March Birthdays, Part 1: Spiral Beanie & Cabled Gloves

Has March always had this many birthdays? I think it gets more and more packed with them every year. At least they're birthdays of some of my favorite people! I just wish that I had the time to knit something for all of the people on that list. We all know that even though they're calling it Spring now, it's really still hats and gloves and scarves time around Seattle.First, the Spiral Rib Hat for the wonderful and talented Vince Martinez with a birthday on March 11. This is a hat for which I had admired a sample in class and watched a couple classmates making. The hat is simple and quick and is totally unisex. Just pick the right yarn for the right person.

I haven't found a free pattern anywhere, but purchased one for $3.50 from Lauren. I very rarely pay for patterns (I mean, really... there are so many free ones out there!) but this one was totally worth it. It's set up with information to make four different sizes (child, kid, small adult, large adult) and with eight different gauges. Sweet! I can use it over and over and over and over...

This hat really was fun to knit. And did I mention quick? I think I made it in something like three hours. This is pretty great when you decide to make someone a birthday present four days before said birthday.

Yarn:
Cascade Yarns 128 Superwash (100% Superwash Merino Wool)
3.5oz/128 yd skein
1x Bitter Chocolate (872)

Needles:
US10.5 (6.5mm) 16" circular needle & double pointed needles

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Then, the Dashing fingerless gloves for the wonderful and talented Lilianna Koledin with a birthday on March 27. Again, there were samples of these gloves in the store and I always liked them a lot. Lauren dubbed them her "favorite dog walking gloves" and I thought, "hey, Lili has a dog that walks!"

I was always kind of scared of the thumbs on gloves... and I'm still too scared of that kind of thing to ever try real gloves with all five fingers. This pattern has a really neat set up for that thumb though. Basically, you knit in some waste yarn for a few stitches in the right spot and keep going like normal. When you're done with the main tube, you just take out the waste yarn, stick those loops back on the needles, and knit a smaller loop. Genius.

I learned with this pattern that cabling back is somehow much harder than cabling front. It seems like it would be no big deal... the stitches held on the cable needle just go in back instead of in front. But no. Somehow, it's both more cumbersome to hold and turns out with bigger holes and other funkiness. That all got patched up though and I'd imagine that next time I try it will look cleaner.

I was careful to count all of my rows so that the two gloves would match. Of course, it didn't work out that way and one was a bit longer. We can just say that I did it on purpose... a reminder that they're hand made?

I want some for myself now, hehe.

Yarn:
Plymouth Select Worsted Merino Superwash (100% Superwash Fine Merino Wool)
100g/218 yd skein
1x Moss (12)

Needles:
US7 (4.5mm) double pointed needles

Taking the sock obsession to a whole new level!

I love socks. The sock drawer in my dresser won't close when all of mine are clean. I also love knitting. It's really a match made in heaven.

The term "turning a heel" always struck a bit of fear in my heart. I think that was just because I thought it sounded really hard. Are we sensing a pattern here? Carmen seems to be easily intimidated and should just suck it up more often and get to the part where she learns that it's really not that hard.

Enter my first part of socks!

After months of encouragement and professions of sock-knitting love from my classmates, I bit the bullet and started my first pair of socks. Lauren helped me pick out a great skein of superwash (that is, machine washable!) yarn, printed me out her own Basic Worsted Weight Sock pattern and off I went!

There is about 2.5" of ribbing on top of each sock and then most of the rest is made by knitting around and around and around and around. Where it gets exciting is when it comes time for the dreaded turning of the heel.

It's really not that big of a deal (go figure). Basically, you take half of the stitches and use them to knit a flap with some slipped stitches and knits and purls mixed together. Once you've done that for another 2.5", you pick up stitches along each edge. Now that you're back on all four needles, the gusset and gusset decreases start with K2togs and SSKs and you find that you're turning that heel without even knowing it.

Once you've made it back to your original number of stitches, you knit around and around and around and around some more until it's time to start the banded toe. There are some more K2togs and SSKs and pretty soon your ready for the next and last feat (get it??). This is the kitchener stitch that's used to close up the toe in a nice, seamless sort of way.

