10:08 am - April 23, 2013 - AngelaH

Two Hummingbirds and a Hedgehog

Sounds like the title of a nursery rhyme, doesn’t it?

Finished socks, bad camera angle. Sorry.

I finished my Hummingbirds last night (apologies for bad photos – I decided to try out my camera’s timer rather than wait for L, clearly I need to practice). This is the second pattern I’ve knit from The Knitter’s Book of Socks and, like Stepping-Stones before it, it was a well-written, clearly presented pattern that will almost certainly become a standard. In the book, Clara writes that these socks (designed by Sandi Rosner) were designed expressly to be used with multi-coloured variegated yarn. That’s unusual for lace, but the idea is that the trellised pattern shifts the colours up and down, breaking up the stacking that would ordinarily lead to pooling and flashing.

They’re definitely fun to knit, and the 12-row, 32-stitch repeat is an easy rhythm to get into. I didn’t get quite to the point of memorizing it, but a quick glance at the chart was all I needed at the beginning of each row. I did make some modifications (detailed below) and I have some others that I plan to try on the next pair of these I knit (probably with this yarn). I do find these tight to pull on and off (though they’re comfortable to wear, pesky high arches), but, as you can see in the photos, the first sock (which I’ve tried on a few times) has stretched and grown noticeably longer than the second sock. It’s superwash wool, too, so I suspect these will stretch a little once they’ve been blocked (no, I didn’t swatch).

Speaking of the wool, let me tell you about the Hedgehog. This sock yarn is by Hedgehog Fibres (an Irish dyer) and it is one of the loveliest sock yarns I’ve used. It’s smooth and round and so, so soft (85% merino), but its tight twist and 15% nylon content suggest it’ll stand up well too. It isn’t especially springy, but I do think it’ll grow a little. The stitch definition is beautiful and, perhaps best of all, the yarn is hand-painted in such a way as to prevent pooling. No two skeins are alike, and even though this yarn did tend to feature similar colour repeats again and again, even in the stockinette portion of the feet there’s no pooling. I love this yarn so much that I’ve ordered two more skeins. I also have 23g left of this colour, which I will probably use to knit up some more leftover socks one of these days.

Part of me kind of wishes the charts were shifted so the lace was over the front of the foot and the purls stitches were on the sides, but I guess these are socks meant to be enjoyed in profile.

Details
Pattern: Hummingbird by Sandi Rosner
Yarn: Hedgehog Fibres Sock Yarn in Sunflower
Needles: 2.5mm
Modifications: I knit the leg as written, but changed the heel from a short-row heel to my normal heel flap (I’m hard on my socks). I also added an extra chart repeat to the foot, though next time I’ll add another one. Depending on how these wear, I might also knit them on 2.75mm needles next time. As I mentioned above, these are quite tight to pull on over my heel. The fit is pretty good, though, so maybe a compromise would be to just knit the leg on the larger needle and then make the heel flap a few rows deeper. I also made the toe really wide for some reason (I did the first one a few weeks ago and can’t remember why now), but next time I’ll just knit my normal toe. My notes and whatnot are Ravelled here.

Categories: finished, Knitting Tags: Hedgehog Fibres, socks

3:53 pm - April 20, 2013 - AngelaH

Still in season

So windy. Also, it was brighter than it looks, hence the sun glasses. Sorry.

On Thursday it was 20C, this morning it snowed. What I’m saying is, I have been wearing my Woodstove Season cardigan quite a bit and it has been lovely. I’m so used to knitting small things and accessories that to knit an actual garment and then get to wear it around is a whole thing. It took me two months to wear the first socks I knit (I thought it was weird, but I was a fool) but it only took me a week (during which I thought I was going to knit pockets) from finishing to first public wear. I could get used to this whole sweater thing.

It has taken us a while to coordinate, so when L had a minute this afternoon we went for a walk to finally take some proper finished photos. Of course, it was freezing, and insanely windy, but you have to take what you can get. I swear, my hair is usually less wild than this.

It typically flaps less when worn open, but you get the idea.

