More Knitting Tales of Woe

Remember this monstrous hat?

Well, after felting, it became this cute hat.

It perfectly fit Hester's 12 month old head. It is a pattern in Knit One, Felt Two. Since it was so cute and my favorite color, I decided I wanted one too to be matchy matchy with Hester. So I figured out how big it needed to be before knitting to fit me. Supposedly. Perhaps my math was fuzzy because it was HUGE when I finished knitting it.


But I thought, It may work out. Felting shrinks it a lot some times. No such luck this time. It is the size of a small trash can. Much too large to be a hat. So my hat became a slipper basket for the wee little ones that Clementine cares for.

Better luck next time!

The Sad Saga of the Scarlet Sweater

Now for something a bit lighter.

In October, I decided it was high time I knit my wife a sweater. She was talking about how she did not have a raglan and that she really wanted a red sweater. So Hester and I went to Webs, America's Yarn Store, on one of our Mumzy-Hester Days. We picked out this beautiful scarlet cotton wool slub. I didn't know it was a slub at the time. Hester was getting fussy about being in the yarn store for SO VERY LONG so I saw it, loved the color for Clementine, saw the price was GREAT, grabbed some and dashed to the check out. Anyway, I came home and started looking for the right pattern to make it. I even had Clementine close her eyes while I measured her neck, arm length, wrist, etc. She thought I was crazy but knew a sweater was being made for her for Christmas so she was happy. Not so quick, Clementine (foreshadowing coming trouble).

So I found this raglan sweater generator on line and entered in my swatch info. I got my pattern and started knitting. I knit on the train ride in and home from work. I knit anytime Clementine was not around or awake. I did not let her see the pattern or yarn. I noticed that the arms seemed a bit tight but I thought, well, that may just be the style. I then started on the body. The pattern is cool cause you knit in the round for the body of the sweater. As the body part became long enough to see it's real size (it was squished up on the needles) I began to worry more about the size. That Saturday, I measured my creation to one of Clementine's favorite fitting sweaters. Mine was many inches smaller. I was flummoxed until I checked my stitches per inch and saw, I was off by one stitch. Bummer.

The Stitches It knits up pretty, no?

What could I do but frog the entire thing and start over. I redid the pattern and got to work on it again. I tried but only had the arms and part of the body done again by Christmas. So I wrapped that up and gave it to Clementine with the promise to get it finished. I kind of pooped out on it but recently had a resurgence of time and energy to finish the thing. I did. Clementine asked me add a bit at the bottom to make it ribbed rather than a roll bottom sweater. I did that and finished it. Clementine tried it on and we saw it was a bit more form fitting than she likes but thought we could solve that by blocking it. We washed it with great anticipation. Sadly, the yarn shrunk a bit and it was not able to be blocked to fit her. Again, bummer.

The Finished SweaterSigh....

Clementine loves the color and the raglan. I promised to make her another. She looked so lovely in the color so I will work out the size again based on the post washed stitches per inch of the first sweater. Ugh. One more time! Third times a charm, right?


So, friends, you may get a scarlet raglan sweater for Christmas. Watch your stocking!

Mobeus

Have any of you tried to understand the directions for knitting a mobeus? First, can the author please limit the use of "magical" throughout the directions? Next, what? I mean, what? I struggle to understand and I can read pretty tough patterns. But this is really out there.

Have you ever knit a mobeus?

Felted Hat

I have been knitting quite a lot lately. Here is one project I completed for Hester. It is a hat from Knit One, Felt Two. I used a blue wool I purchased at Webs Yarn Store during their after Christmas sale. I bought one cone of each color for not a lot of money! My favorite. The picture is me wearing the "hat" after finishing knitting. It is hard to beleive that this huge hat that covers my entire head will fit Hester's wee little head after felting.I liked the hat so much, I started making one for myself. I am using the same colors but reversing them. I cannot wait for the finished product and when Hester and I can be matchy matchy.

Yarn Store Fun

Hester and I went to my favorite yarn store recently. We perused the sale yarns but and found some lovely yellow that will make nice lemon baby hats. Then I went and looked at the yarns in the store, looking for something that would make a pretty sweater to go over Hester's baptism gown. I settled on Debbie Bliss merino. So beautiful. Then I started looking at patterns to get an idea of how much to buy. As I looked through a Debby Bliss book, I saw the most beautiful knit white dress. Simple but lovely and perfect for Hester's baptism. I called Clementine and proposed it to her. She agreed and I got the yarn. Already, Clementine has knit the back half of the dress. I am starting the booties today and will then work on the sweater to go over the dress.

Here is Hester with a colossal pile of sale yarns!

hats galore

Hey Friends. Here are some hats I knit. I don't remember the name of the yarn. It was on sale (are you sensing a theme in my knitting). I had two skeins of the stuff, one pink and one green. I knit all the hats on size 5.

The green hat.

This is a simple 6 month old size hat with a rolled brim and a fat i-cord top. The i-cord is about an inch long. It is a basic hat.

The pink party hat.

This pink hat is also size 6 months and has the rolled brim. I experimented with the top of this one. I knit three thin i-cords, three stitches each. I then wove the ends back through each and pulled it a little bit to create the curl. I was not sure how it would look but I think it came out pretty good.

The stripy hat.

This one is sized for an infant 0-3 months. It is the ends of the two skeins. Instead of the rolled brim, I did a garter stitch brim of 6 rows. I switched colors every eight rows. I was not sure of how it would look when finished, the mixing of the colors and the variegated yarns, but it is not half bad.


What do you think?

Hat

I made this from yarn we got for $2 at a sale. I did not plan for it to be for anyone specific. I thought it would be a good baby present for one of the many pregnant women in my life or we could sell it at a craft fair next summer under our brand name, Haughty Hausfrau. But I modeled it on Hester to show Clementine and Clementine fell in love with it. So Hester has a new hat!

It is a soft fluffy acrylic-ish yarn similar to Plush. I knit it on 10's.