Spiraling Hat

My US 8s were empty after finishing my Another Royal Hat. Therefore I needed to start another hat. This time I grabbed some yarn from SSK 2024 that would earn me some extra points in the Down Cellar Studio Pigskin party KAL.

This skein has a very rainbow like palette and looked to be variegated in the skein. But I was pleased to find that at my 88 stitch count and my gauge, it spirals! Each rainbow is wrapping around the hat so far.

I tried to hide in the basement to knit and do laundry. But PB and Duke had other ideas. Duke is REALLY good at climbing on me to block my knitting progress. He believes in less knitting and more ear scritches!

Uptown Decreases

It’s now leggings and fire pit season! Fall has arrived even though we get a few hot flashes that make us feel second summer. I managed some toasty toes and hat knitting outdoors.

I have my Uptown Hat all the way to the decreases. I should have like 30/40 minutes of knitting left. I am finding this acrylic is easier to knit with grabbier wooden needles than the smooth metal. Probably should have figured that out sooner, but we still got here.

I find myself looking at the stitch definition on this and marveling. There is zero halo and all the little Vs just march right along. It looks and feels very orderly. And I think I am getting better at keeping gauge as I pick up and put down. I notice I get looser when I get sleepy or tired.

Does your gauge move around on you?

Knitting In The Park

I borrowed Dad’s golf cart and took the hooligans to run out their sillies last night as we feel the last dregs of warm fall. My Uptown Hat came along for the ride.

In between “mom watch this” and “mom, come start my swing” I managed to get the brim finished, folded and attached. It was a little trickier picking up this dark yarn. I was happy for the daylight!

This acrylic is not wool but the fabric is still nice. Trying not to get so tight that there is zero air flow. I tend to pull acrylic harder. This will for sure go in our donation or “safe to take to school” bin for the kids. No harm or foul if it doesn’t come back, lol.

Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: Uptown Hat

My rosewood circulars were bare after finishing the Classy Cashmere hat and in complete disregard to all my other WIPs, I started a new hat. I am calling this one (super creatively) my Uptown Hat.

During my summer stash re-org, I found this partially used skein of acrylic worsted and added to my hat stash. It’s really not enough for a baby knit and I wanted it gone from my pile. It is very soft for acrylic and the deep navy is very rich.

And as I am on repeat, this is another one of my hats by “recipe” of 88 sts on a US 8 needle. I am a broken record. But all this hat knitting is just scratching some part of my brain and creating dopamine so I am LEANING in. I haven’t had mojo like this in a long time!

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!!

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!!

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!!