Rolled Brim Hat (Take 2)

December 2: With the first half of this yarn, I made a rolled brim hat, but I was unhappy with the “nipple” at the top. So I decided to try again. I cast on 72 stitches and just knit and knit and knit until I felt that it was tall enough. Then I started decreasing (if I remember correctly, it was something like the following):
K10, K2tog
K all (2 rounds)
K9, K2tog
K all (2 rounds)
K8, K2tog
K all
K7, K2tog
K2, K2tog
K2, K2tog
K2tog
Pull yarn through remaining stitches.

I had to start doing the major decreasing in a hurry because I was almost out of yarn. I was a little worried about how it might turn out because of that, but I’m actually really pleased with how the top looks. Definitely a successful hat!

Yarn: Madil Yarns Pierrot Print

Groovy Slipper Socks

October 9: Although it’s DiC’s September Dream Club yarn, my LYS started it in October. The bulky definitely knits up quickly, but I had a problem when I was decreasing the gusset stitches. A voice in my head told me something was wrong, but I went ahead with the pattern. I should have listened to that voice. If you follow the pattern, the heel will be off center. You need to start the round (and thus start needle 1) at the center of the heel stitches, so knit half of the heel stitches and then start counting for needle 1. I had to frog back about half a dozen rounds to correct it.

October 28: Finally sat down and finished the first slipper sock.

November 16: I decided to make it my goal today to finish the second slipper sock, and I did. It actually didn’t seem to take as long as the first one--perhaps because this time I realized that the pattern had errors in it and so I didn’t have to go through the process of figuring that out.

Pattern: Groovy Slipper Socks by veronica van (Dream Club exclusive pattern)
Yarn: Dream in Color Groovy in Bayou

Cabled Nook Sleeve

November 2: Emily asked me to test this pattern to see if it fits my Nook. Finished two pattern repeats. I didn’t believe that it would fit because in unstretched form, it is tiny! But so far it does appear to fit. I did got up a needle size since I know that I knit more tightly than Emily, but in doing so it looks like my gauge is off (4 stitches per inch instead of the listed 5). But honestly, I don’t think it would fit at 5 stitches per inch. 

November 7: Almost finished. Just need to do crochet edging and add button. It’s a tight squeeze but it does fit around my Nook.

November 9: I still need a button, but I’m going to go ahead and call this done.

Updated with picture showing button:

Pattern: Cabled Kindle Sleeve by Emily Nimz
Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted in Paris Night


For sale in my etsy shop: Nook Sleeve

Tamarind Cowl

October 24: I wanted a quick project to start and finish in one evening. Although this is an easy project, I didn’t think about how long it would take to do the increases and then knit around on twice as many stitches. So I’m just a little over halfway finished with it.

October 25: Arghhh! The tight bind off strikes again. And I was really trying to bind off loosely. I guess I should have used a larger needle. It’s so tight that it won’t stretch over my head. ~sigh~ I’ll probably take out the bind off and try again, but that’ll be a little later because I don’t have the patience for that right now.

Pattern: Tamarind Cowl by Kristen Hanley Cardozo (free Ravelry download)
Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted in Apple Tree


For sale in my etsy shop: Headwarmer

Brioche Cowl

July 19: Started during a class at my LYS. Definitely glad I took the class as this was difficult to begin (some of the terminology in the pattern is a bit confusing), but now that I’ve got the hang of it, it’s going more swiftly. I do need lots of concentration to do it, though.

September 18: Wow, I hadn’t worked on this in a while, so it took me a little while to figure out exactly what to do again. So I have one mistake that now would be really difficult to fix so I’ll have to leave it (a piece of the yellow crosses over the blue near one edge).

October 9: So, brioche is really neat but it takes forever just to get a little bit done. Instead of having this project just constantly hanging over me, I decided that it was currently the perfect length for a cowl. So I knit one row straight and bound off. Then I sewed the two ends together. Ta da! Reversible cowl!

Pattern: Reversible Brioche Scarf by Lori Law
Yarn: Cascade 220 Wool in 9325 (blue) and Cascade Lana D'Oro Solids in 1105 (yellow)

Airy

September 11: My LYS is participating in the Dream Club this year. This hat and yarn is the September pattern. Before looking at the pattern, I thought it might be a little more complex than it actually is. But after viewing the pattern, it’s super easy but it looks really great and allows the yarn to really shine through. Some of the skeins of this yarn had a lot of orange/peach in it. I picked the skein that had very little of that so I could get more of the purples and red-purples. Love it.

October 6: Worked on this off and on (mostly off) since starting it, but I’m finally at the point where I can start decreasing for the top.

October 7: Finished!

Pattern: Airy by Veronica Van (pattern for Dream Club)
Yarn: Dream in Color Smooshy in Rose Smash (Dream Club offering)

Malabrigo Neck Thingie

September 25: I’m in the mood to make some cowls, so this is cowl #1 for the season.

September 26: And finished. Simple pattern but it looks really nice. And it’s Malabrigo soft!


Pattern: Malabrigo Neck Thingie by Anne Sahakian (free download on Ravelry)
Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted in Vaa


For sale in my etsy shop: Cowl

Argante

July 20: Am intrigued by the construction of knitting a shawl from side to side. So far so good and I like how it’s looking and really love how the yarn is feeling.

August 25: I’m almost to the halfway point. I keep thinking that I’ll go ahead and stop “now” but then I have more yarn in the first skein left and I think maybe a wider shawl to really be able to wrap around myself will be nice. I haven’t counted the number of repeats I’ve done so far but I seem to have quite a few stitches on the needle so I’m sure it’s been a lot.

August 30: And I’ve hit the halfway point (and beyond). I really have fallen in love with this sideways construction because I can just knit until I’m halfway through the yarn and then start the other half. It’s going to be wonderful for wanting to use up as much of the yarn as possible! I’ll be doing more of this type of construction (and more from this designer).

September 23: Finished! I ended up with a good chunk of yarn leftover so I guess I could have made it wider, but I’m happy to have some left rather than running out so I think that’s fine. And it turned out to be a really great width that I will easily be able to wrap around myself to keep warm. Although I got a bit bored of doing the edging pattern over and over and over, I did enjoy the sideways construction of the shawl and like that it is wide from tip to tip and narrowed from top to point.



Pattern: Argante by Corrina Ferguson
Yarn: JulieSpins 50/50 Merino Silk in Tea Rose

Hermione Hat

This is the hat that Hermione wore in the movie Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.



Here's mine:

August 13: I learned a new cast on for this hat - the Alternate Cable Cast-On. It wasn’t too difficult to get the hang of and after knitting just a few rounds, I can see the benefits of using this cast on. It provides a rather nice edge for the K1P1 ribbing. I’m glad that I tried it.

August 16: Finished! A perfect fit. Instead of doing the two full additional repeats, I did one full repeat and one half (I stopped just before beginning the eyelets) before starting the decreases. I’m glad that I did that because I think having 7 additional rounds on this would have made it just a tad too big.

Pattern: Hermione's Cable and Eyelet Hat by Jackie Lauseng
Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted in Frost Gray

Roll Brim Hat

August 5: Since the yarn is so wild with color, I wanted a nice, simple pattern to go with it. The pattern works nicely, but I’m not super fond of the colors personally. Thus this hat is for sale in my etsy store: karendawn.etsy.com




Pattern: Easy Roll Brim Knit Hat (recipe) by Laurie Perry
Yarn: Madil Yarns Pierrot Print