I am really happy with the way this turned out. The sleeves have enough ease to be comfortable with a long-sleeved shirt under them, but they aren’t loose, so they don’t add bulk under a jacket, and the buttons are spaced properly so there isn’t any gaping. I do wish I’d knit the collar a little longer and the body a little shorter, but honestly, those are such minor details that they’re pretty much inconsequential. This is designed to be a long cardigan, and it is, which is something I’m sure I’ll appreciate during the winter (no lower back draft!).

And buttoning the million buttons back up.

It hasn’t been long, but so far the yarn seems to be holding up well too. It’s a superwash, so it doesn’t have quite as much structure as an untreated yarn, but there haven’t been any signs of pilling yet and it’s holding its shape just fine.

Crispy crispy chevrons.

Details
Pattern: Woodstove Season by Alicia Plummer
Yarn: SweetGeorgia Superwash Worsted in Cyprus
Needles: 5.5mm for the body, 5mm for the collar and 4.5mm for the cuffs and bottom ribbing
Modifications: The biggest change was really the gauge. I knit this at 4.5 stitches to the inch instead of 4 stitches to the inch because, honestly, I just didn’t like the fabric when it was looser. This led to a false-start because I chose the wrong size initially. What I ended up with was something between the medium and the large, which was perfect. I made my buttonholes every 14th row (every 7th right-side row) instead of every 12th row, in part because my gauge was tighter so I could get away with it and in part because I wasn’t paying attention at the beginning and didn’t want to tink back two rows when it wasn’t going to make a difference anyway. To make my buttonholes work out I added two pattern rows to the body (after the end of the hip shaping and before the ribbing). I also picked up way more stitches in the armpit and decreased quickly and then slowly. All the details are Ravelled here.

Categories: finished, Knitting Tags: photos, sweater, SweetGeorgia, woodstove cardigan

10:00 am - April 15, 2013 - AngelaH

The week that was

Plain socks, knit in Koigu KPPPM #P123. Apparently these colours are not out of my system yet.

I can hardly believe it’s Monday, because I’m still in recovery mode from last week (also because I worked yesterday). Last week my section of the paper went live with a new program that totally changes our workflow and, in small ways, everything about how we do our jobs. The basics of the job (design news pages, edit stories, write headlines, etc.) is the same, but the way we do it has changed, and like any big change, this one has been hard. It’s new technology, with fewer people in-house, and last week was a bit chaotic. The paper made it out close to on time every night, so it was okay, but I got home every night totally wiped (and late, since new systems tend to take longer, at least at the beginning).

It was one of those weeks that makes you glad you’re a knitter. Every knitter I know has, at some point or another, talked up the stress-relief of knitting, and I really needed that last week. Of course, as is often the case, I didn’t really have time to knit. I did pick up my needles and work a few stitches here and there, but there wasn’t time for more.

Hunter St. Cowl. Lace always looks bad before it’s blocked, but I am loving this pattern (and this colour). I think I managed to knit four rows on this last week. Part of me thought it would be done by now.

By the end of the week, I realized (in part) why that was: I didn’t have anything plain on the needles. Everything I was knitting had a chart of some sort, and even an easy to memorize chart like the one for the Hunter St. cowl requires just enough counting to not be mindless. Often, I enjoy charted knitting when I’m stressed. For one, it makes me feel a little clever, even when I’m just executing the same set of rows over and over, but it also forces me to stop thinking about whatever is on my mind (last week, page layouts – I actually dreamt about nothing but page layouts two nights in a row) and focus on something else. When I have the time, this is awesome, when I only have time for a row or two, it’s not the same.

The second Hummingbird sock, which I’m knitting Hedgehog Fibres sock, which might just be my new favourite sock yarn.

It took me the entire week to realize this, so on Saturday, after running around for most of the day, I finally fished some fun Koigu out of my stash cast on a pair of plain socks (at the top of the post). Sometimes stockinette bores me to tears and sometimes it feels like magic. These are magic socks. I knit most of them while we hosted friends for dinner on Saturday, and a little more last night, and I’m going to try and squeeze in a few rows before I go to work.

