FO Friday: Sally Hat

My crafting fervor has been growing as the temperatures are dropping. I swear I started this Sally Hat and then looked down and it was done!

Pattern: My own 88 stitch beanie “recipe”

Needles: US 8s

Yarn: Geektastic Fibers Star Worsted in the Sally colorway

I really don’t measure these hats anymore. I just eyeball the height or slip it on my head to see how far down it comes past my ears. And then I start the decreases. I am getting fairly predictable where I use 75% of the skein. This one was 76 grams or 145 yards.

I did use a folded brim. But with the self-striping yarn, it’s hard to see. And these stripes were fascinating as they were definitely micro stripes. The colors were always changing and maybe that is why this knit so fast?

Let’s talk about this pom pom. The ladies vending Geektastic at SSK really upsold me on this. I didn’t really look to buy it but it looks GREAT with this hat. It adds whimsy to the chaos. It just ties in with strings so I can remove as necessary very easily.

As for this new to me yarn, I would 10 out of 10 knit with again! Happy Knitting!!

Knitting After Dark

I am WOEFULLY behind on my KnitGirllls podcast, like months. So I camped out on the couch and stayed up way to late binging YouTube. The silver lining? My Sea Slug hat got quite a lot of knitting done on it.

This is a Malabrigo sport weight yarn. And while it does take more stitches and longer to knit, it sure does make a nice fabric. And in this color the speckles are spacing out quite nicely. They are random but even and that makes my brain happy.

I think only a couple more inches and I can crank out the decreases! Happy Knitting!!

Pooling Decreases

Another Royal Hat is ready for decreases. And I noticed something about this hand dyed skein. At my gauge it is spiral pooling around the circumference of the hat.

There are some spots of this yarn where the dye didn’t fully penetrate and it has white spots. Those light and dark spaces are circling the hat. If this was a garment, I would definitely alternate skeins. For a hat, that doesn’t matter much to me. Most muggles would never notice anyway.

Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: LSP Hat

I am really feeling the cast-on-itis around here. Especially with all the yummy yarn I picked up at SSK. I have given up the ghost and I now have multiple hats on the go. This latest hat is a new to me dyer, Republica Unicornia.

This is their Rambouillet Worsted in the LSP colorway. I don’t get the reference, but I’m sure the name is one. It’s a lovely neutral grey base with rainbow splatters and speckles. I think it will make a wonderful vanilla beanie where the yarn shines.

One hesitation is that I am working my standard “recipe” of 88 sts on US 8 needles. This worsted is very round and plump. The beginning fabric is very dense. But I am only three rows in and I need some more fabric before I can really tell if I like it.

It should be okay right? Happy Knitting!!

Hat Brims and Dog Chaos

I did my best knit the 2×2 ribbing for so long it felt like forever. But I have it complete and folded over. My Another Royal Hat is ready for the main hat body knitting.

Duke is in rare form and has shredded his SECOND dog bed. So until he matures a little….no more beds. And all the fluff spread across the living room, that is tomorrow’s problem. I have knitting!!

Sea Slug Brim

I blinked and my Sea Slug Hat was ready for the folded brim.

This hat is using 112 stitches instead of my normal 88. And with that smaller gauge that I don’t expect super noticeable progress in any one knitting session. And all of a sudden when I wasn’t expecting it, I had a full brim!

I did break out my Ott light to see these stitches to get the brim matched up and knit together. I don’t mess with any provisional cast ons and I just pick up the purl bumps from the second of the cast on. It does create a little bit of a seam or seam like fabric. But you can’t feel it when you are wearing it. So I’m going to keep being me.

Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: Another Royal Hat

The needles from my Classy Cashmere Hat are empty so I put some new yarn on them.

I had one last skein of Warmth Worsted from Treasure Goddess from a haul earlier this year. Not going to lie, it feels good to finish all the skeins from a package purchase. LIke a broken record, I am doing an 88 stitch hat on US 8s. I am forcing myself to work a 2×2 ribbed brim even though stockinette is faster.

I am running out of fun and punny types of names for this hat. So this one is going to be called “Another Royal Hat” because I do tend to be drawn to royal blue as a color story. I finally counted my ravelry pages and I have made 15 hats this year since January 1. I wouldn’t not have guessed that many!

Happy Knitting!!

FO Friday: Classy Cashmere Hat

The Classy Cashmere Hat is finished and I did not play yarn chicken.

Pattern: My own hat “recipe” using 80 stitches and rolled (shorter) brim

Yarn: Classic Yarn Cashloft Aran in the Poppy colorway

Needles: US 8s

I ended up using 87 of the 100 grams to finish the hat. It’s slouchy on PB but a more fitted beanie on an adult. The cashmere content is to DIE for and the aran weight on 8s makes for a warm dense fabric that still have some stretch. I probably should have used 9s, but not enough to worry about ripping it back and re-doing it.

Cashmere Decreases

This Aran weight yarn works up VERY quickly. I was knitting happily along and my second ball of yarn was disappearing. This Classy Cashmere hat is being made from “free to a good home yarn” and I can’t get more. So I panicked and started the decreases.

I should have weighed and measured because I am going to have more than enough. I will have a few grams leftover in fact. I still think I will have a plenty big enough hat for an adult to wear.

Duke is supervising all of this of course. I just have 5 or 6 rounds left and this hat is done! Happy Knitting!!

Car Line Knitting

Back at the school grind. Most of the time my kids attend after school care but this week I needed to make them car riders. And I forget how long it takes elementary school kiddos and parents to load in. I had LOTS of time to knit.

My sea slug hat is not growing very fast. This one lives in my purse and I have been swamped so that I haven’t needed purse knitting until now. I am sticking with a folded stockinette brim and in sport weight yarn it is taking FOREVER. Or maybe it only feels like it after spending the last three months using worsted weight yarn.

Happy Knitting!!