep knitting, I might get him his own needles and ball of yarn and see what happens.

Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: Chiefs Hat

It’s a two post kind of Sunday! I have all the cast-on-itis here lately. And today I really needed to break into the Leading Men Fiber Arts stash I bought last month.

I do live in Chiefs country, but I have only a mild allegiance. My dad got me this sweatshirt and it’s super cozy. And I am playing in the Down Cellar Studio Pigskin Party KAL so I decided to make a Chiefs hat for my dad. It will be a nice gift for him and I will get bonus points in the KAL!

This is another one of my standard “recipe” of 88 stitches on US 8s. This is a set of metal Addi needles with sharp points. They do knit a little faster but I need to watch for splitting the stitches. As for the yarn, I am using their Poison Apple color and Sweet Corn color to match the team colors.

Happy Knitting and Happy Football Season!

FO Friday: Uptown Hat

The Uptown Hat is finished and I had to settle for my Styrofoam model as the human models were too busy watching America’s Funniest Videos re-runs. I just had to sneak in another FO this Friday to match the cast on I started.

Pattern: My own basic beanie “recipe” with 88 stitches

Needles: US 8s

Yarn: Uptown Worsted in Navy

This was my first acrylic hat in awhile. It does make for a very soft hat whereas it is not as bouncy/stretchy. But that could have been my gauge as well as I noticed on US 8s that these stitches were tighter than my wool versions. But it makes for a very warm and wind proof hat.

I used roughly 86 grams making this a 155 yard hat. And it used up almost every bit of scraps I had for this partial skein! I really like moving my stash in Ravelry from “In Stash” to “All Used Up”. I get great satisfaction from that!

Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: LSP Hat Redo

Good Saturday morning from my peaceful patio. The Duke and I decided to skip Bluey for the morning and sit outside. He’s eating a stick and I re-started my LSP hat that I frogged.

I did chose to go down to 80 stitches on US 10s. It’s starting out much better than the previous one. Still going with a folded stockinette brim and shooting for an adult sized hat. Duke is shooting for tearing up his stomach with wood pulp, lol.

Happy Knitting!!

FO Friday: Another Royal Hat

I completely got bewitched by my WIPs and forgot to share that I finished my Another Royal Hat. I had this almost done with decreases like a week and a half ago and I finished it in like 30 minutes.

Pattern: My own beanie “recipe” with 88 sts on worsted yarn

Needles: US 8s

Yarn: TreasureGoddess Yarns Warmth Worsted in the Swimming with Fishes colorway

I was super happy with this one. The end result fabric was just the right feet, the spiraling decreases are gorgeous and it fits like a dream. True to my past performance, I used about 75% of the skein or 175 yards of yarn. I just have a deep love for these rich and saturated blue hues.

I think I have enough scraps now I need to think about another Frankenstein Hat!

Happy Knitting!!

Uptown Decreases

It’s now leggings and fire pit season! Fall has arrived even though we get a few hot flashes that make us feel second summer. I managed some toasty toes and hat knitting outdoors.

I have my Uptown Hat all the way to the decreases. I should have like 30/40 minutes of knitting left. I am finding this acrylic is easier to knit with grabbier wooden needles than the smooth metal. Probably should have figured that out sooner, but we still got here.

I find myself looking at the stitch definition on this and marveling. There is zero halo and all the little Vs just march right along. It looks and feels very orderly. And I think I am getting better at keeping gauge as I pick up and put down. I notice I get looser when I get sleepy or tired.

Does your gauge move around on you?