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!!

FO: LSP Hat Redo

I was so fussed with flying with two children (it was their first time) that I didn’t even notice that I had finished my LSP Redo Hat on the plane ride to California. But that meant PB was able to help me with some tropical FO photos.

Pattern: A modified version of my beanie “recipe”

Needles: US 10s

Yarn: Republica Unicornia Rambioullet Worsted in the LSP colorway

This second version of that hat does use 72 stitches instead of 88. And bigger needles to get a more workable gauge. This is one that I probably could have made a smidge taller but I was in auto knitter mode and just finished it.

This was a thicker and rounder yarn than my other worsteds. So even though I used 78 grams of the total skein that it only equated to 153 yards of yarn. So plumper and smaller. I am going to block it aggressively to see what I can gain. Still, a finished hat for the gift pile! It will fit someone eventually…

Happy Knitting!!

2024 Conference Knitting

Conference knitting has arrived! This past week when my posts were auto-posting….the family and I snuck away to a conference in San Diego. And boy howdy, did I get a ton of knitting done (and work and family time).

I was in a room with 600+ ladies and I was one of two knitters. I very quickly became “orange hat lady” and had muggles approach me in the bathroom, lol. It was a 9 hour day so I made terrific progress on my Glazed Carrot hat.

Lots of people asked to touch it and were impressed with how soft the fabric is. That is the magic of a singles yarn with no plies, its soft! Stay tuned for the finished object shots…

Happy Knitting!!

Chiefs Hat FTW

My Chiefs Hat is done!

Pattern: My own “recipe” for a worsted weight hat (this time with stripes)

Needles: US 8s

Yarn: Leading Men Fiber Arts Box Office Worsted in Poison Apple and Sweet Corn

I am happy with this hat and I think it achieves it’s vision. I do wish I had swapped the order of the red and yellow. But as I was starting with two full skeins, I have enough yarn to make a second hat with that order.

This used less yarn that I have typically been using. This weighed out to 65 grams, ten short of my normal, or roughly 137 yards of yarn. This could be that by actually counting rows for my brim that it is shorter than those I make by eyeballing length? Now, on to the next hat!

Happy Knitting!!

Chiefs Decreases

After a full day of football watching, my Chiefs Hat is ready for decreases. Duke and I took a moment to relax on the patio for some sunshine and fresh air.

This time he chose not to lay directly on top of my knitting, which is an improvement. I was happy to see that I will use each color twice. It’s just that the last yellow section will be teeny weenie. But it will be there!

So I do have 15 stripes of red, 15 stripes of yellow, 15 stripes of red and will finish with a few of yellow. I *think* I can knock this out yet tonight and show you all a hat tomorrow! My mojo is cranking on high!

Happy Knitting!!

Chiefs Or Winnie The Pooh

Okay, this Chiefs Hat is my singular focus this weekend. My mojo is all centered here.

I do have one niggling thought….”is this a Chiefs hat or a Winnie the Pooh hat?” As this works up I think I would have been more successful starting with yellow so that the red was on the brim facing outward.

Again, not bothered enough to actually pull this out and redo. But I will have enough yarn from each skein to perhaps try switching colors on a second hat. Just have to finish this first one. Happy Knitting!!

A Chiefs Brim

My Chiefs Hat has reached the brim stage!

Since this is my first non-solid color hat, I decided to use some math to keep stripes equal. I knit 20 rows (after cast on) in the red yarn. Then added 20 rows in the yellow before folding and attaching the brim. This makes a nice matching edge where the red and yellow meet at the “bottom” of the hat.

The stripes are fairly large. And I am starting with the next red section and I think I will make the hat body stipes 15 rows instead of 20. Rough math tells me that I will use each color twice in the hat body. (Tempting the match and knitting gods as I type)

Happy Knitting!!

FO Friday: 2024 Pigskin Party Hat

I leaned into the squared off hat and finished my 2024 Pigskin Party KAL Hat!

Pattern: My own 88 stitch beanie “recipe”

Needles: US 8s

Yarn: Whimzee Stitches Select Worsted in “Love My Tennessee”

The bind off perfectly capped off the zig zagging spirals that worked up the body of the hat. I used 78 grams of the skein or roughly 171 yards of yarn. The hat is wee bit short and I could/should have extended it for a more slouchy fit with better “ears”. But not enough to rip it out and redo. It will be fine!

I will have to decide if this is a gift pile hat or a keep at home hat. Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: Glazed Carrot Hat

I am gearing up for some travel and I needed a “safe” project to travel with. Something easy, on wooden needles and a project I wouldn’t mind if TSA made me pull the needles out.

I grabbed the skein of Malabrigo Worsted that I bought on my lunch walk. It’s a singles yarn, so no plies. It won’t be the hardest wearing hat but the softness is out of this world. It’s called Glazed Orange but my midwestern brain just reads “Blaze Orange” for hunting safety.

I pushed myself NOT to do a stockinette brim and work 2×2 rib for some variety. It’s my standard 88 stitch hat on US 8s. I will fold that 2×2 brim for extra warmth and for sure this one will go into my gift pile. Which is quite large by now!

Happy Knitting!!

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!!