I Hat Therefore I Am

A quick perusal of my projects page on Ravelry lead me to an interesting conclusion earlier today: I am not a knitter, I am a Hatter. With a capital H.

Of the 32 projects I've finished this year, a full 12 have been hats (that's 37.5% for those of you who are into math). You might think 12 hats is a full complement for a year. It is after all, one hat per month.

But no.

I have EIGHT (!!!!!!!) more on the needles. There is no other single category of knit items that even comes close to the dominance of the hats. Mitts are a distant second with 3 FO's and 4 WIPs. Or, if I combine scarves & cowls for a Neckwear category I have 2 Fo's and 7 WIPs.

Doesn't really matter. In my world of knitting, Hats Rule.

Ergo, I am a Hatter.

Who knew?

Still with me or did I drive you away with such minutia?

At any rate, I guess I like knitting hats. My kids certainly like wearing them:



Nottingham, Size Medium (Child)
Emerald Blue Malabrigo Merino Worsted
Size 6 Addi Turbos and Prym dpns


Toddler Republic Hat
Blue Surf Malabrigo Merino Worsted
Size 6 Addi Turbos and Prym dpns

I did cast on an extra ten stitches for the Republic hat as I was worried about it being to small.

The kiddos like them well enough. Now to put them away until it's hat season again.

So that's all the knitting for now. I also finished a square for a wedding blanket I am contributing to but I let it leave the house without taking a picture, oh well.

I need to work out some kind of balance between the sewing and knitting. As I do more sewing I get antsy about the knitting I'm not doing. Maybe once the shop is a bit more established I'll be better able to strike that balance.

In the meantime I've made bunches of zippered pouches like these:


And today I added a whole new bag style to the shop.


More of these project bags to come as the weekend progresses.

Until next time, enjoy the long weekend and have a fun (and safe) Memorial Day.

Oh, and, Happy Birthday Todd!!! (a day early but he doesn't read this blog anyway... but just in case...)

Bottom of the Barrel

I've got nothing today.

Well, that's not exactly true. I've got stuff.

Like this:

Star-Crossed Slouchy Beret (for me)
Malabrigo Merino Worsted in Vaa

Or this:

Deja vu! The second one was for a friend of mine. Still Malabrigo but the colorway is Taureg. This one is blocked, mine isn't. A nice knit. Obviously, or I wouldn't have made it twice no matter how Kristen might have "begged."

But really, the muse? She has left me and I just can't get motivated to try to say anything even remotely clever or amusing.

(note: if you don't feel that I am normally even remotely clever or amusing, please do not burst my bubble... I like my little fantasy world)

I want to share. I have lots of things percolating in the brain but sitting down to type? No appeal. I blame my laptop. It gave up the ghost a week ago and I haven't been the same since. Which is odd. I despised my laptop. It made me crazy (slow and cranky it was!). But. It was mine. And now I am forced to squat on my husband's old MacBook.

sigh

Not the same. I miss you cranky, slow, infuriating HP!

Anyhow. More soon. I made a hat for Gwen which is quite cute- I just have to get her to take a picture in sans that awful Fake Smile she has going right now.

Bleh. No good pictures unless I ambush her and that is hard to do if you want her to model something. She might be three but she's no dummy. "What? Oh, I know it's 65 degrees Sweet Pea, but I think you should wear this new hat Mommy made you anyway..." Uh huh. Like that's gonna fly.

And, Thank you! to everyone who has said nice things about my little enterprise. Everyone has been supportive and I've even managed sell a few things. I'm working on a few things and hope to have some fun new things to share next week. (I wonder if I could work "things" into this paragraph again? Oh look! I just did.)

And (last item I promise) in case I get all wrapped up in life and forget to post before Sunday: Happy Mother's Day to all my mommy friends and most especially,

Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

I have no idea how you did it and every day I grow more in more in awe of you (and Daddy, too) for the way you raised the three of us- thank you, thank you, thank you! Love you!

Pooh. What Happened to the Sun?

