It's gonna be cold there...

A couple of my friends have announced that they are tired of the cost of living here in Southern California, and are moving to Idaho this month. I thought it would be nice to send them off with something warm in their bags, because I heard, it can get cold there.

So here are the three hats that I made, two on purpose and one on accident. As you can see below, one of the hats is significantly shorter than the other. This pattern is from Leigh Radford's book One Skein. It has no crown shaping so I did my own, and thought it would take longer to decrease for the crown. It only took four rounds and so the hat wasn't as long as I wanted it to be. It's for a man's head and it fit my head perfectly. So I decided to keep the smaller one for my son, and just make another one but longer.

Name of Project: Asymmetrical Cable Hat from One skein
Yarn: Baby Alpaca Grande
Needles: Size US 11 Knit Picks circulars
Pattern Notes: CO 69 sts, work until measures 9" for a man's head, then decrease for crown.


Name of Project: Unoriginal Hat by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee
Yarn: Baby Alpaca Grande
Needles: Size US 11 Knit Picks circulars

Good luck guys and I wish you the best in your new home!

Goody Goody Gumdrops

Name of Project: Gumdrop Socks
Yarn: Socks That Rock lightweight, colorway Goody Goody
Needles: Size US 1.5 (2.5 mm) Knit Picks circulars
Estimated Time to Complete Project: 2 weeks
Pattern Notes: This was the fourth shipment from the Rockin Sock Club 2008. I love this colorway because it's the kind of color that makes me smile when I look at it. It also kind of makes my teeth hurt though, because it looks so sugary. Cotton candy/sweet tart/pixie stick-like.

This pattern is a reversible sock pattern and below is one sock turned inside out.
It might be a little easier to see below. The sock on the left is the way the pattern is written and is right-side out. The one on the right is turned inside-out. I think I like the one on the left better because I'm not sure I like the bobble effect of the other one.


Since I had finished these, and I didn't have my bag with the Spring Forward socks I was going to cast on with me (the bag was in my car, which was gone), I decided to cast on for another pair of socks for my son and his wonderful wallaby sweater. I'm also knitting an Asymmetrical Hat for my friend and an Unoriginal Hat for his girlfriend. They are moving to Idaho at the end of September and I really had an urge to send them off with something warm. I'm using my favorite hat yarn, the Baby Alpaca Grande. It's so soft and feel so nice to knit with. It was shortly after that, when I found out that my cousin is on her way to study at the University of Florence, Italy. I guess it can get pretty cold there too, so I'm thinking she also needs a hat. I'm excited about sending it to her, I think it'll be a nice surprise when she gets it in the mail.

My plan of attack for finishing the hats soon, is this. I'm going to get at least 3 hours of uninterrupted knitting time at the Charger preseason game tonight. The drive there, the game, and the drive home should give me enough time to at least finish the one I'm working on and get half-way done through another. I should have at least two of them done by the end of this week. Then, I could bust out another one next week, when I'm crying my eyes out, after I've sent son #1 off to first grade. Should work out great!

Cabled Hats

I said I wasn't going to knit any Christmas presents, but I just couldn't help myself. This was a hat I made for my Mother-in-law. She and my father-in-law both loved it. He said he wanted one for his birthday, which is next week.

My MIL tried it on and said how good it felt on her head. She was wearing a plaid flannel over-sized shirt with leggings and had her worn slippers on. It gets cold in their house. I had to laugh when my FIL says to her, "Don't walk down the street wearing that, people will start throwing their change at you." I told him that there probably wouldn't be a hat as nice as that one walking down the street. I might have been insulted at the insinuation that my hat made her look homeless, if he hadn't asked for one, right after that comment.

Name of Project: An Unoriginal Hat by the Yarn Harlot
Yarn: Indiecita Baby Alpaca Grande
Yardage: A little ball leftover from the hank
Yarn Source: Common Threads
Needles: Size US 11 Knit Picks 40" Circular
Estimated Time to Complete Project: 3 hours
Pattern Notes: Made for Mother-in-law. I really liked how the top of this decreased down.

Name of Project: Asymmetrical Hat from Last Minute Knitted Gifts
Yarn: Indiecita Baby Alpaca Grande
Yardage: A little ball leftover from the hank
Yarn Source: Common Threads
Needles: Size US 11 Knit Picks 40" Circular
Estimated Time to Complete Project: 3 hours
Pattern Notes: Made for my Father-in-law. I changed the top. The pattern says to knit it, bind off, and do this funky sewing thing to close the top. After doing the Unoriginal hat, I wanted to decrease the top of this one too. I just did some decreasing rounds at the top and it came out beautifully.


I kind of feel comfortable creating my own versions of these hats with all sorts of different cables and twists. I think I could actually wing it on my own and make one without a pattern. So I got some of the same Baby Alpaca and I'm going to try to make one for myself. The yarn is so soft that I want to knit as slow as I can so I can feel it in my fingers. But since they don't take very long to knit, it's hard to make the softness last. Below is what I'm going to make mine out of.

I can't make it yet though because I have to make my practice socks from Cat Bordhi's book, New Pathways for Socknitters for Tuesday. I'm getting excited!