I finished the quilts for the new addition and just kept on making things.. One day I felt like knitting so I ravelry’d.. ravelried (?) around trying to find a baby hat. I found one with a whale-tail called Little Whale Tail Newborn Hat by Amy O’Holleran. I thought it very appropriate considering the first quilt and the tiny baby socks with a whale on that I found in a shop.
Yarn
Yarn
So I took some yarn in the same colour as the socks and knit it up. It wasn’t very difficult and for once I chose to use double pointed needles instead of circulars. I did use some of the helpful comments of people who had already made it to figure out how to do the tail. It’s easy once you understand it.
Hat
Modeled by the fox
I sort of really love it and am wondering if I should just knit one for myself, but I probably won’t.
I had two hats, whose linings had come loose and were pulling apart. While forgetting to take a before picture, I did set out to fix these two hats. It only took me.. 5 months or so to get it done…
Once I’d seam ripped the linings apart, I could see that it was some black stuff reinforced with some thicker batting. I’d copied the pattern onto some paper and cut it out of the same lining fabric I used for the three-piece-suit. It was a disaster. Warped, horrible, couldn’t get it to fit. I just gave up and put the hats in the corner of shame for almost half a year. Then, about a week ago, I finally got myself in gear and got to finishing these things. I chucked the butterfly lining pieces away and grabbed a plaid shirt that I’d bought to refashion at some point. The lining pieces were cut from the fronts and sleeves of the shirt and I set to sewing. All in all, it probably took me about 2-3 hours to get both hats finished, with some hand sewing time included.
Now, I have two more hats that I can comfortably wear again when the weather starts to turn. I like that I was able to fix these so they didn’t need to be thrown out. I also really like the contrast with the red plaid and the black/brown hats. I’m calling this a win for now.
I wanted more stuff to put on some people’s heads, so I made some!
It started with a knitted hat for a friend of mine. I used the same pattern as I did for the Watermelon Hat, because it’s very easy and very quick. The yarn I used was the few bits that were left over from the Grey Scale Sweater. All knit in one day, which I really shouldn’t do anymore, because my arm does not like that!
The next was made from the left overs of the Plaid Jumpsuit. I wanted to make another cap. I remembered that I had some sort of stiff plastic stuff that was supposed to be used for the bottom of bags. I figured it would also work as a cap. After searching around pinterest for a free pattern, I came across one from Blue Marguerite. I added a little bit of seam allowance, and it since it turned out too small, I needed to incorporate a band to make sure the thing stays on my head. I quite like this one. The lining is of cats, which I also enjoy.
The last one was a beret pattern that I found while browsing for the second hat. I found some black stuff in my stash, sewed up the size 56 hat in little to no time. Unfortunately it’s a little too big, so I need to add some more elastic to the rim to keep it on my head. I still think it’s cute though.
I’ve been busy with finishing some other knitting and sewing, so you may see that soon.
Sometimes you (read: I) find a nice ball of yarn in a shop and you just want to have it because it reminds you of a watermelon. Then you wonder what you will do with a ball of very thick yarn in a colour scheme that reminds you of a watermelon. At that point ravelry came around the corner again. I found the Swirly Smooshy Chunky Beanie, which would require only one ball of yarn. So I cast on one night, size 9 needles and I finished the knitting that night. A very quick project indeed. It took a few weeks more to actually finish the project and add a little fluff ball to the top with the leftover yarn. In effect there is only about 6 cm of yarn that have not been used.
Another one night project was a little doggy with its tongue stuck out that I knit while staying with my parents. It found a new home as a present but it was quite fun to see if it would work. I think it did.
So, what do you do when you agree to meet a friend for a crafty evening but have decided to stay in town to get your hair cut? You buy a ball of yarn and circular needles and take those along. I had wanted to make a hat with ear flaps for a while now, since it is getting colder on my bicycle and my current hat (with owls) doesn’t cover my ears. So I cast on 50 stitches provisionally (I thought I had cast on 55 for some reason – counting is hard) and started knitting. I had about half a hat finished at the end of the evening. The next day I found the tasseled earflap hat pattern on ravelry and wrote my limited notes here.
