stitch marker

roughin it

We camped. For a whole week, with four kids, with smoky fires that have rendered everything we own hot-dog-smelling, with endless bacon (our trip could have been sponsored by the pork industry). The kids went over the dunes on a 4-mile round-trip hike to the beach and came back all Lord of the Flies with t-shirts wrapped around their heads and walking sticks. They played for hours at a sandy playground that was right on our F Loop. And Stev and I got to sit and drink lots of wine. And coffee. The only electric device we brought for the whole week was this.

And we got to knit.

The green...thing...above was an emergency hat for Sebastian because I forgot to bring one and camping in Oregon gets super cold at night no matter the time of year. It's a silly hat, actually probably one of the ugliest things I've ever made, but it did the trick.

I also knitted a couple of other things - one being Ester from Knitty - that I'm not really happy with yet. I'm still working on figuring out how to make it close and look right and it's cool but doesn't really sit the way it should. And, dammit, it was meant to be a gift and so it sucks that it doesn't work. Sigh. Back to indoor knitting, with AC.

owlet hat

Here it is on Sebastian. He chose the eyes and requested the string tie on top. And here's another shot of the hat without a quickly moving blurry head.

Yarn: Cascade Greenland, leftover from the acorn cowl, so less than 1 ball.
Pattern: Ann Budd's basic hat pattern, and a free owl-cable pattern that I googled for. I cast on 100 sts, then reduced to 99 for the 11-stitch cable repeat, then back to 100 for the decrease instructions.
Needles: US 5

Happiness for all.

new hat

Sebastian is passionate about two things: hats and yellow (well, there are a couple other things, but he is really really really a hat man and a lellow man.) Probably more than a year ago, he picked out these threads and had them spun up at yarnia.

And then it sat. And periodically he asked when I'd make him a hat with it.

I'd let him pick any yarns he wanted. It was pretty ugly, but he loved it. And it was kind of hard, made of some unforgiving cotton. I avoided it and could nearly feel it blistering and shredding my fingers just looking at it.

I finally had the idea to stripe it with some wool that I love and have several colors of.* The hat came out so ugly it's beautiful. I really love it, and he loves it too and looks adorable in it (and out of it, I have to admit the hat has little to do with the cuteness.) I think of it as his wack hat (he names all his toys "Wack." He has a doll named "Baby Wack.") I've also been told it makes his head look like a target.

Just in time, because his cupcake hat already doesn't fit him anymore, and we are having the coldest weather ever. It snowed hard today.

* Elann Peruvian Sierra Aran.

critical failure in the S region

The hat wasn't ready today. I actually cried last night and Martin talked me down. Today my back hurts.

I need to take back 6 rows and then it will be smooth sailing because I have a new strategy for the S and 2008. Damn. Strangely, even though it looks really complicated, I was hoping for this to be a 2-day knit so I can get back to afghan squares after a long break for publication knitting.

Sigh. Here's some cheese to look at.

cake hat

I like colorwork but I'm no good at it. Everything's bunchy.  And I picked the wrong two colors to start with in the green and gold section, which may not even show when the brim gets turned up.  I also have very bad luck with hats. I do all I can to make them the right size and they are always very, very, very wrong and look, frankly, ugly on people.  Either spinning around and around on their heads or cutting off circulation to their eyes.

However, this hat is a labor of love and I think Sebastian will like it regardless of its shortcomings.  I'm hoping I can finish it tonight because tomorrow is the first day of school and I have no special outfit for him and my mom and auntie and I were just talking the other night about how important the first-day-of-school outfits used to be and I started to feel like a big jerk for not having one for him.

And even though it's 90 degrees here, Sebastian wears a hat. He wants a big S on the front so I'm off to look for some knitting alphabets.

Pattern: Have A Cupcake Hat by Dana Phillips, with lots of mods. Ravel it.

Yarns: ShibuiKnits Sock in Sand, Bronze, Seaweed and Wasabi, Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock Lightweight in Haida and a red Rare Gem, and the brim is Happiest Girl Dyeworks in Forest Floor.

1.25-hour FO

A Meathead Hat in Cascade Magnum on size 15 needles. I made the adult small and added a crayon pocket also using the 15s. He loves it! (It's green, his all-important color, what's not to love?) He actually used the crayon pocket already: filled it up, pulled the crayons out from atop his head, colored, and put them back.

