Thursday, January 21, 2010

A trio of hats

A couple of weeks ago, Scott received a get well card from the son of our former pastors. It was a nice little note and in it he mentioned that they had started downhill skiing. Scott was very touched and asked me if I had an earflap hat made up that he could send to Luke. I did not have a boy's hat done but told him it wouldn't take any time at all to make one.

I pulled out a skein of Malabrigo worsted in "Stone Chat" and my copy of Little Knitted Gifts and made one of "Kim's Hats".



Well, as near as we can figure, Luke is around 9 - 10 years old. (They've been gone several years.) And the hat I made was definitely an adult size hat. So I didn't put the earflaps on and put the hat in the "finished" basket. I pulled out a skein of Patons Shetland Chunky Tweed in charcoal and started again. This time I was more successful.



The yarn is an acrylic/wool blend and was really nice to knit. I bought another skein in red and will also use it for a hat.

Luke has an older sister, Lydia. I think she must be 12 - 13 by now. And even though the note was just from Luke, I couldn't send a hat to him and not one to Lydia. I looked in the "finished" basket and found this Button-tab Hat that just needed the buttons sewn on. I already had the buttons and it only took a minute to sew them on, so another gift was ready!



The yarn is Patons Classic Wool in "Lemongrass". I found the buttons at Joanne's Fabrics.

I'm on the decreases of yet another hat. This one is for Mike's older niece. Pictures after I finish it and the mittens I want to make to match.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

FO's

I've managed to finish up a couple of projects that have been hanging around a while. First is the Noro Striped scarf I started in August. I finished it just before Christmas. It was made because I wanted to see how the colors went together. When it was finished, I wasn't sure who would want it.



Scott's niece, Megan, came over the day after Christmas and when I showed it to her, she loved it. So Megan now has a new scarf. I wonder if she loves it as much as the wedding shawl I made her?

Next to be finished were the lined mittens that I started for Scott last January. The two inner mittens were knit from Plymouth Baby Alpaca DK and the outer mittens were knit from Malabrigo Worsted. He's been wearing them but I need to wash and block them. They are warm as long as the wind isn't blowing so I hope washing them causes the yarns to bloom and be a little warmer.



Project three is a pair of two needle mittens knit from some handspun I bought at a local craft fair. The yarn is fairly primitive looking. When I was winding the hanks, the yarn kept separating where she drafted it. (I'm not a spinner so I may be using the wrong terms.) I thought it would be good yarn to use for charity mittens. It should be fairly warm. One has been washed to see if it softened up any. It did soften some. Now I need to wash the pair to soften them even more.



The final project shown wasn't an Unfinished Object. It's a Toddler's Knitted Helmet by Sandrine Turner, I used the leftover Plymouth Encore Colorspun from the Little Flap Cap that I made for my niece's daughter. It's an easy pattern. I forgot to do the increases right after the cuff so I added extra ribbing rows around the face. It's sitting in my finished basket waiting to see where it's headed. I'm thinking charity.



Scott has continued to improve although not fast enough for him. He starts cardiac rehab soon which he hopes will help him recover faster. I hope so to.