I recalculated their instructions based on my row gauge and at that point determined that I had failed knitting 55 stitched as I thought. According to my calculations I needed 52 stitches, so I increased a little at the bottom. Then I knit the flaps starting with 12 stitches and decreasing one on each side every knit row. I ended up with two stitches and added a third one in the middle to make the bind of smoother. There were at least three different bind off attempts but in the end the super stretchy bind of was used (where you do a yarn over after the previous stitch, knit the next stitch and slip both over the last knitted stitch). Then I returned to the top, removed my provisional cast on an continued knitting. I decreased five stitches every second row until there were six stitches left over. Then I added a doubled strand of yarn through each of the left over stitches and pulled those tight.
The finishing touches knitting wise included adding the six strands to knit the ear flap closures, making a knot at the top, weaving in my 2 ends from the middle cast on and adding a tag for the back. The ear flaps are more to the back, so I needed to indicate which side needed to be at the back of my hat. I did this with a small bit of spare yarn. It works well!
After my first test drive, I determined that the wind does come through the knitting quite a bit. So I dug through my stash and found some matching fleece fabric to line the ear flaps with. I sewed it in and test drove my hat again on what felt like the windiest second day of Christmas I ever encountered. This was a significant improvement, so I was very happy with this decision. My hair also fits in it, it may not look pretty but it does fit. All in all, not bad for effectively 2 evenings of knitting and about an hour of finishing.
This year I went on an organized five day sailing holiday in September. Since I don’t particularly like travelling, find food scary and am not necessarily a fan of meeting new people that I cannot escape, this was a huge personal accomplishment. The water and the boat were very enjoyable but after a while, I really wanted to knit. Now, I hadn’t brought any knitting, because I probably shouldn’t knit with a crappy arm. However, I decided against being smart and bought a ball of yarn and a set of needles and started knitting a hat.
Now, a simple hat would also be boring, so I decided to add a feature. The feature would be two cable bunnies that I found on the Studio Knit website. I wanted them to mirror each other, so I figured out how to do that. Now, the project wasn’t finished on the boat, but I did finish it. There wasn’t really a hat pattern that I used since I just started knitting. At the end the back needed some pleating, so I pulled the bottom together at the back to create some pleating.
A friend of mine had her birthday, but I couldn’t make it to the party. She has two bunnies, so I figured the hat would be a good fit. It was sent via the post and it did arrive (always a bit scary). She said she liked it, but even if she doesn’t I had a good time knitting it.
A friend of mine had a hat for larp that I really liked. It was simply four pieces sewed together with the edges folded over. It reminded me of Robin Hood’s hat with the feather missing.
So I asked him whether I could copy the pattern. It was alright and I did, years ago. Now, for some reason I never got around to making it, but I managed to rectify that situation on Thursday.
I found the remains of the first attempt at my woolen cape, where I managed to forget factoring in that necks also require space. I cut the four pieces for my hat and sewed the two quarters, then the seam was sewed flat. One had a bit left open to allow for turning the hats inside out. Once the two halves were finished, I stitched them together turned it right side out and stitched it flat again. It was a pretty easy and quick project and I had a nice warm (and probably water resistant) hat to wear this weekend.
I’m slowly but surely attempting to make a winter coat, although it’s been in a corner for a while now. It will have a large white/black/blue check pattern with houndstooth within (see below). I am planing to add a yellow lining to the coat and at some point in time (October 2015) decided that it would be a good idea to make hat to go with the unfinished coat.
This required yellow and blue yarn which I already had. While looking through Ravelry I found a free pattern for a Garter Ear Flap Hat by Purl Soho. I knit it up in two days because it was really easy and fast. Then I put it on for something outside, and everyone told me that it looked fairly stupid. There was a pointy end which elicited comments such as a condom, a smurf hat, too bright, a minion and some other non-flattering things.
