Finished: Lace Slant Hat

I think I'm in love.

First, the yarn; Mountain Colors 4/8's Wool in the wild raspberry colorway. I bought it Thursday night when I went to my "Knit In" at That Yarn Shop. The colors are wonderful, and it has that squishy warmth that seems to be the sole provenance of wool, but with absolutely no scratch. I mean, you could knit underwear out of this stuff. As soon as I saw it, I knew what I wanted to make with it: the Lace Slant Hat from Orange Fish Knits. I've had this pattern bookmarked for awhile, waiting for the perfect yarn, and boy did I find it.

I decided to cast on for it yesterday, because today I'm going with some people from the shop to the Hernando Heritage Festival, to knit on the lawn, and hopefully get more people interested in the "fiber arts". I thought it would be a nice thing to be working on, because I knew I wanted to be using yarn from the shop while I was there. I did not anticipate the addictive nature of this pattern and this yarn.

(My beautiful daughter, modeling. The lace is stretchy enough to allow anyone to wear the hat)

I did have a little trouble at the start; the pattern was written to be knit flat and seamed, and it goes against my religion to seam hats (or anything, really, if it can be avoided). Also, there was no chart, and I can't stand to work lace without one. So I drew out the chart, and started to work in the round, but because of the "slant" I realized I would have to fiddle with the marker at the beginning of the round once in each repeat. After screwing up, and ripping it out, I began again, and this time it was pure magic.

The pattern falls into that perfect sweet spot between mind-numbingly easy, and rip-your-hair-out difficult. And the yarn! It was so wonderful to work with, and watching the colors unfold made it impossible to put down. I finished it yesterday, and now I have to cast on again so I will have something to knit at the festival. I can't wait!

Recently Completed: Skull Sweater

This is a sweater I made for my son.


I'm extremely proud of it. It was, easily, the most maddening, frustrating thing I've ever knitted. I pretty much hate intarsia now, even though I have to admit it looks great when you finish. Thankfully, my son loves it. When I gave it to him he said, "This looks as good as something from a store!" I know he meant it as the highest compliment, but I thought, kid, there's nothing like this in any store!

I designed the sweater, and came up with the colors and striped sleeves and all that, but the skull came from domiKNITrix.

I knitted it using Knit Picks shine worsted, on US sz.5 addis. Oh, the red is actually Cascade Pima Tencel, which was a little thinner than the shine worsted, but it turned out okay. They are both very soft, and nice to knit with, but they have a tendency to make puffs of fluff fly around while you knit. That seems to have gone away after I washed the sweater though, and it was only a minor irritation. I would definitely use the yarn again.

Recently Completed: Vintage Style Cardigan

This is a cardigan I designed.


I used Artful Yarns Fable. The color is called Cinderella (no. 99), and I knit it on US sz.5 addis. I really love this yarn, it's 85% cotton and 15% silk, and each of the four strands are dyed a different complimentary color, in this case blues and greens. Unfortunately, it's been discontinued, but lucky for me I bought a whole bunch on closeout at Webs.

I'm really pleased with this cardigan; it's the first sweater I designed totally by myself. I think it has a nice vintage look, which is what I wanted. It's a mixture of stockinette, 2x2 ribbing, and seed stitch. I had the seed stitch come up diagonally across the chest so it reaches all the way around at the sleeve openings. It also runs straight across the back. I think it looks really neat.

It also has set in pockets, which are very handy.

When I wear it, I feel like a grandpa, which is exactly what I wanted. I'm really happy about how it came out.