Jellybean Knits Now

I may have lost my LSP Redo Hat to Jellybean. He got bored on a recent car trip to an event so I handed him my knitting and gave him like 10 minutes of instruction. Dang if that kid didn’t figure it out and just took off in stockinette in the round.

He knit through most of the event and would occasionally hand me the work to fix dropped stitches or double wraps. But this fingers and eyes were generally aware when he had a problem. I did have to fix roughly 10 additional dropped stitches when we got home that he didn’t catch.

Bonus? His gauge was not that far off from mine! So his stitches are going to stay in the hat and I don’t think any muggles will notice in the FO. I am being cautious to see if he is going to keep knitting, I might get him his own needles and ball of yarn and see what happens.

Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: Chiefs Hat

It’s a two post kind of Sunday! I have all the cast-on-itis here lately. And today I really needed to break into the Leading Men Fiber Arts stash I bought last month.

I do live in Chiefs country, but I have only a mild allegiance. My dad got me this sweatshirt and it’s super cozy. And I am playing in the Down Cellar Studio Pigskin Party KAL so I decided to make a Chiefs hat for my dad. It will be a nice gift for him and I will get bonus points in the KAL!

This is another one of my standard “recipe” of 88 stitches on US 8s. This is a set of metal Addi needles with sharp points. They do knit a little faster but I need to watch for splitting the stitches. As for the yarn, I am using their Poison Apple color and Sweet Corn color to match the team colors.

Happy Knitting and Happy Football Season!

Cast On: LSP Hat Redo

Good Saturday morning from my peaceful patio. The Duke and I decided to skip Bluey for the morning and sit outside. He’s eating a stick and I re-started my LSP hat that I frogged.

I did chose to go down to 80 stitches on US 10s. It’s starting out much better than the previous one. Still going with a folded stockinette brim and shooting for an adult sized hat. Duke is shooting for tearing up his stomach with wood pulp, lol.

Happy Knitting!!

Leading Men Fiber Arts Birthday Party

Back in September Leading Men Fiber Arts held their annual birthday day sale with a decent discount code. I have been all about hats in 2024 so I added their Box Office worsted base to my collection.

Their site is easy to use and they offer winding service! So from left to right I picked up Chocolate Mousse, Sweet Corn, Poison Apple, Oh Christmas Tree, and Orange You Jealous.

I think the red and yellow will be a Chiefs themed hat or two for Jellybean and maybe my dad? The orange could be a nice cap for my hunting inclined friends or my runner friend who needs to be visible. And I just like the chocolate and green so they came along for the single skein ride.

Happy Stashing!!

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!!

Thanks, I Hate It

I should have listened to my gut. Turns out I HATED how my LSP hat was knitting up. The fabric was dense and not forgiving at all. It was so stiff that it was barely curling. So to the frog pond it went!

The yarn is back to it’s natural state. I was using US 8 needles and I think I would be better suited to go up to US 10s and then reduce down in stitch count. Rough math makes me think I could go down to 80 instead of 88. The hat is basically a swatch so I think I will start with that and see what happens. I can always rip out again!

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!!

FO Friday: Sally Hat

My crafting fervor has been growing as the temperatures are dropping. I swear I started this Sally Hat and then looked down and it was done!

Pattern: My own 88 stitch beanie “recipe”

Needles: US 8s

Yarn: Geektastic Fibers Star Worsted in the Sally colorway

I really don’t measure these hats anymore. I just eyeball the height or slip it on my head to see how far down it comes past my ears. And then I start the decreases. I am getting fairly predictable where I use 75% of the skein. This one was 76 grams or 145 yards.

I did use a folded brim. But with the self-striping yarn, it’s hard to see. And these stripes were fascinating as they were definitely micro stripes. The colors were always changing and maybe that is why this knit so fast?

Let’s talk about this pom pom. The ladies vending Geektastic at SSK really upsold me on this. I didn’t really look to buy it but it looks GREAT with this hat. It adds whimsy to the chaos. It just ties in with strings so I can remove as necessary very easily.

As for this new to me yarn, I would 10 out of 10 knit with again! 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!!

Cast On: LSP Hat

I am really feeling the cast-on-itis around here. Especially with all the yummy yarn I picked up at SSK. I have given up the ghost and I now have multiple hats on the go. This latest hat is a new to me dyer, Republica Unicornia.

This is their Rambouillet Worsted in the LSP colorway. I don’t get the reference, but I’m sure the name is one. It’s a lovely neutral grey base with rainbow splatters and speckles. I think it will make a wonderful vanilla beanie where the yarn shines.

One hesitation is that I am working my standard “recipe” of 88 sts on US 8 needles. This worsted is very round and plump. The beginning fabric is very dense. But I am only three rows in and I need some more fabric before I can really tell if I like it.

It should be okay right? Happy Knitting!!