Part of a pocket for my Woodstove Season cardigan. After wearing it a few times without pockets, I’m actually reconsidering my plan, so I might put these away for now. They can always go on later if I change my mind.

L sometimes teases me about how much yarn we have in the house, but honestly, this is what my stash is for. I definitely did not have time to go to the yarn shop this weekend, but luckily I had already planned for such a moment and had what I needed at home. These socks will likely sit on my needles for a while since stockinette socks are nice to have around but rarely hold my attention long enough to be a primary project. That’s okay, though, because they’ll be there when I need them.

Edited to add: After a couple of people asked about the needles I’m using for my socks, I thought I’d post a link. I treated myself to some Signature Needles after Christmas and holy, they are awesome. They are a bit of a splurge, but when you think of how often you use your needles, and factor in that good metal ones will last forever, I decided it was worth it. I bought three sets (2.25mm, 2.5mm, and 2.75mm) and am seriously considering getting another set in 3.25mm (for worsted-weight socks).

Categories: in progress, Knitting Tags: cowl, Koigu, socks, stash

10:31 am - April 8, 2013 - AngelaH

That wet wool smell

I can’t believe I didn’t mess up a single chevron.

It’s the smell of triumph. On Saturday, I cast off my Woodstove Season cardigan, wove in my ends, and wet blocked it. My first sweater, and it actually fits. I don’t know why I let sweaters intimidate me, but it feels like a real accomplishment to finish one. Obviously, I already have the yarn and pattern for my next one ready to go.

Because Woodstove took all weekend to dry, I don’t have any nice photos of my wearing it yet. I’m also not 100% sure it’s finished yet. It grew a few inches in length with blocking, which is fine, but I am now feeling that the pockets I had previously decided not to knit would suit it. Pockets aren’t a huge knitting burden (and I have yarn left) so I think I might whip them up this week and see. Proportionally, I think it needs something to balance the ten million buttons. Thoughts? (I’ll do a proper FO post when I have better photos and likely also pockets.)

This funny ombre effect is not there in real life.

To balance all the worsted weight knitting I’ve been doing lately, and in keeping with decidedly spring-ish weather, after getting Woodstove into its bath, I cast on something fun in laceweight.

Despite the greys in the photo, this is knitting up to look just like tarnished copper.

I’m tend to forget about cowls, but with bicycling season upon us, the Hunter St. Cowl by Glenna C. seemed like the perfect balance between pretty and light and something practical that won’t fly off. I’m knitting it in Tanis Fiber Arts Pink Label in Lucky Penny. Even if I put it down in favour of pockets, this won’t take long to finish.

Categories: finished, in progress, Knitting Tags: cowl, sweater, woodstove cardigan

9:33 am - April 1, 2013 - AngelaH

Fruitful

This is just a quick post to say that I smashed through my weekend goal on the sweater. Despite a nice day of running around in a beautiful weather on Saturday, I was only a couple of rows shy of being done the body when I went to bed. That was easily taken care of Sunday morning, at which point the interminable bind-off began. Honestly, I think it took me four hours to bind off (probably not, but that is also not as exaggerated as it sounds).

This was the best I could come up with for photos. Sorry. I’m just going to buckle down and finish it and then wear it, which will make it look more like a cardigan and less like squiggly wool.

The pattern recommends EZ’s sewn bind off and, since I hadn’t tried it before, I figured I’d give it a go (thank you Knitty for the clear instructions). It’s very clever, but holy moly does it take forever. It also eats a lot of yarn and I was briefly worried that I was going to have to join another ball of yarn just to finish the bind off. I made it through though, and the body took almost exactly four skeins of SweetGeorgia Superwash Worsted (there was less than a yard left). Assuming the arms use a skein or so each, this sweater will come in at six skeins, exactly as I first thought. (After finishing the body, I went back and wove in all my ends. For some reason, this is making me feel like a genius.)

And, speaking of arms, although my goal was just to finish the body, I decided to keep trucking and start the arms. I was going to trade in this heavy yarn and return to either Shaelyn or my current socks-in-progress, but dammit, I want this sweater. I’m two thirds finished arm number one, so I would consider this a seriously fruitful knitting weekend.

