After the fluffy wisp of nothing of the laceweight hat, I think I need something a bit more substantial for the next project. This should do nicely. Even if we are starting things off by having to do a little repair. I always argue with myself about whether one tiny stitch left untwisted is really worth fixing...but it is.  Because if I don't, I'll stare at it ever time I reach for the hat...and that's not a fair thing to do to an innocent bit of knitting. Especially when fixing it is so easy.  It's pretty much always worth doing. [...]

Ahem.  But before the shenanigans with the yarn remnants can get fully underway, I need to mess up this perfectly good silk ribbon (as always, amazon links are affiliate links). This is how it looked when I got it.  The light and dark yellow ones (top and left) are fine.  The white and orange ones (bottom and right) are too...stark.  They won't look right with that pile of yarn from yesterday. So I reeled them off on my swift, tied up the resulting hanks of yarn, and abused them.⁠ I left them to soak in a truly revolting mix of tea (tea leaves left [...]

It's August.  Which somehow catches me by surprise every year. And yes, I know we will still have lots of hot days.  But it's also now just barely possible to remember that cooler nights are coming.  That there may be a time, in the not too distant future, where I am chilly and want a jacket.  So perhaps it's no surprise that this is what I found myself grabbing as I sorted through the scraps bin. Because I have a plan.  And I will admit up front that it is the most pumpkin spice flavored, disgustingly cute, pile of absolute [...]

I mean I can't say I wasn't warned...pretty much everyone told me that once I gave in and tried it, I was going to fall hard for brioche.  And well...they were all right.  Incidence is my second brioche project, I love it more than any reasonable person should, and it's 10% off on ravelry with the code TOLD YOU SO. Now, someone is reading this and thinking 'yup, it's pretty, but I don't know how to do brioche.'  To which I have to say yeah, neither did I.  You can go from 'I've never knit brioche' to 'I have the skills [...]

Done!  Well...the sort of done that means done knitting and done weaving in the ends, but not quite blocked yet. But certainly done enough to see it's adorable. And the whole thing weighs practically nothing.  Like less than an ounce.  Like you could put it in an envelope and mail it with a single stamp.  I don't know why this amuses me, but it does.

Once you've got the hat as tall as it needs to be, you get to do the decreases.  And on a hat like this, they just fly.  The first round of decreases knocks the stitch count down by half. The second cuts the stitch count in half again. This is basically the point where the only thing slowing you down is how you keep flipping the hat inside out or popping it on a head form to admire it. Because really, there's only a handful of stitches left to do! Pattern will be out Tuesday August 6, so you don't [...]

I've totally mentioned this before, but every time I do someone says 'holy crap why didn't I know that sooner,' so I'm doing it again.  If you have a hat with fast decreases (the kind that sort of bunch the fabric up on the top of your head), it can be hard to know how tall the hat needs to be before you can start the decreases. The thing that works for me every time is to put the stitches on two long needles and try the hat on.  Looks ridiculous, but if it's long enough like this, it will [...]