Turns out that a full day of sitting in a cold ballroom is just the right motivation to get my Great Sweater Hat all the way to the decreases! And impress a few muggles along the way.
My extroverted introvert is now safely tucked into bed and I have the needles in for the decreases. I also have my complimentary glass of wine from the happy hour and I’m flat out exhausted. We have a half day tomorrow and I should be able to finish this one. Don’t worry, I’ll tuck a backup project in my bag for when I finish.
I am gearing up to run a conference this week and I checked into my hotel a night early to get settled. And I took all the hats that I cast on with me in a big ole bag. For the first day, I focused on the vanilla fuzzy hat that I am calling The Great Sweater Hat.
The sport yarn is Leading Men Fiber Arts callback base in the Great Sweater Debate color and I’m holding it with Stranded Dyeworks Mohair Silk in the Patisserie. I cruised through the brim and got it folded/attached. And now it’s stockinette cruising until I reach the decreases.
I am really loving this hotel/convention as I have a sitting area separate from the bed/sleeping area. This is the same place I stayed for Knitting In the Heartland 2024 and its amazing! I am excited to see what else I can crank out when I’m not bouncing between mom-life and work life.
Football fever is upon the house. Jellybean has gotten very into watching any football game he can. He loves talking to his Papa about football and learning all the details. So I decided to push through to finish my Chiefs Hat V2 so Jellybean and Papa each could have one.
Pattern: My own basic beanie “recipe” using 88 sts
Needles: US 8s
Yarn: Leading Men Fiber Arts Box Office Worsted in Poison Apple and Sweet Corn
I am MUCH happier with the overall look of the hat with the red being the outward facing portion of the brim. It makes it look more substantial and polished. I followed the same recipe of 20 rows for the brim stripes and then 15 rows for the hat body stripes.
True to the V1 hat, I used both colors four times in the hat but the last red stripe is just a week bit of decreases. This hat used slightly more yarn than the first as I think my gauge relaxed. It weighs 86 grams that means almost 190 yards of yarn!
I have a decent chunk of the red and yellow left….I am scrounging to see if I have other leftovers to make a Scrappy Chiefs hat. I may or may not have a hyper-fixation 🙂
I have another hat that fairly FLEW off my needles. My He Will Have His Revenge Hat is complete and tucked away in the Christmas gift pile.
Pattern: None, just a basic beanie I unvented using 88 stitch cast on
Yarn: Leading Men Fiber Arts Box Office base in He Will Have His Revent
Needles: US 8s
Mods: none really I just knit a basic beanie I have memorized.
I was really pleased with how the decreases spiraled and came in on themselves. Also a fantastic happenstance is how the speckles never really pooled or flashed…even as I decreased.
I will definitely work with this yarn again. Those guys at LMFA realy know their color theory and the base itself feels great in my hands as I knit. This was a skein of yarn I picked up at a trunk show they did in Kansas City before the world shut down. It has a unique place in my heart.
This beanie ended up being pretty slouchy/massively tall. In my estimation this will make it even warmer when you double over the brim. And the recipient can choose their level of slouch or not slouch. I ended up using about 3/4 of the skein or 166 yarns/76 grams. So I have a little nugget to add to my leftover pile.
And my hat mojo is going strong so I’m already plotting my next hat cast on!
The hat mojo has shown no signs of slowing. I finished the Learning to Flick Hat and turned right around and put another worsted weight hat on the needles.
This yarn is some Leading Man Fiber Arts Box Office worsted in the “He Will Have His Revenge” colorway. I think I will end up calling this the He Will Have His Revenge Hat because that just sounds delicious.
I’m already almost all the way through the ribbing and ready to start the stockinette section. I did my same 88 stitches on size US8 needles “recipe” for all my recent hats. I do plan to flick the stockinette portion so I’m hoping this is a quick knit. I’d like to get some the Shepherd’s Mill yarn on the needles as well.
Yarn: Leading Man Fiber Arts Showstealer base in Sand Castle
I tried for longer legged socks and ended up using 71 grams of yarn or just over 300 yards. So I have plenty enough leftover for my memory blanket and maybe another small project? The fit is good in the heels and I definitely needed the leg increases.
And the completed fabric feels really good on my feet with the cashmere content. So off these go into my sock drawer. I haven’t delved too deeply into my sock drawer this year. Its a combination of a warmer winter and not really leaving the house. I really haven’t needed socks as much. Maybe February will bring us some cold snaps?
The heel turn is complete and I muddled my through the second leg. The increases may not be in the exact same places as sock number one but there are for sure the same number of increases.
I’m already scheming my next sock cast on for when these are done! Happy Knitting!!
I have the second sock to a place where I am ready to start the second heel. I made sure not to over run or over knit this time. No tinking back! This has been my evening knitting project here lately so it is getting most of my knitting time. Maybe I’ll have finished socks soon?
I powered through some knitting this week and finished the heel turn, the leg and calf increases for my Sand Castle Cashmere Vanilla Socks. Added a little gratuitous Christmas decoration that I haven’t had the energy to take down yet.
I flew by the seat of my pants on this one. I just knit up the leg and eyeballed installing the calf increases. I added four or six extra stitches over top half the leg. Maybe not the most scientific and will undoubtedly be super hard to recreate on the second sock. But that is future Rachelle’s problem
I blinked over the weekend and realized I had knit 6 rows past where the heel on my Sand Castle Cashmere Vanilla Socks. I slipped a progress keeper in where I need to tink back to.
I am really enjoying this yarn and project. The cashmere content in the yarn just feels so decadent. And I never seem to tire of vanilla knitting in the round. Up next is to count my stitches and start working the heel turn.
For my toe up socks I used the Wendy Knits pattern for toe up gusset heel socks. Her instructions are clear and happen to match the stitch count I use for my feet. Works every time and the fit is good.
My Tangled Yarn Knitting Adventures 