The Kitchen Table

Weekend Hats: Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!

Hi Knitters, Well, I see that lots and lots of people love to knit hats and would love to have a copy of Weekend Hats. Thanks for the enthusiastic entries to win a copy of the book. I have randomly selected a winner and have notified her. Congratulations to Gabby [Mama_G] of NYC! Gabby, you need to email me your mailing address. Thank you to everyone for entering. I'll have another giveaway very soon.

via susanbanderson.blogspot.com

I never win anything. Seriously. If it's a raffle or a drawing or a toss of small sticks, forget it. Lay odds on the others in the pool.
Until now, people!
Susan Anderson is a knit designer. I have her Itty Bitty Hats book, follow her on twitter, because I like her style.

I've been coveting the hat she wears in her avatar (yes, that clever chapeau) and guess what, it's in the book Weekend Hats, a book of hat projects that theoretically can be done in a weekend. For me, that is more like a week or so, but I'm quibbling. The important thing is that something nifty will be coming my way in the mail.
If you visit her blog, check out her milk cow pattern and her especially cute owl softie she has up.
Thanks, Susan!

 

Off the Needles

Since I'm all kerfuffled about posting these days, it seems, here is a quicky to show what's cast-off, woven in, and done.

An Irish hiking hat for Grandpa who's chemo-d head needs a bit of soft warmth this winter. Nice, don't you think? I modified the pattern a bit (one change was deliberate, one was accidental). More info on ravelry in my projects.

A tasty scarf for the wife of a high school friend. Six plus feet long, about 9 inches wide. I'm happy with how it turned out. Rumor is, she is, too. Two people from my NY knitting group gave me scraps to liven it up. Sweet.

Rabbit, a blur in his new Milo. Note to self: mark the right side of your projects so that you remember where you are. You have two small children, after all. It will eliminate the need to frog. 

Officially, Milo will be one of his birthday presents. It's a rich, dark burgundy brown color. The yarn is, wait for it, Lion Brand. Yep. Superwash Merino. Natch.

Preparing the Monster

By now, you might have seen Bama practicing her scary. She learned how to Aarh like a monster from The Backyardigans (what, don't judge).

She wanted to be a monster, furry, blue. I lucked out and found the costume. But it needed tweaking. She needed bell peppers, for one thing.

Because she was a monster who eats bell peppers, after all.

She needed a tail, she said. She suggested stuffing tights, I offered to attach pom poms. In  the end, I watched a couple of episodes of Game of Thrones and whipped up a dozen pom poms and an i-cord.

 The monster has a sidekick. The garden gnome who grows bell peppers. I used a tutorial from here to whip up a hat the night before. (She used this tutorial to create her pattern. The sizing, to be clear, is for a toddler. It fits Bama perfectly. I can wear it, but would probably make it an inch bigger all around if I did.)

The gnome doesn't have eyebrows or a beard. Maybe next year when he's walking around. He did score a belt (felt) and gardening tools -- the turquoise is a trowel and rake. They are  stitched together and velcroed to the belt, which is also velcroed. The belt buckle is another piece of felt I cut into a square, then cut two smaller rectangles out of and slid onto the belt.

The gnome takes a break. I sewed his pieces up in the morning. A more ambitious and organized mama would have been on it earlier, and would have used this velvet to make a snail shell. Planning for next year!

Rhinebeck Sheep, Wool, Girl

Mister and I woke Bama bright and early to dress her and whisk her north on Amtrak to Rhinebeck for the NYS Sheep and Wool Festival, commonly known to knitters as Rhinebeck. I had everything ready to go the night before, including her Nova dress which I'd blocked (oh yes I did!) and a lot of snacks, books, crayons. We had a two hour train ride, and while I hoped she'd sleep, I didn't think it likely.

Alert and keen for her adventure! We picked up coffee and egg sandwiches at Penn Station before getting to the train. A very nice woman held our place in line while I ordered the sandwiches, then, as we stood before the escalator to go down to the train, the Homeland Security (maybe?) told the guy behind us to grab my stroller for me. Thanks!

