growing up.

The busy season at work is finally over, which means holiday knitting projects (and blogging) are back in full swing! Three projects are already off the needles, and this weekend, I happily cast on for project number four — the Bray Cap by Jared Flood. Part of the BT Fall 2013 collection, it's the right amount of 'cool' for my 13-year old niece. Every year, she gets a new Christmas woolen — usually, a classic stockinette cap. This year, since she's becoming a little more responsible with her belongings (meaning: less prone to losing things), I thought it was time to 'move her up' in knitwear — both in quality of wool and complexity of pattern. 

The yarn is Shelter, in the Soot colorway. As if you don't already know, this wool is a true joy to knit with. I'm hoping that she thinks of this hat as her first heirloom piece — the one she'll reach for time and again; the one she'll send back to me for mending one too many times. These are things I like to think about when I'm making. 

p.s. Yarn purchased online from the charming Loop Yarn in Philadelphia — thank you again for shipping the yarn so quickly!

the pondhopper hat

I was pretty excited to be a part of Alicia Plummer's test knit team for her latest hat pattern, Pondhopper! This was such a quick and fun knit--perfect for those last-minute holiday gifts. The combination of cables, ribbing, stockinette, and purling added just enough variety to keep things interesting for easy, evening knitting, and resulted in a rustic, woodsy-looking hat that's perfect for walks in the woods: 

The yarn is Swan's Island Organic Washable Merino DK in the (perfectly named) Eucalyptus colorway. It's crazy soft and beautifully variegated. I ordered three skeins directly from the Swan's Island website and three different dye-lots arrived in the mail. While normally this would incite panic, I decided to just roll with it. I selected the two that were the most similar in color and alternated skeins every row, carrying the strands along the back of the piece to minimize any pooling or striping in the finished knit.

Alicia's instructions were very clear--she wanted us to "...attach the biggest pom pom you can find!" to our hats, so I whipped out my Clover pom pom maker and made this fatty:

What's great about this hat is that it's the perfect knit for beginners looking to add some new skills to their repertoire. There's a little bit of everything here, and Alicia's instructions and chart make it very easy to follow along. In case you're wondering, here's a peak at the brim, unfolded:

I'm thinking of sewing the edge of the brim to the inside of the hat so that I don't have to worry about keeping it straight, and so that you see more of the hat pattern...I'm pretty sure that's how Alicia styled it in her photoshoot. Pre-blocking, I was a little scared that the hat was too small for my head, but after a nice long lavender bath, the yarn bloomed gorgeously and fits just right. I'd really, really love to knit a cardigan out of this yarn one day...

This was a fun little project and I'm glad to finally be able to share it with you! You can grab your copy of the Pondhopper Hat pattern on Ravelry for $4. Be sure to join the Pondhopper knitalong and be on the lookout for the matching fingerless mitts pattern, too! Have a great week!

Project details on Ravelry

purl soho's classic cuffed hat

My love for the Purl Soho's Classic Cuffed Hat pattern runs deep. I've probably knit about a dozen of these over the years for friends and family members and they're always a big hit. This pattern has it all: classic styling, is quick to knit, and works well with whatever stash yarn you have available. Each Christmas, I knit up a stack of these for my nieces and nephews. Sometimes pom poms are requested, and sadly, sometimes they're not, as was the case this past holiday: 

I've started using less-expensive, superwash yarn when knitting these hats for little ones and tweens. Many of the hats have been left on school busses, felted in the laundry, or just plain-old lost in the black holes that are their bedrooms. I'm looking forward to the day when I can transition them to the Shelter yarns of this world! 

The great thing about this pattern is that depending on which yarn you use, you get a completely different hat. If you knit with a traditional merino wool, you end up with a sturdy hat that is excellent for blocking out the cold winter air. When you use a softer, superwash wool, the hat becomes a little slouchier and relaxed. This time around, I selected Plymouth's Worsted Merino Superwash Wool in the Slate Blue colorway (lefthand side):

This hat is a gift for my Aunt, who is going through chemo; I wanted something that's not only super-soft against the skin, but is also easy to take care of. The fine merino worked up into the slouchiest of all the classic cuffed hats I've knit, so I might go down a needle size for both the cuff and the body next time. (Again-must. start watching.) The Plymouth Superwash is a round, bouncy yarn with a beautiful luminosity and drape. The entire time it was on my needles, I kept thinking about how perfect it would be for a baby blanket or a shawl. 