Looking outside today it is hard to believe that just a little while ago it looked like this:

Glorious!

This was a couple Fridays ago and I took advantage of a babysitter to steal a little time for myself during the day. I grabbed my lunch and headed down to Golden Gardens to enjoy the sunshine. It was still pretty cool temperature-wise but I could feel Spring waiting in the wings.

I think Spring got stage fright because it is nowhere to be seen now. Oh well. At least I got to indulge for a couple hours...

And what did I do with those hours? I worked on this:

This is Thermis by Kristen Patay.

And here it is completed:

I used Malabrigo Merino Worsted in Natural (unbelievably soft!!!) and my trusty Addi Turbos in size 6. The buttons came from The Fiber Gallery.

I love it! And really, if it isn't going to be Spring- could it be just a little colder so I can use this? I hate to think I'm going to have to put it away until the fall :(

And just to spite me for maligning it, the sun has come out as I put the final touches on this post. Go figure.

New Year, New FO

I thought I'd start the year with some knitting content.

I'll pause while you all stand back up from the floor...

OK, here it is:

This was a Christmas gift for Todd and I am inordinately pleased with it. The pattern is VERY loosely based on an Irish Hiking Hat (Ravelry link). Loosely as in, "I cast on the 96 stitches the pattern called for and did a cable and rib patterned hat." Everything else I changed: order of the ribs and cables, width of the cables, height of the cables, the decreases... you get the idea.

The yarn is Malabrigo Worsted in Pearl Ten and I knit the hat on a size 8 Addi Turbo 16" circular and dpns.

I like the hat a lot but mostly I am pleased as punch with the way I worked out the decreases:

They make a fun, swirly pattern!

Should anyone be interested in the alterations I made, let me know- I actually took copious notes (shocking) so I know what I did.

December?

Um, what happened to November? I swear I was just dressing the kiddos up in Halloween costumes yesterday.

I hope you all had scrumptious Thanksgiving dinners and survived the madness that was our retail establishments this past weekend. For our part we had a quiet turkey dinner at home with all the fixins'...



...and pie of course!



And we limited our post-Thanksgiving shopping to getting a Christmas tree so we have nary a stubbed toe to show for the Black Friday craziness.

I have been knitting up a storm recently but many of the items will be winging their way to rest beneath Christmas trees so I cannot share them here yet.

So instead I'll share one of my favorite projects from this past year that I haven't shown you here yet.

Pattern: Faberge Cowl by Nina Machlin Dayton (pattern available on Ravelry)

Yarn: Malabrigo Merino Worsted in Vetiver

Needles: Size 7 Addi Turbos (20" I think, maybe 16")

Beads: Size 6/0 Japanese Seed Beads

I knit this as a test knit for Nina and I love it. The beads add just the right touch (they are place with a crochet hook instead of pre-stringing the beads). This is a fantastic pattern: clear instructions, a fun, interesting knit, and beautiful result.

A Little Math

So looking over things I discovered some disturbing math. I've only posted here 11 time in 2008. That's 1.1 posts per month but that isn't what disturbed me (although maybe it should).


You might think that no posts on a knitting blog might mean no knitting:

0 p = 0 FO

But that isn't the case. In fact, the opposite is true. Since the beginning of the year I've completed 23 knitted items.

11 p = 23 FO

Even if I had managed to put a finished object in each of my paltry posts (I didn't) I still would be 12 FO's behind when it comes to sharing. In reality, I think I have 18 or so FO's to share.


That's a lot. Daunting almost.

But I shall not be defeated.


As I have nothing clever or profound to add I'll just get straight to it. I was going to do this chronologically but I am missing some pictures so it'll have to be haphazard.


Last week I decided the kiddos needed Pumpkin Hats and so, voila!




