This Isn’t Going To Work

Okay, I have to admit defeat. This hat at this gauge and with this yarn….is not going to work. RIP first attempt at my Iris Hat.

I am flat going to run out of yarn on this project. My needles are too small and the stitch count is too high. Not to mention that I can’t get this brim over my head. It’s weirdly to dense and small. All around failure.

I ran over to my LYS, which is closing, and grabbed some US 10s on a 16 inch circular cord so I can frog this hat and restart. I will:

  • Use bigger needles
  • Modify the stitch count down
  • Reduce the height of the folded brim
  • Possibly consider a straight cast off and go for the cat ears look?

Good news, is that I haven’t wasted that much time and this should get up and going quickly again. Thank goodness for bulky yarn. I am not even going to rewind this. I am finding the other end of the yarn and knitting the new hat from the old hat, lol.

Happy Knitting!!

Dog For Cuteness

I don’t really have any updates today. It’s a dreary cold winter Monday morning and I’m struggling to find ambition. Yearning for some sunshine and longer days!

So I decided to just share a cute photo of my baby dog loving on me while I was knitting my Chiefs Hat #7. He was dreaming and snoring and living his best life. Not a bad leg warmer for me either! I would be lost without my puppers….

Happy Monday!

Chiefing Along

I have had singular focus the past couple of days on this Chiefs Hat #7. I’m already fully chugging through the main hat body

I did stop and install/sew on the patch for the brim. Also weaving in the ends for the color changes on the inside! I hope future Rachelle really enjoys the work that past Rachelle did for her, lol.

Just a few more rows of yellow to get to 20 rows and then I will install the decrease in the final red color stripe. My yarn cakes are shrinking rapidly so I am hoping I get all the way there!

Happy Knitting!!

And Now The Chiefs Decreases

I blinked and my 2025 Chiefs Hat was at the brim.

For no good reason that I can explain, I went with larger and chunkier stripes that my previous sports ball hats. The folded brim is roughly 30 rows tall and then the main body is like 20 rows tall.

It does mean that I don’t have as many stripes as before and I’m not using the two colors in an equal/balanced manner. I still think I will have enough leftovers to flip the color sequence and make a second hat.

OH! And I discovered something putting in the needles for these decreases….I in fact made this hat with 78 stitches and not 88. No wonder this hat went so crazy fast. This hat will just be smaller and tighter than my others. I guess that is what I get for lack of attention, lol.

Happy Knitting!!

Matching Advent Heels

I decided not to wait to install the heels on my second set of 2024 Cozy Knitter Advent Socks.

I might regret this. Picking up stitches with so little fabric on the leg portion…I dropped a stitch at the corner and it ran 5 rows before I noticed. ON BOTH SOCKS, sigh. I secured both with a lobster claw stitch marker and I will ladder back up.

Unfortunately I don’t have any loose ends on the inside of those respective corners to be able to secure that stitch. Which means I will have to grab some waste yarn and tack those stitches securely. But hey…..don’t my heels look great!

Oh! And I took out about 5 rows of my “recipe” afterthought heel and the work measures 9 inches from toe to heel which matches my foot. We will give it the ultimate test when I get to try these on!

Happy Knitting!!

To The Heels

I think I might have made an oopsie on my second set of advent socks….

I am NOT ripping these back. As I have a high instep I normally work extra plain rows in my heel. I think I will just take out 4-5 of those plain rows to reduce the length of fabric that gets to the back of my heel. This could totally fail, but let’s see!

I installed a life line exactly where I put the heels in the first socks. And I didn’t account for the for the extra fabric that those flecks make up. My advent yarn went that many stitches farther so my foot is half to three quarters of inch longer than I would normally do.

I just finished stripe 15 so I am on the downhill half of these socks. Lord help me!

Jenn’s Brim

Jenn’s beanie has quickly reached the brim stage. This teal is such a bright pop to the dark winter moody vibes.

Cozy winter weekends and dark nights have fired the mojo for this hat. I am still coming out from cold germs so my brain finds this stockinette very soothing. This brim is the result of about three cups of tea and four naps. I really want to work on some more complicated things but I need the fog to lift first.

Happy Knitting!!

Fleck Update

I am flecking right along on my second 2024 Advent Socks!

I am doing my best to work these in tandem to keep the mojo going on this project. Keeping the tension even and workable between flecks takes some concentration. Not all of my flecks are coming out the same size as I work. I think that is just due to my newbie status at colorwork. It should block our right?

Happy Knitting!!

Flats Hat Decreases

My Flats Hat is ready for decreases!

The family sat down and watched RedOne since we missed it in December and I cruised through the body of the hat. The move is great and seeing a jacked Santa was something else! This yarn is Littlewolfknits yarn in the Opti base called “Flats or Drums”. I picked flats because those are the superior wings IMO.

I managed to get my DPNs installed before my eyes started crossing and it was time to go to bed. I should be able to wrap this up in the next couple of days. And bonus for me, it will earn me extra points in the Pigskin Party KAL for an exclusive sponsor product.

Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: 2024 Advent Socks Take Two

I have been watching The Cozy Knitter make her advent socks and she does this cool feature of adding blips of the contrast yarn as she changes stripes. I have always meant to try it but then the holidays hit and I can only manage stockinette. After finishing a vanilla version, I am committing to trying this out!

I had to dig through my scraps to find some toe yarn. It’s a light grey from Red Door Fibers and should blend well with this mix of colors. I then used the scraps of the white contrast yarn from The Cozy Knitter to start my blips every 4th st.

This is my normal recipe for a 68 stitch toe up vanilla sock. I will do afterthought heels and this time inside a stripe to not mess up my colorwork. I am trying to work hard to make my floats stretchy and not pull them tight. It would be nice if these socks fits at the end!

So far I am happy with the look of these and I am learning a lot about managing the white yarn to avoid 1,000 ends on the inside. Should be interesting!!

Happy Knitting!!