Raiders Decreases

Dee’s Retirement Hat is gonna be done today! I just set up the final decreases last night and saved for today to do in the daylight as the dark yarn is DEADLY at my age for nighttime knitting.

I think this will end up the perfect size for my curly haired friend. I just can’t wait to see how the letters block out. They look raised at the moment but that could be from my carrying the yarn across instead of breaking it like I did with the Chiefs hat.

Almost to an FO! Happy Knitting!!

All Spelled Out

The Raiders Beanie aka Dee’s Retirement Hat now has all the letters.

The colorwork on this was intriguing. I had only been doing the Swiftie and Chiefs version up to now. These are just many iterations of the Touchdown Beanie by Katie Carlson. The Raiders chart was actually kind of nice as the letters were very straight and close together. Meaning I rarely had to trap my floats. Which was very nice

I did choose to carry my main color across the back and I’ll just snip the long tails to weave in. I can’t tell from this stage how my tension is, so fingers crossed..

Happy Knitting!!

Starting The Raiders Chart

The Raiders Hat is all done with the ribbing and set up to be ready for the colorwork.

I am working with hand dyed yarn and this skein of “black” is highly variegated. I’m not hating it but it’s also maybe not the aesthetic I was hoping for. I am going to continue regardless as I am on the deadline of the retirement party. I do have enough yarn that I could switch the colors and make the light grey the main color again. It appears to be more solid.

Why am I like this? I do not know….but at least I might use up the yarn! 🙂

Happy Knitting!!

Finished: Handspun Sparkly Hat

I was successful at finishing my Sparkly Handspun Hat during my all day work training. I even have it washed and ready for glamour shots

Pattern: My own basic beanie recipe. I think I used 76 stitches?

Needles: US 10s

Yarn: My own bulky handspun here and here

All finished this hat weighed almost 120 grams and used 163 yards of my handspun. I mixed two different spins together and you would never tell. The fabric is quite dense as you can see in the first photo with zero drape. But it is soft and VERY WARM with the alpaca content.

I plan to keep these and the mitts in my hat stash. I like that I made the whole project from soup to nuts so to speak. And it feels good to “clear out” a 2024 WIP from my bag of WIPs…

Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: Retirement Hat

Dee’s Retirement Hat has hit the needles!

I visited a dear friend last night and snoodled in front of a fake fire and talked for hours. I’m working the ribbing in the black aka Gunpowder color. I will do a the regular and non folded brim. My recipient has A LOT of hair.

This is also the medium size so it should be a generous hat. The person I was visiting thinks knitting is magic so it was fun to watch her watching me ❤️

Happy Knitting!!

Leadership Knitting

Really dusting off the old WIPs with this one. This is my Sparkly Handspun Hat from 2024…..

I was back in the ribbing when I dug this back out ahead of some Leadership retreat knitting time. I got all the Shiny Black 2-ply incorporated that I had left after the fingerless gloves I made from handspun. I am now working in the Alpaca Firestar Blend 2-ply that was made to match the original fiber.

Looking at it, it looks pretty seamless. And I have like a 7 hour day to knit this hat while I have to pay attention and talk but not do a lot of typing. I think I can clear this very old WIP!

Happy Knitting!!

Finished: Swiftie Beanie #2

The Second Swiftie Beanie is complete. And it fits much better than the last one, lol.

Pattern: Touchdown Beanie by Katie Carlson (Rav Link)

Needles: US 5s

Mods: I changed how the colors fell in the colorwork to match the yarn I had on hand.

This was an adult medium and finished out nicely with blocking. I used 64 grams of yarn across all three colors. I really liked switching up the colorwork from pattern instructions. I think white letters would not have popped as much.

It makes a slouchier hat with the ribbing folded down and tight beanie with the ribbing doubled up. I hope the recipient really enjoys it. And I completed well in advance of the March birthday!!

Happy Knitting!!

Let’s Decrease In White

Putting some intention into finishing second Swiftie Beanie. March is bearing down and that is when the recipient is turning 50.

I’m using my interchangeable needles for this hat. So that’s two short cords hooked together with the short tips for my US 5s. I am hoping that as the decreases get the hat smaller in circumference that I can just take out one cord and keep working for longer. I have also misplaced my US 5 DPNs…

Happy Knitting!!

Swiftie Colorwork Flipped

The second Swiftie Hat is coming along nicely. I have finished the colorwork already.

I decided to break with the pattern instructions and make the colorwork in my own fashion. Normally the pattern would have the background be white and the letters in yellow. But I like the look of the band in the gold and red. I knew I had enough yarn to make this work. I think it makes it look like a purposeful band.

I just need to finish the hat in the white and then clip and weave my end for the colorwork. PB has gymnastics this weeks and I should get some good catch up time.

Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: Swiftie Hat #2

I need to get cracking on a re-do of my Swiftie Hat after my last one came out too large. I wound the yarn and started working on a doing in a size medium. (I knit a large last time.)

I have to switch up the colors because I used up so much in the last one. I think I can still make a super cute white version as I have the most of that. I did have to cast this on no less than three times. The first time I had the wrong size needles and I counted wrong. And the second time I had the wrong sized needles and I counted correctly. The third time I finally got the correct smaller needles and correct number of cast on stitches.

I am going for a folded ribbing looks so I knit about 3.5 inches of hat and then started the main body. I am pretty happy with the gauge thus far and this looks much more appropriate for an average women’s sized head. Next up is the colorwork!

Happy Knitting!!