Category: Knitting

Hand knit projects.

Bluebird’s Winter Hat: Molly Beret

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Pattern:  Molly Beret from Never Not Knitting

Yarn:  Knit One Crochet Too “Crock-O-Dye” in Tomato colorway (#250) & Dale of Norway Baby Ull in Light Peach (#3403)

Needles:  US 1 & US 3

Size:  20″/Small Adult

I buy our winterwear during the summer when it’s 80% off, which limits the colors we can purchase.  This year, Bluebird had to choose between white/gray, grass/lime or a peach/coral winter coat.  (She was not happy about this because she wanted pink or purple, but alas, those are the colors that sell out and usually aren’t available on clearance.) 

However, the Brooke family is well-known for its love of the color orange and she went with the orange-hued parka.  Upon receipt of said coat I began to wonder how in the world I was going to match any sort of accessory to its non-traditional color palette.

Bluebird accompanied me on my Yarn Quest shortly following, and she spied the Tomato Crock-O-Dye yarn while we were investigating The Black Sheep Wool Company.  She brought it over to me and announced that she had found the perfect yarn to match her coat.  I agreed that it did match, and complimented her on her good eye for color.

Bluebird browsed through the Ravelry pattern database with me and chose the Molly Beret pattern, which just tickled me to no end.  (I think little girls in berets are just one of the cutest things ever!)  I paired up the Crock-O-Dye with some leftover peach Baby Ull from the Peach Yoked Cardigan and was quite pleased at how well the two yarns matched her crazy technicolor winter coat.

All in all, I really like the finished product.  I made it a touch too large, but her head measured 20″ in circumference, which was the small adult size.  However, upon further reflection, one wants a hat to fit snugly and should therefore knit a cap one size smaller to assure a secure fit.  It still looks cute despite its super slouchy appearance.  She receives compliments on her beret every time she wears it and her little face just lights up with pleasure whenever someone notices her hat.  I have more than enough yarn leftover to knit mittens or a scarf, but I have other projects that need my attention first.  (And I’m already in the midst of a scarf knit with fingering weight yarn and I don’t think my sanity could handle casting on another scarf in skinny yarn.)
A friend laughed at me when I told her about my predicament in trying to find a yarn that would match Bluebird’s coat and quipped that not everyone frets about matching their children’s accessories.  And I guess it’s just not an issue to a lot of people, but I garner great satisfaction out of attiring my family nicely and I experience pleasure in knowing that I created those items myself.  It’s such a fun process to pick out the yarn and pattern together and then watch your child’s eyes light up while they watch you create something just for them. 
However, the other children become very vociferous with their requests for handmade items when a sibling’s project is on my needles.  Next up is a scarf for Penguin.  But knit in a very bulky-weight yarn.  I can handle that.

WIP: Circus of Colors Scarf

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While frolicking about during Yarn Quest, I saw a Linen Stitch Scarf made from luscious Koigu Painter’s Palette Premium Merino on display at Blazing Needles. I decided that I needed; yes, NEEDED, one for myself. I bought a crazy combination of colors and cast on that very week. Six weeks later finds me with this much progress.

While choosing my colors, I decided to take a risk and go for an all-out color cacophony that would scream, “Cheerful!” amidst the drab winter months. I think this scarf will do a fantastic job of executing my intent.

Many have complained that this scarf takes FOREVER to complete and blame it on the fact that it’s knit from end to end instead of your usual side to side. The actual reason why this scarf takes forever to knit is because it’s knit from a fingering weight yarn. Any scarf made from fingering weight yarn is going to take forever to complete, regardless of what direction you’re knitting! But, oh, is it going to be worth the effort! (Anything that can make you feel cheerful on a gray day is worth the effort!)

My original goal date for completion is the end of September…we’ll see how that goes.

