May 2012 #1 - CottonTails

Or more appropriately this should posting should be titled a "Tale of two Tails". Get it? Well, let me tell you my tale.  It started with a hat. Not that that should surprise you. You are probably more surprised by the fact that it has actually been more than a month since I last posted a finished hat. Unfortunately my personal life has been in a bit of a turmoil with some family health issues that kept us rather busy, hat making got pushed to the side a bit. This particular hat was to be knit flat, and I really don't like to seam hats, so I tried to adapt the pattern to knit in the round. That wasn't working out so well, so after about three inches or so, I ripped it out and started over, I figured, why not I would be a good girl and follow the pattern. After all I love the softness of the yarn, but man was it splitty.

Soooo, I got to thinking, and I decided to prove to myself that, yes, this hat could be made in the round. I picked out another yarn and casted on. What was I thinking? I picked out bamboo! Talk about splitty yarn. This was worse than the cotton, and it stretches too. So I figured I better add in a nice solid cotton to help contain some of the stretch. Hence the white stripe. What I like about the second hat was that it was easy enough to flip the pattern around to compensate for knitting in the round and I didn't have to seam anything. It's a bit bigger than hat #1, but I'm OK with that.

The pattern is CottonTail Rib and Stripes Cap. For hat #1, I used CottonTail by Jil Eaton in Orangini and Pink on a size 8 16" circular needle (used as a straight needle). For hat #2, I used BAM BOO by Classic Elite Yarns in Citrine and I think the white might be Sugar'n Cream by Lily, (but I can't be certain as it was some unmarked stash yarn) on a size 8 16" circular needle and a set of size 8 dpns. Stitches used are knit, purl, k2tog, and p2tog. I choose not to knit the i-cord for the top because I could not make it look right. As it turns out the hat is more teen size than child size, so I think no i-cord is better.

And in case you were wondering why this is only considered hat #1, I used the same pattern for both, so I won't count the second hat.  I guess it is more appropriate to say I'm counting how many patterns I make each month rather than how many hats I make.

April 2012 #3 - Sweet Pea

The pattern is actually written as a baby hat, but I went up in needle size from the recommended size 6 in order to make a slightly larger hat. I wanted a simple child's hat but with a touch of fun and I think bobbles are just the thing. Although I like making hats with bobbles, I just don't like making bobbles, but I like the look so I put up with slowness of the bobble.  For whatever reason I can never remember how to make a bobble and need to look up the directions every time.  (and every bobble looks unique, why?)  I also changed the top of the hat from a leaf looking thing (which is probably supposed to be the lettuce part) to a simple knot for two reasons. First I was using a partial skein and didn't think I'd have enough yarn, and secondly I didn't think the leaf look would be appropriate for an older child.

The pattern is Peas & Lettuce Hat. I used Berroco Comfort in Seedling on a size 7 16" circular needle and a set of 7 dpns. Stitches used are knit, purl, k2tog, and a bobble stitch. To change the top I opted to continued the decrease sequence to include a round of k2tog in order to end with 9 stitches. I then knit in the round for 5” bound off and then created the knot on the top of the hat.

April 2012 #2 - Zephyrus

A self-designed hat, if you want to call it actually designed. As I previously mentioned I was at Montoya Fiber Studio for a Halos of Hope event which is when I picked up this yarn. It's a ribbon like cotton blend that I just loved the coloring.

I c/o 72 stitches, but while knitting the ball of yarn was disappearing faster than I liked and I was afraid I'd run out before finishing. So, I short changed the hat by only knitting for 5" before beginning my decreases. (Simple decreases of K10, k2tog. No knit rounds in between, decreasing each round with one less stitch knit between k2togs.) As it turned out, I had plenty of yarn left. Rather than tink back to before the decreases, I decided instead to pick-up stitches on the brim and single crochet around, using a size 7 hook. I was able to get an additional three rounds added to the length, which not only added a bit of design, it solved my problem of having the hat a bit on the skimpy side.

April 2012 #1 - Seeing Double

(you'll notice slight differences if you look closely) 

This is not a joke, it is not two pictures of the same hat. Honest. Although they do look very much alike, and I didn't even try to make that happen. I simply finished the first hat, started the second and didn't even think about how the stripe pattern would work out. Actually if I had tried to make them similar I'd probably have failed miserably. LOL.

