Finished: Chiefs Hat V2

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 🙂

Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: Classy Cashmere Hat

I had one other yarn grab from the “free to a good home” table at SSK. This was some Classic Yarns Cashloft Aran that I think came from across the pond. It’s gloriously soft for this type of yarn.

The yarn is a mix of extra fine merino, microfiber and cashmere. The label has microfiber spelled the British way so I am pretty confident I have some yarn that is well traveled. Even Duke approves…..or maybe he wants a walk.

My supplies have multiplied over the years. So much so that I found needles that I didn’t realize I owned. These are some 8 inch Dreamz in rose wood in US 8s. so I decided the color was kismet and I started yet another hat.

This is an Aran weight yarn so I went with 80 stiches on the US 8s. I have two 50 gram skeins so I hope I can finish out a hat. I really enjoy the feeling of this yarn passing through my fingers.

Now I need to go and walk the dog 🙂

Cast On: Baby Dreams Blanket

In the new year I let myself cast on another crochet blanket. I’m calling this one Baby Dreams blanket. I have ten skeins of Knit Picks Biggo in the Garnet Heather color and I’m going to crochet until I have a crib sized blanket.

I don’t have anyone in particular in mind for this blanket. I am just enjoying the softness of the yarn and the simplicity of the half double crochet. I think I chained 100 stitches? This project is one of my mental health projects for the new. I’m slowing down and enjoying the process to try and cope with all the craziness in the world.

Happy Crafting!!

An Almost FO: Marled Crochet Blanket

The crocheting is complete on my Marled Crochet Blanket. Thanks to binging some knitting podcasts and a glass of white wine…this monstrosity is complete. And as I feared yesterday, it still looks like a giant boob.

I turned this project in for points in the Pigskin Party KAL and promptly set it aside. My completely inept and total made up crochet increases made this blanket bubble in the middle in the red section. I texted some photos to crafty friends as to what I should do with this.

One friend suggested I stuff it and make a pillow or lounge pad. But as its square-ish and the gauge is really open I’m positive it would be impossible to seam and the stuff would just spill out. So I have two choices:

  1. Just throw in the towel and let my kids have this as a “play” blanket for their stuffies and dolls
  2. Call my seamstress mother to see if we could sew up custom pillow or fabric bean bag like item and then attach this to the top for humorous effect.

I’m going to mull my options and see how crazy wild I get this winter. This project may resurface….

Happy Crocheting!!

Interesting Color Choice

I stepped back to admire my Marled Crochet blanket and noticed an interesting design aesthetic that my color choice and marling is giving me……

You guys, I’m crocheting a giant nipple. I was shooting for sweet valentine pink/red theme. But nope this is one giant boob. And it doesn’t help that my increases in the red section got a little wonky and that bit sticks up. My husband even gave this blanket a raised eyebrow when I showed him.

But I’m too close to being done so I’m going to embrace this project and see where it takes me. I’m not ripping out close to 1,000 yards of crochet, lol. I have a white section to add tonight and then I will be done. Maybe I’ll have a FO to show tomorrow?

Happy Knitting!!

FO Friday: Zen Yarn Garden Baby Blanket

I’m so pleased to keep my FO train rolling! This week I finished my Zen Yarn Garden Baby Blanket!

Pattern: Zen Yarn Garden Baby Blanket by Staci Perry

Yarn: Knit Picks Brava Bulky in Solstice Heather, Cobblestone Heather and Red.

Needles: US 13s

Mods: Cast on 144 total stitches and worked extra stripe repeats. I also added fringe/tassels. My Rav notes are here.

I really wanted to use up every last inch of yarn and I had pretty decent sized balls when I bound off. So I thought…tassels! I measured and broke up my remaining yarn and added them to the points of my chevrons. This took the yardage of this blanket to 1,006 yards! I know the tassels are the most baby friendly but I can always remove them later. But for now I adore them!

I haven’t taken finished measurements yet but I have washed and dried this blanket. The above photo is taken on our king sized guest bed and it covers a good sized portion of it. Most of all, I’m just beyond thrilled to have over 1,000 yards of acrylic out of my stash and put to proper good (and washable) use!

Happy Knitting!!

One Last Stripe

I am getting SOOOO close to the end of my Zen Yarn Garden Baby Blanket. I only have one stripe and the bind off to go!

The last stripe is blue and I have almost a full ball to do it. I will certainly have leftovers and I have a small ball of grey and tiny ball of red left as well. My brain is thinking old school tassels on each of the points of the chevrons? Maybe not the most practical for a baby but would use up the last of yarn and give this piece a vintage feel.

I guess I could always add them and take them off later? Thoughts?

Halfway Done Zen

I feel like I need to do a little pat on my own back. I have powered through a whole metric ton of bulky weight knitting. I have reached the halfway point on my Zen Yarn Garden Chevron Baby Blanket.

I have used up just under half of the blue and grey yarn. And then I added in the middle color block of red. Instead of measuring these rows I simply knit until I ran out of red. This took just over 1.4 skeins of bulky red yarn out of my stash FOREVER….bwahahahaha.

I think the solid middle section in that pop kind of color really add to the color blocking of it all. And makes the blanket less sedate and more fun. It kind of blows out on camera but I adore it in real life.

And smart Rachelle decided to start weaving in my ends. I plugged on some episodes of The Good Place and went to town with my darning needle. I got all the loose ends woven but I’ll wait to trim them until after its washed and blocked. I only have four stripe sections left and this blanket will be done!

Happy Knitting!!

Growing Zen

I reached the next checkpoint in my Zen Yarn Garden Baby Blanket. I finished up the stripes and got into the solid red chunk that will be in the middle. I’m feeling pretty proud considering I had knit a partial blanket that was too small, ripped that back and started again, just to get back to the point I was at when I pulled it all back.

This bright pop of red is just SOOOO much and I love it. It really livens up the neutral quality of navy and black.

The semi-bad part is that I’m now solid on red section island. No stripe changes to keep my interest, its all just knitting until I run out of red yarn. We shall see how well this goes…..

Cast On: Zen Yarn Garden Chevron Baby Blanket

The 2019 Pigskin Party KAL hosted by the Down Cellar Studio podcast is in full swing now. I wasn’t able to do as much pre-planning this year as I have done for years past. I realized I had three major projects that were already on the needles that I don’t want to put into hibernation because WIPs don’t count for points. So I may not be as gung ho this year.

But at the very least I tried to get into the spirit of the competition by casting on a new WIP. I had been craving a big chunky blanket knit after I finished the Westport Blanket. So I went stash diving and found roughly 990 yards of Knit Picks Brava Bulky kicking around. The colors really do play well together with the true red, navy and grey.

I used the advanced search in Ravelry to look for bulky blanket patterns that used this yardage amount and that were completely garter. I wanted a nice BIG auto pilot project. I came up with the Zen Yarn Garden Chevron Baby Blanket by  Staci Perry of the VeryPink podcast and YouTube channel. I love listening to her every week so I went all in!

I cast on and quickly got to the second color. I think I will be true to the pattern and alternate the navy and grey with a solid chunk of red in the middle. This pairs nicely with the fact that I have three full skeins of the navy and grey and only one and a half skeins of the red.

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My hands do get tired working on this large of needle and yarn. So I will probably work this one in bits and pieces to avoid injury. But I’m really pleased with the pattern so far and how the yarn is knitting up! And it’s been awhile since I had to work a chevron. It’s been nice dusting that off!

Happy Knitting!!