Categories: in progress, Knitting Tags: Easter, SweetGeorgia, woodstove cardigan

1:44 pm - March 30, 2013 - AngelaH

Seafoam socks

Et, voila! After four months on the needles, my Seafoam socks are finished.

The colours are a little washed out here (sorry), but the yarn is shades of blue, green, and purple. I really like how, although it’s random, the colours managed to stripe without pooling.

Really, these are just boring 3×1 ribbed socks and there is no good excuse for them having taken so long, but there are a few reasons I would like to put forward:
1. I started these right after finishing my Spruce Jaywalkers and, honestly, I just wanted them to be Jaywalkers too. Why then, didn’t I cast on for Jaywalkers? I don’t know. I guess I didn’t want to knit the same pair of socks twice in a row or something, which is dumb, since I spent the entire first sock (knit the first week in November) wishing I was knitting something else.
2. Christmas came along and since I wasn’t sure I liked these socks anyway, it was very easy to set them aside and knit other things, including, as it turned out, two other pairs of socks for myself, as well as many gifts.
3. I have no great love for ribbing. I don’t find it difficult or anything, just tedious. Ribbed socks are practical and I will wear them a lot, but I don’t know, next time I feel the urge to knit ribbed socks I’ll kick it up a notch and knit Stepping-Stones, which are like ribbing, but more interesting.
4. I wasn’t sure I liked the colour. This seems crazy to me now, because I love this yarn, but at first the colours seemed very, very vibrant, and I was worried the socks might look a little Care Bears Ahoy! when they were finished. I should have had more faith.

For all these reasons (and likely more) these socks sat around unfinished for a while, which is why I decided to bring them on holiday. They’re easy and plain, which makes for good social knitting, and I really did want them finished and on my feet, so it seemed win-win. I hadn’t actually realized how well they’d match the colours of everything around us, though. I had the first sock done and literally nothing but the cast-on for the second sock, but I started it after finishing my mum’s socks and finished in time for a photo shoot on the water the last evening we were there. I wore them on the plane coming home and, silly as it sounds, felt like I was bringing some of the island’s vibrancy home with me.

I do wish I'd not been so lazy with the first pair and knit a 1x1 rib for the cuff, but oh well.

I do wish I’d not been so lazy with the first pair and knit a 1×1 rib for the cuff, but oh well.

Pattern-wise I just improvised these (they’re Ravelled here). They’re knit in Fleece Artist BFL Sock, in the Seafoam colourway. I don’t know why I chose to knit them on 2.75mm needles (I guess I wanted them to be quick – hah!) but the result is socks that are a little less dense than usual and thus, perfect for spring. And, since my gauge was still 8.5 stitches to the inch, they should wear pretty well despite the lighter fabric. I also have about 100 yards left, so I might whip up a pair of bright baby booties with the leftovers.

Finishing two pairs of sock in a week left me on kind of a sock kick, and when I got home I cast on another pair (Hummingbird, from the Knitter’s Book of Socks) and they are flying! (So many unintended puns in there, sorry.) I’m going to be good, though, and buckle down on my Woodstove Season cardigan this weekend. I keep putting it down for smaller projects, but I really want it finished and it’s getting to be the perfect time of year for sweaters to be jackets, which would show it off nicely. So, expect a progress report next week.

Are you knitting anything fun this Easter weekend?

Categories: finished, Knitting Tags: Eleuthra, socks

9:38 pm - March 26, 2013 - AngelaH

I’d go back in a heartbeat

The view from the veranda.

There’s nothing like looking at vacation photos a few days after returning home to make you sigh wistfully. For me, holidays feel like time outside normal linear life-time, as if they happen adjacent to everything else. When I get back, it’s like I’ve never been gone, but also just had an amazing dream I can’t fully describe to people. Luckily, though, unlike dreams, vacations have photographic evidence. (Also, none of these photos have been edited or colour corrected, so yes, the water really is that colour. I couldn’t believe it either.)