The pattern suggests using a long-tail tubular cast on, which provides a nice, stretchy edge, but the tried-and-true long-tail cast on works just fine. I've done both with equally nice results!

While I truly believe all hats are better with pom poms, I left the pom off of this one so that my Aunt can start wearing it now and not worry about feeling too "wintery". I can always send her one to fasten on once the cooler weather hits! Speaking of cooler weather, Christmas will be here before we know it—it's almost time to start requesting color selections for this year's crop of hats! 

Have a great week...

Visit Ravelry for full project details

The Barnwood Hat

Last weekend, my second attempt at the Barnwood Hat finally came off the needles. The first one that I knit was gigantic because I was too lazy to check gauge, so for this version, I went down to size 5 needles for the ribbing and size 7 for the lace pattern. This one fits much, much better! Lesson learned: always. check. gauge.

The pattern calls for the alternate cable cast on, which I've never done before. Now that I know how to do it, I don't think I'll ever do a long tail cast on a ribbed edge with a long tail cast on ever again! Wooly Wormhead has an easy-to-follow tutorial here. As per the instructions, after casting on my stitches, I worked the first row of the hat flat before joining in the round. The alternate cable cast on gives the hat a nice, stretchy, neatly-ribbed edge. It appears as if there's no cast on at all—as if the 1x1 rib simply manifested. Clever. 

The hat is knit in The Fibre Co.'s Acadia yarn in the Mountain Ash colorway. The fiber's a soft, drapey, DK-weight blend of merino wool, alpaca, and silk. I'm so in love with this yarn. It would be absolutely gorgeous knit into a classic crewneck sweater. The silk noil (the short fiber left over from combing wool or spinning silk) gives the yarn a slight tweed effect, adding to the rustic feel of the hat. It ever-so-slightly camouflages the leaf pattern until the hat is worn. 

It's still a teeny-bit slouchy, but I think that's because my noggin's a bit small at 21". If I were to knit this for myself, I'd probably cast on for the teen version. I'm excited to pack this one up and send it out to someone very special this week!

Visit Ravelry for full project details

ready for blocking

Last night, the Barnwood Hat came off the needles, and as expected, it definitely has that hipster slouch. The pattern recommends that you block the lace over a balloon, so I'll have to inflate it just enough to set the pattern but not make the hat any larger. I'm debating putting it in the dryer on low heat for a very short amount of time to slightly shrink it, however, I'm afraid of felting those beautiful leaves. If any knitters would like to impart some advice, I'm listening!

Knitting lace is pretty magical, isn't it? Fresh off the needles, it looks like a mess, but once it's out of its lanolin bath and blocked, it's completely transformed. I can't wait to share the after pictures with you. The blue hat in the background is the Purl Bee's Classic Cuffed Hat, one of my go-to patterns for quick, cozy knits. I'm still deciding on whether this one's getting a pom pom...  

The case for swatching.

Swatching. Some knitters love to take the time at the beginning of a project to test and make sure that the combination of yarn, needles and knitting tension all add up to the perfect gauge. After all, good gauge means a well-fitting garment. Other knitters, like myself, tend to dive head-first into new projects, eager to get that new skein of wool onto the needles—gauge be damned. As long as we're using the right size needles and correct yarn weight, we should be cool, right? Not so much. 

I'm currently knitting the adult size of Alicia Plummer's beautiful Barnwood Hat, in The Fibre Co.'s luminous Acadia yarn. First, let me just say how much I love this pattern and the yarn—the lace motif is easy-peasy to remember (especially while you're catching up on OITNB) and the yarn has such a soft, light hand thanks to the addition of alpaca and silk. 

The pattern says the hat should fit a head circumference of 22" once blocked. I'm afraid that while I have the yarn weight and the needle sizes correct, my tension may be a little loose for this project. I'm almost to the crown and the body circumference seems a little bit wider than it should—it's already measuring 9" across. Knowing how much lace grows once it's blocked, I'm pretty sure this is going to be one of those cool, slouchy hats vs. a knitted cap. 

I think next time I'll swatch. What about you, knitters--how many of you really swatch?