New hats

Like a lot of folks I've talked to IRL or online, I've been thoroughly kicked by January ... and I actually like Januarys! The unrelenting cold, the lack of sunlight, that there's no Maine shrimp to look forward to this year ... ugh. My motivation to do any blogging or sewing has gone down the loo; I don't even have the energy to properly photograph my projects outside when there is light. I'm not one to wish my days away, but bring on February already!

January hasn't been all terrible -- O and I spent a few days down in Connecticut during the long holiday weekend (Martin Luther King Day), which is always a pleasure. I also finished my Snawheid hat a couple weeks ago and love it ... but it's just a tad too small for my big noggin so off it goes into my gift pile. I knit it with Cascade 220 fingering weight. My decreases around the crown were wonky looking once the hat was off the needles, but after blocking they seem to have evened out.

Snawheid reawakened my love of stranded knitting. I've been cleaning out the livingroom, sorting my yarns, and was dismayed to see how much leftover worsted-weight yarn I have. This produced a new goal: in 2014 I'm going to knit up as much scrap wool as I can. That Fair Isle hat you see above is my first "scrap" project of the year. The pattern comes from a delightful book I picked up at our local library, Hats On by Charlene Schurch, which I later bought at Amazon because I pretty much want to knit every hat in there.

I love this hat! (The pattern is Multicolor Whimsical Cap.) It's kind of crazy looking, but I don't care ... I love thinking that the green wool along the bottom is leftover from my February Lady sweater, and the other green wool along the top is reclaimed yarn from an unraveled thrift shop sweater. The yellow came from my mittens of a few years ago; the red from my thrummed mittens. And that's my first Latvian braid along the crown. Now I want to knit Latvian braids on everything! I'll probably knit more of these, and next time if I'm making another for myself, knit the XL!!!



Then I cast on 32 stitches on a #6 needle and started knitting up random stripes of yarn. I feel so virtuous every time I get to the end of the ball ... scrap yarn no longer, but part of what will be a very cozy lap blanket. It'll probably take me a year or so to finish up but I'm in no hurry. It's perfect couch/Netflix/tv knitting that doesn't need much thinking.

I'm also working on an Elizabeth Zimmerman sweater, which I'll show next time, and I have some holiday gift photos to share, including a finished Age of Steam and Brass shawl and a cardigan knit from local wool, as well as some refashioning I've done at the sewing machine.

Stay warm!