Not A Jellyfish
I think I (scandalously) neglected to show you an on-the-head pic for the blue poufy hat. Bowl shots more or less work for round hats, not so much for poufy hats. We took a little stroll through a local park on Christmas and got pictures of the red hat and the blue hat and The Boy's hat. Apparently my hair is pretty much exactly the same color as leafless willow branches. Who knew? I'm still having some internal qualms about how to wear a poufy hat...my inclination is to send it off to the side, but the proper way seems [...]
Uncharacteristically Productive
Finished things have just been falling off my needles. I blame the hats. They themselves are quick and easy, and they lead to mitts which are also quick and easy. The basket that usually holds the half dozen or so projects in various stages of completion currently holds a mere two works in progress and a stack of things awaiting a photo day. (Having a knitting site and selling patterns means that you don't just have to finish a knitted item before you can use it, you have to finish it and photograph it. This can be very taxing if [...]
Wee Tiny Hat
As you may recall, the other day my friend and I had an unexpectedly long trip to the yarn store. Her kids were along with us and were absolute darlings. The oldest wore a jaunty hat for much of the trip. Given his demonstrated fondness for hats (and my recent infatuation with them), the next step was clear. I would have to make him a hat. After checking with his mom to be sure that it was ok, I brought over a half dozen or so different yarns and asked him which one he liked best. He picked out this [...]
Home Safe
Thursday afternoon, as I was planning for our trip, I realized it looked like it might be a tiny bit chilly in Rochester. I decided I would break down and bring my warm coat (I am coat resistant...I put off wearing the heavy ones as long as possible). I got the notion that it would be a good idea to have a hat. Somehow it seemed that a new hat would soften the blow of having to wear a coat. Now you may recall I had already made myself one hat, but it goes with my light coat, not my [...]
Missing in Action
Upon hearing of my current hat phase, my dad graciously offered up his head for swathing in woolly goodness. We talked about head sizes, yarn colors, and hat styles. A hat was planned and executed. I bound it off the other night. The next morning, I washed it, shaped it, and set it out to dry. Around these parts, hats get dried over the heating vent in our kitchen. Most of our heating vents are giant cookie sheet sized affairs in the walls, but the one in the kitchen happens to be on the floor. If you put a wet [...]
Unreasonably Helpful
I went ahead and added the elastic, and it made a huge difference. I used Dritz Thin Beading Cord Elastic which I found at my local Joann store for all of $1.59. I ran four strands of it through the knit stitches on the inside of the hat's ribbing at the brim, one each at the first, third, fifth, and seventh round of stitches. It took all of five minutes and it has totally improved the hat beyond all reason. It is now just the right kind of snug...not tight enough to leave marks on my forehead, but not loose [...]
Much Better
So it turns out the secret to pouf success (or at least to less obvious pouf failure) is rather extreme blocking. I first blocked the hat on a plate. This led to the aforementioned jellyfish incident. The crease or line made by the edge of the plate was too close to the top of the hat, which made the band at the brim far too thick. It was not flattering. I think the theory was sound, and it might have worked with a larger plate, but I didn't have one handy. The second attempt involved a giant mixing bowl, much [...]
Let’s Try That Again
Over the last few days I made what I hoped would be a poufy hat. Before doing this I analyzed patterns for several other poufy hats to determine the general methods for creating pouf and to get a sense of acceptable pouf proportions. Following these guidelines, I knit the hat. Somewhere along the way something went horribly horribly awry. Either I was wrong about the potential for me to look reasonably non-dorky in poufy hats, or I totally forgot how to make shapes from knitted fabric, or (and I'm hoping it's this last one) blocking poufy hats is a bit [...]
Trifurcate
The pattern for Trifurcate hat and mitts is ready to go. You've been watching this set for a while now. You know that it was my first hat (though not my last) and that it was made for a friend who's having a rough couple of months. Now it feels a bit shady to profit from my friend's misfortune, so at the end of the year, any profits from this pattern are going to her favorite charity, Providence House. If your Thanksgiving weekend features a bit of down time, you can whip these up in no time. If, by some [...]
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