On the train, eating a pear and reading her beautiful and beloved book, The Little Red Fish, a magical story whose beautiful illustrations tell about Jeje's adventure at the library. A colleague, Clare LePell, gave it to me as a babyshower gift along with Henry Works, a story about a bear/Henry David Thoreau. 

I'm so silly!

Sheep shearing! A good introduction to the sheep because they are out of their pens, which are inside the dark barns, and looking lovely. Bama wondered if one of the farmers would be snipping the big ball of yarn between one of the sheep's legs. The farmer laughed. I laughed. We had a penis talk. Don't want to cut off the important bits, now, do we?

Sheep of many varieties, goats, llamas, and alpacas. You can touch them, ask questions, smell them. It's amazing. We came home with alpaca teddy bears, one named Luke for Bama, another for Rabbit when he gets a bit bigger.

Peeking.

Afterwards, we walked back to my friend KK's house. She'd picked us up from the train, then walked us to the fair. We spent hours looking at animals, eating lamb (of course!), and touching yarn. We barely covered half the site. 

Back at KK's, we rested a bit. Bama explored as many toys as possible. She was especially excited about the guitar. This girl. Give her an instrument and she's happy. Not long after this photo was taken, she was outside, running around with the big kids who are living the perfect childhood life. Outside as much as possible, making up games, creating fantasy worlds. Fairies, animals, whatever in the yard and woods by the house. They reminded me of my own childhood. We spent an inordinate amount of time creating worlds, looking for seeds, whatever. Glorious. (And best for cognitive development.)

Dinner with the KKB's, then back to the train. My girl was done by the time we reached Penn Station. Poor thing fell asleep in the stroller somewhere between 34th and 33rd Streets. I had to wake her to get home, wake her when we got home. But, wow, she loved the day. She's mentioned something about Rhinebeck every day this past week.

Next year, a few more $$ for wool. Oh my head. I wish I knit faster.

Slouch

Aunty Zobot stopped by with double guacamole, chips, and a chicken burrito from Dos Toros for Bama and me to share.

Zobot moved to New York a couple of weeks after we did, and neither of us came with a proper East Coast winter coat. I worried she'd be cold most of hte winter. She said I didn't own enough socks. I gave her a pair of Toast last year, and now I'm thinking she needs a hat.

She'll probably get this one, my second take on the Felicity pattern. The first wasn't slouchy enough, almost, but not quite there. I had enough of the delicious blue yarn I'd bought in Vermont last fall to knock out another one, so I did. With more slouch.

Maybe too much slouch. Zobot looks pretty good in it, don't you think?

 

Then, because I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing (having a new baby will do that), I was close to running out of delicious blue before I could bring the darn hat to a close. 

Classic Elite Inca Alpaca in London to the rescue!

Check out that slouch. Zobot could fit her new niece in that pouch.

I have the hat because she convinced me it looks good on me. Hah. Happy Christmas, Zobot! ;)

Nova.

It's done, in time for fall if it ever arrives. Orange tights? Gray tights? She needs new wellies, to boot. ;)

Maybe not the most amazing photo ever, but she stood still long enough for me to take this photo. The others, she was a blur, sweaty despite the air conditioning in the humid fall.

I'm happy with the fit. I knit the four-year-old size of Nova and my row gauge was on, necessary for the body and sleeve stripes to line up, but my stitch count was tight so it might wear a little snugger down the line. We'll have to see how she grows. 

Regarding the pattern. ....

I have comments on Ravelry, some of which are duplicated below regarding the pattern. Overall, it was easy and relatively quick. I think I'd recommend it to other people. Do follow the row counts as that's what matters for the stripes to correspond.

I carried the yarns up the side to reduce the number of strands for weaving in. Still, I had about 20 or so at the top to manage from the flap and various pick-ups around the neckline. 

It might be the way I read dirctions, but I found some of the pattern details unclear and posted in the Petite Purls forum and emailed the designer. I did not not follow the instructions for the front flap and neckline, in part because size 4 has a four extra rows (and I don't know exactly why that is), and because it uses the "pick up from the right" kind of language that I never understand in knitting patterns, even if I read aloud. My pick-ups seem to be going the wrong way, so in this case, I picked up with double pointeds as you'll see below.