Yesterday I was invited to ride along with Halos of Hope founder, Pam Haschke, to Montoya Fiber Studio.  Montoya was hosting a kick-off event to highlight the Soothe for Spring Campaign and offered a free pattern with each yarn purchase. The shop will also donate 10% of the yarn proceeds back to Halos of Hope. Not only was this a fun way to spend my afternoon, but it was a great way to highlight the need for warm weather caps.

The pattern is Scallop Edged Cap. I used Universal Yarn's Cotton Supreme Batik in Blueberry Jam on a size 8 16" circular needle and a set of 8 dpns. Stitches used are knit, purl, k2tog, ssk, yarn over. You would have thought the mere mention of yarn overs would have me turning this pattern away (because we know how well I've done with them in the past), but this pattern was actually very easy to follow with the added bonus of only three rows containing the dreaded yarn overs. The skein is generous enough in length that I was able to knit both caps and have a nice bit of leftover.

March 2012 #4 - Carousel Ruffles

Imagine that, four hats in March. I finished this up yesterday, but it was already dark so I wasn't able to take a picture until this morning. The hat was supposed to have a flower holding up the front of the brim, but I decided I like the floppier look better. Not that it looks good on me, I think I'll never be able to make a hat that would actually look good on me.

The pattern is written for a hat to fit a 2/3 yr. old, notes from the designer to make an adult version can be found in the comments section of her blog post. You'll notice I obtained an adult version although I followed the pattern as written, I just changed from the suggested G hook to a J hook.

The pattern is available by Laughing Purple Goldfield Designs. I used I Love This Cotton in Carousel Ombre (hence the name) and Cotton Ease in Terracotta with a size J hook. Stitches used are chain, single crochet, double crochet and slip stitch. The pattern mentions a slip stitch at the end of round one with no direction of how to move to round 2. I choose to ch2 count the chains as the first dc of the round. I did this for each round thereafter.

March 2012 #3 - Ribbons

I know, I'm straying from my child's hat directive, but I've been working on this one for a bit now and finally finished so I wanted to get it posted.  Nice pattern, not my favorite weight of yarn. At least that's my conclusion after finally finishing up this hat. I started it last November, yes that's six months ago. I started and stopped knitting on it so many times I lost count, I even frogged it completely at one point because I wanted to use the needle for another project. At this point, why not buy another needle? In fact I finally did, why now, after this was finished? Because I'd actually like to make other DK weight hats and if the speed of this one is any indication, I'll need another needle so as not to have a repeat of the whole frogging episode.

The pattern is Ribbons of Hope by Kim Fluck, who developed the pattern out of a mistake. Liked the results and decided to share her pattern with others. The pattern is available for free either as a Ravelry download or on Kim's blog. I used Berrocco Comfort DK in Beet Root on a size 6 16" circular needle and a set of 6 dpns. Stitches used are knit, purl, k2tog, p2tog, and CF6. If I were to make this again, I’d like to decrease the beginning ribbing so as to bring the “ribbon” detail closer to the brim. I also think I got carried away while knitting and need to watch how many inches I have before beginning the decreases. I’d like the hat to be more fitted and less slouchy.

March 2012 #2 - Lucky Ladybug

Since the past couple of hats have strayed from my original intent of only making children's caps this year I felt I needed to get back at it and finish up one of the hats I've had sitting around. Somewhat sad that the hat was finished months ago, but I wanted to add an embellishment. The sad part is that it took me nearly three months to make one. However, I do think the ladybug is rather cute, and very appropriate for the beginning of Spring.

Technically I'm cheating posting this pattern since it is the same pattern I used for my August 2011 hat, Black Beauty, which is McKinley's Springtime Hat, available for free as a Ravelry download. I'm justifying the posting because the ladybug would be something new. A weak excuse, but the hat came out so stinking cute I wanted to share it anyway. Besides, they're my stupid rules (of which no one can understand why I have them anyway), so if I want to break them once in a while I think I can.

I used Berroco Comfort in Gooseberry Heather (green) with Primary Red and Liquorice (black) for the ladybug. The hat is crocheted with a size H hook. Stitches used are chain, single crochet, half double crochet, double crochet and slip stitch. I still think the hat worked up on the small size, but I didn't want to increase my hook size with this particular yarn. The ladybug is something I made up, a simple circle with smaller circles for the spots. Since I did make it up as I went, I have no idea how I really made the head and antenna (which is a shame because I'd like to make more).