Since we’ve been back it has snowed (and then melted) and I’ve been sick (and gotten mostly better), L has been hard at work on his thesis, we’ve had (and still have) house guests, and Ganymede has been her most cuddly self ever. It’s nice to be back, but man, if you told me I could go back to Eleuthra tomorrow, I would be at the airport in no time (my speed would be helped by the fact that I’ve only half-unpacked).

Rainbow Bay Beach. You can see our house just up the shore (it has the gazebo).

Our time in Eleuthra (an island in the Bahamas) overlapped partly with one aunt and uncle (my dad’s middle brother and his wife) and partly with the other aunt and uncle (my dad’s youngest brother and his wife) and entirely with my grandparents, with whom we stayed. My grandparents have been going to Eleuthra in March for the last several years and I can absolutely see why. It’s pretty far north as far as the Caribbean goes (it’s about 60 miles off the Florida coast) so it’s more temperate than the islands farther south (I’d say the temperature ranged from 15 to 30C, and it was only 15 one evening when there was a breeze). Being in the north also means the flight is pretty short, which is a major bonus.

The beach outside Tippy's, which had the best pina colada and mojito I've ever tasted. Ever.

The beach outside Tippy’s, a beach-side bar had the best pina colada and mojito I’ve ever tasted. Ever.

The thing that really won us over, though, was that there were no resorts on the island. There’s a fair bit of tourism (it’s their main industry), but it’s tucked away in small hotels and guest houses and in rental homes, like the one we stayed in. We went out for drinks and lunch some days, but we made most of our meals in the house. We drove around to lots of beaches (Eleuthra has some amazing beaches), but we also swam off the boat slip in front of the house, or at the beach just down the shore. We went for walks and read and knit (well, I knit) and L kayaked and in general, the six of us hung out did our thing.

Ben Bay Beach (at the northern tip of the island) was an amazing beach. It was a little tricky to get to, but, well, look at it! How could that not be worth it?

My dad’s family all lives in out East, so I don’t get to see them very often, and L hasn’t seen them in years, so in addition to being a thoroughly enjoyable holiday in its own right, the family time was invaluable.

I’m avoiding family photos, since I didn’t ask first, so instead I give you dolphins! These look like they’re in a pool, but they’re 100% wild and we saw them when leaving Spanish Wells, the old, colonial town/island off Eleuthra’s northwest side.

Truly, I would go back in heartbeat. And, if you go (or want to), let me know so that I can a) travel vicariously, and b) tell you about all my favourite places that didn’t make it into this post.

It tended to cloud over at night, so there weren’t many great sunsets, but boy, when the sunset was visible, it was stunning.

Category: Out and about Tags: Bahamas, beaches, Eleuthra, family, photos, travel

8:58 am - March 22, 2013 - AngelaH

Snow on re-entry

Time flies when you’re in the sun. We got back to Toronto last night, and it was snowing. Snowing! When we left Eleuthra yesterday morning it was still cool (we left the house before the sun was up) but it was still probably 17 or 18C, and then we landed in snow. Boo.

Nevertheless, we had a fantastic holiday. I will do a proper post about it in a day or two, but before then I have to go through the many photos and unpack, and deal with all the things that didn’t get dealt with while we were away, and also cuddle Ganymede, who spent the week in an empty apartment (don’t worry, though, a friend of ours visited regularly to check on her).

So, in the absence of real holiday pictures, lets talk socks – apparently I need to start wearing them again.

Finished Stepping-Stones.

I finished the Stepping-Stone Socks last Friday, the day after we arrived. I had the cuff finished before we left, and the leg finished by the time we landed in Nassau and the heel turned by the time we boarded our teeny plane for Eleuthra (it sat 18, including the pilots, and I didn’t knit on it). Even with swimming and walking and reading and eating and drinking, it was a breeze to finish the foot on Friday, and L obliged me with some lovely photos.

This one is less lovely, but he thought a behind-the-scenes shot would be hilarious, so…

Certainly one of the reasons these socks were so quick to knit was because they are knit in worsted weight. Man, what a difference that makes! Besides the heavier yarn, though, these socks have a delightfully fluid and quick stitch pattern that only takes two rows to memorize. Honestly, I will knit these socks again and again, and because it’s a six-stitch repeat, it’s an easy pattern to adjust for size and yarn weight. All that being said, I found the subtle change from leg to instep pattern weirdly hard to adjust to; it just didn’t flow as well for me. The instep is just a little less intuitive (it also involved more counting) and while I like how it looks, I think the next time I make these I’ll continue the leg pattern down the foot and see how it looks.

