Bear Sweater Duet

The Seattle Knitters Guild is knitting teddy bear sweaters for Camp Erin again this year. I didn't participate last year because I was working on other charity knits and there was a devoted fleet of knitters churning out knits for bears at the Guild. This year there haven't been nearly enough bear items knit and I decided to pitch in. I already gave you a look at a hat that I turned into a tiny bottom-up raglan. And I knit a simple bear sweater in Berocco Quasar that I completely forgot to photograph before handing in.

I knit another one in Manos Maxima which I did photograph.



And then I started another one at knitting on Monday but I didn't have any markers with me to mark the raglan increases. Instead I fudged my way through a top-down yoke sweater with roughly the same proportions in the same yarn.



Next I'm thinking maybe one with helix stripes...

Where My Hats Went

I've been asked by several people where I donate my hats. This year I gave them to Warm for Winter. A little checking in your own area through your LYSs, guilds or community services groups should turn up places to donate to people in need in your own community.

Here was this year's final pile.



I didn't even count how many hats were there. Let's just say it was an awful lot plus some scarves, cowls and one pair of mittens!

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.





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!



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.


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.



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.



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.

More Stashbusting Hats, Badly Lit

I was making a hat for charity with some leftover Evento from this hat. Then Wes lost his hat so it became his new hat.




This one, knit in some Noro Retro oddballs, has already been donated.



I could knit plain hats forever. They're my bliss.

Maize

Pattern: Maize by tincanknits
Yarn: Classic Elite Lush dyed at Earthhues with cochineal
Needles: US6 Addi Turbos
Notes: Great, simple free pattern. The yarn, sadly discontinued, is so warm and fuzzy. These were donated.

Mad Hatter

Since the Great Stashening I've had a bee in my bonnet about using up all my odds and ends. I want to knit them all! Now! I began with a helix hat (same basic recipe as always).

This one is Noro Cash Laine, Lamb's Pride Worsted, Classic Elite Kumara, Rowan Kid Classic, Julia and who knows what else.

Then I cast on and knit the ribbing on a plain hat in Naturally Harmony 10 Ply that I have had in my stash and planned to knit into a hat since I got the yarn as a freebie at Madrona in 2006. I took it to see Batman last night and finished it this afternoon.

Oh, I also made a really ugly hodgepodge hat yesterday with some leftover bulky scraps.

Then I started an Aviatrix which I haven't completed yet with some Rowanspun DK.

Then in about 20 minutes or so this afternoon I knit a hat with some Dale Ara that has been lying around since 2004. 2004! I bought it make a fricking poncho for Pete's sake! The poncho never happened and I've used it bit by bit over the last eight years.

Nope, that's not a pickle. It's a hat. Honest.

This is almost the last of it. There was a tiny nub left and I'm using it to make another hat!

When in Doubt Knit Hats

I've been suffering from knitter's block. Or perhaps knitter's ennui. Or just a crisis of confidence. I spent days swatching various yarns for several different sweaters and nothing worked. So I grabbed a skein of Taiyo and knit a hat for charity.



Nothing to write home about. But I had yarn left so I knit a helix stripe hat with my Margot-ish leftovers.




This one I love. And I had yarn left. So I knit a little charity had with the leftover gray leftovers.



Aw, cute. But I still had yarn left. (This is starting to sound like Extra Yarn.)So I knit another wee helix stripe hat with some Creative Focus Worsted.



Can you believe there's still yarn left??

I also knit this floppy kids' hat in a sample that lost its label. I'm thinking Classic Elite Firefly but I could be wrong.



I'm already on to another hat. There are always heads out there that need a good hat.

The Never-Ending Skein

Nearly five years ago I got a massive skein of Interlacements Periwinkle Petite in a stash swap. It's bulky, variegated and thick and thin. I had no idea what to do with it. I finally grabbed it on my way to the movies last week and started a charity hat.



I still had yarn left so I knit another one.



And another.



There's still enough yarn for another hat!



When will this skein end!

Hat Attack!

With the end of NaKniSweModo I wasn't sure what to do next. So I cast on for a bunch of charity hats.



There was a simple button-tab hat in Meriboo from Frog Tree. The yarn is lovely to work with.



There was a Stashbuster Spiral inspired hat made from tiny sample skeins of Crystal Palace yarns we had lying around the office at the shop. This is several colors of Bunny Hop, Merino 5 and a little Panda Silk DK.



We get loads of tiny, sample skeins of yarn. I can't bear to throw them out but it's challenging to find a use for them.



Then I knit Opus Spicatum. Except I thought my Cashmereno was aran-weight when it's really DK so I had to swap out Mission Falls Wool for Cascade 220 Superwash as the contrast color. There's still a size disparity between the yarns but it's not as noticeable.


Still blocking on a salad plate.

I have enough yarn left to knit another one.

I'm Ready

We're heading out to see Toy Story 1 & 2 in 3-D. I need some movie knitting so I've completed the ribbing for two charity hats in some oddballs of Kid Classic. Now I can stockinette away during the show.



I also started a Featherweight Cardigan right before finishing my FLS. This is Fairy Hare from Kimmet Croft. It's 40% angora. It's delicious.

Oddballs

All knitters have that annoying collection of single skeins of yarn, leftovers from projects, friends' cast offs, skeins we bought with no idea of what to do with them. Once you start to work in the yarn business you get even more. At every event companies press skeins of yarn into your hands.

My sock yarn scrap blanket has been my movie theater knitting project for years now. But it is too big to take with me anymore. It's just unwieldy and I have have nearly run out of yarn for the project. It will have to wait until I knit more socks. In the meantime I need projects to knit in the dark.

It's time to knit up all these oddballs into hats for charity. The only trick is getting the bottom ribbing done before the lights go down. I tried to get a few ready on the needles.

This is Louet Riverstone. I made it generously-sized. I think it will make a great warm hat for a man.



I won this skein of SWS at a knitting fundraiser earlier this year. I hope it will keep a child warm this winter.



These were just the first few stray skeins I found. There are probably enough to knit dozens of hats.

Bad Sock!

You naughty sock. You took up three days of my knitting time. First the pattern errors. Then my misunderstanding the pattern. Now your gauge is too floppy. I may have spaced out and missed a pattern row (inexcusable, it's so easy). You are not going to happen. It's off to Frogsville for you.

What to do when even your easy knitting is too challenging? Knit more garter stitch squares. So easy you can knit them in the dark at a school play.



Isabella says, "Get it together, Mom."

Squaresville

This square thing hit me hard on Wednesday. These five were all knit in a day. After using up all my leftover yarn from my Lupine Lace socks (just a coincidence that they matched my pedicure), I turned to my little skein of spinning class sample yarn. It's one ply of merino from Judith Mackenzie McCuin's Color in Plying class and one ply of camel-yak-bison-cashmere from the Three Wild Downs class. It's goofy looking yarn but soooooooooooo soft. The fifth square came out too small. I tried to convince myself it was close enough but seeing it with the other squares it is clearly too small. I'll have to rip it back to the center and add in more increase rows in another yarn.

What I Did This Morning

Knit a garter square for Kay's project while getting my toes done.