Roar! #2

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Pattern: “Roar! A Dinosaur Hat,” by Kate Oates
Yarn: Knit Picks’ Shine Worsted in Green Apple & Grass
Needles: US 7

Even though Penguin is modeling the hat, I made it as a 4th birthday present for her future fiance, Will. He’s big into dinosaurs right now and his mom made a random comment after seeing Monkeyboy’s Roar hat that Will would totally love a dinosaur hat of his own. And seeing how she was able to deliver that comment without exuding any pressure upon me to actually make one for her son, I decided to make one because I wanted to make it.





I totally love this hat and I totally love this yarn.

Click here to view this project’s Ravelry page.

Penguin and Will have been intended for each other since before they were born, when Denise found out she was having a boy and I found out I was having a girl, due at the same time. (I went into labor a week early, she went into labor a week late…) I was thinking about this blog post when I stumbled across some archived photos from the first version of this blog (long since deleted), and found the following:

Holding hands:

This is from when we referred to the two of them as “Tank and Tink”:

And this happened one random day when Denise and I were messing around with her camera:

I’m a little concerned over how forward she was in kissing him first…

Totally meant for each other. I will make their boy babies lots of dinosaur hats. 🙂

Roar! A Dinosaur Hat

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Pattern: Roar! A Dinosaur Hat, by Kate Oates
Yarn: Knit Picks’ Shine Worsted in Aquamarine and Clementine (60% Pima Cotton, 40% Modal natural beech wood fiber)
Needles: US 7

Talk about crazy cuteness! I saw this pattern while I was still pregnant with Monkeyboy; and, not knowing the gender of my little bambino, told myself that if I had a boy that I would definitely make this hat. Let’s just say I was all too happy to keep that promise and I plan on fulfilling it many times more after this initial completion. I LOVE this hat!

Of course, my darling boy looks completely adorable in it. (But really, with a smile like that, he could make anything look absolutely charming…) I plan on making the next one in a monochromatic color scheme…light and dark shades of the same color. (I’ve been told that this would make it look more dinosaury.) I’ve also had a request from one of my daughters for a pink version. This hat is a runaway winner!

The pattern is super easy to follow and the spikes are totally easy to make. (Perfection for a sleep-deprived mama such as myself!) Make one yourself, you’ll fall in love with it as well!

Click here to see this project’s Ravelry page.

Summer Star Hat

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Renaissance has been so jealous of Emily’s “Rainbow” Inca hat and even went so far as to rifle through my yarn stash until she found the leftover yarn I made it from; which she brought to me and asked, with big pleading eyes, that I use it to create a hat for her.

Pattern: Summer Star Hat, by Mary Triplett
Yarn: Noro Taiyo, left over from Emily’s Inca Hat, Color #11, less than half a skein
Needles: US #6 DPNs

I found myself wandering aimlessly around the house after the girls had gone to sleep on Friday, so I sat down to begin organizing my knitting stash and discovered that I had this adorable little pattern crammed in amongst many other forgotten knitterly things. I cast on right then and there (about 11pm or so) and worked until about 1am. I then spent most of the next day working feverishly on it and finished it just before the girls went off to bed. (In case you’re wondering, that’s LESS than 24 hours…I felt like a super knitter, even though I never could have done it had Michael not taken over for the entire day while I remained curled up under my blanket with my project.)

Of all my girls, Renaissance is definitely the most knitworthy. She genuinely wants me to knit things for her and is giddy whenever I present her with a new handmade item. When I gave her this hat, she yelled “Yay!” and started jumping up and down, then had to run to the mirror to see how it looked on her and then insisted on wearing it to bed because she believed it would give her “good rainbow dreams.” You better believe that I’ll keep knitting for someone who appreciates it as much as that!

The pattern calls for a worsted weight yarn and #8 needles, but I figured it would turn out too small for my three year old, so I bumped my needles down significantly and spent a lot of time worrying whether it would actually fit her when I was done. Ren was only too happy to relieve my fears and try it on throughout its construction–she thought it was so funny to wear a hat that still had knitting needles in it! It fits snugly, but the cotton in the yarn is stretching each time she wears it and it’s fitting better with each day.