Pumpkin hats. This is the Little Pumpkin hat (Ravelry link) from Itty-Bitty Hats.
.
I used Malabrigo Merino Worsted in Glazed Carrot, Sapphire Green, and Marron Oscuro and knit them on my trusty size 7 Addi Turbos and dpns. The pattern goes up to a 1-2 year size but my little ones have not so little heads so I opted to use a worsted weight yarn instead of the called for DK weight. The hats are a little big but they'll fit for several years- better big than too small :) This is a quick knit, each hat took me less than two days to knit so I'm sure some of you speedier knitters out there could crank these out in no time. Overall, I am very happy with the results and hope that the weather this fall is cool enough that they get lots of use.


And while we're on the subject of hats, a while back (April!!?) I did a test knit for a friend of mine from Ravelry.



This is the Warwick Hat by Nina Machlin Dayton.


I made the child's small size but Matt has since outgrown it so I guess I need to make another one (in a solid color this time). The yarn is Malabrigo worsted again, the main color is Lime-Blue and the contrast color is Lettuce. And once again I used my Addi Turbos (size 8) and dpns. The hat is knot from the top down and has this cool contrast braid detail at the top and down at the brim. I'm bummed it's too small now...


So that's it for today. I don't want to over-do it. See you soon with more FOs and if I ever get caught up with those maybe I'll show you what I'm working on now... what a concept.

Ravelry Killed My Blogging Star...

And that's all I'm going to say about that.

Hi everyone! I hope you are all having lovely summers... I haven't been reading any blogs lately so I'm a bit behind- hopefully everything's groovy.

Groovy? Really? Man, I am out of practice.

Anyway, we're doing well here at Chez Sheep. A quick catch up:

The littles are still cute.

Matt turned one!!!

Gwen now thinks everything is a balance beam (even before the Olympics).

And I am still knitting...

gasp

This is my main Ravelympics project, the Clementine Shawlette from Interweave Knits (that's a Ravelry link, if you aren't signed up, MOM, get over there and do it). The yarn is Malabrigo Silky Merino in Camote and it is just delightful.

I'm not as far along as I'd like to be and I'm starting to think I won't finish before the closing ceremonies because I am also working on this:

The Subtle Stripe Vest by Lara Killian. This is going to be a gift for Todd for our anniversary at the end of the month so it has a definite deadline. (And I really hope that he doesn't read my blog... he says he doesn't so if he lied, well... too bad. No surprise for you.) The yarn is Cascade 220 Superwash which I like more than I thought I would. As much as I would have like to use Malabrigo Worsted for this vest Todd would felt it faster than you can say "Handknit."

That's it for now... I don't want to over do it- I might pull something as I work my way back into blogging shape.

Still more crazy weather!

We went out to brunch this morning and as we sat there big fat flakes started pouring from the sky... Insane. Did Mother Nature lose her calendar?

The kids were sick all week:noses running like faucets, huge hacking coughs, ear infections, and yes, throwing up. Good times. I'm a little worn out from all the associated tasks and the increased crankiness so I'll apologize for my incoherent post ahead of time.

Since the little ones were sick, I was stuck in the house most of the week so I am suffering from cabin fever and I am really looking forward to getting out to see the Yarn Harlot tomorrow night at Third Place Books. I haven't picked up her new book yet but I plan on getting it tomorrow as well. I'm excited to reading the book since her books always make me laugh out loud. Unfortunately, I realized tonight that I do not have any socks on the needles... Going to see the Harlot without a sock to work on. Yikes. Possible heresy. I may have to rectify the situation before tomorrow night. Hmmmm.... what to do? What to do?

When last we talked knitting I was stalled on the cardigan I was knitting for Gwen. I'm still stalled. I guess I have Second Sleeve Syndrome. My goal is to get the sleeve cast on this week. We'll see how that goes, I'm not holding out any great hope...

I think I had also just cast on for my Foliage. I am happy to say that that particular piece of knitting is no longer a WIP but a lovely Finished Object! Hooray!

Foliage from Knitty knit in Malabrigo Chunky on Size 9 & 10 Addi Turbo circulars and a set of size 10 dpns.Finally, a hat for me. ::happy dance::