I knit these socks over two weeks, but actual knitting time was only about four days, so these would make an excellent last-minute gift. My mum requested that the socks be a little taller than the ones I knit for myself, so I knit the legs to 7 inches. She also has slightly longer feet than I do. Those two factors meant I needed just a bit more than 100g to knit these, but you could easily make them from one 100g skein. I now have 82g of red yarn leftover, but I might just whip that up into another Puerperium Cardigan (our friends had a baby girl last night!), so I’m not annoyed in the least that I needed that little bit of extra.

Details
Pattern: Stepping-Stones by Clara Parkes (from The Knitter’s Books of Socks, but also available for free on Ravelry!)
Yarn: Malabrigo Rios in Ravelry Red
Needles: 3.5mm
Modifications: First of all, I changed the needle size. I thought the large size would be too big for my mum, so I just adjusted the small. They knit up perfectly to fit a size-10 foot (9-ish inches in circumference). I also changed the heel. Since I went up a needle size I was worried that the one in the pattern would be too thick/bulky for a comfortable fit, so I just went with my normal slip-stitch heel (also saving me extra ends to weave in). Other than that, I knit it exactly as written. (My socks are Ravelled here, if you’re curious.)

I also finished another pair of socks while away, but I’ll save them for another post.

Categories: finished, Knitting, Out and about Tags: Bahamas, Eleuthra, Malabrigo, socks

9:16 am - March 13, 2013 - AngelaH

Beach holiday

Surprise! Although going down south for a week is rather out of character, tomorrow L and I are doing just that. Every year for the last few years my grandparents have gone to the Bahamas for three weeks in March. They rent a house and spend their time reading and walking on the beach and being warm, and every year they invite family down to stay with them. This year, L and I are going, and even though it’s not the sort of holiday we usually take, I honestly cannot wait.

Our trip is actually a bit of a muddle, though, since I’ve been busy trying to get work stuff sorted out before we go (did I mention that I’d switched jobs and am now editing full-time at the Financial Post? I still do EweKnit‘s website, but I don’t work in the shop anymore) and run errands and organize stuff. And L, well, he’s also writing his PhD thesis (due in May) and this is not an ideal time to be taking a week-long vacation to a place with spotty Internet access. I think excitement will win out, but there has been some anxiety. I truly feel that this is all anticipation nerves, and that once we’re there and in a routine, it will be fine. We’ll be in a house, and not on some adventure trip, so he’ll be able to work, and I’ll be able to relax, and we’ll both get to spend some awesome quality time with my grandparents, which I am really, really looking forward to.

I am also looking forward to being consistently warm, to swimming, to wearing my summer clothes, and to spending days away from the computer. I am bringing books (plural) and knitting (also plural), and I plan to split my non-swimming time pretty evenly between the two. My beach books will be Tamas Dobozy’s Siege 13 (the most recent CanLit Knit pick), which I’m almost finished, and Some Great Idea a new book about Toronto by local journalist Edward Keenan. I may throw in a third book at the last minute though, since those aren’t very long.

On the knitting side, I still have some deciding to do. I’m going to bring the Stepping-Stones socks I’m knitting for my mum, because she will be heading down to the Bahamas with my dad a few days after we leave, and I want to leave them there for her (she bought the yarn when she was here last month). I have one sock finished and the other one started and since they’re in worsted weight, I half suspect I’ll be finished them by Friday.

My mum asked for red socks, and now I have a knitting project that refuses to be well photographed. Sigh. They’re almost this vibrant in person.

I’m also going to bring Shaelyn, the shawl I’m knitting (doesn’t it sound like I’m talking about a country singer?) This is a top down shawl, so even though it feels like it’s knitting up quickly, I know that feeling will subside. Still. I think I might throw in a ball of yarn for another pair of socks as back up. Or, I could just bring my languishing Seafoam socks and finish them up. Tricky. Summer clothes do take up less space than winter clothes, though, so maybe I’ll just bring it all and see what happens.

