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!

Spiraling Hat

My US 8s were empty after finishing my Another Royal Hat. Therefore I needed to start another hat. This time I grabbed some yarn from SSK 2024 that would earn me some extra points in the Down Cellar Studio Pigskin party KAL.

This skein has a very rainbow like palette and looked to be variegated in the skein. But I was pleased to find that at my 88 stitch count and my gauge, it spirals! Each rainbow is wrapping around the hat so far.

I tried to hide in the basement to knit and do laundry. But PB and Duke had other ideas. Duke is REALLY good at climbing on me to block my knitting progress. He believes in less knitting and more ear scritches!

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?

Knitting In The Park

I borrowed Dad’s golf cart and took the hooligans to run out their sillies last night as we feel the last dregs of warm fall. My Uptown Hat came along for the ride.

In between “mom watch this” and “mom, come start my swing” I managed to get the brim finished, folded and attached. It was a little trickier picking up this dark yarn. I was happy for the daylight!

This acrylic is not wool but the fabric is still nice. Trying not to get so tight that there is zero air flow. I tend to pull acrylic harder. This will for sure go in our donation or “safe to take to school” bin for the kids. No harm or foul if it doesn’t come back, lol.

Happy Knitting!!

Thanks, I Hate It

I should have listened to my gut. Turns out I HATED how my LSP hat was knitting up. The fabric was dense and not forgiving at all. It was so stiff that it was barely curling. So to the frog pond it went!

The yarn is back to it’s natural state. I was using US 8 needles and I think I would be better suited to go up to US 10s and then reduce down in stitch count. Rough math makes me think I could go down to 80 instead of 88. The hat is basically a swatch so I think I will start with that and see what happens. I can always rip out again!

Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: Uptown Hat

My rosewood circulars were bare after finishing the Classy Cashmere hat and in complete disregard to all my other WIPs, I started a new hat. I am calling this one (super creatively) my Uptown Hat.

During my summer stash re-org, I found this partially used skein of acrylic worsted and added to my hat stash. It’s really not enough for a baby knit and I wanted it gone from my pile. It is very soft for acrylic and the deep navy is very rich.

And as I am on repeat, this is another one of my hats by “recipe” of 88 sts on a US 8 needle. I am a broken record. But all this hat knitting is just scratching some part of my brain and creating dopamine so I am LEANING in. I haven’t had mojo like this in a long time!

Happy Knitting!!