A blog about my life, knitting, and other stuff.

September 29, 2014

And Even More Hats (Plus Mittens)!

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Amperes. This hat such intriguing instructions. It's three triangles, two small, one large, that end up connected at their bases and then the ribbing is knit down in the round. Then you fold down the large triangle and seam its sides to the small ones'. However I suspected that it wouldn't be a great fitting hat and I was right. I may tear this out and reuse the yarn which is the Palette I plied together this spring. I love the yarn and think it deserves a better hat.

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42. More Cascade 128 knit up in cables. I love the look of this yarn for cables.

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Improvised striped baby hat. I wanted to use up the 42 leftovers and leftover red from a plain hat that is too boring to share.

False alarm! I had just enough yarn to finish these mittens. Dabbler by Katya Frankel.
Dabbler. I continue to absolutely love Head to Toe: Kids' Knit Accessories. I thought when I first got it that I would knit every pattern in it and I'm well on my way. I had a skein of Stampato Extra from a stash swap (that's where most of these partial skeins and oddballs came from). It's a really weird yarn. It's 100% superwash merino with many plies and each ply is a different color. It makes an interesting color effect but the plies don't hold together at all. It just wants to collapse and unravel. (I know this photo makes it look like the mittens are completely different sizes. I assure you that's just a trick of perspective. They are exactly the same size.)

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Amstel. Interweave just came out with a new magazine called Make It! Knits. (This should be available at your LYS that carries IK. I urge you to purchase it locally.) It's entirely previously published patterns repackaged. It's aimed at beginners with several technique articles for new knitters. Plus new knitters won't care that some of these patterns were published several years ago,  I was immediately in love with the Amstel Hat which is featured on the cover. I already had the issue of IK with the pattern (Fall 2012). I grabbed a ball of Malabrigo Worsted and cast on. Halfway through I went to enter the project in my Notebook on Ravelry. Which is when I discovered that I already knit this hat. Two years ago for Single Skein September. My only defense is that I knit a lot that month and them donated it all so I didn't remember it at all.

September 28, 2014

Blocking a few coffee cozies. #helixstripes4eva #rosekimknits



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September 27, 2014

Hats, Hats and More Hats!

My September hat parade marches on. While I sit on my butt.

And done. Should have done that ribbing on a much smaller needle though.
Declan's Hat. I made this in Shelter, the yarn called for in the pattern. I was worried about having enough yarn and might have cheated a bit on the ribbing. I really regret that since the yarn has no spring to it at all and the ribbing isn't all that deep it flares out.

Yesterday's hat, Magic Coffee Bean with Malabrigo leftovers.
Magic Coffee Baby Hat, This is leftover bits of Malabrigo Worsted. It's so cute and soft!

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Barley. This is a little leftover ball of Malabrigo Rios.It's a great, free pattern. I realized when I went to take the picture that I threw in one round of stockinette in the garter section. Oops!

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Slouchy Bubbles. Another nice freebie on Ravelry. I used Cascade 128 Superwash. I was craving cables. Mine doesn't slouch. I had to cut the pattern short so I wouldn't run out of yarn. Always the problem when using leftovers.

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Noro One-Skein Spiral Hat. This pattern has been on and off my queue since the start of Ravelry. It's a super-simple knit that makes everyone ooh and ahh. I used a partial skein of Spud & Chloe Sweater. It's very nice yarn but hands do not enjoy knitting with cotton even in a blend.

September 25, 2014

Thursday Is for What the Hell Is This?

Just in time for fall, Big Ass Knits for people who find using color isn't soul-sucking enough.



Like a dementor, if you look at it long enough, you'll feel you'll never know joy again. Now that I think about it, I believe this is what dementors wears when they go on vacation.

September 18, 2014

Thursday Is for What the Hell Is This?

All the hallmarks of fall are here. Temperatures are cooling, leaves are changing colors, everything you eat, drink or clean your toilet with is "Pumpkin Spice" flavored. And the Big Ass Knits start rolling out.




Brace yourselves, folks. It's a long haul until springtime.



September 14, 2014

September 12, 2014

September 11, 2014

Thursday Is for What the Hell Is This?

Is this why people hate math?




September 9, 2014

Today's hat. Alfalfa from The Fibre Co. Knit in Malabrigo. #rosekimknits



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September 8, 2014

I Also Made Yarn

I recently inventoried my fiber stash and got it all on Ravelry. It is sobering, my friends, sobering indeed. In addition to coming to grips with the massive quantities of wool in my stash I also notice a zillion (slight exaggeration) little bits of fiber samples from classes, events, etc. I spun a few up this past week and plied them. When I ran out of one I grabbed a bobbin of some other driblet of singles in my bag of tiny bobbins with minute amounts of singles on them. I ended up with one these three skeins.

New yarn made this week

Nothing was labeled so I'm guessing here that the blue/green skein (the big one) is wool and wool/silk. The middle skein appears to have some bamboo. The skein on the left is just wool...maybe?

September 7, 2014

Plantar Fasciitis + Single Skein September = Hugely Productive Month

As you've probably noticed from some of the photos I've been sharing from my Instagram, I've been making a lot of stuff. I've been benched after a doctor confirmed that I have plantar fasciitis in my right foot. I've been told to severely limit my time spent on my feet. Since I work in retail that pretty much means I am spending all of my time outside of work on my butt. Add to that a determination to really hit do up Single Skein September and a stash sale/swap at Purlygirls where I was given a lot of oddballs and partial skeins for charity knitting and you've got yourself a recipe for productive knitting.

Items I've knit include Coldstream and Wylam from Head to Toe: Kids' Knit Accessories both made in Ultra Alpaca.

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Today's hat finished at Purlygirls. Wylam by Katya Frankel.

I love, love, love this book. I've knit several hats from it now and it's just a great little book for charity knitting and knitting for kids in that often overlooked group (pattern-wise) who are between toddler and adult. The patterns are nicely unisex too. Love!

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This is the Garter Ear Flap Hat from Purl Bee in a single skein of Frog Tree Merino. I made the second size but ran out of yarn so I ripped back took out some of the plain rows near the end of the decreases. It's a really soft, squishy hat. Great little pattern.

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Yet another helix stripe scrap hat. I still love knitting these. Watching the colors and textures mix in new ways each time keeps them interesting.

A few hour sitting on my butt and voilà! #rosekimknits

Here is the Elven Cloche from Romi Hill's The Great Oddments Knitdown. This is a very fast and entertaining knit. I am particularly pleased with it because I kind of made the yarn. I used three skeins of Knit Picks Palette (another friend's destash) and overspun them then plied them together. Then over-dyed them. Made a meaty, round yarn in a deep, complex color. This is a fun idea if you're a spinner and have some commercial yarn that leaves you cold.

Fairy Snowcap in better light but an awkward angle.

The Fairy Snowcap is also from Romi's book. Here's a view from the top. I knit it in Fleece Artist BFL Aran. I left off the pompom because I have just enough yarn left to knit a second hat.

That's a pretty good first week, I think.

Last night's baby hat, Otis (free on Ravelry) in Malabrigo Rios. #singleskeinseptembet #rosekimknits



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September 6, 2014

September 5, 2014

A few hour sitting on my butt and voilà! #rosekimknits



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September 4, 2014

Thursday Is for What the Hell Is This?

"Whatcha doing, Susie?"
"Nothing much. Just hanging out. In my knit tube. With my head encased in yarn."


September 3, 2014