These socks are quirky. See how one toe is darker than the other? Yeah... I definitely ran out of yarn before I was done. I'm a tight knitter, which requires more yarn to cover the same distance. And of course there wasn't any more in the shop. So I grabbed a new coordinating color instead. Good news is it's a great yarn for a new project I had in mind! Silver lining, my friends.

A little harder to see in these pictures is the fact that one of the ribbed cuffs is wider than the other. It's really only 1/4-1/3" but still... you can definitely tell. I have been assured that it's fine to just leave that part under the pants when I'm showing them off.

All in all, I'm stoked and already working on the next pair!

Yarn:
Pagewood Farm Kiana Hand Dyed Light Worsted Yarn (100% Merino Superwash)
3.4oz/225 yd skein
1x Army Girl

Needles:
US5 (3.75mm) double pointed needles

More hats! I will eventually either learn or learn my lesson.

Hat attempt #5 (or whatever the heck number I'm on now) spurred from the Irish Hiking Hat - Bulky Version that I came across on Ravelry. I really liked the unique design and that fact that I didn't quite understand how it would all go down before reading the pattern. After being reassured by my mom that it wasn't too feminine for my dad, I was totally sold.

I got some more practice with cabling with the band of this hat, which is made first and then sewn together. I did not want to sew fleece in as a liner, so I used a seed stitch on one side of the band to prevent rolling and stockinette stitch on the other. Then along this side a whole bunch of stitches are picked up (another thing I still need more practice on as well) and used to knit the rest of the hat. It then has a decrease pattern that makes a fun spiral on the top.


This pattern is actually pretty funky and leaves you alone to figure much out for yourself. I was lucky enough to get a measurement from my dad of his head size (28.25") and a classmate with the same size head for an example for the band. How many decrease rows to knit and when to add in the second set though... I was knitting blind on that one.

I made this hat twice. Go figure. The first time it ended up looking really nice! But... it was just to short. It didn't even quite cover my entire ear, and my head isn't as big as my dad's. Well, I guess I'll just hold on to that one for now.

For the second attempt, I added an inch of straight stockinette up from the band before decreasing. This came out to the right height! But when I finally got it on his head, I found that it's just kind of poofy in places that I don't want poofiness. In some ways it looks great, but it's still just not great. I was a bit bummed, but not really surprised.

If I were to make this again, I think I might go with the worsted version instead. Might make it a bit cleaner.

Also, it looks like this hat will need that liner after all. Since Dad is sensitive to wool but not as severely as Mom, I figured I'd give another natural fiber a try and went with super soft Alpaca. Turns out that itches him too. Good thing Mom is a master sewer!

Yarn:
Plymouth Yarn Company Baby Alpaca Grande Tweed (90% baby alpaca, 7% acrylic, 3% rayon)
100g/110yd skeins
1x dark gray (500) (plus just a little bit of another skein for the larger hat)

Needles:
US9 (5.5mm) 16" circular needle
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While I was working on that, I really wanted something else that I could just knock out and that I knew would fit someone, so I made Erich's A&F Knockoff Hat, too. This one got orange and gray acrylic and it was definitely fast. It's still hanging out in my apartment but it might go to the dads eventually, especially if I can't make anything else that works, haha.

Yarn:
Berocco Comfort Chunky (50% nylon, 50% acrylic)
3.5oz/150yd skeins
1x Dusk (5713)
1x Filbert (5745)

Needles:
US15 (10mm) 16" circular needle

Hang your stockings...

Sometime in the past an aunt of mine tried to knit some socks. As I may have mentioned in previous posts, gauge is hard! These socks turned out quite large and they had been serving as my parent's Christmas stockings ever since.

The thought struck me (after being hinted at by an example hanging in class and a classmate working on the project...) that I could probably make some huge socks too! And that maybe doing so would help get me ready for normal sized socks that I hoped to make someday.

I picked up most of the yarn for these at Jo-Ann with the intention of saving some money. I chose some nice heathery maroon and dark green with woolly white for the cuff. Turned out it wasn't quite thick enough even double-stranded, so I got some mohair from Lauren and threw that in too.

I have to say that knitting with mohair is kind of a pain since it's so sticky and tempramental, as is knitting with three strands at a time. It was worth it though! I ended up with a fabric that was a little fuzzy and soft, but sturdy enough to shove full of presents and food every year.

