What I Can Do In A Day

If I put my phone down these days, I actually get knitting done! I had started this Chiefs Hat yesterday and my progress was thus

By lunch I had two skinny stripes added and kept cruising all after afternoon after some mild parenting and adulting.

By bedtime, I had the hat fully to the decreases. I didn’t trust my tired eyes and sore hands so I am leaving them for tomorrow. I just squeaked out this hat with using all the red and gold yarns. I have more of the dark grey left for a scrappy project. I get so much joy for perfectly using up the bits and bobs!

Happy Knitting and sweet dreams!!

Finished: Rusty Merino Hat

I worked on some CPE this week at work. Gotta get those hours in before year end! I had four hour block where I could watch and knit. So I decided to work on my Rusty Merino Hat and I finished it!

Pattern: My own basic stockinette worsted beanie recipe

Yarn: Another Crafty Girl Merino Worsted in Pas Old Tool Chest colorway

Needles: US 8s

I was intentional with this and really tried to use as much yarn as possible on this one. I ended up using 80 grams or 172 yards of yarn. That left just a teeny ball for my scraps bin. I have a coworker that did some really awesome and really hard work this month and I think this hat will be a surprise present for him. He is the kindest human who never seems to be mad even when people are mean to him. He deserves a hat!

I am really clearing the needles so I need to work on casting on more things! Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: Chiefs Hat #6

My hat needles were naked I decided to cast on another hat. I had all the right color scraps to make a scrappy Chiefs hat.

All these scraps are Malabrigo Rios in the colors Pearl Ten (grey), Freza (red), and Sunset (gold). I worked the brim lining in the gold and moved to the dark grey for the public side of the brim. I think after weighing my scraps that I need to start some skinny stripes of all three colors in order to get to a finished hat. I don’t have enough to do the big chunkier stripes in my previous versions.

This hat has been my hyper focus as I try to keep up my points tally for the Pigskin Party KAL. Football themed items earn bonus points! Happy Knitting!!

Finished: The Great Sweater Hat

My second finish of this Thanksgiving holiday! This is one is so cozy and fuzzy and soft. I had many family try to snag this one before it was off the needles.

Pattern: My own basic beanie recipe with 88 stitches and all stockinette

Yarns: Leading Men Fiber Arts Callback in The Great Sweater Debate and Stranded Dyeworks Mohair Silk in Patisserie

Needles: US 8s

I love this kind of hat lately. Not only does it create a super fluffy and super warm hat….I crush at racking up yardage for the Pigskin Party KAL. This hat totaled me 326 yards of yarn but only weight 69 grams. It’s crazy how light that mohair is! I used about 170 yards of the sport and 156 yards of the mohair.

I will definitely make more this kind of hat. It’s really nice to have variety in my vanilla/stockinette knitting. Happy Knitting!!

Finished: All The Cashmere Hat

In between football and food yesterday, I decided to finish the All The Cashmere hat that has been lingering in my WIP pile.

Pattern: My own basic beanie recipe with stockinette and folded brim

Yarn: Nordic Yarns Eco Cashmere in Grey Heather

Needles: US 5s

This one took a little longer than my worsted hats. This yarn feels like a DK to Sport and so I upped my stitch count to 112 and used small gauge needles. I had two ball of this cashmere. Half is new cashmere and half is recycled cashmere and ALL SOFT. The yarn is a kind of delicate I accidently broke it doing the decreases.

I ended up using a full skein and a half of this. I could have made this taller but I my food coma made me super tired and I wanted to nap. I think this worked out to 77 grams or 254 yards of yarn. This is a crazy expensive and warm hat so it might not go in the gift pile…this one might stay home.

And bonus, I finished a second hat that I can show later today! Happy Knitting!!

Gotta Protect The Wrist

Turns out knitting all day for three days is a little hard on your RSI. And I know better. So here I am knitting slowly, using my brace, stretching and icing my sore spots.

My back up project to finished out my conference was a new hat I am calling my Rusty Merino hat. It’s a new to me dyer that I picked up at SSK this summer, Another Crafty Girl. It’s a Merino Worsted in the “Pas Old Tool Chest”. I am going with my tried and true worsted hat on US 8s and just vanilla stockinette all the way through. My wrist was not feeling any ribbing at this point.

Happy Knitting (and resting)!!

Fluffy Decreases

Turns out that a full day of sitting in a cold ballroom is just the right motivation to get my Great Sweater Hat all the way to the decreases! And impress a few muggles along the way.

My extroverted introvert is now safely tucked into bed and I have the needles in for the decreases. I also have my complimentary glass of wine from the happy hour and I’m flat out exhausted. We have a half day tomorrow and I should be able to finish this one. Don’t worry, I’ll tuck a backup project in my bag for when I finish.

Happy Knitting!!

Birthday Yarn Haul

My birthday was earlier this month and I took the bait from The Studio Knitting and Needlepoint shop where they give me 20% on a single purchase before my birthday. How could one waste that!

I took a fiber friend with me on this adventure and we chatted whilst shopping. We also got tacos afterward and it was amazing. Apparently I was in a grey and green mood that day, lol. I ended up with:

  • Flying Goat Farm Zephyrette – an alpaca, silk and cashmere blend in a 50 gram skein. The color is called Basalt
  • Two skeins skeins of Yarns Northwest Silk and Merino in a teal color for 100 grams total
  • Two skeins of Malabrigo Rios, one in the Gris colorway and the other in Vaa (deep black with green pops)
  • And finally two more skeins of NOrdic Yarn Eco Cashmere in the light grey color for a total of 100 grams

Shocker of shockers, this will all be for hats. I just can’t quit! And I as I am spending more time in KC these days, I will be sure to check back in this shop for new colors or yarns next time!

Happy Knitting!!

Bonus Mom Night

I am gearing up to run a conference this week and I checked into my hotel a night early to get settled. And I took all the hats that I cast on with me in a big ole bag. For the first day, I focused on the vanilla fuzzy hat that I am calling The Great Sweater Hat.

The sport yarn is Leading Men Fiber Arts callback base in the Great Sweater Debate color and I’m holding it with Stranded Dyeworks Mohair Silk in the Patisserie. I cruised through the brim and got it folded/attached. And now it’s stockinette cruising until I reach the decreases.

I am really loving this hotel/convention as I have a sitting area separate from the bed/sleeping area. This is the same place I stayed for Knitting In the Heartland 2024 and its amazing! I am excited to see what else I can crank out when I’m not bouncing between mom-life and work life.

Happy Knitting!!

Hat Cast-On-Itis

I stayed up late last night and did a crazy cast on party. I got not one but three new hats on my empty needles!

The top hat is some Unicornia Republica Rambouillet Worsted that will turn out to be a basic beanie. I did learn from my LSP Redo Hat that I need US 10 needles and a smaller stitch count. So I am working with 72 stitches and calling this my Bonnie May hat as that is the colorway name of this yarn.

The bottom left is another mohair hat. I grabbed some Stranded Dyeworks Mohair Silk in Pattiserie and Leading Men Fiber Arts Callback in The Great Sweater Debate. I am working them held double but instead of a textured hat I think this one will be stockinette through out.

And lastly is my basic worsted weight beanie. This skeins is a new to me dyer Another Crafty Girl Merino Worsted in Pa’s Old Tool Chest. Its my go to recipe of 88 sts on US 8 needles. I am naming this hat the Rusty Merino Hat

Now the only question is….which one will win my attention? Happy Knitting!!