FO Friday: Scrap-tober Version!

I've had this big sack of leftover scraps from my previous set of charity chunkeanies just waiting and begging to be made into some awesome scrappy hats! Three done, and at least one more and this sack will be depleted! Woohoo! I've knit so many charity hats this year that I no longer need a  pattern. For these I used Red Heart Reflective yarn leftovers, size 8 needles, and cast on 64 stitches. After about 6 inches of hat, start decreasing! Easy peasy! 

resurfacing

In between first days of school, updating course syllabi, waiting in carpool, and in general "back to school" mania, I have been knitting despite the quiet on this page! I've been working on clearing the needles of some WIPs (which I'll post about later this week), and doing my own mini hat-a-thon for the month.

These hats will go to local homeless/temporarily displaced children in our local school district. Last year my knitting guild made 140 hats. We're sitting at about 30ish now, so it's time to get cracking! I've finished eight so far. Expect to see many, many more!

I'm mostly using my favorite pattern, chunkeanie, and also double stranding worsted weight yarn using my free double dutch hat pattern as well. Knitting with bulky weight makes it go soooo much faster!

With any luck, I'll quickly see the bottom of a storage tub I filled with acrylic yarns in my stash specifically for this project!

more belated finishes

February was a lot more productive than my blog would let on ... here's a couple of more finishes that never got posted about! Above was a quick set of placemats for my sister's birthday. These ones I didn't do a binding on to speed things up--instead I basically followed the same steps as my quilted coaster tutorial, but with the fabric cut to 16x20 inch dimensions. Then I had fun quilting them in rectangular labyrinths. I used two yards of fabric to make four placemats, and now I know it takes about half a yard to get two "sides." I think this is my new favorite way to construct them!

Does the cabling on this hat look familiar? It's the hat version of the cowl I test knitted in February! A fun and easy way to use another skein of Malabrigo from my stash!

knit your library, vol. 6

 

I realized I never posted two of my February finishes for my knit your library challenge! First up, my first ever pair of tube socks. Kiddo likes them, so a second pair is already on the needles!

Pattern: Child's tube sock recipe (free!), link to my Ravelry project page
Needles: size 1.5
Yarn: Paton's Kroy Socks Stripes in Mexicala colorway
Mods: None!

And I went to an old favorite pattern of mine, for a quick finish hat for me! This is the lowbrow hat, which I knit at least six times two years ago (around this time of year, too!). The yarn is new though--Tanis Fiber Arts aran weight in the lemongrass colorway. Swooon. LOVE this!

Pattern: lowbrow hat (my Rav project page)
Needles: size 4 and size 7
Yarn: Tanis Fiber Arts aran weight, lemongrass
Mods: Nada!

After my leap year cast on craziness, the two projects that have gotten any love that qualify for the knit your library challenge are these two. I've finished the front and back set up for the top-down set-in sleeve pattern using my Ann Budd book, and now I'm ready to start using the lace charts from Campside!

 And my second pair of child's tube socks grew by an inch!

Love Your Library, vol. 27

The minions are growing! And in the meantime, I busted out a hat to add to my gift-giving pile. This is another pattern I loved so much I'm making it again--Pioneer Peak. I made my first one back in February, and after weighing it realized I had barely enough scraps of Malabrigo Mecha leftover to make a second one. And now I did! I love how fast this pattern is--easily a knit it in one night of television watching pattern.

Pattern: pioneer peak (link to my Rav project page)
Needles: size 8 for ribbing, size 10 for body of hat
Yarn: leftover scraps of malabrigo mecha (colorway: whale's road), used approx. 90 yards
Mods: skipped a few of the resting purl rounds in the decrease section since I was playing yarn chicken at the end!

So far this year I've had more luck repeatedly knitting patterns I have in my library more than anything else it seems. Oh well--at least I'm getting my money's worth, right?

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finished hat friday

Pattern: Bray Cap by Jared Flood (link to my Ravelry project page)
Yarn: SweetGeorgia Superwash Worsted (one skein, colorway: saltwater)
Needles: size 5 for brim, then 8 for body
Modifications: None! If I had enough yarn leftover I would totally make a huge pom pom for this one! Love this pattern--super fun, and super cute! I was afraid it would be too slouchy, based on the pattern pictures, and was all set to omit some pattern rounds. But what I realized mid-way was that the models are wearing the hat high on their heads--it fits great as is if worn "traditionally" ... aka to cover your ears! So don't worry if you don't like the "slouchy" look. It really fits quite well! I have to admit that I was a bit skeptical about how warm a hat with lace eyelets would be, but this hat got a test run during our Wednesday snowfall and passed with flying colors!

 

Love Your Library, vol. 6

 

This one knitted up so fast, I didn't even take in-progress shots! Deviating a bit from my toy theme, this month I'm working on hat patterns I've had languishing in my library. This one uses leftover Malabrigo Mecha, one of my all-time favorite yarns ever. The hat is mostly reverse stockinette, which unlike garter stitch in the round, doesn't leave the tell-tale "seam" line or "jog" when you start a new round. Hurrah! Small one-stitch cables are used to make the stockinette stitches form triangular peaks. Felt fiddly during the early set-up rows, but after that the pattern gets pretty intuitive and there's a rest row in between each cabling row. This finished hat weighs 70 grams. I have exactly 70 grams of this colorway remaining ... do I attempt to make a second??? I most likely will, but will probably wait until I knit some other hat patterns first.

Pattern: Pioneer Peak (link to my Ravelry project page)

Yarn: Malabrigo Mecha, colorway: Whale's Road (used 70 grams)

Needles: start with 8, then switches to 9 for body of hat

Mods: None! I was thinking the hat would be more slouchy than I like based on the pattern pictures, but fits my big noggin perfectly when knit as written. 

How's your Love Your Library challenge going this week? Feel free to join us if you just discovered the challenge!

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fast finish: lullington hat

My first finish of 2015! And it was a fun, fast one! My love of garter stitch is well-established--garter in the round? Not so much. That would be my ONLY quibble with this pattern--it calls for garter in the round. But given the aran weight, the rounds go fast and I found it surprisingly tolerable. I won this yarn last December and ooh, it was delicious to knit with! I'll definitely try to use some Posh Yarn again. You'll see this hat pattern again at some point this year ... I have several skeins of Madtosh Chunky that would look fantastic in this pattern.

Pattern: Lullington Hat (link to my Ravelry project page)
Needles: size 8 Addi's
Yarn: Posh Yarns Sylvia Aran (colorway: Wisteria Lane)
Mods: None! Fantastic pattern!

Linking up with Fresh Off the Needles at Hard Knit Life--see what everyone else has been making!