It sat untouched upon my globe. Until yesterday, when I took out the pointy bit and finished it like a normal hat. I also finally finished the ends and it’s officially fit for wear. It may still look fairly minion-y, but I’m hoping it doesn’t look like a condom anymore..
It covers the ears nicely but I think I used needles that were too big, and the wind does come through quite easily. If I were to try another iteration I’d only use the ear flap section and make something else for the body of the hat. For the project details (which are few) check Ravelry.
After roaming Ravelry and several blogs for some time now, I’ve seen the Owls sweater by Kate Davies a number of times now. I’ve always wanted to knit something like it, but the combination of not really liking a neckline like that and not wanting to buy more appropriate yarn has stopped me. I’d been thinking about if for some time on and off. Then one day, my colleague who also reads blogs, said something about me being the only one who she could imagine knitting it. So I explained the neckline problem and set out to find a solution.
Said solution was found in the Owl Beanie (Eulen Beanie) pattern on Ravelry. It had the owls, in an amount that was manageable, only needed one ball of yarn, and I actually wear hats quite a lot. I had bought a ball of yarn not very long before in a grey ‘stonewashed’ look, or so it claimed. I figured it would look good in grey. I did (again) make a few changes to the pattern, namely adding a brim (from the Sam Hat), extending the ribbing and making a swirl on the top. I’ve kept notes in the Ravelry project here. The picture at the top is the closest colour match.
I also added a number of buttons, two for each owl that came from my stash and fit perfectly, in my opinion. And a blue one from the stash to the top, to cover and hide the hole left over from binding off. This picture shows of the button and the swirl.
I like the way it looks and the way it wears, I put elastic in the bottom to keep it on my head. I had maybe 2 meters of yarn left over at the end of the project so that was very efficient too. What I find the most magical about the hat is that people don’t generally notice the owls until I point them out. I guess it’s not something others look for in hats…
Apparently I’m into knitting lately, at least that’s what the last three posts show. It’s true, I’ve restarted an old Gaia sweater that I’d thrown in a corner, I’m knitting socks on my almost weekly Harry Potter watching sessions and I’m thinking about starting a project with some blueish yarn that similar to the red, green, yellow and white that I’ve used before. I’m also still working on those jeans (finishing pockets, seaming and belt loops left to do), so there is stuff happening! Happy crafting!
Yes, I did spend way too much time figuring out a (semi-)suitable synonym for gift that would alliterate with Beanie. However, this was problematic, in the end I decided on bribe and just tell the rest of the story also. You see, last year, a friend of mine had his birthday during a larp event we would both attend. I wasn’t really sure what to gift but I think I vaguely remembered him telling me that he didn’t have or had had stuffed toys. I believe stuffed toys are necessary for sleeping, but he apparently didn’t. Strange stuff… Anyways, I’d produced a teddy bear (this one) that needed a new home and decided his home would be great. Long(er) story short, he was very happy with the bear. It apparently ended up high in the list of best presents ever.
Now, this year, we would again meet at a larp event on his birthday. You understand that I had to keep my reputation up and produce another winning present. Not just for the reputation, but also because the friend is one of the nicest I have and he deserves good things. So at some point weeks before his birthday, he mentioned that he’d worn his friend’s beanie and loved it. Clearly that was the answer. So I very subtly asked him his head circumference. It wasn’t obvious at all..
Looking through my stash of yarn, I found something black/brown/grey-ish that wouldn’t be too fluorescent to wear outside. For his protection you understand, he might have worn a hot-pink one just to show appreciation. Anyway, this is the finished item, modeled on my globe.
There are some gradual colour shifts due to the yarn choice, but I like that. It’s also supposed to be a bit slouchy, which I think worked fairly well. He seems to like it too, so I consider this a win! Next, another present, also of the knitting variety.
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