I think it’s just darling, even if the stitch is kind of annoying to work…knit loosely, very loosely! I’m definitely going to make some more of these; I think Rachel would be so adorable in a little yellow hat with an orange flower on the side. Perhaps I’ll make a wee little one as well in case Baby #4 turns out to be a girl; it’d be super cute on a newborn.

(I’ve also been informed by a certain five year old that it would look very good on her as well…in the same color, of course.)

Finished: Vine and Leaf Beret

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Seven days of knitting frenzy equals one lavender beret. I got it into my head that I wanted to finish this before the end of the year, so there’s been a whole lotta clicking needles this past week.

Pattern: Vine and Leaf Beret (#11) from Vogue Knitting Fall 2009
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino, Color #340033 (Lavender), 1.25 skeins
Needles: US #3 16″ Circular & #3 DPNs

This was easy, especially after wallowing through the charts for the Japanese Butterfly Lace Beret. You just do four repeats of a simple pattern and then switch into a pretty simple decrease modification of the same pattern. It was a nice “pick up and knit a few stitches when you have a moment” project.

Here’s a shot of it, fresh off the needles and before its wet block last night–very beanie-ish.

The yarn–oooh, smooshy, smooshy. Love it, even though it will split like crazy should you happen to make a mistake and frog and then re-knit it. If you’ve ever been in my house, you’d know that I love this particular shade of purple (it’s what we painted our great room). I was torn between the lavender and a beautiful light aqua color…perhaps I’ll just buy the aqua as well on the next trip up to my favorite yarn store, Black Sheep Wool Company in SLC.

I would totally make this beret again; it’s easy, a pretty quick knit and the yarn was really nice to work with. (I may actually be making a toddler version, as Renaissance stood by me for quite some time yesterday, asking if it was for her…guess she took a liking to it.) The brim is pretty darn loose though–I’ll probably knit it on smaller needles next time for a better fit.

Japanese Butterfly Lace Beret Delivered

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I did it. I parted with that beautiful hat. It was the plan all along, but it was a test of personal accountability to actually follow through with my original intentions.

It was worth it. She phoned me twenty minutes later in a very happy mood and said that her gift was “exquisite.”

Good. 🙂

Finished: Japanese Butterfly Lace Beret

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Meet the model: Giant Penguin.
He thinks this hat is “cool.” (Hehehe)
This beret was created for a friend, and I just have this thing about wearing someone else’s stuff before they get to wear it, so I decided to have Giant Penguin step in as my model in order to avoid stray hairs or anything else that would be kind of embarassing to show up in a gift.

Anyway, the technical stuff:
Pattern: Lace Beret #13 from Vogue Knitting Fall 2009
Yarn: KnitPick’s Bare Merino Wool Sock Yarn, about half a skein (220 yards or so)
Needles: US #1 & #3 circulars, #3 dpns

Notes: The ribbing for this thing is just plain torture. However, once you get into the lace pattern, it’s pretty fun. I like this hat. I’m slightly tempted to make one for myself as well.

And blocking over a dinner plate is super amusing:I could not keep her away from the thing while it dried. Hopefully there’s no Dorito fingerprints on it–I kept moving the plate to various spots where I thought she couldn’t get to it, but she kept proving me wrong.

There’s not much else to say about this cute little beret, except that I need to walk it over to its recipient. I am sad to let this one go, I’ve come to like it so very much!

My New Response to Knitting Requests

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It’s a weird phenomenon–word gets out that you know how to knit (or crochet, or sew, or quilt, or whatever…) and people start asking you to make stuff for them. It’s not rude or anything, they’re genuinely interested in your talents and are willing to buy the materials and sometimes add on a little extra money to make it worth your while. I’m not complaining, it’s fun to be “in demand.”

But I’ve got a lot of people who demand much from me.

And I’m a gifter. I really, really enjoy making stuff for other people.

But I have to say no. There’s just not enough time to produce all the items requested, paid for or not.

So my new response is: “If you buy the yarn and come over to my house, I’ll teach you how to make it yourself.”

Give a pal a handknit gift and you warm them for a couple of years. Teach them to knit and you warm them for a lifetime.