Here it is from farther off, and showing the full point, very elfin.

Edited to add: Thank you, thank you. :-) The crayon pocket is Heidi's idea, and her version appears in our upcoming book.

speaking of hats

Photo by Sarah Gilbert.

Thank you for all your hat offers! I'm going to email a few of you who offered and work something out. I know it's all very stupid, but the reason I don't have a hat is because last year's hat shrunk so that it's so small it hurts my head horribly and nearly pops off. And I made a calorimetry headband lately, and it flew off my head when I had the seizure in the park and I lost it and have to call the parks people, etc. Duh.

Anyway.

What I really wanted to write about is the hat in the picture above. It's the Dulles Hat pattern by my oft-written-about friend Sarah Gilbert. I've admired the many Dulles hats she's made for a year now, and I've been asking and asking her when she'd publish the pattern. And today she did!

The reality of publishing a pattern, if you haven't and you're wondering if it's a cash cow or something, is that you work for more than 40? 60? 100? hours on a pattern and sample, and you sell a few  (at least for me, I know some designers are lots more popular). You dream of the day that you verge on making a buck an hour, to justify your designing habit. So I urge you to go buy Sarah's hat pattern for a mere $3.50. It's an excellent gift knit, and it uses gorgeous Malabrigo but can easily use other yarn.

I can tell you, having sold 8 scarf patterns, that every time someone purchases your pattern it's a little thrill.

favorites, 11.11.07

Sebastian's favorites:
fixing things (papa says he gets very excited and serious about this)
screwdrivers
corn muffins
diggers!
singing, making music
running around and around the table
chocolate milk
raisins, as always
Stuart Little

Mama's favorites:
Jaywalker socks
my new boots with fur pompoms
NYT Sunday crossword puzzles
Tandem Cafe, and the bagels and chocolate stout bread
quiet days when we get them
fires in the fireplace

And another thing. It seems ironic that with all my knitting, and all the meathead hats out in the world, that I am a person without a hat. I was sooooo cold today on the way home from work. Is anyone interested in knitting me a meathead hat? I'll trade you some yarn!

The thing is, I want to knit myself a hat. But I want it to be this Inga Hat, which I've bought yarn and swatched for. But I'm so pressed for time that my hat plans are far beyond what I can knit now. My knitting is already in process beyond the dawn of the new year. I can't go that long. And today...in Nordstrom Rack?...I almost bought a knit hat. Almost. Bought. a Hat. It looked like one of them mason dixon washcloths, actually. It was cute. But come ON. Finally I could not spend the 13 bucks on it, knowing I could knit a fine hat, if only I had the time.

So I froze at the bus stop, and cursed myself.

sweet

The sweet baby cap from Gros Blog, via Hello Yarn.
Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock mediumweight in Moss Agate.
Size 1 needles
2 days

And a ton of yarn left, or a few ounces anyway, for the new mom to make something to go along with it! And no, Sarah, even though you jumped the gun and started having contractions yesterday this is not for you and Baby Monroe. You're not ready yet. And I am not ready for your baby either.

circle time

One of my favorite little kid stories ever is about my friend's newphew, Christopher, who at the time was the most adorable little round 2+ year old with big brown eyes and rolls of remaining baby fat (I think he's in college now or something). He started preschool, and after the first few days my friend asked him how he liked it. He balled up his fat little fists and with great, deep anger he forced out,  "I.  Hate.  Circletime."

(Circletime came out as one).

I was just thinking about him as I was pondering my needle options for making the Sweet Baby Cap. And I realized. I. Hate. Magicloop. The pulling through of the cords in the little spaces between stitches is fussy, I think, and I dislike wondering when I should do it and having to make that judgment on every round.

So I called Mabel's in the last hour before closing, found that they had a 16" size 1 circular, and jumped in the car with Sebastian to go get it. I would have liked a size 2. But those who Hate Magicloop cannot, ultimately, be choosers.

The hat is really really really cute. After I started the decrease-only portion, I switched to two size 1 circulars and it's been working out just great. I recommend the pattern for anyone with a bit of sock yarn around and any babies handy.