I have barely knit on this thing and it’s growing like crazy. I have two skeins of this yarn, so I haven’t decided yet how big to knit it (I’m thinking medium to large).

What do you think? I still have a few hours to decide.

Since I’m already bringing back-up yarn for both the shawl and my mum’s socks, adding another one isn’t that much more. (Also, yes, that is the same skein that I’ve been bringing as back-up yarn for almost a year now. What’s up with that? I consistently want to knit this yarn and then consistently don’t. Am I jinxing myself by bringing it?)

Also, this means I probably won’t be blogging until the end of next week. I promise a vicarious vacation when I get back, though!

Categories: in progress, Knitting, Out and about Tags: Bahamas, planning, travel

10:02 am - March 11, 2013 - AngelaH

A hat too late

This weekend, it was spring. I don’t know if it’s going to stick around (being from Nova Scotia, I’m programed to expect a big storm in March), but for now, it feels great. I spent a good chunk of Saturday just walking around the city and enjoying being perfectly dressed for the first time in months. It was gorgeous.

Finished just in time to not need it! This is how people who don’t wear hats plan hat knitting I guess.

It stands to reason, then, that I would finish my winter hat just a week before this warm weather rolled into town. I haven’t blogged about the hat because, even though a month passed between when I cast on and when I cast off, I really never felt like I was knitting it. I am not, generally speaking, a hat person. I am that idiot on a cold day who’s turtled deep into a scarf and bareheaded. I don’t know why, but hats never occur to me. This was a cold winter, though, and when February rolled around and it became clear it wasn’t going to warm up, I decided to cast on. (I do, I should say, have a hat, a nice hat even, but I’ve never knit one for myself and I decided it was time.)

I guess there was too much halo for the cables. I still think this yarn will make a toasty hat.

I chose Scrollwork, by Irina Dmitrieva (from Brooklyn Tweed’s Wool People 4) and, very responsibly, paired it with some stash yarn. I got to the first bit of cabling and realized I’d made a bad choice. The yarn I was working with (this yarn, a wool/alpaca blend that would have made for a soft and lovely hat) was just not going to show off those cables to their advantage. And after the work I was about to put in, that would suck. So, I ripped back and started over with some of the Shelter I bought in New York.

Let me preface this by saying I didn’t swatch. This may be the first hat I’ve knit for myself, but it isn’t the first hat I’ve ever knit, and I know that 112 stitches on a 4.5mm needle will fit my head just fine. So I cast on and went with it. This is a demanding hat. The cables twist and turn and don’t think about trying to watch anything while knitting them because, well, you’ll be hitting pause a lot. I loved the knitting. For the few hours at a time that I spent with the hat, I enjoyed every stitch (well, almost every stitch – I also worry my post-cable purls are too loose) and there’s nothing like working complex cables to make you feel smart.

Right around here I started to wonder if maybe it wasn’t looking a little short.

What will quickly make you feel less smart, however, is after finishing your fancy hat and realizing it’s small. In the photos, there is quite a generous slouch, which is partly why I wasn’t worried about fit. I ought to have been. I don’t know if my hat just didn’t grow as much, or if my cables were tighter or what, but not only does my hat not have that slouch, but it is almost too small. I can wear it, but it doesn’t quite cover my earlobes, and a cold day, that’s dumb.

This is a very good representation of the colour. Photo taken before it was spring.

On the upside, I enjoyed knitting it so much I might just knit another one! I am also probably going to have a go at the cowl too, since that would both be fun and give me a winter set. But maybe next year, since it’s spring now.

Details
Pattern: Scrollwork, by Irina Dmitrieva
Yarn: Brooklyn Tweed Shelter in Plume
Needles: 3.75mm for the ribbing, 4.5mm for the rest
Modifications: I knit this exactly as written, except I switched to the larger needle in my last row of ribbing, which made the increase row a little easier to work. Also, of course, I started twice.

Categories: finished, Knitting Tags: Brooklyn Tweed, cables, hat