Winter and December descended quickly and seems to be leaving just as fast. The month hasn’t been as productive as I’d like, but I’ve put together a compilation of things I’ve completed so far.
Let’s go back to the last week of November when I finished this hat. A co-worker asked me about making a gray hat, something urban chic, and I thought that Purl Soho’s Classic Cuffed Hat fit that description. Although it’s fairly simple, the Long Tail Tubular Cast On made for several head-scratching moments; I had to restart the project about 5 times to get it just right. I used this video tutorial by Whiletheyplay for assistance for the beginning but returned to Purl Soho’s Long Tail Tubular Cast On Tutorial for the next two setup rows. When I was working the ribbing, I wasn’t sure if the Long Tail Tubular Cast On was worth it, but when it was all finished, I have to say that it really is quite a beautiful edge. I also love the crown decrease; so pretty even without a pom-pom. I’m not sure about the yarn, the Loops & Threads Impeccable Solid seems a little stiff; I’m hoping that a few wears and a wash will help loosen it up a bit.
I’m always looking for projects to use up yarn from my stash, and I’ve had these skeins of Patons North America Shetland Chunky Tweeds hanging around for a very long time. I found the Flaunt It! cowl pattern by Stitchnerd Designs on Ravelry and thought it would be a perfect fit. I never imagined how much I’d be using my kitchen scale when knitting! For this project, I used it to weigh the skeins to make sure I was using a fourth of it for each section. I also use the scale to update how much yarn I’ve used in my Ravelry project pages. After blocking, the cowl turned out nice and squishy. Sadly it’s acrylic so it’s not super warm, but it’s quite lovely still.
Another stashbuster, I love this quick Braided Cabled Ear Warmer by Jessika Cates on Ravelry. I found it quite soothing to knit. I usually do everything in the round so this was a nice change of pace to knit things on the wrong side. The only change I would make would be to try the Provisional Cast On rather than Long Tail; I think it’d be easier and cleaner to pick up the stitches to join later. Sadly, it’s another acrylic yarn so I think this will be more of a spring or fall accessory.
Here’s a colorful hat that I knitted following the Woodsmoke Hat pattern by Dami Hunter on Ravelry again. The yarn is Loops & Threads Charisma in Sunny Day colorway. I need to remember to make the stockinette longer on the hat since it seems short to me in this super bulky weight yarn.
Although my Ravelry queue has exploded of late, and I’ve added some yarn to my stash, I still find it hard to figure out what to knit next. Maybe it’s because I randomly buy yarn instead of buying for specific projects. Oh well, I ended up making more hats! I’ve been wanting to practice my colorwork, and C-Lo’s Winter’s Coming hat looked cozy and seasonally appropriate. I first made myself one in Loops & Threads Charisma Forest and Loops & Threads Charisma Tweed Cream. I rather like the flecks of brown in the tweed. I made a matching/coordinating hat for my husband in Charisma Dark Blue and Off White. I was a little disappointed with these most recent skeins that I bought in October of this year; they don’t seem to have the same consistent quality as previous ones. At least the hats still turned out adorable though, and I dearly love a cute pom pom.
I was going to do another Otso knitted flat, but I got distracted and ended up making it in the round again. I started to run out of the yarn so I decreased some stitches in the head shaping. Also messed up the ears and had to completely toss the yarn. Luckily I had some light brown yarn in my stash to make up the ears. Learning from my previous Otso, I went more slowly on the embroidery; I think it turned out quite sweet. I’d still love to make another in the flat version though. Other people’s Otso’s seem very different when knitted flat so I’m curious if mine will be more bear-like.
Then I got this brilliant idea that I ought to knit hats for 3 of my nephews. I had this idea on the 19th. I finished the last hat on the 24th. Whew. I modified Purl Soho’s The Boyfriend Hat so that it would fit the kids, casting on 96 stitches and using Bernat Super Value Solids (New) in Royal Blue and Bright Yellow. Doing 1×1 rib for that long…oh man. I felt like my stitches were a bit rushed; the ribbing looked a bit lumpy here and there, but I did get it all done! And I can proudly check off the Long Tail Tubular Cast On from my Learn/Make/Do Checklist because after doing it three times in a row, I’ve got the hang of it now.
Those last three hats did me in for the rest of the year, I think, so I’m going to take a short break. I’m not sure how long that’ll last because I’ve already been fantasizing about what to make next. Luckily, we just adopted a wonderful 10-year-old cat we’ve named Bear, and I’m sure he’ll provide much needed distraction.