This project gave me my first taste of turning a heel! For some reason, this phrase always made me so nervous. But, like with cabling and lace, it's really not as hard as it sounds. It's even kind of fun!

Then I got to practice picking up stitches again, or creating new stitches at the edge of the fabric where there were none before. Then came the sewing. These stockings were knit flat and then a sewn up with a seem up the back. This let me practice some more of that mattress stitch which I'm still struggling a bit to master.

I only have the one picture of these currently and it was before they were even totally finished. You'll get the gist though. Just imagine some awesome tassels hanging off the top. A perfect finishing touch, I think.

Yarn:
Lion Brand Wool-Ease Worsted Weight (80% acrylic, 20% wool)
2 skeins Chestnut Heather (179)
2 skeins Forest Green Heather (180)

Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick
1 partial skein Fisherman (099)

Katia Ingenua (78% mohair, 13% nylon, 9% wool)
1 skein Plum (19)
1 skein Olive (13)

Needles:
US11 (8mm) 24" circular needle

A Quick Break for an Infinity Scarf

Sometimes you walk into your yarn store and see an amazing, awesome yarn that you have to have. And sometimes you just want to make something simple and quick. Sometimes that aforementioned yarn you've fallen in love with shows itself off best in garter stitch and it's obvious the stars have aligned.

This yarn, Trendsetter Sierra Nevada, has amazing, rich swirls of color. The best part, though, is its texture. The strand flows from tighly wound, thin and shiny to loose, fluffy and matte. There were two color lots that I was trying to choose between and I got the lighter one -- white, cream, gray, yellowish-tan and purple. Unique and so pretty!

After toying with some ideas of what to do with it, I decided just to knit a regular old scarf in garter stitch. (For you non-knitters, that's just knitting every row over and over until you're done.) It wasn't long enough after one skein, so I got another one.

It was nice when it was done! But it wasn't interesting enough. So, I sewed the ends together and made an infinity scarf instead. Instant trendiness!

This is a super warm and cozy scarf, largely because it's so big. It wraps around my neck four times if I want it to. There's no getting cold with that.
Yarn:
Trendsetter Yarns Sierra Nevada (70% wool, 30% acrylic)
2 skeins Snow Bluffs (223)

Needles:
US13 (9mm) 16" circular needle (if I remember right...)

Hats: 2, Carmen: 2!

While I was really excited about the Grace Lace Beret when I finished it, I was even more excited about this finished product -- the Turn A Square beanie by Jared Flood. This was fun to knit and turned out very neat and clean. It's classic and modern at the same time.

I LOVE the colors that I used for this and think they're perfect together. The black/dark green as a contrast is subtle but stands out well in the light. I'm totally thinking about making it again, just reversing the colors this time. I should have more than enough yarn left from the original skeins.

I learned how to knit jogless stripes with this hat, which is a method that helps to make the changes in colors along the seam less noticeable (or "virtually invisible" as Jared Flood puts it).

This was knit for Lenny (good job on picking the colors, Lenny!) and he's been wearing it a lot since. It fits him well and looks good, if I do say so myself.

Yarn:
Cascade 220 (100% Peruvian Highland Wool)
100g/220 yd skeins
1 partial skein Black (8555)
1 partial skein Avocado Tweed (9413)

Needles:
US5 (3.75mm) 16" circular needle
US7 (4.5mm) 16" circular needle

Scarves are SO last year. Cowls are the new black.

I've always loved knitting fun textures using only knits and purls. Partially because it was something I could figure out early on, partially because it appeals to my love of checking off lists (one row at a time) and partially because it looks more complicated than it really is.

I saw the Darkside Cowl hanging on the wall when I went to class and wanted to give it a shot. It's a pretty close fitting cowl, not one of the trendy ones now that are super bulky and huge. I think it would be great for active things, hiking, skiing, running, though I haven't exactly tried that yet...

It's great for every day too... pretty and totally reversible. The one thing I'd do differently is make sure to cast on and bind off extra loosely, as one edge is tighter than the other and just a tiny bit difficult to pull on. Really no biggie, though.

Yarn:
Di.Ve' Autunno (100% Fine Merino Wool)
50g/98 yd balls
2x Forest Blue (46389)

Needles:
US7 (4.5mm) 16" circular needle