Finished: WPF Conference Hat

I am over the moon with this finish. To me, this hat just came out so polished and beautiful. My 2024 WPF Hat is done and snuggled in the growing gift pile.

Pattern: My own basic 88 sts stockinette beanie “recipe”

Needles: US 8s

Yarn: Leading Men Fiber Arts in the color Chocolate Mousse

This is just about the perfect slouch for me in a hat. The decreases swirl nicely and fall at the correct part of my head. I am back to my “default” where I used 78 grams of worsted yarn for a 170 yard hat.

The Box Office worsted from Leading Men Fiber Arts is a great base. I would buy all the colors and knit this forever. It’s just a lovely combination of soft and sturdy. I would put this in a dead heat with Malabrigo Rios for my favorite hat yarn.

Happy Knitting!!

Plane Decreases

My 2024 WPF Hat was my travel home knitting. It was an EARLY morning trip so I had to wait for the sun to come up in order to see the dark brown stitches.

As the wheels taxied to the gate, I pulled the yarn through and zipped up the remaining stitches to finish. I sat next to PB and the extra arm space was a great boost to knitting comfortably on the plane. I did have to pick up and put down a TON to administrate drinks for her and navigate her tablet.

FO coming at you! Happy Knitting!!

Two Times The Mocha

My conference had some down time, which was nice to give some time for family stuff AND some alone time. I grabbed an iced coffee and snuck out onto the balcony while the kids were washing up from the beach to work on my 2024 WPF Conference hat. That’s what I am call this, by the way.

I managed to get the brim knit, folded and attached to the hat body. I think I am getting faster at these hats especially on the stockinette versions. Flicking in stockinette has become my default knitting “mode” and its becoming quicker.

I haven’t counted my hat tally in awhile but it’s getting large, especially after vacation knitting!! Happy Crafting!

A Hat On A Boat

With the finishing of my LSP hat, I had a whole in my travel knitting that needed filled. I admit to having had packed extra skeins of yarn in my suitcase for travel knitting. Worsted works up fast don’t you know!

I pulled the Chocolate Mousse skein of Leading Men Fiber Arts and started yet another basic Rachelle hat. This time, I got to cast on from a boat cruising the San Diego harbor! It’s back to my normal 88 stitches on a US 8s. And wooden 8s so as not to anger the TSA gods for travel.

It was lovely to sit in the sun, sip a mimosa and work on a hat! Happy Knitting!!

Racing to The Finish: A Coworker Hat

My Coworker Hat is complete! I couldn’t love this chocolate dream any more. The subtle color variegation really looks like a lovely marbled chocolate.

Pattern: My own 88 stitch basic beanie with a folded brim (Rav Link)

Yarn: Lilliput Woof Worsted in Chocolate Lab

Needles: US 8s

I ended up using 80% of the 100 gram skein of yarn. That is roughly 176 yard of yarn for this medium sized hat. I was really tryin to use the full skein and probably could have made the brim bigger. Oh well! It is still beautiful.

I still have a little time before they leave so I may try to make hats for the whole family! Wish me luck 🙂

A Fine Finn Skein

The Finn singles are plied an folded into a neat tidy skein. I need to wash and whack this yet but I couldn’t help but show it off.

This skein weighs about 85 grams so I didn’t lose much fiber during the spinning process. There is still a TON of veg matter spun up into this skein. I’m hoping that some of that falls out during washing. Pre-washing I think I have about 80 to 82 yards of yarn so this is Aran weight.

I will lose some yardage during washing as the yarn plumps up. But that’s normal. It will be an interesting experiment to see how much I lose. I am happy with the tight ply and the overall yarn is pretty consistent. Not too shabby!!

Happy Spinning!!

Deliciously Chocolate

My beautiful natural chocolate Romney yarn is complete! This….I’m SUPER proud of!

I ended with two worsted to slightly heavy worsted skeins of 2-ply. After washing it plumped up to be 396 total yards and 213 grams. Roughly half in each skein so not a bad job on my part for the dividing!

After seeing this finished and putting it next to my other natural color Hand-spun…..I might be close to a sweaters lot of heavy worsted if I work stripes. And that excites me! They only caveat is that it’s not all the same fiber content. It’s all non-super wash but many different breeds of sheep. I might have to research my idea before I go to far down the rabbit hole…

Happy Knitting!!

Stashbustin’ #11: Henry’s Sweater

After yesterday’s disappointment I had the itch to try a different baby sweater. And having recently pruned and tagged my Rav queue, I did some easy and organized searching to find….Henry’s Sweater

P1050813_medium2(Photo credit to © jennicole01 and the Henry’s Sweater Rav pg)

This is similar to the Sophisticate with the stockinette and shawl collar. But it has more overlap on the chest and those adorable 4 buttons laid out in a square. I couldn’t wait to get started!

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Yarn: Bernat Cottontots in Country Taupe (I think this yarn has been discontinued and it’s a shame because it’s a very soft cotton and easy to work with!)

Needles: US 8s (Knits Picks Options Interchangeable)

Size: 3-6 months

Mods: None yet but I love the pattern so far!

Happy Knitting!

FO Friday: Snug

Tah Dah!

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Stashbustin’ #16 finally has buttons!

I was walking through Joann’s this week and these puppy buttons caught my eye. They are super cute and matched my chocolate yarn. And it made me think of that commercial on TV where the little girl talks about her puppy brother, lol. So of course I had to buy them.

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I was hoping to snag some pics of this on a real baby this week but my friend’s sweet Baby B has an ear infection. So we snuggled instead of having a photo session.

I’m off to work and to get ready for my parents to visit this weekend! TGIF!!

WIP Wednesday: Snug

Stashbustin’ #16 is almost complete!

I bound off the last edge last night as I was catching up on my DVR. I had to pull in a lamp this dark yarn really started to play with my eyes as I was trying to pick up and finish the crochet edge, lol. However, I love love love using the leftovers of my Berroco Vintage Chunky from my Mud Season. I haven’t found a yarn that Berroco makes that I haven’t liked yet. And it didn’t hurt that this project was chunky yarn on my big needles, lol.

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I didn’t exactly follow the directions to a tee….not that they weren’t very well written! Hinke did a great job of spelling things out and including lots of links to tutorials. I just kinda took her directions as suggestions, lol. I used a knitted on cast on instead of the crochet on waste yarn. I also cast off in pattern instead of a sewn method. I also accounted for three buttons instead of two. And finally I crocheted all the way from the left bottom corner, around the hood, and down to the right bottom corner.

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I still need to find the right buttons for this project. But I’m not in a rush. I think this little sweater is going to stay with me. It’s the partner to my Mud Season and hopefully I can bundle up a little one in this when the hubs and I decide to have kids.  And then mommy and baby can match. That means the buttons have to be special. Next up for this sweater is a good bath and blocking!!

Happy Knitting!!!