• Frustrating directions when it came to the "front flap" and pick up for the finish. 
• There are no stitch counts, so keep track of your decreases, adding them up before you begin.
• What I did, after several false starts, pickign up stitches along the right and left sides, across the middle, decreasing ... I decide to go my own way. I used double pointed needles to pick up the 20 stitches (for the size four) on the left (facing right) side of the pattern, skipped the first marker, knit one, PM, then knit across the top, didn't K2TOG, knit on, PM, k1. Third DPN, picked up the last 20 sts, which meant I picked up 21 because the attempts to pick up the initial stitches bolloxed the right (facing left) side of the "flap."
• Flap done. Onto the back and shoulders. Not sure how many stitches I should have (yes, i could go back and count through the pattern, but I won't), but I'm going for it. Directions say "purl row," but don't forget to pick up the yarn. I'm hoping I'm supposed to have only two markers on the back. Fingers crossed. 
• FYI, all of this, I find a little tight on the circulars, so if you have two sets, you might use them.

 

Blanket: Done!

When Aunty Cake and M were married, I promised them a handknit blanket (queen size) for their bed.

Um, yeah. It never happened.

But, when The Captain came along, I knew I could make a blanket for him. The log cabin style blanket is perfect because it can be added to, if wanted, when the baby gets bigger. I made one for Rabbit and love it. For The Captain, I used most of the same Blue Sky Alpaca Dyed Cotton yarns, plus a few new colors, on size 10.5 needles. 

 

I mostly finished it. Aunty Cake had to weave in about 20 ends. Argh.

Log Cabin. Ka-bam!

It's hard to understand how something uncomplicated could take more than a month to finish, but here it is: Pickle's own blanket (with a drool-spot of approval in the top dark blue strip). I'm pleased with the result. Colorful, just enough baby to keep it baby, and just enough sass to keep it interesting. 

It's about 26" x 26", not terribly big, but a good size for strollers and naps. Plus, it's cotton (Blue Sky Alpaca Dyed Cotton), so guaranteed to stretch out a bit. It's nice and spongy. Great for my boy who's sucking on anything within reach and rolling around the floor like he's a Rumba.

Log Cabin

I bought a lot (A LOT) of yarn to make a blanket for Bama before she was born, and then more after she arrived and was a girl and I needed to add girl colors to the painfully neutral palette I'd compiled.

But several friends gave us baby blankets, beautiful and fun and I tucked that yarn away. Bama sleeps with three of the blankets (Aunty Alicia's, Nana Jean's, and Janelle's) while the other two do play duty (Radish and Aunty Lisa). No, this boy needs a blanket (or three) of his own.

No baby shower or baby sprinkle for Pickle, Mama's making her baby a blanket! I had to weed out a few colors -- even Mister who thinks we can put a pink outfit on our boy drew the line at the pinks. I did a test today for size (it's 23 inches by 21 1/2 inches). One more round and I think we're done. 

He has his thinking cap on. Hmmm. This blanket, I think I like it, but what's with the soft pink center? I'm more the bold orange and red kind of guy. Just look at my strong stripes, my piercing gaze!

Note: I'm hopeful the numnut phase will continue to wane despite its front and center presence here.

Low-slouch Slouch

I've had the Felicity hat pattern in my Ravelry queue forever. Then, I had the yarn I wanted to use. Five 50 gram balls from the Farmers' Market in Vermont, dyed by the sheep's owner. It's an amazing blue -- a bit of lapis lazuli in its deep blue with lighter flecks throughout.

It's been perfect for our slowly cooling fall (as opposed to California which slammed into fall-winter with rain, snow, and cold this week). Unfortunately, it's just not slouchy enough. I wanted a good bit of drag on the back. The front, though, works well. It's long and tight.

I'll probably give this one to Bama --it's so cute on her! -- and knit up another since I have about two balls left (I also made a pair of Toasty wrist/thumb warmers, but I'll do those pictures later this week). 

Wowza. Look at how brown my hair looks in this picture. Someone needs a cut and color, stat. 

 

Clapotis on hand, as well, for all over warmth. Seriously, isn't that blue gorgeous?